Hey Ho, The Wind and the rain!

Saturday. 7.55 p.m.  We had Men's Breakfast at the Oaktree Centre this morning. We haven't had one of these gatherings since the one at The  Fountain in Loughton. 

There was a break in the rain. The sun came out, surprisingly. As I write this, it seems still outside.

Sunday. 6.30 a.m. It sounds suspicious as if it's gusting outside as I write this.

9.15 a.m. I've just been out with Alfie. It is as windy as ever, but probably not as powerful as it was in the midst of Storm Eunice on Friday, but still advisable to be wary of falling branches and roof tiles falling off buildings. I saw a large branch had fallen off one of the trees along the path around Oldbrook Green yesterday mid-afternoon, the Shackleton Place side.

1.30 p.m. Now we have Storm Franklin on his/her way. The highest wind speed ever recorded has been measured on the Isle of Wight, at 122 miles per hour. I wonder if all those wind turbines we see all over the area are busily converting these winds into electricity.

I didn't go to church this morning, because of the wind. I have seen pictures of the damage caused by the high winds on Friday, and they had really put me off going out. Cars being smashed by falling bricks, lorries blown over on a motorway, damage done to the O2 dome and the top of a spire in Wells, Somerset didn't exactly help matters. But I managed to catch today's service from the OTC via Facebook.

Monday. 5.44 a.m. The wind is still raging outside.

Since the pandemic struck in late March 2020, I have built up quite a pile of boxes and packaging, some of it left from when I moved into Dexter House, but a great deal from buying items online, mostly from Amazon. I am now in the process of breaking up the boxes ready to take to the tidy-tip but will wait until the wind has dropped. All of these packets and boxes are in the pantry (for want of a better word to describe the small storage room next to my kitchen.) It's not so much the actual boxes that are the problem, which I am breaking down so that some will fit inside other larger boxes so that it will fit into the back of my car, but also the material which is used within the boxes, plastic material, card as well as polystyrene. Much of this has been broken up and put into recycling bags which are taken out to the bin yard at the rear of Dexter House, but the rest will go in my car. As you have to prebook your visit to the tidy tip at Bleak Hall, which is done online via the Milton Keynes website, I want to make sure all this work is done before I book my place so that all this rubbish can be taken away.

10.45 a.m. It's as windy as ever. But, regardless of the weather, more bulbs are popping up out of the ground. The daffodils are beginning to show some signs of appearing along the bit of grass opposite The Cricketers in Strudwick Drive and there are catkins on the bushes the furthest side from The Cricketers on Oldbrook Green. As the saying goes, 'the first green shoots are appearing.

7.45 p.m. I am fairly certain that the wind has subsided. Well, I really hope so. Let's just say it would be nice for things to calm down.

All Over The Place!

 So, we are returning to more restrictions, bought on by the coronavirus pandemic. The government seems to change the restrictions on a daily basis. Where did the number 6 come from, being the limit of how many people can meet? Just plucked from the air without any scientific basis. Why not 7, 8, 9 0r 10? Why do pubs and restaurants have to close at 10p.m.? What on earth difference will that make to the spread of the coronavirus?

Several of the electric scooters left all over Oldbrook Green. I presume the company who runs the business which operate these devices will collect them and return them to wherever they come from. It seems strange to just have them left in the middle of paths around the place and not in some sort of parking space, similar to the bike hiring scheme (there's a parking space for them near the Oldbrook Centre. I think Santander is sponsor of them.)

(Saturday) The last couple of days it's been raining. Not heavy rain, but rather thin and pathetic. Even so, Alfie doesn't like it very much. I took him out just a few moments ago (it's now 11.25a.m. on Saturday 3rd October.) We walked along Strudwick Drive, me wearing my new Regatta rain jacket, but as soon as Alfie discovered the rain, he turned tail and took me back home.

(Tuesday) The seat of the toilet in my bathroom has broken. It broke several weeks ago. Not the actual seat but the lid. The plastic bit came away from the mechanism which holds it onto the bowl, so I reported it to the S.H.O., Barbara, and was hoping that it would be mended, no questions asked. Well, I didn't break it deliberately, I didn't do a tap dance on the lid or poke it to make it break. I was told yesterday that it was my responsibility to repair it. The company who are responsible for maintenance of the flat look after the BOWL of the toilet, but not the SEAT! Crazy! 

I was quietly sitting and watching television when there was this noise. It sounded like something collapsing. I wasn't sure where or even what it was. I looked in the kitchen, thinking it might have been a box falling on the floor (not sure where or what, again) but it wasn't in there. Then I poked my head round the door of the bathroom and found that the shower curtain rail was the culprit. Weird, as I hadn't touched it or even been near it. These curtain rails are only held in place by a sort of rubber washer (for want of a better world) on the end of the rail in a sort of round arrangement which screws on the end and you screw it out until it grips the wall. I can't believe that that is all that keeps it in place. I have now managed to reassemble the whole thing and it's holding up, and it hasn't collapsed as yet (well, at least, as I write this but will keep you informed it it decides to collapse again.

(Friday) Still not a lot to write about. The Council have built a fence along the Oldbrook Boulevard she of the Green, presumably with the intention of preventing further traveller's caravans being able to get onto the grass. They completed around half and then some bureaucrat thought strong and hard and realised that caravans could be able to access the area the other side of the skateboard park, so a further fence has been constructed. Next to impossible for anyone to drive onto the grass now. Even a small bit of fence along the opening into Shackleton Place.

(Monday) I went on line to book an appointment to get my hair cut at Central Barbers. This was a couple of days ago. The last time I had my hair cut I went to their website and was able to book and pay for an appointment, so it made sense to repeat this as it saves having to wait and if you pay you just walk in before the appointed time and then at the end, be because you've paid on line, there's nothing further to pay. I wasn't sure that I had actually successfully got an appointment booked. There's nothing to acknowledge your booking, such as being sent an email as you get when you buy something from Amazon. So this morning I phoned the shop and it turned out I hadn't got the appointment booked, but they made the appointment over the phone, for this Wednesday (21st October.) at 10.15a.m.