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1 April 2022 (Friday)
- Sulking
I’d forgotten just how much space Pogo takes
up on the bed. After a rather fraught night I woke wondering if six inches of
bed space was so much to ask for. I set yet another COVID test going… and it
was positive. How appropriate for April Fool’s Day. I then looked up the regulations for what I
have to do… and found that the official government advice for whatever it is
that I am supposed to do changed today so I read that and read the
instructions issued by work, and booked a PCR test (because
I could), and then carried on looking at the rest of the Internet (as
I do). The admins of the “Lego Instructions:
Share or Sell” Facebook page had deleted the rather immoral event which
someone had created for followers of that page (which was a result for
decency everywhere). It was only a shame that I’d actually
reported the blatant pornography two days ago and it had taken them
that long to respond. And then my piss
boiled. Kent County Council are having a public
consultation about whether or not they should
enforce long-established traffic laws, rules and regulations. Seriously? If
the law says you don’t drive in a bus lane, then you don’t drive in a bus
lane. End of!! You don’t ask the masses if they mind if the law is enforced.
And my piss absolutely vaporised when I filled in
the “equality and diversity” questionnaire. How on Earth does the
colour of my skin, my sexual preferences, or whether I see myself as male,
female or hatstand have any bearing on my ability to follow the law of the
land? Despite the snow I took Pogo and Treacle out
for a walk. We got to the park, but the rain and sleet made for a bitterly
cold walk, and on finding pretty much all of our
usual route blocked by the council’s gardening people we abandoned our walk
and came home. The dogs settled pretty much right away, and
I set off to Tunbridge Wells for a PCR COVID test. As I drove the weather
went from glorious sunshine to heavy snow and back (several times) via
hail, sleet and torrential rain, and the temperature (as measured by my
car’s thermometer) varied from two to eleven degrees depending on what
the weather was doing. I got to Tunbridge Wells where I swabbed
myself (yuk!) and was back on my way home in less than ten minutes. Being at something of a loose end I put “Four
In A Bed” on telly and watched in absolute amazement as some woman was
incredibly critical of everyone else’s cleanliness when she herself ran a
camping site which seemingly hadn’t ever been cleaned. How can you lambast
someone for their toilet being only marginally less than one hundred per cent
perfection when you yourself only offer one bucket (between six people)
to crap in? I then read my Kindle for a bit… and got
rather wrapped up the worlds of Arthur C Clarke. The hours literally flew
past. Again forgetting diets, “er indoors TM”
got fish and chips. Very nice. She’s now packing for holiday. Having spent
some time looking for loopholes in the rules, there aren’t any. The rules say
she can go away on holiday and I can’t. I shall sulk for a bit… |
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2 April 2022
(Saturday) - Still Sulking
It was ironic that I should wake this morning
feeling the best I’ve felt all week, wasn’t it? But such is life. “er indoors TM” and the dogs set
off on their adventure leaving me home alone and sulking, so I made toast,
sent out some birthday wishes, and had a look at the Internet. Over the last few days
I have been rather critical of the weather forecast… perhaps unfairly as I’ve
only ever looked at what the BBC’s forecast has to say. This morning I looked
at both the BBC and the Met Office’s guesses; one felt the current
temperature outside my house was just over freezing point; the other felt it
was five degrees below. If they can’t agree on something they can actually measure, what hope for that at which they have to
guess. And it would seem that the general public’s
love affair with the NHS has
come to an end as public satisfaction with the NHS has sunk to its lowest
level since 1997, with only a third of voters content with the way the health
service is being run and is performing. Public opinion is such a fickle
thing, isn’t it? Only a year ago the masses were standing on the doorstep
clapping like demented sealions for the NHS; now they think it is rubbish. I
can remember saying that the novelty of loving the NHS would wear off, and
that would seem to have happened. Before getting on with the dull housework I
was reading my Kindle whilst sat “on the throne” when my phone beeped
with the news of the publication of a new geocache. I took one look at the
puzzle and decided it was beyond me and not to bother chasing the First to
Find. But two minutes later I wondered how long it
would be before another cache gets published locally, and
told myself that I shouldn’t be so negative. In the cache description there
was a hint, and that which had looked like gibberish suddenly made sense. I
frantically got Googling the common denominator of Benny Hill, Lord of the
Rings, The Simpsons and Narnia and it wasn’t long before I had some co-ordinates.
Mind you I had a minor problem with the first digit of the eastings; my
calculations had the final location of my target either in southern France or
in hyperspace, but bearing in mind that I’ve
actually got a degree in mathematics (I really have!), I checked my
sums and realised I only had to drive two miles down the road to get to where
the cache was. Despite road closures I was soon at the
obvious parking spot where there was another car parked with the engine
running. Had I been beaten? I didn’t recognise the chap in the car. Was he
just the chauffer for some other hunters of Tupperware? I looked across to
the obvious target as described in the hint and couldn’t see anyone. I
wandered over and after a short search I uncovered what I was looking for…
and at that very moment I remembered I was supposed to be ill..
I held my breath and held everything at arm’s length as I did the secret
geo-rituals. And I was the first one to find it as well. Result !!! This was
only my second FTF in over a year. Back in the day I tried to get one a
month. I walked back to my car, and as I got in it,
so the chap in the other car drove away. I wonder what he’d been up to? I suspect he wondered what I’d been up to as
well. I came home and scraped the mud off of my boots. I had planned to mow the lawn but it hadn’t grown much at all since I last scalped
it. Instead I put a load of washing in to scrub (even
though the washing basket was empty yesterday!) and ran round with the
Hoover. I then started planning a Munzee mission for
tomorrow. Tomorrow is the start of the Clan War and
I can Munz in splendid isolation from inside the
car. I sparked up my Munzee app to see that Munzee HQ had given me a present
of fifty Zeds. Zeds are a crypto-currency used in
the Munzee game. One Zed is worth about half a pence,
so whilst fifty of the things isn’t going to make me rich beyond my wildest
dreams, it is better than a kick in the goolies. I then made a cuppa and found that the
chocolate digestive biccies had gone off. You wouldn’t
think a chocolate digestive biccie could go off,
would you? They were foul! I had a little look at the sell-by date and read
the packet and realised the biccies hadn’t gone off
at all. They were mince pie flavour. Have you ever had a mince pie flavoured
chocolate digestive biccie? They are a bit grim. I then alternated the rest of the day between
reading my Kindle, watching “Trailer Park Boys”
and playing “Worms” pausing only briefly to send out for dinner. My “Just
Eat” app called up a kebab and some chips from… I won’t say where, but I
will say it was double the price of the kebabery up
the road, and it fuelled the guts ache the mince pie flavoured chocolate digestive
biccies had started. “er indoors TM” then video-called
from Norfolk, and I spent a few minutes talking with everyone… and sulking
about testing positive for COVID. I must admit that I feel as though I’m
testing positive for COVID as opposed to actually having
the thing, and I think it fair to say that compared to thousands I seem to
have got off very lightly. However that doesn’t stop
me wishing I tested negative. |
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3 April 2022 (Sunday)
- Surprisingly Busy
I woke to a bright morning which was either
four degrees below freezing or two above, depending on which weather forecast
you chose. With toast and coffee at my side I had a look
at the Internet in the forlorn hope that something radical or revolutionary
had happened overnight. I do this every morning, and (as usual) I was
again disappointed. There was a minor row kicking off on one of the local
Facebook pages caused by someone wanting to apply for a council grant toward
their gas and electricity bill. The row was between those who feel that their
every expenditure should be funded by some grant or benefit, and those who
resent that they personally are being expected to fund everyone else’s
reluctance to pay their way in life. As always the
truth of the matter was somewhere between the two viewpoints but the squabble
looked set to run and run. I had a look at my emails; I had a notification
of a new virtual geocache. They are rather rare and being first to find one
of those takes some doing. I saw it was south-east of me… there’s not that
many hunters of Tupperware to the south-east. And then I read the description
properly. It was south east of me… in France. There were (surprisingly) also two new
geocaches relatively locally. One in Charing and one in Dover. But having
been first yesterday, that’s me done for the month. Seeing the washing I did last night was dry I
got dressed (bypassing the ironing board) and went out for a little
adventure, hermetically sealed from the masses inside my car. The first thing I did was to unseal myself. I
needed to scan some physical Munzees to get a Qrate or two (as you do), so I went to an
industrial estate on the outskirts of town where I could be confident on not
meeting anyone. I struggled with those Munzees… The
trouble is that in order to capture a physical
Munzee you have to find the 2-D barcode sticker. Your phone will take you to
where the sticker is… or to be precise, to where the phone used to put out
the Munzee thinks it was put out. And there’s the problem. When you activate
your phone it can take a few seconds (sometimes
up to a minute) for your phone’s GPS to sort itself out. Not everyone realises
this. There are those who stick bar codes to lamp posts, pull their phones
out, do the scan and move on all in less than five seconds. And when someone
like me then comes along to find the bar code I am dependent on any hints or
clues since the actual given GPS location can be up to fifty (or more)
yards out. I couldn’t find the first two I looked for,
and then managed (with varying degrees of difficulty) to scan six Munzees in a deserted industrial estate (to get two Qrates) before sealing myself back into my car. I then drove through town and through Wye
remotely capturing (rather dull) Points of Interest. These are all
virtual Munzees, and (like all virtual Munzees) can be Munz-ed remotely
by just being in the general vicinity. From Wye I drove up to an open field
in Chartham. Seeing no one was about I slipped out
of the car and Munzed like a thing possessed
capping weapons, mysteries and Flat Friends. As I Munz-ed I became conscious of one of the normal people
watching me. This chap followed me across the field, across the level
crossing (and back again), and as I went back to my car
so he got into a car and drove round and round the car park making no secret
of his watching me until I eventually drove off. I drove up to another empty playing field
near Canterbury for gaming Munzees, and from there
up to Boughton. I needed to scan twenty Munzees
which hadn’t been Munz-ed for over a year, and I
needed to do it away from everyone else. According to the Munzee map
there were a load along the footpaths bordering the golf course. I did what I
wanted to do, both in terms of Munz-ing and in
avoiding contact, But… Have you ever been to Boughton golf course?
Membership certainly ain’t cheap; six hours golf
costs more than a year’s premium membership of geocaching or Munzee. Consequently you’d think they would attract a certain sort
of client. I was frankly amazed to find they attracted the sort who swear
very loudly and very frequently. As I walked around the paths
I could hear pretty much every swear word known to science (except “fitbin”) being screamed from all directions. Having achieved pretty much all the Munz-ing I wanted to do today I headed home. As I’d
driven through Canterbury I’d seen queues at the
petrol stations of people panic-buying petrol. There wasn’t any of that
nonsense in Ashford so I panic-bought some from Sainsbury’s before it again
became fashionable closer to home. Once home I made lunch (toast) and had
a look at the smart meter. The thing was laying an egg as we were suddenly
massively over budget for use of gas and leccie.
The nice people at the power company had told it that they’d increased their
charges last week, but had left it to me to tell it
that how much I was paying had changed as well (even though the nice
people at the power company had changed that without asking me!). I had a
little fiddle with the smart meter and had a look at my on-line account. Last
Thursday the price of a unit of electricity was only fifty-seven per cent of
what it is now. Similarly last Thursday a unit of gas cost me only
forty-three per cent of what it costs me today. Over an early tea I watched a film. “Brighton” was the story
of two old couples coming on a day trip to Brighton to re-live and remember
the visits of their youth. It could have been a good film *if* the
film makers had done their homework.
I suppose for anyone who hasn’t lives on the
East Sussex coast (i.e. pretty much
everyone) these trivial details would go completely unnoticed. But I
noticed them… And now it is beginning to get dark outside.
I thought today was going to drag with me doing little but sulk about what I
was missing. What with Munz-ing and sorting the
power bill and telly today has been rather busy, which was probably for the
best. I shall play “Worms” for a bit, then
see what’s happing on that telly… |
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4 April 2022 (Monday)
- Surprisingly Dull
I was up rather early this morning. Having a
rather hopeful idea that I might get a negative rona
test I thought I might load up the car, do a quick tip run just as the tip
opened, and be on holiday by mid-day. However things
didn’t turn out that way. Seeing myself still diseased I made toast and
watched the last episode of “Trailer Park Boys” then loaded up some
rubbish for the tip. I drove the long way there via a rather circuitous route
along which I Munz-ed fourteen rather dull Points
Of Interest. As I drove I
listened to the radio as I do. There was a lot of talk about the ongoing
situation in Ukraine. The general consensus of
opinion is that the Russians have bitten off far more than they can chew, and
the Russian leaders are being accused of war crimes.
In the same breath it was made pretty clear that no
convictions would likely be made. There was a lot of talk about climate change.
Everyone that the pundits on the radio wheeled on talked about the COP26
conference as though the Ukrainian situation hadn’t left it dead in the water
and said that more still had to be done. There was a lot of talk about
changing every aspect of our lives and of carbon capture technology. I got to the tip and as I queued
I deployed some jewels as I forgot to do that on yesterday’s Munzee
adventure. It wasn’t long before the gate opened, and as I suspected I was
pretty much the only person there. I unloaded my rubbish and was away in
seconds. Once home I had a little look-see on-line at
the carbon capture technology that the pundits on the radio had been talking
about. One of the companies mentioned caught
my eye. This Swiss firm uses science to capture carbon dioxide from the
air and to turn it into carbonaceous minerals which can stay locked up in
rocks. I was impressed. The only problem is there isn’t much profit to be
made form this, so I’ve signed up to give them a
regular bung to pay for the removal of fifteen kilograms of carbon dioxide
each month. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. I then had my usual look at the Internet. It
was still there; much the same as ever. Finding myself rather bored I did a little
bit of ironing then played “Star Trek: Elite Force II” for a while
until I got hungry. Over a sandwich I watched a film. “Adventures
of a Taxi Driver” was best described as being “on the crap side”. The standing joke of the film was a
stripper’s pet python called Monty. Monty would be an apt name for a python,
but this one was actually a boa constrictor. During the afternoon everyone else with whom
I was supposed to be on holiday had a rather good walk. I am reliably
informed that a fit of bravado the dogs chased a deer. I spent the afternoon immersed in “Star
Trek: Elite Force II”. Whilst it certainly wasn’t what I originally had
planned for the afternoon, it certainly passed the time. I had some toast for dinner then started
watching episodes of “Orange Is The
New Black”. I originally watched all the episodes four years ago, and
realistically needing something to fill quite a few hours this week, it
seemed to fit the bill. Today wasn’t what I’d hoped for. It was dull… |
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5 April 2022
(Tuesday) - Painting Gnomes, Munzee Gardening
I slept rather well, but
woke feeling as thought I had a cold. Which (I suppose) isn’t that far
from the truth. I made some toast and had a little look at the Internet as I
do most morning. A friend was ranting about the closure of some bus services
near where he lived… Like most people he seemed to have overlooked the sad
fact that buses aren’t public services any more.
They all got sold off and nowadays are run by companies looking to make a
profit. (Little bit of politics – we get what we vote for…) Much the same happened locally. People were
up in arms on Facebook about some particular bus
services going… and then one of the bus drivers (someone on my list of
Facebook friends!) piped up that he drove for one of the lines under
threat and more often than not he was driving an empty bus. After a massive
public outcry the bus route was saved (the G-line)
but still very few people use it. I also saw that there was a new Munzee garden
being created just down the road. A Munzee garden is a load of virtual Munzees deployed on the map in such a way to make a pretty picture. They do make
a pretty picture *if* they are put out in the right place. However if they are put out on top of a whole load of
pre-existing stuff it just looks a mess. I then spent a little while (two hours!)
looking to design a Munzee garden of my own. I eventually got to grips with the software, but
eventually didn’t so much “give up” as “put on hold” since
although I’d got a suitable location, I didn’t know what picture I wanted to
draw. I went outside, fetched in some (three)
garden gnomes and the paints, and spent an hour or so touching them up. The
paint has peeled a bit in the two years since I last painted them (in
August 2020). As I painted I watched more
episodes of “Orange Is The New Black”. I’d forgotten just how graphic
that show can be. Feeling a tad peckish I use the “Just Eat”
app to order up some McLunch. It was surprisingly
easy and using the app I got to track my dinner as it crossed the town and
came through the gate supposedly only to be used for buses, taxis and the emergency services. Flushed with success I then tried to organise
a delivery of odds and ends of shopping that I need. Tesco couldn’t do any
home deliveries at all for a week. Sainsburys could deliver tomorrow morning…
but wanted seven quid for doing so. I shall just make do with what I can forage
from the cupboards. I painted four more gnomes, played a little
more “Star Trek: Elite Force II”, then had anther
look at the Munzee garden creator. As a first attempt I thought I might go
for something geometrical rather than artistic, and actually
managed to complete the project in a fraction of the time I’d wasted
this morning. Having decided what I actually wanted
to do, I got it all done in about forty minutes, and now it is down to fellow
Munz-ers to join in. Effectively what happens is
that rather than sticking a bar code on a dog poo bin, people go to an excel
spreadsheet in my Google drive. This gives the latitude and longitude of the
point where I would like people to deploy a Munzee, and
also what sort I’d like deployed. I’ve stuck a piccie
of what it should look like when it is finished above. Within half an hour of my setting the thing
live, half a dozen people had contributed to it, so as a “proof of concept”
the thing isn’t the abject failure I thought it might have been. I thought today would drag; it didn’t… Still
wish I was away on holiday though. Mind you I got a message from the bosses
saying that they’ve cancelled this week’s leave and put me down as being off
sick. A minor victory, I suppose. |
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6 April 2022
(Wednesday) - Feeling a Tad Grim
I slept like a log. I’ve noticed that over
the last few days I’ve slept well and woken in exactly the
same position as that in which I went to sleep. I don’t seem to move
during the night any more. Is this a “rona thing” or a “not being trampled by
dogs” thing? I started on the daily COVID testing… The
boss tells me that I now have to do lateral flow
tests every day. Do I? I didn’t argue; I just did as I was told. The test was
still positive… as I expected. I made toast and peered into the internet and
sulked as I looked at an album of photos from Norfolk. “er indoors TM”
and the dogs and everyone seemed to be having a good time. And then my piss
boiled. The BBC have apparently decided to cut some of their management and
administrative roles, and someone called June Sarpong was getting the
heave-ho. Apparently Ms Sarpong has been getting over a quarter of a million
quid a year as the BBC’s “director of creative
diversity”. She was supposed to ensure
audiences across the U.K. (from all backgrounds and communities) can
feel that the BBC is for them. And she only worked a three-day week. Doesn’t
this speak volumes about our society in that political correctness is valued
*far* higher than hospitals and schools. Bearing in mind the utter shambles that was
Tesco and Sainsburys home deliveries yesterday I had a look at getting what I
needed from the co-op via Deliveroo this morning. They offered free delivery
on an order over ten quid and claimed it could be with me in half an hour. I
pressed the buttons and while I waited I got on with
my plan for the morning. With rain forecast for mid-day I thought I
might quickly mow the lawn before the rain, then afterwards I might
pressure-wash the front garden. Despite having the word “wash” in it,
this is a job which generates a lot of mess, and always looks better after
the rain has washed away much of the muck. Ideally the rain which had been
forecast for mid-day would wash away much of the muck. It was a good plan… I thought that as I waited for the Deliveroo
chap I might make a start getting the front garden swept and ready for the
pressure washing. As I swept up I saw a bit of
rubbish… it was nicer-next-door’s milk bill. nicer-next-door
get their milk delivered to the doorstep from one of the local dairies. Their
milk bill for March was sixty quid. Sixty quid(!) Part of my morning’s
Deliveroo order was four pints of milk; that was one pound fifty and two of
those four-pint bottles would last the two of us (if I wasn’t abandoned
“home alone”) for a week. I think it fair to say that our monthly milk
bill is under fifteen quid. Sixty quid – I’m all for supporting small
businesses, but someone somewhere is having a laugh. As I stared at the milk bill in amazement so I saw the Deliveroo chap walking up the
street. He was amazingly quick; arriving only twenty-five minutes after I’d
put in the order (suck on that Tesco and Sainsburys!). However he’d brought the rain with him. I abandoned the plan to go out to the back
garden and mow the lawn. Instead I got out the
pressure washer and scrubbed the front garden. Scrubbing it in the rain meant
that I didn’t have to deal with the half-wit who lives down the road who
hates pressure washers and always comes and whinges and me about all the
water it generates (that I sweep into the gutter). With pressure washing pressure washed I spent
the afternoon alternating between “Orange is the New Black” and “Star
Trek: Elite Force II” until it was dinner time. I used my “Just Eat”
app to send out for a Chinese takeaway that was something of a
disappointment. Sadly Chinese takeaway is usually a
disappointment. I get one, think “well… that was crap”, and after a
couple of years forget that it was crap, order
another and remind myself why it has been two years since I last got one. I then spent much of the evening sulking with
a stomach ache… as well as feeling rather under the
weather with the rona. |
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7 April 2022
(Thursday) - Still Feeling Grim
I woke feeling like death warmed up. I wanted
to lay in bed, but the backache was against it, so I got up, and the backache
soon went. I made toast (with the bread that Deliveroo fetched yesterday)
and peered into the Internet. As I scoffed I saw an advert
from Wren medical asking for people who’ve had a positive rona test in the last week to contact them, and offering
twenty-five quid to take part in their research. Something for nothing is
always worth having so I left them a message. There was a lot of consternation being
expressed about the state of the county’s motorways on Facebook this morning.
With a shortage of ferries and everyone wanting to go on holiday, the
county’s motorways are gridlocked, and the A-roads are feeling the pinch too.
“Operation Brock” would seem
to have failed, and had I been up to driving I wouldn’t have got
anywhere. I had an email from Geocaching HQ. They’ve
given me another series of Adventure Labs. I was rather cynical about the
first set I got (which I didn’t really do very much with) but my second set (Lenham
church) and my third set (a tour of Great Chart) have proved
rather popular. I just need to find somewhere for this fourth set to go. I’ve
got a couple of ideas… The COVID app on my phone said I was allowed
out of the house today but I wasn’t feeling on top
form, and the state of the county’s roads put me off of going anywhere. So I spent the morning pootling in the garden. I got the
lawn mowed and hacked back the roses, clematis and
assorted plants pouring over the fence from not-so-nice-next-door’s
garden. It has to be said that for all that he was “a
colourful character”, he liked his garden, and in the years since he has
seemingly disappeared their garden has somewhat gone to seed (both
figuratively and literally). Seeing that not-so-nice-next-door‘s
car wasn’t outside I took this as a sign that she was out,
and took the opportunity to fix the fence that she won’t fix. I then
pulled the weeds out of the shingle, and moved the
stones about to cover the underlying membranes. I even got a bowl of soapy
water and scrubbed the sails of the garden windmill. After two hours effort
the garden looked much the same as it ever looks. I felt quite worn out after that, so I had a
cuppa and watched another episode of “Orange is the New Black”. Being allowed out of the house I went for a
little walk. I munz-ed along the back streets up to
the station, and back via the corner shop where I got some bleach. The
bathroom plug hole isn’t draining as fast as it might, so I put a couple of
pints of bleach down it, and let it soak whilst I had a sandwich and watched
more lesbidaceous prison drama. It has to be said that “Orange is the New Black” is on
the saucy side. Featuring Kate Mulgrew (out of “Star Trek”) as “the
only one who doesn’t flop them out” it has the double bonus of both saucy
young ladies in the nip *and* a plot. As far as TV dramas go, I must
admit to being a fan of both. After a little sleep (of over an hour)
I gave up on “Star Trek: Elite Force II” as I’d got to a bit I just couldn’t get past despite using all the
available cheat modes. So against my better
judgement I got NeverWinter Nights running on the
lap-top. I’ve wasted days in that game… I shall use some self-control this
time. For tea this evening I microwaved the rest of
the Chinese I didn’t finish yesterday. It tasted far better a day old having
been sitting in the microwave. How does that work? I started today feeling like death warmed up;
I rather chirped up as the day went on. Here’s hoping that’s a good sign… |
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8 April 2022 (Friday)
- Back To NeverWinter
The noise of the bin men woke me this morning
as it does most Fridays. I lay awake listening to them scraping the bins
about the streets. Back in the day everyone had metal dustbins which the bin
men collected and carried from your back door (and returned to your back
door) with far less noise and fuss than the current lot make when
wheeling the wheeled bins a fraction of the
distance. “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”
phoned. She was off to the hospital to have the baby induced. Ideally she would have got a lift, but with the county’s
roads still in uproar she was looking to get the train there. I set yet another COVID test going and left
it to cook. The thing came up positive (as I expected) but nowhere
near as thick and dark as line as I’ve been getting earlier in the week.
Here’s hoping it continues to get fainter. Mind you I’ve still got this
intermittent cough. I went for a little walk to the pet shop to
get puppy food, and to the corner shop to get a sandwich, munz-ing
as I went. Pausing only briefly to periodically Whatsapp
at “er indoors TM” and “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”
and assorted colleagues from work I spent an hour or so in NeverWinter
until lunch time when I scoffed a sandwich whilst watching an episode of “Orange
is the New Black”, before going back to NeverWinter
where I spent much of the afternoon battling with “weak zombies”, “diseased
thugs” and “mysterious assailants”. Tea time came… I was gripped
with indecision. Did I wat a Just Eat set meal for one from the Indian down
the road, or did I want peanut butter on toast. I went for the Just Eat set meal and regretted it. Over sixteen quid for
something which didn’t come close to peanut butter on toast. I’m going back into NeverWinter
for an hour or so… the place is over-run with blood pirates. If I don’t clear
them out, who will? I’d forgotten jut
how easy it is to lose hours in there. So far “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”
hasn’t produced… |
|
9 April 2022
(Saturday) - Still Waiting
That curry I had last night gave me the worst
guts ache and I was up most the night.... I would have been far better off
having had peanut butter on toast. What sleep I did get was filled with
rather vivid dreams about having a wake for a friend who died last July, and was broken with messages from “Daddy’s Little
Angel TM” who intermittently Whatsapp-ed
to tell me that there was no news on the baby front. I managed to stay in bed until I got back
ache, and then set another COVID test going. Still positive, but with the
weakest line you ever did see. I made toast, and
had a look at the Internet. It was still there (as if it wouldn’t be).
A friend was ranting about how much her leccie bill
had gone up. Seemingly oblivious to current affairs she had no idea that the
price hike was coming. I would say that it amazes me that people don’t keep
abreast of the news, but the reason I listen to Radio Four is to force myself
to keep up to date with what is happening in the world having found myself
equally oblivious to current affairs in the past. I sent out birthday wishes to three birthday
boys. One I see periodically through hunting Tupperware, one who used to be
quite active in kite flying, and someone who was my bestie back in the mid seventies when we were both inmates at the Hastings
Academy for Budding Geniuses. I’ve not seen Dave in person since he gave me a
lift home from Reading in the mid-nineties, but I love Facebook because
through it I am still in touch with him. Hearing that there was still no news on the
baby front I got dressed, had a very quick tidy-up
and sparked up NeverWinter Nights (because I
could). I’ve been reliably informed that NeverWinter Nights (and many old games from twenty
years ago) simply don’t run at all on Windows 10. They do… *if*
you are either a genius, or watch instructional
videos on You-Tube. If you’ve got an old game you
want to play I am reliably informed this works with a *lot* of games. Firstly install the game in
a folder on your computer but not in the program files. Find the file which launches the program. It
will be named “something-or-other .exe”. re-name it whatever you like but
take off the .exe bit. And when you then click on it, it runs the game.
Worked for me, I spent quite a bit of time in NeverWinter today, periodically messaging with “Daddy’s
Little Angel TM” (who was in the local hospital) until “er
indoors TM” came home with Pogo and Treacle. It was amazing
just how quiet the house had been without them… Despite having been induced twice, “Daddy’s
Little Angel TM” still shows no inclination to squeeze the
baby out. I hope she don’t’ shift it before mid-day tomorrow – I’ve got
plans… |
|
10 April 2022
(Sunday) - Additions To The Family
I woke to a text message. Waters had broken
at four o’clock and (apparently) there was a lot of swearing going on
at the hospital. As I had a shave yet
another COVID test incubated. This one was negative… that was nice. Having
missed a holiday to which I had been looking forward for months, I am now fit
to go back to work tomorrow. I made toast and had my usual root around the
internet. It would seem there are moves afoot to sort out the stupidity at
the local tip. During lockdown the council brought in a scheme by which you
could only turn up at the tip by appointment (booked some time in advance).
The council then confirmed that the public liked this idea by holding a
public consultation that they didn’t publicise… The scheme doesn’t really work for me – I
don’t really know when I’m going to have a load of rubbish for the tip, and
when I do I have no idea if it is a couple of bin bags or a couple of car-fulls. It has been suggested that the appointment system
be kept for the weekends, but be dropped during the
weekdays. A sensible compromise… you can sign the petition by
clicking here. And the White Rock Theatre in Hastings has
announced its pantomime
for next Christmas. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to be prepared, but… next
Christmas? It’s only April. I walked Pogo and Treacle round the block,
and once home they were soon both settled. We were just about to set off when
the phone rang. News from the hospital. “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”
had been taking a while to produce, but the baby had arrived. Such a shame
that the hospital has a “no visitors at all - grandparents can piss off”
policy. But unvisited granddaughters notwithstanding
we had a plan for today. We set off up the motorway. All week long I’d been
listening to the news saying about “Operation Brock” and how the motorway
was closed. We were able to drive up the motorway London-bound (albeit at
only fifty miles per hour). For the first ten miles there was nothing
coming back the other way. Now that was not “not much traffic”. That
was “absolutely nothing at all”. After ten miles we saw one lorry
coming down the motorway. And then there was about one lorry every half-mile
or so until we got out of the “Operation Brock” bit at the junction by
Leeds Castle. There had been absolutely nothing in the
coast-bound carriageways, and absolutely no reason at all for them to be
closed. It wasn’t long before we were in Meopham where we collected the puppies. During the week
I’d been having second thoughts. A year ago we had
four dogs and (much as I loved them all) four dogs was too many. But I
took one look at the puppies and realised we’d done the right thing. Both
babies were quite happy to be picked up, and once Ellie-Dog-Lady had
said goodbye we set off home-wards. We had taken up a dog-carry-bag to
transport them in, but we thought they might be frightened in it. So as “er
indoors TM” drove I held them as they slept. We broke up the journey by calling in to see
Karl, Tracey and the girls. The puppies had a drink,
we had a cuppa, and chief dog wrangler got to see that which she would be
wrangling over the next few walks (and years). We were almost home when little boy pup was
nearly sick all over me. Needing collars and tags we stopped off at Bybrook Barn. We’ve got collars and leads from them
before and always found their stuff good and their staff helpful. As we tried
on collars and were fussed by an adoring public so little girl pup tried to
pick a fight with a rather huumgous Alsatian.
She’ll fit in just fine with the other women of the family(!) And so home for what could have been rather
awkward… introducing the babies to Pogo and Treacle. I sat in the front
garden with the babies, and “er indoors TM” fetched Pogo
and Treacle out. The introduction went about as well as could be expected,
and we all then walked through to the back garden where we spent an hour or
so getting to know each other. The little boy seemed quite amiable and
friendly. The little girl seemed rather frightened of everyone and everything
and feels she needs her brother to protect her. Pogo still looks at them with
a “WTF” expression, and Treacle has (so far) mostly pretended
to studiously ignored them. I took quite a few photos
of the puppies while we were in the garden… shame they weren’t good
photos. Little girl did a tiddle in the garden, and three poops on the carpet
when we came inside. Having set up a dog crate for the puppies, they set up
their own little nest under the dog ladder (which is there for dogs to get
to the sofa) and promptly went to sleep. “er indoors TM” came up with a
decent bit of dinner, and with it scoffed I sat in front of the telly. I had
the small babies to my right, and (rather amazingly) Treacle came and
sat on my left. She slept as the babies growled at the telly. The little girl
seems to really dislike the telly. She’ll have to get used to it… |
|
11 April 2022
(Monday) - Small Dogs
I lay awake for much
of the night listening for the sounds of crying puppies but heard nothing; they
seemed to have had a good night. I suppose having got the pair of them as a “double
act” each has a known quantity with them in a strange new world. They
both seemed pleased to see me as I let them out of their crate, and then both
tiddled all over the place. It was a shame that “er indoors TM”
had hidden the newspapers and the puppy pads we’d got for this very reason.
As I blotted the tiddle with toilet roll so Bailey (the lighter smaller
little girl) snatched it from my hand and started shredding it. I managed to shave
with puppies running round my ankles… then realised it was quiet. The pair of
them were eating one of the living room rugs. I got a whiff of
something unpleasant as I was pouring out my coffee. One of them had done a
rather impressive turd. It must have been Morgan (the
larger darker one) as the turd was as long as
his sister. Both were swarming at
me as I sat down with my brekkie, so I lifted them onto the sofa where
thankfully they both immediately fell asleep. They are quite the little
whirlwinds. I had a little look
at Facebook as I do most mornings. The photos I’d posted of the puppies had
got a lot of “likes”, as had the photos of new granddaughter that “er
indoors TM” had posted last night. I didn’t think visitors
were allowed on the post-natal ward but would seem that “Daddy’s
Little Angel TM” had told the nurses that her mother was
coming in to see the baby, and that was the end of it. I would like to have
been allowed in, but I’m sure my time will come. And I registered the
negative COVID test that I somehow managed to get this morning in between the
puppy mayhem. Having been positive all the time I could have gone away on
holiday last week, now that I’d got two consecutive negative tests I could go
back to work. That was nice. I put the sleeping
babies back in their crate and set off to work... as I got to my car I remembered that I had planned to use my new pump
thingy to check the tyre pressures last week, and had forgotten all about it.
I drove up the motorway at a steady fifty miles per hour once I'd got on to
it. As is so often the case, junction nine London-bound had a stream of
traffic nose-to-tail in the slow lane determined not to let anyone on to the
motorway. I try to pull over as I approach motorway junctions to let people
on; it seems I am in the minority. And just like
yesterday the coast-bound carriageway was closed to traffic for no sensible
reason whatsoever, and the "Operation Brock" bit featured a
dozen (certainly no more than twelve) slow-moving lorries spread out
over the fifteen miles of the "Operation Brock" bit. No
lorries were stacked at all. I could see no reason whatsoever for the
coast-bound carriageway to be closed. There may well have been traffic mayhem
in Dover, but that was over twenty miles away. The current
reasons being given for "Operation Brock" being in place
really seem to have been devised by someone who clearly has no idea what is
actually happening across the county. Why close a motorway to use as a lorry
park if you aren't going to park lorries on it? As I drove the
pundits on the radio seemed to be obsessed with the ongoing elections in
France. I don't know why; from the turn-outs at
elections it is clear that the average radio listener in the UK has very
little interest in UK elections, let alone French ones. I got to work and
spent much of the day messaging with “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”,
showing photos of granddaughter to those who liked babies, talking about
puppies to those who liked dogs, and generally catching up on what I'd missed
over the last two weeks whilst I'd been off. And there was
posh biscuits at tea break too. Not a bad way to spend the day really. Five
years ago I really hated going to work, and was
constantly on my guard wondering what a bullying management would do next. It
really is quite wonderful not feeling physically sick at the thought of going
to work. The journey home was
far better than I thought it would be. The traffic kept moving down the A20 (albeit
slowly at times) and I was only twenty minutes later home than usual. I came home to an
empty house; “er indoors TM” had taken all four dogs out.
Pogo and Treacle on their leads, Morgan and Bailey
in a carry-bag. I am reliably informed that this wasn’t her best idea. We then had something
of a “dog evening”. There’s still a lot of sorting of the pecking
order going on with Treacle desperately trying to assert herself. Morgan
seems to be every bit as greedy as Pogo. Bailey has learned to use the dog
ladder to the sofa. And both babies are still in the very early days of potty
training. It’s all quite a big
adventure… |
|
12 April 2022 (Tuesday)
- A Small Baby
I came downstairs as quietly as I could this
morning. I got into the living room and instantly there was a very excited
squeaking from both of them. We had five minutes of
fuss and cuddles, then went into the garden. Both pups had a tiddle (which
I saw as a major result), then we came in where I tried to have a shave.
When they weren’t constantly squeaking for a fuss
they were into mischief, with Morgan trying to make off with a bath towel
before crapping on the living room carpet. For many years breakfast has been a rather
special time for me. A time of peace and tranquillity before the rigours of
the day. I expect it will be again in a year or so. However right now
breakfast is something akin to trying to eat toast in a maelstrom. After half an hour’s mayhem both sat on the
sofa with me and went to sleep. I didn’t turn the telly on this morning;
Bailey doesn’t seem to understand what a telly is, and barks at it. For a
tiny dog she is incredibly gobby. I settled the babies back in their crate and
got ready for work. As I drove up the motorway
I was strangely pleased to see queues of lorries parked up along the
motorway. If it is being closed to be used as a lorry park, it should actually be used as a lorry park. A shame that no cars
were coming down the contraflow bit though. As I drove so a police car sped past with
blue lights flashing, only to find itself stuck behind a white van the driver
of which deliberately blocked the carriageway so the coppers couldn’t get
past. After a couple of minutes the van got out of
the way, but the driver was definitely making a point. I got to work where I did my bit as best I
could. Last week when I actually had COVID I felt a
tad under the weather and had a bit of a cough. Today (when testing has
proved I’m over it) I felt like death warmed up. I’ve heard that quite a
few people have had this; the post infection lethargy is often worse than the
disease itself. As I walked out of work “Daddy’s Little
Angel TM” phoned. Apparently she’s
got herself moved into a side-room all of her own, and so is now allowed
visitors. Did I want to come to see the littlun? And if I did, did I fancy
bringing chocolate McMilkshake with me? The roads home were
busier than yesterday, but not as bad as they might have been. I got to the
hospital easily enough, delivered McMilkshake, and
spent half an hour fussing the littlun. Despite being tiny (less than four
and a half pounds), she’s feeding well, and can be quite demanding when
she’s not quite finished having a scoff. I came home to dog mayhem; the puppies have
learned to climb the stairs. Well, not the entire staircase but enough stairs
that they can go up and get stuck. It can be all rather chaotic when the
puppies are charging about, and as is the case with babies the world over,
everyone sleeps when they sleep. I’m worn out with it all..
I’m thinking about an early night and deliberately going to bed rather than
waking up on the sofa with a neck ache in an hour’s time. |
|
13 April 2022
(Wednesday) - So Tired
I woke feeling like
death warmed up, but forced myself up. Again I had another morning of mayhem with the puppies.
After a little “”hello session” which generated quite a few spots of
tiddle we went out to do our tiddle properly. Or that was the plan. We just
carried on having a fuss in the garden, then came in and had a tiddle and a
poop where it was warmer. As I shaved, both
puppies chewed on the bathroom doorstop, and as I tried to make toast so we found the squeaky toys that Treacle had taken
away from us last night. Treacle is quite funny – she has never let Pogo play
with any of the dog toys, and now she can’t keep up with three dogs from
which to take the dog toys. She doesn’t want the toys for herself; she just
doesn’t want anyone else playing with them. The noise of the squeaking
obviously woke Treacle who came downstairs, looked at the puppies with an
expression of “oh no – it wasn’t just a bad dream” and then went back
to bed in disgust. After having been up
for half an hour I sat down with the lap-top and spent ten minutes trying to
stop the puppies from chewing it, and after forty minutes of being little
whirlwinds the puppies both fell asleep. As they so obviously
dreamed so I peered into the Internet. Eventually. The Firefox browser wasn’t
having it, and Chrome wasn’t overly keen on doing much either. Eventually I
got into Facebook and saw the photo of me and the llittlun
I’d posted last night had got responses from a hundred and fifty people. It
was at this point that we heard “er indoors TM”, Pogo and
Treacle getting up, and we had a little woofing fit about it. Bailey is quite
a gobby little pup. I set off to work
rather later than usual. The roads weren't as busy as usual; I blame Easter.
As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about our (quite frankly)
shamefully disgraceful excuse for a Prime Minister. He's
been found guilty of breaches of lockdown regulations. Having told the public he was having work-related meetings it turns out
one of these so-called "work-related meetings" was on his
birthday, and his wife turned up with birthday cake. Usually this would be a
matter of the utmost indifference, but this was at a time when the country
was in lockdown. No one was allowed to meet with anyone outside of their
immediate family unless there was a clear and serious reason. People (like
my mum) were dying alone without saying goodbye to family and friends...
and this chap just showed his contempt for us mere mortals. And the Chancellor of
the Exchequer (who would be the obvious successor) has pissed
on his chips by not only having been on the piss with the Prime Minister
in breach of the lockdown rules, his own wife has been openly playing
fast and loose with her tax returns. Both have received
fines. Both have paid them. And in doing so admitted guilt. They should both
resign. After all, any registered medical professional who breaks the law faces investigation
and usually finds themselves out because (to quote the oft-used phrase)
"your fitness to practise is impaired". But
yet again despite being openly caught out having lied to the public,
our Prime Minister carries on as though nothing has happened. It would
seem that the
office of Prime Minister is held to a far lower standard of conduct than I
am. Work was work. I had
a little look at my annual leave. Having been told that last week was going
down as sick leave I've effectively got an extra week's leave this year,
which is something of a bonus (I'd rather have had the holiday away as
planned last week though!) So I spent a few
minutes booking time off here and there bearing in
mind that if I don't use the holiday, I may well lose it. The journey home was
rather awful this evening, and once I’d run the bigger dogs round the block “er
indoors TM” set off on a mission to deliver nappies to “Daddy’s
Little Angel TM”. Cam you believe that a maternity ward
doesn’t supply nappies for new-borns? Whilst she was out I settled down on the sofa with four dogs and slept.
I’ve never been so tired as I felt this evening. Over dinner we
watched the first episode of the new series of “SAS: Who Dares Wins”.
Following some scandal or other, ex-frontman Ant Middleton has been replaced
by Rambo. The series isn’t what it used to be… |
|
14 April 2022 (Thursday) - Before the Night Shift
I woke feeling rather like death warmed up, but
with no need to be up early I let “er indoors TM” see to the
puppies’ getting up ceremony. I came down five minutes later to be studiously
ignored by Pogo and Treacle. I made toast, and once my lap-top
had finally woken up I sent out some birthday wishes. Seeing pretty much
nothing else had happened on-line I helped to referee dog breakfast, I then took Pogo and Treacle for a walk round the
park. As we walked we carried our tennis balls and
were as good as gold. Unlike some other dogs we met. As we walked so my phone
beeped. Our Munzee Clan had got to Level One for this month. That was a
result. We came home, emptied the dishwasher, put a load
of laundry in to scrub, then had the first lesson of
“dog school”. Treacle has been getting rather shaky at “sit” so
she and Pogo had something of a refresher. They were both very soon up to
speed, but the puppies were a little too over-excited to do it properly (or
at all). After five minutes we called for a recess. I
eventually got the babies into their carrier and we
went to see the vet for a once-over and injections. Morgan weighed in at three point eight
kilogrammes, but wasn’t overly keen on his kennel cough drop up the nose, and
he actually screamed when the injection needle went
in. I’ve never seen a dog even notice the injection needle before. Bailey was tiny at only one point eight kilogrammes, but was as good as gold for injections and
drops up her nose. Mind you there were one or two issues. What we thought was
a rather pronounced belly button was actually a
hernia. The vet thinks it isn’t an immediate cause for concern,
and will surgically repair it when they are both “done” in a
few months’ time. But the vet did wonder if her bloated tummy was a sign of
her having worms. She’s too small for the usual tablets so we’ve got some
juice to squirt down her gullet over the next few days. That should be
entertaining. As we waited to go in and as I did the paperwork afterwards so we growled, grumbled and barked at all the
other dogs in the waiting room. We then came home, and
had more “dog school” while we waited for the washing machine to
finish. Pogo and Treacle seemed to be reasonable au-fait with “sit”,
but the puppies still didn’t have a clue. Still… early days… I pegged out washing for the first time this
year, then messaged with “Daddy’s Little Angel TM” about
how she and the bub were doing. She’s been playing with the breast pump (Eeeewwww!!!). I then set up the puppies’
geocaching trackable tags so that we can log them in as we go hunting for
Tupperware and keep track of how far they have travelled. According to dear
little Fudge’s tag in nine years he travelled over twenty-six thousand
miles. That’s more than going round the world. I had so much planned to do for the morning, but
time had run away from me. I had a quick shower, settled the dogs and went to bed. I slept for three hours despite
Treacle and Pogo taking up a lot of the bed space. After three hours I got up. We fetched in the
washing, and then I refereed the dogs for a while. Treacle wasn’t happy with
Morgan having a squeaky toy. Even though there is plenty to go round. And
Morgan wasn’t happy with Bailey having a chew toy… even though there is
plenty to go round. “er indoors TM”
will be home soon. She can help with the worming treatments, then I’m off to
the night shift for a rest (or that is the plan!) My brother
just phoned – he’s got the rona… |
|
15 April 2022 (Good
Friday) - Puppies' First Adventure
Yesterday I rather tempted fate by writing about
going to the night shift for a bit of a rest. It was one of the busiest I've
had for a while. But as I found a few minutes to skive (just after
four o'clock) I read something which made me think... Some clever people
at the Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm have devised
a mathematical model which predicts how people's opinions about moral
matters such as corporal punishment of children, abortion-rights and how parental
leave should be shared between parents, will change with time. So far their predictions have been right. What I find
fascinating here is that what was science-fiction fifty years ago is
science-fact today. This is *exactly* what Isaac Asimov wrote about. I
wonder if the Second Foundation has already set up shop somewhere? I did my bit overnight, and
was so glad to see the early shift arrive. Early - late? Everything is
relative when you've been up all night. I wandered off to find my car, and was rather miffed to see it was still having its
little episode. Last night as I drove to work so the display between the
tachometer and speedometer had frozen. It can be set to display a range of
things; I like having it as a digital speedometer. Right now
it just shows a schematic picture of a car. Apparently (according to the
Internet) disconnecting the battery for half an hour will sort it out. To
be honest I don't know where the battery is; let alone how to disconnect it. I came home (down the newly opened
motorway) and after a quick wash and brush up we set off out to meet
Karl, Tracey and Charlotte. With good weather
forecast for today we thought we might make the most of it for the puppies’
first big adventure. We had a good walk following familiar paths.
Treacle and Pogo played “fetch”; Morgan and Bailey really seemed to
enjoy just being out. The plan had been to carry the babies
round, but they got to walk for a while too. And seemed to enjoy it all.
Morgan wasn’t overly enamoured with his collar but seemed to be quite content
to walk on the lead. After a couple of hours
we were back to where we’d parked the cars… just over the road from a pub.
And we then spent a couple of hours in a “dog socalisation”
session in which we all sat in the beer garden eating and drinking whilst all
four dogs (with varying degrees of success) ignored what was going on
around them. Not a bad way to spend a Bank Holiday at all. I
took quite a few photos whilst we were out. I slept much of the way home, and once home “er
indoors TM” went of on a
little mission to deliver shopping to “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”.
I sat on the sofa with the dogs and we all slept for
an hour or so until the phone rang. It was “My Boy TM” who
was rather keen to meet the pups. Half an hour later he and Cheryl were round
and were both in love with the babies. We sat in the garden drinking beer
until it got too cold. Cheryl also brought round cheesecake. That
was something of a result… |
|
16 April 2022
(Saturday) - Busy Day
After nine hours asleep I woke feeling like
death warmed up to find Pogo snoring at my feet. “er indoors TM”
and Treacle had gone downstairs to play with the puppies. Treacle has gone
from an utter disdain for the puppies to supervising them when she feels the
need. This morning she was insistent that the puppies didn’t play with a
particular cardboard box. The puppies had no interest in that box until
Treacle had started to guard it. After a while we all lost interest in the
box, and Treacle came and sat with me on the sofa regarding the puppies as
God might judge a rather dubious creation. After a while Pogo came and joined
us, and the sofa became something of a sanctuary from which the older ones
could escape from the mayhem of the puppies. I had a cuppa and peered into the Internet to
see what I’d missed overnight. Someone was asking for details of holiday
cottages on one of the local Facebook pages, and then having a little rant as
every suggestion wasn’t on a regular major bus route that went from their
house. But other than that, not a lot else was kicking off. We settled the dogs and drove down to
Folkestone Harbour where we met up with Jose and Maria at the Captain’s Table
café for a spot of second brekkie. Jose had chips with his. Chips – with
brekkie. That’s just wrong. But it was good to catch up. I’d not been to the
Captain’s Table café before; it was rather good. But (like so many cafés)
the place did echo. I could hardly hear what was being said. We came home via The Range where I got a job
lot of cobblestones. “er indoors TM” dropped me at home (with
the job lot of cobblestones) then went off to collect “Daddy’s Little
Angel TM” and her entourage from the hospital and take them
all home. I got busy in the garden. One of our water features wasn’t so much
a “water” feature as a “green slime” feature. I don’t really
mind the dogs drinking from the water features all the time they are drinking
clean water, but I draw the line at drinking green slime. So
I mucked out the green slime, and I filled what used to be a water-filled
moat with cobblestones, then poured in water. The theory is that with the
water being under the stones it won’t go green. Will that work? Time will
tell; it always does. I then got out the masonry paints and touched
up the digging dog garden ornament and the two badger garden ornaments. It
was at this point that Morgan somehow got white paint all over his nose. I had a tin of fizz and a bag of crisps for
lunch, then used the excess cobbles to fill two planters to make stands for
the badger garden ornaments… it was a shame that there wasn’t
enough cobbles, so I sent a message to “er indoors TM” to
ask her to get some more. I then spent a few minutes pushing the
shingle round the pond about to make sure all the membranes were covered up.
The stones get kicked about by the dogs so much. Ideally
I’d like a couple of inches more depth of stones, but that would be a couple
of tones more stones. Feeling rather exhausted for no reason (post-COVID?)
I sat on our new bench, and the babies immediately wanted to sit on my lap.
Pogo then sat next to me, and Treacle sat on my feet, and there we were for
an hour or so. The babies slept, I read my Kindle app, and Pogo formally
declared the garden to be a “no fly zone” and got progressively more
and more irate at the squadrons of pigeons and seagulls and starlings and
sparrows who insisted on conducting provocative sorties purely to wind him
up. “er indoors TM” came home, and
I went out to her car to get the bag of cobbles. It took less than a minute
to do what I needed to do with them, and then we both went and sat by the
pond for a bit. After a few minutes the nice people
up the road sadly put their music on in their garden. Have you ever put your
music on when you are in the garden? Here’s a tip. No one (no one at
all!!!) likes anyone else’s choice of music in their garden. But to be fair to them they’d not had it on
for most of the day, my dogs hadn’t really been quiet today, and it was
getting cold anyway. I
took a few photos as today went on. Also as today had gone on I’d been looking at
various Facebook pages. Sparks were playing in Bexhill this evening and
having left it too late to get a ticket I was desperately hoping that someone
might have been offering one for sale at the last minute. One person did…but
sadly they got in touch about an hour after what was realistically the last
minute. Next time I will have to book the
ticket earlier… I say “next time”; being in their
mid-seventies I have to wonder just how much longer
they will be going on round-the-world tours. Instead I scoffed a particularly
good dinner that “er indoors TM” boiled up and washed it
down with a bottle of plonk as we caught up on a couple of episodes of “Star
Trek: Picard” that were OK… but only OK. Sadly “Star Trek: Picard”
is all “Picard” and precious little “Star Trek”. And today marks one year since my little
Fudge-dog died… There have been some days over this last year when I haven’t
had a quiet cry about him. But not many. |
|
17 April 2022
(Sunday) - Another Busy Day
With “er indoors TM” going
off on a mission with “Daddy’s Little Angel TM” and “Stormageddon
– Bringer of Destruction TM” later, I thought I’d make the
most of her presence before she went. Leaving her to organise the dogs I got
the lawn mowed. It didn’t take long but is far
easier to do without dogs swarming. As I mowed, in my mind I could hear the voice
of “Nutty Noodle” (the madman who used to live next door) who
would *always* formally order me to stop mowing the lawn whenever I
got the lawn mower out. The grass would be too damp. It would be too early in
the day. It would be too late in the day. The sun would be too high. It would
be too overcast. Every time I would politely smile and tell him that I mowed
the lawn when it was convenient for me to do so and would carry on mowing,
and he would carry on ranting. I wonder whatever happened to him? I made toast and peered at the Internet as
the washing machine had a go at grubby T-shirts. And I sighed. Having been
posting on various Sparks-related Facebook pages for weeks asking if anyone
had a spare ticket for last night’s show in Bexhill
I heard nothing until an hour before the show was about to start… and this
morning several people told me that they had had spare tickets. There are
tickets still available for tonight’s show in London but… Tickets for the
Bexhill show initially sold for thirty quid each. The tickets for tonight’s
show are starting at one hundred and eighteen pounds. And the show is in Camden and I’ve got an early start tomorrow. Interestingly for all that there had been a
lot of talk that the band had asked the audience to ware face coverings,
there were a lot of photos of last night’s gig on-line, and maybe one person
in three was actually doing so. There was also a minor squabble kicking off
on one of the local Facebook groups about why the supermarkets were all
closed today (what with it being Easter). Some “Holy Joe” type
was playing the religion card and said that all workplaces should be closed
today… This annoys me. Imagine their reaction on
turning up at a hospital with a broken leg only to be told to piss off and come back tomorrow. And on one of the dog-related Facebook pages
some woman was banging on about how her dogs have constantly got ticks and
fleas. She wanted to know if anyone had a way to stop ticks and fleas but
only wanted ”herbal remedies”. She’d tried lots already, but none of
them actually stopped the ticks and the fleas. It
was suggested she tried using the various treatments from vets (that actually work) but for some unexplained reason this
was akin to a red rag to a bull. As I peered into the Internet there was an
even bigger squabble kicking off on the sofa as the puppies were quarrelling
over a huge bath sponge that they’d stolen from who knows where. Treacle told
them both off; she seems to have appointed herself arbiter
of puppy arguments. “er indoors TM” set off on her
mission with “Daddy’s Little Angel TM” and “Stormageddon
– Bringer of Destruction TM” and suddenly I was in the
middle of a pile of sleeping dogs. Not daring to move them I spent the hour
or so until they woke doing
some CPD. When they woke I went and sat by the pond. Bearing in mind the time and effort I put into that
pond I really should sit by it more often. The dogs came up with me for
fish-feeding time (they love scoffing any fish food that doesn’t fall into
the water) and then the dogs bimbled round the
garden whilst I sat by the pond and read my Kindle. After a while there was a little “plop”
and some splashing as Morgan fell into the pond. I watched him for two
seconds (no more) and, confident that he could swim (if he had to)
I hoiked him out. “er indoors TM” came home, and we
took all four dogs to the park. Treacle and Pogo played ball for a bit, then
carried their balls. Morgan and Bailey got carried all the way. But an outing
is always good, and one which passes off without incident is even better. We came home, had coffee and cake in the
garden for lunch, then had a phone call. “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”
had strained herself by overdoing it with “Stormageddon – Bringer of
Destruction TM”. So we took the dogs
down to Folkestone to distract grandson. Little Jake loved meeting the
puppies, and he showed me loads of Minecraft videos on “Lube-Tube” (as
he insists on calling it). “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”
and big Jake seemed to like the puppies, which was just as well as they are
dog sitting in a month or so. And I got to cuddle with smallest
granddaughter too. We came home where “er indoors TM”
boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching the
Easter episode of “Doctor Who”. Featuring the first appearance of the
Sea Devils for nearly thirty years it was perhaps one of the better
episodes of that show for some time. Sadly that wasn’t up
against much in the way of competition… |
|
18 April 2022 (Easter
Monday) - Early Shift
It was one of those nights when the (bigger)
dogs were restless. Pogo was seemingly dabbing me on the head all night long,
and Treacle had successfully annexed most of the bottom of the bed. I gave up
any attempt at sleeping and came downstairs as quietly as I could shortly
after five o'clock. But not quiet enough that I
didn't wake the puppies. They woke with a rather sweet squeaking
noise. I let them out of their crate, and as they bimbled
about in half-sleep so Bailey had a little accident. I should have carried
them both straight outside. Morgan managed to get
out before tiddling though, so we had a fifty per cent success rate. I made toast, and with the babies still
sleepy I popped them next to me on the sofa, and they slept as I watched half
an episode of "Orange Is The New Black" before carrying
sleeping puppies back to their crate and setting off to work. As I drove I was
rather pleased to see that the car’s digital speedometer display had started
working again. I'd completely forgotten that it had gone west late last week.
As I drove I listened to the pundits on the radio.
The war in Ukraine is continuing apace, with the Russians clearly utterly
oblivious to international opinion. There was also a lot of talk about the
government's latest scheme to sort out the illegal immigrants coming across
the English Channel in armadas of little boats. Rather than putting them into
detention centres in the UK from which they just walk out (and disappear
into the UK having achieved that which they set out to do), the plan is
to ship
them all out to Rwanda whilst their applications are processed. This seems quite sensible to me. Possibly a
tad expensive, but it solves the problems (doesn't it?) Those genuine
cases can then be brought to the UK. Those non-genuine cases can be deported
back to where they came from. And those who abscond from the detention
centres aren't in the UK anyway and are somebody else's problem. However there were a lot of people kicking off about this
scheme - I'm clearly missing something. There was also an interview with the
president of the National Farmers’ Union who was talking about how more and
more farmers are looking at automation and robotics for picking their produce
now that all the eastern European workers have gone home. She was saying that
it would cost a fortune, but fewer and fewer people seem to be interested in
getting stuck in with the harvest anymore. Interestingly she made the point
that whilst British farmers have quotas of how much land they must devote to
wildlife and to planting trees and to solar panels, there are no national
quotas of how much food they are supposed to grow. You would think that with
the world's bread-basket (Ukraine) now one
big war zone and British ports little more than lorry parks, the government
might be keen to make sure the country has got some sort of food security,
wouldn't you? I got to work and did my bit as I do. I can't
pretend I was overly keen to be working today, but I don't mind really. It
was just a shame that today was far busier that I would have preferred to
have been. And with work worked, I came home. I came home to find “er indoors TM”
had been beavering away like a thing possessed (and still was). I sat
in the garden by the pond for a while feeling absolutely worn out. I seem to
be so tired right now – I blame COVID. “er indoors TM” boiled up a very
good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching another episode of “Lego
Masters: USA”. The contestant who got sent home tonight really had a face
like a smacked arse; she wasn’t happy about getting
sent home. And then we watched two episodes of The
Great Big Tiny Design Challenge in which Sandi Toksvig hosted a show in
which contestants got to make dolls house accessories. It was actually far better than it sounds, and again the losing
contestants really sulked when they got the heave-ho. I might have an early night. The puppies are crapping and peeing like things possessed and are in
something of a “we bite everything” mood which has gone down like a
lead balloon with Treacle, who has now got the right hump. You wouldn’t think
that a dog could get a moody, would you? |
|
19 April 2022
(Tuesday) - Bit Dull
I didn’t really sleep that well last night, waking
far too early and watching the clock for two hours. I stayed in bed until it
was light outside, then got up. As I came downstairs
so the puppies started squeaking, and I bundled them outside where after a
few minutes both tiddled. As I I had a shave,
I smelled a turd. Fortunately
it was on the newspaper. I stood on the scales and saw I weighed in at
seventeen stone. Too much. Let’s see what a week on the Slimfast
does. I had my cafe latte breakfast shake as I watched half an episode of “Orange
is the New Black” before having a rather frustrating little look at the
internet. There were more “DNF” logs on some of my
geocaches including an “I think this one is missing” log. I sighed.
People are so quick to suggest that someone else replace the missing caches
for them, and so slow to actually go put the things
out themselves. But this is a rant I’ve done to death, isn’t it? More people were posting on the Sparks
Facebook pages saying what a shame it was that they couldn’t make the gig at
Bexhill last Saturday and what a shame it had been that their tickets had
been wasted. Before my piss boiled any more
I turned off the lap-top, settled the puppies and set off to work. I walked down the road capturing tridents and
gnome hats (it's a Munzee thing) and then drove some very quiet roads to
Tunbridge Wells. As I drove the pundits on the radio were speaking to the
shadow minister for something or other (shadow attorney general perhaps?).
This woman was trying to stir up politicians and public alike to all rise up
and demand the sacking of the Prime Minister for what she claimed was a
deliberate attempt to mislead Parliament and the public over the "partygate" scandal. Did Mr Johnson deliberately attempt to
mislead Parliament and the public? Probably. It only takes less than a minute
on Google to see he's got a track record here. But sadly this is what we've
come to expect from Boris Johnson, isn’t it?. He has
heard the old adages that "all politicians are liars" and so
gives the public what they expect. He's been doing it for so long that no one
expects any different from him, do they? No one is ever going to undermine Mr
Johnson for claiming that he is "economical with the truth"
because that is exactly why the masses love him. It was claimed this morning
that the public have had enough of his lies. Have they? I wish it were the
case, but somehow I doubt it. There was then (probably) far too much
air-time devoted to the death
of Harrison Birthwistle who was (apparently)
a famous British conductor. Presumably a music conductor, but for all that I
know he may well have been a bus, train or
electrical conductor. I'd never heard of him, and neither had anyone else I
spoke with today. I got to work far earlier than I had expected
today; the roads had been rather quiet. I spent much of the day supervising
one of the trainees. I miss the days of being a training officer. Mind you I
miss very little else of those days, but training was always something I
enjoyed doing. With work worked I came home. Being at Pembury
today I was rather later getting home this evening. “er indoors TM”
came in two minutes after I got home having taken the hounds to the park. I
then helped to referee dog dinner, and we scoffed human dinner as we watched
he second episode of “SAS: Who Dares Wins”. After a rather shaky start
the show seems to be chirping up a bit now. |
|
20 April 2022
(Wednesday) - A Rather Good Present
Another rather restless night sadly. I spend
so much of the evening fast asleep on the sofa, and then so much of the night
wide awake. I got up and carried the puppies outside
where both tiddled. Pooping is still a bit hit and miss, but it is still
early days. I got a strawberry shake and drank it as I watched an episode of
“Orange is the New Black” with the puppies slept cuddled up next to
me; they are either full-on whirlwinds or fast asleep. I sparked up the lap-top and sent out a
birthday wish. This morning my Facebook feed was filled with all sorts of
posts from crackpot religions. Why do people seen to be so obsessed with the
idea that their personal idea of a god loves them and is so wonderful when
the evidence to the contrary is so compelling? With the puppies settled I got dressed, and found that my trousers were missing a button.
Where did that go? As I drove to work the pundits on the radio
amazed me by not concentrating entirely on the war in the Ukraine. Admittedly
a lot of their talk was on the latest lies of the Prime Minister (realistically
a topic which has been done to death), but there was quite a bit of talk about Netflix
this morning. They've lost a lot of customers and consequently a lot of
income so far this year. Putting up the prices here in the UK and America and
pulling out of Russia probably didn't help. Apparently
Netflix bosses have hinted they will start to crack down on account sharing,
claiming that worldwide over a hundred million households are breaking its
rules by sharing passwords. Breaking its rules? I was told that when I signed
up my password could be shared with three other people... which I have done.
And the Netflix home screen has their pictures on it so they can sign in. I suppose the bubble had to burst for
streaming TV eventually. Subscriptions to Sky, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple
TV... to say nothing of Disney Plus, BritBox and
Pluto TV. We can't afford them all. Prince (didn't he resign from being a
prince?) Harry was in
the news claiming he is " making sure the Queen is protected"...
And he's done that by moving half-way round the world? A couple of
years ago he was a national hero. Now he's seen as a bit of a twit. And there was a lot of talk about
self-driving cars. Even though they don't exist yet, the Highway Code is being
re-written to clarify the rules for using the things. It
would seem that when in the driving seat (if that is the right word)
you can watch a film on the car's display screen or read a book. But you
can't use a mobile phone. How does that work? Some (so called) expert
was wheeled on to explain this but failed miserably to do so. I got to work where there was quite a bit of
talk about latest granddaughter. Everyone was amazed at how tiny she is I was
rather surprised when more than one person thought I was father rather than grandfather.
I suppose I should be flattered really. One colleague had made a beautiful blanket
for her which was very kind. “Daddy’s Little Angel TM” was really grateful for that (as was I) Work was work; I again got to spend time
teaching a trainee on the wonders of what you can see down a microscope. And
for no reason that I could work out I got home twenty minutes quicker this
evening that I did yesterday. Once home I found “er indoors TM”
chucking tennis balls around the garden. Primarily for the bigger dogs, but
the puppies were joining in the chaos too. We are slowly moving away
from two sets of two dogs to having one set of four. And talking of dogs we've got a minor hiccup.
There are what appears to be tiny blood spots on the newspapers down for the
puppies, and the dogs are all sniffing round little Bailey. At sixteen weeks
old she's far too young to be in season. Isn't she? |
|
21 April 2022
(Thursday) - Dog School
I woke feeling full
of energy and raring to go… at half past two. I lay awake for far too long
before giving up and getting up. The puppies were so sleepy as they saw me,
and once they were carried outside both did both types of what they had been
carried out to do. They then slept next to me on the sofa as I watched an
episode of “Orange is the New Black” which ended pretty much at the
time when my alarm was due to go off to wake me up. I logged my brekkie
on my myfitnesspal app, and
registered another negative COVID test. I rather resent having negative COVID
tests at a time when being positive wouldn’t be such an issue. Being positive
three weeks ago was a real nuisance. Facebook was rather
devoid of anything of note this morning; probably because I was up and about
far too early. I sent out a couple of birthday wishes, then had a look at my
emails. I had a money off voucher from Halfords… well, I didn’t. Someone with
the same name as me who lives on the Isle of Wight has been having a squabble
with their local branch of Halfords and he should have had the voucher. I’ve
had correspondence about this chap’s account with the building society as
well in the past. And with nothing else
of note I settled the puppies and got dressed… and realised I never replaced
that button that had gone missing from my trousers yesterday. I meant to do
that yesterday evening but fell asleep far too early. I could have done that
at five o’clock this morning when wide awake and watching telly but had
forgotten. I set off to
work west-wards. I have quite a long drive to Pembury through the -hursts
and the -dens, but it can be a rather pretty drive (when I get to do it in
daylight). This morning I lost count of the number of hawks I saw
hovering over the fields; obviously poised to have any unsuspecting mouse. As I drove to work
the pundits on the radio were playing a lot of the recordings of what had
happened yesterday in Parliament. Have you ever listened to Parliament. Quite frankly it is a national disgrace. With
the Prime Minister shouting that the Leader of the Opposition was "out
of his tiny mind", had it been the fruits of my loin squabbling I
would have sent them to bed (with a slapped arse
each). There was also quite
a bit of talk about Prince (apparently he
still is) Harry who had yesterday given some deliberately controversial
interview to someone or other. Despite having made a mysterious statement
about wanting to "protect" the Queen he then deliberately
undermined her birthday celebrations today with his attention-seeking. He has
hinted he might move back to the UK; I suspect he thinks he's more likely to
get money from the UK government than he will from anyone in America (or
am I doing him an injustice?) I got to work for the
early shift and had a better day than I might have done. As I worked, the
boss's boss's boss asked me about my CPD blog. He seemed quite
enthusiastic and encouraging about it; such a difference of attitude from
where I used to work where I was actively discouraged because what I was
doing wasn’t on their official headed paper. An early start made
for an early finish (as I so often write). I came home and then didn’t
stop. I walked the bigger dogs round the block, then took all four dogs into
the garden for another lesson in dog school. We worked on recall today. The idea was that I
would chuck a tennis ball up the garden and all dogs would chase after it.
Once at the far end of the garden I would blow the whistle. Pogo and Treacle
(who know whistle training) would then come running for the treat that
goes with the whistle. And the puppies would soon learn the idea from the
bigger dogs. It was a frankly
brilliant idea, however… I chucked the tennis
ball once, and Treacle got it and wouldn’t let it go. I blew the whistle and
Pogo came charging up for a treat. Morgan followed, but despite wresting the
ball from Treacle and throwing it again and again, neither boy would leave me
as I had the treats. And Bailey just bimbled about
doing her own sweet thing. I gave up after
fifteen minutes when the treats ran out, and when all four dogs started
chewing the monkey-puzzle tree (I wondered why as well – it looked rather
sharp and spiky to me). In the end we’d given Pogo and Treacle something
of a refresher, and the puppies seemed to have formed a rather vague idea of
what it was all about. We’ll try again tomorrow. I then ironed for an
hour or so until “er indoors TM” came home and boiled up
some tacos. They were rather good. I’m definitely having an early night tonight… I’m knackered. |
|
22 April 2022
(Friday) – Stuff
Despite finding that the bigger dogs had been
using my bed as a hidey-hole for their tennis balls I slept far better last
night than I have done all week, waking only twenty minutes before the
alarm was due to go off. I crept downstairs as silent as a carrot (to coin
a phrase) and managing not to disturb the puppies I got to the bathroom
and had a shave in peace. I then woke the babies and took them
out to the garden. Both tiddled, both pooped, then
Bailey attempted to do her "perpetual motion" trick by
trying to eat that which she had just pooped out. I *think* I stopped
her but dealing with a very small dog in the dark took some doing. The puppies soon nodded off on my lap, and I
guzzled a brekkie of Slimfast chocolate shake
jollop whilst watching an episode of "Orange is the New Black"...
and suddenly there was a commotion. Treacle came downstairs making enough
noise to wake the dead and both puppies then kicked off. Treacle wanted to go
into the garden so we all went out with her. I told
the puppies about how good Treacle was by asking to go outside; in actual fact Treacle only wanted to go outside to play
silly beggars. After stomping around the garden for five minutes (just as
it was getting light) she then went back to bed. I settled the puppies (who were asleep and
stayed asleep while being settled) and set off to work. I stopped off
after a few hundred yards as I wanted to check on one of my geocaches; having
had a report that it had gone missing. This morning I'd received a log saying "didn't find it checked everywhere",
and so wasn't impressed to see the supposedly missing cache exactly where it
was supposed to be, in plain sight and clearly visible from ten yards away.
Mind you the chap writing that log hadn't ever actually found any geocaches
at all, so had no idea what he was looking for. I should really have checked
that before wasting my time. As I drove west-wards the pundits on the
radio were talking about that idiot Boris Johnson who is in India. He's
made a speech saying how he is making immigration to the UK easier for
Indian workers as the UK desperately needs skilled workers and we've got a
massive shortage of them. If only he hadn't led a campaign to get rid of all of the skilled immigrant workers, eh? There was a lot of talk about how Germany is skimping
on supplying weapons to Ukraine. How does that work? The NATO countries
are supposedly scrupulously not getting involved in the Russia-Ukraine
conflict but are actually supplying military
hardware (ammunition and missiles) to the Ukrainians. The German
government was being criticised for not sending enough tanks. I would
have thought that not sending tanks to a war zone goes hand-in-hand
with not getting involved, but what do I know? And the Large Hadron Collider is being turned on
again today. Our old friend science is going to use it to make some dark
matter. That will be nice. Work was work. As I did my bit, so the new
girls was stomping round the place singing (howling)
some monotonously tedious religious dirge about how much she loves God. All I
can say is that if her god loves her as much as she loves it, then it must be
stone deaf. Another early start made for another early
finish. As I drove down the A21 I contemplated stopping. There was a dead
deer on the roadside. What happens to dead deer? I had a vague idea of trying
to hawk the carcass round the local butchers to see if anyone wanted any
venison. Would I have had any takers? Would I have made any money? In the end
I didn’t bother as I didn’t want deer fleas in the car in case
they contaminated the dogs. Once home we had another “dog school”
session working on our recall. If nothing else Pogo and Morgan are very keen
on getting dog treats and Bailey isn’t averse to them, so the session hasn’t
been a total failure. Treacle generally doesn’t run amok and so isn’t usually
an issue. “er indoors TM” boiled up fish
and chips which we scoffed whilst watching last week’s episode of “Star
Trek: Picard” which was quite possibly the worst Star Trek episode I’ve
ever seen. Such a shame. “er indoors TM” is now
emptying the kitchen cupboards in readiness for the new kitchen’s
installation. Or she would be if dogs weren’t helping her… |
|
23 April 2022
(Saturday) - Geo Meet
I slept like a log last night, even managing
something of a lie-in. but not much. I was awake from half past six listening
out for the sounds of the puppies. I lay there listening whilst they were
blissfully asleep; finally woken by me when I came to check on them at half
past seven. I let them out of their crate and caried them
to the garden where both did that which was expected of them. A minor result,
but a result nonetheless. I made some toast, and as I scoffed it I remembered I’m on a diet and should have had a shake
thingy at a hundred and fifty calories less. As I scoffed
I peered into the Internet. There were quite lot less jingoistic posts about
St George’s Day than there have been in previous years; over the last few
years fervent patriotism seems to have declined somewhat, which isn’t
entirely a bad thing. Particularly when few people actually
know the first thing about St George. I can remember one half-wit of
my acquaintance once wondering why Christmas is in December when St George’s
Day is in April. We then set off on the day’s mission. “er
indoors TM” had errands to run in Folkestone, so she dropped
me in Badlesmere first. I took Pogo and Treacle
with me and we sorted an issue with one of her geocaches. The thing had had
several “did not find” logs, so me and the dogs took an hour out of
our day to do that which those who had written the “did not find” logs
could have done in less time than it took to write those “did not find”
logs. From there we walked into Badlesmere
where after a little while we met up with several friends. We had a geo-meet
today, and everyone who’d done their geo-admin properly had received a
message about meting up to go for a little walk before the meet-up. A dozen
of us then set off along a rather pretty walk, and after a few minutes “er
indoors TM” caught up with us. I
took a few photos as we walked; the paths round Badlesmere
are rather pretty, and have the advantage of being flat, which is never a bad
thing With walk walked we then adjourned to the Red
Lion. To be fair, we’ve adjourned there more than once in the past, and as
places to adjourn to, it takes some beating. We all sat in our booked area,
and scoffed a particularly good lunch as I drank my way through the ale
selection and then made serious headway into the place’s port reserves Before lockdown, geo-walks like today’s were
a major part of my life. Someone would announce that a walk was happening,
and a dozen or so assorted people would turn up, and a really
good outing of like-minded people would happen. We really must start
this off again. Having scoffed a rather major dinner in the
pub we didn’t bother with tea. Instead we tried to
stay awake as we watched last night’s episode of “Star Trek: Picard”.
Yesterday I mentioned what a disappointment last week’s episode had been;
last night’s episode was just “crap”. You’d think that whoever has
control of the franchise would want the average Trekkie to want to watch the
show… wouldn’t you? |
|
24 April 2022
(Sunday) - Early Shift
I had a rather bad night last night, waking
shortly after midnight then seeing every hour of the night as I desperately
fought Treacle and Pogo for bed space. I eventually gave up and started what
has become my morning ritual (when I am first one up). I crept downstairs and sneaked to the
bathroom where I had my shave before unlocking and opening the back door,
then woke the puppies. They staggered out of their crate to see me, and I bundled
them up and hurried them outside where both did what they go outside to do.
They then sat with me whilst I watched "Orange is the New Black";
I say "sat"; "fought for thirty seconds then went to
sleep" is what actually happened. And with
them both asleep I carried them back to their crate, got ready for work and
set off up the motorway. Despite the best efforts of the lorry which
was tail-ending me all up the "Operation
Brock" contraflow I survived the drive to Maidstone. As I drove
there was something which could have been interesting on the radio. The show
was billed as being about people who either stayed with or left their places
of worship when they found themselves at odds with their religions. It could
have been an interesting insight into how people reconcile their consciences
with their beliefs, or carry on going to a place of worship where they don't
feel welcome... I was reminded of my days in the Methodist church when I
wasn't part of the "in crowd", and of the chap who was the
leading light of the Boys Brigade in Hastings who seemed so happy when he
told me that he and his wife had changed their church. But the radio show was nothing like that. It started off by saying how the church in
South Africa didn't speak up against the apartheid regime and named one
priest who did. They then played a frankly awful musical dirge, then named
another priest who stood up against the German church which didn't oppose
Hitler (before playing another frankly dreadful musical howling). And so it went on. An endless list of people who stuck with a
church with which they clearly disagreed interspersed by frankly awful music.
In an attempt to be inclusive they mentioned a woman
who had deliberately tried to stir up trouble in a mosque when everyone had
asked her not to, but that too was reduced to tedium. I suppose not many people listen to the radio
at six o'clock on a Sunday morning, but those of us who do would like
something better. I'd set off to work a little earlier than I
might have done this morning. Just before bed time
last night I saw a new geocache had gone live only a short walk from work and
this morning I saw that no one had claimed the First To Find. I've already
had one this month, but with (seemingly) no active hunters of
Tupperware operating near work I thought I might try my luck. I drove as
close as I could to the location, and walked a short distance to find an eight-foot high fence in my way. I parked somewhere more
sensible, and it wasn't long before I found what I was looking for. And I was
the first one to find it too. Result. Being early I had a crafty cuppa before
starting work. I would have had a celebratory croissant from the works branch
of Marks & Spencer had they not opened until an hour after my shift
started. I wasn't supposed to be working today. Originally I was supposed to be working the early shift at
Tunbridge Wells today, but I'd managed to unload that onto a colleague
who wanted to work extra shifts. However last Monday (on the Bank Holiday)
the chap who took over from me said that he'd booked a little holiday in
Blackpool this weekend, but had forgotten he was
working today. Could I cover it for him? I could... I don't mind stepping
into the breach when these things happen. I suppose it is all part of working
in a hospital. I don't dislike hospital work, but if I had my time again I would work somewhere that (periodically)
puts up a "closed" sign. Mind you I was missing out today. Whilst I
worked Tracey came round to play with the puppies. It would have been nice to
have caught up. And the weather was rather good today. I rather resent
working when I could be out and about doing things in decent weather. I came home via Stanhope where “er indoors
TM” had mistakenly magnetised a Skyland (woops!).
Once home I fussed the dogs then continued “dog school”. I would sit
by the pond until the dogs lost interest in me, and
would then blow the whistle. Treacle and Pogo would come running and get
their treat, but the babies would only come if they hadn’t gone indoors. Once
inside they seem more interested in what is going on in there than in the
whistle sounds from outside. After a few goes at the whistle I then
started getting all the bank accounts downloaded in readiness for the monthly
“accounting for every penny” (because I am mean like that). “er indoors TM” boiled up a
very good home-made pizza which we scoffed whilst watching an episode of “Lego
Masters: USA” in which the contestants made windmills which were then
tested to destruction in hurricane-force winds. I wish I could play on the set of that show
for a day or so… |
|
25 April 2022
(Monday) - Rostered Day Off
I woke feeling profoundly miserable for no
reason I could fathom. I tried to get back to sleep, but Pogo had a barking
fit, and by the time I’d got up to see to him he’d gone back to sleep I came downstairs to see to the puppies. They
were rather keen to go outside; as we went I picked
up the poop scoops so as to thwart Bailey; she has become a poop-eater.
Picking the stuff up the very second it is laid is sadly the only way; dogs
can be foul creatures. Eventually “er indoors TM”
came downstairs with Pogo and Treacle and the puppies immediately lost
interest in me and swarmed the bigger dogs who are slowly learning to
tolerate them. As “er indoors TM” went
round the garden with dogs I scoffed toast and had a look at the Internet to
see what I’d missed overnight. As always I hadn’t
missed much. Two Facebook friends were having birthdays today. One was
someone who was a close friend with whom I worked on a
daily basis for twenty-five years; I’ve not seen him for over ten years
now. The other was more of a friend of a friend; again
someone I’ve not seen for over ten years. I sent both the birthday video for old time’s
sake. I registered another negative COVID test;
still sulking about the holiday that I missed through having COVID three
weeks ago. I had quite a few “Found It” logs on
geocaches that I’ve hidden. No more “Didn’t Find It” logs, which was
something of a result. I did have a plan to go out and archive one of my
geo-series today, but filled with enthusiasm from Saturday’s
meet (and a flurry of favourite points given to the caches I’ve hidden)
I decided not to. Realistically I shall let things slide until someone
else who has found thousands and has hidden none
makes a snide comment about the maintenance that I haven’t done, and will
archive them then in a fit of pique. I’ve got three series of caches which need a
little attention. I say “attention”; just a walk-round to replace the
wet paper logs is all that is needed. This is nothing that the people actually walking the series can’t do (but most won’t),
but now having four dogs (and two of them babies), this is a bit of a
mission for me right now. So instead of anything geocachical
I set undercrackers washing, left the puppies with “er indoors TM”
and took Pogo and Treacle to Orlestone Woods. It
takes about as long to drive there as it takes to walk to the park, and now
that we are well into spring the ground has dried out and we get a much
better walk that is rarely infested by the normal people. We did our usual circuit of the woods,
admiring the bluebells as we went. Orlestone is
such a good place to walk; it is a shame that the thick mud makes the place
impractical for much of the year, but it was good today. We came home, took clean undercrackers from
the washing machine and put in shirts, woke the puppies, and all went into
the garden where I ran out the hose pipe to top up the pond, and then I
generally fiddled about in the garden for a couple of hours, at the end of
which the garden looked much the same as when had started. I then
wasted some time attempting to do some dog photography, and we all fed the
fish in the hope of getting some fish food. I then Munzee-ed from the back
garden and was won a cash prize in the Munzee crypto-currency. Sadly two Zeds is worth about one pence, but it is better
than a kick up the bum. As planned the exertions of woods and garden had
worn out all four dogs, and they slept as I ironed through three episodes of
“Orange is the New Black” before sparking up my lap-top to go through
the monthly accounts. It would seem the council has given me a
bung. As part of some
government initiative all the poor people have been given a hundred and
fifty quid ostensibly toward their massively increased fuel bills. Bearing in
mind my combined leccie and gas bill has gone up by
eighty-four quid each month, this bung won’t even cover two months. I must admit to being rather insulted by this
bung though. The government has given it to the poorer members of society;
judging wealth by the council tax band in which each household is in. I’ve
got a bung, but friends who earn far less than me and colleagues on *exactly*
the same wage as me haven’t got it because they live
in bigger houses. Go figure… With the dogs all still asleep I spent an
hour in NeverWinter (because I could) until
Treacle got the hump. Having got up for no reason whatsoever, Pogo had bagged
her spot next to me, and she wanted it back. “er indoors TM” came home, boiled up
dinner for us all and then set off bowling. I sat with Pogo and Treacle on
the sofa as the puppies ran riot. And having been very good toilet-wise all
day, both puppies disgraced themselves. I think it fair to say both are very
over-tired… A bit like I am really… |
26 April 2022
(Tuesday) - Darcie WaaWaa
I had another
bad night last night, again waking far too early. At least Treacle and Pogo
weren't overly fidgetty. I gave up trying to sleep
and crept downstairs taking great pains not to wake the puppies so as I could
get a shave done in peace. I then
turned on all the lights, woke the babies and hurried them outside where they
both did that which puppies do. As we hurried outside I saw one of the dog blankets piled up by the
washing machine. Had they done that which puppies do
on that last night after I'd gone to kip? I didn't take any chances, gave it
a quick shake to dislodge any errant turds (fortunately
there weren't any) and set it scrubbing as I watched an episode of "Orange
is the New Black" in which our heroines were starting a small
business by selling purloined undercrackers. As I
watched telly so both puppies slept with me, and so didn't need much settling
when it was time for me to settle them. I got dressed, and it was rather good
to button up my trousers; the button had gone missing last week
and I finally got round to sorting it last night. Pausing
only briefly to scrape bird dung from the car I was soon on my way up the
motorway. As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about Elon Musk
who has just
bought Twitter for forty-four billion dollars and now that it is his
personal property he's planning to remove all moderation from the platform to
give free reign to free speech. There was a lot of concern being expressed
that this will open up a can of worms by giving a
mouthpiece to minority hate groups. It's been my experience as a moderator of
several Facebook groups that the removal of moderation will mostly result in
the non-removal of adverts for porno websites. And the biggest cause for
concern for Twitter (Donald Trump) has apparently said he doesn't want
to start Tweeting again anyway. Three other
people with more money than sense have just returned
from a week's jolly on the International Space Station which cost them
fifty-five million dollars (each) I would
love to be able to buy Twitter, or to have a holiday in space. I wouldn't buy
Twitter, and neither would I have a holiday in space, but I would like to be
able to afford either. Meanwhile
President Putin says he is actually fighting
a war with NATO and has told the West to stop supplying weapons to
Ukraine. I think the
chap has got a point. Whilst the NATO alliance has said it will not get
involved in any conflict in Ukraine, its constituent countries seem to have
no issues with sending the Ukrainians weapons. There's a very fine line
between actually staging a war with Russia, and just
providing the weapons for someone else to do so, isn't there? I can remember
as a schoolboy at various times egging mates on to have fights with people I
didn't like; offering to hold their coat whilst they got stuck in. Handing
over weapons to one of the protagonists of a war is much the same, but on a (much)
larger scale... isn't it? I again
managed to get through the "Operation Brock" contraflow
without being run off the road. I wish drivers of lorries and white vans
would realise there is no point in tail-ending me; I can go no faster than
the cars blocking both the lanes in front of me. There are fifteen miles of
two-lane traffic all going at the speed of the slowest car. It can be
frustrating if you like driving far too fast, but dangerously overtaking at
the very exit of the contraflow whilst blasting your hooter achieves very
little other than to remind everyone to make a note of the name on the
side of the van as it flies by, and not to use that company. I got to
work on what looked to be a beautiful morning, and
did my bit whilst staring out of the window at what turned out to be a
beautiful day. More and more I'm thinking I'd really like to jack it all in
and take early retirement. Today I could quite easily have walked all four
dogs out to Wye or Pluckley or Ham Street and come back home on the train...
Mind you I did do that with Fudge and it wasn't a
success. He hated the train. How would four dogs respond to it? As I worked I had messages. “er indoors TM”
's car had got a flat tyre. Did I have a pump? Yes, I did. It was (and
still is) in my car. She wasn't happy about that, but I'd rather have it
where it will be needed. And “Daddy’s
Little Angel TM” was messaging me about smallest
grandchild who has started making odd noises and is known (for now at
least) as "Darcie WaaWaa". I
wonder if that name will eventually warrant a TM
after it? I am
reliably informed that "Darcie WaaWaa"
looks just like me… Being on
the early shift I got out early. What with having to wait for tyre fix-it
people “er indoors TM” had been working from home today so
I left her with the puppies and took Treacle and Pogo to the woods. There was
a minor hiccup when Treacle started limping. I had a look at her paw, pulled
out a thorn the size of a small dagger, and all was well. I had a
little gloat as we walked past some of the normal people who were staring in
horror at their Labrador who was standing chest deep in stagnant mud… and
then just at the end of the walk both Treacle and Pogo ran at top speed into
a thicket. I blew the whistle to call them back and I heard them stop, then
heard two muted “plop” sounds. Both then appeared covered from
shoulder to paw in muck. I frogmarched them back to a stream I knew to have
clean water and chucked them both in, but the damage was done. I sent a
message telling “er indoors TM” to spark up the bath, and
once home I volunteered to look after the puppies whilst she scrubbed the
bigger ones. I think I got the worst part of that deal. It will be
dinner time soon… I will scoff it, then spend the evening constantly falling
asleep in front of the telly before spending much of the night wide awake… |
|
27 April 2022
(Wednesday) - Another Early Shift
It was rather good to have a proper shave
with shaving cream this morning. I'd run out yesterday and had done the best
I could with soap. With a scraped face I woke the puppies and took
them outside. Both did that which was expected of them in the garden, and
then both came in and did an encore in the living room. Fortunately
it was on the puppy pads that are down for such an emergency, but I'd rather
they didn't. And then having Bailey sick up a turd
she'd obviously eaten at some point yesterday was just the icing on the cake. Sadly I had run out of Slimfast shakes so I had to make toast. One major
advantage of a Slimfast shake is the zero preparation time, leaving me able to supervise the
puppies. They ran riot as I made toast, but soon settled and were fast asleep
as I watched another episode of "Orange is the New Black".
As I watched so “er indoors TM” came down to do what the
puppies had so spectacularly done earlier (not on the puppy pads however),
but in a novel break with tradition she didn't have an entourage of Treacle
and Pogo with her. Both presumably couldn't be bothered to get up. I set off to work; for once not having anyone
driving up my arse for miles. I did watch a dustbin
lorry drive straight through a red traffic light though. Fortunately
there was no one coming through, but that could have been nasty. As I drove up the motorway the pundits on the
radio were talking about a recent Cabinet meeting in which that idiot Boris
Johnson was looking at ways in which the government can help
the average household to make savings allegedly by relaxing relax rules
on childcare (thereby making it cheaper) and by having less regular
MOT inspections on cars and lorries. (And I feel guilty that I refer to
him as "that idiot" and not "Prime Minister"!) Mind you the opposition is little better with
Angela Rayner (the deputy leader of the Labour party) being described
as "Zippy"
to Sir Kier Starmer's "Bungle"Meanwhile the world is pretending to be surprised as the
Russians turn
off the gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria. Like we didn't see this one
coming. One of the things which seriously boils my piss
is when people (be it anyone from little “Stormageddon – Bringer of
Destruction TM” up to God himself) seem to be surprised by the
utterly predictable. I stopped off for petrol, then went on to
work. During a tea break I read something on Facebook which could only be a
good thing. I follow the local scout association's Facebook page. Whoever it
is that runs that page was grumbling about how much scout leaders have to pay for membership of the scout association. The funding of the Scout Association has
always annoyed me. When I was a cub scout leader (for
thirteen years) we had over thirty children along every week. For most of
them what we did was just the "Tuesday activity". Most kids
did some activity every night of the week. Football, rugby, dancing, archery,
pro-celebrity arm-wrestling... Most of these other activities lasted for an
hour and cost between five and ten pounds. We at the cubs had the kids for
two hours, charged one pound fifty, and were paranoid that we were
over-charging. Consequently a large part of being a
scout leader was giving up a lot of time and effort to fund-raise to
subsidise people with higher incomes than ours who lived in bigger houses
than ours and who drove more expensive cars than ours. Scout leaders used to
*love* working hard to fund that which others
could pay for with the loose change in their pocket. I had a surprisingly busy day at work today.
As I did my bit my phone rang. “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”
had taken Darcie WaaWaa to see the midwife this morning,
and the littlun had pooped all over the midwife’s desk. This is the sort of
thing which is hilarious all the time it is someone else’s desk, and as it
wasn’t my desk I laughed like a drain. I also laughed at “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”’s
washing machine. She’d mistakenly set it to wash at ninety degrees, and the
thing had filled the kitchen with clouds of steam before packing up and being
utterly unresponsive to any button she pressed on it. For no adequately
explored reason she thought I might know how to fix it. I suggested she
pulled the plug, checked the fuse, and told it she still loved it. Failing
that I said she might send for a fix-it man. The only other thing I know how
to do is to empty the gunge filter, and I think that her poor device was long
past that. Needing a new shirt (or two) I came
home via Matalan. I always forget that I have vowed so many times not to go
in there again. I can get better shirts far cheaper from Amazon. There is a
far better selection on-line, no swarms of feral children running round, and
no staff making no secret of the fact they don’t want to be there. Once home I thought about taking the dogs
out. But thought better of the idea. When the puppies are bigger
we will definitely go to the woods. But not today. Instead
we played in the garden. I opened the back door and in the time
it took me to pick up the poop scoop, Bailey had found a mouthful of turd. I
physically emptied her mouth (yuk!), then had a look round for more
poops. They we played “fetch”. Or Pogo and I played “fetch”.
The puppies swarmed around trying to join in but not really understanding
what was going on, and Treacle played her own game in which she tried to get
as many tennis balls into her mouth to stop anyone else having any toys. “er indoors TM” came home with a job
lot of Slimfast shakes, and is hopefully boiling up
dinner… I could do with an early night… |
|
28 April 2022
(Thursday) - Goes Well With Aubergines
I slept better than I have done recently last
night, but was still awake far too early. I crept
downstairs and managed to get the shave done before waking the puppies.
Unlike other dogs who seem to sleep with one eye open, the puppies are out
like a light when asleep. I watched an episode of ”Orange is the New
Black” as I drank my Slimfast shake, then
paused the telly program. Morgan seemed to have a dried poop stain on his
head, and in scrubbing that off I managed to wake both pups who got a tad
over-excited. The excitement didn’t last long though. The babies are either
manic or fast asleep, with little in between. Five friends had a birthday today. I sent out
the birthday video, then had a quick look at the Internet. There wasn’t much
happening, so I carried the sleeping pups to their crate, put on one of the
new shirts I bought yesterday and set off to work. I rolled my eyes as I drove up the motorway.
The pundits on the radio were interviewing some Welsh Conservative MP who as
banging on about the success
of "diagnostic hubs". This is the latest fashionable idea for the
NHS which has been brought in on a political whim. The idea is that "GPs
will be able to refer patients to a centre so they can access life-saving
checks closer to home and be diagnosed for a range of conditions, rather than
travelling to hospital". This sounds like a good
idea doesn't it? However
this is a complete about-face for NHS policy. For years smaller centres like
the ones proposed have been closed down and the
services centralised for both economies of scale and because there aren't
enough NHS staff to keep loads of small centres open. Where there used to be
four blood-testing labs across south Kent there is now only one. So many
hospital laboratories across the country have been merged. This was the key
take-home message of the Carter
report of 2006 and after working
to that end for sixteen years it seems that it's "all change"
at the NHS again, even though there is demonstrably nowhere near enough staff
to do this. This is entirely what is wrong with the NHS, isn't it? And while I'm thrashing myself to death whist
waiting to be redeployed to a diagnostic hub, our MPs are allegedly sitting
in the House of Commons watching filth
on their mobile phones. Nice work if you can get it. I did my bit at work. At tea break I used my
mobile phone not to watch filth, but to get the latest on “Daddy’s Little
Angel TM” 's washing machine. The poor thing has been brought
back from the dead. Apparently it was spinning a tad
too vigorously and had managed to pull its own plug out (a nice trick if
you can do it). The clouds of steam remain unexplained,
but bearing in mind that the thing is now working, the steam is (in
many ways) just a piddling detail. It is just as well it was all sorted; she had
been looking at contacting some chap who advertises that he will take the
carcass of poggered washing machines in
part-exchange for reconditioned ones. This chap will then bodge the dead
machine into some semblance of life at which point he will look for some
unsuspecting sap to whom he will sell it
(presumably only for it to pack up again very soon). This too is also nice work if you can get it. As I peered down the microscope for much of
the day I again reflected on my career choices. I
suspect there is far more money to be made from looking at filth in the House
of Commons or from unloading hooky washing machines to an unsuspecting public
than there ever is to be had from peering down a microscope. I came home, and
spent a little while in the garden playing “fetch” with the dogs.
Treacle hoarded as many balls as she could, and the puppies did their own
strange thing, but Pogo had a go at “fetch”; it is a game he seems to
enjoy. “er indoors TM” boiled up a vey good bit of dinner which we washed down with a bottle
of Malbec which we chose because the tasting notes said it went well with
aubergines. Does it? Never knowingly eaten an aubergine I have no idea. And I then used the last of the plonk to
accompany a lump of cheese and some crackers. I had the cheese to myself but
shared the crackers with the dogs. Bailey and Morgan are learning “sit”
and sitting for crackers went a long way to reinforce the training. |
|
29 April 2022
(Friday) - Before the Night Shift
I had a bit of a lie-in this morning. When I
woke “er indoors TM” had already gone downstairs.
Pogo and Treacle were still on the bed with me. Treacle leapt up but Pogo
didn’t. I lifted him off the bed and we came downstairs to find “er
indoors TM” dealing with a poop bonanza in the puppies’ crate.
Clearly I shouldn’t lie in but should get up to see
to the babies earlier. “er indoors TM” did dog brekkie, and Pogo wasn’t first in the queue. I watched him
moving very awkwardly on the sofa as I went on-line to register another
negative COVID test, and saw I had a message through Facebook. “Emily
Brandon” had said “Hello, how you doing. I'm
Mistress Emily and i personally seek a slave to
serve me. So tell me your name, age, and more about
yourself. If your interested”. I reported her to the Facebook Feds, as much
for her poor grammar as for her porn-mongering. Mind you, judging by the
amount of filth I get on my Facebook feed I suspect she is just the sort of
person they are after. Whilst I was on Facebook I saw there was some
big “Thank
You NHS Workers” concert in London last night to which NHS
staff who had kept going all through the pandemic had been offered tickets… Or so it was claimed. Like most of the freebies that have been
offered to NHS staff, this came as something of a surprise to most NHS staff
who found out about it after it had all happened. “er indoors TM” distracted the
puppies and I took Pogo and Treacle to the woods for a walk. We had a good
walk doing one of our longer circuits. We met a few other dog walkers, but
all passed off well. Pogo seemed to be walking fine, but when we got back to
the car I had to lift him in. He’s done something to
his back; probably twisted it when playing the “catch” game that he
loves to play. We shall have to watch him – being so overweight doesn’t help.
If only he understood the need for a diet… mind you I’m not that good at that
myself. As we drove home I
managed to press the wrong button on the car radio, and I discovered that it
has got DAB. Digital audio
broadcasting is absolutely archetypal of our
age. It uses all sorts of wonderful technology to give an
end result absolutely no different to that on which it is supposed to
be a vast improvement. As I drove I kept flipping
between the DAB and FM versions of various radio stations and could hear no
difference whatsoever. Once home we took the puppies into the garden
where I hung out laundry. We came in, and all four dogs soon settled (on
me) and I spent an hour writing
up CPD and sulking about having to do so. If I am to continue as a professional blood tester I am legally obliged to produce evidence of keeping
myself up-to-date with developments in my field. I don’t get paid for doing
that… in much the same way that no one got paid for going to last night’s “Thank
You NHS Workers” concert either… I went to bed for the afternoon where I slept
for a few hours with Treacle and Pogo keeping me company. The puppies slept
in their crate – they are too small to be left unsupervised for now. I got up and we all went into the garden where
in a little over-excitement over feeding the fish Morgan got pushed into the
pond. He swam to the shallower end where I hoiked
him out, and he sat on my lap as I towelled him dry as I watched an episode
of “Orange is the New Black”. The trouble is that three other dogs wanted a
go with the towel too; seeing it as some sort of new
way of making a fuss… I’m off to the night shift in a bit… the last
one I did was a bit like hard work. Let’s hope this one isn’t quite so bad… |
|
30 April 2022
(Saturday) - Bit Dull Really
The night shift went rather well; far better
than the last one I did, but I was still glad to see the early shift arrive. Sadly half an hour before they’d turned up I’d had a
patient arrive with an anti-Jk(a) antibody
which I was only too happy to hand over… if anyone ever tells you about
blood group O Negative being a universal blood donor, take a few drops of the
O Negative in me, stick it in this patient and then see what happens… Or
don’t. Actually I would seriously
suggest you don’t; it would kill them. As I drove home there was talk on the radio
about the MP who was been
caught watching filth on his mobile phone. He says it was all a mistake;
he clicked on the wrong link. I suppose (in his defence) this might
have been the case. I get sent a lot of iffy links in amongst the stuff I see
on-line. Mind you my local MP was in the news a little while ago with loads of smut
having been found on his lap-top. Why don’t the IT
people in the Houses of Parliament set their networks so as you can’t access
the filth? The hospital network I use has got all sorts of safeguards in it
so that you can’t get to the grumble sites. However surely the scandal here isn’t that he
was looking at pictures of nudey ladies without any
clothes on. Surely the issue is that the naughty MP was fiddling about on his
phone when he should have been doing the work for which he has been elected
and for which he is paid to do. I’m not allowed to fiddle about on my mobile
when I’m supposed to be working, am I? I got home and went to bed. I didn’t set an
alarm and so didn’t wake until the middle of the afternoon. I usually set an
alarm for mid day so that the day isn’t entirely
wasted. Over an incredibly late brekkie I peered into
the Internet. I had a friend request on Facebook from a new girl at work. I
clicked “accept” and was amazed at some of the mutual friends we have.
But that is social media, isn’t it? My brother and cousin are Facebook
friends with an ex-manager of mine who lives in Dover. What’s the connection
there? My brother (who lives in Hastings) and the husband of an ex-colleague
(who lives in Aberdeen) are both Facebook friends with some chap from
the West Midlands. People I know through kite-flying are Facebook friends
with people at work. People I know from my days in the astro
club are friends with hunters of Tupperware… The connections people form are amazing. Leaving the puppies with “er indoors TM”
I took Pogo and Treacle to Orlestone for a little
walk. Pogo had no trouble jumping in and out of the car, which was a result.
As we walked we met an “interesting couple”.
Two of them a little way off the footpath both desperately clinging to a lead
at the other end was a dog the size of a rhino and with the temperament of a
total b*stard. The chap screamed at me that I
should hurry past as their dog wasn’t good with other dogs and he wasn’t sure
how much longer he could hold the lead. I resisted the temptation to point
out the blatantly obvious, and we sauntered past. When we got back to the car
(fifteen minutes later) we could still hear that dog’s vicious
snarling and barking in the distance. Why do people get such big dogs that they so
obviously can’t control? Once home I did something I should really
have done three weeks ago. I finally got round to updating the puppies’
microchips. If they should ever go walkabout the chip is their neck will
enable any vet to contact us; or it will do once the information has been
updated. It didn’t take *that* long to do, but am I being an old
meanie in thinking that an admin fee of twelve quid (per dog) is just
a tad excessive? “er indoors TM” boiled up a rather
good bit of dinner which we washed down with a four quid bottle of
Sainsbury’s hock, and as bottles of plonk go, that four quid bottle of plonk
was far better than a lot of the stuff we’ve quzzled
recently. As we scoffed and quaffed we watched the
most recent episode of “Star Trek: Picard” which was (sadly)
best described as “crap”. Nearly an hour’s viewing… pretty much
nothing happened. This is true of pretty much all of the new “Star Trek” and all of the new “Doctor
Who”. I watch them because I always have done, but
am always disappointed. And then I got to scoff the trifle that “er
indoors TM” had made. Now that was rather good… Apart from the trifle, today was something of
a dull day really. Had I been able to have swapped out of last night’s night
shift I might have gone on a geo-walk round Greenwich which took place today.
I would have liked to have gone on that but getting anyone to swap into a
Friday night takes some doing. And a Friday night before a Bank Holiday weekend…
I certainly wouldn’t want to swap into one. |
