Comfort and Joy?

 Friday. 8.20 a.m. It's yet another somewhat overcast and uninspiring sort of day, here in Milton Keynes.

The digital thermometer currently reads 21ºc.

3.55 p.m. I have been searching for a suitable present for my grandchildren. It has to be something they can share. I got them a game called Pirates, which was a great success. Chloe WhatsApped me this morning, saying she had found something called Chicken and Hotdog (I know, crazy!) I searched various toy websites, and eventually found it on Smyth's Toys website and ordered it via click and collect and then went to collect it earlier this afternoon. It is far easier to buy anything via click and collect, because it means you pay on the website and, as soon as it's ready to collect, you merely go to the store and collect the item.

I was staggered by the number of people in Smyth's store. For a Friday, in the middle of the day, it was a bit of a surprise. The carpark outside was packed, and it was difficult to find a space. I realise that Smyth's isn't the only retail outlet in that particular retail park, but the store I went into was heaving. Then, people went crazy, coming out laden with toys, almost as if there was some sort of shortage of toys (there wasn't.) It's only for ONE DAY, and they're likely to have paid on credit cards, which will have to be paid off over the course of 2026. Yes, they want their children to have a great Christmas, but to go to this extent is totally mad. The REAL meaning of Christmas is totally lost.

Saturday. 7.55 a.m. It's another rather dull morning. I haven't been outside yet, but I will very soon, as we have our monthly Men's Breakfast at the Oaktree Centre.

The digital thermometer currently reads 20ºc.

I have been reviewing the footage I recorded using the Osmo Pocket 3 when I was at the Central Shopping Centre the other day. I'm really pleased with it. I still need to do further tests before I use it for something more serious (or not!) The quality is amazing, considering its size. 

11.05 a.m. I went out to my car around 8.40, intending to drive off to The Oaktree Centre, but I found ice on the windows, so I had to spend around 10 minutes scraping it off. I then found that there was mist on the inside of the windscreen, when obscured my view. I can't drive if I can't see clearly, but by the time I had come out of Oldbrook, and onto Chaffron Way, it was clear enough to see clearly.

Sunday. 5.30 a.m. Far too early to be awake and writing this blog post, but does it matter? I think not.

The digital thermometer currently reads 21ºc.

I must have mentioned how I get my medication. I would prefer if I could merely go into a pharmacy and pick the repeat prescription up, but things don't work like that anymore. We used to have its own pharmacy in its Witan Gate store, which was taken over by Lloyds, and even that has now closed. Sainsbury's used to have its own pharmacy in its Witan Gate store, which was taken over by Lloyds, and even that has now closed. I now order online through Pharmacy2U. To make sure I have never run out of medication, I need to get the order made at least a week before my stock runs out. I go online, tick all the relevant areas on the page and hit 'send.' This is sent to the doctor to approve, and then the online pharmacy makes up the repeat order, and then, eventually, the order is sent to me via Royal Mail.

I have had no problem with the delivery, and the meds are well packaged and normally come through my letterbox. Except yesterday. I knew the order was about to arrive, due to being sent an email. Then I got a notification that the order had arrived. It had not, so I went onto the Royal Mail website, and it showed the package had been sent to 6 Dexter Avenue. There was a photograph showing the house, so I went over to the house to ask the resident if the package had been delivered there. There was no answer, so I presumed they were out and I would need to go back when they came home.

I thought no more about it, until the evening, when I got a buzz from the door intercom. You press one button to speak and another to release the door so it will open. I waited in expectation for the delivery person to arrive, but nothing.

A while later, the parcel arrived, when the gentleman from 6 Dexter Avenue came and knocked on the window of one of my neighbours, and she came to my door with the parcel.

The conclusion of all this: the delivery person should read the address label and make sure the parcel/letter comes to my flat and not the wrong address. Crazy. Simples.

Boxing Day and Beyond. . .

 Thursday. 8 a.m. I went to the Christmas Day service at SCF yesterday morning. It was an hour and there wasn't any tea or coffee as we usually have after our services, so I came straight home afterwards. 

I had my Christmas Dinner at around 5.15. I had purchased all the bits that made it up from Sainsbury's which included a chicken breast (which turned out to have stuffing inside when I began to carve it.) Brussels sprouts, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, stuffing and bacon. I had bought a ready-made Christmas Pudding, but I decided to have it another day (probably this evening.

Later, I watched the new Wallace and Gromit film, 'Vengeance Most Fowl.' I'm a fan of the work of Aardman Animation, so this was something of a treat. I know it takes years to make an animation film, and probably more work goes into this type of stop-frame animation. It was so inventive and imaginative and hilarious. According to the over-night ratings, it got over 9 million viewers.

Friday. 1.40 p.m. It's been foggy and overcast for the past couple of days. Just typical December weather, I suppose.

Another trip to Sainsbury's this morning. The travelator was not working on the trip up to the store. They seem to have endless problems with this technology, but I can walk up the travelator, which is odd when it doesn't move, but the down one was working.

There seems to be a lot of Christmas stuff left over. Perhaps they should sell off mince pies and Christmas puds at half price, or even less.

All the tenants at Dexter House, including myself, have had letters from the maintenance contractors, Mears, today. Reading down the list of things they are going to do, caught my attention. It reads 'Slip and trip hazard free pathways from external doors to the scooter stores, from the fire exits of the scheme to external gates, and from the scooter stores to the external gates.' Which means, if I am right, but don't hold your breath, they are actually going to do the work, which has been held up for at least 3–4 years! SOMEONE in the hierarchy within Milton Keynes Council, has decided to act on this work, or at least, signed the piece of paper which means that, at last, the work can be done and the electric scooters, which are stored at the moment, in common spaces, for example, the corridors, and were deemed a fire hazard by a fire officer years ago. I have been watching the brilliant sitcom 'Yes, Minister' on BBC iPlayer. This business of the scooter stores seems very much like a storyline straight out of this series. 

Well the work begins on 6th January, so I will report on here how things progress, but don't hold your breath.

Saturday. 9.45 a.m. It's yet another gloomy and overcast day here in Milton Keynes. I see from BBC Breakfast, that vast swaithes of Britain is covered in thick fog, but this area seems to have escaped. There are problems with visability as airports and flights have either been delayed or cancelled. Drivers have been told to be careful on the roads, and, in particular, because visability if poor.

I went to the prayer meeting at SCF this afternoon. A lot of the people who are in the Thursday morning group were there.

Sunday. 7.35 a.m. I've been out with Alfie. There's a bit of fog hanging around although it's thin and is likely to disperse as the day progresses.

Monday. 9.35 a.m. A bit of a misty, rather than a foggy day. Overcast and murky is the best way to describe it.

I found that I was running low with some of my medication, so I decided it would be advisable to put in a repeat prescription. I went on the on-line pharmacy I use, Pharmacy2U or whatever it's called. When you can order, then those medications which you have signed up to a 'clear', but those they say you can't have yet are screened out, being 'greyed out.' As most of my repeat medications were 'clear', I clicked to order. I thought to myself, 'ok, that's done!' and they will arrived in a few days time through the post. But a few days ago, over the Christmas period, I got a text message from my surgery to tell me I had ordered too early. Which bothered me, because, by this time I had finished the Bisoprolol tablets I take, which I think are to control my heart rate and, hopefully, prevent me having a further heart attack. This morning, rather than ringing the surgery, because I knew it would likely take me about 45 minutes for them to respond, hence causing stress, it was far simpler to drive to Central Milton Keynes Medical Centre and get the medication ordered, which I did. I was concerned that they might not be open, due to the Christmas and New Year holidays. But I needn't have worried, as they were open, and I spoke to a receptionist, who did the order on her computer and I will hopefully receive the medication in a couple of days, maybe a bit longer than usual due to New Year getting in the way.

Still Sunny!

Thursday. 7.55 a.m. Today, 9th May would have been my mother's 98th birthday. So sadly missed. It would have been wonderful if she'd been alive to see me and my grandchildren. I'm sure she would have loved to see them. She was only 56 in 1981 when she died. 

It's still bright and sunny. I just hope it stays that way.

I have always managed to put a link on my Facebook profile, which links to this blog. But several times recently, when I have attempted to do this, it has been refused by Facebook. It is only there as a means to an end, as I say, to provide a link for those who want to read my posts. I will give it another go and see if it is refused again. It doesn't always happen when I attempt to make the link available. A few seconds ago I tried to set up the link to Facebook, and it has worked. I don't understand why one moment it works, but another time it is refused.

I was going to drive off to The Oaktree Centre this morning, for our Thursday morning Bible Study, at around 9.20. When I got to the car, in its usual parking space, I found an Asda online delivery van parked across the exit, meaning I couldn't get out. The driver was busily sorting out his trolley with trays of produce balanced on it and ready to be taken into one of the flats within Dexter House. He said he would move the van down the street so that I could get out. But I saw that he was busy, so I said that I didn't mind waiting. I wasn't in a rush, so it didn't matter to me that a few minutes wait wouldn't make much difference. Then he pushed the trolley off along the street, and he disappeared into Dexter House. But it seemed to take longer than I anticipated, and when he eventually reappeared, he spent a good ten minutes stacking empty delivery boxes and sorting out his van. Fair enough, because he would want his van neat and tidy and nothing loose which would fall over and possibly get damaged. But this all took a good deal longer than I had hoped, but he eventually finished and drove away, which allowed me to drive out and go to the Oaktree Centre.

2.45 p.m. I must have mentioned somewhere within these posts, about how I used to order my repeat medication prescriptions, then have it made up by Lloyd's Pharmacy within Sainsbury's, and, further, how Lloyd's in Sainsbury's closed down and how I set up an account via the Lloyd's app (called Lloyd's Direct. Well, it took some time to get it to work, what with one thing and another, such as setting up a password. It had been working well enough for several months, but a few weeks ago I was informed that Lloyd's would be merging with another pharmacy company called Pharmacy2U. They would take over processing my prescriptions, but I would need to set up an account with them. It has taken me several days, attempting to set up an account with them and the frustration of setting up a password so that I could sign in and order my repeated medication. It has caused no end of annoyance, but eventually, it was done and it works. Or, I should say, it seems to work.