Heatwave Forecast

 Sunday. 7.40 a.m. As I write this, the sun is shining. According to the weather forecast on BBC Breakfast, we are about to have a heatwave. Whether this is correct or not, we will soon find out. I just hope so.

I have been watching the first episode of the documentary series 'A House Through Time.' This series is different to the previous series, which took one house and then traced all the inhabitants for several years. This series takes two blocks of flats, one in London and the other in Berlin, and traces the inhabitants through the period shortly before World War 2. I was really shocked to discover that the block in London, Montagu Mansions, was where a great aunt of mine lived during the 1930s-40s. Quite a surprise to discover this. That bit of information was discovered when I was doing family research.

Monday. 12.15 p.m. It's a bright and sunny day. As a result, I went to Stony Stratford to have another go at doing some video as I walked along the main street. I have viewed some of the footage, and it looks good.

Wednesday. 1.30 p.m. It's bright and sunny as I write this. I have my electric fan on.

Monday. May Bank Holiday. 6.00 a.m. It's now a good deal cooler. It would appear that the heatwave is over. I hope not.

9.15 a.m.I had intended to go to Lidl to get one or two items. I drove there and then discovered that they didn't open until 11 a.m. I suppose I should have realized, this might happen because it was a Bank Holiday, but never mind, I can go back later.

On top of everything else, its the first day of the VE Day 80th Anniversary celebrations. I think there's to be an RAF fly-past at around 11. Also, many of the roads around Milton Keynes are closed off, or will be, because of the Milton Keynes marathon. I don't need to go anywhere, apart from Lidl, and the marathon doesn't come through Oldbrook.

Tuesday. 7.50 a.m. It's hardly a heatwave today. It's not sunny, but pleasantly mild.

I have an appointment at 2 o'clock to get my eyes tested. I had a letter from Boots Opticians telling me my eyes were overdue for testing. I was told the last time I had my eyes tested that they needed testing every year, so I booked an appointment online. The appointment went well. I had all the work and extra tests, one of which was photographs of the back of your eyes. The optician told me she could see something which isn't sinister, but I should keep an eye on it (sorry!) I don't need new glasses, as my sight hasn't changed much since last year, but I ordered a new pair of reading glasses, which I will collect once they are ready, on 14th May.

Come Rain Or Shine

(Wednesday)It's been a hot and stuffy day.  When I looked out of the kitchen window early this morning it was a foggy view which greeted my gaze. Not what I was expecting. Not a great deal happening. I took Alfie out at around 1 o'clock and we were the opposite side of Oldbrook Green when it went overcast. Dark clouds hurtling across the sky and then there was a clap of thunder. Trying to hurry Alfie wasn't going to work as he has to sniff every blade of grass but I thought it vital that we get back to the flat quickly. It began to rain but we got indoors in time and as I write this there is an almighty thunder storm going on and Alfie has given me a look. I'm not sure  if he's bothered by it. I know Poppy, our old dog, was really upset when it thundered and would hide in a convenient place until a storm passed over. It's raining heavily and sounds like a sound effect recording. It's as well we got in before this started, but it should clear the stuffy air somewhat.

(Thursday) The rain continued into the night. I woke up at around 3.30 and could hear rain rattling on the windows and it appeared to be quite torrential. I took Alfie out at about 7.10 and wasn't aware until we steep out of the door into Strudwick Drive that it was still raining hard, so we didn't stay out for long and will have to go back out as Alfie only did a wee.

I am watching the BBC documentary series which is on iPlayer, 'The Story of England,' which is presented by Michael Wood and focusses on a village in Leicestershire called Kibworth. Good solid presentation and the sort of programme which the BBC does best and which they should produce more of. There's more than enough stuff to watch on catch-up if you can't find anything else to watch elsewhere on broadcast television. I think I seem to watch most in this way instead of when it's being broadcast 'live.' The other series is 'A House Through Time,' presented by David Olusoga, focussing on a house in Bristol.

Later.  5.50 p.m.After all the rain we had earlier in the day, it is now sunny and bright.

Friday. So, the week ends, but it's not a lot different to the beginning. A rather overcast sort of morning as I look out of the kitchen window at 6 o'clock. What does the day bring? Probably not a great deal.

I was right. Not a great deal happened. So there.

Saturday. It's bright and sunny. Not much more I can tell you.

I made out a shopping list and went to Sainsbury's, after I had taken Alfie out for his early morning walk down to Oldbrook Green. I'm getting good at organising myself so the wait in the queue is cut to the minimum and arrived in the underground carpark at around 8.15. I suppose there was about a 15-minute wait in the queue and I was in the store and through the self-service check out really quickly. I'm getting quite good at using these check outs, the trick is to be organised and to be able to find the bar codes on each item so that you can scan and pack each item. If anything, they really should make the bar codes larger and put them where they are easy to find. Some are almost hidden and not very obvious and some small and difficult to scan. I got home, did some washing up and then took Alfie out for yet another trot around Oldbrook Green.

Reading and Watching-2

Some worthwhile history television programming being shown on BBC2 at the moment, in the shape of a series called "A House Through Time," which traces the history of one house in Liverpool from when it was first built and occupied right up to the 20th century. Historian David Olusoga is the presenter who uses archive material to find out who owned and lived in a terraced house, number 62 Falkner Street, Liverpool, over 180 years, right up until the 1940's. It's a sort of "Who Do You Think You Are," but instead of following backwards to discover the ancestors of a celebrity it traces the house's inhabitants. Infact it made by the same production company who made "Who Do You Think You Are?", Wall-To-Wall Television. It's totally enthralling and if anything else, shows the various sources you could use yourself if you were to trace your own home's history. As a result of doing some of my own family history I've discovered some interesting material and from watching this programme might even think of tracing the history of my home as a child when I lived at Malting Farm in Cardington, Bedfordshire. The farm house was built in 1764, so there would be some history behind that and it would be fascinating to discover who lived in the house over the years before my family moved in.

A series of documentaries across all BBC channels is on about the Royal art collection as well as the Crown Jewels. The Coronation was an hour-long documentary on BBC1 to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Queen'sCoronation. A rare glimpse of the actual crown she wore in the 1952 ceremony at Westminster Abbey and an even rarer chance to hear her actually talking about that occasion. It's very unusual to hear her Her Maj actually speaking in a more natural voice than to the one we've come to expect, for example,  for such occasions as the Christmas Message.

There's quite a few television programmes which visit various places throughout the United Kingdom. 'Great British Railway Journeys,' which is presented by Michael Portillo. This has covered a great deal of the United Kingdom, and he has used the Victorian 'Bradshaw's' railway timetable for various years to explain a wide selection of historic events as he stops off along the way. I'm not certain how many series he's done of this, but last week he was covering the Edwardian period and this week he's in America, and the show is now entitled "The Great American Railroad Journeys." The other television stations seem to have caught on to this type of programme, a sort of amiable amble about the countryside, stopping off to view the scenery along the way. Channel Four in the afternoon has a series presented by Penelope Keith called "Village of The Year," where each episode is from a different region of the British Isles and four villages are profiled and then one is chosen to go forward to the next 'heat' and then eventually one village will be chosen as the winner. There have been a few series about villages, presented by Penelope Keith, 'Hidden Villages,' as well as 'Coastal Villages.' She did another series, I think for Sky Arts, where she visited National Trust properties. I have a feeling it was also bought out on DVD as I've seen them in either National Trust or English Heritage shops whenever we've visited any of either organisations properties as we're members of both.