Jam Yesterday, Jam Tomorrow, But Never Jam Today

Friday. 1.40 a.m. Yet another case of nothing being able to sleep. Never mind. I can always find something to keep myself busy, such as washing up, tidying the kitchen, sorting out the recycling and tying up the bags to take to the bin room. I did my Bible reading, which is 'Through The Bible In A Year, with Nicky Gumble.' I do this on my iPad. Then I feel hungry, and so I made several pieces of toast and had a really nice Lidl raspberry conserve on it. (Conserve, having a higher percentage of fruit in it than jam.) And far better value than other brands.

10.40 a.m. It's a bit overcast and dull. Where has the sun gone? I can hear the wind, making wind-like noises (!) The sort of whistling, yet not whistling noise. The sort of wind you'd expect in a rather clichéd production of 'Wuthering Heights.' You know what I mean, at least, I imagine you do, with Kathy outside and shouting to be let in, in the middle of a moor somewhere in Yorkshire. Sad, really, but very corny and the acting is somewhat over-the-top. Melodramatic.

2.30 p.m. I was about to take Alfie out at around 1 p.m, only to discover that it was pouring rain, so we only went out fleetingly. As I write this, the wind continues to howl around the building.

Saturday. 5.50 p.m. Where did the rest of the day go? Well, it began early, with me taking Alfie as usual around 5.00 a.m. We didn't do our usual circuit of Oldbrook Green, but I had all the recycling and rubbish bagged up and ready to take out to the bins. Washing up done and the kitchen tidied.

We had our monthly men's breakfast at the Oaktree Centre this morning. I thought it started at 8 o'clock, so I was there bright and early. There was nobody else waiting, so I sat in the car, listening to Classic FM, with the overture to 'The Flying Dutchman' blaring out of the car radio. I was listening as I drove up Chaffron Way, and, although I'm not a keen Wagner fan, it was very motivational, so I had to sit and listen to it in the car park outside the Oaktree Centre.  I have to admit, I was wondering if I had the day or the time wrong, but then Richard, who organizes the men's breakfast, arrived, with a load of what looked like bread rolls. The building was locked, so we had to wait for someone to come and open the place up.

A couple arrived to do the cooking of the food. They set up two gas-fired barbecue pans and proceeded to fry sausages and bacon. 

The group began to arrive and it turned out that it wasn't supposed to start at the usual time of 8 o'clock but an hour later at 9, which I didn't know.

We ate our bacon, eggs and sausage and drank tea (or coffee) and then we had a talk from someone who used to be involved with S.C.F., on advanced driving, which was very informative and instructive. 

I was planning to go to the history festival at Milton Keynes Museum directly after the men's breakfast, but, because it concluded later than expected, I decided to leave it until Sunday. As a result, and because I didn't want to be cooped up in the flat all Saturday, I drove into the Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre and had a browse and went into John Lewis as I'm looking for a cable which would allow me to link certain peripherals to my iPhone, iPad and MacBook because Apple has changed the ports from lightening to Thunderbolt/USB 4. I didn't find what I was looking for, unfortunately. I may end up going to the Apple Store to find what I want, but, being a Saturday, the store is likely to be very busy, so I decided to leave it for another day.

I walked through the shopping centre and went to Waterstone's and purchased two books, one on 'How To Be a Victorian,' and the other about 'Peterloo.'

Sunday. 12.45 p.m. My goodness! What's going on? The sun is shining and it's really bright. Almost (Note: I said 'almost'!) like spring!

Came out of church early. Miss having my usual cup of tea, so that I could be ready to go to Milton Keynes Museum for the history festival. There were just TWO spare spaces in the church car park! 

My friend Nick (hello Nick, if you're reading this!) was coming over to Milton Keynes from Northampton on the bus so that we could go to the history festival at Milton Keynes Museum. At around 1.30, he texted me to say he was at the centre, so I drove in and he was waiting near The Point. We drove to the museum and managed to park, although the car park was very full and there were few spaces. Luckily I managed to find a place.

Because I had been to the museum some months ago, and paid and kept the ticket, I was able to enter, free. I have a few months left on the card, so I can go again. Today's history festival covered a vast timescale, from around the time of the Romans, the Medieval period right up to the time of the Suffragettes. There was a gladiator fight (quite scary) as well as a knight's battle from the time of the Wars of The Roses. 

We went into the café and had tea. I was ready for a drink, as by now I was thirsty. Then we went into the main museum building, which was the farmhouse, built in C.1840, at the time well before Milton Keynes was built. We learnt about the railway and Wolverton's part in the history of the railway in the mid-19th century.  We saw a display of Victorian music boxes, a pianola and a gadget which displayed photographs stereoscopically, When we emerged from that exhibition it was time to leave. I took Nick back to the bus stop in the city centre and said goodbye. There is to be a Victorian history festival in June, so no doubt I will be attending that and possibly Nick will come over from Northampton.

Monday. 4.05 p.m. I have done all the usual walks with Alfie and when I took him out at around 5.20 a.m. there was broken glass along the path leading to Oldbrook Green, which some delightful person felt it necessary to drop in our path. Fortunately, I avoided it before Alfie got his feet cut and I moved it out of the way. Not just his feet, but it would have punctured the tyres of anyone cycling along that stretch of path.

I went out, alone this time, with the gimbal and noticed a blue tractor cutting the grass, which I haven't seen before. I think it would be a good deal quicker than the usual mowers they use for this job. I got the gimbal set correctly and the results were a good deal better I have got the video to work on my iPad.

Snow, Snow Quick Quick, Snow!

 Wednesday. 6.55 a.m. It's quite cold out. A bit of a shock, even though we had been warned that wintery weather was going to return. I think it's relatively mild by comparison with the rest of the country, particularly in the north and Scotland. According to Carol Kirkwood on BBC Breakfast, there is a 26º difference between the north and the south of the United Kingdom. As I write this, there is a very thin fall of snow. Whether it settles and causes problems,  it remains to be seen.

Thursday. 6.50 a.m. It has been snowing overnight. It is still falling as I write this, but it seems to be a flurry and only a light covering of the garden which I can see from my kitchen window and along the grass where I take Alfie when we go out, beside Strudwick Drive. It would appear, from watching the weather forecast on BBC Breakfast a few minutes ago, that this wintry weather is likely to remain for the next week or two, but the north of England and into Scotland will have the heaviest falls of snow and that travel will become hazardous. In fact, an Amber weather warning has been declared in those areas with up to 16 inches of snow covering the ground.

I learned from Barbara who is the SHO at Dexter House (Sheltered Housing Officer) that she had handed in her notice. This means we will be having someone new take over her job in around two months' time. She has been in the job for three years and started in January after I moved here in 2019.

12.20 p.m. The writing of the new piece I  have mentioned elsewhere in these posts is going better than expected. It is now on it's second draft and, like most bits of writing, it's likely to go through further rewrites and drafts.

1.40 p.m. The snow has now turned into rain. I don't think the snow which is covering the garden and on the grass alongside Strudwick Drive (and elsewhere, Oldbrook Green and the entirety of Milton Keynes) will be around much longer. We are going to be left with soggy and very wet conditions underfoot once it has melted entirely.

Friday. 6.50 a.m. The laying snow (is that the correct form to describe snow which is on the ground? I'm not sure, but never mind.) has gone overnight, as I thought it would. But when I took Alfie out around fifteen minutes ago, there was a thin, but chilly fall of rain, which, as I write this, had turned into snow. So, winter has returned with a vengeance. But, compared to the rest of the country, we seem to have escaped the worst of this weather. I noticed that Hawes, a village in Yorkshire, had been shown on the BBC Breakfast weather map. It's a place near where Carol and I stayed when we had a holiday in Yorkshire a few years ago. I can imagine that if they had snow there, it would make life very difficult, with drifts making driving more or less impossible.

4.55 p.m. I'm making good headway with my writing. I have done a rewrite on something I wrote yesterday. It's got far more dialogue in it. Dialogue is notoriously difficult to write. It doesn't always read as natural speech. But this has begun to gel, and it will make a transition between two different sections of the piece.

The snow has gone. I can see absolutely no sign of any as I looked out of my kitchen window a few minutes ago. We seem to have gone through several seasons' worth of weather within the last 24 hours, from winter, with snow flurries and what could have developed into deep snow, to sunny and bright and almost spring-like weather.

Weather Warning

 (Tuesday morning) There is an urgent weather warning. A yellow, covering most of the country, including Milton Keynes. A real danger of flooding and people told to keep well away from rivers. There  are some people who won't heed the warnings and get themselves into trouble and need rescuing. It's been called Storm Christoph. I know they use names which are in alphabetical order and alternate male and female names.

I had a text message from my doctor's surgery about making an appointment to have the covid vaccine. I rang this morning and it's booked for this Friday at 3.20p.m. Well, at least that will be done. I think we can definitely see a  light at the end of the tunnel with this current pandemic. I'm not suggesting for one moment that we can all go around hugging each other and that life will immediately return to normal, because it's not likely to. For a start, the scientists who have developed these vaccines aren't sure how long they will be effective for and, probably more importantly, whether, once you've had it, will you be able to spread the virus, which is the main problem and basically why we have to have social distancing.

Alfie has recently had the strange habit of sitting on the sofa next to me and staring at me. I hadn't the slightest idea what it's about. I took him out earlier and thought he needed to 'do his thing,' (do I need to explain further? Probably not.) Yes, he did. But when we got back in the flat, this 'staring' business continued. Then I had a lightbulb moment. Possibly he was hungry. Staring at me was his way of trying to communicate with me. So, I gave him one of the meat sachets I use to feed him in the evening. He scoffed it down completely, so that explains the staring at me. Situation resolved and he now seems a good deal happier.

(Wednesday) I didn't wake up until 7.30 this morning. I don't think I've woken so late for goodness knows how long. On taking Alfie out we found it was windy and wet, but not the torrential rain I was expecting. We'll probably get a real downpour later in the day.

(Later) I had to go to Lloyd's Pharmacy in Sainsbury's to pick up a prescription which had been made up for me and got one or two other items at the same time. It was relatively quiet and easy to get in and out including parking the car. As I write this, the wind is blowing half a gale outside (well, it would be worst if it was inside!) They were warning on BBC Breakfast about heavy rainfall in the north of England, particularly in the area of Yorkshire that we had holidays in, the Calder Valley in particular. I feel sorry for the householders who get flooded on a regular basis in that area. I don't expect their insurance companies will pay out if you have repeated flooding. 

(Later) I've been watching the Inauguration of Joe Biden, which had been shown on television. BBC1 had it as well as the BBC News channel. As expected, Donald Trump didn't turn up, although his vice president, Mike Pence, did.  Biden's Vice President, Kamala Harris, the first woman and of colour to become his Vice President also sworn in. 

Car Passes MoT

The car had been booked in to be serviced and MoT's last Thursday, but at the last minute it was moved to today, Monday. I took the car early, to MK Diagnostics in Bleak Hall, arriving there at around 8 a.m. I had to walk all the way home through Coffee Hall and back to Eaglestone. At around 10 the garage rang to tell me it would need two rear wheel bearings. So, the total bill for service and Mot together with parts and labour came to £238.50. The usual garage we go to was going to charge £146 for just the MoT and service, so I'm more than pleased that we rang round for a quote. So the car is done for another year, and hopefully the peculiar juddering which we've had to endure for the last month or two has been cured, no doubt due to having an oil-change. The car is a Hynundai Atos, and it might be small but it's really cheap to run, insure and tax. A couple of years ago we went on holiday to Flamborough Head in Yorkshire and we managed to get all the way there on £35-worth of petrol! I have to say that living in Milton Keynes makes driving more expensive, probably due to the number of roundabouts and 'sleeping policemen' or speed bumps, and also the really poor quality of some of the road surfaces around here. Going over pot-holes and speed-bumps seems to put extra strain on the suspension of most vehicles as well as wearing the tyres quicker.

Carol's Job Interview

Carol has been applying for teaching jobs in the Yorkshire area. On Tuesday she had one at a special school in Barnsley. We drove up after school on Monday and stayed in a Travelodge hotel overnight, as the appointment was at 8.30 the next morning. She had to give a presentation, amongst other things, on how teaching in a mainstream school differs from that in a special school. She had been working on this for around two weeks, over the Easter holiday infact.

We got up to Barnsley in good time, found the hotel (after a bit of searching) and then went off to find the school, which was only around 10 minutes away from the hotel. On arriving back at the hotel we went for a meal at a Frankie and Bennys, which was over the road from the hotel. 

The following morning we were at the school before 8.00, in really good time for the appointment and she went into the school at around 8.15. I then went back to the hotel until 12 noon, as that was when we had to check out. I filled in the next couple of hours until I was due back to pick up Carol at 2 by wondering around the Barnsley area and sitting and reading my book which I had taken with me. Carol came out of the school at around 2 p.m., not knowing whether she had got the job or not, as this won't be decided until Monday, as it depends on the school's budgets. We drove away from Barnsley and got on the M1 and stopped at Meadowhall shopping centre near Sheffield and had a meal. We got back to Milton Keynes by around 5.15. The weather had been reasonably good, but on the way back it rained heavily, but as we drove closer to home the sun did come out briefly.

Spring Is In The Air!

Well, it's a bright and sunny morning, as I write this. The temperature has gone up considerbly, some 10 degrees, which is high, considering that in parts of the country it's been minus 15! The birdies are singing and bulbs are showing their green shoots and I think I may have seen buds on some trees. We saw primroses when we went to Stowe the other day, so that's a good sign. The bird-feeder which I gave to Carol at Christmas has been attracting quite a variety of birds, and a rather large pigeon sits on it regularly. The dogs are spending a good deal more time outside in the garden. Carol has applied for two jobs in Yorkshire, so, if things go according to plan we will be moving! Can't wait, as we so love that area of the country. It would be great to live somewhere which is within reach of the sea. This area is about as far as you can get from the sea, it's around a three-hour drive to the coast from here, depending, obviously where you go. Cromer is a good three-hour drive from Bedford, but it may be shorter, as the road towards Norwich has been improved over the past couple of years.