Rain Storm Breaks Heatwave

Sunday. 8.10 a.m. Last night it was virtually impossible to sleep, due to the high temperature. Even with two electric fans on and windows open, the temperature is currently 27ºC. It's likely to get much warmer.

Alfie and I have been out twice already, the first at around 4.45, and we've just got back from the second circuit of Oldbrook Green. 

A great deal of litter. It really is awful, when there are sufficient bins to dispose of rubbish.

People on the Green with a couple of terriers, I think Jack Russel's, playing games. The sort of thing they do at Crufts. A man walking a bulldog-type dog. One of those flat-faced dogs, with chunky bodies. I think they look like the dog in the 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons, who chases the cats and always gets beaten by Jerry somehow. But these bulldogs look totally gormless, really stupid and thick. Whether they are or not, they certainly have that sort of demeanour. Alfie, on the other hand, always has a spring in this step, is alert and gives you eye contact. Probably just the sort of terrier behaviour which makes him so much fun to have around.

1.00 p.m. There were three baptisms at Shenley Christian Fellowship this morning. Each gave a brilliant testimony. The place was heaving with extra people, probably family and friends of those baptized. It was probably the best day, weather-wise, to be baptized. It was hot, the temperature in excess of 30ºc. My digital thermometer currently reads 29ºC. 

Monday. 3.45 p.m. I had an email from A.A. Insurance, informing me that my car insurance was due for renewal. I had forgotten it was due and couldn't believe it was a year since it was set up. I rang and was shocked to discover that my premiums would increase by about £20 a month (I pay in instalments.) I didn't immediately take that quote, and the man on the phone said he would send a print version of the quote for me to look at and consider. Then, once I had finished the phone call, I went on Compare The Market, which I used last year to get the A.A. quote and inputted all my details (some of which were saved from the last time, which is one advantage of using online comparison sites.) But I found that the quotes which came up were only a few pounds more, or, in some cases, less than the A.A. quote, so it's a sort of choice between the few that I got and the A.A. quote, which I think I will go with. It includes breakdown cover, which makes it a better deal.

From car insurance, I went on to broadband. With Sky. It is around £30 a month, which includes a boost, allowing for such services as streaming. So, I have accepted the offer. That's done for another year (I think the Sky offer is for 18 months.)

I have only just got in from Monday Club. This new means of fellowship seems to be going well. As we were sitting and talking, the sky went dark, and it began to rain. As I sit in my armchair in the flat, a ferocious thunderstorm is going on outside. It has certainly relieved the heat, thankfully.

Tuesday. 7.30 a.m. I didn't wake up a good deal later than usual and eventually took Alfie out. 

It appears that today will be another hot and sunny day and temperatures are likely to rise to about 27ºC. My digital thermometer currently reads 26ºC, and that's with the electric fans on and the windows open. As a result, I'm not going to Camphill. It's been advised that I don't go out in direct sunshine, having had two heart attacks. It could be dangerous.

I got an email from another insurance comparison website, called Money Supermarket. Which gave me more car insurance quotes. Having looked at the various quotes, I found one which was considerably cheaper than those I had on Compare The Market, with monthly payments at £35 per month. I paid a £71 deposit, and it's all set up. So, the new monthly payments are barely £5 more than last year's A.A. car insurance payments. So, that is another box ticked.

Hap, Hap, Happy Day!?

Tuesday. 5.55 a.m. Alfie and I were out on the grass alongside Strudwick Drive at 5.15 this morning. It was light outside, and I was wide awake, so it seemed a good idea to be up and about. No good lounging about in bed.

I had an email from Sky, regarding my broadband contract, which was about to end at the end of June. My monthly charge was to increase to £45, and I wanted to speak to someone regarding this. I have been a customer of Sky Broadband for nine years. I rang the helpline and the operator spent time searching for a cheaper deal and I have got a reduction, it will now be £29 a month, with exactly the same download speeds as well as the landline phone, which I was prepared to drop, but as it's part of the deal, it will remain. The contract is for 18 months. I was concerned that if I moved to another provider, it would likely cause problems, for example, having to reset passwords and generally learning to negotiate the setting up of a new router etc. As the saying goes, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'

6.25 p.m. A hectic but productive day at Camphill today. The day was very different compared to other days I've had there, principally because we had a group of pupils from Shenley Brook End Upper School (which is next door to the Oaktree Centre.) They arrived at around 9.30. Terrie had set up some games to play, which the theatre workshop team knew well.  Some of the pupils were not comfortable with the games they were expected to join. I imagine it was because they were at the age when such games would not interest them or it was embarrassing in front of their peers. They were given a tour of the theatre and after around an hour and a half they left, and we had a late tea break.

It was soon lunch break and then afterwards we got on with finishing off the plot line for our silent film. We discussed locations, and it may be easier, in the long run, to do our time-travelling film within the theatre and construct sets out of cardboard and even use 'blue' or 'green screen' to achieve some of the backgrounds. We then did a tentative rehearsal of what we had. It's not like a play, done live, obviously. Each scene will be filmed separately and editing will create the 'flow' of the piece, so any rehearsal can only give a vague idea of what the whole thing will be like, once it has the intertitles, that's the graphics which will display the various elements that the 'silent' actors speak, set the scene for the audience and other pieces of graphics, including the opening titles and of course 'The End.' 

Wednesday. 10.50 a.m. I need a suit for my part in the silent film we're creating at Camphill in the theatre workshop. I have tried on jackets in the wardrobe department but nothing fit me, so the alternative was to try several charity shops in Stony Stratford. I had the presence of mind to look on Google Maps (such a useful resource) and saw there were several in the High Street, one, Oxfam, and another Red Cross. I drove there this morning and went into the Red Cross shop and found a suit jacket that more or less fits, but no matching trousers which fit. I purchased the jacket, at £6.50, not a lot to pay, and I will have to see if they have trousers in the wardrobe store in the Chrysalis Theatre next time I'm there. Or, I think I may have some black chinos which might do, at a stretch.

Driving to Stony, I got a message coming up on the digital display on the car's dashboard, informing me that the key battery was running low. Without the key, which locks and unlocks the car's doors, there might be a problem further down the line, so on the way back to Dexter House I went to Halfords and got a new batter fitted. No point in leaving it until there is a problem.