All In A Day's Work!

Wednesday. 6.30 a.m. It's another mild and pleasant morning. Alfie was ready and waiting for me to take him out, barking at me madly.

Yesterday evening I appeared to have got into something of a time-slip, or so it seemed. I fell asleep on my bed and woke up under the impression that it was morning. It's odd what your mind does to you when you're half asleep. Not so much sleep, just groggy. I got dressed and took Alfie out, and I was intrigued to know why there were children playing on Oldbrook Green. It wasn't until I got back inside that I realized it was 8.30 p.m. Not having my FitBit working and on my wrist, nor any sort of timepiece, it was difficult to know the correct time. Well, for all that, at least Alfie got an outing, even when he didn't want or need one.

I have found a great app on the Apple App Store for doing animation. I have paid for it, around £5 and you can do stop frame animation, a bit like Aardman, the Wallace and Gromit people. I now need some sort of rig to support my iPhone and have ordered a gadget on Amazon which does just that and also comes with a microphone for doing videos. I can't wait for it to arrive tomorrow so I can try it out. I have even done a test bit of animation, of one of my rubbers moving across the top of my coffee table. It worked!

Yesterday, one of the buttons came off my shorts. They are by Weird Fish, if you know the brand. Without a button in a strategic place, I'm reluctant to wear them, as you can imagine. I have sewing thread and needles, which I bought in John Lewis a few months ago when I had a similar incident with a pair of chinos. But could I remember when I put either of them? Having moved so much out of the kitchen so that renovations could take place, it's difficult to find anything much. I will eventually return a lot of the things to their rightful places in the new kitchen units, but as regards sewing things, forget it. I did find the needles and decided to go to Hobbycraft to attempt to find sewing thread. I also bought some card and some Plasticine, which I intend to use for the animation I mentioned. The card will become the background which I will construct and the Plasticine will be made into some sort of character which will be the star of the movie I will attempt to make. I bought a cafetière in Sainsbury's yesterday, along with some ground coffee. I love proper coffee and making it in either a filter coffee maker of cafetière is, to me, the best way to make it. I just needed an air-tight container to store it. So, on the way back from Hobbycraft I had intended to go into The Range to have a look and see if they had anything suitable, but when I got down as far as  Childs Way and had hoped to turn right onto the roundabout which leads into the retail park where The Range is situated, the road was coned off, conveniently blocking my exit and therefore preventing my getting to where I had wanted to go, so I changed course and ended up back at Sainsbury's and managed to get exactly what I was looking for regarding an airtight container for my ground coffee. 

On returning to Dexter House, I then intended to sew the loose button back on my shorts, but it was then that I discovered that the aforementioned button was broken, so when I attempted to attach it back to the shorts, it just came off. It then occurred to me that a pair of trousers I had in my wardrobe had conveniently got spare buttons sewn inside the lining, and on removing one of these buttons, it turned out to be exactly the right size to replace the one that had come off. I was then able to sew this spare button on, after some considerable effort, because the material where it was to be sewn, was quite thick, with several layers, but after some effort, the job was done

A Little Wet and Windy

 Monday. 7.45 a.m. Another week begins. It's relatively bright and sunny outside, but when I took Alfie out around an hour ago it was quite chilly. I think perhaps it's time to put my shorts away for the winter months. A pity, as I've got used to wearing them. I may have to find some cargoes made of similar material. They're Weird Fish brand shorts with plenty of pockets, which are useful, particularly when walking Alfie, as I can put treats in one pocket, keys in another, and doggy bags in another. 

Wednesday. 4.20 p.m. I've had two letters in the post. One from Milton Keynes Council about having my bathroom refitted. Is it possible? Might I have a proper full-sized bath that I can actually lay down in and have a decent soak? Most people are at least 5-6 tall, and most, if not all normal people would expect to be able to lie full length in it when they have a bath.)Anyway, having contacted the number on the letter, I have someone coming to survey the aforementioned bathroom to see what can or cannot be done. I will report on here after I have had the visit. I hold my breath in anticipation (metaphorically that is.) The other letter was from Lloyd's Pharmacy offering me a flu jab. Booked through their website and it's going to be on 28th October at their branch in Sainsbury's.

Thursday. I've made a batch of scones to take to the quiz night on Friday evening. They aren't bad. Taste good, texture good and I'm sure Marry Berry would be pleased with the result, but to me, they don't look very good. I will have another try tomorrow and hope the second batch turns out better.

Saturday. 8.10 a.m. I've been somewhat lax this week, in the fact that I haven't been writing blog posts for the past couple of days. Very lazy, but, I'll be honest not a great deal to report. 

I've made another batch of scones, and this time I've used my food processor and they've come out looking considerably better than yesterday's batch. The food processor certainly speeds the process considerably. 

I went into Sainsbury's and had intended to purchase ink cartridges for my Canon printer/scanner. I hunter along the shelves in the stationary section of the store and could see none, so I asked a member of staff and was told that they had been removed from the store because they are stolen by people who then sell them online, no doubt on sites such as eBay. Crazy that things have come to this. I have since managed to order them from Viking, the online stationers. They should arrive, hopefully, in the next couple of days.

We had a quiz night at the Oaktree Centre this evening. Raising funds for the second phase of the building.  A good evening was had by all and it was great to be around people once more and not virtually.

Sunday. This afternoon I went out with the intention of topping up the car with diesel because it is running low. There is no ulterior motive other than my usual topping it up. I'm not driving a great deal at the moment, but the fuel gauge is showing there's not much in the tank. I drove around to the ESSO station on Childs Way to discover a huge queue of vehicles stretching from the roundabout on Marlborough Street. I wasn't going to join the queue and I could say a similar queue on the opposite carriageway at the BP station. I then drove to the Shell station on Grafton Street and, seeing there was no queue I drove in, but most of the pumps were blocked off, signaling they had no fuel. So, I drove away and have decided perhaps I will wait until later in the week to have another go at getting a tank full.

Tuesday. 10.30 a.m. Alfie had a bit of an accident last night, requiring a complete change of bedding and floor-mopping. He spent the night in the lounge as I didn't want a repetition of things. He was quiet until the early hours of the morning and then began barking. I had to do a further clear-up, but as I write this he seems fine. I'll have to monitor things and see what transpires. He seems to be his usual perky self and we've just got back from another walk around the park. It's bright and sunny this morning.

I have been attempting to fuel the car. I know it's not urgent as the car can go for quite a long period before it needs fuel. The gauge is looking low, so it will need diesel sometime soon. I went around Marlborough Street and to the Esso station along Child's Way, but they had nothing, and then to the BP station on the opposite carriageway, but, again, nothing. I'll have to leave it until the end of the week and give it another attempt. Then I drove on to Sainsbury's. A great many empty spaces on the shelves but I managed to get the few items I needed.

Lockdown Changes

(Monday)The government is changing the slogan regarding coronavirus advice from 'stay at home' to 'stay alert,' and now people are saying that the public will be 'puzzled' by the change? How? Is it just more nanny state? Do we really take notice of slogans, almost what you get for brands, sound bites, for example, for Sainsbury's it's  'making life taste better'  and with Tesco it's 'every little helps' or for KFC, 'Finger licking' good.' Are we sucked in to this sort of stuff? I don't honestly think so. It's politicising this pandemic just to score points. We know that the government has made mistakes, but it's understandable, and whatever they do is going to be criticised and the BBC is the worst offender. Just listen to the questions thrown at by the BBC reporters during the daily press conferences to the politicians and science advisers. Always attempting to make trouble just to make a story, to stir up trouble. Never anything positive, almost always negative. Which ever party was in government, there would always be some sort of mistake, we haven't been down this road before in living memory, when did we have a lockdown because of a pandemic like this? It's totally new territory.

I am attempting to encourage Alfie to go out a good deal later and we have done up until now, so we went out at gone 7.30 this morning and he didn't seem to object, thankfully, so I get a bit longer in bed.

The weather was bright and sunny this morning, but as the day progressed it became windy and wet. Fortunately I went on a further photography expedition early enough to avoid the rain which swept in around lunchtime. I have watched a further episode of 'The A Word' via BBC iPlayer and have done some more work on my writing. Research rather than actual pen-to-paper and uploaded some more photographs onto Facebook. I kept an eye of the weather and we went out for another walk but no sooner had Alfie realised that it was wet and not to his liking, he turned tail and took me home. He just doesn't appreciate rain at any price.

(Tuesday) A good deal brighter and warmer this morning.

I've been looking around on the internet for shorts. I wanted another pair and went on the Weird Fish website as a result of reading one of their emails. I have ordered cargo shorts in a light beige colour. The extra pockets will be useful for change, spare batteries or small items when I'm out and about with the camera.

I haven't been out to give the car a run for the past couple of days so I've driven down Chaffron Way as if I was going to Camphill (I wish I was because it's Tuesday and I would have been going there under different circumstances.) I went past Waitrose and was about to turn into the entrance but then decided that there was likely to be a 40-minute wait because of the queuing arrangements. By the time I turned off at the roundabout near Oakgrove school, I decided to have a look near the carpark and I found nobody queueing so I parked the car and went in as I needed more fruit and some sweets. Just can't resist a Rownstree's fruit pastille. I drove off along Brickhill Street and then onto Childs Way and then back onto Chaffron Way and up towards Morrison's at Westcroft and then round the roundabout and back to Oldbrook and home. At least its keeping the car battery charged up and preventing it from needing a jump start which is what I'm attempting to avoid.

(Wednesday) I'm writing this at 6.60a.m. I've been reading The Age of Decadence by Simon Heffer. I think I've mentioned this book and the earlier book by the same historian/suthor before in earlier blog posts. I'm reading the chapter on Edwardian literature, covering such authors as Conan-Doyle, H.G.Wells, Rudyard Kipling and Arnold Bennett. I've read Conan-Doyle, as I love Sherlock Holmes, and the Granada Television adaptations which starred Jeremy Brett as Holmes. I actually worked as a supporting artiste on one of those episodes, 'The Man With The Twisted Lip.' I did see the Benedict Cumberbatch modernised version, which was cleverly done, but it did become somewhat self indulgent in the later episodes. In that respect I'm a bit of a purist and prefer the stories set in the era they were originally set. I have read most of Well's novels, 'The Time Machine,' 'The Invisible Man' and 'The First Men In The Moon,' but none of what are described as 'romantic,' 'Kipps,' (The basis for the musical 'Half A Sixpence.') 'Ann Veronica,' and  'The History of Mr Polly.' Perhaps I should buy them in paperback and give them a go. Also, the 'Clayhanger' novels by Bennett. I think perhaps it's time that television did adaptations of them, that is, if we are to get fresh interperetatons of period novels, not the somewhat over warmed adaptations of Jane Austen which have now been done to death.

Sunday Drive Through Woburn Park

We regularly drive to Woburn Abbey and go through the park, to have a look at the deer. Also, the road which leads into the estate has some really spectacular rhododendron bushes along it's sides. At this time of the year they are in full bloom. Unfortunately there are other drivers on the roads who aren't bothered about the scenic beauty of the countryside and would rather speed past. We had to drive right through the park and make a circuit of the countryside and then return, and were then held up by a lone cyclist, which was annoying, but it meant we could deliberately slow down so that I could take some photographs of these stunning blooms, but those cars which got caught behind us were not too pleased and honked their horns when we held them up. I feel so sorry for those motorists who have little patience for anyone else on the roads and won't tolerate a driver who is looking at the scenery.

Rhododendrons along road leading into Woburn Park

We got to the main junction in the centre of Woburn where there is usually a hold-up. Some sort of farmer's market on along the road-side. We sped on towards Woburn Sands and visited Frost's garden centre where we had lattes in their café. As I've probably mentioned before, they've recently upgraded this garden centre and have improved the restaurant and the area we had our coffees is a new outlet. We bought bread and a cauliflower in the food hall and then a further brief wander around, browsing some of the items on sale, including the Weird Fish clothing concession and then home to Milton Keynes.