The World On Hold

 (Friday) It does seem like the whole world is on hold, a bit like when you attempt to telephone someone or something like a business, a broadband provider, delivery company or whatever, and you can't get through immediately, and you get that dreaded music which plays continually, and the voice says, ' Please be patient. your call is important to us. All our agents are busy. You are number 210 in the queue. . . ' All, lockdown does feel somewhat like that, kept eternally 'on hold.' (But without that awful music they play, while you wait . . . and wait . . . and wait, bu then eventually, someone speaks! But in the case of the confounded pandemic lockdown, we are hoping on hope that we might be released from this situation. I have been out, like being released on parole, for good behaviour! I went for a walk with my friend Mike from church. Hopefully it wasn't going to rain, but we went to where we usually go, in Willen, to have a tea and something to eat. Not sure now what the shop is called, but their prices are very reasonable. You have to wear a face covering, as we are supposed to do in all shops and other premises, but you can't sit down to eat your newly purchased food. Even outside they have taken away the tables and chair, so we had to sit on benches in the children's play area. It just seems crazy to me, that you can't sit together, even if it's socially distanced, because surely the virus is more likely to be dispersed in the open air and particularly when there's a fairly strong wind, as there was on this occasion, and it blew away the tops of our cardboard cups we had our tea in, as well as other paper. Understandable if you're inside as the virus would be more likely to be able to spread as the air will be still and such things as ventilation would help it's spread. I just think it's petty bureaucracy in some cases. But we have to just live with all this, unfortunately.

The government has seen fit to vote on a further six months extension of the lockdown legislation. Which takes us up until around August before they are likely to abandon the lockdown altogether. But we are now being told there is a THIRD WAVE of the virus on the continent of Europe. 

Coming back home afterwards from the walk I was amazed by the blossom coming out all around Milton Keynes, especially along Brickhill Street and Chaffron Way. The May, or hawthorn, mostly white, but some pink, and a variation of pink and white, in-between, looking something like clouds. Quite spectacular. No doubt the warmer weather has bought it out. The may referred to William Shakespeare as 'the darling buds of may', in sonnet 18.

I've been out will Alfie It's blowing a gale and it almost blows you off your feet. I thought it a good idea to go out as it had gone very dark and the clouds were gathering . . . sounds ominous and a bit like the opening of some story, probably set in 1939 and 'the storm clouds were gathering over Europe. Poland had been invaded and the chance of war was likely . . . etc etc.' There was even a film called 'The Gathering Storm,' which was about that very piece of history. I have an idea that it was a BBC film, but I can't be sure of that.

A Change In The Weather

It's sunny out, but it's chilly. Probably cold enough for there to be snow. I hope not, but I'm sure we will be able to manage. I took Alfie out at around 4.30, but it was so cold I don't think he appreciated it, but he needed to do his business and then we went home.

As I say, the weather is very changeable at present, from howling wind, to frost and fog, to sunny and so cold we could expect snow. But, let's be perfectly honest and just say, it's what you expect from the British climate and we're barely into February. I think in previous years we've had snow by now.

(Wednesday) I was determined to get my hair cut this morning. It's getting really untidy an I can't stand it when it gets long. I begin to look like a mad professor. Think the Christopher Lloyd character in 'Back To The Future.' I also wanted to go to Sainsbury's and had made a really detailed shopping list. My pension had gone into my account so I could afford to top up the freezer. I have joined something called CLASP (I think I may have mentioned this on here somewhere, as a result of visiting the history festival which was held in Campbell Park during the summer.) It stands for Community Landscape Archaeology survey Project.). On their Facebook page, I discovered that there was to be a conference near Peterborough on the technology used by archaeologists, which means they don't necessarily have to dig to discover what is beneath the ground, like the radar system called LIDAR and tomography (as seen on such television shows as Time Team.) So, I thought that it would be something that would interest me and as a result I have paid for a ticket which means I can now go at the end of March. I thought it was as well as get it booked before there was no more tickets and I would loose out.

So I drove in to the centre of Milton Keynes, and, having parked in my usual place, the carpark near The Point, I walked into the shopping centre and arrived at Essential Barbers. I was relieved to have my hair cut and walked back through the shopping centre. It was relatively early, around 9.50, so not many shops were open. That's the disadvantage of deciding to get there so early.

I bought a new notebook in W.H.Smith and the latest edition of the magazine Current Archaeology and then walked back to the car and home.

(Thursday) I was woken in the night by the sound of rain rattling on the bedroom window. It sounded ominously as if the weather was going to break in. I took Alfie out just after 7a.m., and discovered that the path along Strudwick Drive, which leads to Oldbrook Green, was flooded, making it virtually impassable.

Later. I've been back into the shopping centre. I had meant to go to the Nationwide branch because I intended to cancel a payment after I got my hair cut yesterday morning. I went to the branch yesterday as I walked through on my way to Essential Barbers, but it wasn't open. They are open at 9.30. I forgot to return, so this morning I went back in and then was told that the payment was made as a point-of-sale payment or something and I'd need to ring the company involved. It's so complicated. Anyway, it wasn't a Direct Debit.  I have since managed to ring the company concerned and the payment has been stopped.

I have a Costa loyalty card. It's the same idea as a Nectar or Tesco Clubcard, you get points every time you buy food or drink in one of their stores. They kept emailing me to say I could have a free coffee and gain extra points if I went into one of their stores. Which I did this morning, the branch which is near the Middleton Hall. I could do some observations and make notes in my newly-acquired notebook which I bought in W.H.Smith yesterday. Just noticed that many of the people I watched were in couples and, as a result, made notes. I had two fairly full notebooks, which I had kept when I lived in Golden Drive, but seem to have vanished into thin air since I moved to the flat, which annoys me because so much of what is in them could have been used to create written material, which was the main object of keeping them. Not stuff that will ever be restored to me, but I have a feeling that they might have been in one of the ten boxes which were taken by Willen Hospice, only days after I moved in October because I didn't have space for even half of what I had when I moved in. I didn't have an alternative and the CDs, DVDs and books they contained aren't missed and  the fact is, generally, once you've read a book, the chinches are you don't usually read again and most were paperbacks. The notebooks were valuable and I should have been a little more careful that they weren't mislaid, unfortunately, but considering everything I have been through over the last few years and in particular, the stress of attempting to find alternative accommodation, the notebooks were the last things on my mind.

Later. I'm still intrigued by the 'mystery building' which has appeared on the opposite side of Oldbrook Green to the Cricketers public house. I walked past earlier this afternoon and it now has a roof, fully tiled, and matching those on the existing building it's next to. I still have absolutely no idea what it's use will be. Probably just boring storage space for mowers and other equipment. Hey hoo!

Foggy, Then Wet, Weather

It's been quite foggy here for the past few days. At Willen you can look out of Carol's window and see across the lake. A really calming view. Lots of birds on it, ducks and swans mostly, but you do occasionally see herons. It was so foggy the other day you couldn't see the other side of the lake. A slight amount of fog as I took Alfie out for his walk around Eaglestone Park this morning, but generally quite mild, certainly no frost to mention.

I forget to mention that I stayed the night with Carol in her room  at Willen on Friday. Our neighbours, Garry and Shelley, looked after Alfie, going in to feed him and take him out for a walk. I was hoping that I could sleep on the reclining chair which is in the room, but it wouldn't recline sufficiently for me to lay flat on it and, frankly, it was never going to be an ideal place to sleep. When it was reclined right back it only pulled the plug out of the power point on the wall behind and then it was impossible to re-plug it. The nurses came in with a Z-Bed, or at least a sort of camping bed. Very ancient and not particularly well sprung and extremely narrow, but since this was to be a temporary arrangement I was willing to give it a go. But when it was set up and the bedding arranged on it and I started to lay on it, one set of very flimsy legs collapsed and I fell on the floor. Not very successful, you might say. So I had no alternative but to improvise. Carol kept on saying I should give up and go home, but I wasn't going to be defeated so I removed the mattress and the bedding from the wreckage of the camping bed, folded the thing up and put the mattress on the floor and made my bed there for the night. It wasn't entirely the most comfortable night's sleep, particularly as I had to keep waking to use the toilet along the corridor. But at least I managed to stay with Carol, as she had requested it. In the morning, at around 7.30, I crept out of the room and went to the lounge further along the corridor and made myself a cup of tea. One of the nurses made me some toast and marmalade and at around 8.30  went back to see Carol, still fast asleep. In fact, according to the nurses I spoke to later, they said she had a really good night's sleep, probably because I was there with her. She woke eventually at around 9 o'clock, really late for her. I left her to be bathed and washed by the staff and when I returned later she was siting up in bed eating a bacon sandwich!

I was hoping to have the rest of the day to myself at home. I needed some time to myself. But Carol insisted I come back later in the day. So, having have a couple of hours at home, basically to see how Alfie was and let him out into the garden as well as to give him a walk across the park, I went back to Willen in time for lunch and then came home at around 2 o'clock.

(Tuesday). I had to get a doctor's appointment this morning. I have had an annoying cough for several weeks. It began when I was prescribed Ramipril after my heart attack in September. I only discovered that it might be a side-effect of this medication when I spoke to one of the cardiology nurses at Milton Keynes hospital. I managed to change this medication back to what I had previously been prescribed, candesartan. On changing this medication the cough seemed to subside, but didn't entirely disappear. I get really nasty phlegm in my throat which causes an intermittent cough which can strike at odd times, usually at night or when I least expect it. This happened during church on Sunday and I had to leave the hall to get a drink of water. Which is why I decided to get an appointment. I had mentioned this the other week when I went to see my doctor and he said I'd need to give a sample. Which I did and would get the results at the surgery when I made the appointment.

I had to ring the surgery early. I was surprised that I got through relatively quickly. Only two other people ahead of me in the telephone queue. I was soon speaking to a receptionist and I explained why I needed an appointment and then I had to wait around an hour before a doctor rang to give me an appointment a 9.50.

It turns out that the sample I gave and was analysed didn't show any bacteria or anything nasty, so there's really no explanation for the phlegm or why I'm coughing. The doctor said it might be a viral thing, but they're not sure, so antibiotics won't help. I know they try not to over-prescribe them, so I'm not surprised. He just told me to drink plenty, which I know I don't and should. He wrote me a couple of prescriptions because I have two lots of medication which will soon run out, so I left the surgery and went into Cox and Robinson to get the prescriptions made up which took around 10 minutes and then drove over to Willen to visit Carol.