Shopping Trips and Haircuts

I mentioned a few weeks ago how I had intended getting my haircut and went to the usual barber's in Monkton Park, only to discover, after waiting around 15 minutes and finding they weren't going to open up, that the business had closed down. The company is called Essential Barbers and they have another branch in North Furzton. So I decided to give things another go and drove there before they opened at 9.30 yesterday morning. So, hair now cut and won't need doing for at least a couple of months. 

From North Furzton I drove to Beanhill to go to Ashfield Medical Centre. I've mentioned on several blog posts the problems we're experiencing regarding Carol's repeat prescriptions. I still don't understand how it can take somewhere in the region of ten days to get a prescription ready so that it can be made up and ready for collection at a pharmacy. We give ample time for this. It should take no more than 48 hours. I attempt to make sure that Carol doesn't run out of any of the medications she has on repeat, particularly as we've managed to get the pain she's experiencing under control. On asking at the reception desk whether the prescription was ready, I was told that one item was ready and printed, but the rest of the items was not. I also had to ask for a fresh medical certificate for Carol as she needs one since she's off work sick. I was told that the doctor would ring to confirm this. So I returned home and no sooner had I got in the house and the telephone rang and it was the doctor for Carol. Then I heard from Lloyd's pharmacy at Sainsbury's with a phone call that they had some of the stoma material. But why had it been delivered to Lloyd's? The whole thing is going crazy. The stuff from Fittleworth should be sent direct to our address. Carol was determined to come with me to Sainsbury's as she wanted to get out of the house. So we drove there. It's perhaps the first time she's been to Sainsbury's for at least six months. One part of the repeat prescription was ready for collection, along with my own medications, which I had ordered earlier in the week. I seems odd to me that my repeat prescription was done within days, but Carol's has to take at least a week to be ready. The doctor had told me that the prescription which he had written and had printed out, would be ready on Monday  after 2 o'clock. So I drove there after 2 o'clock BUT THE PRESCRIPTION WASN'T READY! The receptionist at the surgery told me that the prescription was probably going to be in the doctor's surgery and couldn't be taken until the doctor was without a patient. This whole thing is now getting out of hand and as a result causing a certain amount of stress for both of us.

This morning (Tuesday) we had another attempt to get the prescription out of the surgery. One was ready for collection but the second one was still unready. We went to IKEA as we were looking for a new rug for the lounge, and, after a look in the rug and carpet section we couldn't find one which we liked, but we bought several other items of use and then went to get a hotdog, chips and a drink near the exit to the store. Plenty of it and extremely good value.

As I write this blog post, I'm watching Michael Portillo's television series 'Great Railway Journeys,' on BBC2, and as I write this he's at the Swiss Garden near Old Warden in Bedfordshire, somewhere we've visited and near where I used to live at Cardington. A really beautiful place to visit, part of the Shuttleworth Estate and directly next to the Shuttleworth Collection of aeroplanes and cars of various ages.

Trip to the Swiss Garden

We haven't had a particularly good couple of weeks due to the weather. Our week in the cottage in East Sussex was abandoned due to the extreme weather, as recorded in a previous post. We did, however, go to visit Carol's mum and dad last Wednesday in Southampton. We booked rail tickets on-line and drove to Oxford in order to journey down via train. It was a long day, as we left Milton Keynes around 7.30 to get to the park and ride at Water Eaton and then catch a bus into the main station in Oxford. The journey down was straightforward and took around 90 minutes. Carol's parents were on the station platform when we arrived and we spent the day wandering around the city, including having lunch in a Weatherspoons pub, always good value. We came back on the train which left at around 3.45 and got back to Oxford at about 5.15. It seems to be the most convenient way to travel down to see them, avoiding the long car journey down to Bournemouth where they live.

Today we were determined to get out somewhere as the weather had improved. As a result we decided to go to the Swiss Garden at Old Warden in Bedfordshire. We have been before, but that was a few years ago. The car park was virtually empty when we arrived, but as the morning progressed it gradually filled up. The sun shone, but it wasn't too hot. In fact, the right sort of mild weather making it ideal for walking around outside in a garden. The Shuttleworth collection is pat of the place, but we didn't visit that and may return at a later date. Perhaps when some of the planes are flying. I have seen it, but that was years ago. I seem to recall a school visit so you get some idea how long ago it was. There is a restaurant and shop as part of the complex, where you pay to enter.

The Swiss Garden is deceptive because it doesn't occupy a very large space, and the way it's laid out means you turn a corner and discover something new each time, such as a pond with a delightful wrought iron bridge over it, or a folly or other building such as the thatched  Swiss Cottage which is in the centre of the garden or the Indian Kiosk which has seats in it so you can stop and sit and enjoy the view. There is now a woodland walk which include a sculpture trail which wasn't part of things the last time we visited. It has a decent path to walk on.

When we had completed our visit we had coffee and very nice chocolate cake in the restaurant  before leaving. We drove on to Jordan's Mill which is a mile or two up the road at Broom, just off the A1. I'd heard about this and was interested to see it as you get to see the workings of a water mill which has been in operation on the same site for centuries. We didn't pay for the guided tour but walked around the adjacent garden before driving back towards Milton Keynes.

Swiss Garden