Life's Little Mysteries

This blog post is the 1550th. I can't believe that I have managed to reach this landmark. I know a lot of what I write on his is just mundane, but I bet Samuel Pepys, who kept a diary, had days when he had to write mundane things to keep his famous journal alive, and just think how valuable that has become to historians, giving a vivid insight into life in London between 1660 and 1669, which included mention of the Great Plague, which in some ways reflects with the current covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. He also mentioned the Great Fire of London. What a time to live through! Can the same be said of this current time? Maybe not, but someone in, say, 200 years will be intrigued by all this.

Why is it, when you do washing, you almost always find one sock that doesn't get washed and is left alone in the basket when you've started the machine? By which time it's too late for it to go into the machine because you can't open the door to put it in? Again, why is it when you do washing up (incidentally, I don't have a washing-up machine, so it has to be done by hand.) there's invariably one or two items of cutlery, usually teaspoons, which get left at the bottom of the washing up bowl once the job is over? Is it some freak of nature that these things happen? 

How many of you out there have trouble with child-proof bottles? They are usually how many medicines are packaged. I bought Robitussin cough syrup a few weeks ago. I think I told you I bought some in Boots (no, not that sort of Boots! I mean the high street chemists. Doh!) I really needed to open the bottle, but you really have to press down on the cap and twist to get it open. If I can't open the thing, what about someone who has arthritic hands or other problems with their hands. No chance of a child would be able to open the bottle. The same on the plastic box in which my washing gel tabs come in. I know you don't want your child to eat these things, but that box is difficult to open.

It's not just child-proof bottles. I had bought some raspberry jam a few days ago and when I came to open it, or at least I attempted to open it, I had real problems. I assume these bottles are put on and tightened by a machine. The only way I could open it was to stab the thing with a sharp knife, which released the pressure inside and the lid was then easy to open.

Why do those wretched television commercials for carpets and furniture have to have voice-overs that shout at you? Is it the only way they can communicate their lowbrow products to people who can't comprehend basic English? Brash, loud and totally horrible. It seems that some of the lesser digital channels have this sort of advertising because they can't get space on any of the other, mainstream channels. Then these companies have obvious names such as Carpets 4 Us or Oakwoodfurniture.co.uk Can't they come up with more original names. Oakland, I think it's the name of a furniture company, presumably sells furniture made of oak. Am I right? Why not call it MDF World or chipboard world. Would that put people off investing in such pieces of furniture. Well, IKEA furniture is made, generally, out of MCF and chipboard, but they don't make a big issue out of the fact. How about Put-it-together-yourself.com, or Flatpackworld.com.  Trymaypatience.com, when you find the instructions which come with the flatpack furniture extremely difficult to understand and when some of the bits go missing, like the screws or bolts which keep the whole thing together.

Just thinking of when they audition for the voice-overs for those furniture adverts where they shout. How does it work, do you think? Do they expect the voice-over actors to stand the opposite side of a field and shout? They wouldn't have to have amplification. Why not get someone like Brian Blessed to do it instead? He has a voice that's so loud he wouldn't need a microphone and if he did, his voice would probably break the recording equipment.

Another Landmark! The 1,500th Post

So, another landmark for my blog! This is the 1,500th post. When I started this blog, back whenever (not sure exactly. I'll have to check.) I really didn't think I would be able to keep it going. I admit that some posts are mundane, but that's the whole idea of it in some way. I imagine when Samuel Pepys wrote his diary, he committed boring incidents to his journal, the everyday goings-on in his life. Not that I would consider my ramblings are in any way equal to his jottings, but who knows, someone a couple of hundred year's hence might find my blog posts of interest.

So, we're finally out of the EU! Boris got his deal approved by The Commons by a huge majority. We have two vaccines to deal with the coronavirus. Hopefully, by the spring, we might possibly be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel and the possibility of getting on top of the pandemic. Boris did say around a year ago, at about the time of the General Election that he would 'Get Brexit Done,' and he has done that, but it's been four and a half years to get to this point, with a great deal of effort and confusion along the way.

(New Year's Day) Nothing exciting to report. I did see the New Year in. I had a Whiskey Mac, my ideal drink on such occasions. I imagine my Scottish heritage takes over. I just like ginger wine and a slosh of Scotch never hurt anyone. I could hear fireworks being set off somewhere. I don't think it was an 'official' firework display. No doubt kids letting them off on Oldbrook Green. I shall no doubt find much evidence when Alfie and I walk around. 

(Later) I did find evidence for fireworks being set off on Oldbrook Green when I took out Alfie later. A lot of remnants of those fireworks and it looks as if someone had burnt the cardboard cases of fireworks by a couple of the bins which are scattered around Oldbrook Green. Alif wasn't in the least bit bothered by the noise as he has been in the past. Poppy was scared stiff of the noise and really needed reassuring around Bonfire Night. But if people will insist on setting off fireworks (which, according to a couple of notices around the Green, set up by Campbell Park Parish Council, which states that no fireworks are to be set off on the Green. Not that these individuals would take any notice. Similar to those dogwalkers who insist on not picking up after their dogs. There are notices on the dog bins which say 'we are watching you,' which is totally untrue. Just a pity that those that don't obey such notices don't get fined if they refuse to clear up after their dogs. It's a pity the Council doesn't have some sort of warden patrols to check on such behavior. They could also catch those who drop litter. It's shameful how much there is around Oldbrook Green, but at the moment, what with the pandemic, they have other issues to deal with. Although, saying that, I often see Council employees in hi-vis jackets, picking up litter.

I'm constantly meeting other dog-walkers whenever I take Alfie out for his daily walks as I have mentioned in my posts on here before now. We go out at least four times during the day. He's a dog that more or less insists on going out. I think because we have dogs it creates a sort of bond and I often talk to other dog walkers. I've mentioned Toto, a shizu, and when he sees Alfie he runs towards him. But we haven't seen him or his owner for a few weeks. He's probably taken out when I'm in the flat and we don't meet at times when we're both out. Some dogs can't cope with Alfie's friendly attitude. He always wants to be friends with the dogs he meets. Some can be very friendly but then others can be quite aggressive. I think this may be because they have been over humanized and not socialized to be with other dogs. A pity. Alfie has no issues with socializing. There was a rather nasty Yorkie we came across the other week which was very aggressive when it met Alfie on the path going round Oldbrook green. I made sure we kept away as I didn't want it to bite either myself or Alfie.

A couple of weeks ago we came across a dog and its owner, walking along with the patch towards Oldbrook Green. This dog looked remarkably like Poppy, and I almost thought that Alfie agreed. Does he remember Poppy? It's difficult to know. Probably. Anyway, the lady who was this dog's owner (I forget the dog's name now.) said, walk along and let the dogs get to know each other on the Green, which we did. I let Alfie off, which isn't something I often do. I think I'm just being over-protective, basically because, having lost Carol, Alfie is my best companion and I don't want anything horrible to happen to him, such as getting run over or attacked by another dog. Alfie was having a lovely time, running around and really enjoying his freedom. She noticed my colourful socks. Something else I got from Oddballs. I also got a wooly hat. You get freebies when you spend over £30. I said there was no way I was going to wear dull clothing. Most men's clothing is grey, brown, or striped or has a check pattern, on shirts, etc, and socks were likewise dull, grey, black, striped, etc. 

I went out later in the day and as soon as we got out onto the path in Strudwick Drive I saw the same lady with her dog once again. Her little dog does look remarkably like Poppy, even down to her colour. I'm sure Alfie thinks so too. We had a chat and then walked on to Oldbrook Green and let the dogs off their leads. Alfie had a lovely time running around. He does come back to me when I call him. He follows me around, doesn't leave me for a moment. I know he won't run for it is let off his lead. He seems to know that he's going to be safe with me. He just loved being with the other dog (I don't know her name.)

Alfie had a slight problem. I don't need to describe exactly, but he needed cleaning up. I couldn't do it on my own, because he had been very difficult if you attempt to cut his coat. It needed scissors to deal with the situation. Eve (the lady's name.) suggesting going to her home to do this as she had scissors there. I don't usually go to ladies ' homes without being invited, but this situation needed dealing with. So we walked there and as she held Alfie, I used scissors to clip off the offending matter. Situation resolved! And Alfie was really none the wiser. We had a mug of tea and a chat and I returned home to Dexter House. Alfie was getting restless. I think due to his routine being changed. He was barking and it was somewhat distracting and once I'd bade farewell to Eve, Alfie took me back to the flat.   

1450th Blog Post. Unpresidented Times!

Another milestone reached. This is the 1450th blog post. I'm not sure how many words I've written, but it must be quite a few.

I was running low on milk. I'm fully stocked with everything else. My fridge/freezer is fully stocked, so I do't need to buy anything for a while. I'm not sure whether I can order from Sainsbury on-line (other supermarkets on-line shopping are available.) I took Alfie out for his morning trot (not really a walk as he doesn't walk.) and no sooner had I got back to the flat, I went back out and went to Tesco Express in Oldbrook Boulevard. I wasn't sure whether they would be open, or whether there would be a queue outside, but, fortunately there wasn't. 

Having a keen interest in history, I have signed up with Milton Keynes Heritage Association, which I discovered when I visited the History Festival which was held last year in Campbell Park. I get regular emails from them and the last one had details of Milton Keynes Living Archive, which I discovered  is based at Milton Keynes Museum. In the email they mentioned that they would be interested if people were keeping diaries or journals about the coronavirus pandemic and in particular, the lockdown. I think what I am recording in this blog might be quite useful in years to come as a historic document. Well, there is enough of it! Just think of Samuel Pepys, who wrote a diary, and which is a good record of what life was like in the 17th century and covers the Great Fire of London and several periods when plague swept the nation.

Later. It's as warm as ever. The sort of weather that would get you out in your shorts and T-shirt and drive to the seaside. Probably Southwold or Frinton-On-Sea. I had to take Alfie out for his final walk around Oldbrook Green, although, I'll be perfectly honest, the sight of it is beginning to wear a bit thin. It's a bit boring now. There are signs on some of the play equipment around the Green, on the children's playground which has a fence around it and the skateboarding park. As I walked around, barely 10 minutes ago, I saw some youths quietly throwing a ball into a basket on the tarmaced area which has a netball basket on one side and a goal on the other. It seems quite harmless to me, but a four-wheel drive vehicle drove up on the grass and told the youths that they weren't supposed to be playing there, which was contrary to the anti-pandemic regulations bought in to help control the spread of  the coronavirus. I thought he was being somewhat heavy-handed and then drove off. I don't think it's such a good idea to drive a large vehicle across the grass as it ruins the surface. I am somewhat shocked by the high-handed and rather pompous attitude of the council man (I think from Campbell Park Parish Council, which controls this area of Milton Keynes. They have fixed notices to some of the equipment, but they could at least put 'please' and 'thank you' on them. I am naughty and I expect I could get a tongue-lashing from the fact I saw one of these notices on the ground as I walked past the other day, and, heaven forfend, put it in a . . . bin! I plead guilty, your honour. I know, I know. Unpresidented times and all that, but what do you expect???