Sunshine, Sneezes and Grass Cutting

So, we're now into September. I suppose it's now downhill to Christmas. The shops will be brim-full of the usual tat that passes for 'Christmas' stock, all the junk you couldn't possibly want but seem impelled to purchase. It's such a pity that B.H.S. no longer exists as we always found it great fun to visit their Christmas shop because it used to be chock full of the exact tat I've just mentioned above, furry slippers with Father Christmas hats on, party packs of chewing gum and assorted mints in Guinness glasses. You name it, some idiot has thought of it and it's packaged and made available to the general public. So, which shop will take the mantle from those eager to buy this stuff?

Further thoughts on B.H.S. Why did it deteriorate so rapidly? When it was run by Conran's under the umbrella of Storehouse (or some other name) along with B and Q and Superdrug (which, incidentally, are still going strong as separate companies) but when Philip Green took it over did it become nothing but a disaster, the standard of the stuff they sold really poor quality? Further to that, what happened to the stock that was left when it went into administration? The same could be said of Woolworth's when they, too, went bust. What happened to the stock that they had left when it closed down? Is it in a  warehouse awaiting being sold on to some other business.

I've been sneezing for the past few days. Considering all our health issues over the past couple of months, the last thing I wanted to get would be a cold. I suppose it's no surprise, I probably picked it up from sitting in waiting rooms. I remember a couple of years ago when I went into hospital when I had a glitch with an angina attack which didn't stop, I came out of hospital and came down with a severe bout of noro virus. Just typical, you go into hospital with one thing and come out with another. Not nice and something we could well do without. Since then, I have noticed when we've been to hospital, how much effort is now made to keep the various places clean, there's always someone cleaning the floor or surfaces, how much effort they seem to make when they change the beds.

Well, anyway, as I say, I've been sneezing a lot the past couple of days. I haven't had a cold in a few years now. My general health has been good. I haven't had any severe angina attacks or anything heart-related for quite a while. If I do anything too strenuous I always manage to use a G.T.N. spray. For example, whenever we go swimming at Nuffield Health I have a few puffs before I get into the pool. Or, if we go out and go for a walk I often use the spray before we set of or at least take one with me. I have several spare in the box I have to keep my medication.

It's possible that the sneezing is because of the grass-cutting, but they can't be linked as it stopped before I cut the grass.

I've put it off for long enough. It's not a job I particularly relish, but there was no point in putting it off much longer. The weather was fine, so I just went and cut the grass. Anyway, it was long and if I ignored it for much longer the mower wouldn't make much of a job. Considering the machine has such a tiny plastic cutter, it's a wonder I managed to make much of an impression on the grass at all. It was slightly wet which didn't exactly help, but at least it's now done and should not need doing again for another couple of weeks. Mention as I have above about using a G.T.N. spray I usually use it before mowing the grass and stop several times as I'm mowing as I don't want to get an angina attack. Makes sense really. One reason to cut the grass is, that our beloved landlord will visit at some point within the next month, and probably the only comment he will make will be 'have you cut the grass?' Well, if he was to merely take a glance into the garden he would be able to see whether it was cut or not. He and his wife usually ring us during August to come and visit (having to give 24 hours notice) but, up until today, they haven't done so. Why, I begin to ask? Have they forgotten? Is it because they trust us to look after the house? Or is it they don't want to have to spend out on repairs to the place, one such repair desperate for something or other is the toilet cistern in the bathroom. It doesn't stop water flowing into the bowl after you flush the thing. And quite a few minor things that need doing.

Anyway, returning to my sneezing attacks. It seems to have passed. It didn't develop into a full-scale cold, thank goodness. Probably a sort of hay fever attack. Which, incidentally, isn't something I'm prone to.

The Sound of Thunder

Around about 8 this morning there was an almighty clap of thunder. Thankfully it's a good deal cooler today, after the scorching hot weather of the past few days. Alfie didn't know what to make of it. He charged off into the garden and began to bark madly. I don't think he had the least idea what for. If Poppy had been around she would have most likely hidden herself under our bed as she was terrified of thunder. Around Guy Fawkes Night she wasn't keen when fireworks were being let off. There was a downpour of rain which at least relieved the hot and clammy atmosphere. It's been quite difficult to sleep the last couple of nights because of the heat. Carol came home at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon as it was far too hot in the Academy building. She had been in The Hub, the top-most area of the building which has large windows and she said the air conditioning broke down so it was like a green house. Amazing that when it's at it's hottest, and apparently yesterday was supposed to have been the hottest June day since 1976 when there was a drought, the machinery which is supposed to keep things cool has to malfunction. I went into Sainsbury's this morning and wanted to buy some ice-cream of some sort. I couldn't believe that a whole section of refrigerated display units which are supposed to be full of various ice cream delights were completely empty. I have no idea what was wrong with them or why they were empty. Presumably a technical fault but I think Sainsbury's will have lost a large amount of custom as a result of this problem.

No sooner had Carol returned home at around 4 yesterday afternoon we drove to Nuffield Health. It was really great to be able to cool down in the pool. Only problem was that everyone else had the same idea and the pool became very crowded. As usual, one individual was taking over things and swimming up and down making a lot of noise in the process. Just can't believe that some people have to behave in this selfish manner. 

Stating The Obvious- Take 2

So, I come across a couple more of those totally obvious signs or things that are written on the packaging of food products or other items on sale. We had barbecued chicken for our evening meal and within the cooking instructions, in the section on 'ingredients' it said 'may contain bones.' Well, there's a thing! Chicken-pieces that have bones in them! About as obvious as saying about eggs 'will break if dropped,' or on a cup of coffee, 'contains hot liquid,' or the one that makes me laugh when we go to Nuffield Health and go into the swimming pool, where they invariably have those yellow  cones when they're cleaning the floor but usually near the pool with the lovely message 'wet floor.' Well, if it's a swimming pool, there's every likelihood that there might possibly be water, so, with people walking around with wet feet, there's a chance of the floor being- well, wet.

Carol bought a packet of Radox bath salts the other day. (I didn't realise you could still get this product. I was surprised to find it in Morrisons. I thought that Radox was only available in liquid form.) The instructions on how to use was patronising. It tells you to be careful after you've put it in your bath-water, because you might slip getting in. Really? Can't we think for ourselves? As if an idiot wouldn't realise that a bath could be slippery when you stepped in? Who writes this stuff? Are they so obsessed with the idea that you'll sue them that they need to put this sort of stuff on a packet of bath salts? Crazy world we live in.

Another case of stating the obvious. We've bought a new armchair from IKEA. We get it home in a  very large cardboard box which barely fits in the back of the car. It's not too complicated to assemble. I wasn't actually expecting to have to assemble it. I assumed it would be already assembled, but never mind. On unpacking it, there is a very nice label attached to the seat. It reads: 'Carelessness causes fires.' Another case of being blatantly obvious. What percentage of fires are caused by carelessness? Possibility of dropping a lighted match on a piece of furniture must be quite high. Would be classed as carelessness? I'm not sure about that, but why do we need a nice label to inform us of that fact? Keeping someone or other printing these labels and someone else busy attaching them to the odd bit of furniture.

Morrison's Cafe, Terrible Service

Carol and I went swimming at Nuffield Health early this morning. Well, when I say 'early,' I mean just after 9 o'clock. Why make one's life too difficult when it's half-term? It wasn't too busy and I did around 30 lengths of the pool. Not in one session, I might add. I went in the sauna for ten minutes and then the steam room and returned to the pool for a further few lengths.  Why is there's always someone making things look harder than they really are by swimming up and down making a lot of noise and splashing around?  Also, those individuals who go running around the countryside, in the latest gear, shorts, trainers, etc etc. Usually with a miserable expression on their face. We came across a man on the road the other day, appeared from nowhere, off the grass verge, almost into our path in the car. It's a wonder he didn't get run over. Seemed to have no road sense whatsoever. Was he blind or something?  Anyway, back to swimmers:why do people do this? There's always someone out there that has to make more noise than they need to. A bit like people who have big, flashy cars with lots of lights on, rows and rows of things that flash and glow, bull-bars, chromium-plating etc etc. Those cars that are higher up than the average vehicle and probably have darkened windows so you can't see inside. They have to hog the road, take over the central lane on the motorway and come up behind you when you're driving just to make you drive faster. Or, more likely, just to get you to move out of the way so they can have the road to themselves. In the case of these swimmers, it's a real case of 'look at me!' Real narcissistic behaviour. No doubt he'd be the sort of person who has to post about it on Facebook and Twitter. Anyway, I digress.

From Nuffield we drove to Morrison's at Elder Gate. Their newer store. Bigger than the one they have at Westcroft. Before we started our actual shopping we decided we needed a bit of refreshment. Well, after all that splashing about in the pool, it was necessary to recharge and Carol's blood-sugar level was low. We went in the café in Morrison's. Thinking about it now, perhaps it wasn't such a good idea. We stood in the queue for several minutes as it moved exceedingly slowly along. People came to join us from behind, including a mother with a little girl who was deciding what she wanted to eat. We picked up a cereal bar and a chocolate-coated biscuit thing and we picked up to mugs as we wanted lattes which you serve yourself from a machine. Then I arrived at the till. The woman operator had no idea what she was doing, or so it seemed. It couldn't have been too hard to key in our items into the computerised till. She just couldn't do it, for whatever reason. Carol had gone to find a table and sit down and waited for me to pay. I stood patiently while the operator again attempted to operate the till. She just couldn't do it. I almost felt like doing it for her. It was obvious that she didn't know what she was going and I then almost said couldn't she find someone who could? My patience was at a low point but it seemed wrong to say anything and those who were queueing behind me were fidgeting and if it had been myself I think I would have given up and walked out. Anyway, after around ten minutes (!!!) she did managed to complete the transaction and I paid using my Debit card and left with the tray as Carol and already made us lattes on the self-service machine. Not impressed by the whole thing and I think next time we won't  bother with Morrison's café again when we shop there.

Swimming At Nuffield Health

We haven't been swimming at Nuffield Health at Kent's Hill for a while. Mostly down to one or two factors, ill-health, for both of us, but mostly just life in general. But this morning we went. It has been a rather strange morning, weather-wise. Somewhat undecided, raining one minute and then the next, bright sunshine. Because Carol is on Half Term this week we don't have to get up early. Generally we're up by 5.45, drinking tea and watching Breakfast on BBC1. I think at the moment we might actually skip the news, what with terrorist attacks in Manchester and General Election stuff. I don't like it when either party leaders start making personal attacks. I'm not going to get into politics on here. Always a good thing to steer well clear of at the best of times, but at least it will be over in around 9 days. Thankfully our electoral system doesn't drag on relentlessly as it does in America, for at least a year. Ours is over in a matter of weeks. Then, regarding the Manchester terrorist attack. Why do the television companies and mainly the BBC think it's necessary to carry hours and hours of discussion and analysis of the subject? Particularly when a lot of the pictures are repeated and we've had the same bits of film shown in a sort of loop. Is it supposed to help the families and friends of the unfortunate victims of this outrage? I know it was awful, but, please, stop harping on about it and why do they insist on planting their reporters in places in and around Manchester and just talking endlessly about the tragedy? Enough is enough. Actually playing into the hands of those who were responsible and giving them publicity.

It was quite busy when we arrived at Kent's Hill and parked the car. You have to be careful where you park, as it's on a slope. I know our car has good brakes, but I don't like leaving it on a slope. Just keep thinking it's going to run away. I know it won't, but it doesn't help that I get the feeling that it might. There were a few people swimming up and down the pool as I walked in. Still managed to do around 20 lengths of the pool. Then into the sauna and then the steam room. Back in the pool for a further couple of lengths. Then some of the centre's staff started setting up for what I presume is called aqua aerobics. We got to the pool at the wrong time a few weeks ago and had to get out of the pool when all these people started doing these water-based exercises, lead by this woman who waved her arms around to loud music. Today one woman swimmer took one of the plastic steps and placed it in the pool. I think she was one of those people who was very particular where she stood (or sat) and wanted to make sure nobody else got her place in the pool. There's always someone like this in every group of people who meet, for whatever reason. They insist on sitting in exactly the same place, on the same chair, on a bus, a train, in a church, theatre or wherever. They get really upset if they can't. If someone comes along and alters their little bit of space, or wants to sit or stand where they've stood or sat for the past 30 years or so. Come rain or shine. A sort of territorial trait of some sort. Wars have been started over lesser things. Sad, really. But we sat in the jacuzzi and could see this going on and this particular woman wasn't backing down and insisted on having her step-stool left where it was. Oh dear, what a fuss.

We left to get dressed and then went to Waitrose, which is only a short distance from Nuffield Health. As we both have My Waitrose cards we can have free tea or coffee although you have to buy something to eat as well if you use the café. Not unreasonable I suppose. It's generally a very nice place to sit and eat, but when I'd paid for our food and carried it to where Carol was sitting amidst some nice upholstered  armchairs and sofas, I had to shift a load of dirty cups and plates left from a previous customer. Unfortunately not up to Waitrose's generally good customer-care, as it's generally spick and span and then the pastry I had chosen seemed somewhat under baked. Oh dear, things are slipping, sad to report. 

From Waitrose we drove to IKEA because we're looking at the possibility of replacing our sofa and my armchair. The one I chose a couple of months ago isn't the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in (which I am as I write this blog post.) There are plenty to choose from and in the end we've decided to order on line because it would be easy to let IKEA deliver the chair as it would be difficult to carry it home in the car. The place is heaving. I don't think I've ever seen it so busy. Mostly in the restaurant. I can see why, because the food is good and very good value. I have a feeling people go in there to use the restaurant and not necessarily to just buy furniture and household items.

Swimming At Nuffield Health

Daniel phoned early this morning. He has been selected for a second interview for the job he came back to Milton Keynes last week, as mentioned in my blog post of a couple of days ago. So we expect him to come back home in two week's time. At least he has good news.

We went swimming at Nuffield Health at Kent's Hill on Tuesday and then again this morning (Thursday.) When we arrived we thought it was very quiet and empty. On going through to the swimming pool I found it full of people in the water and music playing. There was an aqua aerobics or something. Not sure exactly what they call it, but doing exercise of some sort whilst standing in the swimming pool and, frankly making an exhibition of themselves. Can't resist laughing as it looked quite comical, to say the least. It did mean we couldn't get in the water and swim, so I went in the sauna for about ten minutes, followed by the steam room for another ten and then joined Carol in the spa (jacuzzi) for a good 15 minutes.  Not sure I would want to make such an exhibition of myself by joining in. Then those doing the exercise in the pool came out and we were able to get in the pool to swim. By this time I wasn't exactly over-keen to swim, my enthusiasm had unfortunately wained considerably but I managed around ten lengths of the pool. Having got dressed and by then feeling quite hungry we drove to Waitrose to have a snack. This is on our route back home at Oakgrove. A coffee and sandwich in the café and buying a few bits for our evening meal.

Swimming and Shopping

The weather forecast for this weekend had said it was going to be wet and cold. Nothing like that this morning. It has been almost spring-like. Infact, one could probably say we are in the spring. There are  daffodils and other spring blooms opening all over the place, snowdrops, crocuses as well as the odd daffodil. Also, trees are showing the first signs of new leaf.

We went to Nuffield Health at around 9.15 and found the place was virtually empty. A couple of people in the swimming pool, so I was able to do quite a few lengths. I sat in the sauna for around 10 minutes. It was a good deal warmer than it has in the past, and then into the steam room. You could barely see your hand in front of you in there, due to the steam. It certainly does me good. I returned to the swimming pool and in total I did 20 lengths of the pool, but by then it was getting crowded. We both sat in the jacuzzi for another 10-15 minutes and then it was time to get out, changed, and go off to find something to eat. We drove to  the Kingston Centre and visited Marks and Spencer. We had lattes and chocolate gateau which we shared and then visited Home Sense, which is part of T.K.Maax. An amazing selection of all manner of items, furniture, storage and even books. You have to keep visiting, as you do T.K. Maax, as their stock is changing almost daily. If you see something in there you have to buy it almost immediately, as otherwise it will be gone. They only ever seem to have one or two of the same item, for example, in a particular size. We bought two Dorling Kindersly books, one on Fashion which Carol liked and another on one of my favourite subjects, William Shakespeare. The book on Fashion was reduced to £9.99, the full price is £30 and the Shakespeare one was £7.99, reduced from £16.99. These Dorling Kindersley books are so beautifully produced, with excellent photographs and graphics. We have several others in our bookshelves, several on history and art.

We returned to M and S and bought food for tonight. Pizza, salad, potatoes etc.

Half-Term

Carol has been on Half-Term this week. After the awful day we had last Saturday (not going to mention it any more. Just read the previous blog post.) it's as well we could go out to find something nice to take our mind of things. On Saturday we went to Stowe Landscape Garden to have something to eat in the restaurant. It was quite a pleasant day, so that made things better. We didn't walk to the actual gardens as it's quite a way. It seemed quite busy there, no doubt because it was the beginning of the holiday period. We had soup and some really nice crusty bread. It's good that we have our National Trust membership so we could get in without paying. You can always rely on there to be decent food in their restaurants and we haven't been in this restaurant since it opened a couple of years ago. A vast improvement on the temporary building which used to house the café when it was on the opposite side of the gardens. There's a new carpark and visitor centre at Stowe.  On Monday Morning we went swimming at Nuffield. The place wasn't busy which makes a change, no surprise I suppose as most other members would be at work. One of the advantages of being either on holiday or retired. On Tuesday we went to Whipsnade and our efforts were rewarded as we saw the red pandas which don't generally come out of hiding. Very rare to see them. Walked a long way so we did at least get some exercise. We visited the central shopping centre in Milton Keynes on Wednesday and I wanted to show Carol the DAB radio/CD player I wanted to buy her as a birthday present in John Lewis. Not sure whether to buy it, but on Friday we went to Kettering as Carol wanted to visit a shop which specialises in dolls houses. Not the sort of place you'd choose to visit. It's very run down with many empty shop units. Seems the fate of so many towns and cities currently. We drove back to Milton Keynes and went to Sainsbury's. We had a look at DAB radio/CD players in the electronics section of the store and found a rather nice Blaupunkt model which suited our purposes. Cost £100 which was cheaper than the Pure model we saw in John Lewis and decided to buy it and used up the Nectar points we've been saving for a long time. This model has more functions than the Pure model, and once we got it functioning in the bedroom found it to be more than adequate. Not only does it have DAB radio and FM stations and the CD function, but you can charge your mobile from it and it connects with other devices which have the added facility of Bluetooth so you can play music from your tablet device or smart phone which makes things even more flexible. Went to Nuffield again on Friday. Certainly getting our money's worth from our membership. I did over 20 lengths of the pool which is great. I have to say it's having a real benefit towards my health and well-being. It's a far deeper pool than D.W. as well as having a sauna as well as a steamroom  and spa.

Swimming, Shopping and Eating

I haven't posted anything for the past few days, as you will have noticed if you are a regular reader of my blog. Well, there isn't a great deal for me to write about. I know I can write about the most trivial of things, which actually makes a blog interesting, because life is made up of the most mundane of things. It's not actually the big things that are so interesting, it's the minor incidents, those things that we all recognise, that makes a blog interesting. It's what they say about drama, 'life with the boring bits taken out.' Unlike a soap opera on television, 'life with the boring bits put back.' In the future people will be looking at such things as blogs, diary entries, journals and so on, when they are researching material to attempt to understand how we lived in the early 21st Century. Attempting to understand why we spend so much of our time looking at social media, texting endlessly on mobile devices, working out how we managed our lives, so a blog like this is likely to be used in that research. One wonders how it will be preserved, how will digital material, most of it archived on computers, hard drives and serves. Will it actually survive? Unlike all those documents which were written on such material as vellum, parchment and paper, stored in the archives of countries, great estates etc etc. which have survived for hundreds of years.

Well, we are continuing to go swimming at Nuffield at Kent's Hill. It's a nice place as there's little noise, no loud music and no noisy children (no under 16's allowed.) Also, there is a sauna, spa (Jacuzzi) and steam room as well as a far deeper swimming pool which is better for me to swim in. You get a towel when you arrive, which means you always get one which is dry, although we take our own towels. We have also now bought our own pad locks, which have combination locks, so no having to have a key on a wristband, you just have to remember the combination lock, and, because mine is red it's far easier to find when you return to the changing room as you can see it clearly. I had to remember the number of my locker when I swam at the other gym, D.W. which could be a problem as you couldn't get your clothes out if you couldn't open your locker.

We went shopping at Morrison's on Saturday morning. We like to chop and change where we shop for our groceries. Usually we go to Sainsbury's in Witan Gate in Milton Keynes. It's not too big as supermarkets go. If you compare it to Asda near the stadium, it's about the right size, or there again the big Tesco at Kingston. Those two supermarkets sell a wide range of non-food items, which include clothing, which takes up a fair amount of space at Asda and Tesco, as well as stationary, newspapers and magazines, homewares, besides the general groceries that you'd expect to find in a supermarket. It means when they are so big, that you can spend forever walking up and down the aisles. You can become totally distracted by all the non-food items. When we go to Sainsbury's we do tend to spend a lot of time browsing, particularly the clothing. Also, we have our repeat prescriptions made up in the pharmacy in Sainsbury's. The staff in there know us well. You just have to ring up and they take the repeat prescription order which is sent through to the doctor's surgery at Ashfield Medical Centre and the doctor signs the prescription (which is electronic, which saves on paperwork) and they send it back to the pharmacy and they make up the prescription. This takes around a week and we just have to go into Sainsbury's to pick up the medication. The pharmacy in Sainsbury's was recently taken over by Lloyd's. I'm not sure why, because it was always, up until then, a Sainsbury's pharmacy. Something to do with being taken over as part of being a monopoly or something, and giving it to Lloyd's makes it less of a monopoly of ownership or something. No, it doesn't make sense to me either, as there are a few other Lloyd's chemists around Milton Keynes already.

As I have mentioned already, we decided to go to Morrison's to do our weekly shop last Saturday. We like their meat and cheese, infact, most of their range of such things as meat, cheese, pies and particularly fruit and veg. In Milton Keynes we're spoilt for choice when it comes to grocery shopping. There's not only Morrison's and Sainsbury's, who both have two supermarkets in the Milton Keynes area, but Tesco at Kingston (as well as at Bletchley and Wolverton, as well as the smaller convenience stores dotted around the city at such places as Oldbrook. Then we have Waitrose at Oakgrove, as well as the cheaper end of the market with Lidl (having a store near Tesco in Oldbrook, as well as Aldi, with stores at Bradwell Common and a newer store at Westcroft, we we occasionally use.

When we arrived at Morrison's Carol suggested we go into the café and have something to eat. As she's diabetic, sometimes she needs to eat something to prevent her blood sugar level dropping too far.  Having got a trolley for our shopping, we needed to put it in one of the lockable cupboards they have so that nobody can run off with your shopping without paying. It took some while to work out how the locks worked on the doors. It needs a £1 coin in the slot inside which releases the key which you then use to lock the door with the trolley inside. On arriving at the café we then found that there was a long queue at the counter. It wasn't moving, or if it was, it was incredibly slow. I suggested we just wait a while as it would soon move. It didn't, after five minutes. The staff in the café were either incredibly  disorganised or the café was understaffed. As it was a Saturday, would you not think the management of the café would have put on more staff to deal with the amount of customers? Or else the girl on the till had no idea how to cope with the pressure of numbers. Or something else. Whatever it was, we didn't find out, as we left to get on with our shopping. At that rate Morrison's will have lost a great deal of custom.

On Sunday morning we went to Nuffield at Kent's Hill. It was reasonably empty, but there's always someone or other who insists on hogging most of the pool for themselves, forgetting that they take up some much of the space as they swim up and down. The last time we went the steam room wasn't working properly. For some reason it wasn't making a great deal of steam which meant it wasn't as efficient as it might have been. But on Sunday it was back up to temperature. Certainly good for my back and shoulder injury. Still manage to swim around 15-20 lengths of the pool. But I must remember to take and use my G.T.N. spray before I get in the pool to prevent having an angina attack.

From Nuffield, we decided we needed something to eat, so we went to Frost's Garden Centre at Woburn Sands. We haven't been for a while, and were struck by the improvements that have been going on there. The restaurant has had a complete revamp. They've always had a good restaurant with a great selection of food, not just snacks, but the lunch menu looked good. I had a toasted sandwich with bacon and cheese and Carol had a baked potato and tuna and we both had lattes. Good and hot and a treat after our time at Nuffield.

850th blog post: Snow and Cold

Incidentally, this is my 850th blog post. I can't believe I've managed to keep writing it for so long, and so consistently.

The weather has made a sudden turn for the worse over the past couple of days. The temperature has dropped considerably. We had a few days with things well below zero. We had been given fair warning on the television weather forecast. A couple of early mornings we've been out to the car and found ice on the windscreen and the windows, so it's just as well I remembered to stock up on spray de-icer. The aerosol versions are fine, but they don't last long. I got a plastic bottle with a trigger on it from Waitrose last week when we went shopping. These bottles are very good and supposed to be better for the environment but it takes some effort to get the spray to come out. You have to sort of 'prime' them to start and trying to keep a fine mist coming out is difficult. I suppose they don't need the propellant that an aerosol uses, the part which is supposed to be bad for the environment. I think they call them C.F.C'S, but I'm not sure what the initials stand for. I think they are the gasses which are supposed to be harmful to the ozone layer or something, and used to be used as refrigerants in freezers and fridges. Perhaps they don't use them any more and have been replaced. Carol would know, as she's a science teacher.

Yesterday morning it was cold and it rained early on. Carol has been hoping it would snow because if it does and it's deep, they will close the Academy. I can see why, as it can be dangerous, slippery, icy and nasty getting in and out of the place and the carpark would be difficult to walk across and keep free of snow and ice. I don't think we ever had a day off school because of ice or snow. In my day you just got on with things. I expect it's because of our old mate 'Health and Safety.' If someone fell over and twisted their ankle or broke a leg they might sue the Academy or worse. It started snowing mid-morning and it seemed it might continue and we've have a white-out. I suppose it did begin to settle, but it only lasted about an hour or two and seemed to fizzle out, so no chance that there would close the Academy early and Carol would have an extra-long weekend. I think she was disappointed when all this didn't materialise. Never mind. The sun made a vain attempt to show it's face, even if it was very weak and watery. Even so, it remained very cold, with more thin rain. The rest of the country has had some snow, in the north of England and along the East Coast they have severe weather warnings. I think they were expecting a tidal surge or something. 

We had planned to go for a swim at Nuffield Health, but by the time 3.30 came around (Carol finishes work early on a Friday.) we decided against it, as it was far too cold. Although it would have been nice to swim there as the water is usually quite warm and the sauna and steam room is good as relief for my back pain. Also, sitting in the jacuzzi is also really pleasant. Although, saying that, when we went to Nuffield on Wednesday we hot water was off. They had a notice at reception, telling us of this, and that a mechanic had been alerted and things would return to normal once things had been repaired, but it was not pleasant to have to shower under cold water. By the time we left for home it, apparently, had been restored to working order. tidal surge.

We went swimming at Nuffield last Sunday, after Church. We consider that we're getting value from our membership if we go there three times a week. We have now set up our membership and have even bought padlocks for use on the doors of the lockers in the changing rooms. These have combinations instead of keys. If you don't have your own padlock, they give you one to use and the key is on a rubber wrist band which you put on your arm. I prefer a combination lock as it means you don't have to worry about loosing the key, which might fall off in the swimming pool or somewhere else.

Swimming at Nuffield Health

I mentioned in an earlier post that we had had a free session at Nuffield Health, at Kents Hilll. Carol said she'd had an email from them saying that if you joined at the moment you could have two weeks free membership. We had the documentation ready to fill in with our bank details and yesterday we went after Carol finished work. It's tucked away in a very quiet part of Milton Keynes and seems pleasant enough. Certainly not as noisy as D.W. No loud music and they don't allow children in.  It was quite busy. Not only can we use a swimming pool but there's a Jacuzzi as well as a steam room and sauna. I'm fairly sure it used to be owned by B.T. as the health centre is part of a complex of buildings and I think it was B.T.'s training centre. When I was a carer I used to take someone there who was in a wheelchair and played boccia in what would be the tennis or squash court. That was well over 10 years ago and it's obvious that it's changed ownership since then. You get given towels which you didn't at D.W. and it all seems in far better condition. Unfortunately D.W. was beginning to get very run down and quite often the jacuzzis were not working or out of order and things like tiles were not replaced. I think, considering how much you pay for membership, they could at least spend money on keeping the place better maintained. It did have a steam room, not always working, but no sauna. I find these additional facilities are good for my back and shoulder. Generally, Nuffield seems a good deal more pleasant. It's great to have somewhere like this to go to, particularly for Carol, when she's had a really difficult day's teaching or just to unwind and relax. Generally good for both of us.

This morning it was exceptionally cold. Quite a few degrees below zero. There was ice on the car's windscreen. But, at 10.30 a.m., as I write this, the sun is out, but it is somewhat deceptive as it is still chilly.