I've done a great deal of writing in the last couple of weeks. Some of it rewriting and editing material which I have handwritten in a couple of notebooks. I'm transcribing it onto my MacBook and using the newly-acquired iPad. Dictation is speeding things up, but I have to keep checking as it has a tendency to come up with some hilarious alternatives to some words.
The idiot building the shed in the garden along the street is banging and sawing like crazy. I think it's a substitute for something, working off his frustration with the hammer and saw, but it's annoying me. I think some people don't realise that their D.I.Y. activities can be so irritating and annoying, they are so focussed, sort of O.C.D., that they don't realise it has an effect on those who are close by. Probably due to having to endure lockdown.
I've taken Alfie out but I am beginning to get somewhat bored with Oldbrook Green. Alfie loves to stop and sniff virtually every tree and lamppost, as most dogs do, but I'm concerned when he picks things up in his mouth, and on several occasions he's picked up what I suspect are chicken bones, thrown aside by people who buy fried chicken. But they can be lethal to a dog as the sharp bits can get stuck in their throats or further inside their system and could kill them. I have had to extricate several bits from his mouth when he's picked them up and it upsets me that they could have devastating effects on my best pal. I don't think people realise the danger of their actions in this regard and I have to be vigilant in removing these bones when Alfie picks them up.
Yesterday morning it was misty as I stood and washed up at the kitchen sink. I can see quite a distance from that standpoint. It's not so clear now because the trees are in more or less full leaf. You can see the Milton Keynes shopping centre and Debenham's building, but the mist was obscuring most of the distant buildings, which includes Sainsbury's. I know that it's that because it has an orange block of colour which stands out quite clearly.
This morning (Saturday) as I write this, it's again quite over-cast, but it's mild. Not exactly as the title of this post states, but at least it's mild.
I've been watching the BBC sitcom 'My Family.' First two episodes of the first series, which are on BBC iPlayer. I had seen later episodes, but not from the beginning. I can't believe there was so many series and episodes. It's not actually a brilliant series, but Zoe Wanamaker and Robert Lindsey are great actors. Any other actors in those parts wouldn't have made it as good, as Ben and Susan Harpur. It's actually being rerun, on Fridays, on BBC1. I image the BBC is running short of new material to show, because so many shows are furloughed due to the pandemic lockdown. It seems amazing to think that this series began 20 years ago and ran for an amazing 11 series. Some really hilarious lines and good storylines which other sitcoms can't compete with. There is one thing that bothers me, and that the actors who play the children seem far too old, or at least seem too old, for the ages they're supposed to be playing, and why is Nick still living at home with his parents? How old is he supposed to be? Surely in his twenties. The daughter seems far older than 16. Just not realistic, but does it really matter.
I have also watched the first episode on 'The A Word,' which, again, is on iPlayer with entire seasons available, so it's possible to binge watch. A drama series which I haven't seen before and interested me because it features a child who has autism and that was the specialism I dealt with when I worked in care with people with learning disabilities, so I have a fair amount of experience of the subject. It's great to have a drama series which isn't about cops and robbers, car-chases and men in lycra and is believable and the characters interact well and is well written and acted.
(Sunday) The iPad has decided to go into dull mode. What I mean is, I want to use it early this morning and I can barely read the screen. I can't reset it so it's bright enough to read. I think it's supposed to do this to allow you to read it at night without eyestrain, but actually it's making it worse so I can't read it and it's creating more eye strain. I'm going through the various settings to allow me to re-set it to counteract this, but, as I write this, that is not possible.
(Later) I managed to sort out the iPad. It was obvious really. I just restarted it and it came back on in the bright mode. I can't think why it wouldn't work with the brightness setting because I hadn't set it to be in dark mode. The problem was that I couldn't see what was going on and it was more or less impossible to read anything on it. Never mind, it's now fixed.
I've carried on with more transcribing of hand-written material, but I have now found quite a lot of my stuff on Google Drive, which I had forgotten about. I think it's like iCloud, meaning it will work across different computers and saves having to store on discs or other media.
The lovely D.I.Y. I have mentioned earlier has continued, but at 3.45 this afternoon, there is no sound, fortunately.
I took out Alfie and I saw people playing some sort of ball game. Oh dear, they're not supposed to be doing that. Either they are ignoring the legal requirement to not be gathering in such places as Oldbrook Green, or else they have not seen the sign (a permanent one, no doubt erected by the Council, either Milton Keynes or the Campbell Park Parish Council cil, which clearly states that 'no ball games, barbecues etc.' in a very curt and rather puritan sort of fashion, as most of them do.) The notices which are put up around the park, on the outdoor gym equipment, are written in the typical officialese sort of language, but it wouldn't hurt to put 'Please' and 'Thank you on them,' but I don't expect the bureaucrats who write these sorts of notices to do such a thing.
The idiot building the shed in the garden along the street is banging and sawing like crazy. I think it's a substitute for something, working off his frustration with the hammer and saw, but it's annoying me. I think some people don't realise that their D.I.Y. activities can be so irritating and annoying, they are so focussed, sort of O.C.D., that they don't realise it has an effect on those who are close by. Probably due to having to endure lockdown.
I've taken Alfie out but I am beginning to get somewhat bored with Oldbrook Green. Alfie loves to stop and sniff virtually every tree and lamppost, as most dogs do, but I'm concerned when he picks things up in his mouth, and on several occasions he's picked up what I suspect are chicken bones, thrown aside by people who buy fried chicken. But they can be lethal to a dog as the sharp bits can get stuck in their throats or further inside their system and could kill them. I have had to extricate several bits from his mouth when he's picked them up and it upsets me that they could have devastating effects on my best pal. I don't think people realise the danger of their actions in this regard and I have to be vigilant in removing these bones when Alfie picks them up.
Yesterday morning it was misty as I stood and washed up at the kitchen sink. I can see quite a distance from that standpoint. It's not so clear now because the trees are in more or less full leaf. You can see the Milton Keynes shopping centre and Debenham's building, but the mist was obscuring most of the distant buildings, which includes Sainsbury's. I know that it's that because it has an orange block of colour which stands out quite clearly.
This morning (Saturday) as I write this, it's again quite over-cast, but it's mild. Not exactly as the title of this post states, but at least it's mild.
I've been watching the BBC sitcom 'My Family.' First two episodes of the first series, which are on BBC iPlayer. I had seen later episodes, but not from the beginning. I can't believe there was so many series and episodes. It's not actually a brilliant series, but Zoe Wanamaker and Robert Lindsey are great actors. Any other actors in those parts wouldn't have made it as good, as Ben and Susan Harpur. It's actually being rerun, on Fridays, on BBC1. I image the BBC is running short of new material to show, because so many shows are furloughed due to the pandemic lockdown. It seems amazing to think that this series began 20 years ago and ran for an amazing 11 series. Some really hilarious lines and good storylines which other sitcoms can't compete with. There is one thing that bothers me, and that the actors who play the children seem far too old, or at least seem too old, for the ages they're supposed to be playing, and why is Nick still living at home with his parents? How old is he supposed to be? Surely in his twenties. The daughter seems far older than 16. Just not realistic, but does it really matter.
I have also watched the first episode on 'The A Word,' which, again, is on iPlayer with entire seasons available, so it's possible to binge watch. A drama series which I haven't seen before and interested me because it features a child who has autism and that was the specialism I dealt with when I worked in care with people with learning disabilities, so I have a fair amount of experience of the subject. It's great to have a drama series which isn't about cops and robbers, car-chases and men in lycra and is believable and the characters interact well and is well written and acted.
(Sunday) The iPad has decided to go into dull mode. What I mean is, I want to use it early this morning and I can barely read the screen. I can't reset it so it's bright enough to read. I think it's supposed to do this to allow you to read it at night without eyestrain, but actually it's making it worse so I can't read it and it's creating more eye strain. I'm going through the various settings to allow me to re-set it to counteract this, but, as I write this, that is not possible.
(Later) I managed to sort out the iPad. It was obvious really. I just restarted it and it came back on in the bright mode. I can't think why it wouldn't work with the brightness setting because I hadn't set it to be in dark mode. The problem was that I couldn't see what was going on and it was more or less impossible to read anything on it. Never mind, it's now fixed.
I've carried on with more transcribing of hand-written material, but I have now found quite a lot of my stuff on Google Drive, which I had forgotten about. I think it's like iCloud, meaning it will work across different computers and saves having to store on discs or other media.
The lovely D.I.Y. I have mentioned earlier has continued, but at 3.45 this afternoon, there is no sound, fortunately.
I took out Alfie and I saw people playing some sort of ball game. Oh dear, they're not supposed to be doing that. Either they are ignoring the legal requirement to not be gathering in such places as Oldbrook Green, or else they have not seen the sign (a permanent one, no doubt erected by the Council, either Milton Keynes or the Campbell Park Parish Council cil, which clearly states that 'no ball games, barbecues etc.' in a very curt and rather puritan sort of fashion, as most of them do.) The notices which are put up around the park, on the outdoor gym equipment, are written in the typical officialese sort of language, but it wouldn't hurt to put 'Please' and 'Thank you on them,' but I don't expect the bureaucrats who write these sorts of notices to do such a thing.
