God Save The King!

Saturday. Coronation Day. 10.20 a.m. I have my television on, with King Charles III's Coronation in progress. As I write this, Charles has left Buckingham Palace with Camilla, on their way to Westminster Abbey in a gold-encrusted coach (The Diamond Jubilee State Coach.) Apparently, it has been fitted out with air conditioning and decent suspension, giving a far more comfortable ride. 

So many horses. I noticed that one or two weren't behaving particularly well, one being the large one with a mounted drum on its back.

Surprisingly emotional and really spectacular.

Sunday. 5.30 a.m. After the excitement and razzmatazz of yesterday, a more subdued day ahead. Alfie was in fine form when I went to take him out this morning, barking and not asleep. 

5.15 p.m. I was on duty with setting out the chairs at church this morning. I wasn't actually on the rota, but someone asked me to do a swap. The service was led by the youth group. They did incredibly well. Then, once the service was over, it was all changed, as there would be a Coronation tea party. Lots of food, which people had bought, as well as tea and cakes which were put on cake stands. This was followed by a quiz, all about the Royal family.

I think I have got the gimbal sorted out. It has been easier than it might have been, considering it is a relatively new technology. I am so pleased that I sent the gimbal I purchased from Amazon went back, and I got a refund. Most of this has been because I followed video instructions on YouTube.

9.20 p.m. I am currently watching the Coronation concert from Windsor Castle. It is quite spectacular and better than I expected. An excellent mixture of acts and is very diverse. I appreciated the musical piece involving Gareth Malone, which had one group which used B.S.L. (British Sign Language).

Coronation Bank Holiday Monday. 5.30 a.m. A bright and mild morning, although the BBC weather is forecasting some rain later. 

8.45 a.m. I have at last managed to buy ink cartridges for my Canon printer. How difficult, you may be asking, can it be to purchase such mundane but necessary items? If you have been reading my posts from a few days ago, you will have learnt how many places I have been in order to get them. I had avoided Amazon, but because of the difficulties I have endured, I, at last, gave in and ordered these things on that website. They have been delivered, yesterday evening, and they are now available in the drawer of the unit where the printer sits, ready for when the current cartridges expire. I keep getting an 'ink low' message, when I attempt to print, which was the initial reason for ordering fresh ones.

Tuesday. 5.30 a.m. I've been out and I'm back, having taken Alfie out. He came to me, barking madly, unlike the last couple of days, when he was asleep when I went to take him out. I washed up from last evening's meal and the kitchen is now clean and tidy.

It has been raining overnight because there is standing water in and around the children's playground. A great deal of litter, a lot of it falling out of the rubbish bin as you get onto Oldbrook Green.

Another Day In Paradise? (No, It's Dexter House)

 Thursday. 5.40 p.m. Another mild and pleasant morning and I have already been out with Alfie.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd bought a gimbal which works with a mobile phone, the idea being that you can make videos and take steady photographs because of the mechanism within the gimbal. I had bought one from Amazon, but, going through the set-up procedure and following what manual which came with the device, I could not get it to function properly. I decided to return it to Amazon for a refund (read the previous post where I described all this.) I was surprised when the refund went through and appeared on my Amazon account. I was expecting it to take at least a week. As a result, I looked at a replacement on Amazon. It is really difficult to decide, unlike in a shop where you can pick up an item and try it out (which I have done in John Lewis's Milton Keynes store, with several of their cameras.) So I took the plunge and selected a Hohem gimbal (having seen a video on YouTube which was a review of the model I chose.) It cost quite a bit more than the price I had paid for the earlier gimbal, but I thought I would make up the difference. It was ordered early yesterday morning and the device was delivered yesterday evening at around 5.30. It was easy enough to set up, and I've had it working successfully. If you are interested, the model is an iSteady M6 and comes in a kit which includes the case and fill light and AI movement sensor, which fits on the device with a powerful magnet.

Friday. 5.30 a.m. Yet another mild and relatively pleasant morning. It took Alfie a while to wake up, which isn't something I thought I'd ever write on here. We were out briefly and I have now come back to the flat and have the television on with talk going on about the local elections. 

10.50 a.m. When I went out with Alfie, it was dry and mild, but at just after 9.30, when I went out to go to Sainsbury's, it was drizzling, that is, a very light rain. As it's Coronation Day tomorrow, there is the prospect of rain in central London, so those people who have camped along The Mall, as seen on BBC Breakfast early this morning, they are likely to get a soaking.

4.30 p.m. I have been out around  Oldbrook Green with the gimbal set up and videoed around 20 minutes of footage. I have downloaded it onto the MacBook and have been viewing it. Considering it was my first attempt to use it, it wasn't too bad. I am getting to grips with the various functions, which take a while to fathom. It is considerably better than the gimbal I returned to Amazon. The manufacturers have included a manual which is easy to understand, and I have been viewing YouTube videos on how to use it, so it is likely to take a few more attempts using it to get a better result.

Saturday. 1.40 a.m. I have woken up. I couldn't sleep. This is quite normal for me. I did my Bible reading. (Actually, a good time to do this, because there are no distractions, no noise, Alfie not staring at me or prodding me.) I make a cup of tea (not a cup, a mug. I don't have any cups or saucers, and, thinking about it, who on earth, in this day and age, has a tea set, with cups and saucers? Everyone uses mugs. Thinking further, nobody makes tea in a teapot. Just a teabag in your mug, pour on hot water, give it a few seconds, and take out the teabag, milk and sugar (optional) and that's it. Life made simple, or is it laziness? You decide.

I digress. I put on the television, with a mug of tea, a bag of crisps and a few chocolate digestive. BBC News channel. There are Americans, those who are obsessed with the Royal family and are going to be watching the Coronation. Then a piece on people who are camping along the Mall, towards Buckingham Palace. King Charles actually did a 'walk-about' and chatted with some of the people. Then a piece about people who either remember the late Queen's Coronation in 1953, either watching it on television or being part of it. A lady, who was 17 at the time, and did some of the embroidery which was on Her Majesty's wedding dress and a man who was a trumpeter in Westminster Abbey on the day. 

Saturday. Coronation Day. 5.35 a.m. It's here! Today is Coronation Day. It's something that is historic and as far as I'm concerned, and possibly quite a lot of people, I'm not likely to see it again (unless, of course, God forbid, Charles falls off his perch and William takes over.) I would have been 2 when Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953, although at that tender age, I wouldn't have been aware of what was going on.

I took a sleepy Alfie out as normal and we walked around Oldbrook Green. There must have been a very light rain overnight as there were dry patches below the trees near the Green.

1,800th Blog Post!

 Friday. 7.00 a.m. Today, this blog reaches the momentous milestone of 1,800 posts! It never occurred to me, back when I wrote the first post back on 27th September 2009 at 4 p.m., that  I would still be reporting on the goings-on around Milton Keynes, and in particular, in my life, so many years later. I manage to report on some of the absurdities of life, some plain crazy, some downright outrageous and some just plain monotonous, some laughable and some downright sad, particularly the passing of my lovely wife, Carol. Fourteen years! How many other blogs can you mention have survived that long?

11.00 a.m. I've just been out with Alfie. It looks very much as if it's going to rain, so we weren't out very long. A lot of dark clouds and I think I felt a drop of rain.

4.25 a.m. I bought a gimbal for my iPhone, which was supposed to be used for video and the idea would be to enable you to take video. The gimbal would keep the phone steady, and you should be able to do a series of camera moves with it. The thing works through an app and connects to your phone using Bluetooth, but, after more than a week, I hadn't been able to get the thing to work, so I have sent it back to Amazon. Returning items to Amazon used to be relatively easy. You could print off a return label from the Amazon website and just take it to a Post Office for it to be posted. But now you have to use Evri (the new name for Hermes.) You have to take the parcel to a specific shop locally. I took it to Tesco's in Oldbrook Boulevard, but it turned out that they weren't a 'sending' only a 'receiving' store. I had to take it to a One Stop store in Bradwell Common Boulevard, which is just along the road from my Doctor's surgery. I had to scan a QR code at a machine within this store, which I had printer off from the email I got from Amazon, and this allowed a label to be printed which I attached to the parcel which I then handed over to the assistant on the till, and she gave me a receipt.

Saturday. 6.00 a.m. Yesterday afternoon we had a tea party, given by members of M.K.C.C. (Milton Keynes Christian Centre) and organized by two friends from Shenley Christian Centre, who also go to M.K.C.C., which, incidentally, is just along Strudwick Drive from Dexter House. There were plenty of sandwiches and cakes as well as tea, and we had a quiz, which I won! I got a box of Maltesers as a prize!

I was out really early this morning, at 5.20. Alfie and I did our, by now, regular circuit of Oldbrook Green. 

7.40 a.m. Excitement! I have cleaned out my fridge. It was getting to the point where it really did need a clean. Taking everything it contained out and onto the kitchen counters and then all the shelves and the tray in which I keep fruit and vegetables, wash in the sink with soapy water, dry and then replace, throwing out anything which is past its 'best before' date, and then returning to the fridge. The sort of job which you tend to put off until it becomes necessary. So I can safely say, 'job done'! The freezer section could do with defrosting, but that isn't the easiest job, as you need to have somewhere to put the frozen food, such as another freezer until the freezer is defrosted and working again.

10.30 a.m. It's surprisingly warm and sunny today. As it's a Bank Holiday weekend (well, technically Monday is a Bank Holiday.) So, will it remain so warm? I say this because it is almost traditional to have bad weather on a Bank Holiday. So, let's wait and see. Then, next Saturday, we have the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla. Quite historic in some respects, as we're certainly not likely to get another within my lifetime (that is, of course, unless Charles turns up his toes within only a few years, which I hope doesn't happen. 

11.10 a.m. I went to Sainsbury's to buy one or two items. It wasn't busy, just after 9.00 a.m. I presume most people don't go shopping early at the weekend, which might explain things. I then came home and took Alfie out around Oldbrook Green. Not only that, but I didn't put my jacket on, so that's a first this year! I will next be getting my shorts out, as it's rapidly approaching knee-showing-off time around here. I remember last year, particularly during that extremely hot period when temperatures reached record levels, I lived in my shorts.