Thursday. 11.20 a.m. It's quite bright and sunny, but not particularly warm.
I've been doing a bit more writing. I have a good idea where it will finish, but not how it will begin, which is often the case with writing. It's a bit like a journey, you know where you want to end up, but not where to start. In fact, a story is fairly well as a journey of some sort. During the journey, you have a sequence of highs and lows, good and bad. You keep on the straight and narrow but then get diverted, get lost in an unknown place but end up at your destination and you have learned something along the way. By the end of the journey, you should have changed.
I decided to download the National Lottery app recently. I haven't played the Lottery for years, but I thought I would have a go. If you have the app you can play without having to go to a shop to buy a ticket. You pick your numbers on the app and pay using your debit card. I have played twice now. But this morning I got a call claiming to be from the National Lottery. I'm pretty sure it was genuine, but with the number of spam calls I get, I was somewhat wary. I was going to be given several free lines in the Lottery but for £12 a week I could have a syndicate and have perhaps a thousand lines, each for about 5p each. It sounded too good to be true and it could have been a scam. I was assured that it wasn't and I was virtually talked into setting this up with my debit card. I decided at the last minute that I didn't go ahead with it. It would have been around £50 a month, which is a lot on my pension, and for that, I could buy food for a week or more in Aldi or Lidl. I didn't like the somewhat aggressive approach to selling this. I managed to avoid it but someone else, perhaps with Alzheimer's or with a learning disability might have gone ahead with it and caused them financial hardship. I'm sure it was genuine, but, as I say, it was a hard sell.
Boris Johnson says that there's nothing in the data to suggest that further lockdown restrictions won't be lifted on 21st June, but scientists are saying that we have to be cautious. The infamous Indian variant is playing centre stage and making a bit of an act out of it and wants full parity with Equity members and full pay and overtime. We will have to wait and see what happens. If it doesn't get what it wants it will go on the rampage and have a hissy fit and might take to the bottle and spent the night in a drunken stupor and fall into the gutter outside a nightclub and get caught on camera by the press and land up plastered all over the tabloid press, ending up being interviewed on breakfast television and selling its story to the Sunday papers.
Friday. 5 a.m. Not much to report. I can't hear wind or rain, so I presume it's still and calm outside. Alfie has crept into my bed. Making himself very comfortable, which I don't blame him!
Later. You may recall I mentioned I had trouble buying pooh bags so I could clean up after Alfie. I always do, regardless I just think if you have a dog you are responsible for it, even down to cleaning up the mess when this happens in a public space. There are obviously quite a few people who just couldn't care less and don't do the right thing. It's not the dog's fault. It's a pity these people don't get caught and fined. There used to be bags above the bins which are dotted around, not unfortunately not anymore. I expect the Council needed to cut down on such items, but in all honesty, dog owners should buy their own and carry them when they take their dogs out. I always keep a bundle in my packet and they don't cost a great deal. I did mention that I couldn't find them in Sainsbury's over the past few weeks, which is why I went to Morrisons to buy some a few Sundays ago. I noticed they had them in Sainsbury's this morning when I was in there, but not the type I usually buy. They have been replaced by thinner, biodegradable ones. I think I've worked out why. No doubt it's Sainsbury's attempting to get rid of plastic. I don't think the original type was biodegradable, which makes sense. They more or less got rid of plastic carrier bags, and if you need them you have to pay 5p-10p, which goes to charity. I always take my own 'bags for life,' but I have discovered that actually, some of these reusable bags have more plastic in them than the traditional plastic bags. Which is somewhat crazy. But regardless of that, I have plenty, bought over the years, which are still going strong and have done goodness knows how many shopping trips. I bought a bag in Aldi the other week, which can be folded into a tiny little bag which means it takes up very little space and can be put in a pocket for when you go shopping and is therefore readily available to put things in when you are out and about.
Later. 9.30. I have been out this evening! I can't remember when I last went out in the evening. Carol and I used to go out for a drive, usually to Woburn and go through the deer park, but then we weren't out for long and it was a way for her to destress if she had had a difficult day at work at Milton Keynes Academy, which was quite often. Probably something to do with a member of staff, sorting out someone else's mess. This evening a group from church met at my friend Margaret and Mike's home in Downhead Park. They have been really good friends and support to me since Carol's death. We walked along the canal, down one side and back on the other. Observing the wildlife, in particular a family of geese and another of swans and ducks.
I drive home and walk back inside the flat, to be greeted by a very happy Alfie who goes slightly bonkers, playing with his toys and throwing them around, shaking vigorously and wagging his tail excitedly. It's such a lovely welcome home! It makes having a little dog so worthwhile. It certainly lifts my spirits. Such a loving little dog.
