A Fun-Packed Week!?

Monday. 1.30 p.m. I'm now working on the next stage of my writing. I have a vague outline of how things will move on, but then I drive off-road and across the country to take a diversion (sorry for the mixed metaphor. I'm not entirely sure whether that is.) Story lining is something like a journey. It's a road full of pitfalls, bends, diversions and hills and valleys. A bit like life.

10.00 p.m. It's pouring with rain as I write this. Alfie had an emergency call to go out, and I had to dress to take him out, without any sort of raincoat for either of us. 

Prayer is powerful! On Sunday, Ross, our pastor, prayed that it would rain this evening because it's Halloween. If it rained, it would deter children from going out trick-or-treating. Sure enough, it rained! Halloween is not something Christians should get involved in.

Tuesday. 5.55 a.m. It's been raining all night and there seems to have been quite a strong wind. It was that which woke me up, hence putting my fingers on the keyboard and writing this.

4.40 p.m. I have just returned from Camphill. I arrived around 8.45 a.m. Because the traffic can be quite heavy, and I don't like being late, I always leave Dexter House a good deal earlier than I would at any other time of day. I walked the short distance to the Chrysalis Theatre and when I walked through the front door I found some of the gang, some of which were dressed smartly in suits and ties. I wasn't sure what this was about but soon learnt that it was connected to the Tree Of Trees project which was part of H.M. Queen's Platinum Jubilee. The whole thing was about the planting of a tree, which was part of the amazing celebrations for The Queen's 70 years on the throne. It was a tree-like structure, designed by the Heatherwick Studios, and made up of 350 tree saplings, which were in metal containers and the 'tree' constructed from recycled metal. These small trees have been distributed to charities all around Britain and one of them had been assigned to Camphill in Milton Keynes. The day was to consist of a presentation by the CEO of Camphill for a number of dignitaries, including the Mayor of Milton Keynes, Lady Howe, Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (who is the Monarch's representative in Buckinghamshire.) as well as Martha Kearney, presenter of the BBC Radio Four programme 'Today' and is a patron of Camphill Milton Keynes, along with the trustees of the charity which runs Camphill. 

The guys were instructed to be greeters to the guests and I was to be a greeter at the entrance with one of the guys, Matthew. Then, as the guests arrived, they were offered tea or coffee and, to be ushered into the main auditorium where the presentation was to be delivered. Unfortunately, Martha Kearney sent a message to say that she would be late as she was caught in a traffic hold-up on the M1, so, by the time she arrived, the entire schedule for the event was put out by around 45 minutes. 

Eventually, the presentation began and once it had been completed, the guests went out into the garden area near the Chrysalis Theatre for the tree planting and once that was over, photographs were taken. Quite a momentous occasion and no doubt be will long be remembered by the residents of Camphill and they were talking about it when everyone had left.

Before lunch, we did some drama exercises, and we had lunch and when we got back there was the usual session of each person telling what they had been doing eventually we did some work on the next production which is a version of Twelfth Night but adapted into a pantomime. I can't wait to see how this develops.

6.20 p.m. I had my evening meal a good deal later than usual. I had chicken tikka and I'm waiting for my apple and blackberry pie to cook. It takes 30 minutes to cook and I will make custard. 

It has been very windy today. Fortunately no rain. But the wind was strong enough to knock you off your feet. 

8.00 p.m. I said there hadn't been any rain today. Well, as I write this, it's really raining quite heavily. Just as well Alfie doesn't need to go out, as he would not like it. He is currently tucked up in his bed and, as far as I can tell, he's fast asleep. The wind is howling around the building, so it must be really unpleasant outside at the moment.

What's It All About, Alfie?

Thursday.6.00 p.m. I went to the Oaktree Centre this morning to help set up Acorns playgroup. I left around 8.40, which should have given me plenty of time to get there for 9. I left Dexter House and drove out of Oldbrook along Strudwick Drive and then found there was a queue of around six cars at the junction onto Chaffron Way. It's virtually impossible to get out onto the road to the right, due to heavy traffic so, as usual, I went left and drove around the roundabout near Eaglestone (commonly known as Four Bridges, for obvious reasons, and then doubled back on myself to drive along Chaffron Way. Then there was a jam only metres away, just before the turning into Rainbow Drive. Many cars appeared to be parked within the immediate entry, and I wondered if they were parents dropping off children going to either the college or Milton Keynes Academy. These parents (if indeed it is parents) don't seem to care about anyone else, just blocking the entrance and not getting out of the way. The other entrance into MK Academy in Saxon Street was always being clogged up with cars, by parents either leaving their children or collecting them and also not taking a blind bit of notice that it was dangerous, likely causing collisions with vehicles, even though the school had made it clear to them not to do so. People just seem to do as they please, regardless of being told not to do something. 

Beyond the roundabout where Chaffron Way meets Grafton Street, the traffic was nose-to-tail more or less all the way to Shenley. All I can say is, I was more than glad that I was driving in the opposite direction and I wouldn't want to put up with that sort of traffic daily, to and from work. I can't think what had caused the traffic to be so snarled up unless there was an accident on either the M1 or the A5 and traffic was being diverted through Milton Keynes or maybe there was resurfacing of some of the grid roads which might cause such problems.

Saturday. 6.05 a.m. Alfie came to me and prodded me. I had to force myself to respond and wake up. It wasn't easy, waking up, getting dressed and then taking him out, as I knew he was in desperate need to get out and I really didn't want a mess to clear up. So I carried him out (just as well he's small. I can't imagine doing that with a bigger dog, an Irish wolf-hound or Labrador.) This was at around 2.30 a.m., so you can imagine that it was very dark, even with a few street lamps illuminating things. But it was a success, and we were soon back indoors and back in bed a couple of minutes later.

We met up for the men's breakfast at Morrison's at Westcroft this morning. It was something of a disaster, although it was sorted out. We have met there to use the community room for several months and it seems a good enough venue, it's quiet, and we can have a cooked breakfast,, provided by Morrison's café. But I don't know what happened as regards getting the room set up and making it ready for us. You would imagine that if they had a regular booking, they would have known we were due there. But no. The staff had no idea. It was eventually sorted out and the meeting went ahead, but we could have just as easily gone to Costa which is right next door to Morrison's. 

I had planned to go to my creative writing group, which meets monthly in Waterstones in Midsummer Place. I should have left to drive a good deal earlier because when I got as far as the road opposite The escape, the traffic was backed up almost as far as the roundabout on Childs Way. It took some while to reach the carpark I usually go to when I drive into Milton Keynes centre and found it absolutely chocker-block, with not a single space vacant, although I did drive round with the hope that I would find a space, but no luck. I then drove out and thought I might be able to park in the adjacent carpark, but when I attempted to use the RingGo app it would not work. A similar situation happened when I came in earlier in the week to have my covid booster vaccine jab. It simply refused to work. I don't understand why it won't work, it won't connect or something. One of those confounded spinning wheel things, so I gave up and came home, unfortunately, abandoning any possibility of getting to the meet-up. I will just have to drive in a good deal earlier when the group next meets.

Trip To Bedford

I've mentioned in a previous blog post that I went to get my hair cut on Saturday, preparatory to going to Bedford to have photographs done by my friend John. We arranged to meet at 10 o'clock and I knew that it wouldn't take much more than 30 minutes to drive over, with the newly-opened stretch of road between the M1 and Bedford. How wrong could I be. I left what I thought was far too early, but it's was just as well that I did, because the A421 out of Milton Keynes and going towards the M1 was nose-to-tail because of the duelling work that is currently going on. It was somewhat frustrating, but there was very little I could do to speed my journey up. Vast H.G.V.'s and other road-users, moving at barely walking pace is not going to help anyone's patience at the best of times. Great swathes of the countryside is being shifted to make way for a second carriageway and I'm really shocked to see so much building going on along the side of the road. On the Wavendon side a lot of new houses and on the opposite side a lot of new warehousing. At this rate Milton Keynes will join up with Bedford. By the time I reached the traffic lights near the M1 I was able to turn left onto the long stretch of dual carriage way which takes you directly to Bedford and if you carry on along the Bedford by-pass you eventually come to the A1 at the Black Cat roundabout and on to the north of England, Peterborough and Stamford and, if you go through St Neots you lead to the road going on to Cambridge and Newmarket. As it was today, I wasn't going that far and came off onto the newer section of bypass which leads towards Bromham and so drove along Bromham Road into the centre of Bedford. I was making for Greyfriars, a road well known to me as I used to live along that very street, not far from the police station and bus station. I haven't been into the centre of Bedford for at least 8-9 years and the town has changed a good deal in that time, not least around the bus station. A couple of large blocks of flats have been demolished to make way for redevelopment, but this never took place and the space where those blocks used to be is  now a ground level car park which is where I managed to park.

Then I had to find the building where we were to do the photo shoot. John gave me the number as 25 Greyfriars, but I wasn't sure exactly which door it was as the numbering along the street wasn't very clear. Some buildings have numbers and some don't, then you get the numbers out of sequence and 'A' or 'B' and other letters added which only adds to the confusion. I stood and waited because it wasn't 10 o'clock and the sent John a text. I'm never always sure that a text is sent of if it even reaches it's destination and if the mobile signal is poor whether it's doing anything.  All in the lap of the gods, as they say.

John soon turned up and it appeared that I was outside the wrong building, but never mind. We went in. I can't work out what the shop that the studio was in does. Was it printing, graphics, or things photographic? Anyway, the room upstairs was where the photographic studio was situated, all set up with lighting and the white background paper which is so vital if you're doing serious portrait photography which is what I wanted as I didn't want a confusing background, just myself against a white background. We chatted for a bit. A lot of things to catch up on and then I got ready for the 'shoot.' John did some test shots, just to see what I thought. This is where digital photography is so good, you can see the results immediately, unlike traditional photography, where you have to wait for photographs to be developed and printed. With digital it's so easy to upload them to websites (which is what I'm intending doing for walk-on/extra agencies.)

After the shoot we went to a café which is new to me in Allhallows and behind the bus station, called Hallows. I had a cheese and tomato sandwich and a latte and we went upstairs to chat. We have lots of things in common, not the least being keen on doing walk-on and extra work as well as art, design and film-making and watching and having an interest in Doctor Who, Star Wars and other things.

When we had finished I was concerned that the parking ticket, which was for 2 hours, was about to expire, so we walked through the bus station towards the carpark and we went our separate ways. John is going to put the photos on a memory stick and post it off to me and it should be with me in a couple of days. It's no use them being on a CD-ROM, because my MacBook doesn't have a drive for these so a memory stick makes sense.

I drove out of Bedford through Bromham and towards Milton Keynes. When I got to the roundabout and what would have normally have been a left turn and fairly straightforward drive towards Milton Keynes, past Stagsden and other villages, I found there was a sign up saying the emotive words, 'Road Closed,' which was a bit of an annoyance, no advance warning further back to say that this was the case, so I had to drive on towards Northampton, with the idea of eventually going through Olney and back home that way. So, my journey was going to be somewhat circuitous, and when I got into Milton Keynes, going towards Willen and eventually into the centre of Milton Keynes, I found even more roads closed off. This is becoming rather annoying but, after another detour around the centre of Milton Keynes, I eventually got to Sainsbury's as I needed one or two items for my evening meal. But the journey out of Milton Keynes earlier in the day had been somewhat frustrating and so had the return journey.

Grass cutting and Trip To Bell Plantation

With the warm weather, the subject of grass cutting comes to the fore. Not just warm weather, but with a couple of months of rain the length of the grass has become quite long. Not my favourite occupation, as you will be aware if you read any of my earlier blog posts. It's a question of dragging the machine out of the shed, untangling the lead and then uncoiling the electric cable from the house and then setting-too with the machine. I don't think a Flymo is designed to cut grass which would easily satisfy a herd of cattle, sheep, or other unguates. The machine is intended, I would imagine, for those lawns of householders who have immaculate turfed lawns. A gentle stroll pushing the Flymo every weekend, to a length not above a few centimetres. But our patch of tusky grass is enough to loose a herd of bison on the African savannahs. I didn't intend spending too long on the grass-cutting job. I would spend the barest minimum of time and then come back later in the day to do a bit more, probably over three shifts. Because of it's length it is quite damp, which makes the job even more difficult. I have managed about a quarter of the area and will continue in the morning. It must be done as it's so dry and sunny, otherwise it will be virtually impossible to get the machine to work efficiently.

Carol is beginning to become stir-crazy. With the sun shining brightly there was an absolute must to escape from the confines of the house. I suggested somewhere which is up Watling Street and just beyond Towcester, a garden centre called Bell Plantation. There is quite a lot to see and do there together with a rather pleasant restaurant. We've enjoyed driving along Watling Street as an alternative to the M1 which it seems is permanently affected by road works, meaning vast length of motorway coned off and having to drive at 50 m.p.h. Hence our journey being rerouted along Watling Street, which has far more pleasant views of the surrounding countryside as well as being dotted with some really pleasant stopping places such as garden centres where there are plenty of restaurants to eat and drink in. A real alternative to the rather boring motorway service areas.

On arrival at Bell Plantation we noticed that the carpark had been resurfaced with tarmac. We'd visited well over a year ago. They have done some considerable improvements to the site since our last visit. We had a browse in one or two of the small shops, some selling antiques and other nick-naks. We  ventured into the restaurant, which we have  been  to on a couple of previous occasions.    We ordered hot chocolate and two pieces of rather delicious cake, Carol had Victoria sponge with raspberry jam and butter icing filling and I had chocolate fudge cake. We shared each other's cake. Well worth the journey up Watling Street for this delight. We then had a browse around the garden centre and Carol was determined to buy a wind-blown garden ornament as we'd seen a few in another garden centre, probably Frost's at Woburn Sands. We also needed milk and vegetables for our evening meal and we then left to return south on Watling Street.

Alfie had to have a return visit to the vet's at Oakgrove at 2 o'clock. We were more wary of the roadworks along Chaffron Way, so we decided to go via Standing Way and then cut across Brickhill Street and arrived in Waitrose's carpark with 15 minutes to spare, and the we took Alfie straight into be seen by he vet. The antibiotics seem to be working, but she managed to get some more of the built-up mess off his face with some damp cotton wool. We have to take him back for a further consultation on Monday afternoon, but will continue with the antibiotics until the course of tablets is complete.

Alfie seemed to prefer sitting on my knee as we drove there and back. On Monday I drove, with Carol holding onto him, but he was eager to sit on my lap as I drove which was totally impossible. He was very much more quiet and I held on to the harness he had on. 

Television Documentary About Milton Keynes's 50th Anniversary

2017 is the 50th Birthday of Milton Keynes. I moved here in 2007 when I married Carol, having previously lived in Bedford, around 20 miles to the east. BBC television has shown a documentary about the town (I can never decide whether it's a town or a city, and it seems, do other people. Which is it? You decide.) It was built as an over-spill for London. Half-way between London and Birmingham and between the A5 to the west and the M1 to the east. The Grand Union Canal cuts through the town and is around half a mile from our home in Eaglestone, walking down the Redway. To some extent, according to this documentary which was co-producted by the Open University, which is based in MK, the town was built as a sort of social experiment. All manner of different architects were employed to have a virtual freehand in the design of the various 'villages' which were conceived within each of the 'girds' which make up the town.

The documentary was told from the point of view of one man, Richard Macer, who lived and grew up in the town, left to go to university and came back to visit the place again. His parents continued to live in the town, in Great Linford. He went to school at Stantonbury Campus, where Carol was a teacher before transferring to her current school, Milton Keynes Academy.

Milton Keynes has been the subject of quite a few jokes over the years, not least because of the number of roundabouts, and in particular the so-called 'Concrete Cows' which have become the unofficial symbol for the town. Also, described as 'dull', 'soulless' as well as uninspiring. Having lived here for a little over ten years I can say I have not found it to be any such thing. Infact, it's got plenty going for it. I particularly like the fact that there's so much open space here. As you'd drive along the grid roads you almost forget the fact that you are driving through a town at all, as the design of the place means all houses and most other buildings, can't be seen from the road, that there are plenty of trees to screen the grids which contain the 'village' like communities within them as well as cleverly landscaped sections, banked up with the plants and trees on them as well as having all housing beyond a fairly wide margin of each road, giving a pleasant feel to the place, unlike many other modern towns which have houses almost on the roadside. The town has been highly successful in creating employment. The rate of growth is amazing. The amount of homes being built is startling and Milton Keynes is expanding at a great rate. We drove across the town a few days ago and went past Crownhill, the area we originally lived when we were married in 2007. The fields along the side of Watling Street as you drive towards Stony Stratford and Wolverton have been developed and now it's all houses. On the approach-road from the M1, coming in from Bedford, there is a large amount of construction going on. Since I've been living here, a vast John Lewis warehouse complex has been built along that stretch of road, as well as for their partner company, Waitrose. The road system has been vastly improved, partially duelled along that piece of road, where there is a roundabout with an impressive steel statue of Greg Rutherford, the Olympic Gold-Medallist Long Jump winner at the 2012 London Olympic Games who lives within the Milton Keynes area. There is further building going on at the newly-improved roundabout which used to be a point where there were long traffic queues before it was widened and with new traffic lights and then going towards Newport Pagnall there is even more development of not just houses but more warehouses, no doubt going to be distribution centres for more companies. Infact, Milton Keynes has a higher rate of employment than more areas of the United Kingdom.

New Car and other things-Part 1

I haven't been posting on here for quite some while. Life seems to get in the way, in quite a large and uncomfortable way. I had intended updating on happenings around here, but had only just got round to doing it. Carol hasn't be well. A urinary infection which has been impossible to shift. We've been to the doctor's at Ashfield Medical Centre on several occasions. She's been given antibiotics which just don't seem to work. She's been in a great deal of pain and taken paracetamol, cocodomol as well as Ibuprofen. Helps with the discomfort for a short while but then the pain comes back. She eventually saw one of the practice nurses and has an appointment with a consultant at Milton Keynes Hospital next week (23rd August.) Fortunately this came through fairly rapidly and we only wish the doctor could have got this referral a good deal earlier. As a result we've not had the summer we would have liked. It's supposed to be a long relaxing break for Carol, off from work. It's just as well we didn't have anywhere booked for a holiday as it would have been cut short.

On a far better note, we now have a new car, a Renault Captur. The old car a Peugeot 1007 Dolce, had caused us so many problems, what with breaking down twice, once, when we went up to Newcastle to move Daniel into his new flat and then on the way home from our visit to the National Trust Property, Calke Abbey, when it broke down on the M1 and we had to be rescued from the 'coned off' area within the roadworks and then we had to have the big end replaced (at great expense, after the repair done in Newcastle. Then the driver-side sliding door wouldn't work properly (and was never repaired, hence having to slide it manually which was a real annoyance. I could go on: both coil springs had to be replaced when it was MoT'd earlier this year and no end of squeaks and odd noises which really put us both driving the car. So, you can see it hasn't been the most successful of cars. It was definitely time we replaced it. But, the only way we could possibly afford a new, or at least, second hand, car, was get a loan. I managed to arrange an overdraft on our NatWest account, more as a sort of safety net so that, if the worst happens and we don't have sufficient funds in the account when one of the direct debits comes out, it will be covered and we won't be charged something like £30. At the time I was told that we might be able to get a bank loan. After all our problems with our finances which have not been paid off it seemed that at last we might be able to get a bank loan so as to buy a replacement car. It would be a good idea before the winter sets in and the possibility of us spending out vast sums to keep the old Peugeot on the road, what with the possibility of more repairs. In a way, throwing money away on an old car when we might just as well put it towards a newer one.
We visited Brayley's at Westcroft one Sunday and were really taken by the Renault Captur. It was, of course, no use thinking of buying a car without first seeing whether we'd get a loan. Then a few weeks ago we went into our bank, NatWest, and made an appointment to see whether we'd get a loan.
It was a Thursday when we ventured forth with trepidation and went into the bank branch. The staff were very good and we went through the formalities. It's all done on computer and our credit score is taken ito consideration. And, low and behold, we got accepted! The money would be available the following day. So we began the search for a suitable car which would fit our budget. We went back to Brayley's and they had a Captur which was newly in, second hand but not ready for sale, needing servicing and valeting. We couldn't manage to beat them down on the price. So we left it. We went home and did a search on the internet and found that Evans Halshaw in Bedford had a good selection of used cars. So we drove over there and saw a Renault Captur which fitted our budget. The only downside was the fact that it was a diesel and not a petrol model. Also, would they accept our old clapped-out Peugeot in part-payment? What was it worth, if anything? When we bought it, only three years ago, we part-payed with exchanging our old Atoz and were surprised when we got £50. The salesman had to get someone to do an inspection and it turned out it was worth £200. So, we could have spent that easily to get it through it's next MoT and it wasn't likely to make it through the winter.

Ospreys At Rutland Water

Last weekend we had intended visiting Rutland Water. We had done some research on the internet and decided it would be the ideal place to visit, but it would need to be reasonably dry because most of the activities, or indeed, all of the activities to be found there were outside and it was no good if it was pouring with rain. Also, it seemed just the right place to go with Alfie and he was in need of an outdoor activity which included a good walk. As it turned out the weather was unsettled so we didn't go. But this weekend we needed to get out of the house because 'next-door' were continuing with their D.I.Y. activities which included hammering relentlessly. Enough to drive anyone to distraction and it didn't seem it would end any time soon, so we went for the idea of visiting Rutland Water.

We set up the SatNav and trusted that it would get us to Rutland Water without too much bother (we call it a 'she' as it has a female voice. We call her Dora, after 'Dora The Explorer.') We would have expected to drive up the A1 and then cross towards the A1 via the A14 but we were taken across towards Bedford and then on along the bypass to the Black Cat Roundabout on the A1 and then streight up to around Stamford and Oakham. It was a relatively easy journey. When we arrived at Rutland Water we went into one of the carparks (Sykes Lane) but realised soon that it wasn't where we wanted to be as we wanted to visit the bird-watching site. Then we drove to Egleton and eventually ended up at Manton where the birdwatching site and reserve is situated. As we wanted to have a chance of seeing the ospreys and other birds and have access to the hides along the shore we had to buy permits. I was reluctant to part with any cash at first, but I was brought round when I realised that the people who run the place had done a very good job of not only landscaping the area, and providing good paths and fencing, the cost of the entry is well worth it. The reserve is managed by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust in association with Anglian Water who built the reservoir in the late 1970's. i remember driving up to the area with my parents to see this mammoth building project being constructed and then returning to see it being filled with water, probably in 1975-76. It's a huge area of water but considering it's a man-made structure seems very natural and seems to fit into the spectacular landscape extremely well.

The weather wasn't too kind when we first arrived, with some slight rain, but, fortunately, it eased off and we had some pleasant weather, some sunshine but not too warm.

We walked along the south shore. Quite a pleasant walk. There was a choice of two paths, one nearer the water's edge and the other, a lot higher up, with a gravel surface. We could see someone in a wheelchair further along and it did seem a better path if you were in a wheelchair, pushing a child in a  buggy or other wheeled contraption, but the lower path which we were on, wasn't really suitable for wheeled vehicles of any sort. Unfortunately we soon discovered that there were a lot of gnats or other unpleasant insects hanging in the air in vast clouds which we had to swat away as we walked along. We came to one hide but, on sitting inside and peering out through the openings we could see no sign of any birds or other wildlife. Perhaps if we'd had our own field glasses or binoculars we'd probably have had a chance of seeing something. We didn't stay in the hide too long.

We re-joined the path. We had the choice of following two paths. One signpost said 'This way to tufted duck.' I forget what the other said. I was intrigued to see a tufted duck. Well, let's be honest, what would you expect one to look like? Then we came upon yet another hide. Was this the spot to view the ever-elusive species? The intriguingly-named tufted duck? On going inside we did look through the viewing holes but no sign of any sort of bird, let along a tufted duck. We gave up. Perhaps you have to be a good deal more patient if you're to become a very active bird-watcher. We walked on and found a far larger hide. On entering we were surprised to find a crowd of people, all very earnest, although very knowledgeable and friendly. There was a television monitor set up at one end which was showing pictures of birds on a nest, being streamed live from a web-cam. It turned out to be ospreys. We were also able to actually view these birds through telescopes and on looking through these devices saw these birds, a female on a nest and another a male perched on a tree in the water a good half-mile away. Apparently Rutland Water is an important site for birds and is the first place in the British Isles where ospreys have bred in something like 150 years. We were told that if we came back in a couple of months we might see some osprey chicks because the female was supposed to be incubating some eggs in the nest. I hope we might be able to see some of the birds 'in the flesh' and not on either a video screen or through a telescope lens, but even seeing them like that was something of a thrill. We have many pairs of red kites flying around in the Chilterns, particularly where we go at West Wycombe, as these beautiful birds have been re-introduced in that area.

We walked back towards the visitor centre. It seemed a good deal further back than it was when we began our walk out along the shore-line.

For some strange reason, the SatNav directed us back home a different way to the route we took from Milton Keynes. You would imagine that it would use the route we took to get to Rutland Water. It just seems so strange. I just don't see the logic of the thing. But, after all, it is still a computerised gadget and not human.

Visiting Grandson George

It's a good many months since we were at George, my grandson's christening in Claines, near Worcester. We had to wait until the Easter holidays to be able to plan another visit. A good two-hour drive there needs a certain amount of organisation. We'd bought him some clothes in Sainsbury's a few weeks ago as well as a chocolate rabbit in Morrison's on Sunday. A difficult decision as regards an Eater treat of some sort, whether to get him an Easter egg, something made from chocolate, or a rabbit (gold paper wrapped with a little golden bell on a red ribbon around it's neck.) so the bunny won. Duly loaded the car, SatNav installed, camera, mobile phone and all the other paraphernalia. Car fuelled up on Sunday, which saved us some time. Not able to see Chloe or George until after 2 p.m. 

We needed something to eat mid-journey. We needed to find a suitable place to eat something. We needed to go to buy sandwiches or at least something suitable. We went to Asda. As it turned out it wasn't such a good idea, unfortunately. It was around 10.30 when we got there and the place was heaving. What is it that makes people behave in a sort of siege mentality whenever there's any sort of public holiday? Easter, Christmas, New Year, or whatever? We picked up the sandwiches we wanted off the shelves, and a few crisps and other snacks and then went to pay. Every till in what is a really huge supermarket seemed busy, with long queues with customers pushing trolleys which were over-loaded with goods. Most tills had people already being checked through but with large amounts of goods on the conveyor belts. We stood in one queue and it seemed to take forever for it to move. It was no good moving to another or even going to a self-service checkout as all dozen or so were busy, with people waiting. No express tills either (do they have these in Asda? I don't think so. Or a self-scan system which I've seen in Tesco and I know Waitrose have as we've used ourselves. It does cut down on queuing.) Anyway, the woman on the till we were using seemed as if she was on a go-slow. Not making much effort to speed herself up. I don't think she could, even if she tried. By the time we'd paid and walked out, it was near enough 11 o'clock. I would have left a good deal earlier but Carol insisted we leave around 10-11. We followed the SatNav's directions and for some strange reason we went via Buckingham, but made a really different detour and followed a road we'd never been on before. It usually takes us a completely different way. We got to the M40 and then onto the M5. The whole journey was taking a good deal longer than anticipated. We had hoped to arrive at Claines at around 1.45, but we got held up in long queues of traffic and didn't arrive until around 2.40.

Unfortunately we weren't at Claines very long. We did go for a walk with Chloe and George. He's walking well and into everything, as all children of his age.We walked as far as the sports ground, with George exploring everything on the way, mainly drains and inspection covers and putting stones and sticks into various holes he hound on the way. We were surprised when Steve appeared. I wasn't aware that he worked from home. He made us a cup of tea and we sat and chatted while George played. We sat in the garden and saw their newly-laid lawn. Made of decent turf, unlike our uneven excuse for a lawn.

Around 5.15 Chloe announced that they had to go and collect her car from being repaired from the garage. It was by then that we decided on leaving, unfortunately, as we knew it was a long drive home. It was just as well we did leave when we did, because by the time we hit the M5 towards Birmingham the traffic was building up. We journeyed back towards the M6 and the M1 and finally back towards Milton Keynes. We were somewhat surprised that the roadworks along the M1 south near Daventry is still continuing. It was this area where we broke down in the car a year or two ago. A somewhat traumatic experience, as you might expect. We were rescued by a breakdown truck as we had gone into the coned-off area. Not an experience either of us would want to repeat in a hurry. It seems the roadworks have been going on for much too long. What is annoying is that the part of the Motorway which is coned off has no work going on, or at least from what we could see. Why they can't open up more and allow the traffic to flow properly, instead of having such long stretches coned off, and expecting drivers to travel at no more than 50 M.P.H. seems crazy. We arrived home at around 7.15.

Another Annoying and Totally Pointless Phone call

I have now got a new mobile. We bought a Samsung Galaxy just over a year ago. A smart phone. I have never had one before, always having a fairly basic model, but it seemed a reasonably good idea to 'upgrade' to a mobile which meant you can have 'apps' on it, are able to get onto the internet etc etc. So we got a fairly basic model from Sainsbury's and went with a 'sim' card which you put into the mobile yourself, which is great, it means you can change your provider when you want and aren't tied to one particular company. It is an 02 sim and you have a 'bundle' of minutes and data for £10 a month (I'm not exactly sure what amount of data it has or the number of minutes for 'talking.' It's strange that it's referred to as a telephone, but most people seem to use these devices more for texting, going on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc etc than using the thing to actually speak to someone. But the Samsung Galaxy wasn't up to much, unfortunately. It didn't have nearly enough memory (0r whatever.) to allow you to have a whole selection of downloadable 'apps' on it. When we joined the A.A. a year or two back, after we broke down on the M1 when we came back from visiting Calke Abbey, we found that you could have an insurance policy, through the A.A., which meant, if you broke down you would not only get rescued by the A.A. (which they have always done since time immemorial; what the organisation was set up to do.) but also, with a reasonable monthly payment, you could have your car repaired, free, up to the value of £500. Which seemed reasonable. Considering the cost of car repairs and the fact that we broke down when we were up in Newcastle-On-Tyne around two years ago, when we went to move Daniel from one flat to another when he was at university there. And it was around a week later that we broke down- again- this time, as I mentioned earlier- on the return journey from visiting Calke Abbey. It was somewhat traumatic, to say the least. Standing and waiting to be rescued, within the area where there were roadworks going on. We had a free rescue and were then deposited in a layby just off the  Motorway, somewhere near Daventry, or was it Northampton? We were with Swinton Insurance and had additional breakdown cover with them, so they came and took us the rest of the way home. (All this mentioned in an earlier blog post on here.) What I am attempting to say, in a very long-winded and roundabout way, is, that, with the A.A. you can have an 'app' on your phone, which you use when necessary, if you break down, as it will show the service where you are exactly. No doubt using some sort of G.P.S. technology, which is good, because when you breakdown (which, in around 45 years of driving has only happened i think, perhaps twice.) you never always know exactly where you are, in order to let the rescue service find you.

Taking an age to get to the point of this post, but it's coming up in the next bit. I needed to explain the 'how's and why's of things before I got to the main point. A sort of Ronnie Corbett, monologue-moment. If you don't know what I'm on about, just Google 'Two Ronnies' comedy monologue or something.

So, we decided to upgrade the mobile again, this time with an iPhone. Not the latest, an iPhone 5. It has a good deal more reliable and has a good deal more memory than the Samsung has.

I have removed the sim card from the Samsung and put it in the iPhone. I notice that it's easier to get at the sim card as Apple see fit to make this simpler by having a little drawer at the side of the phone which you gain access to by the use of a little metal device, little more than a glorified paper clip. But if you have to remove the sim card from the Samsung you have to remove the back of the phone and then it's not that easy to find where the sim is. I discovered this by going on Google and finding a handy video on YouTube.

Well, no sooner had I got the thing up-and-running (not managing to get the passwords for various apps to work, but that's a completely other story.) I had several phone calls during the afternoon. One just rang and rang and I didn't bother to answer because they're usually just for P.P.I. or at least they don't sound too genuine. Telling me my computer needs up-grading and they're from the Microsoft office or something. Which is crazy, as this is a Macintosh and doesn't use Microsoft software. So they are more than likely just a scam, eager to get into my computer and all manner of nasty things. I saw that I had two calls from Liverpool, I don't know from whom, but they didn't ring for long enough to allow me to reach the phone to answer. Crazy, as it takes long enough if I don't have the mobile within arms length in order to pick the thing up before it rang off. But this afternoon I decided to ring back. I got a bit of music, the Minute Waltz, the music they use on the Radio 4 show 'Just A Minute.' I eventually got an answer, and it was about the accident we had a couple of years ago, when we went to Ascott, the National Trust property outside Leighton Buzzard, and when we drove home we bumped the car into a pot-hole which set the alarm off, something to do with keeping the car on track, I don't know how it worked exactly. But these insurance people think I was injured as a passenger, which I wasn't. I think it's just a crafty way to get people to claim thousands of pounds of compensation so that they can get commission out of it. I was not injured and just wish they'd stop ringing about this incident. 

Canon Camera Repaired

I had a letter in the post yesterday from Jessops informing me that my Canon digital camera was back from being repaired. We decided not to rush in and collect it yesterday, preferring to go in this morning. The weather was really cold and there was quite  frost, as well as fog. I don't like driving in fog. Just not nice. Carol is the same. She does most of the driving these days. We went up the A5 yesterday, to one of our favourite haunts, just beyond  Weedon, and called Heart of Shires. It must have been a farmyard in a former life, but is now a rather special shopping centre, with some rather pleasant little shops within it's perimeter, including clothes, toys, antiques and gifts of all sorts of descriptions as well as a restaurant, Darlington's, which I imagine must have been the farmhouse, when the site had an agricultural purpose. We had lattes and toasted tea cakes and spent a rather pleasant hour or so browsing the retail outlets. It was a cold day, but the sun was out. The A5 has several similar retail sites along it's route, another being just outside Towcester and yet another further down the A5, which we have visited several times. Also, a couple of garden centres which have a good selection of gardening items such as plants and flowers and from which we occasionally buy our Christmas trees over the past few years. You can drive along the A5 in preference to the M1, which is only a short distance away, but we prefer the A5 (or Watling Street) as the scenery through which it passes it far more interesting. For some reason motorways seem to be designed so you can't always admire the scenery they pass through, and you are expected to drive far too fast and other motorists (but not all) can be very aggressive and self-centred and not respect you. Not quite so bad driving along Watling Street. 

It was foggy as we drove into Milton Keynes centre this morning. We parked in Debenham's multi-storey carpark. We walked through the shopping centre and arrived near Middleton Hall and had coffee in Caffe Nero. As Carol is diabetic she has to have occasional snacks to prevent her blood sugar going too low. We went into Boots to try and get test strips for her blood sugar monitor, but they didn't have them in stock. Quite complicated as there are so many of these devices on the market and all having different systems that aren't interchangeable. By this time it was time to go to Jessops to collect the camera and took out an extended warranty on the Canon so that if it needs repairing over the next few years it will be repaired without need for further payment. Also, bought a spare battery which we put in the camera. Always quite handy to have two batteries when we go out for the day as one can be in the camera and the second one, if fully charged, is always there as back-up should the one in the camera use up it's charge. It only takes two hours to charge, unlike the more traditional rechargeable batteries the Fuji camera uses which take around eight hours for a full charge.

We got back to Debenhams and, as there was a sale on, Carol wanted to have a browse. She saw a rather nice coat and a dress in the Mantaray department downstairs which she bought, along with a lovely silver broach in the form of a dog which looks somewhat like Poppy. Once we'd finished in Debenhams we went back to the car and drove to Sainsbury's. The fog had got a good deal thicker when we drove out of the multi-storey car park and it was even colder and it was as well we weren't driving far.  On the television news we've been hearing of accidents in and around the area, particularly one involving a bus on the M40 near Oxford. A lot of these crashes are because people will simply not slow down in fog. They seem to think they're safe continuing to drive as if it's clear, bright sunshine, but then get caught out when they don't realise they can't see as clearly as they should and so run into vehicles ahead of them that are driving a good deal slower.  In Sainsbury's, whilst looking for a suitable joint of beef for Sunday's roast,  we couldn't see a suitable piece of a size big enough for just the two of us, so we decided to leave and go to Morrison's near the railway station and did our shop there. By the time we'd finished we were well and truly shopped out, having been out for around four hours.

Another Sunday, Another Trip To Whipsnade

The sun was out (well, rather weakly, nevertheless) and Carol was in definite need of some sort of relief from work. It seems unfair that you work all week and then, at the weekend she ends up marking books and planning lessons. She starts work at least 7.15 each morning and doesn't end her day until 4.45 (most days, a good deal later, having to sort out other people's problems etc.) A wander around Whipsnade was most definitely in order. 

As we drove down the A5, Watling Street, towards Dunstable, we encountered heavy traffic. It was nose-to-tail northbound and as we got to the roadworks at the chalk hills entering Dunstable, it was very slow going. The zoo opens at 10 and it was around 10.15 when we got to that point in our journey. 

On entering the zoo (having Carol's Z.S.L. Fellowship means we not only get free entry but also an entry free with our car. At least £75 saved for the two of  us plus the car.) we found the place almost deserted. I suppose on a Sunday, and during term-time, it's not as busy as the holiday time as well as the fact that the weather wasn't particularly brilliant. There were periods of sunshine, but it was definitely clouding over and threatening rain at any moment. 

We drove around the perimeter of the zoo as we usually do. This allows us to see which animals are out and about. There are some animals which we hardly ever see, depending on the weather. The sloth bears are not always to be seen, but they were today. Rather difficult to photograph, unfortunately, because of the chain-link fence which is in the way. They are a particular favourite of ours. Several years ago I gave Carol this lovely cushion which has a bear on it (she loves teddy bears and has quite a collection, which sits on the top of our IKEA bookshelf.) This cushion-bear has a distinctly similar look to the sloth bears.

We continued to drive around and eventually got to the brown bear's enclosure (more or less exactly opposite the sloth bears enclosure.) It was getting very busy as more people began to arrive.) The bears seemed to be causing something of a stir, and Carol said it might be something to do with the bear, Baloo, in the new Disney film of "Jungle Book" (the computer animated re-make which we saw on DVD a few weeks ago and enjoyed enormously. It's very well done.) The character in the film is very similar to the brown bears at Whipsnade. Congratulations to Disney for having him walk on all fours as they do in real life and not as he is portrayed in the original 1967 animated film where he is presented walking on two feet, like a human. It least they've managed to make the character more realistic (although having him talk is certainly not realistic!)

On the many occasions we've visited Whipsnade, we have never seen the wolverines. They are in an enclosure opposite the brown bears. There was quite a  crowd gathered near the enclosure, and for the first time, we actually managed to see two of them! They seem extremely elusive. They appear to spend a good deal of their time hiding. No doubt they can see us, but we can't see them. So I managed to take one or two photographs of one. Then it climbed a tree and we could hardly see it at all!

The elusive wolverine. The first time we've actually seen one of these creatures.

We really wanted to see the elephants (definitely our all time favourite animals at any zoo but particularly at Whipsnade. They are currently building a brand new elephant house and when you visit at the moment you have to take into account the building work that is going on (this is due to open in early 2017.) A rather incongruous fence has been put up as a safety precaution and it wasn't clear where the elephants were when we arrived. Not in the fenced enclosure to the left, but, on walking around we discovered the herd in the paddock the other side. Some of the zoo staff were in the paddock, some of them drove up in a mini tractor which had a trailer on the back which contained green branches covered in leaves which they began to distribute to two piles on the ground. The elephants began to pick up some of the branches, one, in particular, began flaying the ground with some of the more tender branches before eating. There are two young elephants in the herd, one a good deal older and another, which was born at the time of the Queen's 90th birthday earlier in the year (and called Elizabeth as a result.) It's interesting to see how the older elephants look after the young members of the herd and walk along with the little one in between them. At one point the baby began to roll around on the ground and began playing with a few twigs. It was most amusing to watch. We were so glad we arrived when we did because we've never seen the elephants being fed before.

We went to the restaurant near the tiger enclosure to have chocolate cake and coffee. A good selection to choose from and the coffee was better than average.

We walked over the rhino enclosure and were surprised to see one of the large rhinos at very close quarters. We took some excellent photographs. We then drove around to the opposite side of the zoo to visit the shops. If I have a complaint it's that there aren't enough items for adults. All very nice to have so much for children (and we've spotted something for George, my grandson, who has his first birthday in a month's time.) And when we'd finished browsing (without actually buying anything.) we drove back to Milton Keynes. The traffic was building up as we came out of Dunstable on the A5 and it was backed up towards  Hockliffe. By the time we got through the traffic lights the queueing had petered out. We had the car radio on and discovered that the traffic situation was probably caused because a bridge on the M1 had been demolished.

Saturday Jaunt to Compton Verney

Another Saturday, with the sun making an appearance. Carol had decided to drive to Compton Verney in Warwickshire today. We seem to be making the most of the summer weather. We set the SatNav to take us there and it's great to know that, with this technology, you don't have to bother with maps and direction-finding. The journey took no more than an hour and a half. A very straightforward journey. I think we must have come fairly close to this house when we were last out the other week when we drove to Seizencote. It's also quite near Stratford-Upon-Avon.

On arrival, we found a place in the car park and then walked to the entrance building and found other people waiting patiently because the place had not yet opened.

Compton Verney, Bridge in Capability Brown landscape

Once the doors opened we queued up and eventually paid for our entrance and then walked the relatively short distance to the house. The house, built in 1714, is a Grade I listed building, set in the quite stunning landscape, designed by Capability Brown and since this is the 300th anniversary of his birth, a very good example of his work. It seems amazing to think that he is likely to have never seen his work completed when you think how long it would take for the trees to mature. All set off by a very large lake. We walked along the path leading to the house and discovered a very strange building with a pointed thatched roof which turned out to the an ice-house. We have seen a few of these structures at other properties we've visited over the years.

Ice House at Compton Verney

After a walk around the grounds, we entered the house. It has been redeveloped as an art gallery. It's very well executed, using modern building techniques, glass, and steel. There is a new block at the rear of the building which houses a shop, restaurant, and café. I was expecting the house to be like all the other houses we visit, with the interiors virtually intact from whatever period they were built, including furniture.

We spent some time browsing the galleries which contain art from across several centuries and then went into the café to have a snack  before we went upstairs to see two more exhibitions, one of photographs from the B.B.C. archives and covering a 60-year period and showing performers of comedy programmes such as 'Hancock's Half-Hour', 'Round The Horne', 'The Navy Lark' and also television classics such as 'Dad's Army', 'Are You Being Served' and 'Steptoe and Son.' A very interesting and revealing exhibition and great to see the performers, such as Kenneth Williams, Ken Dodd, Arthur Lowe and others in relaxed mood as well as in rehearsal and performing. Also on display is another exhibition of designs from the 1950's and in particular, from the Festival of Britain held in 1951. We're not particularly interested in that period, but it was interesting all the same. Then we went further up the house to a permanent display of folk art.  We then went back outside for a further wander around the house, finishing up in a meadow looking at an artwork called 'Drift; by Laura Ellen Bacon and woven out of wood.

'Drift' by Laura Ellen Bacon

We walked back to the car park to reset the SatNav for home. We didn't return exactly the same way because when we got near the motorway we could see traffic on it was queued up and at a complete stand-still, so we decided we ought to avoid it so went home via Lemington Spa and on towards Daventry and the M1. 

Grandson George's Christening

On Sunday we went to Worcestershire for my grandson George's Christening. I have to come clean and admit that we were late. An hour late and missed the actual Christening. For some reason we thought it was at 2 p.m and not 1 p.m. I know, we should have checked, but we didn't.

We started out at around 9.30 and used the newly-acquired SatNav. It's becoming really helpful, because, if you've been reading any of my earlier posts on here you'll know that our sense of direction if fairly awful and we've spent a lot of time attempting to find a whole lot of places during our outings. It's actually quite assuring to able to rely on this technology to assist in finding places which we haven't been to before.

When we drove to Chloe's graduation in Worcester a few years ago we had to be at Worcester Cathedral (where the ceremony was held.) at something like 9.30 a.m. and we went via the M1/M5 and, as it was early morning we hit a lot of traffic on the way and it took a good deal longer than it ought to have done. The time before last (a couple of weeks ago.) we went on a Friday and went via Buckingham and then onto the Motorway beyond Brackley. It took a little over 2 hours. Had we gone that way on Sunday, even though it was the weekend, we would have got caught up in traffic going to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, so it was as well the SatNav directed us up the M1. We weren't going directly to Claines, where Steve and Chloe live, but to a National Trust property called Hanbury Hall and Garden as we needed to get something to eat as we weren't likely to get anything to eat until around 3 p.m. (or so we imagined.) This turned out to be a really interesting house and we managed to get in a group which went into the house to hear a presentation by one of the staff on the history of the house and the Vernon family who had lived there for around 250 years. It was very interesting and worth the time to listen to.

Hanbury Hall from the front

The gardens at Hanbury Hall

Pavilion at Hanbury

We had a very pleasant lunch in the restaurant, which was at one time the servants' hall when it was lived in. Reminding us very much of "Downton Abbey." Our meal consisted of cottage pie followed by apple and blackberry crumble and ice cream. We spent a little while wandering around the garden (which is when I took the above photographs.) and we then left to drive the short distance to Claines. It was as we got to the church and saw all the guests outside in the churchyard that we realised that the Christening was over, unfortunately. We then drove to the village hall for a rather pleasant tea (actually, I wasn't in the least bit hungry because we had eaten at Hanbury Hall. It was a pity we missed the actual Christening, but it was a chance to meet up with my brother Robert who I haven't seen in a long time as well as my aunt Jasmine (Aunty Jas as she was always called when we were children. My late mother's sister.)

The tea didn't go on too long and we were soon driving home and got back to Milton Keynes by around 7.30. A long day but worth it.

Better Summer Weather and Bad Tempered People

The weather has taken a turn for the better. In fact, it's positively heatwave-time! We managed to sit outside and have our evening meal at our new table yesterday evening. It certainly makes a change from the rotten weather we've had to endure for about the past week. It seemed unfair when you consider it was Half Term, as well as the fact that our holiday we'd hoped to have at the booked cottage over Easter was aborted due to the awful weather.

On Friday, we drove to Worcester to see my daughter Chloe and my new grandson George. The journey there was less stressful than it might have been, due to the fact we went via Buckingham and then the Motorway. It took less than two hours. When we drove there for Chloe's graduation ceremony (well over 7 years ago, or maybe more, I'm not sure now.) the journey seemed to take a good deal longer, travelling via the M1 and around Birmingham. Admittedly it was mid-week and during the heavy volume  travelling time and it was a really awful journey. This time, it seemed a much better route and we will be going that way on 10th July as we're going to George's Christening on that day.

On Sunday, we visited Whipsnade Zoo again. Carol's Fellowship subscription runs out next week and she'd got a letter from Z.S.L. (Zoological Society of London) reminding her of the fact and so we went with the letter and paid the annual fee so we're able again to visit both London and Whipsnade Zoos without paying any entrance fees. We drove the car in again. As it costs around £25 per person together with £20 for the car, that's a saving of £70 each time we visit. We arrived at 9.45 a.m. (the zoo opens at 10 a.m.) and there was a queue of cars waiting. We were on the end of the queue and you just had to sit patiently in the car and wait for the gates to open and drive in. Quite easy you would imagine. But this rather unpleasant individual drove up and seemed to think it was his right to barge straight in. He wound down his car window and hurled abuse at us, for no other reason that he imagined we should get out of the way for him. Not a nice situation and Carol was understandably upset by the incident. He presumably drove to the car park and walked in with his family, but all the time we were in the zoo Carol was concerned that this unpleasant individual was going to find us and hurl a further load of abuse at us just because we'd got there first. There are really some crazy self-obsessed people out there. Sad really.

I actually got to wear my shorts on Saturday. I bought them last year in Debenhams and because the weather was so awful I hardly got to wear them at all last summer. Lets hope the weather is better this year so I get more wear out of them. I've been to Tesco at Kingston and bought a new sun hat because I need to keep my head covered when it's really sunny. The hat I have is a few sizes too small and if a hat is too tight on my head I get a headache. 

Twycross Trip and Visit to Urgent Care Centre

Last year we visited Twycross Zoo for the first time. Well, it was for me. As Carol lived in Leicestershire, in a village called Thornton, which is very close, she says she remembers visiting when she was at school. A one-and-a-half hour journey up the A5 and we found it fairly easily. I think it's quicker than going north on the M1, which, as far as I know, still has roadworks which means you have to drive at 50 m.p.h., which is somewhat annoying. These roadworks have been going on for far too long and what is more than annoying is the fact that they close off mile upon mile or motorway lanes and there never appears to be any work going on. I think something seriously needs to be done about this as it must be causing inconvenience to many people and must be frustrating to local businesses.

The day started out relatively cold, although bright. It was therefore quite difficult to decide what to wear and I wore my hooded fleece. As the day progressed the weather got warmer which meant I didn't really need the fleece and spent most of the day carrying it around with me.

We got to Twycross at 10.30 and immediately noticed that the carpark had been re-surfaced. Infact the whole place  seems to have had a make-over, with not only roads and paths having new surfaces but a complete re-design of the logo and better signage through the zoo. We immediately made for the newly-opened Gibbon Forest exhibit, which was being build when we visited almost exactly a year ago. At that time it was under wraps and it meant you have to navigate the zoo too avoid any of the building work. There is an island exhibit, which looks as if it is still being completed. But you go inside the building and up several levels and can see the gibbons in very naturalistic environments. We spent some time watching these amazing creatures climbing and swinging about on ropes and what look like tapes and moving very fast across the ceiling of the exhibit.

We had something to eat in one of the many cafes and restaurants throughout the zoo. By this time it was getting quite warm and the place was beginning to get quite crowded.

Over-all, our stay at the zoo was around three and a half hours. You can never get to see everything, which means we can visit again and manage to see the rest of the animals that are exhibited. We left and returned home. We had to do shopping so visited Sainsbury's.

We had our evening meal, and Carol was concerned about a rather nasty rash on her leg. It has become very uncomfortable and itchy. She has a cream, prescribed by her doctor, but it does not seem to be clearing. She says that it has begun to swell and it may have something to do with the fact that she has type 2 diabetes. She said she needed a doctor's appointment. I was beginning to get somewhat concerned. She could have waited until Monday to make an appointment, but, considering how the appointment system works at our surgery, Ashfield Medical Centre, it would be almost impossible to get an appointment. So we decided to go to the Urgent CareCentre at Milton Keynes Hospital, formerly called the 'Walk-In Centre.' This is where you go if you have a medical condition which isn't strictly urgent enough for you to need to go to Accident and Emergency. It is staffed by doctors and nurses who are able to diagnose specific medical problems and refer you to other medical practitioners if they are unable to help. We were reluctant to go there, but as this rash was getting worse it was clear that something needed to be done. We drove there, arriving at around 8.15. Carol was questioned by the receptionist, a form of triage and we sat and waited for her name to appear on the digital board so she could see a staff member. The place was already very busy when we arrived, and more people came in in the time we were there. In all we were there around three hours. She got prescription for antibiotics and we had to go to Boots at Kingston, near the big Tesco store, as there is a night pharmacy which could dispense the medication she needed. There were other people waiting, who we'd already seen in the Urgent Care Centre. You had to press a bell and a young man appeared and hand over your prescription form for him to make up the prescription. Carol has an exemption card which means she does not have to pay the prescription charge as she is diabetic. We had to go home as we didn't have my wallet which had the card in it. 

Trentham Gardens Trip

Another sunny Saturday, so an outing was definitely in order. Carol mentioned going to somewhere called Trentham Gardens, but as I wasn't aware of this place, I was more than intrigued to find out more about it. Instead of driving up the M1 and then to the M6 we went north up the A5. It might have taken longer and we would almost certainly have avoided any roadworks, which seem to have been going on for years (see earlier posts on this blog to see how many times we've been along the M1 going north and had to spend time waiting in the coned-off section of the Motorway, held up in queues of stationary traffic, or whatever.) It took a good two-and-a-half hours to get to Trentham Gardens, which is near Stoke-On-Trent, in Staffordshire. I have never heard of this place before Carol mentioned it, but she discovered the place when she was searching for something else on the internet. I think it was when she was searching for an outlet shopping village near Matlock and then we went to Masson Mills.  The place was something of a disappointment, to be honest. We had come across another outlet shopping village somewhere near Matlock a few years ago when we, presumably, came back from a holiday in Yorkshire, but we've never been able to find where that was exactly so we could re-visit.Perhaps we'll find it again if we search on the internet. It's surprising how many places we've found, quite by accident, when we've least expected. Such as the amazing Fanny's Farm, when we were driving south when we came off the motorway when we were travelling to Worthing for a weekend away a few years ago. Which is when we came across Trentham Gardens. We had intended driving there a few weeks ago when Carol was on Easter holiday, but the weather was so bad we abandoned the journey and landed up somewhere else. How the weather can put paid to outings, holidays or other things we've so carefully planned!

On arrival in the car park, we were surprised how well laidout it all was. There certainly looked as if there was plenty to see and do. Beautifully designed wooden buildings along one side which housed the main entrance and also lead into a shopping area, small-scale, chalet-style buildings along each side of an arcade. Some of the shops bore familiar names, such as The Works (discount books) whilst others sold clothes, food and a wide range of other goods. We were in need of a recuperating cup of coffee and possibly a roll or sandwich, and there was an exceptionally good range to choose from, so we went into Cadwalader's Café and chose hot chocolates and bacon rolls, very well presented and brought to our table by proactive staff. Unlike some places, where the staff can be rude and unfriendly and the food not always up to standard. This was certainly not the case here. We wandered through the shopping village and as we did so, there seemed to be more and more people arriving. It appears to be a very popular place. Also, a good deal more friendly than Bicester Village, which we visited the other week, and the prices a good deal cheaper, which has a sort of snobby feel to it.

We paid at the entrance to go into the gardens. On walking through we were surprised how large it was. Good paths with firm surfaces (important if you have someone in a wheelchair or a child in a pushchair or buggy. We saw plenty of these as we walked around.) My wife was intrigued by the fairies that were dotted around the gardens, beautifully sculpted from wire. We did take some photographs of some of these, but it was quite difficult as they were very fine and didn't stand out particularly well against the sky or background scenery. We also noticed that dogs were allowed, provided they were well behaved and on leads. They were even allowed into the shops and restaurants.

We walked through the Italian Garden, which had beautifully laid-out beds and in the middle of some were fountains. We walked on and came to a raised, terraced area with a viewing platform. From up there you could see down the middle of the Italian Garden towards an expansive lake. It would appear that the mansion, that once was so central to Trentham Gardens, was in a derelict state and from notice this was hopefully going to be restored and to be made into a 5-star hotel. In its current state it doesn't look very promising, but, having seen various television programmes where buildings are restored from being in extremely derelict conditions and what it's possible to achieve, I could see this happening and being a very fine hotel.

We walked on and past some interesting sculptures and to an area where there some show gardens, many having won prestigious awards at the Chelsea Flower Show, and some gave us good ideas of how our garden could be transformed. Then we came to the lake and had some extremely nice ice cream and this gave us a chance to stop and sit and relax. We saw that there was a boat on the lake and it turned out that you could go on board and cruise the lake, which is what we did. A good hour or so, eventually reaching the furthest point of the lake and stopping to take aboard new passengers and then  return, with the pilot giving a running commentary and history of Trentham Gardens.
On returning to the landing stage and leaving the boat we went out to the shopping mall and bought cheese in one shop and food in another which sold artisan food, a fine meat pie along with potatoes and other vegetables for our evening meal when we got home.

Today (Sunday) Trentham Gardens features on the BBC1 television programme "Antiques Roadshow." As I write this it is being broadcast, but I have set up our Sky+ box to record it and we will watch it tomorrow evening.

A good day out and well worth a further visit because there is still a lot left to explore and enjoy.

Autumnal Day, Grass Mowing and Car Repairing Continues

This is not a particularly exciting blog post, I'm afraid. It's one of those really nodescript sort of days. We've had several weeks of fine, sunny weather, but today it seems somewhat over-cast. No sun at all. The weather forecast mentions rain in the next couple of days, as well as wind. I have managed to cut the grass. I was out at 7.45 this morning and managed to do precisely half, left it, and then decided to finish it off about an hour later. I wasn't going to leave it too long just in case it began to rain. The length of the grass was getting long so it seemed a good idea to get on with cutting it before it was too long for the mower to get through it. So, it is done. I haven't done the grass at the front of the house, but no doubt Gary will come round when he does their grass next door. His is a petrol mower and makes very short work of the mowing, whereas ours is an electric mower and not really designed for such long grass. You can't cut grass when it's either wet or raining because it's dangerous to use anything electric when there's a hint of moisture and if the grass is too wet the mower gets clogged up.

A good deal later. I had a text message. I knew it had come in, because I heard the sound the mobile made, but I was downstairs in the lounge and the mobile was upstairs on the bedside cabinet. I didn't immediately rush upstairs to see what the text message was, because we get so many junk texts for such things as having solar panels fitted to PPI claims, so I didn't see the actual text until I went upstairs a good deal later. It was from Mick the motor mechanic to say he'd be round to continue with the car repair this evening, weather permitting. I must say just seeing that, and knowing that the car will soon be back on he road, has cheered me up no end. It has been a good eight weeks since the car broke down on the M1 and we had to be taken off by rescue truck. Just thinking we'll be able to get out and about again is good news, particularly as my first grandchild is due to be born in the next couple of weeks so we'll want to visit when he/she makes an appearance so having the car working will enable us to travel to Worcester.

As it turned out, due to the rain, Mick didn't do any work on the car. He says he'll come back on Wednesday and Sunday to do the work and, hopefully, if the weather isn't wet, or, at least not too wet, he and his son should be able to finish of the work.

Walk To Church On Sunday Morning

We awoke a good deal later than we usually do yesterday morning. No doubt due to all the cleaning we have done over the past couple of days, due to our landlord's visit to inspect the house. As a result we had our breakfast too late to get to the 9 a.m. service at M.K.C.C.  (Milton Keynes Christian Centre.) so we went to the 10.45 one instead. We walked along the Redway because the car has been out of action for the past week due to breaking down on the M1. Actually a very pleasant walk along the with the sun out and noticing along the way the blackberries ripening rapidly in the hedgerows. It will soon be time for me to pick them. A very lively service, as usual. Two speakers this morning, as part of the series "Have You Heard The One About . . ." on the Parables of Jesus. The first on "The Pharisee and The Tax Collector" and the second on "The Great Banquet." It was interesting to compare the earlier service we usually go to with this middle one. It was a good deal fuller. Infact, I think it was a 'full house.' I don't think I could see any empty seats. 'Discovery Kids,' the children's church which is usually on at the same time as the service in the main auditorium, was not on as it's closed during August, so all the children who normally would go there were in, but it was surprisingly undisturbed, no babies or children making too much noise, or not that I noticed. Infant it was fuller than I would have expected as I would imagine most people would have been on holiday. A further walk back home. It takes no more than 25 minutes to do the walk. We are actually deciding that not having the car at the moment does have benefits because we are getting some very good exercise. It's surprising how lazy having a car can make you because it's so easy to just get the car out to drive even the shortest of distances, for example, to the local shops, either at Eaglestone or Coffee Hall and it's not just ourselves who get the exercise because if we take the two dogs they also get some exercise.

Calke Abbey and Car Break-Down

The sun was shining. Why spend a Saturday indoors when you could be outside, visiting a National Trust property? Visiting Whipsnade or even London Zoo or any of the attractions in and around Milton Keynes and the adjacent counties? We had looked in the National Trust handbook and on-line at their website and decided on Calke Abbey, which we had intended visiting a while ago and had given up on the journey up the M1 as it was in the middle of being widened or some other roadworks on it's length for I don't know how many miles going north from Milton Keynes and junction 14 on. We left home at around 9.30 a.m., having filled up with petrol at our usual Shell station in Grafton Street. We got on the motorway and the journey wasn't too bad but the confounded roadworks we eventually met meant we could only travel at 50 m.p.h. I don't know why they have to have these coned-off sections or why you have to drive so slowly and at one point along what would have been the hard shoulder. It really put a damper on the day's outing. We came off the motorway at junction 23 and headed for Calke Abbey and Ashby de la Zouche. Infact, it turned out to be not far from Twycross Zoo, which we visited a few months ago (see earlier blog post for details.) We arrived at Calke Abbey to discover the carpark overflowing. You drive in through a very attractive avenue of trees and through a park with sheep in it and at one point these sheep were laying down in the shade of the trees and one sheep in particular looked as if it might be dead rather than asleep and almost in the path of our car and others who followed into the carpark. We had to get a timed ticket in order to visit the house (it is to prevent too many people walking around at once.) Our time slot was at 1.45 which gave us time enough to have a drink and a sandwich in the very nice restaurant (there are actually two, as we discovered.) as well as browsing in the shop and then watching a video about Calke Abbey. I think it was actually a video of a television programme from a series that has been shown on the Sky Arts channel on National Trust properties and narrated by Martin Jarvis. I'd know his voice anywhere as he seems to make a living doing voice-overs and narrating books on B.B.C. Radio 4 Extra. We'd seen a couple of these documentaries and saw one on Waddesdon and another on Stourhead, two places we've visited at one time or other over the years. We wandered around the gardens, very beautifully kept, with attractive flower beds and all the rest and then wandered into the house. I'm not sure whether I liked it as much as some places we've visited, perhaps because it has been left in a  somewhat decayed and unkempt manner. Some of the rooms a a little too over furnished and in the Victorian style whereby there are too many ornaments for our taste. Some of the upstairs rooms are in a very poor state, but it's good that they are allowing the public to see how they go about restoring not only the structure of these old properties but also the artefacts within them, such as tapestries and pieces of furniture. A pity that so much of the house has to be left in almost complete darkness. I realise that they want to protect the interiors and furniture and other items from the damage which can be caused by light, but in some cases it's so dark you can barely see what's in some of the rooms.

We finished our tour of the house. We spent more time meandering around the grounds and then had a further rest to have ice-cream and a drink and then left for home. It took some while before we hit the correct road which lead to the M1. We again had to endure the confounded 50 m.p.h. zone through the roadworks. After a fairly short distance Carol, who was driving, said there was a problem with the car. An oil light came on on the dashboard and then a 'stop' sign lit up on the display. We've got used to the alarm which keeps coming on which shows there's a problem with the E.S.P. mechanism (described in greater detail in an earlier post, after we had visited another National Trust property at Ascott a few months ago.) What were we to do? Were we to continue with our journey, or find somewhere to draw into at the side of the motorway and wait for a recovery vehicle to come and rescue us as the signs kept on telling us on the boards all along the section of roadworks on the M1? There seemed no option but to pull over between the cones which sectioned off the lane which would in another situation been the hard shoulder which is intended for breakdowns. This is what we did and fortunately we have our own breakdown cover with Swinton insurance. I used my mobile to call for assistance which took a long time to connect. By the time I'd done this a breakdown truck had arrived and we had to be taken off the motorway at junction 16 and left in a truck-stop lay-by which fortunately had a pub where we could get a drink and a sandwich as well as very convenient toilets. We had to re-arrange the breakdown rescue from Swinton as they had been directed to collect us from the motorway. We we then informed that it would be a good two hours before they could arrive. But by then we were relieved to have been rescued from the motorway roadside as it was somewhat nerve -wracking, to say the least. Not something I would ever want to repeat, even though the traffic was moving at 50 m.p.h. through the roadworks it was still extremely heavy-flowing and dangerous. I have never, in all my driving career of some 45 years or so, broken down on a motorway and had to be rescued. Indeed, I think in all that time I have perhaps had no more than three callouts or had to use my car insurance for some incident. The rescue truck did eventually arrive and the car was lifted up onto the back of the truck and we were taken home. A very upsetting and annoying end to what had started out as such a pleasant day out and, considering what had happened to the car exactly a week ago in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne not something we had anticipated happening again. The driver who took us back to Milton Keynes had a look at the car when it had been delivered safely onto our driveway and said he thought it could be the head gasket that had caused the problem.

Sojourn To The North-East

Daniel, my step-son (Carol's eldest son) is currently at Newcastle University doing a degree course in computing. (I'm not exactly sure of the name of the course, but it's to do with gaming.) His current tenancy of his flat was about to expire and he had found another flat in Newcastle and needed to move his belongings this weekend, so we were asked if we could drive up to help him move his things in the car. Obviously we couldn't not help. We were originally going to go on the Friday and do the move with him and then drive back that evening, but as it's at least a 5-hour journey there it would have meant another 5-hour drive back and it didn't seem such a good idea to do it in one day, so we asked our neighbours, Michelle and Gary if they would mind keeping an eye on our dogs, Alfie and Poppy, coming in and feeding them and letting them out a couple of times a day. Just one of the disadvantages of having pets, I suppose. They agreed, so that put our minds at rest, and meant that we could spend a night in Daniel's flat once we'd done the shifting of the belongings.

We packed up our things to take with us, not much as it would be just the one night, and set off at 5.30 a.m. on Friday. We were expecting to drive up the M1 to the North East, but when we drove to the Milton Keynes entrance at Junction 14. Having driven all the way there we then found that it was closed off. We later discovered that there had been a major accident on the motorway and it was closed off up until the next Junction due to 'exploratory work.' So we didn't know exactly what to do as we didn't want to drive up to the Northampton Junction in an attempt to get on the M1 there only to find that the Motorway was closed further north there, so we came to the decision that we would have to travel north on the A1 and drive across to the Black Cat roundabout. This is the roundabout on the A1 between the A1 and A421 (formerly A428) just south of St Neots. We had to cut across Milton Keynes and head towards Bedford and the by-pass. We had to waste a good hour or so in the process, but at least it meant we were travelling north towards Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. We stopped after about a further hour's driving and had breakfast in one of the many service areas and then proceeded with our journey, arriving eventually in Newcastle at around noon.

The next problem was that we didn't have Daniel's address. Neither did we have a street map. Instead we rang his mobile and he directed us to his flat via him speaking through the speakerphone and we eventually found the flat after some convoluted directions. It was then that the real problems began, because as we were about to drive away from his flat to go to the agency for him to pay his deposit for the flat Carol said there was something wrong with the car. She wasn't sure what, but she was having difficulties shifting the gear leaver or something. We thought at first it might have been due to the extra weight of having Daniel sitting in the back of the car. We drove into the centre of Newcastle as at first Daniel needed to go to his bank to withdraw the cash for the deposit on the flat. We parked in the most peculiar carpark which was like a spiral and it made me for one feel really giddy as we kept driving up and up and round and round and eventually found a place to park. It was after we'd parked than Carol again said that there was definitely something wrong with the car.

We drove to the new flat, which is in an area of Newcastle with an odd name. Spiral Tongues. I stayed behind in the flat as Carol and Daniel were going to the old flat to get some of his things in the car and it meant that, without me, they would have more space to transport stuff.

It was at least three hours later that Carol and Daniel reappeared, along eh Lauren, Daniel's girlfriend who had caught up with them in the city centre.  They had come back, having got a cab as the car had broken down. I had imagined as I waited for them that perhaps they had gone to a garage as Daniel had mentioned that there was a Kwit-Fit auto centre not far away and we should take the car there. It turned out that the car had eventually broken down in the centre of Newcastle and they'd ended up at a garage some way out of the city centre where it was left to be repaired, as it was the clutch which had caused all the problems. It was going to cost in excess of £300 and it wouldn't be ready until the next morning, Saturday. We walked into the city centre, a good distance, through the university campus and saw a great many interesting sculptures and managed to arrive at a Wetherspoon's pub called the "Five Swans" where we had dinner. Having walked all that way we got a taxi cab back to the new flat, and Daniel went back to his old flat to sleep. We had to make do as best we could at the flat, without much kitchen equipment or food. Next morning we walked into the city centre and found a Tesco's open near the  St James' Park football stadium and bought some food which we ended up eating as we sat in the rather picturesque Leazes Park where we heard the most pleasant flute music which turned out to be played by a young man near the lake where there were a lot of geese and ducks. It looks as if this park is currently being restored which is good because it is in something of a poor state of repair. A great shame to let such delightful places become so dilapidated.

It wouldn't be until around midday before we eventually get a call via mobile phone to say that the car had been repaired and was ready for collection, so we ordered another taxi cab and went to the garage where we paid for the repair work and drove away, back to Daniel's old flat where we loaded some of his belongings into the car and drove to the new flat and unloaded it.

By now we had realised that the work of ferrying Daniel's belongings to the new flat was going to take longer than we had originally intended, due in most part because of not having the car for over 24 hours, so Carol and I decided that we would need to stay a day longer to get the work done and so would have to return home on Sunday and trusted that Gary, our neighbour, would have realised something had happened to delay our return and would continue to keep and eye on our two dogs. Daniel had to go to work at 6 o'clock at the near-by Holiday Inn and wouldn't be ready to continue with the move until around 8.30 on Sunday morning (his shift at the hotel finished at 2 a.m.)

On Saturday evening we went to get chicken and chips from a near-by chip shop to Daniel's new flat in Spital Tongues and we slept the night at the flat.

We had to phone and text Daniel after 8 o'clock to make sure he was awake and ready to continue with the moving of his stuff to the new flat and we eventually arrived outside at 8.45, taking some time to rouse Daniel who wasn't feeling very well, unfortunately.

After several further loads of belongings, including his iMac computer and a load of other related items including the carcase of a four-drawer chest of drawers.

By the time we'd completed the move it was time to depart Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and drove back to Milton Keynes and got back at around 4.30, having stopped twice, once at Ferrybridge and the second, near Leicester.