May Bank Holiday and Milton Keynes Marathon

May Bank Holiday Monday. Why is it that 1st May is a Bank Holiday in Great Britain? It never used to be such, although I recall the May Day celebrations in Ickwell, a village in Bedfordshire, not too far from where I used to live in Cardington, where they had (and no doubt, still have) a May Day Festival, with dancing around the Mayple, which is on the village green. Having now Googled the subject, yes, the Mayday celebrations do still happen, with dancing around the maypole and the crowning of a May Queen. It's been going on virtually uninterrupted since the time of the Tudors, but it was banned by Oliver Cromwell during the Commonwealth (miserable old so and so.) but reintroduced when Charles II became king after the Restoration.

So, we get a day off. Doesn't bother me one way or another, as I'm now retired, but I know Carol needs a rest from her efforts, working as a science teacher at Milton Keynes Academy.

After the last Milton Keynes Marathon a few months ago, when the route went past our house in Eaglestone (which meant we were locked in for a couple of hours and couldn't get out) and I vaguely mentioned the fact on one of my posts on this blog, it seemed to upset someone or other connected with this event. It seems you're not supposed to have an a opinion unless it's that of the mass. So much for the idea of the good old British thing called 'Free Speech' or 'Freedom of Expression.' I dared to suggest that the route went along the nearby Redway (only a few yards away.) It was almost as if I'd made some obscene remark, the reaction it caused.

On Sunday we were lead to believe that there was to be a marathon and that we'd be locked in to Eaglestone for several hours whilst this event took place. We saw the yellow signs along some of the Gridroads near Eaglestone, and, as a result, we wouldn't be able to drive to M.K.C.C. for either of the three services. As I'm involved in Better Together (see previous post.) I wanted to make sure I heard the message delivered. But I managed to be able to see this as services are broadcast 'live' via the internet and YouTube, which we can see through our SkyQ box. As it turned out we didn't have any runners come past our house, so whether the marathon (full, half or whatever) actually was diverted away from Eaglestone, I don't know. But on Monday (today) we weren't certain what was going on. We certainly didn't want to be stuck indoors and wanted to get out somewhere. It was a rather undecided day on the weather-front, but mostly it was sunny, although there was some rain during the day. We had talked about a trip to Rutland Water and we were considering taking Alfie. It doesn't take much to encourage him to go out with us and a walk around that stretch of water would have been good for all of us. I have visited before and it's certainly a good place to go to and plenty to attract attention. But then we changed our minds and decided on going to Bicester Avenue, a retail outlet and garden centre. It's very near Bicester Village and a good 40-minute drive just beyond Buckingham. We got away from Milton Keynes before the marathon began and intended getting back home after it finished.

So, we drove out of Milton Keynes and made for Bicester. On arrival at the retail park we had a stroll around the various shops and eventually went into the Wyevale Garden Centre there which is the central largest outlet within Bicester Avenue. We had coffee and scones and then looked around the plants and some of the bird-feeding paraphernalia on sale there with the eventual intention of adding to our bird feeder we already have set up in the garden at home.

We browsed in several of the other shops at Bicester Avenue, one being a pet shop where we actually managed to find Alfie another 'sound' toy (if you read earlier posts regarding the difficulty we've had finding a replacement for the Comic Relief 'laughing ball' which he loves so much, then you'll realise how great it was to find this toy. Actually we bought '2 for £5', which made it doubly great.) Then, into the Cotton Traders shop. We have bought quite a few items of clothing from this company, and get their catalogue in the post. From there, back to the car and home. The traffic going into Bicester was very heavy. Most seemed going to Bicester Outlet Village, another destination we've visited on various occasions, and then back towards Buckingham and Milton Keynes. As we approached Buckingham, the heavens opened and there was quite a rain storm. It didn't last long, but it's as well we didn't go to Rutland Water because we heard on the car radio that there were traffic hold-ups in and around that area, so we might have found ourselves held up on either the M1 or the A1 either outward bound or returning. We had intended visiting Aldi in Buckingham, which has a branch on the road going into Buckingham, but for some reason we couldn't find the exit and must have gone past, but then made the decision to visit the Aldi at Westcroft where we usually shop. The traffic was excessively heavy on the approach to Milton Keynes and, having done some basic shopping in Aldi for the evening's meal, drove home with the simple idea that the marathon had come to an end. How wrong could we be. The roads were chocker-block with very long queues of cars and we couldn't go towards Eaglestone along Chaffron Way and had to turn right along Grafton Street and then onto Standing Way. Completely grid-locked and it took a good deal longer to eventually get into Saxon Street, which by then had been opened up. Runners still running along some of the Redway system as we eventually drove into Eaglestone and home. 

Oxford Outing- Part 1

On Saturday we decided to have a day out and went to Oxford.  The last time we went  was almost exactly one year ago to the day, and as I have a free bus pass (one has now got to the age where one gets such things.) it seemed a good idea to leave the car behind, oblivating the necessity to not  only j driving there but also find parking space, even though there is a 'park-and-ride' scheme in operation in Oxford (we have used this on several occasions.) We got the bus from just outside the Academy in Saxon Street and arrived at Milton Keynes railway station and then had to wait before the Oxford bus came in. It arrived within about ten minutes and then we were off, going through Buckingham on the way, which we drive through on our way to Stowe Landscape Garden, one of our favourite National Trust properties. One advantage of being in a bus is that you sit up a good deal higher than you would if you were in a car, so you can see a good deal more of the countryside and in particular you see over hedges that grow alongside the roads you drive along. We went through Bicester (I went there to do induction for one of the care agencies I used to work for. A bit of a waste of time and effort if you ask me because I didn't get much work out of them as it turned out, but that's another story which I may or may not discuss in a future post.) We went past Bicester Village, the outlet shopping centre as well as Bicester Avenue, which we visited earlier in the year, which is fairly new.
We arrived in Oxford at around 10.00 and had need for the use of the toilets. Sorry to bring this up, but it seems to be a necessity of both of us. We knew that there were toilets in the bus station (where the bus came in at Oxford) but we soon discovered that there was some building work going on there and the toilets were out of operation. They had managed to put notices up telling you where the alternative toilets were and when we got there was a queue of people. On our way home on the bus we realised that there were toilets on the bus itself so that was one problem solved on the way home.
We have visited Oxford on several earlier occasions, a few times to Oxford Playhouse to see productions of Shakespeare plays produced by the all-male company, Propellor, in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Twelfth Night." We saw their version of "The Taming of The Shrew" a couple of years ago when Carol was teaching at Stantonbury Campus and we managed to get tickets through the school and went on a coach trip to see that show at the famous Old Vic theatre in London, which was a real treat. The last show of theirs we saw was "Henry V" a couple of years ago when they came to the Milton Keynes Theatre. So we know Oxford fairly well. This time we wanted to visit the Oxford Natural History Museum but weren't sure exactly where it was, so we spent quite some time wandering somewhat aimlessly around the streets in an attempt to locate it. We eventually managed to find it on a map but it was quite a walk out from the city centre and then discovered that it was CLOSED due to the roof being repaired which was something of a disappointment but there was an event going on outside the museum, I believe something to do with the friends of the museum or something, where there were stalls selling food and exhibits and managed to get pizza and something to drink because by now we were hungry and thirsty and it was quite a warm day and all that walking had taken it's toll.

Outing To Bicester Avenue

Yesterday had been a relatively mild day, and we haven't been out all that much for a while. We took both dogs to Rushmere Park, a few days ago which is very near somewhere else we take them for walks, Stockgrove Country Park, a 20-minute drive down the A5 near Woburn. We discovered this relatively 'new' place almost by accident, as we knew that there was a car park nearby where we usually go at Stockgrove as the last time we discovered that they'd installed a barrier across the entrance and you could only get in by paying at the machine.I realise these places have to be paid for, to maintain the buildings, car parks and other facilities and that cash is tight due to the current financial situation, particularly anything which is Council run and probably has had it's funding cut. But it seems a pity that so much of this sort of thing is putting off people who would otherwise use these facilities and might not do so due to these additional costs.

Anyway, this time we didn't take the dogs. It can be a real effort to load the cage in the back of the car for Alfie and then go through the process of getting their leads on, particularly as Alfie gets so wound up and the noise he makes, so we decided to leave them at home this time. Also, it would have meant, had they come with us, they would most likely have spent the whole time in the car, as where we went wasn't exactly dog-friendly.

We drove west. On the way we went through Buckingham, where we often go on our way to Stowe Landscape Gardens which is one of our  favourite National Trust properties. There are definite signs of spring which we can see as we drive along, not least how green everything is looking, as well as newly-born lambs in the fields and no end of daffodills and crocuses at last daring to make an appearance after what seemed like endless weeks of snow and ice. It must be one of the latest springs on record.

So, dear reader, where is all this leading, you may very well ask? We really just wanted to get away from Milton Keynes, because the weather had warmed up, and we have had such a cold winter, and Carol is on holiday, so it seemed a good idea to get out for a short while. We were heading towards Bicester, and had an idea that there was a garden centre we knew was opening somewhere nearby, so, when there was a choice of which road to follow, the left to Bicester, or the right, to Oxford, we chose Bicester. There is an outlet shopping centre in Bicester, or rather, just outside, imaginatively called Bicester Village, which we have visited on several occasions, and we decided that, if we didn't find the elusive garden centre, we'd go to Bicester Village.We always seem to end up somewhere that has either a restauraunt or tea or coffee shop, which was what we wanted to find right now, as we had been driving just over an hour. It's amazing how so many of the places we visit have a very convenient restaurant or other outlet that has food or drink! The National Trust properties we go to, art galleries or museums, all have excellent facilities serving good food. Generally speaking, of course, there are very few that have poor food outlets, but most are good. Also, it's amazing how, once you've completed you visit, and are about to leave, you end up in either a restaurant or in the gift shop. It seems that the lay-out of these places is such that you are magnetically drawn into these places so as to spend as much of your cash as possible! Well, on visiting National Trust properties we end up buying something from the gift shop, usually the guidebook, unless we've been there before. As a result we've amassed quite a collection over the years.

We saw signs for 'Bicester Outlet Village' and followed the route, but went past. It was a mile or two later on that we saw 'Bicester Avenue' advertised and Wyvale Garden centre so we drove in and found the carpark. This place is similar to Bicester Village in that it has a shopping mall with outlet or factory shops for some well known highstreet brands, such as Cotswold, Cotton Traders etc. The main shopping area is a very big Wyvale Garden Centre, which not only sells garden-orientated items such as plants, spades, pots, planters etc, but furniture, books, barbeques as well as housing a really large restaurant where we eventually landed up and having tea and toasted sandwiches. We did spend some time wandering around looking in the shops, but we decided that we'd come back, probably in the summer, as some of the shops were still not open, were as-yet unlet or were being fitted out. It would appear that the whole complex can't have been open very long.

We left soon after our tea and toasted sandwiches and drove back towards Milton Keynes and stopped at Tesco's in Buckingham and bought some salad and bits and pieces for our evening meal.