Hey Ho, The Wind and the rain!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

General Election and Fridge/Freezer Delivery

So, we had a General Election yesterday. I took Alfie out as usual after 7 o'clock yesterday and no sooner had I bought him back to the flat, I went back out and walked immediately to the Community Centre in Oldbrook, just opposite the Green and next door to The Cricketer's pub, which was being used as a Polling Station. I was amazed by how many people were coming and going. I don't think, considering the early hour (the polling station would have just opened at 7a.m.) I have seen so many people at a polling station for a General Election.

As mentioned in my last blog post, I had to deal with the fridge/freezer defrosting and failing miserably and, as a result, ruining an entire load of food, which had to be thrown away. I was scratching my head to find a solution and came up with one fairly quickly, by ordering a brand new, full-size fridge/freezer from the on-line retailer, Very.  As a result I could pay it off in instalments, and because it's a larger fridge/freezer (actually twice or even more in size to the pathetic thing I was given, and which has let me down big time by breaking down.) Fortunately I had managed to clear the account and was glad that I hadn't closed it down completely. The replacement fridge/freezer was expected to be delivered on Thursday (yesterday), but when I ordered the thing I was not sure at what time of day it was likely to be delivered.

On Wednesday I got a text message to let me know that the fridge/freezer was scheduled to be delivered between 12.15 and 2.15 on Thursday. Then yesterday, Thursday, I got another text message telling me it was going to arrive at around 12.30. Then, by following a link through an email I was sent by the delivery company, I could actually follow there the lorry was on a map. It arrived at around 12.45.

Having got the new fridge/freezer into the flat, carried by two men from the delivery company, it had to stand for several hours before plugging in. This, in order to allow the refrigerant in the system to settle, because it had been on the lorry and then carried into the flat, on it's side. It was quite a difficult job to unpack it, as it was packaged in cardboard, polystyrene and plastic, leaving a large amount of this packing, which will now have to be disposed of, probably taken to the tidy-tip in Bleak Hall. Having allowed the machine to stand for 4 hours, I plugged it into the power point and  I turned on the mains. I had to store milk and other items in the community kitchen, otherwise it would have gone off if left in the kitchen belonging to the flat.

All day the weather had been appalling. When I first went out with Alfie for his early morning walk on Thursday morning, it was cold and wet. Rain falling and a strong wind. No sooner had Alfie realised that it was raining, wet and miserable, he turned tail at the front door and more or less went back in the flat. But he seriously needed to go out, so we walked along Strudwick Drive towards Oldbrook Green, but before we'd even reached the crossing over Oldbrook Boulevard, he turned round and refused to go any further, and, honestly, who could blame him?

Today, (Friday) it is cold and windy, but it's quite bright and sunny.

Failing Fridge/Freezer

A bit of a disaster this morning. I found the fridge/freezer, which was given to me by the Council when I moved in, had defrosted, which meant all the contents had to be thrown away. A good week's worth of food and my money is running out rapidly before I get my next pension payment next week. I have now ordered a new, larger model on Very and I will pay it off by instalments. Fortunately I cleared the account before I moved to Dexter House. The thing should be delivered by the end of the week and once I am paid I will stock up on food to go in it. The old fridge/freezer was far too small, meaning it was extremely difficult to put larger items, such as frozen vegetables, in it. Also, it's so low that I have to kneel on the floor to be able to see what's inside it. The new model should therefore make life considerably easier. I will need to remove the stupid little fridge/freezer as I can't keep a redundant kitchen appliance in the flat. It will need to be taken to the tidy-tip in Bleak Hall, and they're welcome to it as far as I'm concerned. It's not even 3 months old and conked out. I'm not impressed. Just a load of total junk. The best place for it is in the skip.

Alfie is being his usual self. I went to Lidl to do some shopping and got a sandwich to eat when I got back. Alfie, as ever, sat staring at me from his position on the sofa, almost willing me to give him a bit of the sandwich. I resisted for as long as possible, but Alfie got as close to me as he could, by which time I give in and break off  a corner of the sandwich. He eats this morsel, and I continue to munch, but relent and give him  tiny bit more. He doesn't take it, pokes it with his nose. He often does this when you offer him a bit of food. I put that bit on the sofa, next to him, and he pokes it further with his nose and then pushes it on the floor. He does it with a second piece. How amusing, I think. He doesn't like cushions on the sofa, ether, and he pushes them off, again, with his nose.

I had to ring Ashfield Medical Centre to make a doctor's appointment. I started ringing at around 8.15 and eventually got through. The system would seem to be turned off until the staff can be bothered to have it on and actually answer (probably I'm wrong, but that's how it appears to me.) I had to wait for two people in the queue in front of me (the system tells you how many people are ahead of you in the queue.) How long does it take to explain to the receptionist what you need to see the doctor for? If it's me, it can't be more than 30 seconds at most.) I was told I couldn't have an appointment until a few day's ahead. Eventually they told me a doctor would ring me on Thursday (Which is General Election Day) Then, for some inexplicable reason my imagination took over and I said 'Well, as long as I'm at home because I'm expecting Boris Johnson to ring me as I'm advising him on Brexit and the way his election campaign is going.' I don't know what hit me at that specific moment, but it just came out. And the woman on the other end of the telephone said, 'Oh, really!' as if what I had just said was true- well, of course it wasn't and unlikely to be and I had to say it wasn't true, just in case, to make it clear.
Sometimes these things come into my head and I have to 'go with the flow.' I certainly did on this occasion!

A Marathon To Get To Church (and Other Matters)

(Sunday) I hadn't remembered that there was going to be a marathon run around Milton Keynes today and tomorrow (Monday.) So, when I realised that I might be stuck in Eaglestone with runners going along the road in front of my home, I panicked because I wanted to get to church. I came out of the estate near the Eaglestone shops, because the exit onto Saxon Street (opposite Milton Keynes Academy) was closed off with signs and barriers and there were people with high vis jackets on. Then, when I came out onto Chaffron Way, I found I couldn't turn left and had to turn right and then down and onto Marlborough Street.

Now, don't get me wrong. I have nothing against marathons, so long as you don't expect me to take part. Just not my thing.  Just the thought of having to possibly wear Lycra doesn't appeal to me somehow. There's noting wrong with people doing what they enjoy. And a lot of cash is raised for various charities and it's a community thing. There's not enough 'community' going on in this country as it is, we need events that bring people together. What with Brexit and all the divisions that's caused, it would be wrong to oppose something such as a marathon which brings people closer. My only objection is that it has to come down the road where I live and it means, if I want to get out in my car, I can't. O.k., you say, but it's only a few days in the year and then only a couple of hours on a Bank Holiday or a weekend. Well, yes, true. But if it's the only time you have with your partner or other members of your family, why do we have to be inconvenienced by this event? It could be easily be re-routed along the Redway, which is only a few yards away. Then I notice it comes along Golden Drive and then, further along, goes onto the Redway, so why not all the way along the Redway? If I so much make a comment to this effect on Facebook, I get the full force of someone or other's complaints. It's as if I'm not allowed to make a simple comment, a statement of common sense, I get shot down in flames. Oh dear, even say something in opposition. But the fact is, this person is easy to wind up. He/she has no sense of the irony. Doesn't take much to get them upset, riled I think the word is (must look that one up. I have just had a look. Perhaps I've spelt it wrong. Perhaps it's spelt with a 'y' instead of an 'i'.) I'm quite good at winding people up. Just need someone to take the bait and get them started, ranting and raving! Quite a few people out there like that. Just put the word 'Brexit' into the conversation and light blue touch-paper. Probably best to retire to a safe place and stick your fingers in your ears . . .

To more mundane matters . . .

I'm going to have to defrost the fridge/freezer. What excitement. Not. It has built up a great deal of ice and the fridge part has water that runs down the sides and gathers on the floor and when you open the door it tends to gush out. The freeze temperature probably needs adjusting. It hasn't been defrosted since it was first installed, I can't remember how long ago. The plastic drawers in the freezer section cause a problem, because with the amount of ice, some of them don't close properly. I have a problem that, if the door isn't closed properly, then there is a tendency for there to be a certain amount of thawing of the food inside. I have, unfortuntely, broken a couple of these drawers, because of the difficulty of pushing the drawers back inside. As a consequence, several have got severely broken. One has now got a large piece broken off completely and there is  danger of food inside the drawer falling out. I need to get these drawers replaced as soon as possible. So I found the manufacturer's website on-line yesterday and their telephone number, which, fortunately, being a Sunday, they were open for business. The manufcturer of the fridge/freezer is Candy, which I didn't realise was part of Hoover. I had to find the details of the fride/freezer on a label inside the fridge section, in the 'crisper' department. I spoke to someone at the call centre and, when he was given the relevant details of the fridge/freezer, was able to look up whether they could supply replaceent drawers. They can, but they don't have all the drawers in stock at he moment, and if I ring back in a couple of week's time, they will hopefully have the relevant items in stock and can dispatch them to me. Once they arrive, I can empty the fridge/freezer, get it defrosted and cleaned and the whole thing back in proper working order once again.

Later. I can't get out  in the car at the moment (11.15a.m.) because the Milton Keynes marathon is going past. Odd assortment of humanity, all shapes, sizes, colours, genders (to be 'diverse.') Why do some men have absolutely no idea of what they look like? Dressed in inappropriate clothing. I'll say no more. Just that, in the summer, when it's hot, why do men have no idea (not every man, of course.) that sometimes they look awful in shorts and tee shirts. Just not going there . . . Don't their women-folk tell them off when they get the horrible baggy shorts out? Go and by some better-fitting shorts. Not difficult to find. I have a vague idea what I look like. Just USE A MIRROR before going out!

Someone, somewhere near is using a Strimmer or a similar gadget in their garden. It's making a horrible noise. Why is it people insist on making this sort of noise whenever it's a Bank Holiday and all I want myself is to be quiet and relax? The D.I.Y companies, such as B and Q and Homebase, seem to think they can make more money by having offers of things like lawnmowers, Strimmers and other grass cutters, not realizing that they are condemning the rest of us to the dreadful noise they create.

There is a mystery. A white mattress has appeared just opposite my kitchen window. I'm intrigued as to where it's come from, and why someone would think it a good idea to dump it at the side of the road. There is really no need to just dump anything. You can take such items which have no further use or are just worn out or broken, to the tidy-tip in Bleak Hall. I took a photo with my iPhone and sent it with an email to the council so that they would be aware of this item. It is actually fly-tipping and as such it's an offence and whoever dumped it there can be fined heavily, and they deserve to be done for this.

1200th Blog post

I can't believe I've reached the 1200th blog post. I wasn't sure I could even keep this blog going for half a dozen posts, let alone more than one thousand. So, here we are, and what on earth am I going to talk about in this post?

It's 8.30 on a Monday morning, and already the sun is shining and it's hot. Really difficult to sleep, so our bedroom windows have been open as well as an electric fan on. But I'm not sure it really cools the room, just stirring up the air a bit. On Ward 22 Carol has been given a couple of fans, a large floor-standing modern and a smaller one which sits on the bedside cabinet. Along the corridor on Ward 22 they have installed air conditioning machines, with a sort of coiled pipe stuck out of the windows. They are more effective than fans as they cool the air rather than just pushing it around. But at least the fans provide some sort of relief from the heat.  The weather forecast is for even warmer weather, reaching as much as 33c in some parts of the country. Which translates to 91F. I was brought up on Fahrenheit, so anything in Celsius is rather foreign to me. Sorry to say, metric weighs and measures leave me a bit stumped, unfortunately. I can never see why we have to have both systems in operation. Surely, as members of the E.U., we should have gone fully over to metric. Why are we still stuck in a sort of vacuum? Which politicians allowed this mess? I think I prefer imperial measures, after all, who has a vague idea what a pint or a gallon is? You can visualise these measurements. Do we have to buy fuel, either diesel or petrol, in metric measures? Gallons or litres? It's rather confusing.

Alfie was following me around the house. Wherever I went, even to the toilet, he was like a shadow. He was waiting for his early-morning walk around Eaglestone Park. We've seen a man walking his dog, a whippet. He was out with his dog the other morning.Unfortunately Alfie has to rush up to every dog he comes across and runs around in circles, wagging his tail frantically. He is just trying to be friendly, but I think some dogs, the more nervous and scared, are not too keen for this sort of excitement. I don't think the man was over-keen as he said his son was in hospital and the dog had been attacked by another dog. Carol told me that, before she knew me, she'd taken Poppy, our westie/shitsu cross, had been attacked by a large dog which rushed up to Poppy when she had been taken for a walk, and this dog had got hold of Poppy and began to shake her. It must have been frightening and it's a wonder that Poppy didn't get hurt. I think it really scared both of them. On another occasion, when we'd taken both dogs out for a walk, we'd only just left the house, when a small dog rushed up to us, I think a Jack Russell Terrier, and tried to bight Alfie. I managed to grab Alfie and picked him up, and we were able to get the dog away from our dogs. Goodness knows where it came from, possibly from one of the houses across the road from us in one of the closes.

I'm currently continuing to clean the house as best I can. I came back from seeing Carol in hospital and immediately took a load of cardboard boxes to the tidy-tip in Bleak Hall. These were the packaging for stuff which should have gone months ago, the packaging for the IKEA unit in the lounge, the box the television came in and goodness knows what else. I was determined it would all go in the car and make just one trip. Not as difficult as it could have been, but it made room in the small bedroom which has become something of a dumping ground for various items.

Old Bookshelves Removed . . and New Shelves Constructed

We've spent the last week or so sorting books and clearing the two old bookshelves in preparation for the delivery of the new IKEA unit we ordered last Wednesday. The room is currently a sort of waiting room for boxes of books and early this morning we dismantled the two bookshelves. Once they were tipped down it was easy to just push the separate planks and they both folded up and I took all the pieces outside to be collected by the Council next week. I've paid £20 for this service. I had considered taking all the pieces to the tidy-tip at Bleak Hall, but it probably wouldn't have fitted inside the car and it would have been difficult to avoid scratching the paintwork and the car's interior. Better to pay and let someone do all the hard work.

Later. The delivery was on time. We got a call from the driver to say that he would be with us in around 45 minutes. We certainly couldn't fault the timing and efficiency. So, before we could begin the construction of the new shelving unit we had to get into the packaging. Very tough cardboard boxing enclosing the various elements of the unit. It didn't take us too long to fathom out how to build the thing, with several cups of coffee to refresh us.

By the evening we began to put some of the books back. Fortunately the largest books fit into the shelves. We weren't expecting these larger volumes to fit, so it's pleasing to be able to put them in the unit, although there are some which are still too big to fit in. The new unit fits the space which was occupied by the two old bookshelves exactly although we've had to re-angle the television unit to make way for the new unit.

Novel Writing

I've just completed another large section of the novel. I've transferred it all onto Word, and made a few 'tweaks' as I've gone along. I'm really surprised that it runs to a little over 5,000 words. I've read it back and I'm rather pleased with my efforts.

We took a load of rubbish to take to the tidy-tip at Coffee Hall. We never knew this facility was so close and we usually go to the one at Bradwell, so that cut out a long car journey. The one at Coffee Hall is no more than a five-minute drive away. As we began loading the stuff in the car, the sky darkened, the clouds rolled in and it began to rain heavily. Very spooky. Is someone trying to tell us something? It was a really torrential storm with wind and the lot thrown in for good measure, almost as if the special effects people on a movie were having a field day.  Ominous, or what? As I write this it is really warm and sunny.