Snow 'n' Ice and Industrial Action

Friday. 8.30 a.m. Yet another bitingly cold morning. My car is iced up, so I've been out to run it and start scraping the ice off the windows. I found a can of de-icer hidden behind the driver's seat but couldn't remove the cap. Once indoors, I managed to remove the cap and will now be able to use the spray to defrost the rest of the windows. I will help set up the playgroup for the last time this year. The scraper has now disappeared and it's annoying as it's useful to remove the ice. It makes it such an easy job.

1.15 p.m. I've been to the Oaktree Centre to help set up the Acorns playgroup. It was partially set up when I arrived and there was to be a Christmas party, well actually two sessions when usually there would be one, starting at 10.00 and the second at around 11.15. Lots of children of pre-school age, bought by parents and grandparents. I think most of them come from around the Shenley area of Milton Keynes. 

Friday. 8.05 a.m. So, here we are once again. The week has come around and it's Friday. The days seem to go past so fast. Hence, my washing is in the machine, and I'm watching  BBC Breakfast on television. It's cold, but there doesn't seem to be any further snow, thankfully. 

We are in the middle of strikes. The NHS has been crippled by industrial action by members of the Royal College of Nursing (strange that a college should have union powers. Do unions have powers? I thought there was legislation bought in when Margaret Thatcher was in government when she enacted legislation regarding striking. Probably something about secondary picketing, but I'm not sure.) I have to say I think nurses do need a pay rise, but the government, and not just this particular government, constantly throws vast amounts of cash at the NHS, so what happens? It would appear nothing. Probably paying for more bureaucrats, pen-pushers and so on, which have virtually no effect on the care of patients. Then, of course, the NHS was virtually closed down during the pandemic and many services were shut down. The entire economy was closed down during lockdowns, and vast pots of money were thrown at people to sit at home and do nothing.  This might explain why we now have rising prices and inflation, but nobody seems to realize that is partially the cause for all this. Politicians blame the war in Ukraine, which might have a part to play, but throwing money around as was done for two years has to be paid for at some point. 

I know full well how nurses work and their devotion to their jobs, having first-hand experience of being in a hospital on the two occasions I've had heart attacks. Not just then, but during the time Carol was diagnosed with cancer and especially the period she was having chemotherapy. The nurses never stopped. They didn't seem to have breaks, or, if they did, I was never aware of them. Totally professional. They are the people that keep the NHS going.

Then there are strikes on the railways. These union members are only going to destroy their own jobs because all this disruption will only put people off using the railway system and eventually their jobs will disappear with automation and other technology.

Finally, Royal Mail is being crippled by even more strikes. This will likely spoil many people's Christmases, due to parcels and cards and other items being delayed. But there are other services available, such as DHL, and Evri, which allow you to send parcels, and probably a good deal cheaper than Royal Mail. How many letters do people send nowadays? I very rarely get letters, but plenty of junk mail, which ends up in the recycling bin. I think most people use email for personal stuff. With a first-class stamp costing almost £1, you can see why people don't use it much. 

Things Can Only Get Better?

With such things as rising inflation, gas and electricity prices going through the roof and possibly going even higher, and the war in Ukraine continuing, are things going to get better? One would hope so. What difference will having a new Prime Minister make (the announcement of which of the two candidates it will be, announced this Monday.) what else is going to happen, to possibly improve things? 

Friday. 6.40 a.m. I mentioned that I'd had problems with my FitBit and that I had to contact the company and had been sent a replacement. I set the thing up, connecting it to my iPhone, and it seemed to work well enough, until it started behaving as it had done originally, with the screen going into lines like an old television set. Then, on Wednesday, it occurred to me that I might have set up the wrong device. Well, with two identical devices, it was difficult to work out which was the new one. The new one had been put away in its envelope in a drawer. So I bought it out and got it set up using my iPhone, and it worked! It was, by now, obvious that I had set up the wrong device. Because of this, I decided it needed a new strap, so I found one on Amazon and this new strap, made of leather and with a buckle, arrived yesterday. This is now fitted to the device and the FitBit is working well.

On Tuesday, I was determined to get Alfie booked to have a haircut. I went on the Groom Room website to book an appointment through the booking page, but it said you could only book via telephone. As a result, I decided instead to drive to their branch at the Bletchley retail park. As a result, he has an appointment on Tuesday morning.

Saturday. 3.00 p.m. I've been to the 1940s event at Milton Keynes Museum this morning. I had intended to go some while ago when I learnt it was on from an email I had from the Milton Keynes Heritage Association because I am on their mailing list. It opened at 10.00 a.m. but I didn't see the point of getting to the Museum too early because most of these events don't really get underway until around an hour later. I drove across Milton Keynes via Grafton Street and then encountered roadworks on the roundabout at Monk's Way, meaning I had to do a detour and then double back to get to the Museum. This was somewhat annoying as I wasn't aware of this further back on my journey across Milton Keynes. 

As I had been to another weekend event some months ago, which covered a variety of historic periods, including Roman and Anglo-Saxon, I paid my entrance fee and the ticket I bought meant I could come back for a year without having to pay again. I spent some time wandering around the various displays on the grounds of the museum and went into the café and had tea, a sandwich and a rather tasty coffee sponge. I bought a book I had seen in the shop on the way out on the history of Milton Keynes, which builds on my knowledge of the history of Milton Keynes.

I got back to Dexter House and as I parked my car I saw an ambulance parked outside. When I eventually took Alfie out for a walk, I saw one of the residents being wheeled out on a trolley and loaded into the ambulance. 

Once More Unto The Breach!

Sunday. 6.00 a.m. A really warm and sunny day yesterday, but this morning I was somewhat surprised to find it considerably cooler and raining when I took Alfie out at around 5.20. 

Before you ask, no, I didn't watch the Eurovision Song Contest. It was great that Ukraine won, but I think it was more because of support for this war-torn country. Britain coming second was amazing, considering how poorly we've done over the past few years. Russia had been kicked out because of their invasion of Ukraine. A good job too, the way they're behaving to their neighbour. I have to say Eurovision isn't my sort of thing, as generally the music is just plain awful and the whole thing, which takes hours and hours, is one yawn as far as I'm concerned. Carol and I used to record the whole shebang, and then play it back, skipping out the long-drawn-out bits. Generally, it's become far too political, not helped because of the result of the 2016 EU vote, where Britain voted to leave. 

11.30 p.m. I'm wide awake. The same old thing had to go to the loo and lay awake. Somewhere, in one of the nearby flats, there's a radio or something on, chattering voices. I'm not sure exactly, as I've heard it before, not loud, but still in the background. Strange, as if it was radio, there would be occasional music, like in commercials, or between programmes. It's continual. Still a mystery. Then, it starts to rain, a heavy storm, which has finished as I write this but still sounds quite heavy. No doubt there will be flooding when I go out early in the morning, no doubt puddles all the way along Strudwick Drive. 

I'd better shut down the MacBook, go back to bed, and try to get back to sleep. Not going to happen, so I think I might read.

Trying to come up with a half-decent title for a blog post is quite difficult. It needs to relate to the content of the post, which isn't always easy. Punchy, eye-catching. I don't know exactly why I chose this title, which comes from Henry V, by William Shakespeare.

Monday. 5.40 a.m. I'm up bright and early and have already taken Alfie out. A light rain. 

I'm watching the ITV drama, The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe. Excellent series and certainly gripping. How long can they keep the pretence that the husband, played by Eddie Marsan, going before the whole house of cards collapses? Faking his own death and then coming back to live in the house next door and then his wife making a claim on his life insurance to pay off their debts. Based on a real incident from the early 2000s. I think the 'edge of the seat' part of it, is what keeps you watching to find out what happens next. Brilliant. But why does his wife go along with it? If she was to refuse to cooperate, they would have escaped being done for fraud.

10.20 a.m. Just been to Sainsbury's to do a top-up of one or two items.

Workmen gradually getting nearer to my flat to install a new door. They are scheduled to replace mine tomorrow, so I think I will just have to grin and bear the noise for a day until it is complete. There is no way I'm exposing my flat to any sort of theft, what with the various items, including this MacBook Pro. 

7.00 p.m. I went out with Alfie around 1.20p.m. As we came out of the door onto the path alongside Strudwick Drive, I noticed a police car parked in the middle of the road at the entrance of the roundabout at the intersection of Strudwick Drive and Dexter Avenue. It had its blue lights flashing and then I could see a breakdown truck loading up what looked like some sort of sports car and further along, yet another police car. It wasn't clear what had happened, whether there had been a collision with another vehicle, but no sign of one and the road coned off, Then one of the breakdown crew started pouring what looked like some sort of powder onto the road surface. Probably there had been a fuel or oil spill and this was to soak it up. I didn't stop too long to find out what had happened as we walked in the opposite direction along the path towards Oldbrook Green.

Even More Things Getting Slightly More Undecidedly Sticky, But Only, Possibly, A Little Bit, But Even More Undecidedly Unpleasant. Possibly, Maybe, or There again, maybe not

The world has gone mad. A Prime Minister has to deny whether he was at a drinks party at 10 Downing Street during lockdown (whether it was illegal under the rules and regulations is neither here nor there.) Meanwhile, the Russian President, Putin, has sent troops to the border with Ukraine and is threatening to invade. There is an American President who doesn't seem entirely with it, looking for all the world as if he's in the early stage of dementia. If you thought Regan was unfit to hold office as President of the most powerful country in the known world,  Joe Biden seems not to be exactly 100% with it, mentally and physically. No wonder Putin thought he could get away with invading Ukraine when the West was looking in the opposite direction. It all seems like the plot of some sort of comedy, but actually, it's not particularly funny when we now learn that Putin is possibly intending to use chemical weapons and even nuclear weapons. Possibly in an attempt to draw the West into a war that will have consequences which it's difficult to comprehend. Jim Hacker, the Prime Minister in the BBC sitcom 'Yes Prime Minister', might have had problems with our current situation and Sir Humphrey Appleby would have delighted in explaining the situation in his long, convoluted diatribes, tying  everyone, including himself, 

Is the pandemic over? It's difficult to say. The crazy rules and regulations have been removed. We don't need to social distance or wear face coverings. There are still people who wear masks, usually when I'm outside. I want to ask why? If you're out in the fresh air and there's no one else around, why bother with a face mask? Nasty things. There's no proof they actually work. Having one on for any length of time makes me ill. Breathing in your own breath isn't good for you. There is now virtually nothing about the virus on television news. The BBC hasn't had a report on anything to do with the pandemic in weeks, or so it seems. They are more concerned about the Ukrainian war. Peddling fear and anxiety. The pandemic seems to have melted into the background. 

Why didn't The West realize earlier what Putin was planning to do? Would our intelligence services have picked up some hint of things going on in Russia? Don't we have some sort of system which monitors the goings-on in Russia and other countries which can be thought of a threat to democracy? Were we too focussed on the pandemic? I think only time will tell and probably when more comes to light as the years pass. 

Then, on top of the pandemic to make us feel frightened, we have climate change. The scientists are making us feel guilty if we eat meat, drive a car, light our log burner and generally produce carbon and let it into the atmosphere. This thing about cattle and other herbivores we may eat producing gasses that are supposed to deplete the ozone layer is rather lazy. They aren't the only animals that create these gasses. How about the herds of animals that roam the African savannah? Antelopes? Elephants? What about HUMANS? Don't we create these gasses? It's all a bit dumb if you ask me? (but please don't.)

Then there's the hypocrisy of these scientists, politicians and others who went to the  COP 26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow last October and travelled there by plane, car and other forms of transport which give off large amounts of carbon. 

Friday. 8.45 a.m. It's exactly two years since the WHO (World Health Organisation.) announced that we were in a pandemic, due to the coronavirus. Seems like we've lost two years of our lives, hiding away, being ordered about by people who had no real authority (ie; unelected scientists.), making people frightened, destroying businesses, causing disruption to children's eduction, cancelling NHS appointments, people going without their cancer treatment, mental health going through the room, relationships being destroyed. I could go on, but I won't. Was it really worth it? It 'save the NHS from being overwhelmed,'? Probably not.

Glen Miller, Ukraine Invasion, Carol's Birthday and other matters

Thursday. 6.10 p.m. I've been to my second talk given by a gentleman from Bedford, who is a local history guide, and his talk was about Glen Miller and Bedford. I had a sort of connection with this because around 30 years ago, when I did a lot of temp work, I used to work as a general assistant in several local firm's canteens, one of them being for Charles Wells brewery in Queens Park, Bedford. The canteen was in what remained of the gas works before it was the brewery and known as the Co-Partners Hall and I discovered that it was used by the BBC as a rehearsal space when they were evacuated to Bedford during the Second World War, and in particular, used by Glen Miller's orchestra. I had been working with a television producer as we attempted to get a project off the ground. He had contacts at Anglia Television and I thought he might be interested in some sort of project, based on Glen Miller and Bedford. This was in the days when Anglia was a single company, when it was possible to get an idea up and running by pitching directly to an individual ITV company, In the days when ITV was run as a federated organization and well before what it would become in the early 2000s when it merged into one conglomerate. As it turned out, it never got beyond being just an idea, but a few years later, much to my annoyance, a documentary was produced, I think, by TVAM, the first breakfast television franchise, and produced, and I think fronted by Margaret Thatcher's daughter, Carol Thatcher.

Saturday. 7.15 a.m. I awoke late this morning, so Alfie was taken somewhat by surprise when I took him out. I think he was probably still asleep before I went to take him out. It was bright daylight, but still chilly. Sort of raining, but that thin drizzly sort today and yesterday. 

As I write this, I can hear the wind whistling around the building outside (well, I just hope it's outside.) Please, no more of that awful wind we had a week or two ago. It was just dreadful.

Sunday. 7.00 a.m. It's very quiet this morning. No wind, or if there is, it's very minimal. It's dry, but it's muddy underfoot.

Monday. 7.05 a.m. Today would have been my lovely Carol's 58th birthday. I'm just getting on with my life, but I'm sure she would be pleased by how I have moved on and doing stuff which I didn't think I would be if she was still around. She left a huge legacy when I think of the number of kids who got their GCSEs and A-Levels and those who went on to university. 

I have quite a lot of Carol's clothes left here in my flat, especially jackets, blankets and so on. I had been considering giving them to any charity which would like them and use them. Then we had news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so I thought of it all going there for any of the refugees I keep seeing on television news. I asked Ross at church if he had any idea of a charity that could have it all. He sent me a text later, and I have the address and have already packed up some clothing and will take it all later this morning.

8.00 a.m. I now have two bags of stuff to take to the pick-up point for charity to take stuff to Ukraine. I will take it later. I don't see the point of it sitting here doing nothing when it could be used by those in need. It now in the back of my car ready to take.

10.35 a.m. I drove across Milton Keynes to find the unit where they were collecting stuff for Ukraine refugees. I find the right area but had to go round the back of the unit to find where they were sorting and loading into a huge HGV which was parked in the road outside. They don't unfortunately want any more clothing but want medical supplies. I will now have to find another charity to give my things to, so the two bin bags will have to be stored in my flat until they find another home. They can go in the bottom of the airing cupboard in my bathroom, as there's plenty of space in there. A wasted space, actually. Why do modern homes still have airing cupboards? What is the point of them? What is 'airing' supposed to mean in this context? I ask, because, surely, being enclosed in a cupboard isn't exactly AIRING clothes. Having them hanging on a clothesline outside is airing, surely? It's therefore a misnomer. And to my way of thinking a waste of space.

Sunny and bright this morning. No end of bulbs coming out, trees with buds on them, blossom and daffodils appearing along the roadside as I drove across Milton Keynes this morning.

Things Actually Getting Somewhat Slightly Worse (Probably A Little Bit, But Not Sure) Might be, Not Making My Mind Up, In fact, probably can't decide

Oh dear! We have a war raging in Ukraine, but Mr Putin doesn't call it a war, or an invasion. So, what is it? A jolly boy's outing? On  a serious note, it all sounds to much like what happened in Europe in 1938 and then lead to Germany invading Poland in September 1939 which then lead to war being declared and the start of World War Two.

I can remember The Cuban Missile Crisis which was in 1962. It was more or less exactly over the period of my birthday, which is 22nd October and seeing an episode of Panorama, which mentioned how close to nuclear war we came over the matter of nuclear weapons being stationed on the island of Cuba and being more or less terrified that we were all going to be annihilated in a nuclear war. Those were the days when you were never told what the significance of such things were, and if you were a child (I would have been around 12-13.) it wasn't something you would discuss with a child. Are we in a similar situation, regarding the situation in Ukraine, in particular as Putin has said he has put out a nuclear alert. Is he just bluffing (one likes to think so.), a distraction from what is going on with his troops in Ukraine? Only time will tell. Well, anyway, in my childish mind in 1962, it would have been scary. There was certainly quite a lot going on at the time for me, what with that awful winter of 1962-63, having my appendix out and in 1963, seeing the first episode of a new children's science fiction television series (actually, to be more accurate, it was a fantasy show.) about a time-travelling gentleman and his granddaughter, the show being 'Doctor Who.' Who (sorry, pun warning.) would have imagined that it would still be going strong (well, reasonably, regardless of falling audience ratings.) sixty years later? Aimed specifically at my then age group and so amazingly different from what else was aimed at children at the time. 

Wednesday. 4.15 a.m. I had BBC news on yesterday evening and there was footage of Russian attacks on buildings in Kyiv and, quite frankly, it was nothing but aggression. Why destroy buildings like this? Many Ukrainians are being brutally murdered, regardless of what Putin is saying. It was quite horrifying, and we can see such footage in our living rooms, without any sort of editing, which makes it more horrifying. I had to switch to another channel as it was too much. That might sound pathetic, but I think we need to stand back and take a different approach, not helped by being stuck in a room on my own. Just heart-rending. 

2.15 p.m. The excitement is too much! They are laying new carpet in the lounge here at Dexter House. I think I ought to lay down and rest, it's too much to take! They've been working on it for a couple of days now. Nothing very exciting about the colour. Just boring. The same as the newly-painted walls. A sort of washed-out lavender colour (if the colour lavender isn't washed out enough, to begin with. Now, now, Murdoch, don't hyperventilate! It's just a shock that it's actually happening. It's been in the works for months.

By the way, what's happened to the lady cleaner who does the common areas around here? I mean, the corridors and some of the rooms we are allowed to inhabit? Is she ill? Is she on holiday? She hasn't been seen for at least a week.

I've taken Alfie out, but, because it's raining, not heavily, but making the ground wet nevertheless. He didn't want to go far, so we didn't do our usual tour of Oldbrook Green.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest . . . I mean, Dexter House. We still have only one operational washing machine. The old one which was taken out is still sitting in its place at the entrance. When will it be replaced? The one that is left isn't working particularly well, and I reckon is on its final legs (or however you want to describe it.) It has bits falling off it, for example, the front panel of the drawer you are supposed to use for detergent. I never use it as I use gel capsules that go directly into the drum before doing any washing. If we have to put up with this breaking down as well, where are we supposed to wash our clothes? I have no idea where the nearest laundrette is, just in case. Perhaps we should get washboard and take our laundry down to the canal or the river and wash it there . . . How slow the powers that be can be knows no bounds. A bit like fiddling whilst Rome burns. 

Things Can Only Get Better!

Monday. 7.30 a.m. It's still and calms on the weather front. It's not particularly warm, but there's no wind blowing, as is it was this time last week. I am going back to IKEA to get a second recycling bin to match the one I purchased yesterday and will be to separate glass for recycling. At least I can get rid of the horrible old cardboard box which served as my recycling bin. Not exactly the best thing for the job and now gone.

Yes, things can only great better, especially now we don't have to endure endless days of lockdown, but now we have to contend with Vladimir Putin's sabre-rattling in Ukraine. Let's just hope and pray that it doesn't escalate into something worse.

12.45 p.m. I've been back to IKEA and bought a second recycling bin, which is for glass. I have seen some LED strip lighting, which I think I'll buy at some point in the future. It can be stuck on surfaces, and I'm sure it would add a certain bit of style to an otherwise rather boring room. Also, some really brilliant hanging lights remind me of the Death Star in Star Wars (Darth Vader's hideout.). They have pull cords that you pull (now, there's a surprise!) and the sections open out. I'm not sure if I got one, it would work in this flat as you really need high ceilings. Whatever the height of the ceilings, I just love them and are so imaginative. 

I'm watching a documentary on Channel Five about the winter of 1962-63 which I remember well. I would have been about 12 in 1963, the year I had my appendix out and spent a lot of time in what was the children's ward of Bedford Hospital. I was supposed to have been operated on around Christmas that year but somehow or other it was bought forward, so I could be home for the festive season, thankfully. The surgeon who did the operation was Peter Lacey, who was a shooting friend of my father, so perhaps that was how the date was changed. Quite handy when you have the surgeon as a family friend. I know he used to come for tea and other meals, and I think one of his sons went to my school. The actual scar in my abdomen is very small (no, I have absolutely no intention of showing it off, thank you very much.) only a couple of inches, and it's very neat, compared with those of other people I've seen with them. It just shows what a good surgeon he was. I don't remember much about it, other than I was in that hospital ward for a few days and then was sent home.

As for the 'Big Freeze', it caused a lot of problems on the farm, and we had to feed the cattle out in the fields which were covered in snow, taking bales of hay out to them and, because my father grew Brussell sprouts on the farm, having to keep pigeons off them in the fields. I feel sorry for the pickers who had to work in really awful conditions to have bags of them ready to take to Smithfield market to be sold, going on a lorry which came each evening from a company called Bennett and Hawes.

At school, the playground was covered with snow which froze and thawed as the winter progressed. We had to clear this snow, as it was difficult to walk across easily. The shovelled snow and ice was heaped at one end of the playground against a wall, which made the wall lean dangerously as the freeze continued.  I cannot imagine today's schoolchildren even being ALLOWED to help with such jobs as shovelling snow. They would moan about being made to work or claim it was against their 'human rights.' Also, there would be something mentioned about our dear old friend 'health and safety.'

Freedom Day . . . At Long Last!

This is the day we've been waiting for. All the ludicrous restrictions we've had to live under for the past two years are being abandoned. Let's say it; the pandemic is over, although Boris Johnson has said that the coronavirus hasn't gone away. Let's just say, it's hiding. We have to learn to live with it. 

It may be 'Freedom Day' if that's what you want to call it, but we now have all this overshadowed by the Ukraine Crisis with Russia threatening to invade that small country. Vladimir Putin making out it's their fault, and they're the aggressor. All this is done to deflect things from problems within Russia, mostly financial.

Thursday. 9.45 a.m. I have just got back from taking Alfie out for one of his walks and, as we walked along the path that runs beside Strudwick Drive, I notice a bright yellow pencil that looked as if it has been thrown away. Nothing wrong with it, an ordinary Staedtler wooden pencil, HB grade. I'm thinking, 'I'll have that!" So I picked it up and put it in my jacket pocket. But further along, I picked up more and in total there were 10 of them. I just hope they were thrown there by a pupil from Milton Keynes Academy or even the Primary school which is just over the road. Are children so stupid as to throw away stuff they are given to use in their lessons? I know some children don't have such items given to them by their parents as they don't have the income to afford such items as pens, pencils and other things, so why waste these by throwing them on the grass. There are children in Africa who would be pleased to have even a scrap of paper to write on or a pencil to write with. I don't think the children around here realize how lucky they are to have even the basic things free of charge for use in their education.

Perfectly good pencils, rescued from the grass along Strudwick Drive this morning. Just a waste to throw them away.

7.30 a.m. As I've mentioned in earlier blogs, I have upgraded my MacBook and now have a MacBook Pro. I'm more than pleased with it. I'm really surprised how thin and light it is, compared with my MacBook Air. I had been searching online to find some way of recycling it and, hopefully, get a fair price for it. This morning it has been collected by a courier from DPD, packed it up in a sealed box and is now gone. It was in excellent condition, mostly because it has had a plastic cover. I had managed to remove the bottom cover, but not the top one. Which shows how effective it has been in protecting this laptop.  I always attempt to look after all my gadgetry, because it is expensive and if I want to use it there's no point in it getting damaged if it's cared for properly. I had wiped the surface with a wet wipe but got the driver to remove the top cover. Also wiped clean and hopefully, this will affect the price I eventually receive. 

I'm somewhat annoyed that the laundry room is locked until 8 a.m. Just crazy that I have to wait until 8 o'clock to do my washing. I haven't been told about this stupid new rule. More rules and regulations. Just annoying.

It seems that Freedom Day was somewhat overshadowed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Just tell me, when did Kiev become Kyiv? It seems that the names of quite a few places have more or less overnight been changed in their spelling. Most western nations have taken their eyes off the ball (you might say.) Biden, US President' is as much use as a wet fish. Probably has early-onset dementia. Meanwhile, our politicians have been more concerned about parties in Downing Street than watching what's happening centre stage.  No wonder Rome burns whilst Nero fiddles. Sorry, I'm mixing my metaphors. No wonder Putin has managed to do what he's done. Puts me in mind of the Munich Crisis in 1938 before the beginning of World War 2. Strange how history repeats itself.

10.30 a.m. It is quite sunny and warm. A pleasant enough day to wander slowly around Oldbrook Green.

I have been back baking. I got the Sainsbury's Magazine last time I was shopping and inside is a recipe for chocolate cookies, so I have bought the ingredients (not actually from Sainsbury's. I decided to go to Waitrose instead. It is quite an effort to make anything complicated in my tiny kitchen because there isn't much in the way of surfaces. It's a bit of a juggling act. Measuring out the flour, butter, sugar and so on and attempted to roll out the dough and then put it on baking trays, but my efforts have been worthwhile. The results have exceeded expectations. Now I have had all the boxes removed from the pantry/cupboard, I have more space to store the equipment, such as the food processor and the trays and pans. I need to get a good deal more organized next time I do a bake.

I have hit the 10,000 steps target today! That's approximately 5 miles. I took Alfie out  at around 4 p.m. as it was bright and sunny and it seemed a pity to not take advantage of the sun. I don't think Alfie was going to miss the opportunity to have a good walk and sniff around in the grass. Just glad to get the steps total in and finding the Fitbit is motivating me to get out of the flat.

Boris Bunter Loves Cake!

Friday. 2.00 p.m. I'm sure Boris Johnson loves cake, so if someone appears on his birthday and waves a bit of cake under his nose, he's bound to go all googly-eyed, and drooling like a dog when downwind of a plate of meaty scraps. So it's no wonder he didn't disown the chance to have a party in Downing Street. Were these parties like children's parties, with jelly and ice cream, musical chairs, blind man's buff, pass the parcel and so on? A goody bag for everyone when they leave? Was there a conjurer there? Or some other children's entertainer? The more I think about 'Partygate' the more ludicrous and pointless all this is. Now is the time for all good men to go to the aid of the party. Perhaps.

And now . . . The Police don't want anything to do with the investigation, which was carried out by the civil servant, Sue Gray. The plot thickens. I think it will turn out that there were far more parties going on that shouldn't have been, probably by other mandarins in Whitehall, rather making the whole thing a bit rich. I wonder what Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Private Secretary of Jim Hacker, the Prime Minister in the BBC sitcom 'Yes, Prime Minister'? No doubt he would have come out with one of his long-winded and complex explanations. This entire affair is turning into a Whitehall farce, quite literally.

This morning I had an email from my MP in response to Partygate. I wrote because I wanted him to know how angry I was that I had been following the pandemic regulations more or less to the letter whilst it seemed those in Downing Street have been having a wild time, or so it would appear. It's not just the hypocrisy that angered me, but the fact that I had to sacrifice going to see my grandchildren over Christmas 20 and now knowing what was going on inside 10 Downing Street.

Saturday. 8.15 a.m. Okay, okay. We're still waiting for the infamous 'Partygate' enquiry results. It seems to be taking over every news programme on television and headlines and front pages of all the newspapers. But, come on chaps, let's get over it and move on, can we, please? I reckon there's more to it than the fact that people broke lockdown regulations. Let's be perfectly honest, how many people actually adhered 100% to the really complicated, and some say, completely unnecessary, regulations. I have a sneaking suspicion that all this nonsense has a rather sinister agenda behind it, and that's to get rid of Boris Johnson. Love him or loathe him, our media is generally controlled by a left-wing element. Particularly the BBC. The Government is eager to clip the wings of our major Public Service broadcaster and in particular to find a new funding model to replace the archaic Television Licence. So, they are more than desperate to find a way to discredit the Conservative government at any cost. Apart from anything else, there are far more important stories to be covered by the papers and television programmes. For example, the fact that Russia is threatening to invade  Ukraine and has sent thousands of troops to the border, or the mounting fuel costs crisis, or how to return the country to some semblance of normality as the pandemic comes to an end. As it is, the media is spinning that story out somewhat and seem reluctant to give any positive news on that particular subject.