Annoying Mistakes

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, Carol had a telephone call, a 'ring-back,' from the doctor, as a result of my early-morning telephone call to get Carol's medical certificate tor work. The doctor did eventually ring, but it was almost lunch-time. Carol spoke to him on the phone and she said he wasn't sure why she wanted to speak to him. He said he'd sign a certificate and that it would be ready to collect fro the surgery 'after 2 o'clock.' From experience I knew that it was unlikely to be done, so I decided to driver to pick it up this morning (Friday). So I went to Ashfield Medical Centre at gone 10 o'clock. Having picked up the certificate from Ashfield, I drove to deliver it to reception at the Academy. Unfortunately, midway through the morning, we got a call from the H.R. department at the Academy to say that the date was wrong on the certificate. It had been signed for the 23rd when it should have been for the 18th May. Which would mean I would have to drive over and collect it from the reception and then take it back to Ashfield to have it altered and then returned back to the H.R. department. Just annoying. The doctor should have checked the date before he signed it. It's this sort of annoying mistake which is getting somewhat stressful.

It wasn't just this mistake we're having to sort out. Apparently Carol was over-paid with her last salary payment. So quite a large amount will now be taken from her next couple of salary payments. Someone in the salaries office wasn't doing their job properly. So we're more or less to blame. Oh well, it can be rectified, but like the doctor's medical certificate dating we just have to accept it and move on. As if we didn't have enough to contend with at the moment.

It's been a rather ordinary sort of day on the weather front. No rain or sunshine, but mild.

I've just completed reading 'White Heat,' the second book in Dominic Sandbrook's series of books covering the period 1956 to the present day. This particular volume covers the period from 1963 until 1970. It's interesting as I lived through this period. It's extremely detailed and not only covers political events but also focusses on popular culture, the rise of The Beatles, Rolling Stones as well as cinema and television. It's interesting to read in detail about things that we would have been aware of in the news and get the background on certain things.

Tenth Chemotherapy Cycle Postponed

It's another really beautiful warm spring day. We've been to the oncology suite so that Carol could have the usual blood test so that she can have the tenth chemotherapy cycle beginning tomorrow morning (Wednesday), depending on whether the test is as it should be.

As it happened, at around 6 o'clock on Wednesday evening we had a telephone call from oncology to say that there were not enough neutrophils in Carol's blood, which are the blood cells that fight infection. Which now means the tenth chemotherapy cycle has to be postponed until next week. This happened a couple of weeks ago and the next chemotherapy cycle was postponed for two weeks because Carols parents came to visit for a couple of days (see earlier blog post.)

So, I'm a bit lost as to what to write to make this blog post worthwhile. Well, we've been watching more episodes of 'The Woman In White', the current BBC1 classic adaptation. It seems to have really taken off after the third episode (of 5) but there's so many plots overlapping and so much going on it can be somewhat confusing. I don't think it will be particularly clear what's going on until we've seen the final episode (which was shown on May Bank Holiday Monday.)

I'm currently reading 'White Heat' by Dominic Sandbrook, part of his mammoth cycle of books tracing British history from Suez in 1956 up until the election of Margaret Thatcher. It's an extremely detailed account of the period, this particular volume covering the '60's, Harold Wilson, The Beatles, Mary Quant and other personalities.

It's been a really warm night. As a result, it's difficult to sleep, particularly when you have to keep the bedroom cool with the windows open.  You get the sound of cars along the A5 making a lot of sounds, racing, revving their engines. A lot of loud noises. During the day, then having bees and other flying insects buzzing in and out of the house.

Later. The Christmas tree, which is currently in the garden, in it's original pot from when it was bought in Dobbie's garden centre two Christmasses ago, is growing rapidly. It desperately needs re-potting before it dies off, which usually happens when we buy a 'live' Christmas tree. We have been meaning to find a suitable size pot so it can be transferred so that it can happily grow. In the current plastic pot it's likely to get pot-bound and then the roots will start to rot which will end with it dying which would be a shame since it's growing so successfully. We've seen suitable pots but hadn't got round to actually buying one, so this morning we went to Bunnings (which has taken over the Homebase branch in Winter Hill.) They had a quite spectacular selection of very suitable pots, one of which we purchased, along with a fuchsia  plant which Carol bought, along with potting compost and gravel to put in the pots. We had to use a trolley to convey our purchases to the till to pay and then out to the carpark, but the thing proved quite difficult to manoeuvre through the store and, once at the car, it took some effort to fit the various items in the interior of the vehicle.

We drove home to unload the posts, plants and bags of gravel and potting compost and then went out, first to drive through Woburn park, which is one of our favourite 'go-to' places when the weather is fine, searching out first rhododendrons which have begun flowering along the side of the road leading up to the cattle grids you have to go over on entering the open spaces of the deer park. We could see a few deer straggling across the road ahead of us, with one car stopped, no doubt to get a close-up view of these animals. Unfortunately we hadn't remembered to bring either of our cameras with us, because we might have got some really good shots had we got them with us.

We had to decide on somewhere suitable to have lunch so decided on Dobbie's at Bletchley, which has a good restaurant and we  had lattes, baguettes, panninis and cake. Carol had a rather nice slice of chocolate cake and I had a really tasty lemon frangipani tartlet, absolutely delicious. One of the best cakes I've had in a while. We must return at some time in the not-too distant future to partake of such delights again. We bought some plants which Carol wants to use in a bottle garden which she intends to construct in the former fish tank we have sitting in the garden.

Having finished in Dobbie's we drove back into Milton Keynes, to go to Marks and Spencer's at the football stadium where we bought milk and garlic bread which we needed.

My least-favourite job has to be done, mowing the grass. The grass seems to grow at unprecedented speed once we get any sun. It was cut a few weeks ago, and was somewhat difficult as I'd let it get too long and the mower, not really designed to cut such tough grass, really struggled. I think it's intended for those gardens which possess nice, neat turf and not the type of grass we have to contend with, more suitable to be eaten by horses, sheep and cattle and perhaps not mown at all.

Reading and Watching-1

As I've mentioned in an earlier blog post, I have an interest in history. Our lounge is full of books, infact, one of the two IKEA bookshelves, which we bought from the house in Crownhill when we had to move (see earlier blog post for more information on this.) is crammed full of books and magazines, one of which is in serious need of attention as it's not fixed to the wall, and leans at a slight angle. Many of these books and magazines are on history. I'm always looking for more history books to read and such shops as The Works are always good places to find a bargain, the last one being on The Norman Conquest' and another on 'The Battle of Waterloo'. We have now managed to order a new bookshelf unit on the IKEA website. Paid for and it will be delivered next Thursday. We decided to have it delivered as it would unlikely not fit in the car, so to have it delivered means someone else will have to lift it into the house. As we have a similar unit in our bedroom it shouldn't be too difficult to assemble and it's possible to buy baskets, drawers and boxes which can be slotted into the unit to make it even more flexible.

I've been reading 'Never Had It So Good,' by Dominic Sandbrook. It's 'A History of Britain From Suez to The Beatles.' Which is about all you need to know about the subject matter. I read a later volume of his set of history books called 'Seasons In The Sun,' which takes his series up until 1979. At the time I read it, I was unaware that it was the latest in a series of books (of which 'Never Had It So Good' is the first.) So I decided I wanted to read the series from the beginning and managed to buy all the books on Amazon. As I lived through the period covered, I thought it would we worth a read, although I wasn't old enough at the time the first book covers to be aware of the incidents recorded, such things as the Suez Crisis or the Profumo Affair or the 'Night of The Long Knives.' As with any account of history, it's interesting to see how we got to where we are today, what with Harold Macmillan's attempts at negotiating a possible membership of the Common Market or 'European Economic Community,' as it was called in the late 1950's and early 1960's (now the E.U.) and how the President of France, Charles De Gaulle kept blocking our entry. Interesting when you compare it with the Brexit negotiations following the Referendum vote to leave over the last few months.The rest of the Sandbrook series are 'White Heat,' and 'State of Emergency,' which I will read in the fullness of time. Each book is very thick; the first book is some 800-900 pages long.

I'm a real fan of Alan Bennett. I enjoyed the plays he wrote for the BBC in the 1960s and 1970s, in particular the very first one called 'A Day Out,' which was made in black and white and about a group of men who go on a bicycle ride in Yorkshire and set just before the First World War. Not a great deal happens, but his attention to detail, particularly his depiction of the individual characters is very detailed. It's directed by Stephen Frears who went on to make some large-scale cinema films such as 'Dangerous Liaisons' and 'The Queen.' Alan Bennett is interested in the small things in peoples' lives, the every-day, the mundane. He has also written for the stage, most notably for the National Theatre, with plays such as 'The Madness of King George III,' and 'The History Boys.' I have read most of his diaries which get published on a  regular basis, and was given the latest collection, covering the millennium, and called 'Getting On, Getting On,' and given to me as a Christmas present by Carol last year. I am about to read it.

I've watched the first episode of the new Sky drama series, "Britannia," which is on Sky Atlantic. It's set in a Celtic Britain at the time that the Roman invasion is about to take place. It's somewhat preposterous, so if you watch it don't expect an accurate history lesson. I had serious doubts about this when I first heard it was being planned, but it turned out to be a good deal better than I expected. It has David Morrissey as the Roman general (I assume he's a general) who leads his troops across the Channel and then pillages and burns the Celtic villages and murders a few in the process. It also stars Zoe Wanamaker as a sort of tribal leader. Another actor who is in it is Iain McDiarmid, who I have a connection with as he was in the company when I was working as an A.S.M. at Liverpool Playhouse in the early 1970s. I did the book for a production of Alan Ayckbourn's play 'Relatively Speaking,' which also had Thelma Barlow in the cast, who went on to play Mavis Wilton in 'Coronation Street.' It's good to see Sky producing stuff which at least has some sort of British connection, however accurate it is. I notice that all the episodes are available to view on catch-up, obviously in an attempt to follow the same principle as such on-line television services as Netflix and Amazon, where all the episodes of their shows, such as The Crown are available to view instantly. Apart from some strong language (which, frankly, adds absolutely nothing to the thing in my opinion.) it's a good rollocking yarn and will no doubt attract a young, male audience, who no doubt enjoy such shows as 'Game of Thrones,' and a good many video games. I shall watch the rest of the series with interest.

I'm glad all the episodes of 'Britannia' are available as a box-set, because you can watch all the episodes one after the other if you so wish. I've watched the second episode. I'm really hooked on this show and can't wait to see the next episode. It's got a real 'have to watch the next episode' something about it, rather like a good novel where you can't put it down. Generally I need to get through about 15-20 minutes of a new drama series to know whether I'm going to continue watching and this certainly has that 'something.' Unlike a lot of similar shows, the dialogue is convincing. They seem to have avoided the somewhat stilted dialogue that you tend to get in a lot of dramas set in a 'certain period,' and the whole thing is rather tongue-in-cheek, it doesn't take itself too seriously. It has a sense of humour as well. And they haven't made it pretentious in any way, unlike a lot of costume dramas that are precious and rather unrealistic, not that you can make a show set in 43 A.D. as nobody knows what they spoke like. It's not exactly historically accurate, but who cares? Definitely entertaining and that, in all honesty, is what one needs at the moment. The fights are convincing, too, and you get the feeling that the Romans have more than a hand-full of soldiers in their invading army, they've spent quite a lot on extras to fill out the scenery.