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.

Snow 'n' Ice and Industrial Action

Friday. 8.30 a.m. Yet another bitingly cold morning. My car is iced up, so I've been out to run it and start scraping the ice off the windows. I found a can of de-icer hidden behind the driver's seat but couldn't remove the cap. Once indoors, I managed to remove the cap and will now be able to use the spray to defrost the rest of the windows. I will help set up the playgroup for the last time this year. The scraper has now disappeared and it's annoying as it's useful to remove the ice. It makes it such an easy job.

1.15 p.m. I've been to the Oaktree Centre to help set up the Acorns playgroup. It was partially set up when I arrived and there was to be a Christmas party, well actually two sessions when usually there would be one, starting at 10.00 and the second at around 11.15. Lots of children of pre-school age, bought by parents and grandparents. I think most of them come from around the Shenley area of Milton Keynes. 

Friday. 8.05 a.m. So, here we are once again. The week has come around and it's Friday. The days seem to go past so fast. Hence, my washing is in the machine, and I'm watching  BBC Breakfast on television. It's cold, but there doesn't seem to be any further snow, thankfully. 

We are in the middle of strikes. The NHS has been crippled by industrial action by members of the Royal College of Nursing (strange that a college should have union powers. Do unions have powers? I thought there was legislation bought in when Margaret Thatcher was in government when she enacted legislation regarding striking. Probably something about secondary picketing, but I'm not sure.) I have to say I think nurses do need a pay rise, but the government, and not just this particular government, constantly throws vast amounts of cash at the NHS, so what happens? It would appear nothing. Probably paying for more bureaucrats, pen-pushers and so on, which have virtually no effect on the care of patients. Then, of course, the NHS was virtually closed down during the pandemic and many services were shut down. The entire economy was closed down during lockdowns, and vast pots of money were thrown at people to sit at home and do nothing.  This might explain why we now have rising prices and inflation, but nobody seems to realize that is partially the cause for all this. Politicians blame the war in Ukraine, which might have a part to play, but throwing money around as was done for two years has to be paid for at some point. 

I know full well how nurses work and their devotion to their jobs, having first-hand experience of being in a hospital on the two occasions I've had heart attacks. Not just then, but during the time Carol was diagnosed with cancer and especially the period she was having chemotherapy. The nurses never stopped. They didn't seem to have breaks, or, if they did, I was never aware of them. Totally professional. They are the people that keep the NHS going.

Then there are strikes on the railways. These union members are only going to destroy their own jobs because all this disruption will only put people off using the railway system and eventually their jobs will disappear with automation and other technology.

Finally, Royal Mail is being crippled by even more strikes. This will likely spoil many people's Christmases, due to parcels and cards and other items being delayed. But there are other services available, such as DHL, and Evri, which allow you to send parcels, and probably a good deal cheaper than Royal Mail. How many letters do people send nowadays? I very rarely get letters, but plenty of junk mail, which ends up in the recycling bin. I think most people use email for personal stuff. With a first-class stamp costing almost £1, you can see why people don't use it much.