One Fine Day

 Friday. 6.55 a.m. It's definitely a good deal colder this morning when I took Alfie out.

I think I have sorted out the problem I had regarding the mystery sound that has been keeping me awake at night. It occurred to me yesterday to put notes through the doors of the neighbouring flats along the corridor where I live in Dexter House. I wrote the polite (stressing polite and respect.) that the tenant who had whatever it was on (ie: radio, television or whatever.) would please turn the volume done so I couldn't hear it. This note was created on my MacBook and printed and then posted through around six of the flat doors. As I put them through each door, I discovered how difficult it was to actually push the notes through, with the new letterboxes with a metal flap inside and a sort of brush. I think it must make the job of the postman difficult or at least, time-consuming, to make sure any mail that is delivered has to be pushed right through. As I mentioned, it would appear that my note has made a difference I didn't hear anything extraneous in the night and I slept far better. In fact, I didn't wake up until around 6.10 am which might explain the difference between having that background noise and not having it.

10.05 a.m. I wasn't intending to mention too much of the death of H.M. Queen, but seeing the incredible queue of people who are going to file past her coffin in Westminster Hall for her Lying In State, I really couldn't ignore it. The queue stretches for around four miles along the banks of the River Thames and at the end nearest the hall, they have set up a snake system which is often used at theme parks and other attractions, in the park right next to The Houses of Parliament. This has been shown on BBC Breakfast this morning and one of the reporters has been interviewing people to give a flavour of the atmosphere and discover more about why people were there. A truly amazing sight. This morning they had to pause the queue for six hours and told people not to come to and queue until it moves. The affection for Her Majesty seems overwhelming. So, who says the British don't care for the monarchy? Or, for that matter, the admiration for Her Majesty and what she has achieved during her record-breaking seventy-year reign.

10.37 a.m. I have continued with my writing. I had given it a break for quite a while because it is possible to just get bogged down with writing too intensively.

1.45 p.m. According to the BBC website, the queue for people paying their respects to H.M. Queen lying in State in Westminster Hall stretches around five miles, as far as Southwark Park.  I have no idea how many people that would be, but certainly quite a few. 

Saturday Shopping and Afternoon Thunderstorm

(Saturday)This is becoming a habit. I go shopping once a week since the lockdown began and I go on a Saturday. I think most people don't get out of bed early on a weekend, (and who can blame them?) but I find that usually if I go shopping in Sainsbury's early it is easier to get in and out. I have learnt to go early enough, just before 8 o'clock, when the queue to get in is only a few people long, a lesson I learnt a few weeks ago when I got there at 7 and didn't realise that key workers and N.H.S. staff got preferential treatment so as not to have to queue. Anyway, I was in and out of Sainsbury's in a little over an hour, which was fairly good as far as I'm concerned. Having a shopping list makes all the difference but I do wish some of the shoppers would at least smile as they all look as if they're 'doomed' as Frazer used to say in 'Dad's Army' with monotonous regularity.

(Later) I've been watching a documentary series about the River Thames, presented by Peter Ackroyd on the History Hit platform (of which I'm a subscriber.) I have reached the third episode and then it goes dark outside. It was attempting to rain when I last went out with Alfie around 1.30, but I didn't let a bit of drizzle put me off, or Alfie for that matter. Then there was an almighty clap of thunder, very much like a bomb going off, and then it rained as if the whole world was going to end. It made me jump and I don't think Alfie liked it very much. It is still dark (relatively for being daylight at 3.20 approximately) and the thunder is still rolling around Milton Keynes. I don't think we will be going out for a while or at least not until the rain has stopped.

(Sunday) It's a rather dull outlook this morning. Probably just as well because the past week or two it's been unbearably hot.

I got the Apple Pencil delivered yesterday morning and I'm attempting to get it working, charging by putting it on the iPad. It's difficult to know how to get this going because it didn't come with a manual, which seems how most computer equipment comes delivered. I have to go on line and also watch YouTube videos to find instructions. I also got a parcel from Bibliophile, the discount book company, because I had ordered a rather beautiful book on Art Nouveau which I had seen when their catalogue arrived in the post and ordered on line. It has taken almost two weeks to arrive, probably held up due to the coronavirus pandemic. Likewise with the Apple Pencil.

Later. I've just been to the Tesco Metro store in Oldbrook Boulevard. It's almost comical, attempting to avoid other customers as I walk around the store. I think there's a game in there somewhere, a bit like Monopoly. It could just be called 'Lockdown.' I might even be an afternoon gameshow on television. How it would work I don't know. Probably start off with a load of points and as you go around the board you loose points if you meet other people and have to answer questions to move on round. Anyway, I wanted to get a Sunday Times and get some chocolate. Only in there five minutes and then home to then take Alfie out for another walk. 

Still Raining

Considering the flooding in other parts of the country at the moment, particularly along the River Thames near Chertsey and Staines and in the Somerset Levels, we shouldn't complain here in Milton Keynes about flooding. We have had very little, although there has been a considerable amount around Newport Pagnall and Olney. As I sit and write this I can see out of the window from the lounge and the rain is falling as hard and fast as ever, some running down the window. The garden is like a quagmire. Whenever the dogs go outside they come back caked in mud. Neither of them wants to stay outside for long, and who can really blame them? The fence is looking very unstable. Along the right hand side of the garden an entire section of the fence was blown over a couple of weeks ago. We managed to right it and prop it up as best we could and put some old garden chairs against it and it seemed to survive in this condition for a few weeks, but it came down only a couple of days ago with an almighty crash which I heard when I was reading. This fence-section is now in such a poor state of repair that there is really no point in attempting to right it again. The upright planking has come adrift from the cross-pieces which hold it together. It, along with the remainder of the fence, is in a very sorry state and I predict that a further strong wind will see it completely disintegrate. Alfie has been tempted on several occasions to wander through the gap in the fence whenever he goes into the garden, but I think he now knows that he must stay in the garden and not go through the gap. We have all manner of items propped up against the fence in an attempt to either shore it up or plug holes in it. Having said all that about rain, it is still relatively mild. There have been days when we've been out to the car first thing in the morning and discovered the windscreen has a layer of ice on it, but those days have been few and far between. I drove to Waitrose this morning and saw primroses had bloomed along the side of Chaffron Way. Considering we are barely halfway through February it seems very early to see signs of flowers blooming. Definitely a good deal milder than this time las year when we had a very long spell of snow and ice.

Workmen are currently working along the road from this house with a shredder into which they are putting cuttings from bushes and trees. It had got very overgrown along some of the paths around this estate so it was good to see this work being carried out. A lot of the trees along the inner ring road of the estate has been cleared and it is now much tidier and clearer. A lot of the trees along the Redways and Gridroads have been cleared and i must say it looks very neat and tidy.