Summer Starts, Not Entirely Auspiciously

 Wednesday. 8.45 a.m. Another bright and mild morning. Thank goodness the wind has dropped.

Every two years, I have to do a bowel cancer test. It's because I'm over a 'certain age' which means I would be prone to bowel cancer. I have done the test, but I won't go into detail. It is posted off, and I should get the results in around 2 weeks. The actual test is now far easier than the original test, fortunately. I do not see why the N.H.S. has to send me a letter around two weeks before the test kit arrives, informing me that I am due for this test and the kit will soon be sent. This seems a real waste of money. Why not just send the kit? I can imagine that if every man who has to do this test has a similar letter sent, it must cost a considerable amount. First class is £1.70 and second class is 75p, so you get an idea how much it's likely to cost if several million of these letters get sent out.

4.50 p.m. I have been to sit with my friend Mike who has Parkinson's so his wife, Margaret, can go to a meeting. I have been doing this for several months now. I think she needs respite as it must be quite challenging being his carer. I drive past the entrance to Camphill, and on the way home the traffic ground to a halt and I could see an ambulance ahead and someone controlling the traffic. There was glass and debris everywhere on the road and I could see a car at the side of the road, looking as if it has been in an accident and in a pretty poor state, totally smashed in. I don't think the accident can have happened much before I got to that area. I have a feeling the driver might have driven out of the road leading into Camphill. I couldn't see a second vehicle which might have caused the accident, possibly hitting the other vehicle, but I have the feeling that the driver wasn't being careful enough when they turned into the flow of traffic. If that was the case, it would have been easier to turn left and go to the next roundabout and come back in the direction they must have wanted to go.

Thursday. 7.20 a.m. The weather has done another about-turn. It's 'sort of' raining. Not torrential, but thin and rather miserable, as if it can't make its mind up.

2.20 p.m. I have mentioned my problems getting my new Sony camera to connect to the hand grip via Bluetooth. With this you can operate the camera, the zoom function as well as the still photo and video functions. It makes operating far easier because it can be held as well as transforming into a mini tripod. I now have to set up the Joby microphones, which I  recently bought on Amazon.

As I say, my options to finding a solution to the problem were running out. I had gone on YouTube to watch videos about setting the camera up with the hand grip, but to no avail. There are few cameras in Milton Keynes. There used to be two branches of Jessops, but both have closed down. I then recalled a company called Wex, which I thought had a branch in Milton Keynes. I found it, in the Exchange building in Midsummer Boulevard. I seem to remember working for a care agency which had there offices in this shopping centre, so I knew how to find it. The problem was not just finding the place, but parking my car. I could have parked in the Seklow Gate car park, which is next to The Point, but it would have meant a long walk to the store. I decided to see if I could park along Midsummer Boulevard, so I drove there and eventually found a space. Fine. Then I attempted to use the RingGo app on my mobile. But for some unfathomable reason it would not work. Plan B sprang into action! Pay with my debit card at the parking machine, just along the street a couple of yards. You have to type in your car's registration number and press a couple of keys and use your contactless card and, hey presto! But no! That decided to fail. After two attempts I was not in a particularly good mood. I drove away, thinking that I'd go home and forget the whole sorry situation, but at the last moment I thought I'd park in the car park underneath Sainsbury's and walk to Wex, which is what I did. So, I drove to Sainsbury's car park and found a space and then walked to Wex store. Meanwhile, it was drizzling which didn't help my mood, which had been shattered by the problems with the RingGo app and the ticket machine. It was easy enough to find the store within the Exchange building. It's not a place I know well and it would not have been the most obvious place to find a camera shop. It didn't seem exactly busy, so goodness knows what the foot fall was like.

I went inside the store and asked one of the staff if he could help with setting up the grip on the camera. It turned out that I had pressed one of the wrong buttons on the grip which was why it wouldn't connect to the camera via Bluetooth. I have to say I was more than pleased and may go back if I need to go to Wex, basically because there are so few camera shops in Milton Keynes. I am thinking more for advice, such as I did when I went there to help set up the grip with the camera.

Autumnal Weather

Friday. 7.00 a.m. A good deal cooler this morning. There was a mist hanging over Oldbrook Green, when I took Alfie out at around 6.30. 

Saturday. 7.45 a.m. I didn't wake up until 6.30, which has to be the latest I've woken in goodness knows how long.

We are running an Alpha Course at Shenley Christian Fellowship. It's an introduction to the Christian faith and has been running since the 1970s, based at HTB (Holy Trinity, Brompton) in London. The team had been meeting, mostly on Zoom, for the past few months. It runs for around 10 weeks and is delivered by video, each video focusing on different aspects of Christianity. It was decided to begin the course on Friday 15th September, so that by the time it ends, it won't interfere too much with the build-up to Christmas. 

To make it viable, there would need to be around 6 people to sign up. At the beginning of the week, there were only two people signed up. We had a team of around eight people, including myself, so to have no more than two participants would not make it a viable and entirely successful project. 

By Wednesday, I hadn't heard from Julie, the leader of the Alpha Course, but then I got an email telling me that the course would go ahead. Around eight people were signed up. 

The course starts at around 7 p.m. when guests are welcomed, get tea or coffee and then, at around 7.30 they get a meal, so we can sit around a table and eat whilst we chat, get to know them and generally be hospitable. Then, a video is shown, focussing on various aspects of Christianity. This lasts around 20-25 minutes, and then the guests have a discussion, based on what they've heard and seen in the video. This will last around 30–40 minutes and then the evening concludes at around 9-9.15, so the helpers will tidy up and then go home.

Wednesday. 1.50 p.m. The weather has changed, not necessarily for the better. We had a scorching heatwave a few weeks ago, but now it's pouring with rain and there's a high wind blowing. Not something that Alfie appreciates, and neither do I. Oh well. I suppose it is typical autumn weather.

Yesterday I was at Camphill, working in the Performing Arts Workshop within the Chrysalis Theatre. We have lost a couple of the regular group, but it's still going strong. We were developing the World War Two project, with marching and other military training going on and then, after lunch. watching a television film of 'Goodnight Mr Tom', which starred the late,great John Thaw. It is set during the war, with the central little boy being an evacuee and the idea was to not merely watch it as a film, but to study what was going on, with reference to the war and how it might be inspiration for our project. I wrote quote a few notes as we watched and then, after the film was shown, we threw out our notes which can go into the 'melting pot' next week to begin the process of creating a working script.

Thursday. 7.25 a.m. It's a good deal cooler this morning. I noticed a certain chill in the air when I went out with Alfie about an hour ago.

I have a haircut booked at Central Barbers tomorrow at 1.50. My hair hasn't been cut for two months or possibly more, this due to me having had covid and then several days with a really unpleasant flu-like bug. I can park the car where I usually do, near The Point and pay using the RingGo app, but it doesn't always work, so I need to have a handful of £1 coins to use in one of the ticket machines. So, I have been to take out some cash from the A.T.M. machine outside the Tesco Express in Oldbrook Boulevard. I bought two packets of biscuits to take to the Bible study this morning and got a handful of £1 coins in the change, so that is one less thing to think about tomorrow.

Friday. 7.15 a.m. It's a good deal cooler this morning, as you would expect for September. Perhaps it's time to dig out my fleece or jacket.

A Whitehall Farce!

Wednesday. 10.40 p.m. Scenes of total chaos in Parliament today. Well, that is what I have discovered, having watched the BBC Ten O'clock News. It looks as if the whole democratic process is in crisis and the Premiership of Liz Truss is crumbling. How long will this situation last? Will she be booted out? Who will replace her? How will the next Prime Minister be chosen, and can we expect around three months to be spent on the Conservative party electing a new leader?

I went into the main shopping centre to get my hair cut at Central Barbers. I had booked via their website earlier so it was just a case of turning up at 2 p.m. That was the easy bit. Even parking in my usual place, near the very dilapidated Point, was straightforward. Even the RingGo app worked and I had sufficient one-pound coins with me, just in case the app didn't work, as it has done on several occasions in the past. I drove home and then came across several diversions because sections of the grid road network were being resurfaced and they don't give you advance warning, so I had to make a more circuitous route around to get into Oldbrook. 

Thursday. 8.15 a.m. Oh, dear! I didn't wake up until 7.30 this morning. It's just not like me, because I'm usually awake early and take Alfie out around 6 o'clock. But oversleeping is not normal for me. I had to force myself out of bed and then get dressed and stagger out with his nibs. 

11.55 a.m. It's pouring with rain as I write this! I've been to The Oaktree Centre and helped with setting up the playgroup, although, by the time I got there the work had been done. The traffic was nose-to-tail all the way along Chaffron Way. It's certainly not the sort of journey I would contemplate having to make every day and I don't know how people put up with it. I think, if local businesses were to stagger their starting and finishing times, then this might be prevented, but as people almost insist on a '9-to-5' working day, then they have to endure this. It's also not helped by the current road works going on around Milton Keynes with resurfacing work going on.

4.00 p.m. So, Liz Truss has resigned. It seemed she had no choice. But was she pushed or did she jump? The question is, what happens regarding her replacement? They are saying that a new Prime Minister will be in place by 'Friday week', so how on earth is that going to be achieved, considering there was a three-month process whilst the Conservative Party had to go through its convoluted election process. Her Premiership will go down in history as possibly the shortest on record. As Shakespeare put it 'some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.' I don't, in all honesty, think this applies to Liz Truss. 

What's It All About, Alfie?

Thursday.6.00 p.m. I went to the Oaktree Centre this morning to help set up Acorns playgroup. I left around 8.40, which should have given me plenty of time to get there for 9. I left Dexter House and drove out of Oldbrook along Strudwick Drive and then found there was a queue of around six cars at the junction onto Chaffron Way. It's virtually impossible to get out onto the road to the right, due to heavy traffic so, as usual, I went left and drove around the roundabout near Eaglestone (commonly known as Four Bridges, for obvious reasons, and then doubled back on myself to drive along Chaffron Way. Then there was a jam only metres away, just before the turning into Rainbow Drive. Many cars appeared to be parked within the immediate entry, and I wondered if they were parents dropping off children going to either the college or Milton Keynes Academy. These parents (if indeed it is parents) don't seem to care about anyone else, just blocking the entrance and not getting out of the way. The other entrance into MK Academy in Saxon Street was always being clogged up with cars, by parents either leaving their children or collecting them and also not taking a blind bit of notice that it was dangerous, likely causing collisions with vehicles, even though the school had made it clear to them not to do so. People just seem to do as they please, regardless of being told not to do something. 

Beyond the roundabout where Chaffron Way meets Grafton Street, the traffic was nose-to-tail more or less all the way to Shenley. All I can say is, I was more than glad that I was driving in the opposite direction and I wouldn't want to put up with that sort of traffic daily, to and from work. I can't think what had caused the traffic to be so snarled up unless there was an accident on either the M1 or the A5 and traffic was being diverted through Milton Keynes or maybe there was resurfacing of some of the grid roads which might cause such problems.

Saturday. 6.05 a.m. Alfie came to me and prodded me. I had to force myself to respond and wake up. It wasn't easy, waking up, getting dressed and then taking him out, as I knew he was in desperate need to get out and I really didn't want a mess to clear up. So I carried him out (just as well he's small. I can't imagine doing that with a bigger dog, an Irish wolf-hound or Labrador.) This was at around 2.30 a.m., so you can imagine that it was very dark, even with a few street lamps illuminating things. But it was a success, and we were soon back indoors and back in bed a couple of minutes later.

We met up for the men's breakfast at Morrison's at Westcroft this morning. It was something of a disaster, although it was sorted out. We have met there to use the community room for several months and it seems a good enough venue, it's quiet, and we can have a cooked breakfast,, provided by Morrison's café. But I don't know what happened as regards getting the room set up and making it ready for us. You would imagine that if they had a regular booking, they would have known we were due there. But no. The staff had no idea. It was eventually sorted out and the meeting went ahead, but we could have just as easily gone to Costa which is right next door to Morrison's. 

I had planned to go to my creative writing group, which meets monthly in Waterstones in Midsummer Place. I should have left to drive a good deal earlier because when I got as far as the road opposite The escape, the traffic was backed up almost as far as the roundabout on Childs Way. It took some while to reach the carpark I usually go to when I drive into Milton Keynes centre and found it absolutely chocker-block, with not a single space vacant, although I did drive round with the hope that I would find a space, but no luck. I then drove out and thought I might be able to park in the adjacent carpark, but when I attempted to use the RingGo app it would not work. A similar situation happened when I came in earlier in the week to have my covid booster vaccine jab. It simply refused to work. I don't understand why it won't work, it won't connect or something. One of those confounded spinning wheel things, so I gave up and came home, unfortunately, abandoning any possibility of getting to the meet-up. I will just have to drive in a good deal earlier when the group next meets.

Another Week

Sunday. 9.20 a.m. Yesterday I intended to go into the Central Shopping Centre. I have wanted to buy a styptic pencil. I don't think most people, particularly younger men, will know what these things are. If you shave using a more traditional, wet, system, to shave, as I do, you will know how easy it is to cut yourself, or produce little nicks, which cause bleeding. With me, it's not very often, but when it happens, it's often difficult to staunch the flow of blood. You can use bits of tissue or cotton wool, but who wants to go around for the rest of the day with bits of paper stuck to your face? I don't. A styptic pencil means you can stop these little bloody flows more or less instantly. It stings at first, but only mildly. Just a vital item to keep in your shaving kit. But it's very difficult to find such an item anywhere in a supermarket or pharmacy. I have managed to find them in branches of Boots, but nowhere else. You have to keep them dry otherwise they crumble to pieces and then keep them in their little plastic containers. The one I had has since ended up in pieces which is why I wanted to replace it. All this was an excuse to drive into the centre. I haven't been in for a while. I parked in the carpark next to The Point and paid using the RingGo app. It certainly saves having to have the right change for the machine and it's actually considerably cheaper. I went into the centre and had a look for the styptic pencil, first in Superdrug, but no sign of what I wanted. Then into Boots. A short walk further along inside the Centre, but after a good look in the men's shaving area, which has about every shaving item imaginable, every type of razor blade, no styptic pencil! Just a waste of my time. Why is it SO difficult to buy these things? They're really useful for when you have a slight cut when shaving, so you would imagine they would be vital and on sale in the razor blade aisle. But no.

I then went into T.K. Maax. Just for a browse. But the escalator was out of service which meant I couldn't get to the upper floor, so I didn't bother to find the stairs so I left. I then went into W.H. Smith with the intention of buying the latest edition of Current Archaeology which I find thoroughly interesting and worth a read, but, after a good look along the magazine racks I couldn't find it, so I left. Just a waste of a morning in the shopping centre. So I drove to Sainsbury's to buy one or two items and that was my outing over and out.

Monday. 6.05 a.m. Awake early so it was out with Alfie. There was a mist over part of Oldbrook Green and I noticed the obligatory supermarket trolley upturned near the tarmacked games area. Every urban scene must have an abandoned supermarket trolley to give the correct atmosphere. It makes me wonder why people can't return them when they take them away from whichever supermarket they come from.

I've had another great idea for my writing. I'm not going to reveal it on here, obviously, but it will take things to a new level. I'm now doing some research to see how it's going to work and fit into what I have already produced.

Sunshine Is Good For The Soul

It's another of those beautifully bright and sunny July days which really lifts your spirits. Having taken the Diazepam tablet last night, I had yet another really good sleep and didn't wake until gone 6 o'clock. I think Alfie is gradually adjusting to my new routine of getting up later and later and we didn't get out until a little before 7 a.m. I am a little bit concerned that there are far more cars parked along Golden Drive and even a few traffic cones. I have an idea that these cars may belong to employees of the hospital which is just behind this house. I do hope it doesn't mean we're going to get more employees parking here as it's getting a bit crowded. I have no complaint about this issue, but if it means that Eaglestone residents don't have space to park then it is a serious issue. What does annoys me is when people insist on parking across the footpath. It's difficult to actually differentiate which is road and which is path for pedestrians and it's a bit unfair that you have to walk into the road when a car is in the way. Some cars even park on the grass, which is eventually going to destroy this feature along the roadside because this area isn't designed to take the weight of a car. It would be alright in the summer, when it it is dry, but when it rains or there's snow and ice it is going to cause more problems and merely churn up the grass and create mud.

I had decided to go into the Council offices and discover whether they had heard anything from the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) with regards my Pension Credit. I wanted to get there as soon as I could after they opened at 9 o'clock. I was daring when I wore my shorts! It has been hot enough to wear them. I parked the car in the usual carpark near The Point, using the RingGo app to pay. It actually worked, but I had a pocket-full of £1 coins just in case.

I walked into the shopping centre and then out the opposite side near Costa and near Marks and Spencer and on arrival in the Civic Centre I had to first sign in using one of the touch-screen terminals. I couldn't get the one I used to work so I had to ask a member of staff and then got a ticket from the machine with number 204 on it and went to sit down and wait. I was surprised how few people there were in there. I imagine most people would arrive later or simply couldn't get out of bed. I had bought my World Wildlife Fund reusable bag with me, containing reading as well as writing material. But my number wasn't long in appearing on the digital screen and the automated voice spoke out the number. No doubt this is for those whose vision isn't very good and I walked across to the desk. I explained to the lady behind the desk why I was there, to find out if they'd had any notification from the D.W.P. about my Pension Credit claim. They hadn't. Then I asked her about having my Housing Benefit paid directly into my landlord's bank account. She tried to persuade me against this, saying it was only done in exceptional circumstances and I was adamant that I wanted this. She said that it would require a signature from my landlord and she went away to find the relevant form for me to fill in. As it is about the time when I get a visit from the landlord and his wife, once a year for a mere ten minutes, it would be then that I would get him to agree to the Housing Benefit going directly into his bank account. I also learnt that the next payment of Housing Benefit (which should be to cover the entirety of the rent.) is on 22nd July. By which time I should have heard via the D.W.P. regarding the newly-discovered pension that Carol had when she was living and working in Bournemouth (which is going to effect the amount I receive from the Council.)

1360th Blog post. Still Sunny!

This will be my 1360th blog post! Why should that be so important? Well, it isn't, but it's quite an achievement to have kept this blog going for so long.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing! What more can one want? I can do without wasps, flies and other insects which invade the house. I can also do without pop music blasted at me from whatever quarter. People have their windows open, which means there is a leakage of boom-diddy-boom-diddy-boom-bom-boom. You know, or perhaps you don't, that drum beat that a lot of pop music seems to have. It's right what Noel Coward said, 'strange how potent cheap music is!' which is a line from his play 'Private Lives.' The joke is, if you know this play, that the music which is playing in the background is 'Some Day I'll Find You,' which he wrote! So it's sort of turning things on itself. But, regardless of all that, I do agree. I suppose that the sentiment in that line is that popular music has to be potent, in the sense of probably, a drug or alcohol, it has to work it's magic by being repetitive or overwhelming. Anyway, my thing is that drum beating in the distance can be just annoying and puts me off whatever I'd doing, probably attempting to plot a piece I happen to be writing. Then there's those crazed individuals who insist on having pop music blasting from the speakers in their cars as they speed by. So loud it makes the car vibrate and all you get is the booming sound, no music to speak of. Why can it never be Beethoven or Mozart of any other composer's music you care to mention? But if that's the case, why have it so loud that everyone else has to put up with it, regardless of whether they want to or not.

Later. Yesterday evening (Thursday) I went to S.C.F. for another session of The Bible Course. There are three more to go. I was undecided as to what to wear and in the end I didn't wear my new shorts and short-sleeved shirt. As I left the house, I was suddenly hit by the heat. I was around 6.45 and it was quite intense, not helped by the fact that when I got in the car I found the interior hotter still, by quite a few degrees. It made my heart rate increase. I was feeling quite unwell, not exactly helped by the other drivers who insist on tailgating me as I drove up Chaffron Way to the Oaktree Centre. I had to have a drink of water on arrival and I found the main hall cooler than the café area and by the time we started the course I was feeling better. But I think it's a warning to be more careful when the sun is so hot and I was shocked by how hot it was so late in the day.

(Friday) I was quite insistent that I get a lie-in. I was more than determined that I wouldn't get up before 6a.m. I actually took Alfie out at 7 this morning! He wasn't exactly pleased, but it was worth the extra time asleep. I hope to continue with this regime.

Too good to stay indoors today. I had to get out, even if it was just a trip into central Milton Keynes. I had to first go to get some change for the carpark. I do have the RingGo app on my iPhone, but it doesn't always work, so I had to have change for the machine. I went to the Eaglestone shop to use the A.T.M. outside but when I got there, it wasn't working. No cash in it. I know these machines have a tendency to run out of cash, but it was somewhat annoying because I then had to drive all the way to the One Stop shop in Coffee Hall. Fortunately the machine was working, but because the sun was so strong it was next to impossible to read the screen, but fortunately I was able to extract £30 from the maws of the mighty machine and then go into the shop to buy two bags of wine gums and fruit pastilles in order to get change.

I arrived at the carpark and then I found the RingGo app wouldn't work, so I was glad that I'd had the foresight to get change for the parking meter. This technology can be great when it works, but when it doesn't, it's just a waste of time. So it's as well to not always rely on it and use a different method of payment. I walked into the shopping centre and paid some money into my Metro Bank savings account. From there I went into Midsummer Place and as I was waking through I heard my name 'John!' but at first I didn't respond. Then one of the guys from Campbell ran up to me. He said he was about to catch a bus to Peterborough. It's great that they can respond to me and we have long chats when I'm there. I told him he'd better not miss his bus, so he went off, presumably outside to the bus stop. No doubt I'll hear more about his visit (which I believe is where his parents live.) when I'm at Camphill on Tuesday.

Next. Something to eat. Waterstones was near so I went in and as there was nobody queuing I decided to order a latte, toastier and a bun. Very efficient staff and I was soon sitting at a table. As I had my iPhone with me I was able to connect to the internet and look at Facebook and Twitter. Are these devices such a good idea? In some respects, yes, but when people spend a long time on them and disregard those around them, for example, in a work situation, with family and friends, they are more of a distraction and aren't really a replacement for face-to-face conversation, but can be useful for keeping in contact with family and friends and if you want to be easily contacted, ideal. But being in a bookshop it's an ideal place to have a café. Put me near books and I'm quite happy, so once I'd finished my snack I had a browse of the tables that Waterstone so craftily has set up which entices you to look at the books on display and then I went upstairs to the history section to have a further browse. I left before I purchased a book. I have to be honest that I have more than enough books in my bookshelf and could easily buy more. I have several which are waiting in a queue to be read.

From Waterstones I went into the main shopping centre and walked along the mall towards John Lewis and was interested in a store which is going to open soon, called Typo which I have discovered sells stationary. As Staples has since disappeared from Milton Keynes, which is a disappointment because where am I to buy fresh stocks of computer ink cartridges, paper and all the other paraphernalia, pens, pencils etc etc? I'm not sure when it's due to open, but I will have to visit once it's up and running. Also, I had to go into The Works, because they're stock changes rapidly and you have to buy whatever catches your eye when you're there because otherwise it's gone and by the time you return it will be gone, which is the same with T.K. Maax, another store I love browsing in as well as their partner store called Homesense. A good place to go if you're looking for kitchen items, such as saucepans, baking tins etc. 

History Festival and Changeable Weather

At last! Some sunshine. The big question, is it going to last?

Saturday morning. It's quite bright and sunny this morning. I managed to take Alfie out for his early morning walk. I just hope it's going to last as I don't want to be sitting around indoors all weekend.

I'd planned to go to the history festival which is on this weekend in Campbell Park. Actually very little advertising for this event which is surprising. I only knew because it's come up in my feed on Facebook, I think through Milton Keynes Museum, who are partners for the event. I knew it started at 11 a.m. and that I didn't want to get there too early. I think they realise that on a Saturday a lot of people don't get up early, so there's no practical point in opening up too early, so it makes sense to open a bit later, 11 o'clock being sensible. I drove in and parked where I parked when I went to see Les Miz the other week. I have an app on my mobile called Ring Go, which I've used on quite a few occasions. It saves having to have coins to pay when you park. I hadn't got any change so I was relying on it working. But when I got to my parking space, right behind the theatre, I couldn't get the app to work. It has been upgraded recently and there was no way it was going to work. It annoyed me because I'd made the effort to come into the centre of Milton Keynes specifically to visit the history festival. So I had to drive all the way back to Eaglestone and went to the shop, bought some sweets and paid with a £10 note and got change and then drove back and used some of the change to pay to park. I have to say I'm not impressed that the Ring Go app has failed. It seems a familiar problem, they have to upgrade these things, tamper with it. They work well enough but not after the upgrade.

I walked into the centre and then through towards Campbell Park. I crossed the main road via one of the footbridges but I should have used the one closer to John Lewis, but it didn't make a lot of difference. I could hear a man's voice on a Tannoy system, describing some event at the history festival site. As I approached I could see tents, flags and banners which gave a sort of fairground or even a sort of battle feel to the site and eventually came out in the midst to the enactor's tents and stalls, various periods  being presented by people in costume. In the centre of it all an arena for enactors to represent battles and other period displays, from Roman times up until the 20th century.

I stopped at one of the food outlets (for want of a better word) to have a coffee frappé. I really needed a drink by the time I trudge over from the carpark. It was quite a treck. Then down some steps into the amphitheatre area where there were tents with displays from a variety of organisations such as the National Trust, Stowe House Preservation Trust, Buckingham Old Gaol Museum and many others. I spent quite some time chatting to a variety of people on these stalls.

The next day, Sunday, I returned to the history festival after Church. I took my camera and managed to take a few photographs of the Sealed Knot doing a demonstration of the tactics used during the English Civil War. I posted several of them on Facebook. Unfortunately the weather changed. From being fairly bright and sunny it began to cloud over, so it was at that point I decided to leave and walk back to the car because I didn't want to get caught in a downpour.

Hair Cut

It's been quite cold today. I was surprised by how cold it actually was when I stepped out of the front door with Alfie on his lead at about 6.35 this morning. Quite a layer of ice of the car's windscreen. I made sure I was well and truly wrapped up with my gloves on my hands. Alfie couldn't care less, so long as he got a good run and a sniff around all the trees and lamp posts .

I'm currently cleaning the house. Not the most exciting or stimulating of tasks, but it has to be done. It had been allowed to let slip when Carol was diagnosed and I really wasn't in any mood to don rubber gloves and scour the bath or scrub floors. As a result the kitchen floor had become quite dirty so I decided to give it a mop. It's easy enough the end near the sink, but the rest of what is actually a kitchen/diner, needed things such as a table, drying frame, chairs, stools and so on, moving out so that the floor underneath could be mopped. I did the sink end yesterday and then, around 8.30 this morning, began to move the items from the patio-door end into the other end so that I could give the floor a good mop. I left the sliding patio doors open to allow the air to dry the floor and had to keep Alfie corralled in the lounge as I didn't want little paw marks all over my nice clean floor. A squirt of Sainsbury's best floor cleaning product, with a hint of lemon in it (actually about half the price of Flash, virtually the same product and a little bit further along the shelf when I went to buy more a little later.) and the job's done. Amazingly hard work slinging a mop about, but worth the effort when I see how clean the floor is now.

Items now replaced in their original places and I'm about to leave the house for the centre of Milton Keynes to go and get my hair cut at Central Barbers, which has recently moved from the food centre to the main shopping centre next to John Lewis.

Really quite cold as I park the car near The Point. I now have an app on my iPhone, RingGo, which allows me to pay for parking. It means I don't have to bother with coins and it reminds me when my parking time is about to run out and I can pay if I want to increase my parking time. Quite handy if you don't carry loads of coins with you or you forget.

I walk through the shopping centre and arrive outside Central Barbers, near John Lewis. It's around 9.20 and this means I will have to wait 10 minutes as they don't open until 9.30. I'm sitting looking at my iPhone and then an alar goes off. I think it was the test of a fire alarm, but I'm not sure where it's going off. I think it's within Central Barbers shop. I can see the staff inside, and a couple of them have their hands tightly clasped over their ears. I'm sure the alarm-test is going on too long. It makes me laugh when these things go off, not just fire alarms, when people take totally no notice of them, they don't attempt to stop the alarm or go to whoever is in need of an alarm. Just a waste of time.

Colourful and eye-catching signpost near Milton Keynes Theatre. No excuses to loosing your way around Milton Keynes.

Having finished at Central Barbers, I decided I wanted to see what had been happening at the art gallery near Milton Keynes Theatre (they could have come up with a better name for the theatre, surely. Not very original. Are they ever likely to come up with something more memorable?) It's not a long walk, but when I got there, I discovered that it didn't open until 11a.m., so it was a bit of a waste of my time so I decided that I'd go back into the shopping centre and plan to visit the art gallery on a day and at a time when it's open.