Wild and Windy

 Wednesday. 7.30 a.m. The weather has changed for the worse. It's really windy and wet out this morning. 

Thursday. 7.25 a.m. A shade murky this morning. The digital thermometer currently reads 23ºc.

Yesterday, I went to my friend Mike, who has Parkinson's, whilst his wife Margaret went to a meeting. Driving there, I had to cross Marlborough Street, and roadworks were going on, with red barriers up. I'm not exactly clear what they're doing, but, as there's been a lot of resurfacing work going on across Milton Keynes recently, I thought it might be something to do with that. On the way back after 4 o'clock, I came up Chaffron Way and got to the roundabout crossing Marlborough Street. I would normally have continued on along Chaffron Way, but it was closed off, so I had to turn left into Marlborough Street and continue on and round near the hospital and on to Oldbrook and home. I realise they have to do maintenance of the road system, but you very rarely get an advance warning of these works, and then have to do a somewhat circuitous detour around the place to get to wherever you were intending to go.

We were told that a yellow weather warning was in place yesterday. The possibility of torrential rain and then flash flooding. It started to get dark when I was at Mike and Margaret's, and then it began to rain, but certainly not the heavy rain as forecast. It was over in around 10 minutes, and then the sun came out. Driving home, there was absolutely no sign that it had been raining. No puddles, nothing. We were watching television, which is supplied by Freesat. The television signal began to break up, and for a while it shut down completely. It came back eventually.

Friday. 1.45 p.m. I had ordered a trowel on Amazon, as I mentioned a day or two ago. Unfortunately, for some reason, it had to be signed for. You had to be over 18. Well, I'm well over 18! It was supposed to have been delivered on Wednesday, and I was expecting it to come during the evening. I got a message from Amazon to tell me that they had attempted to deliver it at around 3 p.m., but couldn't deliver it because there was no answer. Well, I was sitting with Mike at that time, and then they said it would come yesterday at 1 p.m. I was out again! I gave up and cancelled the trowel and should get a refund. I can't think why you would need to sign for the thing. I can understand if it was a knife, but a trowel? Hardly a dangerous item. You could hardly use it to stab someone. I do realise they have a responsibility for making sure some items don't get into the wrong hands. But a trowel?? So, this morning I went to The Range and bought a trowel and a hand fork. I only wish now that I had gone there in the first place.

More Of The Same

 Saturday. 4.00 p.m. It's a rather dull and overcast sort of afternoon. The morning started relatively sunny and pleasant, but as the day progressed it gradually became more and more overcast. I had hoped that I could go out with the video camera and do some filming, but it didn't seem such a good idea. I am gradually getting to grips with the various settings, thanks mostly to the various YouTube videos I have been watching.

I have been doing some housework. I have a Vax steam mop, which is extremely good for cleaning the floors in the flat, but it does take a great deal of effort to use. I have avoided getting a traditional mop and bucket but decided that the kitchen floor needed a decent cleaning, so I bought a Vileda mop and a bucket at Sainsbury's the other day. I put some Flash liquid in the hot water in the bucket, and I was surprised at how effective it was. I have cleaned the kitchen floor, and the bathroom, which has now got a new floor (I must have mentioned this in an earlier post.) Also, the entrance hall. It was whilst cleaning the bathroom floor that I thought I could get some new mats for the bathroom. The old ones were falling apart. I attempted to give them a machine wash a few weeks ago, but unfortunately, the sponge rubber backing came off and caused a real mess in the machine when I'd finished, and it took quite a lot of time and effort to remove it. Also in the tumble drier. So, yesterday morning I went to The Range, to buy replacement bath mats. Usually, you get a bath mat and a matching mat for the toilet, with a bit cut out to go around the pedestal. I wandered around the store, and it took me a long time to find any bath mats. What I eventually found was really not my taste, and when I did find something suitable, there was no matching mat for the toilet. I gave up and then went into Homebase, and, again, after some time wandering around the store, I left with absolutely nothing. I drove away and then went into Dunelm, which is close by. Again, a good deal of searching of the store, but, regrettably, absolutely nothing that even vaguely resembled a bath mat. By this point my patience was beginning to expire and, because my mission to purchase these items had produced nothing, I then decided, to return to my flat, to have a look on the Amazon website and, sure enough, there were plenty to choose from.  I eventually found what I thought to be perfect for the job and ordered a set and hopefully, they will be delivered this evening.

It only shows how it is so easy to find what you want on Amazon (other online stores are available.) Such a wide choice. In fact, it can often be extremely difficult to decide on an item when there is so much to choose from. Because I have Amazon Prime, I don't have to pay for post and packaging, and the item will usually be delivered the next day. 

5.00 p.m. The bath mats have been delivered from Amazon. They are a great colour and are exactly what I wanted.

Autumn Days

 So, we're now into October! Where did September go to? It's now downhill to Christmas. I have to say, I don't like winter, dark days, cold, defrosting the car, slippery surfaces and all that that entails. I walked into The Range the other morning, in an attempt to find distilled water for my steam iron, they had Christmas stuff on one side and Halloween junk on the other. The shops are beginning to get stacked up with everything you can't possibly do without. But what is the point of stocking up with mince pies, when they will be stale before the festive season arrives? I call it junk, but let's be honest, most of it is.

8.30 a.m. It's surprisingly foggy this morning. I don't suppose it's really a surprise, as it's what you come to expect when the seasons change. 

I have my Friday load of washing on. I'm going to be a good deal more careful than I was this time last week when I did my washing. I had a load on and went down to check if it was finished, which I thought it had and opened the door of the machine and found the load sopping wet. Thinking about it now, I must have opened the door too early. The machine was probably about to go into its final spin. As a result, nothing would dry. I did attempt to get some clothes dried in the drier, but it wasn't going to happen as the clothes were far too wet. I had to resort to putting it all on drying racks and had one in the bathroom. Fortunately, I had the second one which we had at the house in Eaglestone, but the clothes weren't going to be completely dry until at least Sunday or even Monday and as a result, I had to contend with all my washed clothes hanging around and in the way for a couple of days. My fault and not a mistake I intend to make again.

1.50 p.m. It's got quite windy outside (well, it would be worrying if it was inside. Stupid man! What an idiotic thing to say!) In the short time, we were walking around Oldbrook Green, it seemed to get stronger and stronger

5.55 p.m. You know it's autumn when the television shows that have been off our screens return. 'Strictly Come Dancing is one and will be there in the schedules on a Saturday for around three months leading up to Christmas. I can't say it's my favourite show, although Carol loved it. I don't dislike the dancing, but I hate the way people can be so nasty, usually led by one of the judges, Craig Revel-Horwood. Picking holes in the contestants' dance performances. Anything with celebrities is a definite turn-off for me and many of them can hardly be called 'celebrities' in particular those who have been on reality television shows. The whole thing is driven by tabloid newspaper reporting and social media posts and picks up on the slightest mention of something which happens in the show.

As I write this, the fog has disappeared, but the wind has now been replaced by rain. It's falling quite heavily.

10.25 p.m. I've just got back from The Oaktree Centre, where we've had a quiz night, which is a money-raising for the second phase of the building. There were a fair number of people there, so it should have raised a good sum for the project.

February Fun?

Is February generally a fun month? I can't say one way or the other. I think it's made worse at the moment because of the pandemic and being incarcerated in my flat. I have to say I feel a bit like a battery chicken, cooped up in one of those small cages, with little room to move (not true to some extent, but not being able to get out and about as before the first lockdown, definitely.) Days getting longer and lighter earlier, definitely makes things better. Do you not get a feeling of irony with my blog post title? Yes, definitely. But we do need something to relieve the boredom and have a good laugh. 

Pancake day, Shrove Tuesday, is on it's way!  Anything to cheer things up. Pancakes just happen to be one of my favourite dishes. I like to think I'm good at making them, and the preparation of the batter is the most important part of creating them. Using plain flour which is airiated by being put through a sieve which is held hight over the bowl and also with melted butter added along with a couple of eggs, which, when milk is added together with a pinch of salt and then beaten together until the whole becomes fairly runny, but not too runny for it to run out of the pan you cook in. It should just run off the spoon, but not too much (if that makes sense.) The next is to cover and let it stand for a few hours before making. This allows all the ingredients to settle and as a result the batter will thicken, so before you make the pancakes, add a little more milk to make the mixture more runny.

(Wednesday) Out early with Alfie and at gone 9 o'clock I went to Homebase, as I was searching for a bradawl. Before you ask, it's a handled device for making holes in a wooden surface. I wanted one so I can make holes in the construction of the coffee table so that the screws can better screw in tighter. If that makes sense. I had a good look in the tools section but I could see nothing suitable, so I left and went over the road to The Range and fortunately I found one, shown me by a member of staff. A really confusing display and it's not very clear what is what so you can find things easily. The same could be said of the Homebase display.  I can't believe such a simple item would be so difficult to find. But I got it!

I then went to Sainsbury's. I can't believe how long I was in there. I don't know what it was this morning, but it seemed to take forever to get round. I always take a well researched list so I don't forget anything and that generally makes things easier because I don't want to be in there longer than necessary, but perhaps my visits to Homebase and The Range have something to do with it.

(Thursday) Been out earlier than usual. Alfie fast asleep in his bed. It was frosty and crunchy underfoot as we walked along the grass beside the path. Good thing we weren't out too long as my hands go blue if they get cold and it can be really uncomfortable. I should remember to wear my gloves. 

I needed to get a fresh supply of vitamin D tablets. I was told by my doctor that I ought to take vitamin D after I had the results of my last blood test, so I bought some in Sainsbury's, but when I was in there yesterday I couldn't find any. Every other permutation of vitamins, minerals etc etc but not vitamin D. This morning I drove over to Bletchley to visit Boots and managed to get a pack in there. 180, one a day, which is what I was already taking. So, that problem solved. I had hoped to visit T.K. Maax, which is further along the parade from Boots, but I found it boarded up, due to covid restrictions, but Greggs was open. So, what's so difference, if Boots and Greggs can be open, why not T.K. Maax? Just wanted a browse through the men's department, but definitely not going to happen for a while at least.

Later. Been out at around 2.15 this afternoon and there's been a definite drop in the temperature. Really cold and I couldn't wait to get back inside as my hands were turning blue. Also not good to be in the cold with a heart condition.

(Friday) I woke at around 1.30 and couldn't get back to sleep. Had a shave and then sorted the rubbish into black bag and tied it up, ready to take out to the dustbins and put new bag on the kitchen bin. Did some washing up and the kitchen now looks neat and tidy.  Sorted washing into washing basket, ready to take to the laundry room just before 8a.m.Did my Bible reading (one year with Nicky Gumble through the You Version app on my iPad.) Alfie is fast asleep in his bed, although he had been in bed with me up until the time I got out of bed. It is now 3.00a.m and sitting here in the lounge writing this. What's the day going to be like, on the weather-front? Seems calm at the moment, but I think the wind was blowing a gale in the night.

A good deal later. Out with his nibs at 7.15. Not as cold as yesterday, but still chilly. Got washing on and now back in the flat. There was an amazing red sky over Milton Keynes. I would have done a photograph but it's virtually impossible to get a good vantage point around Oldbrook without getting buildings in the way. I would need to get up a lot higher to get a good shot, unfortunately.

It's 7.55a.m. Just not a lot to say at the moment, but watch this space.

Supermarket Broom Hunt and Blustery Weather

(Friday)The wind and cold continues. I just hope it doesn't come back stronger than ever. They have said on the weather forecast on BBC Breakfast this morning that we can expect more extreme weather, so it's a matter of 'batten down the hatches' once more. More like, tie down your wheeley bins, as they have a habit of moving when the wind is strong!

I went to Morrison's this morning. I'm looking for a broom so I can sweep the floor of the flat. How difficult is it to find a suitable broom for this job in Milton Keynes? You would think it would be relatively easy to find such a broom. I looked in Sainsbury's the other day, but no luck. You can buy a brush on a sort of long handle with a pan to collect what you've swept up, but I don't want one because I already have a dustpan and brush. I thought, if I go on line and have a look at Morrison's website I can check this out and I also want some superglue to fix on the handle of the trolley I bought on Amazon, which arrived yesterday morning, along with two books I'd ordered. The thing was easy enough to put together, except the bar which is for pushing it around has the screw holes in the wrong place and it wouldn't fit together, so I thought that superglueing it would be sufficient. I also looked for this on the Morrison's website, and there it was. Which is why I went to their branch near Milton Keynes station.

I got to Morrison's, parked the car, went up on the travelator (which, up to the point I arrived at the foot off wasn't operating, until a man came along and took away the barrier and the thing began to move. It amuses me that it moves slowly up until the point you step on it and then it moves a good deal faster.) When I arrived on the shop floor and approached the trolley park, I discovered that you now had to insert a £1 coin in order to use a trolley. Previously they didn't need a coin. I went back to the car and put the bags back in the back of the car and returned to the store and had a look for the broom and superglue and then changed my mind and decided to go to the cashpoint outside the store to take out a £10 note and then went back inside to get it changed into coins at the kiosk and began my walk around the store. Enough food to keep me going for at least two or three weeks. I found the basic brush for a broom, but there was no handle! As for the superglue, no sign, which was annoying, since I had come into Morrison's with the intention of finding and buying these items. What on earth is the use of the brush without the handle? It's not a broom until it has said handle.

I next thought was, find a member of staff and ask about the broom-handle. Surely a staff member would be able to tell me where I could get the handle to attach to the aforementioned brush? I saw a lady stacking shelves, but she moved further away when I spoke. Perhaps she didn't hear me, but I eventually caught up with her and asked about the handle. The lady said that she had wanted to buy a broom herself and found there was no matching handle and had mentioned this to the store manager and told me I would be better off going to the nearby Range store, which was a bit off, considering she was telling me to go elsewhere to buy a broom. So, on leaving Morrison's, I went directly to The Range, which is almost immediately across the road from Morrison's, in Winter Hill. I was somewhat surprised to see a large sign up on the outside of the building which houses The Range, emblazoned with the name Iceland and then, on entering the store, finding that to one end there is indeed an Iceland, taking up a considerable amount of space. I found a broom! Eurika! And after walking the length of the store, a tube of superglue, and with these finds firmly grasped in my hand, I went to pay at the till. I made the passing comment to the lady on the till about the near impossibility of finding a broom. I said that perhaps there was a convention of witches who had bought them all up, which got a laugh, and she said she knew a few witches, not, I'm sure, real, but I said I had worked with one or two, not giving names, but, again, it got a laugh, so at least it made someone smile and made their day.  So, mission complete, I returned home and then took Alfie out for a further walk. It has become fairly blustery, even more than it was earlier and we walked around Oldbrook Green and then returned home.

Getting Colder

I had an email from the removal company when I got home from Camphill, telling me that they had reserved Wednesday 9th of October as removal day. The men will be here at 7.30a.m., and they will be able to disassemble my bed and the large pigeon-hole unit in the lounge and reassemble at the flat in Dexter House. Also, they will be able to disconnect the electric oven and reconnect it in the flat, one less thing for me to have to think about. My only concern is not having a fridge/freezer, but that is being sorted out. I may get  grant from the Council to purchase one, and in any case, the old one which is being left behind is really too big for a single person.

I have now heard from Daniel, and he's coming here from Thursday to the weekend and will collect his belongings from what was his bedroom when he lived here. It seems that everything is falling into place and I must say I'll be glad when I am settled in the flat and the long journey to find alternative accommodation is over. I took several boxes of books in the car, a couple of which went to Dexter House, and another couple to the charity shop near Tesco's in Oldbrook Boulevard. Also, some clothes from the wardrobe which I hung in the fitted wardrobe at the flat.

It is getting a lot colder. Autumn is definitely here. There are leaves on the ground when I go to take Alfie for his early morning walk around Eaglestone Park this morning. My FitBit wouldn't charge properly, so I didn't get a step count as I should. I say it wouldn't charge, but it's difficult to know exactly whether it is charging when it's on the charging gadget. You would expect that once it's fitted in the thing there would be some sign that it is charging, such as a sound or a small light, which lit up, indicating power is going into the thing. So I left it off when we went out.

I said it was getting colder. Yesterday evening (Wednesday) I put the central heating on for the first time, but I put it off as soon as I went to bed. Oh well, I suppose it's bound to turn colder now we're into October.

I noticed that there are no curtain tracks in either the bedroom or lounge at the flat. Annoying, because I have to now go and buy some before I can hang the curtains I purchased in The Range this morning. First thing this morning I went to Homebase to buy a measuring tape and then went to the flat to measure both windows.

I have now rung Sky to have my phone and broadband transferred to the flat in Dexter House. Because there is no telephone line there an engineer will come on 17th October to install a line. I don't want to loose my internet connection, otherwise I won't be able to keep this blog going and I rely on it for such things as email and the occasional glance at Facebook, basically to keep in touch with the outside world. 

Foggy Morning

Quite a foggy and overcast morning here in Milton Keynes when I took Alfie out for his routine walk around Eaglestone Park. We veered off the usual circuit and went off through the estate and ended up on the Redway. Alfie decided to do a whoopsie on the Redway. I always do my duty and picked it up. I always make sure I carry black biodegradable bags for this very purpose. There are no red bins to dispose of dog waste so I had to walk back into the park and put the bag in the nearest bin. So I decided, as we were there, to walk back around the park and came back home the way we come out, along Griffon Close. I'm afraid there are those dog-owners who still refuse to take responsibility for their dogs and do not clear up when they mess. It spoils the park and the surrounding environment that this is the case. It doesn't take much effort to clear up after their dogs, but then there are some people who will still ignore any sort of regulation, regardless, whether  it's conforming to traffic speed limits or clearing up after their dogs. As it is, it makes an unpleasant environment and I have seen notices to this effect, because it means that events planned and run around the park for children have had to be cancelled because of the health risk. It's a shame that those who don't comply don't get caught and fined.

I've been doing some ironing. Don't laugh. Men doing ironing? What's wrong with that? I'm pretty good at it. I think I must have been shown the best way to iron a shirt, for example, when I was working in stage management somewhere or other, probably by one of the wardrobe staff, or I watched whilst they did this and asked how to do it fast. They could wash and iron for goodness knows how many people, because if a show was running for a certain length of time, it was necessary to keep shirts and items washed, ironed and back in the actor's dressing rooms ready for the next performance.

 Anyway, I use a steam iron. I try to use distilled water in the thing because if you put ordinary tap water in a steam iron, around this area at any rate, where the water is hard, it can build up limescale which can block up the inside of the iron and the holes where the water comes out as steam soon clog up and you can get horrible deposits of limescale on the clothes you are ironing. Anyway, I needed to get a fresh supply and went to The Range yesterday afternoon, which is where I got the last supply, but none to be found. I then went to Homebase, across the road from The Range, and, again, none in stock. Today I went to Morrisons, where I'm almost certain I saw some the last time I was in there, but none to be found. Why is this? Is it because people who own steam irons don't bother with distilled water in their irons? Or is it that distilled water isn't considered to be an important enough item to stock, taking up valuable shelf space and not making enough profit to warrant selling it? Seems odd. It was always used in car batteries, but presumably modern car batteries don't require the occasional topping up with distilled water. I don't think modern car batteries have the little plastic caps which you had to undo in order to put in the distilled water. The cells inside had to be covered in order to make the battery work efficiently. I don't know what my dad would make of this. He would always tell me, whenever I was going anywhere in my car, 'make sure you check the oil, have you topped it up? Are the tyres correctly inflated? Have you checked the battery?' and so on. Even to this day I have to go through this routine whenever I go for a long journey in my car. It sounds crazy, but I suppose he was right. I can't think what he would make of modern cars, with things like SatNavs, computerised systems which tell you to do this and that, how to drive the car, when to have it serviced and goodness knows what else. Alarms for all manner of things, if you haven't put on your seatbelt, or closed the doors properly. Mine even tells you when to change gear!

Sorry, I digress.

I've been making scones. I have made them before. I used Delia Smith's recipe. They taste great but don't look particularly brilliant. Not going to win any prizes but I made the batch just as a sort of test and then make another lot and hopefully they will be better. Is it scone or scone? How do you pronounce the word. With a short end or long? To rhyme with gone or cone? I suppose it depends where you come from, north or south. Does it really matter? What ever the pronunciation, they taste great with cream and jam! Best with clotted cream.

A Few More Things To Mention

Since Carol's death, the bird feeder which we had set up in the garden has been neglected. She was very keen on wildlife and enjoyed watching the birds that came to feed on the hanging arrangement of different feeders on this metal 'tree.' We enjoyed visiting Whipsnade Zoo, and had membership which meant we could visit as many times as we liked without having to pay entrance costs and later, because she was a science teacher, she became a fellow of the Z.S.L. (Zoological Society of London) . I went there as her guest. Several times Carol did the yearly bird count for the R.S.P.B. and we would spend time watching the different species of birds that would visit the feeder. We had a few problems with squirrels, one in particular actually managed to jump the relatively short distance from the neighbour's shed roof onto the bird feeder, narrowly avoiding implying itself on the rather sharp finial on the top of the feeder. It then proceeded to climb down the metal central pole of the feeder and gain access to the food in several of the hanging baskets which contained nuts. It could be quite a feat of athletic prowess when it hung upside down to get at the nuts in some of the feeding baskets. It even managed to climb up the central pole of the bird feeder which was quite amazing to watch.

Because the bird feeder has been left neglected for so long, I decided to restock the various feeding baskets on the metal structure, some of the baskets had disintegrated due to being left outside in all weather conditions. I went to The Range to stock up on food and bought two new feeding devices. Anyway, the various feeding devices are now full, except one, which needs peanuts which I will have to go out and buy tomorrow at some point.

I have been considering replacing my mobile phone. My current model is an iPhone 5S. It doesn't quite enough memory to put on all the apps I would like, so I decided that I would go for an iPhone 7 next. Carol had one from Sky, which I have since paid off and it is now redundant. With Sky Mobile you pay so much a month but you don't loose the data you have left unused at the end of the month and it rolls over to the next. Also, you have the option at the end of your contract period to trade your old model in for a newer one, so at least you have the latest model with the newest operating system. My old iPhone will not upgrade because Apple is slowly withdrawing older models which can't be upgraded with the latest operating system. I had a phone call from Sky Mobile to give me information about their range of offers, and to let me know that with their tariffs your data rolls over into the next month. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to have a new mobile at that time, but they rang again yesterday and I've set up a new contract with them with an iPhone 7 as my choice of new mobile. As it's £19 a month it seems like a good decision. At present I have an O2 'pay-as-you-go tariff on my old iPhone 5S but at the end of the month I loose what data remains. I also want to keep my telephone number which I will be able to do, transferring from the old to the new mobile. The new iPhone will arrive in via courier this morning some time. I will get a text message to tell me when the parcel is likely to arrive, so I will have to stay in to make sure I receive it. I think this is a good offer, because at present I'm on a pay-as-you-go tariff and it's £10 a month which you have to top-up with a voucher or go on line to pay and it's somewhat annoying and you loose the unused data at the end of each month. So, for £19 a month I get a brand new iPhone and none of the annoying topping-up as well as not loosing the unused data at the end of each month.

Later. I'v now had a text from the courier company, DPD, to inform me that the iPhone will be delivered between 2.30 and 3.30, which means I can at least leave the house to do some shopping.

No birdies as yet visiting the restocked bird feeder in he garden, but I expect they will come sooner rather than later. I think they have to make sure it's safe before taking the plunge.

We've been piloting a project at church, started set up by Worldvision. It's called Matthew 25. It runs for a week and you have to do several things, related to what Jesus says in this scripture. The involve making and eating a meal of beans and rice, going one day only drinking water, sleeping one night on the floor, a day when you only wear what you wore the day before (ie. two days wearing the same clothes.), iterating with someone who has a problem, ie. homelessness, illness or whatever. I have done the different activities, apart from sleeping on the floor. Today I went to Waitrose and outside there was a lady selling The Big Issue. I bought her a coffee (no, sorry, it was free, because I have a My Waitrose card.) and I bought a copy of the magazine. I'm always sorry for these people, standing outside the railway station or the shopping centre. People walk past and ignore them. I don't know how many magazines they manage to sell, but I don't imagine it's many. I don't expect many people stop to talk to them. Anyway, whatever the result, I did make some effort to do this particular activity. I don't actually come across many people who need support in the community, although I often see people who presumably are homeless, outside the shopping centre. I'm not sure what their situation is, but it's difficult to just walk past without being involved with them in some way, even if it's to stop and chat or buy them a sandwich and a cup of coffee or tea.

Later. The new iPhone arrived. A good deal quicker than I had expected. I have been having real problems with installing the SIM card. I had a similar problem with the old iPhone, but with a bit of patience it can be done, but I have had to get Sky to send a new one and I will have to get someone who has far nimbler fingers than me to put it in the little drawer. There's no indication as to which way it's supposed to go in that minuscule drawer, or whether it's upside down or whatever. I had to ring Sky and they're sending out a new one. It should be here in a couple of days. Frustrating, but there's nothing much I can do. If my stepson, Daniel, was here, he'd have no problems doing this. I have got all the apps from my old iPhone transferred to the new phone because they are on the cloud and miraculously moved to the new phone. One thing I don't have to do, because it will work using wifi which is successfully set up on the new iPhone. I have put the new phone back in it's box and it's on the desk upstairs in my bedroom and will remain there until the new SIM card arrives.

Getting Colder?

There is a definite nip in the air. Considering how warm it got during the Great 2018 Heatwave, I'm not surprised that I now notice that it's getting colder in the morning, especially when I take Alfie out for his morning run in Eaglestone Park. I went out in a short-sleeved polo shirt when we went to Whipsnade, but considering how much colder it gets up there on Dunstable Downs I'm not surprised and had to eventually put on my jacket as I began to feel cold when we were looking at the penguins. We're now in the, sad to say it folks, what I would call without too much hesitation, the run-up to Christmas. We've already seen hints of the impending Festive Season, with bits and pieces in some shops, crafting things in one of the shops, I think The Range, the other day, and possibly The Works. Well, I suppose some people make their Christmas cards and decorations and need time to make them well in advance.

Having said it was cold, a couple of hours after I'd written the above paragraph, the sun is out and it's quite warm. Just typical for this time of year.

We went to Hobbycraft because Carol is looking for more crafting materials. I'm not over-keen on this vast warehouse of stuff. Over-priced. Carol bought a stamp and then we went to Sainsbury's. Ordered my repeat prescription and collected another repeated prescription. Later we went for a walk round Furzton Lake, somewhere we haven't visited in a long time, certainly not since our other dog, Poppy, died. It's somewhere that she'd quite happily love to swim, in the lake, although, having been on the Parks Trust website and on boards around the area of the lake, dogs are not supposed to swim in the lakes or other areas of water. Well, it would have been no use trying to stop her, because she'd have been in whether she was supposed to or not. Quite a long way round the lake and the park and we spent some time sitting on a bench and just enjoying the scenery and the warm weather. There were quite a lot of people walking, or cycling, around the lakes. It was especially nice to see families together, which makes a change that they weren't arguing or spending too much time on mobile phones.

A lot of children we saw at Whipsnade have those scooter-things, which I don't think are appropriate for use in such a place. They seem to be everywhere. Use them supervised (as most of them are there, with parents and other adults they were with somewhere around) but they could be dangerous and get run over by vehicles moving along the zoo roads, or collide with other zoo visitors on foot.) 

Overcast Saturday Walking

I went out for a walk with Alfie at around 8.20 this morning. Carol was asleep up until then and if I'd taken him earlier he would have woken her up with his barking and noise. As we came out of the walk-way down to the park where I usually let him off his lead I could see the lady who has a disabled chair with her alsatian moving along one of the paths in the distance. I didn't immediately let Alfie off as I wasn't sure the alsatian might attack Alfie or at least bark at him or even go for him by picking him up in it's mouth. I'm not going to risk his safety so we walked in the opposite direction around the path, along past the houses and on towards the Redway which crosses Eaglestone Park and then up towards the shops and we came across the lady with the two small chihuahuas. One named Poppy, whom we have met on several occasions. Poppy, the black one which carries around a yellow rubber ball in her mouth, wasn't keen to relinquish the ball or to play with Alfie. The lady (who's name I don't know.) told me that her dog didn't want to play because she is obsessed by the ball although Alfie just runs around in circles and just wants to be friendly. He doesn't meet many other dogs so it's good for him to socialise like this. The lady told me that the woman in her disabled chair with the alsatian doesn't control her dog. She says it's a wonder the alsatian doesn't pull her chair over as it's quite big and I said I didn't want it near Alfie as I didn't trust it to not attack Alfie. She said the woman doesn't control her dog as she ought to.

It's currently much more overcast this morning which means it is so much cooler. Nevertheless,  I insist on continuing to wear my shorts as it is so much more pleasant.

Carol's into crafting and wanted some ink pads so we drove to The Range as they have a good range of crafting materials. We also wanted a rake to help to clear up the grass on the lawn at the front of the house. The grass trimmer does a good job but you are left with lots of cut grass which then needs collecting up. We found what we needed in the gardening section of the store. When we got to the till to pay we saw crisps and drinks which we added to what Carol had already picked up as we intended going for a walk with Alfie at the Ouzel Valley Park which we'd visited yesterday.

Once we got back home we organised ourselves so that we could go out with Alfie to the Ouzel Valley Park. We didn't put the cage in the back of the car, instead Carol drove and I held Alfie on my knee. It saved time and effort, but even so he made a lot of fuss and noise. It's not far to drive and we parked in the carpark at the park. We also took the food and drink items we'd purchased in The Range. We started off with Alfie on his lead, but once we went through the gate into the meadow we let him off. There was no livestock in the field and if there had been, Alfie would have ignored anything such as sheep or cattle. He doesn't run far and always comes back when you call him. We walked on and went through another gate and then walked besides the river, The Ouzel, where Alfie was quite happy to trot along beside us, occasionally running ahead of us.

If we'd had Poppy with us she would have been tempted to jump in the river and swim, but Alfie isn't interested, but on one or two occasions I was concerned that he might get too close and fall in. He did one end up in water when we went to walk along the banks of the Grand Union Canal and Alfie jumped over a low wall and found himself in the canal and had to be extricated by myself. I think he got something of a shock when he got wet and has never tried that game again, and who can blame him. Looking back it was quite funny, but at the time it was concerning that he might drown. He looked thoroughly miserable as a result.

We walked on, under one of the concrete bridges which carries Chaffron Way over the river and onward towards Woolstone, where we walked past the remains of the Medieval fishponds. There is a map on an information board which describes the landscape and the significance of the fishponds. We went through several kissing gates and eventually came to a wooden bridge and crossed over to the opposite side of the river and walked back towards the car. We met several people with dogs, at one point a couple with two West Highland Terriers. Poppy was a schitsu/Westie cross. She is greatly missed since she died. Both these little dogs barked when they encountered Alfie, butwe kept him tightly under control on his lead. He just wants to be friendly, but these dogs were determined to be somewhat aggressive towards him. We walked on and actually found we'd walked too far along the patch once we'd crossed another wooden bridge and had to walk back, eventually walking back across the open meadow which lead us back to the carpark and our car.

We sat at one of the conveniently placed picnic tables and ate our pasties and crisps. Alfie ate most of Carol's. I'm not surprised he was so hungry, because of how far we'd walked. He can be a picky little dog when you feed him scraps. He quite often turns his nose up if you offer him left-overs when you're having a meal, but on this occasion he ate it as fast as he could.

It was becoming quite windy and it took us all our time to keep the crisp packets from blowing away and the put the remains in a litter bin and drove home.

Christmas Over-Kill

I went out early to get my hair cut at my usual hairdresser's, Essential Barbers, in Monkston Park. As they open for business at 9.30 I arrived in good time and was inside the shop as soon as they opened up and was in the seat and having my hair cut almost immediately and was done and dusted within 30 minutes and then driving home. 

The mad Christmas dash is well and truly underway. Carol thought she had someone coming to visit this morning, but during the morning realised it was tomorrow, so we went out with the intention of having a coffee and something to eat in The Range and a good excuse to browse. As we turned into the estate at Winter Hill, where The Range is situated, I was followed by this inconsiderate individual who expected me to speed up within the estate. He drove as near as he could behind we and got quite aerated because I wouldn't do what he wanted. We went right into The Range Carpark and he went left into Bunning's carpark so why get so annoyed when he was going to be turning off within seconds? Some people just have no patience and expect to have the road entirely to themselves and really don't like the idea of someone else getting in their way. Crazy!

Not many parking spaces left in the carpark. Walking in through the front door of the store we were greeted by every conceivable type of Christmas tree lights, flashing, non-flashing and in between, pulsing, and glowing madly. Then, going up in the escalator we were greeted by two obscenely over-eager Father Christmas figures, which began singing horribly, certainly enough to give any child nightmares. Swaying about madly, and totally scary. An endless range of Father Christmas figures lined the outer edge, giving the impression of a sort of mad convention of the characters. Over-kill definitely.

The whole of the upstairs floor in The Range taken over by Christmas decorations. An aisle full of twinkly decorations that play music, but none very tuneful as they weren't in harmony with one another. Also, we found a row of interactive characters, sort of Santa's helpers, little green-and-red clad elves. You press the button on their hands and they play a Christmas song, but, being us, with a sense of fun, we have to set off a whole selection of them, a total cacophony. We did this in a store at Westcroft a couple of Christmases ago, where each figure set of the next figure, as they interacted with each other. It caused a great deal of amusement for not only ourselves but other shoppers!

Good to see we're helping the Chinese economy ticking over nicely for yet another year. Almost all of this Christmas stuff will be made in China or at least somewhere in the East. Not that I'm knocking their ability to take so many of our jobs. But I can imagine much of it being made in sweatshops and the staff working for a pittance and probably having absolutely no idea what a Christmas elf of glass bauble for a tree is and then packed up and loaded into several vast containers and then onto a ship and then sent across the sea to be sold in these places. And then, after the Christmas rush is over, returned to some vast warehouse and the following year sold at vastly reduced prices.

We then went to the café and had intended ordering paninis and coffee. Actually not a bad little place to eat, but there was a long queue and the man on the till didn't seem to know how to do his job and it was him fiddling about which was causing the queue. He had no idea how to operate the till. Just the company's lack of training which was obviously behind this. We eventually got our lattes and what looked like chocolate cake and sat and ate it. Not particularly nice, it was partly chocolate and partly some sort of mauve-coloured cake. Over-priced and not worth the effort

Carol bought a fish tank as she wants to get an aquarium, which we bought along with gravel and water treatment. We will have to leave the buying of the fish for another day, perhaps in Dobbie's or Frost's garden centres. We went home and she set up the tank, putting the water treatment in the water as it takes 24 hours before you can put any fish in.

Coming out of the store we saw a couple in a car in front of us who'd obviously had an almighty row. It looked as if he was sulking because she wanted to go Christmas shopping and he didn't. The body-language said it all. He drew up in their car and she got out and he drove off in a right mood and almost hit someone crossing the carpark with a load of shopping. Oh dear, if that's the effect Christmas has on people, is it really worth all the bother and stress? Surely not. Perhaps the musical and discordant decorations we saw upstairs in the store were a sort of symbol of this sort of total disharmony of the shoppers (or at least, some of them.) So much for it being a season of peace and happiness to all men (and women.)

Signs of Autumn

The weather's getting colder. The trees are changing colour. The days are getting shorter. Definite signs that autumn is well and truly here. Infact it was so cold we put the central heating on and I started wearing my long pyjamas for the first time.  We didn't want to have it on, but Carol said she was feeling cold. We just didn't want to start having the heating on until at least the end of October. It hasn't exactly been a warm and sunny summer, and we've had more rain than usual. What with Carol's health issues we haven't had the outings we would have normally had. Last year was exceptionally warm and sunny and we spent a good deal of our time visiting various National Trust and other properties as well as regular visits to Z.S.L. Whipsnade Zoo. I have been picking blackberries which have been abundant all along the Redway behind the house, no doubt because we've had a good combination of the right conditions for a bumper harvest with plenty of sun as well as rain. I was out early Sunday morning picking them and I made blackberry and apple crumble which we had with our evening meal.

The shops are beginning to stock up with the usual Christmas tat. Christmas cards were seen in Frost's garden centre the other day but in The Range (all mentioned in my previous post.) had Hallowe'en stuff as we walked through the door the other day. It's confusing, having all this 'seasonal' stuff on display at the same time. Can't we get one load of stuff out of the way before the next batch of tat is put on display? I can't believe that anyone would want to buy a Christmas tree months in advance of the festive season. Or mince pies, wrapping paper or decorations. I suppose it would be fine if you lived in a house with enough space to store it. Mention of Christmas trees brings me to ours from last year. It's still in it's pot in the garden, happily continuing to grow. It was bought in Dobbie's last year and hopefully will be fine when this year's festive season comes round and we can just bring it in the house and decorate it. Great, because it means we don't have to buy a new one when the time comes.

Heavy Rain

It's been fairly sunny and warm for the past few days. As I write this the sun is out. We went to Bunnings, the new D.I.Y. store in Winter Hill, Milton Keynes. It was Homebase but they were taken over by this company.  Sainsbury's took over the company who owned Homebase and Argos and presumably sold on Homebase to Bunnings, which I had never heard of this company but it's no surprise really as it's an Australian company and have only recently opened stores in this country. We just had to go and have a look and I must say I'm quite impressed from what I've seen. They have a cafe which Homebase didn't have. When we were there we heard this most amazing sound and could't work out what it was. It turned out to be the heaviest rainstorm and the sound was the rain on the roof of the building. Absolutely pelting down when we walked into the garden area where they were handing out umbrellas to customers.

We drove the short distance to The Range which is just over the road from Bunnings. Carol needed the loo so we went upstairs. On the way in we had to pass a display of hallowe'en rubbish. The usual crass stuff, stupid grinning skulls with bright red lights for eyes and some of the most pathetic ghoulish stuff imaginable. I can't believe people want to buy such stuff, but I suppose companies know that people will buy anything such as this. It's amazing how they start putting this stuff out for sale earlier and earlier each year. The we saw Christmas decorations. We went to Frost's at Woburn Sands yesterday and they had a lot of Christmas stuff already on sale, most of it tat. Lots of space being made for all this stuff. We went upstairs on the escalator at The Range and for some reason we noticed that as you got on the thing it got faster. Did I imagine it? I don't think so. More Christmas stuff upstairs which we attempted to ignore. We had a good browse around the store and looked in particular at the range of Regatta clothing, for example, decent fleeces at good prices which interested me. We would have gone back to the car but at that moment the heavens opened and the rain fell again. We just risked getting a real soaking as we ran to the car in the carpark and drove out. Unfortunately there was an huge queue of cars coming in and out of the road back onto the grid road and it took a long time to get out of Winter Hill.

Landlord Arranges Visit and House-Cleaning

We had a call from our beloved landlord yesterday morning. He asked if he could visit. He didn't say what it was about. We said, could he come later in the week? He wanted to come that evening. Legally landlords have to give you 24-hour's notice. He's coming on Saturday afternoon. So we have spent most of today day cleaning the house. So most of the rooms are a good deal less dusty,  nd much more tidy etc etc. Floors mopped and carpets Hoovered. Our next goal was to tidy up the garden, to get rid of the weeds which have spring up outside the patio doors. They were beginning to get quite big, along with some rather insistent twiggy trees which have started to infiltrate the fence-line. So, having been stuck indoors again today, and after our cleaning duties, we needed a good excuse to walk to one of the near-by do-it-yourself stores in order to buy strip to go along the bath-edge (the edging strip we put on some while ago, infact it must be over a year ago when the landlord visited and is showing signs of coming adrift.) some dog mixer biscuit and gardening gloves as well as some sort of cutting instrument such as a lopper or pruner to deal with the saplings which I have already mentioned earlier.

Having walked to The Range along the Redway and past M.K.C.C. and then stopping to buy cans of drink in the forecourt of Wickes, where we had gone to search for the bath edging strip but not having any success in there finding it, decided to walk on to The Range further along the road within the Winterhill retail park. We were somewhat surprised to find it really busy considering that it's a Wednesday afternoon and the carpark is really full. We browsed the store and found the food for the dogs (actually cat food mixer, but don't tell either of the dogs that! Why is cat food generally cheaper than dog's? Never could fathom out why?) as well as two pairs of gardening gloves, one for myself and the other for Carol, which pair were quite colourful while mine were just dull and boring. Then gadget to generally deal with cutting the largest saplings that grow along the garden fence as well as some tiresome blackberry brambles which I found interfering with my mowing which I did early yesterday morning. Glad I did now as it would have had to be done with the landlord coming, although, to be honest, I don't suppose he will even notice the grass at back and front has been cut.

We were going to return home and had booked a taxi cab using my mobile phone (for all my annoyance by people using their mobiles inappropriately and the obsession that people have with the things, we couldn't have done without this gadget for this purpose over the last couple of weeks, as we've used it on several occasions to book cabs in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and to call the breakdown truck when we were stuck on the M1 with the broken-down car on Saturday afternoon.) when we saw our neighbours, Shelley and Gary, drive into the carpark as they'd come to buy curtains in The Range for their daughter who is currently on holiday in Great Yarmouth with her grandmother and Gary is decorating her bedroom as a surprise for when she gets home. So they said they'd give us a lift home so we cancelled the taxi. No sooner done than a cab turned up and we felt a bit guilty that we'd wasted the driver's time, but we had phoned to cancel it so they shouldn't have been so efficient in sending the cab so quickly. Then Gary said we needn't have bought the lopper as he had one in his garden shed we could borrow so I took it back and got a refund and we then got in their car and we were driven home. Gary had lent us the lopper as promised along with his Strimmer which should help us tidy up the rough grass around the edge of the garden. We started to cut back the brambles and to pull up the weeds and generally tidy up and I must say it's beginning to look a good deal better. Let's hope that our beloved landlord tells us that he's going to get the fence repaired as he'd more or less promised over a year ago as we are looking after his property for him and we've good tenants he can rely on. But something tells me this isn't going to happen. So we'll be left with a fence which isn't much use and will get blown down during the winter if we get another strong wind as we did when the fence the opposite side of the garden last winter when a large section got blown down.

Lawn-mowing

The sun is out. Infact it is positively a heatwave. Just don't hold your breath. It may last. The trees are busily leafing like crazy, and blossom is opening rapidly. There are primroses all along the grid roads around Milton Keynes. A veritable hive of activity. The grass in our back garden is growing to such an extent that both dogs are getting lost in the lushness. So it's about time I got out the mower. Which I did early this morning. Hunt for the power cable, plug it in and unwind said cable into garden. Open garden shed and dig out mower. Attach cable to cable and begin to mow. The grass is slightly wet, which might have been a good reason to not mow. Unfortunately the machine grinds to a halt after barely five minutes. Strange noise emanating from beneath machine. Unplug mower and turn over on grass, to discover that one of the little plastic blades has broken off. Not surprising owing to length of grass and the fact that the mower isn't really designed to cut such long grass. More capable of cutting neatly-turfed lawns and not this horrible uneven, tusky grass. Methinks perhaps a herd of sheep or goats might be the answer. I spend a half-hour or so hunting around in the kitchen and other places to see if we have any spare blades. We had a packet with the machine when we bought it but where they are now is a complete mystery. I write down the machine number, a Flymo and decide to head off to the local branch of Homebase to purchase the requisite packet of blades so that I can resume grass-cutting. On arrival at Homebase in Winterhill I find plenty of Flymo mowers but no spare blades. After asking a member of staff where I might find the blades, we still are no closer to locating the required items. It seems you can buy a Flymo mower but when you need the blades they don't appear to have them. I leave, somewhat frustrated by lack of purchase and then go over the road to The Range. The same story there: they have the machines for sale but no blades. This seems quite incredible. I then go further along the road to Wickes but it appears that they don't sell mowers so I return home empty-handed but none the wiser as to where I might be able to obtain the mower blades.

A little while later . . . I have had a good look for the spare mower blades and sure enough I found some in the kitchen drawer. So I managed to attach to the mower and got the machine working again so I have managed to cut around a quarter of the grass. I will be doing a bit each day as it's really hard work as the grass is so long and still a little damp, which isn't surprising due to it's length, even though the sun is out and shining brightly and there's a gentle breeze.