Cameras, Cars and Ultrascans

Sunday. 3.35 p.m. Earlier this morning I was ready for church and about to leave, but when I went down to get in my car, I found a car blocking the exit, so I was not pleased. It seemed a bit selfish of the driver to park in such a way, that I could not get out. I returned to my flat and thought, if that's the case, I'll have to accept I would be able to go to church, so I made myself a cup of coffee and thought, I would be able to watch via Facebook. By the time I'd sat down with my coffee, I could see, by looking out of the window, that the car had gone, so I was able to drive to The Oaktree Centre. Thinking about the situation, I did think it might have been a carer, doing the sort of job that I used to do, and finding it difficult to find a space to park their car when visiting the person they were a carer for. It might have been, but that crossed my mind. 

Wednesday. 12.20 p.m. I have bought a new Sony digital camera. It not only takes still photographs. but is designed for vlogging, that is, videos that can be uploaded to various media platforms, such as YouTube, X (formerly known as Twitter,) Instagram, TickTock, and Facebook. It has a touch screen that can be swiveled around so you can take selfies and it has a built-in microphone, complete with a furry cover that eliminates wind noise when recording outdoors. I have been attempting to connect it to an app on my iPhone and it has taken a long time to get it to work. I took the app of the phone and reinstalled it and it seemed to work. I have ordered a hand grip for the camera, from Amazon, which allows you to hold it safely and control the camera. This should arrive sometime next week, by which time I can have it up and running and explore the various features.

Friday. 7.00 a.m. I had an appointment at the imaging department of Milton Keynes Hospital in Lloyds Court. I had been there before, so I had a good idea of where to go. I parked near The Point and walked through the shopping centre. It is further than I remembered. I checked in to reception went upstairs and sat in area B. You can't miss these area numbers. They are huge. I think it's for those who have poor eyesight. You definitely can't miss them. I was soon shown into the room and I had to lay on a couch. I had lubricant smeared on my stomach. KY Jelly I believe. The doctor (was he a doctor? I'm not sure.) used a device that was part of the ultrascan machine and put it on my stomach. The lubricant helped as he moved the thing about. I started off laying on my back, but then I had to lay on both sides. The procedure didn't take long and I was soon out of the office. But I couldn't find my way out. It was a bit of a maze, but soon I was walking back to my car and driving back to Dexter House.

Milder Weather

Tuesday. 7.55 a.m. It's foggy at the moment. It was something of a surprise when we went out at around 7.10. I hope it clears as the day progresses. It's not too thick, and visibility is about 20-30 feet or so.

6.05 p.m. The fog lifted gradually, as the day progressed, and the rest of the day was bright and sunny and really pleasant. The drive to Camphill was stress-free, with no queuing onto any of the roundabouts.  I think this was because it was half-term, with parents not driving their children to school.

The day at Camphill, in the theatre workshop, was spent reviewing the feedback from the two performances of '12 Nite.' (That was how it was spelt on the programmes and in the media. It was done to show that it wasn't actually as William Shakespeare wrote it, but an adaptation to be performed by a group who have a range of disabilities and for their capabilities.) Ticket sales were amazing and as a result, some £1,200 was made from the total sales. There has been a great number of positive reactions on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.

During the lunch break, there was an incident, when one of the young men in the theatre workshop had a 'moment.' He got somewhat annoyed and swore at one of the girls, who got really upset, which was totally understandable. There was nothing violent, he didn't hit anyone, but it caused a situation which had to be resolved. As a result, Terrie, the workshop leader, had to get to the bottom of the incident and went off to deal with the young man. Generally, the group are very supportive of each other and there are never any raised voices, they all get on remarkably well together. Terrie had to interview all those people who witnessed the incident, including me, and write a report. 

During the time Terrie was out of the theatre, the rest of the team played a series of drama exercises and games. One, 'Grandmother's Basket' was played, with the team sitting in a circle and one person being given an empty basket and putting in an imaginary item, such as a boo, a dragon, a gold watch or whatever, and then the basket is passed to the next person who has to say the last item added and puts their own item in and the basket passes on round the circle with each person saying the last items and then their own, until it gets to the end of the circle, in this case, myself, who had to remember all the items, which was quite a feat of memory and add my own! I did manage. So glad to be part of all this! 

Then Paul, who is Terrie's assistant, suggested playing a game which might be useful in the development of a silent film which the group might make. The group was split into two and was given a theme for a sort of 'silent' or 'mime' piece. Then each group had to decide how to present the 'them' to the other group, who had to guess what the 'theme' was. My group had to first show a doctor's surgery, so we had the doctor mime, with patients arriving and him checking the patient. The other group theme was a school, with a teacher being the head of the class and some pupils arriving late, but in both exercises, no one could speak. It was a great success and even more than ever showed how well the teams work together. One of the definite positives of Camphill and showing the success of the community.

The afternoon was then spent watching a video on YouTube of a silent film, starring Buster Keaton, which was shown to give the team inspiration for making their own silent film. 

The day ended at 3.30 instead of 4 o'clock because Terrie and other members of staff had a meeting with the lady who is in charge of things at Camphill, to discuss the various things involved with the production of 'Twelfth Night.'

Wednesday. 7.50 a.m. A bright and relatively mild morning, but I did notice that there was a light frost on the grass when I took Alfie out at around 7.10 a.m.

9.00 a.m. The sun is shining, and I'm about to go to Aldi to do a bit of shopping.

11.00 a.m. I'm back from my trip to Aldi. In and out relatively quickly. I made a mess up with a one-pound coin in the trolley. I put one of the two I had with me in the wrong trolley and then found I couldn't release it, unfortunately. It might seem a triviality, but I never have a pocketful of pound coins, probably because I pay for most things with my debit card and usually not with cash. You need a coin for car parking or for these supermarket trolleys, Sainsbury's doesn't have trolleys which unlock with a pound coin, but Aldi does.

Roadworks Ahead!

We're back to the sound of merry pneumatic drills outside and 'Road Closed' signs all around Eaglestone. I knew that there was to be some work done because I had a notification through the door by the company doing the work. They are putting in fibre cable for broadband internet. It's being done all over Milton Keynes, so at last the whole place will have faster speeds for the internet. There are bright orange plastic fences up all along the road and weird symbols sprayed on the road surface, really mysterious, and I'm not entirely sure that they are related to the roadworks. I can't see how they manage to dig such narrow trenches to put the cable in, the machine must be quite clever to make such a narrow trench. All round the estate you can see the work has left signs of tarmac when they've dug the trench and then covered it in and they seem to have left a sort of tiny cover which no doubt has a connection if you wish to connect to this service. I still don't understand how the internet works and how, if most of it uses the existing telephone cables (owned and run  by BT and if you choose another provider, BT has to be contacted so an engineer can set up your connection before you can have access to the internet.) and are the ld fashioned metal cables, how can a fibre system not use any of the existing system of cables? They must join up somewhere or other. All to technical for my liking and I still don't see how you can have television programmes and films coming down a single cable and then people sending emails, using Google, Facebook, Twitter and so on.

I had to go out in the car earlier and the road was partially blocked by the roadworks further along the road, but it was possible to get through, although some bright spark has been thoughtful in parking their car in the way. By the way, why are there so many vehicles parked on the grass along the side of Golden Drive? Do they not realise that the weight of a car will eventually break up the surface and cause real damage? Or do some people never think of these things and just park wherever they like, regardless of the consequences?

Having said all this, the workmen don't start work until 8a.m., and don't make too much noise and they have managed to allow traffic to keep flowing and haven't (as yet) blocked the road up so that I can't get in and out with the car.

Wingeing Brits

So, we now have a new Prime Minister in Boris Johnson. What really annoys me is that there are people 'out there' protesting that he's Not Their Prime Minister. If that's the case, I'm ashamed of being British. I wish I didn't have to write  this. It's been over three years since the EU Referendum. The legislation to bring about Brexit (hate the word.) has been rejected three times by the House of Commons and as a result lead to the downfall of Theresa May. I have to say I feel sorry for her, as she tried her best. Handed a poisoned chalice when David Cameron resigned after the Referendum result didn't go in his favour and had to have a hissy fit and walk away. After all, he was responsible for calling the Referendum. The result was pretty feeble. Remain: 48.1%; Leave 51.9%. (Sauce: The Electoral Commission.) And what makes me really annoyed, 25,359 rejected ballots. What on earth do people have to mess up their ballot papers, what sort of idiot does such a thing? It could have swung the result  in either direction. What a waste!Why on earth are we leaving the E.U. on such a narrow majority? And what on earth were those 25,359 people thinking by those 'rejected ballots,'? (Meaning 'spoilt, void, null, invalid, and not included in the vote count.') Why waste your vote? It's a disgrace. Think how long it took to gain 'Universal Suffrage,' and even put their lives on the line? Those who don't vote in any election General, Local or Referendum, annoy me because of that effort to allow them to vote.

Come on, we British don't just lie down and and roll over like a stupid puppy! That's not the British way of doing things. We don't give in that easily. We're going to be better off outside the EU, we can manage without being bullied and bothered by a load of bureaucrats, most of them having no democratic power. Just look at the buildings they work from in wherever it is in Brussels or Strausberg, have no windows, soulless places, faceless people, with nothing better to do than come up with stupid directives about bent bananas, cucumbers and, dare I say it, condoms! Making a mockery over such crazy things! I'm neither for or against the EU, it took me a while to decide whether to vote Remain or Leave (voting Remain after a lot of internal wrestling over the subject.) But that's not the point. Let's make the best of this whole affair and hold our heads high. Where's the Dunkirk spirit? But all this wingeing and whining is not a British thing. It comes from the 'Dependency Culture,' the, 'I want it, because I'm owed it!" which is not a British thing either. Stand up for yourself and don't be dependent, be self-reliant wherever possible.

Who was the stupid politician who allowed us to sign up to some half-baked treaty, was it at Maastrich that they imposed goodness knows what on us? The 'Single Currency,' the Euro which, thank goodness we had the sense not to sign up to? Was it John Major or Tony Blair? Creep-fest himself, a real creepy individual, always smiling inanely and as sincere  and slimy as a bucket full of eels. Making loads of dosh going around giving lectures and being paid endless amounts of cash on the side.

On top of this the EU has said they won't alter the agreement for Britain to leave the EU. They are going to have to. I don't think Boris Johnson will let them get away with this. They have to be more flexible. This is the problem with the EU, it's too large and cumbersome. It wouldn't surprise me, once we do eventually leave, than it will fragment, slowly, over time. Us leaving is like removing a brick from a wall or one of those games with tiles or bricks in, Jenga, once it's removed, the wall collapses.

A lot of the problems around all this lie with social media, Facebook, Twitter and the like. People can spend a lot of their time wingeing and moaning on there to their hearts content. It's easy to post this sort of stuff on the internet, without having to face another human face-to-face. This sort of person can do his without having to face the consequences. You can be mean and nasty without actual physical contact. Hence all the cyber bullying and meanness that that entails. End of rant. I don't very often mention politics on here, but at the moment I can't resist putting out my opinions on this, which you will have noticed if you read any of my earlier blog posts.

Things That Have Disappeared

Now, it's one of those mysteries. What, you may ask? Well, I was driving through the countryside the other morning and was aware of the passing scenery, as you do. I was fully aware of the other traffic, making sure I kept the car on the road, not too close to the vehicle in front, keeping to the speed limit and making sure I was going in the right direction to my destination. As I glanced around, it suddenly occurred to me, what ever happened to . . . . telegraph poles? What is odd, in this day and age, do we have such things as telegraphs? Do they refer to telegrams? What on earth, it has suddenly struck me, do, or did, (is that grammatical I wonder?) a telegraph pole actually DO? Are they (or were they?) support the cables that transmit telephone calls? So, why do I not see any as I drive about the countryside? If not, how do telephone calls get from A too B? Are the cables that once, long ago, were strung along these poles, now hidden underground, perhaps? Or are the signals that are transmitted sent by radio waves, digitally sent via some sort of dish-arrangement, rather like a Sky satellite dish? Can someone answer me this question then, what has happened to telegraph or telephone poles and how are telephone messages (and, no doubt, the internet) sent if there are no visible cables?

If there's no telegraph/telephone poles, what else do we not longer have which we once had, particularly when I was considerably younger? How about such things as level crossings? I mean, the old fashioned sort, with proper gates which are manually operated by a man who operates them from a little signal box. They used to have lights on them, so they could be seen at night. I don't mean those half-hearted excuses for 'barriers' that replaced them years ago, that only cover part of the width of the road. Sort of, vaguely, dare I say it,'continental-style'? When we used to go on holiday to Frinton-On-Sea, on the Essex coast when I was a child, you used to enter Frinton from the 'outside world,' through such level-crossing gates. Into an almost enchanteted world. I haven't visited Frinton in decades, so I don't know whether those level-crossing gates have been replaced by the 'modern' style barriers. It wouldn't be the same if they had. I'm not even sure whether there is a railway station at Frinton, necessitating the need for a level crossing.

Telephone boxes. You never see them these days. The traditional red variety. Is it because everyone has a mobile phone and has no need for the use of such a thing as a telephone box. The sort with the 'press button 'B.'' I can't remember when I last saw one.

Policemen on 'The Beat.' I mean a Police Constable actually seen walking the local pavements. Someone you can trust if there's a problem. A sort of deterrent if there's something likely to become a criminal act or is against the law. I used to live in a village where there was a local Bobby and if you were caught riding your bicycle on a footpath you would be stopped by the PC and told to get off and push your bicycle or at least ride it on the road.  There was a sense of community, people knew right from wrong (well, I suppose they did.) and a police officer being on hand gave you s sense of safety. But not anymore. You never see a policeman, except if they're driving past in a car.

One thing that definitely disappeared and that's manners. Why do some people insist on driving close behind me when I'm driving. Just because I'm not going at top speed and why do some people cut you up on roundabouts? I refuse to drive outside my safe zone. Then there's mobile phones. I have mentioned this before, but why on earth do people insist on having them permanently fixed to their hands? There's nothing more bad mannered than being in a situation where you meet someone, say, in a Costas or Starbucks, and the other person is constantly looking at their mobile, or they're texting. Really rude. It makes you wonder what people used to do before mobile phones and what would happen if these things disappeared. These things are as they are because, with, for example, the internet, you can make a rather nasty comment about someone and you aren't ever likely to meet them face to face. The same with driving. A motorist can cut you up on a runabout or tailgate you or whatever, but they're never likely to meet you in a face-to-face situation. It's rather a cowardly way to behave. People seem to think they're separated from the rest of society, sitting in their room on their laptop or mobile phone, Tweeting, posting things on Facebook or whatever, in a sort of bubble. It seems that's the way a lot of people spend their lives, isolated, separated. Rather a sad sort of world we've created.

Postmen. I know they're out there somewhere, but if so, I don't see many. On bicycles? I doubt it. Most come in little red vans. Some I see walking along with wheeled barrow things with the mail in. I presume they can take far more mail if they have these wheeled things. One thing I do know, they seem to deliver at almost any time imaginable, We've even had a delivery at 4.30 in the afternoon. I can't imagine it would be safe carrying a heavy load of mail on a bicycle because you'd have to strap the bag on somewhere on the bicycle. I can't imagine having to go out in the early morning, when it's dark and probably cold and wet and in snow and ice. I feel sorry for those people who do these sorts of jobs, the jobs we take for granted. We all expect our mail delivered on time and to be correct, although that isn't always the case as we often get the odd letter or even parcel which is delivered through our door but isn't actually addressed to us. The postman isn't looking at the address properly. I suppose if they have temporary staff on, particularly during the run-up to Christmas, those staff can't know all the little unknown places that a regular postman would know, or even get the mail posted through the correct door. 

Reading and Viewing

I've completed reading the last of the Dominic Sandbrook books, 'Seasons In The Sun', which took the history up until 1979 with the election of Margaret Thatcher. A hefty read, but well worth it. I have now read all his books, from, 'Never Had It so Good', taking in The Suez Crisis of 1956; 'White Heat', which covers the 1964 election which bought Harold Wilson to power; next 'State of Emergency', covering the years 1970-1974 and that followed by 'Seasons In The Sun', 1974-1979.

I really want to find a book which covers the Second World War, but, as yet, I haven't found anything, and then perhaps a book which covers the period directly after the war and into the 1950's which would cover the Clement Attlee government and the foundation of the welfare state and birth of the N.H.S. I think I may have found something on Amazon. I have found books which I wouldn't otherwise have found if it hadn't been for Amazon. At any rate, even going into a traditional bookshop such as Waterstone's (as good as they are) I very much doubt I'd have come across them. It's obvious that a traditional bricks-and-mortar bookshop has limited space to stock every book that might be of interest, so an on-line bookshop like Amazon does have the advantage.

I'm currently reading 'Ripley's Game,' the second of the Patricia Highsmith's brilliant crime series. It's every bit as brilliant as the earlier novel, 'The Talented Mr Ripley.' The detail is amazing and some of the sequences, particularly that one on the train, is like reading a screenplay for a film. She must have done a great deal of research to get it accurate. You can almost feel your are there as you read it. Certainly a book you can't put down. Mind you, it wouldn't work in the early part of the 21st century, what with mobile phones with cameras and Closed Circuit Television everywhere. Or social media like Facebook and Twitter.

What am I watching on television. Good question. Several drama series. The first of the second run of 'The Frankenstein Chronicles', which is on ITV2. Not really what I'd call a mainstream drama series, and probably all the better for that. More aimed at the 18-30 age bracket and not something that is ever likely to end up shown on a Sunday evening at 9 p.m. Gruesome in the extreme. It has Sean Bean in the central role of John Marlott and set in the 1830s, at the time the first of Sir Robert Peel's policemen are on patrol. Not something for the faint-hearted, but it does have a sort of appeal, if you like that sort of thing. At least it has a sort of honesty about it, and considering it must be made on quite a tight budget, it's remarkably well made and acted. There are so many twist and turns of the plot that take you by surprise that it's that element which makes it such a good read. Thriller-writing at it's best.

Then there's a brand new Sky series called 'The Discovery of Witches.' It's based on a trilogy of books by the author Deborah Harkness. It's partially set in Oxford, and considering how Oxford has played such an important part in my life since my heart attack. I can think of no better place for a drama to be set. How many books can you name which are set in Oxford? Well, the first that springs to mind would be the 'Morse' series, which was made into a highly successful ITV series starring John Thaw and Kevin Wateley and then the spin-off series 'Endeavour' and then 'Lewis.' But think of Lewis Carroll and his 'Alice' books, first 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Through The Looking-Glass,' then C.S. Lewis who wrote the 'Narnia' children's books and of course J.R.R. Tolkein, who was a friend of Lewis, author of 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of The Rings.' Both were connected with the university in some way or other (not sure of their exact job-titles.) but they lived and worked in Oxford. The there's the Philip Pullman series 'His Dark Materials' which are set in an alternative Oxford and have been adapted for the stage by the National Theatre and the first of the books made into a not altogether successful film. Coincidentally, the production company which makes 'The Discovery of Witches' is scheduled to adapt the Pullman novels for television, but as yet there's no news of when it's likely to be produced and then broadcast.

As to 'Discovery of Witches.' It started off promisingly, but it stayed sort of static for several more episodes. I was on the point of giving up but stuck with it until episode 5 and I'm glad I did as it has moved in a different direction and I shall stick with it until the end of the series.

I'm also watching 'The Man In The High Castle,' which is on Amazon Prime.  I've been following this since it began in 2015 and it's been worth waiting for the third season of this Philip K. Dick adaptation which has now really got into it's stride and as absorbing as ever. Somewhat chilling (when you realise the concept of the plot, being a 'what if' thriller, of a dystopian nature, imagining what would happen if the Nazis had won World War 2.) Good acting, script-writing and production values. It must have a large budget and the use of C.G.I. is well done and not too obvious.

Then 'Doctor Who,' which began it's latest season two Sundays ago. Lots of changes, with, of course, the biggest being Jodie Whittaker taking over from Peter Capaldi as the first female Doctor. Also, a new show runner in Chris Chibnall. He was writer of the hit ITV series 'Broadchurch' where he would have worked with Jodie Whittaker and another former Doctor in David Tennant. A new broom, introducing new titles for the show as well as brand new theme tune and incidental music as well as several new companions, one of whom is Bradley Walsh. When I first heard that he had been cast in the latest series, I thought it was a hoax, but soon I discovered that it was correct. Certainly  long way from his compere role in the ITV gameshow 'The Chase,' although I'm half expecting Anne Hegarty or any of the other Chasers to pop up in 'Doctor Who' as villains! They've redesigned the interior of The Tardis, giving it a far more organic look. I don't have a problem with Jodie Whittaker. I know there was a lot of fuss when it was announced that a woman would take over as The Doctor, but she's making a perfectly good job of it. There is always some sort of fuss whenever a new actor takes over in the role, so it's perfectly normal when this happens. It will take several episodes before things settle back down. It's important that she gets good scripts and that the villains (monsters) are good (not necessarily 'good' but you know what I mean.) Unfortunately the monsters in the first two episodes have been rather feeble. Just a pity that we won't be meeting any of the 'classic' monsters in this series, such as the Daleks or Cybermen. Perhaps they have tended to rely to heavily on them over the past couple of series and haven't spent enough time and energy creating new, convincing ones to replace them.

This and That

Well, I can't go a day without SOMETHING to write about, but I have been reading 'The Times', and came across a piece which links in with my blog post regarding manners. It is a report about Lord Robert Winston, the fertility expert and exponent on I.V.F. treatment, who was on a train to Manchester when he had to endure a woman having a mobile phone conversation and how he used social media (Facebook in particular) about how this woman's conversation was annoying not only himself but fellow passengers. It turned out that someone on Twitter said he was 'bullying' her and being rude. How stupid can you get? Why do people think it's acceptable to just blather on endlessly and expect others to have to endure this sort of thing? No manners. Can people just not speak so loud on their mobiles? Why does everyone else have to endure such one-sided conversations? Why, just because you can have a telephone conversation, because the technology is available, does it mean you actually have to, and say such things as 'I'm on my way home.' If it's an emergency, or if the train is going to be late, for whatever reason, then there is no problem, but just blathering on about trivial things, then there is no point. I think it goes with the current thing about selfishness. A lot of people seem to think it's fine to 'do their own thing' without thinking about the consequences of their actions. Talking loudly on your mobile in a public space, for example, a railway carriage, being one such instance, regardless of how the people around you are effected.

Having said I read 'The Times' newspaper, it wasn't the print version. I took up and offer to have the paper for three months in  digital format, so I took it up. At just £3 it was too good to miss. I have it on Kindle and also on this laptop. It anything else, it saves having lots of papers cluttering up the place.  I have downloaded the app for my iPhone, but as yet I haven't managed to get it to work. It's taking a while to fathom out the navigation, but in some ways it's easier to read than a print version of the newspaper. Should also be doing my bit for the environment by having it in digital format. I'll have to wait and see whether I continue with a full-price subscription after the offer ends, but you get a lot of benefits such as 2-for-the-price-of-one for cinema tickets as well as other freebies and offers.

If you recall, I mentioned the 'little incident' I had in the carpark at Frost's in Woburn Sands a couple of Saturdays ago, when I was supposed to have run into this man's car when I was reversing out of my parking space and was alleged to have damaged  his car. He was very quick to be taking photos of the 'damage' with his iPhone and his wife was standing with a notebook and pencil and making notes of our registration number and he was keen to get me to 'pay up' to have the aforementioned 'damage' repaired. Well, nothing further has transpired since this incident. I contacted my insurance company and gave them details of the incident, but, as I say, nothing further has happened. No doubt this person went to have the 'damage' scrutinised by a garage to get a quote for repairs, but was no doubt laughed at by the garage as they wouldn't have seen any alleged damage. As for our car, Carol managed to wipe off any signs of damage, a slight knock, or scratch (hardly even that.) So I think we can forget all about it.

I've finally got to the end of 'Goodbye Christopher Robin.' For such a short book, it seemed to go on interminably. I don't like to start books and then not finish them, but this was definitely one which I was tempted to not finish. So it's a definite question of 'Goodbye' to Christopher Robin, and good riddance. Now on to other reading.

We went to IKEA yesterday morning. We have completed the shelving units, as discussed in earlier blog posts. This unit is designed with a series of square sections, which can be used as space to store books, but, by purchasing boxes sold by IKEA which fit exactly into these square spaces, it allows for more flexible storage of other items. We bought three, two with are full sized boxes and the third is divided into two drawers. So now we can store a lot of the clutter we seem to accumulate, which used to sit on the old bookshelves, and in the space in front of the books. Things like the cables which are used with our digital cameras (as well as the cameras, in one of the larger boxes) and things such as staplers, scissors, loose change and so on and so forth.

We were surprised by how busy it was in IKEA. A lot of young children, so we assumed that some schools were on half-term. Possibly it was a teacher-training day or something, from the Primary schools in the area. The café area was exceptionally busy. We had lattes and cakes. Carol had exceptionally nice gateau with cream and I had cinnamon bun. I can see why it's so popular, because the food is incredibly cheap. For example, you can get a very good cooked breakfast for no more than  £1.50. Which is one explanation why it gets so busy, even on a Friday.

All About Manners

I can say that I was bought up to have some manners. The basic, respect for adults, your parents in particular.  I was taught that if a lady came into a room, you stood up. If you were on a bus and you were already seated, and an older person came on, you stood up so they could sit in your place. You didn't speak until you were spoken to (for children that is) but as an adult, you didn't butt into a conversation until the other person had finished what they had to say. As a child, adults knew better than you and you most certainly never answered them back. The old saying 'children should be seen and not heard' is very true. In my day, you'd just sit quietly or leave the room. Today it seems that children think they can get away with all sorts of bad behaviour because they have 'rights.'   Lacking today is respect. People don't seem to have a great deal of patience. Things like social media, Twitter and Facebook, allow people to say things about others which they'd never dream of saying to a person's face. Everyone has a right to have an opinion, even if it's the opposite of your yours. I've found that, on the road, when driving, other drivers (not all, as there are probably more decent people than those who are not, I have to point out) who expect you to get of of their way, some driving very close behind you. They expect you to ignore the speed limit, whatever the consequences. On roundabouts, you get cut up by other drivers, even when you are obeying the rules. Unfortunately, the rules of the road don't seem to apply to many drivers. In Milton Keynes there seems to be a particularly aggressive sort of driver. They want to drive as fast as they can and to more or less ignore the rules when they get to one of the many roundabouts. If you are careful, like me, and slow down when approaching such a roundabout, and you get a car coming up behind you, they don't like the fact that you're being cautious and stop to make sure there's no other traffic coming in from the right, and if you are waiting, they attempt to get you to move. I've seen the faces of some drivers (although I almost always try to avoid eye-contact) and they look angry, or wave their arms in the air, if you don't get out of their way fast enough. The 'not driving to close' rule that used to be in the Highway Code, seems to be ignored. It makes sense to not drive to close to a car because, what happens if you brake suddenly, in particular when it's wet or icy, you're more likely to skid and then the car behind is going to run into you. Give other road-users space. Common sense, really.

People in shops can be really bad mannered. In Marks and Spencers, a couple of months ago, when they had their special offer meal deals, £10 for a meal for two, main, side, sweet and wine (excellent value. Waitrose also has a similar offer.), I got there and a large crowd of people were grabbing the items in the offer, in  one of those shelving units at the end of an aisle. People were pushing in, and one woman barged her way in without a word of apology or 'sorry.' Just had no manners. I thought Marks and Spencers customers were better mannered that this, but apparently not. Then, when you get to the till, the check-out, and you have to queue. Some people don't like waiting. I thought the British had this 'thing' about queuing, most likely dating back to the Second World War, when there was rationing and you had to queue to get whatever it was. I think that has most definitely gone out of the window. People can be exceedingly rude to the poor staff on these checkouts. It must be very difficult to be polite to customers who are just plain nasty.

It doesn't help when certain people who are judges of television shows such as 'Strictly Come Dancing' come out with some really nasty remarks about some of the celebrity dancers. I'm not actually a fan of this sort of show, but it seems bad manners don't apply when Craig Revel-Horwood says some quite spiteful things. Just to get mentioned in the tabloid press or on social media I reckon. I realise that a lot of so-called 'reality' television is hyped to deliberately get things mentioned in these forms of media and the producers set up people such as the judges, but I don't think it's necessary to be quite so nasty. As a result, some audience members think they have a right to be similarly unpleasant to people. Footballers and other sporting personalities who behave in a reckless manner, such as speeding in their cars or in a drunken manner, falling into the gutter after leaving a nightclub or brawling are setting bad examples for fans, and thus giving the impression that their bad manners and general behaviour is acceptable. As a consequence, young people think they can get away with that sort of behaviour. These sports personalities as well as pop musicians and actors who have a loyal following are setting bad examples when they should be trusted to behave in a better fashion.

I think mobile phones and social media have a lot to answer for, as regards manners. How many people do you see walking about as they use their mobile phone? You rarely get eye-contact with anyone these days. Too busy texting. Rarely get any sort of contact with anyone who speaks. If you do, it's usually those of a mature age. Mostly it's the younger generation who are obsessed by mobile phones. I know they have their uses, but when people can't even speak when you try to make conversation, it's a bit of a worry for the future. Are there going to be people who have no social skills? They're going to be sort of stunted, as regards social interaction. People using mobile phones when they're in a restaurant and not paying attention to other people at the table, grossly bad manners in my opinion.

I've heard recently of someone objecting to someone using a mobile phone as they were sitting in the audience for a play in the West End and the person on the mobile punching the person who objected. Also, people eating food while they watched a  play. Just plane bad manners to even think of eating food and being obnoxious. As for using a mobile when watching a play, just thoughtless behaviour and shouldn't be allowed. What on earth is the point of going to see a show, when the tickets are probably very expensive, and then chatting on a mobile phone all the way through it? Do people think it polite to talk all the way through a live performance, annoying for the other audience members and just distracting for the actors who are trying to give a decent performance. I'd have hope he person who punched the man who used a mobile was done for assault. As for eating in the auditorium, definitely not the place to eat.

Even More Irritations of Life

Why do supermarkets have to keep moving their stock around their stores? I don't mean by putting it in trolleys and shifting it manually. I mean, when you, as a customer, get used to finding a particular product in the same place week after week, and then, for no accountable reason, they move it to entirely different aisle and shelf. This usually happens before Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, Mothering Sunday or any of the other 'festivals' or 'holidays' throughout the year. They seem to think it's fine to fill the shelves with stuff you can perfectly well do without, such as mince pies, Christmas puddings, crackers and so on, and whatever product you wanted is suddenly shifted to a remote corner without any warning.

Poor customer service is another irritation I can't stand. When I was at Milton Keynes hospital on Sunday I went to the branch of Costa they have in the newly refurbished entrance foyer (if that's the right term. I know hotels and theatres have foyers, so what is the entrance of a hospital called? Is there a correct word? Probably is, but I'm not sure what it is.) The queue was coming out of the door and into the corridor. I had to wait about 20 minutes before I could get served. A woman in front was fiddling with her mobile phone. What is it with people? Why is everyone so hooked on their mobile phones? Constantly peering at the little screens, looking at Facebook or Twitter, checking to see if someone has contacted them. Anyway, by the time I got to the till I had almost lost the will to live. I had taken a panini out of the display cabinet at the beginning of the queue and handed it to the girl at the till and paid for that as well as two drinks, I think they were lattes, but I forget now. Anyway, the girl I handed the panini to was going to heat it for me. Is that a microwave that heats the food or is it some other sort of oven? Whatever it was it did it's job efficiently and quickly. I had said I wanted to take the food away with me, but the girl put it on a plate. She had such a look on her face, it was as if I'd made some rude suggestion to her. More likely she didn't want to be working there, and particularly not on a Sunday. It wasn't so much the scowl on her face, but the fact that she hadn't listened to me when I'd said I wanted to take away the food I had ordered. THAT was the irritating part of this whole incident. She had such a look on her face, as I say, no doubt because she had drawn the short straw of having to work her shift on a Sunday. And who can blame her? Just didn't make for a very pleasant customer experience as far as I was concerned. Anyway, she made some sort of effort to place the two pieces of panini she had cut so nicely on a chopping board into a cleverly-designed cardboard container and handed it to me and I was able to walk back to the ward and devour the food and share the lattes with Carol. Just another of life's little irritations, when things should be better but aren't. Staff in such places can make all the difference to your experience, particularly at the checkout in the supermarket. If they scowl at you, as that young lady did in Costa, it can be a rather negative experience and put you off shopping there at a later date.

Back On-Line

Our broadband and telephone has been down since Sunday. We have Sky, with the satellite television service as well as broadband and landline telephone. The television signal was fine, but for some unaccountable reason the telephone socket disintegrated and as a result I couldn't get the wifi or telephone to connect. I had to use my mobile to ring Sky's helpline and they did a diagnostic test and they decided that it wasn't going to solve anything and that an engineer would have to come out to have a look and hopefully fix the connection. Sky don't actually do the work as the network is provided by Openreach. Without the broadband and wifi operating it meant that the 'catch-up' and other services on the SkyQ box wouldn't work as it works through the internet. I was told an engineer would come out on Wednesday (today) between 1-6 p.m. As it turned out the engineer came at around 8 this morning, much to my surprise, and if he'd come about 15 minutes later I would have been walking to the hospital. But it meant the work was completed within 30 minutes and the internet and telephone were back working perfectly.

It's surprising how much you miss having broadband when it's not there. Not just email, Facebook and Twitter. Incidentally, what is the point of Twitter? I do have an account, and I look it occasionally, but what is the point of it? It's just something that wastes your time. I do sometimes write things on it (is it 'to Twitter? Is it 'to post' on Twitter? I never know.) Are people actually reading what I put on there? There's heaps of advertising, and stuff I never sign up to, or 'Like' on Facebook, but it seems a bit like taking to yourself. Are people that interested in what I post (for want of a better term). I have quite a lot of interests, as you will have discovered if you read this blog on a regular basis. Theatre, literature and history, amongst a few. But do people 'follow' me for any other reason than trying to sell me something, usually stuff I don't care for or show the slightest interest in. It's a form of communication, so-called 'social media.' Passing on information, some of it interesting but, on the whole, most of it just plain pointless and boring. In other words, could be actually live without Twitter? On the whole, probably yes.

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.

E.U. Referendum and Brexit

I don't usually mention politics in my blog posts, but on this occasion, I feel I need to say something about today's events. All I can say is, thank goodness the E.U. Referendum is over. We've had around six weeks of squabbling, bitching, back-biting and thoroughly nasty behaviour, I did vote to remain, but we now know that the result is we'll be leaving the E.U.  Or, to use the horrible word 'Brexit' to refer to Britain Exiting from the European Union. It is no doubt as a result of Greece possibly leaving the E.U. and that being referred to as Grexit (Greek Exit.)It was a very narrow margin between both sides, which, had it been a General Election I imagine we'd have a government with a tiny majority of perhaps 10-15 seats. Well, it's the will of the people, so they'll have to go with the result. I have to say that the E.U. is it's worst enemy. It's just a huge faceless bureaucracy, very distant, and whenever there is any sort of news about it, it's always negative and makes the headlines in the tabloids, whether it's some health and safety issue or the fact that you can't sell bent cucumbers or some such pointless bit of red tape. And these are the things that get made into issues by the likes of the 'Euro-Sceptics' and the Nigel Farage's of this world. Thinking about it further, it does seem crazy in a way that we've been members of the E.U. for around 43 years and it seems mad to now leave it. It has its bad points but I think the good outweigh them. It was a very different organisation in 1975 when we had a referendum about whether we joined and I now learn that we had joined a few years before so why did the government of the day decide we needed a referendum to remain in? I don't think I had many ideas of what that referendum was about at the time and I don't think I had much interest in politics and don't remember voting. But it's a much bigger organisation with far more member countries (I think 27, I may be wrong, but around that number. I'll have to do a bit more research.) There was no single currency, The Euro and it was called the E.C. (European Community.) Up until then, it was always referred to as The Common Market. It's rather like being in a club, a union or even a marriage. You don't leave, or get divorced, just for the sake of it. Over something minor, you should sit down and sort out any differences because the good things outweigh the bad ones. There must be quite a few things in Britain that have been funded by E.U. cash, such as infrastructure, probably road repairs, tourism and education. So it will be interesting to see what this will mean when this cash dries up.

I don't usually continue writing a blog after it's published. But I feel I need to write a bit more on this subject. I have been reading that some people, who voted in last Thursday's Referendum (either to Remain or Leave the E.U.) are now saying, because they voted 'Leave', now wish they had voted 'Remain.' Well, are they totally stupid? How can you vote for something, which in this case is going to have ramifications for each and everyone living in the United Kingdom, and then turn round and say you didn't even know what the Referendum was about, and some people DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE E.U. WAS! It would seem that a great many people are more interested in their mobile phones, Facebook, Twitter and other social media, celebrity and taking selfies of not only themselves but each other than the important issues, things that matter, such as politics, government etc etc. When we go out and about, visiting various places, such as National Trust properties, Whipsnade Zoo and generally to shopping centres and other places, we so often see people with their mobile phones, more interested in taking pictures of themselves rather than the place they visit. Why spend quite a bit visiting, for example, a zoo, and stand in front of an enclosure full of some of the most amazing animals and just take photos of THEMSELVES? It's narcissism gone mad! Then you see people walking around with their mobiles in their hands, and not engaging with the world around them, or others with headphones stuck over their ears. I have even seen people riding their bicycles whilst texting on a mobile or with headphones on. Isn't that dangerous? Aren't they more likely to get run over by a car or they walk in front of a vehicle on the road because they're not paying attention or can't hear a car approaching?

I've seen a piece which shows how much money the E.U. contributed to certain projects around the United Kingdom, for example, the Eden Project. I wonder whether that project would have gone ahead without the E.U. funding? So, where is the cash going to come from to fund other similar projects which create jobs and thus help the economy of this country?

Visit To Brighton and Worthing- Part 3

We spent some time wandering around Brighton, and, as I've said in the last post, we went to see the Royal Pavilion, but didn't go inside. That can wait for another visit, although I have been inside in the past and it is quite remarkable and spectacular. We were going to get something to eat but decided that we'd wait until we got back to the hotel in Worthing and have our meal there. 

What we did find, quite by accident (how often serendipity plays a part in our lives, as with discovering Fanny's Farm and other places we've been to.) was an amazing ice-cream parlour called Cloud 9. I'll give them some free advertising here, as it's at Unit 15 Brighton Place, Brighton, BN1 1HJ. They do an amazing range of icecreams, probably quite expensive, but it's all made in store, and made of real ingredients. I had a double scoop of vanilla and honeycomb and I have to say that it has to be one of the best icecreams I've ever tasted. Some many commercial icecreams taste artificial and nasty, but this most certainly didn't. The cone itself was huge and really tasty in itself, not those horrible cones you usually get which taste as if they're made of cardboard (not that I've actually tasted cardboard, you understand.) A really large portion, almost a meal in itself. The shop is painted in really muted colours, stripes and ice-creamy colours, and there tables and chairs to sit on, those rather attractive clear plastic tables that look as if they're made of glass, as well as deep leather armchairs and sofas that we sat in to eat our icecreams. Also for sale a range of brightly-coloured cupcakes which seem to be all the rage at the moment as well as some delicious-looking chocolates of all sorts of shapes and flavours. The website you can visit is www.cloud9brighton.co.uk and you can find them on Facebook and Twitter.

We didn't hang around much longer in Brighton. We did get to the seafront, but it was so windy we could barely stand up. So we decided to head back to the busstop and get back to Worthing. The bus didn't take to arrive, so we were able to find a seat and enjoy the journey back along the coast to Worthing.

Something about Worthing I didn't know until we did some research on the internet before we went. Oscar Wilde visited the place at the end of the 1890's and wrote his final play "The Importance of Being Earnest" there. Which might explain why the character John Worthing is so named.


On arrival back at the hotel we had our meal in the restaurant. Not exactly busy. Infact, we were the only guests in there.

The following morning we had around an hour or so to kill before the parking ticket ran out so we walked along the beach at the front of the hotel. We took some photographs and then we decided to head off home. On the way we had decided that we might stop off at a National Trust property. We stopped at a Tesco to get some cruissants and Danish pastrys to eat on the way home. And so we hit the road back to the M25.

When we originally decided on going to Brighton and Worthing when Daniel said that he'd pay for our hotel for a night, we had planned to visit a National Trust property. There are plenty we could have visited on the way down south and on the way home, one of them being Petworth House, which is within easy reach of Brighton, but it turned out the journey down was taking far longer than anticipated, so we didn't make it to this particular house.

Instead of a National Trust property we made for Arundel. The castle was the inspiration for the castle in Gormenghast, the series of novels written by Mervyn Peake. It just so happens that this year is the centenary of his birth. We could see the town, and the magnificent castle that stood above the town of Arundel, so it was easy why it could be such an influence on an author such as Peake.

We soon found a carpark. The place isn't that large, so finding parking wasn't too difficult, fortunately.

 

Arundel Castle

There were signs up for 'Flower Carpet' and 'Corpus christi' which we didn't understand. What was it all about? We were intrigued to know why the carpark should be so signposted. We decided to walk into the centre of Arundel and have a look around, and perhaps have something to eat and a coffee somewhere. The town is built on a hill, and it was a steep climb up towards the castle which loomed over all. We stopped in several bookshops, and took in the history and architecture of the place. We saw lots of coaches going up the hill, and quite a few people going in the same direction. Could it be something to do with this 'Carpet of Flowers' which we soon discovered was in the cathedral, further up the hill past the castle. We stopped and chatted to a lady who was coming DOWN the hill, and she told us all about this 'Carpet of Flowers' in the cathedral.

 The  Corpus Christi Flower Carpet in Arundel Cathedral

It turned out that the day was Corpus Christi (as I'm not a Catholic I don't know what it's about.) and the 'Carpet of Flowers' was put down the central aisle of the cathedral. More intriguing than anything else. As it was about to rain, we decided to shelter in the porch at the front of the cathedral, where other people were gathering and where coaches were setting down their passengers and people were queing to go into the cathedral. So, we decided to follow and go inside the cathedral.

The place was thronged with people snaking around the cathedral. We joined the queues, and saw some quite amazing floral decorations, and then we saw the Floral Carpet. I can't actually do it justice here and I'll attempt to put some photographs on here if I am able to upload what we took as we went round the cathedral. This carpet of flowers stretched up the central aisle of the cathedral and had a complex pattern in it's design.

Having had a good look round, and managing not to trip over the countless zimmer frames of many of the visitors, we left the cathedral. We had a further wander around Arundel. Carol had wanted to have a walk around the castle, but I had to persuade her that it was going to be very much longer than she anticipated, so, the rain having stopped, we walked back down the hill to the centre of the town. We found a really nice cafe to have a coffee and we bought some pasties to eat in the car on our way home. We returned to the car and made our way out of Arundel.

 Arundel: The main street

The journey home was quicker than the journey down. We stopped in the carpark of one of the service areas on the Motorway, and came back through Aylesbury and High Wycombe. We got home to find the house surprisingly tidy, considering what Daniel and his mates must have got up to the previous night. The dogs were pleased to see us, although I think they must have been wondering where we'd gone and why we'd gone off without them!