Noisy, Aimless Pigeons!

Friday 17th July. 10.25 a.m. It's another mild and relatively sunny, but the heat has finished, for the moment. I just hope it doesn't come back as roastingly hot. I don't mind the sun- infact, I love it, but when it's so hot, I can't cope with it. When it's cold, at least you can put anothr layer on, a jumper, fleece, puton the heating, turn up the heating a couple of notches, but when it's so hot, it's difficult to get away from it, apart from sitting in a pool of water, drinking plenty of fluids, have a shower or whatever, but there's never any relief from it.

Currenly, the digital thermometer reads 27ºc.

My fridge/freezer needs cleaning out. One job that I don't exactly enjoy, but must be done. I found two packs of tomatoes, so I decided to make them into soup and use the soup maker. I chopped the tomatoes, along with onions, put them in a glass dish, sprinkled balsamic vinegar and olive oil all over them and put them into the oven to roast for half an hour and then, once they were tender and soft, put them into the soup maker and switched it on and barely 20 minutes ir was done. I'm amazed at how good it tasted, and it's far better than Heinz or any other bought, tinned soup. And there's enough for around 6 bowls or mugs, as I prefer to use a mug to consume it. Actually the best soup I've managed to make in it since I got it.

Saturday 18th July. 4.40 p.m. I should, of course, mentioned the noisy aimless pigeons, who gave me inspiration for the title of this post. Well, they are always outside my window, making that awful repetitive noise they make, you know, cooing aimlseely, possibly the most boring bird sound on the planet. They should at least change it once in a while. Then, when you see them on the ground they move around, nodding their heads. If I was to spend all day nodding, I would get a severe headache. I have to say, they aren't exactly the most intelligent birds on this planet.

Sunday 26th July. 5.15 a.m. Here we go again! Wide awake and unable to get back to sleep, I'm here on my laptop.

I mentioned about the sound system I had ordered from Amazon, which had a Bluetooth-connected microphone? Well, if I didn't, let me just say, the wretched thing lasted all of two weeks or maybe less, when it packed up completely and  it wouldn't do a thing. I knew it would have to be returned and that would be difficult, as I had thrown out the packaging it came in. I scrambled about my flat, searching for any suitable cardboard box into which the sound system would fit and found one, chopped it down with scissors and, after a bit of improvisation, parcel tape and ingenuity, I got it wrapped up. But, parcel tape is useful, but trying to find a loose end, which keeps on re-sticking itself to the roll is really frustrating. 

Having got the parcel wrapped, I had to find the business who would take it and get it returned to Amazon. It turned out to be Parcel Force and I got  tet message telling me someone would collect it on Thursday, between 10.25 and 2.25. All very well giving me a window, but nothing closer to the actual time of collection, so I didn't go to my usual Thrsday life group ar the OTC.

The window for collection closed and I was thinking, have I been forgotten? Did I get the times wrong or something? Then the intercom thing buzzed and a voice spoke and the Parcel Force employee arrived on my doorstep. I didn't even have to print a label for the parcel, all now done with barcodes and a barcode reader (just don't ask me how it works.) and the parcel was whisked away. So, I decided to choose the replacement sound system and next day, the refund was in my Amazon account, so I ordered the replacement and that arrived next morning. So, the packing, sending and collecting of the parcel was relatively stress-free and I now got the new system working.

Gadzooks!

 Wednesday 28th January. 12.15 p.m. I went to Sainsbury's earlier. I was somewhat surprised that there was a thin layer of ice on all the windows of the car, but I soon dealt with it by spraying on antifreeze.

As I write this, it is sunny and bright out.

9.15 p.m. I had ordered a glass tea infuser and samples of different varieties of full-leaf tea from something called Teabox. It was advertised on Facebook. It was supposed to be delivered by Royal Mail this morning, between 10.45a.m. and 2.00p.m. The time came and went, and nothing arrived. Then, mid-afternoon, I got an email to say it would be delivered between 5.30 p.m and 7.30 p.m. It eventually came around 5.30.

Friday, January 30th. 9.20 a.m. Not a very distinctive sort of morning. No wind or rain.

The daffodil bulbs I planted are coming up. Hopefully, they should be in full bloom by the time of Carol's birthday on 7th March. She would have been 62.

The digital thermometer reads 20ºc.

Saturday 31st. 9.20 a.m. I have a feeling the sun is attempting to come out. I do hope it does.

10.05 p.m. The sun did come out, but only briefly. Not a particularly bright day. A bit overcast, but what do you expect on a late January day?

I ordered some over-the-ear, Bluetooth earbuds from Very yesterday and they were delivered this morning, much to my surprise. I thought they would take until at least the middle of next week to be delivered. They are Powerbeats Pro 2, and they were relatively easy to get connected to my iPhone. The idea is that I can go for a walk and have them on to listen to and they should help motivation.

One of the residents at Dexter House had a birthday today, and I was invited to a special dinner to celebrate in the communal lounge. There was plenty to eat and drink, and a good time was had by all.

Sunny Saturday

 Saturday. 8.25 a.m. I haven't quite got the hang of using and operating the DJI Pocket. I didn't actually record any footage when I walked around Oldbrook Green, but I have since discovered that you have to give the record button a couple of presses to make it work. I know it sounds simple, but you only discover this sort of detail when you find YouTube videos which teach you how to operate the camera. You get an extremely basic instruction leaflet with the gadget (I think this is the case with most devices today.) Also, merely playing with the various buttons on the device to find out which one does what. I am now discovering how the wireless microphone connects to the camera. It uses Bluetooth and WiFi to connect. Another YouTube video explains the procedure.

As the title of this post suggests, it's a sunny day. What more can I say on the subject?

4.00 p.m. I have been out once more with the DJI Pocket and been around Oldbrook Green. I have now viewed the footage, and I'm more than pleased with the result. I didn't have the wireless microphone attached, although I have discovered how to connect it, having viewed a YouTube video on the subject. The secret of using a camera with a gimbal is that, don't play around with the settings. Once you have it how you want it, leave it alone. I had the camera facing away from myself, and the gimbal managed to keep the horizon level. Perhaps I should hold the device a little bit higher, but that's a minor point. I think if the manufacturers were going to make any adjustments to the DJI Pocket, or any of their next generation, to make the handle more rounded, so it's comfortable to hold.

Sunday. 8.25 a.m. I have now managed to extract the microcard from the DJI Pocket 2 put it into the adaptor and into the reader, and then plug that into my MacBook. I have to say that removing the card is very fiddly and because it's so tiny, no bigger than the nail of my little finger, and, if you're not careful, it could easily spring out and then shoot across the room and get lost. But I have managed to watch the footage I took when I walked around Oldbrook Green yesterday, and I'm more than pleased with the result. For a first attempt, it's better than expected, and I have high hopes for using it for future work.

4.05 p.m. We had Café Church this morning. I was doing the usual refreshment thing. There is a new coffee machine installed in the café area. It produces a range of coffee, latte, Americano etc. It's easy enough to use. It has coffee syrup in cartons inside and a touch screen to select what a customer wants, so it's easy to use and more or less foolproof.

Monday. 3.00 p.m. I need to have video editing software so that I can manipulate the footage I film on the DJI Pocket. I did a Google search and I discovered that my MacBook has it's own software for that purpose, called iMovie. 

Tuesday. 7.45 a.m. I am definitely sleeping a good deal better than I have been. I think the sertraline tablets are partly responsible. 

Yesterday I started to transfer some handwritten material into word processing. I was looking through all that I had written, which is in various notebooks, and I discovered some which hadn't been transferred. I'm editing as I go through it.

The day has begun and the conditions on the weather-front looks as if it's overcast and, according to BBC Breakfast weather, it looks as if we can expect rain later in the day.

Congratulations, Ma'am!

Thursday. 8.00 a.m. So, we are about to start a four-day Platinum Jubilee weekend, I can never remember anything anywhere near similar to this. I easily remember the Silver Jubilee in 1977. Children at the local primary school were given special commemorative mugs, but how many of these survived? In 2002 we had the Golden Jubilee, but I don't remember much of that. Then, in 2012 there was the Diamond Jubilee, and an amazing concert was held in front of Buckingham Palace. I don't think anything like it had ever been organized before. I believe a similar concert will again be staged this year. 

1.05 p.m. I am currently watching live pictures of a flypast over Buckingham Palace, with H.M. Queen and other members of the Royal Family and amazing numbers of the public crowding the area immediately in front of the Palace and along The Mall, with flags waving and cheering. 

Friday. 6.10 a.m. Up out of bed and walked with Alfie around Oldbrook Green at 5.15. I don't think Alfie was fully awake, and as I write this he is back in his bed. I can't blame him, curled up and comfortable.

9.15 a.m. It's great to now have no less than TWO new washing machines at Dexter House, both in full working order. But the only problem for me is, how to operate them! The old machines had the old-fashioned mechanical controls, where you merely twisted a dial to the setting you want and the correct water temperature and length of cycle, which was easy and, frankly, common sense. But these new machines have a touch screen, much like an iPad or iPhone. I don't have a problem with them, but I'm not entirely happy using the touch screens on these machines. I don't want to wash my clothes at a temperature which ruins my clothes, so I end up shrinking things. I think I have the machine set up correctly this morning and, as I write this, I am waiting for a tumble drier load of clothes to complete drying so I can remove the load and put it all away on hangers. 

Saturday. 6.00 a.m. A pleasant and cool morning here at the heart of the universe here in swinging Milton Keynes. Alfie was fast asleep just before I took him out to walk the entire circuit of Oldbrook Green. 

11.20 a.m. I can't get the photographs which I took at the History Festival at Milton Keynes to upload onto my MacBook. I used to have a cable which you plugged into the Canon digital camera and the other end into the laptop, but I can't find it. It got lost when I moved into Dexter House. I had a card reader which you used with the card out of the camera and plugged into the USB port, but it doesn't work. None of the photographs shows up on the laptop. So I have gone to Curry's this morning to buy a replacement cable and did some top-up shopping in Aldi which is just along the parade of units. I had a good excuse to browse new digital cameras as I am considering upgrading mine. New digital cameras have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, so you don't need to have cables to connect to your laptop. Also, some are capable of recording video for vlogging, which is a term I have only just discovered. You can make videos to upload onto the internet, for example, on YouTube. The Sony model I have seen has all these features, and you can attach a Bluetooth-connected handle which transforms into a tripod.

1.20 p.m. It continues to rain. Not heavy, but enough to damp the ground and to be disliked by Alfie. He is currently sleeping in his bed.

I am currently watching a BBC documentary series presented by Lucy Worsley which investigates several historic incidents in British history, such as the Black Death, The Princes In The Tower, The Madness of King George III and The Witch Hunts of the Middle Ages. She uses newly released documents as well as modern technology to dig a good deal deeper to uncover new evidence which over-rides the usual historical narrative to reveal a great deal of interesting material. An excellent and absorbing series.

Spring Is Sprung!

Saturday. 12.15 p.m. It's bright and sunny, but windy. Not as windy as last week, when the gales were strong enough to almost blast your head off.

Sunday. 9.35 a.m. I'm just about to go to church. I have come back from taking Alfie out and we met up with a lot of other dog-walkers. There's quite a community now, and it's good that Alfie has other doggy friends. He's amazingly well-behaved, which, to be honest, is more than I can say for some other dogs.

4.40 p.m. I went to church and as soon as I got home I had a snack for lunch as I normally do. I actually watched Bargain Hunt, which I haven't watched in ages. They had on an ancient episode because there weren't any social distancing in evidence. This show gets shunted around in the schedules at the weekend. usually displaced by football. It's always at 12.15 during the week but can end up a good deal later at weekends. Football seems to get priority. I bet if it was anything like classical music or theatre (some hope!) it would be on one of the minor channels, BBC Four, or shunted too late at night or early in the morning. 

I am sorting out things in my flat, as I have already mentioned in an earlier post. I wanted to get a recycling bin, so looked at the IKEA website and found what I wanted, so I could get rid of the cardboard box which sits on the unit next to my microwave. The box was used to pack up things from the house in Eaglestone when I moved to Dexter House. I drove to IKEA after lunch, having taken out Alfie for a further trot around Oldbrook Green. Well, it has been sunny and pleasant, so it was an excuse for him to have a walk. The road leading into the IKEA car park was gridlocked, and I could see that the ground level car park was packed, so I drove further to the car park underneath the IKEA building and then walked in. The place was heaving. I imagine it's because people have been cooped up indoors because of lockdowns for two years, and they were like me, they just needed to get out. Unless you've not visited an IKEA store, you will not realize that you have to walk through each department until you find the one you want to buy stuff from. It's a crafty sales device, which means you're going to pick up things you probably hadn't intended purchasing as you walk around. There are a lot of new things I hadn't seen in IKEA before, such as a new range of eco lightbulbs and those which can be operated via your mobile or tablet (ie; termed 'smart') and Bluetooth speakers. I have my eye on one or two things which would make my flat a little bit more homely, such as a rug for the lounge, but I must check the size of the space in the room before I go ahead and buy. Something colourful with a modern pattern. I saw a couple for £40 which seems reasonable. Then I arrived in the home organization department, which has all manner of files, boxes, crates and so on and found the sort of bin I wanted for recycling, which comes with a lid. Having got it home I now realise I need a second one for glass items as I don't want to mix paper and cardboard with bottles and other glass items. I think I will go back and buy a second one next week. I picked up some coat hangers as I walked around and then, nearing the tills, I had to join a really long queue to pay, snaking around between carefully-placed items to entice you further. As I say, the layout of the store is so designed that you can't avoid things which you buy and add to your trolley. It's the old trick of having things at a level that means you can't avoid touching them and then, putting them into your trolley.

A Little Win

 Monday. 8.55 a.m. I haven't done the National Lottery in a long time. I can't even remember when I last played it. When I lived in Bedford, I used to buy a ticket in W.H.Smith in Midland Road. You had to buy a paper ticket and you held on to it and didn't lose it (some people did and then their numbers came up and then panicked when they couldn't find it to prove they had the all-important winning numbers. How crazy! To loose out on a life-changing amount of cash!) I have downloaded the app and have played once. It is so much easier as you don't even have to leave your home to play. You have to sign up and create an account and use your bank card (credit or debit card.) and then put money on your account (up to a limit of £500, although I don't put much more than £5 on mine.) As the price of a ticket has increased from £1 to £2 and I think some games are probably £1.50.) I decided this week to play. I had tickets for the main game, Lotto, and another for the Set For Life game, where you can win something like £10,000 per month for 30 years or something. I forgot all about it until Sunday morning when I looked at my emails as normal and there was an email from the National Lottery to inform me that I had won! I was excited as you can imagine and it took a while to sign in to the app. I had won £5! But My earnings were reapplied to my account and I got a free 'Lucky Dip' draw for later in the week. I remember the very first draw, I think, back in around 1994. I won £10! I won several of these £10s, but nothing higher. I think it would be better to let people win smaller amounts rather than millions of pounds going to one winner, just a few thousands, particularly when there's a roll-over or even several roll-overs.

Oh well, there's always next time, of course. . . 

Thursday. 10.15 a.m. I haven't posted anything for the past couple of days, as you will have noticed. Just discussing the same old seemed a bit pointless, so I didn't, but here I am again.

It's been really warm the last couple of days. I packed away my shorts and though to myself that autumn was upon us, but, lo and behold! It's been bright and sunny, so got them out again. It was actually too hot for me at one point. I took Alfie out, and we didn't get far, well, not much further than the start of the circuit of Oldbrook Green, when I developed a really horrible headache, so we returned home. I have worn my sun hat, but it didn't make a lot of difference.

My FitBit isn't functioning properly. I had it working successfully, but it has decided not to work correctly. The time is totally out. It is supposed to communicate with my iPhone via Bluetooth. It decides it will connect but then nothing more happens. It's getting to the point that I can't be bothered with it. I keep attempting to sort it out, but it might just as well be at the bottom of a drawer if it can't behave itself.

3.25 p.m. I've been out with Alfie. It was dark overhead and I think I felt a few drops of rain. If it wasn't, then I really ought to know what it was. 

My writing is still at the planning stage. I think I now have the scaffolding and can hopefully start the actual writing. That's the bit I enjoy most, but, as I've said in earlier blog posts, I can't begin the process of writing until I have a sort of roadmap in place. A bit like going on a car journey without knowing where you're going. Making sure you have a route planned out. But I still don't know how it will end.

Monday. 8.50 a.m. Goodness gracious! It's Monday again! What is going on? We seem to be spinning out of control. As Hamlet says, 'the time is out of joint.' Very much so. I can't believe we're halfway through September. We'll soon be seeing the usual junk in the shops, ready for Christmas. But we have to endure the total rubbish which is sold for Hallow'een first. The things that shops attempt to flog us just to make a quick buck is appalling. 

I had another attempt at the National Lottery. And hey presto! I draw another couple of numbers which have already been entered for a lucky dip. I just hope that eventually I might win more than a few quid, not a lot, a few hundred would be nice. Just top up my bank account somewhat. The thing is, with the app it's far easier to have a go at the Lottery rather than going out to buy a paper ticket. You don't even have to leave your home.

Haircut and Heat

A strange sort of subject-line for a blog post, you may ask, but, wherever possible, I attempt to use alliteration. It just makes it that bit more memorable and it's fun to try and find words that fit what I am attempting to write.

On Saturday morning I went to get my hair cut at Essential Barbers in the main Milton Keynes shopping centre. There is method in my madness (a sort of quote from 'Hamlet,' actually not spoken by Hamlet, but by Polonius, but I digress.) I am attempting to get back into television walk-on work and I have already signed up to two on-line agencies. I have uploaded some fairly out of date photographs of myself but need more up to date ones and my friend John in Bedford as agreed to take some for me, and I'm going over to Bedford on Wednesday morning to get them done. I need specifically a full-length photograph done for one agency, done against a white background if possible. I think it's so that if all those on the site have the same sort of 'look' they will look far more professional. So, I wanted to look neat and tidy, so a haircut was in order.

I arrived at a little after 9 o'clock and the shop was open and I didn't have to wait long to be sitting in he chair having my hair cut. I always like to be outside waiting but there was no need to this time. They open half an hour earlier than during the week.

Monday morning. Alfie is such a funny little dog. He spends a lot of time on the sofa. It's where Carol spent so much time, laying on the sofa when she couldn't sit comfortably when the cancer was at its worst. I begin to wonder whether Alfie is under the impression that as she lay there, often with him by her side, that she will come back. He doesn't come upstairs at night to sleep on my bed. He sometimes comes up at some point, but doesn't always stay with me. He often goes into the kitchen where his bed is, in the corner near the sliding patio doors. Perhaps that is safe and very snug for him. No draughts and he can hide away. He seems to quite like his own space. As I write this he's on the sofa next to me, staring at me, as if I'm about to do something spectacular. He's also snoring. But he doesn't like one particular cushion that usually lives on the sofa. He will look at me with a certain amount of surprise, expecting me to remove it, but he will often push it off with his nose. Don't ask me why he doesn't like it. Just amusing watching him with it.Perhaps it just takes up space or something. I'm still not sure what it is.

Later. It is actually quite warm today, so the title of this blog post is appropriate. I've been in to John Lewis's restaurant for the Willen coffee morning, a lovely group of people and really supportive and helpful. I have been downstairs to the electrical department looking at Canon digital cameras. I would like to upgrade to a more modern model. They  now have new features, such as connecting to your printer and laptop via wi-fi and Bluetooth, remote control and the use of an app on your iPhone to control the camera as well as a swivel viewing screen which enables you to view what you are photographing from a different angel. The remote might be handy if you want to get shots without being too obvious, such as setting the camera up on a tripod, say, out in the garden, with the camera focussed on the bird feeder. You could then trigger the shutter remotely without disturbing the birds. Or for taking self portraits. You could turn the screen round so you could see the pose and set the frame up accordingly and then trigger the shutter with the remote control.

Fixed MacBook

As I've mentioned in an earlier post, my MacBook Air has been playing up for the past few days. I couldn't get the Safari browser to open and eventually the whole laptop seemed to freeze up. I had taken it into the Apple store in Midsummer Place in Milton Keynes and it seemed as if it was solved by one of the staff members, but by the evening of Thursday it was playing up again. To say I was annoyed would be an understatement. As I had to phone to get the appointment and then go in, park the car and then walk into the shopping centre, it didn't please me to have to go through the whole process yet again. I rang after 9.30 this morning, having discovered, when I rang at 9 o'clock, that they didn't open up until gone 9.30. When I eventually got through I was speaking to this lovely lady from Apple Care. I had given the serial number of the machine and she talked me through what was likely to be wrong and it appeared that I didn't have the latest up-date of the operating system. Mojave. I had the earlier version. I had attempted to download the latest update, but each time I attempted it I kept getting a message which told me I didn't have enough space on the machine. This lovely lady showed me how to remove unnecessary files and software to make space which would all0w the upgrade to take place. I found I had loads of podcasts which were taking up a lot of space and then I was able to download version 10.14.4 of MacOS Mojave, which took around 30-45 minutes and once the machine was restarted, everything functioned perfectly and Safari worked as it should, although it now appears in the Dock at the right-hand side, where previously it was at the left. So, all present and correct. I has taught me, if anything else, that it's advisable to keep removing unnecessary files from your computer.

Having dealt with my MacBook, I decided to have a bath this evening. I usually listen to Classic FM when I'm in the bath. Nothing beats a good soak in a really hot bath. Why anyone thinks a shower is a substitute for a proper, old fashioned bath I can't think. Anyway, I'm a classical music fan. But Classic FM spoils things with their awful adverts. I know that it's funded by advertising, but do they have to be so dumb? The worst thing is having a sort of bunch of them running up to the hour, something like 5 minutes of mindless pap. The worst of those for P.P.I. 'Doris from London didn't thin she had P.P.I. . .' Well, Doris, where were you when the brain cells were handed out? Why didn't you think to keep the paperwork? Well, just text '1234' and the words 'Idiot' and you could have the dulcet tones of some person working in an overcrowded call centre bothering you. They can do the search for you, and if you get you money returned, they'll take their vast percentage for doing the work for you. Now they're telling me and all Classic FM's other listeners that you can claim back thousands if you were mis-sold an investment. But, please, if you invest in stocks and shares, they have a habit of going down in value as well as up, so it's your silly fault if you don't make a million from your aunty Dotty's money you got left in her will. Silly you. All these adverts get in th way of the music, which I generally love. In the end I just turn the radio off. In the case of listening in the bath, I connect my iPhone to a bluetooth speaker, using the Classic FM app. It works really well. The speaker came from Sainsbury's and is a Boombar.

Sorting Things and Settled Weather

(Wednesday) Gareth has disappeared. Where he went I have no idea. Probably met up with Freya and having a lovely time in the Bahamas or on a tropical island. Having a blow-out somewhere.

I had a call from Camphill this morning. They seem really keen for me to work as a volunteer and will be going to a taster session on Tuesday morning, to work with their video production students. Sounds perfect for me. I can't believe they've got back to me so quickly. I'm really looking forward to starting there. I'm sure that Carol would be pleased for me.

I've managed to sort out a lot of Carol's clothes. Most gone to the Barnardo's shop in Oldbrook. I have been thinking of sorting the things out, but it's been difficult for me. I had asked Shelley next doo to help me, but in the end i just wanted to get it done on my own. I now have more space in the wardrobe and I've discovered stuff in there I haven't seen before or other things that I just haven't seen in years.

Amongst the things I found was a small cube speaker. I think we bought it in Sainsbury's. It's about a couple of inches square, coloured white and mauve. I don't think it cost much more than £10. It was bought to use on one of the laptops to improve the sound, or it may have been to connect to something else, but I have no idea what. Anyway, it had several leads sticking out of it, one for connecting to a U.S.B. port on a computer and the other has a jack plug to connect to a sound output. But I didn't realise that it was Bluetooth. I have two other larger speakers which are Bluetooth, along with a  Godmans soundbar which is connected to the television. It improves the sound a great deal, giving more bass tones. It will also connect to my iPhone and the Kindle, which has Alexa in it. Just connect and speak and Alexa will play music from my Amazon playlist, through the Goodmans soundbar or the other speakers. If I want radio on in the bathroom, I can use an app on he iPhone and it connects so I can have music on when I have a bath. It's taken a while to figure out how to get this to work, as only one device can be connected via the iPhone at one time, otherwise the things get confused. Amazing technology.

Sunday. I just realised, when I took out Alfie earlier, that we have to endure the Milton Keynes marathon going past the house this morning. They've already been round and stuck letters through our letter box informing us that the marathon will close off Golden Drive for several hours, so I can't get out in the car to get to church. I'll just have to stay at home until it's finished. Now, don't get me wrong. I find the marathon a good thing, people enjoying themselves, good to raise money for various 'good causes,' but when it inconveniences people, the fact you can't get out of your home in your car for a few hours and particularly in a Sunday, which is perhaps the only day of the week when people, particularly families, get together and go out for the day, it does seem really unfair and annoying and if you even suggest making a slight tweak to the route, you get some person or other complaining, as I did a couple of years ago when I even breathed a word against this fairly obvious suggestion (that they reroute it along the Redway, which is only a few yards away.) Oh, it's so easy to wind up some people! Just . . . . oh, I can't be bothered. Not going to listen or even agree to disagree! I'm staying put this morning and will miss church, but never mind for one Sunday. I may go out to Sainsbury's or Waitrose later as there's some items I need as I want to bake a cake.

It's bright and sunny, but still chilly. So it should actually be quite a good day for the marathon.

Later. I've managed to do some washing-up. Sorting out one of the cupboards. I thought we had a digital set of scales. If we have, I can't find them. Just a thought, but is scales in the singular or plural? Why a set of scales? Is it when you had an old-fashioned 'set' with the mechanical device onto which you put individual metal weights, in various amounts of weight? I digress, but it did make me wonder and 'scales' in the plural is still used when your device becomes more sophisticated, such as digital or more like a machine with a dial. I've been thinking about this a bit further. What about other items which are only plural, such as trousers? You never have 'a trouser,' much as with scissors, you never get 'a scissor.' Neither would be much use on their own. You wouldn't get far with a scissor, because it needs the other half to make it into scissors and wouldn't function properly, much the same as you couldn't really have a trouser. You could hardly go out with only one leg covered. It wouldn't work and wouldn't make sense and I doubt somehow it would work, apart from looking odd and you'd probably get some odd looks and might end up getting arrested!

I've now done a load of washing. It takes 45 minutes on eco setting, and the washing is now out on two lines in the garden, because it's sunny and there's a good breeze, so it shouldn't take long to dry. That is, unless it rains, which i trust it won't. This will be the first washing I've put outside this year.
I looked out of the bathroom window a minute or two ago (10a.m.) and, lo and behold! There are runners going past on the road! I just hope this marathon, or at least the part going along Golden Drive, is over soon rather than later, so I can get out in the car and go to Sainsbury's.

Oh dear! I knew if I mentioned on Facebook that the so-called Milton Keynes Festival of Running was going past my home this morning and that I was going to be inconvenienced by it (which I am, up to a point) that someone would respond in a 'oh my goodness, someone doesn't like it! Oh, I don't like it when someone doesn't agree with me' sort of attitude, hey presto! The response has been just as I expected. They took the bait! I've got the sort of response I would expect. The fact is, I couldn't actually care less what people do if they want to. It's just that some people (look at what's happening over Brexit.) don't like it when someone dares to have an alternative opinion. Sad really. Just love winding some people up. Naughty, I know, but really loved to see what happened, and it did.

Doing This and That

I had a telephone call from Theresa, who is part of the Family Support group at Willen Hospice. She spoke a lot to Carol when she was in Willen. She was ringing to discover how I was getting on since Carol passed away. She said I might like to have bereavement counselling, which I agreed. She said that she would pass on my name and try to find someone to come and see me. I got a call a few days later from a lady called Hilary and she came out to see me last Friday morning. I was told that there was a group of people who met in the  John Lewis restaurant on a Monday morning. Hilary was there when I arrived at 10a.m. I was introduced to the group and it was a pleasant time just getting to know people and having a chance to chat. They have outings and also meet in a pub for a meal somewhere in Milton Keynes. I believe it's called The Barn, somewhere in the City centre.

I've recently bought a soundbar for my Hitachi High Definition television. It's made by Goodmans. I got it because it was on offer in Sainsbury's. I had some fun setting it up. It will connect using Bluetooth, to my Kindle as well as my iPhone. I have the BBC 'Sounds' app on the iPhone and you can listen to radio, podcasts or download broadcasts, such as comedy or drama. I had a problem getting it to connect to the television. In the manual which came with the device they suggest that for best results to use the 'optical' connection, but a lead for this did not come with the device so I had to go to buy the cable from Currys. I attempted to connect it to the sounder but it would not work. The actual plug just wouldn't connect to either the television or the soundbar. I tried this several times but almost gave up. I then decided to use Google and I found a YouTube video. Low and behold, it suggested removing the plastic covers on each end of the cable. No? Why was this not in the manual or other places? So, I took off these clear plastic covers, and would you guess? The lead fits perfectly! I assumed these clear plastic covers were part of the lead, not there to protect the end of the lead. Why is no mention of this in the manual? Then I followed the instructions in the manual and now the thing connects perfectly and boosts the television sound considerably!

I was in the kitchen, preparing my evening meal. I just happened to look out of the patio doors and, lo and behold! I see it's snowing! Quite heavily. Alfie was wandering about and it looked as if he might need to go out into the garden. I slid the door open and he stuck his head out. He had one look at the falling snow, and withdrew into the house. I can hardly blame the poor little dog. He doesn't like cold and he wasn't going to venture forth. He's currently curled up on the sofa, in the bundle of blankets he likes very much.

(Wednesday) I put the rubbish out for the bin men early this morning and I was more than a little surprised to discover we'd had a fall of snow. Not a lot, but enough. When is there ever enough snow?

A bit later . . . I've discovered a load more of Carol's medication in one of the kitchen cupboards. I put it all together in a carrier bag and took it to Lloyd's pharmacy in Sainsbury's this morning. I have also thrown out no end of part-used packets, bottles and jars of stuff from one of the kitchen cupboards and as a result there's a good deal more space in that cupboard. It needed doing. It's all gone out in black plastic bags and now taken away by the bin men. I was surprised that it had all been taken away when I got back from Sainsbury's.

The sun is out and it's quite warm now (11.00 a.m.) Now sitting in the lounge writing this and resting after the exertions of going to Sainsbury's and then emptying the cupboards. It's quite therapeutic. I think that's the word.

Next Wednesday I'm booked to have my second stent fitted at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. I had a telephone call from one of the nurses there to find out if I was alright. I told them I wanted the think over and done with. I'm on the morning list and may be there until about 5p.m. 

Half-Term

Carol has been on Half-Term this week. After the awful day we had last Saturday (not going to mention it any more. Just read the previous blog post.) it's as well we could go out to find something nice to take our mind of things. On Saturday we went to Stowe Landscape Garden to have something to eat in the restaurant. It was quite a pleasant day, so that made things better. We didn't walk to the actual gardens as it's quite a way. It seemed quite busy there, no doubt because it was the beginning of the holiday period. We had soup and some really nice crusty bread. It's good that we have our National Trust membership so we could get in without paying. You can always rely on there to be decent food in their restaurants and we haven't been in this restaurant since it opened a couple of years ago. A vast improvement on the temporary building which used to house the café when it was on the opposite side of the gardens. There's a new carpark and visitor centre at Stowe.  On Monday Morning we went swimming at Nuffield. The place wasn't busy which makes a change, no surprise I suppose as most other members would be at work. One of the advantages of being either on holiday or retired. On Tuesday we went to Whipsnade and our efforts were rewarded as we saw the red pandas which don't generally come out of hiding. Very rare to see them. Walked a long way so we did at least get some exercise. We visited the central shopping centre in Milton Keynes on Wednesday and I wanted to show Carol the DAB radio/CD player I wanted to buy her as a birthday present in John Lewis. Not sure whether to buy it, but on Friday we went to Kettering as Carol wanted to visit a shop which specialises in dolls houses. Not the sort of place you'd choose to visit. It's very run down with many empty shop units. Seems the fate of so many towns and cities currently. We drove back to Milton Keynes and went to Sainsbury's. We had a look at DAB radio/CD players in the electronics section of the store and found a rather nice Blaupunkt model which suited our purposes. Cost £100 which was cheaper than the Pure model we saw in John Lewis and decided to buy it and used up the Nectar points we've been saving for a long time. This model has more functions than the Pure model, and once we got it functioning in the bedroom found it to be more than adequate. Not only does it have DAB radio and FM stations and the CD function, but you can charge your mobile from it and it connects with other devices which have the added facility of Bluetooth so you can play music from your tablet device or smart phone which makes things even more flexible. Went to Nuffield again on Friday. Certainly getting our money's worth from our membership. I did over 20 lengths of the pool which is great. I have to say it's having a real benefit towards my health and well-being. It's a far deeper pool than D.W. as well as having a sauna as well as a steamroom  and spa.