The Cow Jumped Over The Moon

 Saturday. 9.15 a.m. I was due to take Alfie out, as usual. But there was a slight problem. Slight being the operative word; I couldn't find him. It turned out he was under my bed. Problem two: Having to get down on the floor is quite a problem for me. I left this until around 8.45 as I thought it was important that he went out. Eventually, I caught sight of his tail and grabbed him. I felt sorry for the old boy, as he was fast asleep.

Sunday. 3.15 p.m. We had Café Church this morning. That means that there wasn't a time of worship, but fellowship, allowing everyone to interact with one another, eat cake, drink tea and coffee and generally have a good time. It allows those who probably don't attend a church to come along and find out more about Shenley Christian Fellowship and discover that it's a friendly place. 

I arrived as I usually do on a Sunday and discovered that the place was locked.  At first, I had a thought that perhaps I was an hour to early, a bit like when the clocks change and we lose or gain an hour. But it wasn't that.   There are usually people there, some setting up refreshments and the band rehearsing in the main hall. Julie, who is one of the leaders at SCF, was sitting in her car. She couldn't open up the building, as she didn't have a key and also had no idea how to switch off the alarm system.

Monday. 9.55 a.m. Warm and pleasantly sunny. The temperature is currently 27ºc according to the digital thermometer.

Time to sort recycling. Not the most exciting of jobs, but it needs to be done, otherwise my cupboard overflows. Some of the cartons are difficult to either fold or tear. I have two plastic bins of recycling and one black bin of other household rubbish. I carry the black bin, together with one plastic bin, take it to the bin store, open the first door and leave the two items in the inner room and then go back for the remaining bin. I then return to the bin store and open the outer door, and then discover the row of bins for recycling are full and there's no room for my two worth of recycling! I put the black bag in another allocated bin and then haul the two full plastic bins of recycling back to the flat. I will now have to leave it where they are until tomorrow, after the bin men come and empty the bins and then return to deposit my two bins with the recycling in the, hopefully, empty bins. What a performance!

Alfie is currently fast asleep on the kitchen floor and somewhat in the way when I am sorting the rubbish, but it doesn't matter as I can step over him. He snores, and it is somewhat amusing.

3.35 p.m.Vashti, the S.H.O. at Dexter House, told me that I ought to take my rubbish to the bin store at the other end of Dexter House. I had never thought of it, but I have now got rid of it, and we aren't apparently getting a visit from the bin men tomorrow. Do I get the feeling that they are only doing collections fortnightly? If so, we're likely to be overflowing with rubbish, recycling, etc.

We are only having Vashti here for half of the week. It's due to Milton Keynes Council running out of money and deciding that sheltered housing will have to cut its staff's hours in each unit. Vashti will be here in the afternoons and cover other units for the rest of the time. This makes sense now. The Council is run by Labour, in a coalition with Liberal Democrats. Labour is useless at financial management. Just look at the current Starmer government. Total disaster, and we're heading for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund, a replay of the 1970s when we had to go cap in hand to sort our economy out, and Labour had to make cuts to various services, and inflation went through the roof, and we had the infamous 'Winter of discontent.' I remember dustbin workers striking and going into London and seeing black bin bags piled up at the side of the road, the three-day week, shortages of things in supermarkets and television closing down at 10.30 because the miners and electricity workers walked out. They say, history repeats itself, but that's so true. 

June Is Bustin' Out All Over!

 Saturday. 5.40 a.m. I thought that today was Sunday! Don't ask me why, but it felt like it was. How does it FEEL like a day? I have no idea, but I soon realised that it wasn't.  I am on the refreshment rota and it's also a café church. I could easily have gone there and found the place deserted! Oh, well.

11.15 a.m. As mentioned above, it's café church tomorrow. There will be live music as well as food, including a barbecue. I am hoping to be relieved of my duties behind the tea and coffee urn to be able to eat some of the barbecued food, so, as a result, I had to withdraw some cash from an A.T.M. machine as well as fuel the car at the ESSO filling station in Childs Way. So, I drove there, filled the car and paid and then went to the A.T.M. I put my card in the slot and then found I would have to pay £1.99 for the privilege of using the machine, but then the machine wouldn't present me with any cash! I drove away and as I did so, I had to think hard for an alternative A.T.M. and decided on Morrison's and drove there but then found there was a one-way system at the parking area and went round several times, and eventually came in from the road opposite the entrance into the railway station. Hence, having parked, I was able to withdraw the cash from the machine. So, about half an hour was spent driving around to find an A.T.M. On the way back home I then did another detour, so I could go to Lidl on Oldbrook Boulevard. There is a large poster up on the boarding which surrounds the building work for the new store, informing all and sundry that the store will close on the 2nd June, which is tomorrow, and the new store will open in January 2025. Tesco's Express store which used to be on that site used to have an A.T.M. and was incredibly convenient for me when I needed to have cash, so all the driving around to get to a working A.T.M. is the result of the A.T.M. at Tesco's no longer being there.

Monday. 7.55 a.m. I mentioned that yesterday (Sunday) we had another café church session at The Oaktree Centre. I was on refreshment duty, and as a result, I got there in very good time to set things up. It was a really fine and sunny day and a great many people turned up,  and many were new faces. Compared with last year, when the weather was really awful, with rain and wind and the entire gazebo which the musicians used, was moved onto the paved area and the sliding doors were opened to allow people to sit inside the café area to watch and listen.

Tuesday. 7.05 a.m. It's another mild day, but the sun is yet to shine. The current temperature in the flat, according to my digital thermometer, is 26ºc. I have my electric fan on.

Thursday. 5.40 a.m. Mild and pleasant on the weather front. The temperature reading on the digital thermometer is currently 23ºc.

My family tree currently has over 2000 people on it, and it is still growing!

Friday. 4.45 p.m. I had to go shopping in Sainsbury's. I went as usual after I'd done my washing. I picked up everything I needed for at least a week, including a pack of slow-cooked beef. I've had these sorts of joints on many occasions, particularly lamb shanks, which come in a double pack, so I put one in the freezer and have the other for my Sunday meal. They come complete with gravy and are really tasty. So I was not exactly over the moon when I got home, having unpacked my shopping, to discover that this pack of slow-cooked beef had a 'best before' date of March stamped on the front of the package. That meant it was around three months out of date! I was certainly not risking eating it, for fear of food poisoning or something worse. So I reluctantly decided to take it back, hoping to get a replacement. I wasn't sure where the customer service counter was, but, when I eventually found it, about a dozen people were queueing. There was only one woman behind the desk, and she was spending a great deal of time with a customer who had bought back a dress, presumably for a refund. A second staff member then got involved and time was ticking by. A young man behind me lost patience and put down a can of drink he was presumably going to buy and then stormed off. I really couldn't blame him, because there was only one woman on the desk. There should be far more staff. I think it's Sainsbury's getting rid of staff so that they can cut prices. The customer service generally has deteriorated, particularly when they have replaced manned checkouts with self-service tills. 

I eventually got to the lady on the desk and explained about the product being around three months out of date. A member of staff should have spotted it and taken it off the shelf, but, again, I think with so few staff available, that might explain how it came to be left where it was, for me to pick up and put in my trolley. Another member of staff was sent to get me a replacement, but when she came back, she said there were none left, at which point I left and went home.

Almost (But Not Quite) Like Spring

Saturday. 10.25 a.m. It's another bright but windy day, although quite chilly. What more can I say at the moment?

Monday. 4.35 p.m. We had what's called 'Café Church' on Sunday morning. There was no worship, although live music was played in the main hall. The idea is that those who don't normally go to church could come along and find out that we're quite friendly and don't have two heads. Tea and coffee were served, and two young ladies operated the coffee machine, making lattes and other types of coffee usually found in places such as Starbucks and Costa. Danish pastries, biscuits and other eatables were also provided. It was a good place for fellowship and to meet up in the same way as we do after our usual Sunday morning services.

Tuesday. 7.55 a.m. It's bitterly cold and windy this morning. I went out with Alfie as usual, but we didn't hang around for too long. So, not quite like spring. It's that time of year when the weather can be somewhat unsettled. But at least it's getting lighter earlier in the morning.

The drains at Dexter House are in a sorry state. There is an unpleasant odour in my bathroom. No, not caused by THAT! I have an aerosol spray, Oust, which eliminates it, but it keeps coming back. It's sort of haunting the place. I had a shower yesterday evening and the water wouldn't run away quickly as it should. It's next to impossible to have a decent shower because the shower unit isn't high enough so that you can stand underneath it. As I'm over six feet tall, I have to bend to allow the shower to work efficiently. It's almost as if it's only designed for a midget, certainly not intended for someone over more than five foot four inches tall. The bath is the same. It's not a full-length bath, only around three-quarters the length of a decent bath. I think they were attempting to cut corners when they installed the bath and the shower. So I can't possibly have a decent soak, laying full-length in the bath, without bending my knees uncomfortably, and if I over-fill the bath, there is the possibility of the water overflowing onto the floor and causing a flood.

Thinking further to the bathroom. I'd really love to meet whoever laid the tiles on the floor in this room. If 'laid' is the correct term. It was obviously someone who had no real idea how this job was done, because it's the most awfully poor job I think I've ever seen. They must have merely flung a whole handful of them and stuck them down where they landed, because very few of them butt up to each other properly, some over-lapping and there are gaps, particularly in the area directly in front of the toilet bowl. The paintwork wasn't much better, which, in some places, looks as if it's been applied with a broom, or else whoever did it was doing it in the dark or was blindfolded. It's the same with the flooring, done with laminated blocks or whatever, There are gaps along the edges, which should have been finished with some sort of edging strip, no attention paid at all with the finish. Something of a disaster. I think rather a waste of materials and time taken to complete the job, if 'job' is the right word. 

They're supposed to be coming to paint the interior of Dexter House in the next couple of weeks. We got letters through our doors telling this momentous news. The stairs to each flat are to be included in this painting, so I will have to be careful not to touch the bannister when walking up and down to avoid getting covered in paint. I personally think this is a waste of time and money. Upgrade the place, for example, kitchens and bathrooms (incidentally, when will mine be done? I'm still waiting for someone to come and survey my bathroom so it can be refitted. As mentioned above, a full-sized bath would be an improvement or at least, having the shower unit so I can stand under it properly instead of having to bend.