OU. The event was held at the Exhibition and Conference Centre on UWE’s Frenchay campus, in one screened-off end of possibly the largest room I’ve ever been in. Met a few other people doing similar work, and discovered that Hoa chose Reading for his degree because of the Festival – as good a reason as any, I guess. The day’s main distinguishing feature was the inordinate length of time it appears to take to get from MK to Bristol.
In a determin
ed attempt to up the cardio with a view to improving energy levels, went out for a bike ride at 7am on Saturday morning. Took in Walnut Tree, Kents Hill and Monkston, keeping to redways, before returning to the house 
for a fully-justified bacon roll. Met Ruth from the station at around midday and returned to the house via Homebase for emergency purchase of an extra pillow and a planter for Ruth’s office plant which, for reasons not entirely clear to me, is being boarded out with me for the time being. We went for a late afternoon visit to the Peace Pagoda, in the north-east of the town by North Willen Lake. Milton Keynes’ Peace Pagoda was apparently the first such to be built in Europe, with the original having been built at Hiroshima after World War II as a symbol of peace. It’s maintained by a group of monks
and nuns from the Nipponzan Myohoji sect who live in the Japanese temple near the pagoda – I had had no idea this was there but we wandered along to see it and had a look at the garden, which the public are apparently free to visit. Encouraged by the thought that MK might be full of hidden gems. Next stop the National Badminton Museum.
Dave and Hazel stayed with us on the Saturday night on their way back from a 40th birthday party in Bedford. After a pastry-fest on Sunday morning, they set off to visit my parents while we pondered what to do with the day and discarded various plans as too National Trust-y/dull/involving too much effort. Ruth felt unaccountably knackered so stayed in for a snooze but I felt the need for at least some activity, so went for another exploratory walk over
the footbridge (the Geograph picture is looking back towards Old Groveway) and past the new Ashland housing development before heading along a seemingly re-routed Redway south down Saxon Street. Called in at the Bletchley Tesco for a few things before heading back along the shore of Mount Farm Lake - lots of anglers – and back up Marlborough Street to the house. Not an overly scenic walk but counted as a bit of exercise. We roasted a little free-range chicken in the evening with a series of rather random accompaniments.
Amid much fanfare, the entire MK site has been issued with ultra high-tech phones designed for use with Microsoft Lync, a communications/contacts-storing system I haven't quite worked out yet. The week the new phones were installed, IT sent round an email with the somewhat alarming subject line 'LYNC DEPLOYMENT OF STRATEGIC UNITS' (a casual reader might have thought that troops were being deployed around the OU) containing details of deployment dates and locations of the new units. The new phones are pretty and have a lovely ringtone reminiscent of windchimes (in fact makes one want to sit and listen to it, rather than answer the phone), but they are proving a bit of a mystery and are evidently so integrated with your PC that they won't work at all unless a) your PC is switched on and b) there is evidence that you are interacting with your PC. If you don't touch your keyboard or mouse for more than about five minutes, their lights appear to switch from green (indicating you are available) to amber, indicating that you are 'inactive', and promptly sends all your calls to voicemail, even if you were innocently rootling through a filing cabinet on the other side of your office while waiting for a call. Actually managing to listen to voicemail messages seems to be another uphill struggle, made slightly irritating as I have been on Query Week this week. Sara and Jan, our admin support ladies, were evidently
trying to sort out the volume problems with voicemail this morning by tweaking their speaker settings, though I (and probably others) were surprised when a few lines from the Abba song Chiquitita blasted out from their office - perhaps a feature of the new phones I haven't discovered yet.
Met this cheeky chap sitting on my car this evening - I had noticed cat footprints on the windscreen so this would explain it. The car park outside seems to serve as one big lounging area for a gang of cats.
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