Heart attack

Sunday, October 20, 2024

. . . And More Rain!

 Monday. 7.30 a.m. Oh dear! I was hoping for a dry day today, but no. I took Alfie out just now and it was. . . raining! As you may know, if you are a regular reader of these posts, Alfie doesn't like getting wet, especially when it's raining. 

Wednesday. 10.25 a.m. It's pension day, so I've been to Sainsbury's. The car park was virtually empty, so there was no problem finding a space and, because there were few shoppers around, it was quicker and easier to get what I wanted. The down traveller wasn't working, so I had to use the lift to get back down to the car. Signs of Christmas throughout the store. More 'stuff' which they seem to think people will rush in to buy.

Friday. 7.55 a.m. It's foggy this morning. It's not thick, and it's likely to clear as the day progresses.

This evening we have another quiz night at the Oaktree Centre. As part of it, there's the famous 'Roll-A-Coin' session. The idea is that there is a selection of items on the floor at one end of the hall, and you have to stand, at a distance, and roll a £1 coin at the items, if your coin hits an item, you win it! Members of the church (and other guests who come along.) bring gifts to be prizes. I have managed to buy several, one at each shopping visit to Sainsbury's, which I intend to take this evening. As for the £1 coins, that can be quite difficult, basically because I rarely use cash and mostly pay with my debit card, contactless or with a P.I.N., which means I don't often have change and certainly not a pocket full of £1 coins. So, yesterday at midday, after the Thursday Morning Life Group meeting at the Oaktree Centre, I went into the centre of Milton Keynes. Unfortunately, I went down the wrong street for the car park I usually park in. You would think, after around 18 years of living in Milton Keynes, I would have remembered which road to use, but I find so many of the streets around the place so similar that it's quite difficult to distinguish one from another, but I eventually managed to get to the usual car park. I then had to use the RingGo app on my iPhone to pay, but for some reason, it had to be downloaded again before I could use it, so I had to wait a good ten minutes before it was downloaded. I went into the shopping centre and sat on one of the seats inside the entrance and managed to get the confounded app to work and paid for the parking session. I then went to the Nationwide branch and took out £20 from the A.T.M. within the branch and took £5 of the cash to have it changed at the teller into £5 in coins. So, mission accomplished.

I notice some changes within the shopping centre. Barclays Bank has a new branch right next door to Nationwide. It's not yet opened because it's being fitted out, Starbucks is moving into what used to be Carluccios, and another restaurant is replacing Café Rouge. I'm not entirely sure of the name of the new restaurant. 

Saturday. 9.35 a.m. I woke up a good deal later than usual. I think it was probably because yesterday evening's quiz night finished at around 10 o'clock. On taking Alfie out, we discovered a light rain, which hasn't stopped. It has put paid to my videoing which I had planned for today. Oh well, once the weather improves, I will give it a go.

Sunday. 7.40 a.m. I did go out with the new video camera yesterday mid-morning. The sun shone, and it seemed perfect for what I wanted to do. I went down to the canal and walked along the bank and then back to where I parked the car. Unfortunately, the footage, which I looked at when I got back to the flat, was high speed, due to having the wrong setting in the camera. I'm glad in a way, because it proved to me that testing the camera out before attempting something more serious was a good idea, so I now hope I have it set to replay at the correct speed. It just goes to show how versatile this little camera is and how it is deceptive. It looks simple but certainly isn't in the least bit.

It seems windy out this morning. I think I might have to leave any further exploits with the camera until the weather improves.

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