Tony_S

Yes we did. I had mine done at the chemist at Tarpots last week. I qualified for a vaccine due to an impaired immune system rather than the age criterion. Aditi’s heath conditions and living with a vulnerable person did not qualify her for an NHS jab, her next one will be in the Autumn booster phase. She didn’t particularly want lowering levels of protection between now and the autumn so decided to book a private vaccination at Boots. The choice was Romford or Bluewater. The trip to the big shops was quite nice, it wasn’t crowded. We went into a shop called “Snow and Rock” and looked at rainwear. Aditi was of course drawn to the most expensive range they had (without even seeing a price tag). They didn’t have her size in stock though. Bluewater doesn’t look like a place in decline, our nearest shopping centre/mall looked shabby when we last went but it was a late evening just before closing so perhaps not a totally fair comparison. Tony

I was just checking the traffic for our route to to the big shops. I looked at the last mile as I think we may head for a different car park. Anyway a couple of stores popped up as places of interest on Google maps. Out of all the stores at Bluewater on my map “Mappin & Webb”, and “Build a Bear Workshop, Take home a new furry friend today” were specifically marked. I wonder if they pay for this or it is based on my cookies or similar.

Morning all. Hours of continuous sunshine are forecast, but we are going out to another county. After breakfast , and hopefully after commuter and school traffic we are off to Bluewater in Kent so Aditi can have a Covid vaccine. We could have gone to Romford but it wasn’t a difficult choice. I am sure there will be time for lunch and I expect visits to various shops. We used to go to Bluewater frequently but all that stopped in 2019. My Dartford Crossing account is still valid. Some people didn’t respond to the log on and update payment messages last year and have been crossing assuming their accounts were in place. Tony

Aditi went off to watch ballet in Basildon this afternoon and I thought I would go out and do some modelling. I didn’t. I won’t be tomorrow either, we are crossing the big bridge (not the one to Canvey Island). We are off to Bluewater. Aditi has booked a private Covid vaccine from Boots. We haven’t been to Bluewater since 2019 so we can see what has changed. Hopefully then John Lewis sandwiches will still be ok! Tony

My last three cars were built in Halewood. I don’t think they were pining for the Fords though.

And to think she had been worried about Romainers…

Some episodes in the first series of “Bluey” got through the Australian tv standards but were removed before showing on he Disney + channel. Some were edited by the BBC too. All,are broadcast now, no censoring. Not sure if the term “dingleberries “ survived though. The only episode I believe that wasn’t approved in Australia showed dangerous play in a bathroom.

I didn’t know about those, I thought they all came from Halewood in Liverpool.

I can pass any of the standard colour vision tests but Aditi sees more subtle shades than I do, when I think things are the same colour and of course they are not. If left to my own resources I would probably have chosen rather plain curtains. We do work well as a team because Aditi will choose three patterns and if I don’t like one that gets eliminated. Then of course there is the excitement of finding out if enough metres of the material are in stock somewhere in the UK. She is definitely a good person to take when buying a car. She has no embarrassment about pushing for discounts, and asking what does this mean in the bill? Years ago when salesman tried to talk to her about the lovely colour she would ask about fuel economy and how fast it could accelerate. She told one chap she had taught motor mechanics for years. She didn’t say it was General Studies she had taught though! I don’t ever really wear bright colours, I am definately drawn to the drab spectrum.

I was sitting waiting to see Aditi get her degree conferred. This was at the Barbican in London. The woman sitting next to me said how lovely it was to see one’s child graduate. I replied that I wasn’t seeing my child I was married to one of those graduating. The sheer look of horror that someone my age might possibly be wed to one of the bright young people marching across the stage was amazing. I did point out that my spouse was the short woman with a floppy doctoral hat sitting in the middle of a row of ecclesiastical gentlemen and military officers .

Mine is all from different manufacturers! Though some people may not agree it is hifi as it set up as a cinema surround sound system. It can be set to stereo and the two main speakers are also sold as stereo pairs. Before I got the hearing aids I had to fiddle a lot with the processor settings to hear TV sound. No problem now though. I have just had my hearing aids tweaked and Aditi asked me to turn the TV sound up as it was too quiet.

I don’t do very well choosing curtains. There just seem to be so many fabrics and I think my poor brain gets confused. Also my optical processing clearly isn’t as precise as Aditi’s. Last time I “helped” I was told what I liked was for children. The kitchen was easy it had wooden Venetian blinds. We did have people from curtain firms come to advise us but they generally pushed the “High Essex” style involving swag, flounces , multiple pelmets and rosettes. Also fitting curtain rails wasn’t something the builder of this house contemplated. Most require drilling in to steel girders. The front bay window curtain rail needed three different types of fixing including one I made up from a plastic plug inserted into a large metal plasterboard fitting.

Well probably preferable to clippers via the other access route.

I had never heard of them until you posted the photo but I can’t resist finding out about a new duck and they were bred originally from Mallards in Pomerania. They are meaty and can fly but don’t much. Popular as lawn and pond birds, that was an American source. Our nearest RSPB reserve is so near civilization there is a good 5g signal so,I can research the birdies (mainly water fowl) we see instantly. I am enthusiastic but really ignorant about birds. Hoping to get better.

We went to see the National Trust “Back to Backs” in Birmingham. My Grandmother was born and raised in a nearby street. The NT place was just as described. Outside loos , communal laundry area etc. Outside water pump. My mother said the house she was born in had an inside tap but that was all. The Birmingham City Corporation decided that all the slum housing needed to be cleared and built huge council housing estates creating new suburbs. These were good houses with modern facilities like indoor toilets and bathrooms.. My grandfather had years of work working as a builder on those estates and the family moved into one, using a borrowed market barrow from Aston to Acocks Green. The good houses with lots of parks were very much a concern of the Chamberlain family who were running Birmingham.

Is it because according to one website, they are not keen on flying and were originally bred for meat and eggs?

We went to a local bird reserve a couple of years ago and went into one of the hides. There was a chap in there with all the kit, camo clothing, telescope, cameras with long lenses and he was identifying all the rare ducks on the reservoir to the other people,in the hide. Irritatingly he was also smoking away! However even with our then not too powerful binoculars it was obvious that every rare duck he identified was a mallard.

Looks like Guinness too. The last proper Guinness went in the casserole. So I have a can of the Zero to accompany it for lunch.

Guinness draught ( in cans at home) when I am out would often be what I would drink if I wasn’t sure about other beery offerings. The very few pubs we do,visit often have seasonal ales that look,wort a try. The Guinness Zero as my choice when driving is definately better than my previous choice of diet cola. It isn’t quite “Guinness” but probably worth a try. My near neighbours who are very very keen on Guinness (especially when watching their rugby team) are very much in favour of it when alcohol is not appropriate. It certainly isn’t dreadful like some low alcohol,zero alcohol beers used to be.

I just reported what happened to Mum. I didn’t need an explanation of research protocols. It is like when Matthew was racially abused at infant school the head teacher explained it couldn’t have happened as they had an anti racism clause in their mission statement.

I explained the situation where my mother had been told she could only start treatment if she took part in a trial. You explained the process that happened in trials. IT DID NOT HAPPEN like that. I am very aware of research protocols and knew what should happen. So how does telling me what should happen when it didn’t change the facts. It looked pretty much to me that you were saying it couldn’t happen after the 1960s and therefore what we said didn’t happen. It did. Not every lay person is incapable of reading a research document.

Aditi is off to the cinema at the Basildon Festival Leisure Park (aka BasVegas) to watch some live ballet. Live as in live when it was recorded last week. I was looking at what is on at the cinema and there is quite a range of stuff to see, not just the latest releases but ballet and opera, and foreign language films some dubbed, some subtitled. Aditi and friend are having a meal in one of the many restaurants nearby before the performance so hopefully won’t need to buy the cinema mega deal meal,of hot dogs, bucket of cola and popcorn which seems to be popular . My task is to monitor some washing and take our postal votes round to the post box. Tony

On our very infrequent trips to pubs for meals, where it is usually my turn to drive, I have replaced Diet Coke with Guinness Zero or Moretti Zero.

So, basically my mother and I were telling lies. It wasn’t the 50s or 60s. I think the consultant was bullying an older woman and backed down when she said someone had read the information about the trial. I think he deserved to have an interview with an ethics committee. The whole treatment environment changed when she moved to Worcestershire. I have signed up for loads of research projects and I have been fully informed before consent with no pressure. My mother’s situation was utterly different.

Vinyl sales are increasing and I think it is younger people buying them. Perhaps you are “trendier” than your sons. All my vinyl is old, I haven’t bought any new stuff on vinyl though, still cd or digital.