With no help from Copilot

Bins

I tried putting the contents of this week’s blog into “copilot” – the AI helper on “word”. It came up with six different versions of how I should write this – all of them trite but grammatically accurate. I just didn’t like the styles or the way it handled the contents; flowery, incorrect interpretation of the key ideas, off topic. You name it, I didn’t like it.

As I write this in my own way, there is a gale blowing outside. I have just spent a couple of hours in the garden trimming the dead stuff while the wind has been blowing the twigs all over the place. I have cleaned it up to the best of my ability but I need to get back out in the garden when the wind calms down to have a real tidy.

The storm Éowyn has been gusting at 114mph in Northern Ireland since Friday. In Milton Keynes it has been a stiff breeze. Nonetheless, it tipped over the rubbish bins and scattered them across the road around Danielle’s place. I walked Ezra-Mae to school in the wind. She kept asking why the few bins still standing hadn’t been knocked over! Good Question. After the fourth or fifth time of asking I was ready to knock them over myself just to change the subject.

The Lantern Festival in Wolverton was cancelled due to a severe storm before Christmas and has been rescheduled for this weekend. Danielle has needed all this time to get her lantern together. It looks lovely - far too good for one small outing. Wolverton is a great place for community - everyone pulls together and there is always something happening. The Lantern Festival is testament to these efforts. Two wonderful Caribbean bands played the whole route. It reminded us of The Bahamas.

Frosty

Getting ready for the procession

Ezra-Mae with Frosty. Frosty is smoking a cigar

One of the lanterns

Juggling - a family tradition

Ezra-Mae with a diablo 

Reading and listening to the news gets the blood heating up - it's cheaper than central heating. I have now heard it all - Trump and genius in the same sentence! Who would have imagined that collocation six months ago? That has to go down as an oxymoron of 2025. George Orwell must be laughing in his grave. A piece of news on a much smaller scale is the future viability of the British Council. Apparently it is failing. Another surprise! Scott MacDonald is quoted in the Guardian as saying the British Council : ".... have gotten away with....! No wonder we are on the way down! 

This is the month that everything needs to be paid for – car insurance, TV licence, annual subscriptions, tax… the bills turn up in shed loads. By the end of this month I will have been in the UK for five years and where has that time gone? I look back to when I arrived in the UK on Eurostar and wonder what happened to the intervening years. They have slipped by in a blur. I mark the passing of time as the bills land in my inbox. A cheery way to celebrate!

I am also marking the passing of time to my op with “last time” activities. The last tennis game, the last swim, the last drive, the last cycle ride. I am not looking forward to being a crock but I feel assured that I will be better when I come through the other side some months down the road. Meanwhile, I’ll certainly have more time for blogging! Watch this space!