1 August
2022 (Monday) - Before the Late Shift
Treacle had a serious sulk this morning. A tad
overdue, but we did the dogs’ flea treatments before brekkie and Treacle
doesn’t like it at all. Morgan and Bailey came when called and had theirs
done; Treacle ran away and hid. I made toast and scoffed it as I peered into the
Internet. “We” won last night… “we” being
the England ladies football team. It would seem I was the only person not
watching the match. I wish I understood the attraction of football. So many
other people obviously love it. I don’t dislike it; I just find it utterly
tedious. Whenever I’ve watched a match (and I’ve tried so many times)
I lose interest after five minutes. And there was a lot of sympathy being expressed
over the death of Nichelle Nicholls (who played “Uhura” in “Star Trek”)
who died over the weekend. For all that so many people who had never met her
were seemingly distraught, very few people seemed to realise she’d been ill
and was eighty-nine. But both the death of Ms Nicholls and the
football win were being touted for all sorts of political reasons this
morning. I also saw that today was “Yorkshire Day”. On more
than a few occasions I’ve been told (at great length) just how
wonderful Yorkshire is by people who’ve moved out of the place. I’ve had the
same from Scots too. If Kent is so awful, why live here? With a little time to spare we drove down to the
woods for a little walk. We did our usual circuit of the woods, but as we
turned a corner so we saw a woman about fifty yards
ahead of us. On her own with no dog. Morgan woofed at her and she turned, saw
us, and then stomped through chest height brambles and hid behind a tree
until we’d gone past. What was that all about? As we walked we
practiced whistle training with varying degrees of success. With walk walked I loaded up the car with rubbish, and had a look at the pond filter. The overflow
guttering seemed to be doing the job; in a day or so I will take out the foam
until I can get another box in place and running. I then sat on the sofa with sleeping dogs
watching “Another Life” until it was time to set off. Leaving the dogs snoring I set off to the tip. It
was as entertaining as ever; as I'd emptied the last
of my rubbish and was going back to my car some strange woman shouted "don't
just stand there" at me and gave me a glare as I drove off. I then drove down to Rolvenden
and World of Water to get another filter box just like the one I got
yesterday. They didn't have any, but the nice man said he'd get one in for
me. I got chatting with the nice man and told him my theory about having two
smaller filters rather than one huge one. He agreed entirely, but I
suppose he would. I got the extra tubing I will need, and the nice man
suggested I might have a Y-junction rather than a T-junction as this avoids
back pressure. Not wanting any back pressure I
readily agreed. The nice man said he would ring me when the new filter box
arrives, and I drove off with a Y-junction and six metres of tubing. That
only cost forty quid... I took a rather scenic route on to Pembury. As I
waited at the traffic lights in Hawkhurst there was an entertaining five
minutes. Rather than queuing by the pelican crossing, a swarm of normal
people were standing ten yards to the right of it. Having been blocking the
drive to a hotel, they were then having quite a squabble with the driver of a
car who wanted to go in there. They were getting rather nasty with each other... I stopped off at Tesco (for a sandwich)
where the woman on the tip remarked on how old my Tesco Clubcard is. Apparently I'm the only person with one that old; it is a
museum piece. She *always* goes on about how old the card is. I once
asked if she could replace it with a new one... and ended up wishing I
hadn’t. I just smiled today (like I usually do). And then into
work. And again the best bit of the day was all over
by one o'clock. |
|
2 August 2022
(Tuesday) - A Birthday
Once
I’d taken the puppies outside to do that which puppies do outside
I opened the door to upstairs so they could have their hour or so in the
morning upstairs. Within two seconds Morgan and Bailey came back downstairs
and looked at me with rather pathetic expressions. Treacle was guarding the
top of the stairs and wouldn’t let them pass. With
dogs sorted I made toast and watched an episode of “Another Life” in
which our heroes had found an alien planet. In an attempt
to make the place look alien the set-makers had spray-painted a part
of a woodland with blue paint… But they’d done a rush job. If you looked
closely (or even just taken a cursory glance) you could see where
they’d not really taken much time with the spray paint
and you could see the green underneath all over the place. I
spent a few minutes of Facebook sending out birthday wishes, then rolled my
eyes at one of the UK Weather Forecasting pages. The chap who runs it was
ranting about how he is fed up with the negativity he is reading in people
posting about his (continually crap) weather
forecasts. You would think that he might compare his forecasts with what actually happens, look back at his forecasts, and then try
to come up with a better way of forecasting. Demonstrably what he is doing
doesn’t work. I
woke “er indoors TM”, wished her a happy birthday and set off
to work. I went via the petrol station where petrol was ten pence per litre
cheaper than it had been last week. I also got a sandwich which the woman on
the till scanned without comment. In the past they have flatly refused to
scan any shopping; presumably someone has had a word with them? As
I drove west-wards the pundits on the radio were talking about energy
prices. With BP and other energy companies reporting record profits, my
monthly leccie and gas bill looks to be topping
three hundred quid a month before too much longer. Can't say I'm keen on
that. There
was also talk about how prospective Prime Minister Liz Truss has described
the leader of the Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon as annoying
and best ignored. That bodes well for the future of the (so-called)
United Kingdom, doesn't it? I
got to work to find that there was a load of free croissants going begging. Apparently a colleague lives next door to someone who runs
a company which specialises in making sure that food isn't wasted, and
periodically he brings in a load of bread products which are past their best.
I had a couple of stale croissants with coffee. I would be so easy to kill...
just put a pile of poison on the table, put a sign on it saying
"free food" and I would yum it up. With
work worked we went round to visit the first fruit of my loins. Being “er
indoors TM” s birthday Cheryl had boiled up a rather good bit
of dinner. And with dinner scoffed I fell asleep whilst the girls did the hot
tub. I
suspect the hot tub will be one of the first economies once the gas and leccie bills top three hundred quid… |
3 August 2022
(Wednesday) - Found a Qrate
Once the puppies had tiddled they went upstairs as
they usually do. Within minutes they came trotting back downstairs with “er
indoors TM” who was not happy that Treacle had just been sick on
the landing. She’d thrown up seemingly endless fragments of tennis ball; I
wish the dogs wouldn’t swallow that which they shouldn’t be chewing. “er
indoors TM” busied about whilst I scoffed toast, did another
COVID test and then sorted undercrackers. The whole point of sorting
undercrackers at six o’clock in the morning was that the puppies would be
upstairs asleep; it was a shame that Morgan kept trying to run off with them. I left home a few minutes early. With today being
the start of Munzee Clan War I went to Singleton Lake and munzed
half a dozen greenies in the hope of getting a Qrate
(as you do). I got two (including a diamond one) which was
something of a result. As I munzed round the
lake I saw a couple of chaps fishing. Despite all the signs saying "No
Night Fishing" they had obviously been there all night. Cheeky(!) And then I set off west-wards to work. As I
listened to the radio as I drove through the -hursts and the -dens there was
some economist being interviewed on the radio about Liz Truss's claims
about what she will do if she gets to be Prime Minister. This chap may well
have been a leading light in David Cameron's government
but he certainly was rubbish at being on the radio. He would utter a few
disjointed words (none of which ever made a coherent sentence) and
then laugh out loud at something that only he thought was funny. And in
between gibbering he would hesitantly and nervously offer "yeah...
erm... you know..." I've said it before, but some people really
shouldn't be on the radio. Why can't these interviews be pre-recorded, and
not broadcast if they turn out to be unintelligible? And then there was an interview with some Chinese
diplomat who was up in arms about Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. Ms Pelosi
is Speaker of America's House of Representatives (apparently that is quite
important!) and despite the advice of pretty much everyone she'd gone to
Taiwan to annoy the Chinese. Though if the Chinese diplomat being interviewed
was in any way typical of his countrymen they seem
rather easy to annoy. Apparently what Ms Pelosi has done has aggravated some
squabble dating back from 1959. If we are going to dwell on trivia from five
years before I was born we'll never get anywhere,
will we? Work was work... busier than yesterday but despite
an altercation with the Duffy blood group system it wasn't as bad as it might
have been. And I came
home to find Treacle very much under the weather with what looks like a
rather bloated tummy. She’s going to the vet tomorrow… |
|
4 August 2022 (Thursday)
- Start of the Holiday
I
lay awake for much of the night listening for Treacle to get up and be sick,
or to move about, or to do anything but just lie there fast asleep. She
got up a minute after “er indoors TM” got up, growled at
the puppies, and then scoffed her brekkie. I scoffed mine and had my usual trawl of the
Internet. My Facebook feed this morning featured some utter drivel from a
religious nut who had a video with proof of the existence of Jesus. Apparently every other superstition’s founder has bones
kicking about somewhere. Because there aren’t any bones of Jesus to be found
anywhere proves Jesus is alive(!) By the same argument millions of
other people who’ve died throughout history and left no detectable remains (thousands
of years later) are still alive as well? Using this logic
you can prove the existence of the Great Green Arkleseizure,
the Great Prophet Zarquon, and my Auntie Keith…. I
also saw that I’d missed the Pram Race in Hastings yesterday evening, and
that people were travelling up to Derbyshire for the annual geocaching
Mega-meet-up. I wouldn’t have gone to either, but it would have been nice to
have known they were taking place. I
took Treacle to see the vet. She seemed to have perked up a little overnight.
The vet said she’s probably got gastro-enteritis… well, the vet said she’d
probably got a belly ache, but she also said that “gastro-enteritis”
makes it sound worthwhile going to the vet. She’s
got some medicine. As
we came out I rolled my eyes as some scrawny-looking
bloke lost the fight he was having with a Great Dane. Why get a dog which is
far stronger than you are? We
came home, and I had a little look at the pond. The pump is too much for the
smaller filter box which was leaking quite impressively; so much so that the
pond had lost eight inches of water. So I took the
foam out of the filter (that will speed the flow), ran out the hose
pipe and left it filling whilst I ironed seven shirts. And then with shirts
ironed and dogs settled I drove round to B&Q. Once the nice man in the
pond shop gets me my second filter box I will need
to plumb it all in. On Monday I got the hoses and the Y-junction. Today I got
the jubilee clips and the waterproof box for the electricals. And
then I popped down to see “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”. She
wanted to borrow the pressure washer. She claimed she wants to clear up her
back patio area; I suspect it will be more along the lines of something for “Stormageddon
– Bringer of Destruction TM” to play with. He’s played
with it in my back garden before. I
came home with Pogo; he’s coming on holiday with us. There
was all sorts of stuff I could have done during the
afternoon but instead I just sat with the dogs until “er indoors TM”
came home. We got as much packed as we could, then had KFC for tea – it is
the start of the holiday after all. As
we scoffed we watched “Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly”
on the telly. Much as I like the show I wonder if continuing to watch it will
be a practical proposition. Morgan didn’t like seeing the dogs and spent much
of the time barking at the telly. |
|
5 August 2022
(Friday) - New Forest Day One
This
morning was a tad hectic what with packing for holiday, but eventually I got
myself and the puppies organised and leaving “er indoors TM” with
the bigger dogs I took the babies to their home for the next week. After a
few minutes they settled, and I drove round to Sittingbourne where I parked
the car, and waited for “er indoors TM”
to arrive to collect me. I had this stroke of genius whereby “er indoors TM”
might pick me up, and there was my mistake… I
stood at the bus stop as “er indoors TM” would drive past
it and that was a sensible place for her to collect me… The bus came and I
told the little old lady standing there that I wasn’t waiting for the bus and
that she might like to get on the bus. She didn’t like that. I wasted five
minutes trying to persuade her that I didn’t want the bus. Eventually she got
on the bus and told the driver that I didn’t want the bus. The driver wasn’t
happy. “You alright, mate?” he called to me. I explained that I didn’t
want to get on the bus, and after a few minutes it became clear that the
driver was going to physically throw me on to the bus… “er
indoors TM” arrived with the dogs and we set off to the New Forest munzing as we went… we stopped off at Cobham services. “er
indoors TM” went to the loo and I walked the dogs round the
car park where I met more idiots. Pogo had a poop and as I was about to pick
it up some passing idiot announced that he would “rub his f…ing nose in it”, then looked at me, realised what
he’d said, tried to run away in terror, tripped over the kerb and fell flat
on his face in a hedge. As
we walked away some young girl came the other way with a dog which was
snarling and growling at us. I went to her left to get away… so did she. I
went to her right to avoid her… so did she… I told her I was trying to avoid
her snarling dog. She replied that she was trying to bring her dog to say
hello… And
then some passing woman tried to make such a fuss of Treacle that Treacle
slipped her collar. Winchester
services was every bit as bad. There was some upper class
twit and his equally inbred offspring in the M&S seemingly oblivious to
the fact that there was a universe around them; seemingly deliberately
blocking everyone else from getting to any of the shelves. And
then there was the small child who couldn’t walk. I say “couldn’t walk”…
this child was staring into space and its mother gave it a huge shove. It
staggered forward half a dozen paces until it stopped when mother gave it
another shove. And so it continued. If only mother
could have shoved it somewhere other than in my way. It
was with a sense of relief that we got to our holiday cottage… I
took a few photos today I actually had a very good day; it wasn’t all
about the idiots who seem to plague my life. It was a shame that the lap-top doesn’t want to talk to my phone any more but
eventually I uploaded them… |
|
6 August 2022
(Saturday) - Beaulieu Airfield
I
woke up far too early, had a shave and cut a slice out of my chin. It didn’t
bleed *that* much… perhaps an hour and a half? Whilst everyone snoozed I held toilet roll to my bleeding chin and sparked
up my lap-top which still was unable to connect to my phone. After a little
while one-handedly fiddling about and getting progressively more stressed
with it, I hit on the frankly genus idea of turning the phone off and
re-starting it. That did the trick. I
then programmed “Hannah” for today’s planned walk… and then went to
find a pen or a “similarly poky thing” as I’d forgotten “Hannah”’s power switch broke some time ago and
only works when I stick a poky thing into the hole where the switch used to
be. Everyone
else got up about two hours after I’d woken up (I wish I could sleep in!)
and it wasn’t long before the Sainsbury’s delivery arrived. It wasn’t long
after that when we worked out what they’d not delivered. The ice cream and
gin were missing, and after quite a bit of messing about on the phone
Sainsburys said they’d give us a refund. Refund? That’d no use when you want
ice cream and gin, is it? But
we had a rather good bit of brekkie, and as everyone else tidied up
afterwards I walked up the road to the farm shop where we’d called in
yesterday. They had pink gin, and walking there and
back and talking to the nice lady in the shop (and four loads of horses on
the way) only took twelve minutes. We
then went for a little walk. From the cottage we walked round the ponds and
across the heathland which used to be an airfield. It was rather hot, but I
kept the dogs going with the promise of a dip in the lake on the way back. As
we came to the lake I said “go on – in the water”.
I meant the clean lake water about ten yards away. *Not* the stagnant
mire only a foot away that somehow I’d not seen. Oh,
it (and they) stank. We
had a rather prolonged game at the lake trying to wash off the filth. It
didn’t wash off very well, and to add insult to injury there was no ice cream
van at the pond as we walked home. Once
home we (not me!) bathed the dogs, and then we all gravitated to the
patio where we sat and had ciders and bees and lemonades and dog ice cream (the
dogs’ ice cream was here!) and coughed and spluttered as the half-wit
next door burned all his garden rubbish and made so much smoke. No matter
what it was, it went on his bonfire (including green weeds pulled straight
from the garden). We made some rather loud pointed comments
but he made a point of ignoring them. Eventually another neighbour came up
and pointed out the blatantly obvious (having a bonfire when the entire
New Forest is tinder-dry is the work of an imbecile) and the smoke
stopped. After
half a dozen pints we shared half a dozen pizzas and a lot more profiteroles,
then wandered over to the lakes again to watch the sunset. It
was rather pretty. I
took a few photos today. Today was a good day. |
|
7 August 2022
(Sunday) - Clay Hill Heath
Despite
a rather vivid dream in which the Kent geocaching fraternity all turned up at
our holiday cottage to stage a “who’s the sweatiest” contest, I slept
well. I would have slept better had my phone been a tad quieter. Despite
having made a point of turning off its wi-fi and mobile data they turned
themselves back on to tell me about a rather trivial email at half past five,
and then Pogo dabbed at me until I said “Good Morning” at which point
he went straight back to sleep. I
had a shave (without slicing another lump out of my chin) and as
everyone else dozed I made a cuppa and had a look at the Internet. It
was still there. We
had brekkie, and then drove five miles to Lyndhurst where we parked the cars
and had a little wander round the woods. Clay Hill Heath was a very pretty
place to walk; it tired the dogs (and me). We had a short walk; after
an hour and a half we were back where we’d started and after a little sandwich we took the scenic route back to base (I say
“scenic route”; everywhere is scenic in the New Forest) via the co-op in Brockenridge for more supplies. And
with supplies acquired we had a very relaxing afternoon in the garden quietly
soaking up said supplies. A very good dinner was scoffed (quiche – hot or
cold? – there is only one correct answer!), and after five pints of very
good ale we moved on to the port (and stilton!). It
was at this point that I remembered all the dog dung and the dead sparrow –
I’ll take them to the bin tomorrow. It’s all too vague right now… I
took one
or two photos today, Today was a good day, Meanwhile
back in reality there have been a couple of updates. “Stormageddon –
Bringer of Destruction TM” had got himself locked in the
lavatory, and “Daddy’s Little Angel TM” was looking for
guidance on replacing the lavatory door which (presumably) got
destroyed in the process of releasing him. And her phone has also been
destroyed as well… If any of my loyal readers have a spare phone or a spare
lavatory door… And
the puppies are doing well on their little break. Morgan is being somewhat
naughty having managed to nick cake which he is not allowed, but Bailey is
behaving. I
must admit it is a serious weight off of my mind
that the puppies are being looked after so well whilst we are away. |
8 August 2022
(Monday) - Exbury Gardens
Being awake too early again I had a quick look at
the Internet and sent out some birthday wishes (as I do) and waited
for the dogs to wake before making any noise disposing of their “things”;
once the dogs are awake, so is everyone else With everyone else awake (and dog poo and dead
sparrow disposed of) we had a particularly good bit of brekkie,
then drove down to Exbury Gardens. Having spend some time fighting with their on-line booking
system yesterday I was pleased to see that our booking had worked. We got
straight in and started off on the little steam train that goes round the
place. Treacle in particular was fascinated by it. From here we clambered all over the wooden
assault course thingy (well, me and the girls did!) before going to
the falconry display. It has to be said that
the falconry display was something of a disappointment. The chap with the
birds was reluctant to let the birds fly as they might catch a thermal and
fly off. I was rather of the opinion that flying off was something at which
birds excelled, but what do I know? In the end the chap wheeled on a couple
of hawks which flew ten yards, one which refused to do anything, and an owl
which walked over some children who were idiot enough to lie down and get
walked over. I won’t say his display was crap
but Pogo is more deserving of applause and he’d not really done much but pull
on the lead for much of the day. We found the ice cream stall and had ice creams
all round (including the dogs), then had a good walk round the park;
it was a shame it was so hot but there was a breeze, and when you got into
the shade it wasn’t too baking hot. Especially when the sprinklers caught
you. “er indoors TM” got soaked. After five hours we were a tad peckish and moved
on to the Royal
Oak where we had a particularly good bit of dinner. My liver and bacon was excellent, and looking round the table there wasn’t
anything I wouldn’t have scoffed. We came home, and after a couple of games of
cards I fell asleep whilst everyone else played “Cluedo”; a rather
tricky game which needs you to think and play attention. I struggle at that. I
took a few photos today. As I do. And now I’m really
tired… |
|
9 August 2022
(Tuesday) - Hurst Gardens
This
morning was rather sad. Once we’d scoffed brekkie Victoria set off homewards.
Having recently started a new job she only has limited annual leave. But we’d
made the most of the days she had been with us. Karl
and Tracey (and Jess) took her to the train station; we then set off
south-wards and parked up in the village of Keyhaven
where we waited for them to catch up. Whilst we waited
we spent (wasted) twenty minutes looking for a geocache hidden by the
local scout group. The thing had
been hidden seven years ago. The given hint was now (according to previous
finders) out of date, and the people who had hidden this cache had only
ever hidden the one and never logged any finds on any others. As
an ex-scout leader myself I suspect that for the
scouts who hid it, geocaching is but a happy memory and they have long since
moved on to dog training, wig-spotting and global domination badges. We
joined the queue for the ferry and (after a while) sailed out to Hurst
Castle; a castle built in the days of Henry VIII to defend the Solent against
whichever Johnny Foreigner might have come sailing up it. Despite much of the
castle being closed for renovations we had a good look around the place. And
then we wandered round to the beach to find a spot in the shade of the castle
in which to eat lunch… the lunch we soon found we’d left in a bag back in the
boot of the car. Oh, how we laughed. But
we had a good time on the beach throwing stones to get the dogs into the
cooling water. We
then came back to get the return ferry at pretty much the same time as
everyone else did. The queue was seemingly endless. But what can you do? We
got an ice cream and waited patiently and chatted with everyone else and with
the girl from the ferry company whose job it was to pacify the queue. She
seemed to think that bearing in mind the amount of time we had to wait (and
how hot it was) that everyone was amazingly patient. She said that in the
last few days she has had formal complaints about her because on one occasion
she was looking into the harbour to point out the ferry to someone, and that
on another occasion the tide had gone out leaving only a narrow channel in
which the ferry could sail (!) However I must admit that the ferry company
did itself no favours limiting passenger numbers to twelve per ferry when their
boats could clearly hold more, but I expect that is “Health and Safety”
being completely misinterpreted again. As
we sailed a fellow passenger told us about The Drift Inn which from her
description was clearly the best pub in the New Forest, if not the universe. So once we’d got back to England we drove there. We actually went straight past the cottage and on for five
more miles to a rather mediocre bar attached to a chain hotel. It never fails
to amaze me how so many people feel that dreadful pubs are in any way
acceptable, let alone exceptional. After
a pint and some ice cream we made our way back to base for a lazy afternoon
and evening. And a rather good bit of dinner… |
|
10 August 2022
(Wednesday) - Setthornes Inclosure
Some
time ago “er indoors TM” got blackout curtains at home. At
the time I wasn’t impressed but the cottage has the most
flimsy of white curtains, and the bedroom is in broad daylight from
before five o’clock every morning which really doesn’t help with getting
sleep. I
sparked up my lap-top and sighed. I had a message from someone who has never
done a wherigo before telling me of a problem with
one of mine. Despite nearly eighty people having got through the thing
successfully, they couldn’t do it *therefore* the thing didn’t work. I
knew what the problem was… it is always the same problem with wherigos. Rather than reading the information in the
screens people just keep pressing “next” in an
attempt to move the game on without actually finding out what to do. I
played “Bubble Pop on the lap-top and watched the cows walking up the
road past the cottage (it’s a New Forest thing) until the dogs woke
and I could unload the dishwasher. We
had a rather good leisurely brekkie, and then drove for twenty minutes to the
Setthornes Inclosure; a
particularly pretty wood where there was shelter from the baking heat of the
day and in between copious water stops we walked about three miles
following a set of geocaches. In
retrospect this wasn’t perhaps the best series we’ve ever walked. The
description said “The caches are not necessarily on main tracks ... No 1
and No 2 are off the track. Not all tracks are shown on the app, and some are
not shown on the OS Leisure map.” I would have thought that if the people
setting the series were going to use the kind of tiny tracks I would *never*
use myself they should have positioned their hides in such a way to make it
clear what is “tiny track” and what is “where a deer walked through
some bracken”. And the first one certainly was off the track; it really
had been drop-kicked into the undergrowth. That’s
all very negative of me, isn’t it? But someone had given us a guided walk,
and it kept us occupied. After
a couple of hours we were done, and had lunch, hen went on to the brewery as we needed supplies. As we’d
driven yesterday we’d seen a sign for “The Pig Brewery” so we popped in. I
must admit that my heart sank when I saw one of the Real Ale
Twats (from Viz magazine) pootling about in the brewing area. Karl
and I had a pint of the wheat beer and got a few bottles to takeout… but only
a few. This place prided itself on making “craft beer” which is sold
by the half-pint at pint prices. From
here we went on to “The Filly”
which would seem to have gone downhill slightly over the years. But
the nearby farm shop was rather good. From
there we came home, and (once the dogs had had all the dust scrubbed off of them) we spent the afternoon in the garden.
Beer, playing extreme-piggy-in-the-middle, a rather good bit of
dinner, stargazing, and finally falling asleep over pudding. As
always I
took a few photos today. |
|
11 August 2022 (Thursday)
- Rans Wood
I had a marginally better night’s sleep;
laying in till after half past eight, which is unheard of. Eventually we all
got up, and after a leisurely brekkie made a plan
for the day. We drove for about five minutes to nearby Rans Wood where we had
a very good wander about. We found a couple of geocaches and kept to the
shade as far as possible, and after an hour or so returned to base. We’d given the dogs water every fifteen
minutes and for all that they were keen to continue, it was too hot. Having spent an hour or so trying to keep the
dogs in the shade in the woods, left to their own devices in the garden they
insisted on basking in the sunshine. I eventually gave up chasing them into
the shadows. We had a couple of beers and a rather good
picnic lunch, then dozed in the afternoon’s heat. Eventually my phone beeped
me awake. Another person was having Wherigo issues, so I sent a walkthrough
and a link to my “How to
Wherigo” site and hoped that would help. Another beer, and it was time for dinner. On
our first night we went to a nearby pub. We first visited the Turfcutter’s
Arms some years ago (23
October 2018) when I described it as “a rather good pub”.
The food was good last Friday so we thought we’d go again, but like so many
pubs it needs to choose its target audience. Outside in the garden were
families and holidaymakers having rather good meals. Inside the locals were
drunkenly swearing at each other. Each group seems tolerant enough of each
other though… After a rather good bit of dinner
we came back to base, and “er indoors TM” and I went off on
a little mission. Leaving Charlotte to supervise dog dinner we went off to
find a bottle bank to recycle the empties (and there were a few…)
Sadly the local council doesn’t seem to go in for recycling to any extent;
the instructions that came with the cottage said to chuck all the rubbish in
together and leave it all for the bin men. We weren’t keen on that, but type
“bottle banks New Forest” into Google and see how few there are. The closest to us was some ten miles away so
we thought we’d go there and shift the empties. You’ve never seen such
overflowing bottle banks. We returned to base via a petrol station
where “er indoors TM” swore impressively at the petrol
pumps, then once back we played a couple of rounds of “Cluedo”; a game
at which I am spectacularly rubbish. In the end it turned out it was me all along…
with the candlestick in the library. I would have got away with it too if it
hadn’t been for those pesky meddling kids… It’s all a bit sad – we’re going home tomorrow,,, |
|
12 August 2022
(Friday) - Home Again
Pogo
deliberately woke me at four o’clock for absolutely no reason that I could
fathom. He then pootled off and woke me again twenty minutes later when he
finally jumped onto the bed. I
then dozed fitfully until seven o’clock when I got up and made a start on
clearing up. Before long everyone was up and joining in. It wasn’t long
before the place was sorted and we were all ready to
go. Just as we were about to set off homewards the cleaner arrived. She was
keen to make a start; she’d arrived half an hour early at half past nine and
said she had five holiday cottages to sort out before the next loads of
guests arrived at four o’clock this afternoon. When
we drove down to the New Forest a week ago we took
over five hours. Today we did the return journey in less than half the time.
I suppose only stopping once at a much smaller services on the A3 rather than
at Cobham and Winchester made a difference. As
“er indoors TM” went to the loo I took the dogs for a
tiddle, and whilst we all tiddled I found someone’s credit card on the floor.
What do you do when you find a credit card? We
got back to Sittingbourne where I collected my car, said our final goodbyes
to Karl, Tracey, Charlotte and Jess, and I went to
collect the puppies. I must admit they had been a worry; they were too small
to come on holiday (holiday cottages say the babies have
to be a year old) and our original plan for dog care had fallen
though. But with a week or so to go a rather wonderful couple got in touch
through the Kent Dachshund group and as I arrived to collect them today it
was quite clear that the babies had had a wonderful holiday. I
brought them home, and I had a look at the pond. “My Boy TM”
had said the water level was a tad low. It was more than a tad low(!)
The trouble is that I’ve fitted a filter which is half the volume of the old
one, and it can’t cope with the output of the pump. I phoned the pond shop –
the second filter box which they assured me would be waiting still hadn’t
arrived. That was something of a pain in the glass (as “Stormageddon –
Bringer of Destruction TM” would say). As
I drove Pogo to his home I wracked my poor brain… “Daddy’s
Little Angel TM” was pleased to see Pogo, but not as much as
Pogo was to see Darcie Waa Waa. And then I had a
stroke of genius… There
is too much water coming from the pump for the filter to handle. So I needed to reduce the pump’s output. I took a little (quite
major) diversion to the pond shop and got a tap to slow the water flow. I
managed to get home in one piece; much of the roads from Ashford to Rolvenden were being used as race
tracks by sports cars and motorbikes. And once home I installed that
tap. It took some installing, and despite putting a screwdriver through the
palm of my hand (there wasn’t *that* much blood) It seemed to work. I
then sparked up the lap-top. Even though the hose
pipe ban came into force today I couldn’t leave the pond as empty as it was. https://www.southeastwater.co.uk/about/updates/tubs-faqs
says “Using a hosepipe where the welfare and/or health and safety of
animals including fish is paramount will not be restricted”. So I ran out the hose pipe. It is daft really… there is
nothing to stop me filling the pond with endless buckets of water so why
should I feel guilty about using a hose pipe? I
then phoned the credit card company and told them I’d found someone’s credit
card on the floor. The nice man at the other end of the line said that it was
good of me to report it, that he would cancel it right away,and
would I please destroy it. I
should have got one or two fraudulent buys in first, shouldn’t I? “er
indoors TM” boiled up fish and chips and as we scoffed it we watched the Lego Batman Movie – it was a freebie
from the SKY VIP thingy. It was rather good… I
feel absolutely worn out and my hand really hurts… |
|
13 August 2022
(Saturday) - In The Garden
Last week was a particularly good holiday but
(as I have found so many times) you can’t beat your own bed. I slept
for nine hours without a break last night. On waking I had a sudden panic about the
puppies so shot downstairs to see that my coming downstairs had woken then.
We went into the garden (because that’s what you do when you get up!).
The pond looked OK, but until the thing is back to full filtration
I shall be keeping an eye on it. The pups did their thing, and I gathered it
up. I also found quite a few dried-up things… before we went on holiday I had a major rummage around making sure I’d
cleared all the errant turds. Obviously quite a few eluded me. As I pootled in the garden so
not-so-nice-next-door was in hers. Had she looked in my direction I would
have smiled, but she made a point of moving about so that her back was always
to me. A feat which clearly took some doing. I put some washing in, and
made toast before having a serious fight with my lap-top. I’ve been using the
Firefox browser for years but more and more the thing simply doesn’t work
when I start up the lap-top. I start it and it
hangs. So I close it and re-start it and nothing
happens. Maybe after five or so goes it eventually starts working, so I tried
using Chrome this morning. It worked (eventually), and I wasted far
too long playing bubble pop games until the washing
machine finished. I hung out the washing, put more in then
started a day in the garden. First of all trimming
back the overgrowth from not-so-nice-next-door. That only took an
hour. I then had a go at the bush overhanging from nicer-next-door before
hanging out the undercrackers on my eco-friendly twenty-first century green
technology (which some might describe as the clothes horse which I’d put
in the garden). If we have to have a heatwave I might as well make use of it. And then I made a start on sorting out the
mess coming over the back fence. I really need to have a word with the chap
whose driveway comes past the back of our house. The previous owner
put the gate in the wrong place. According to the deeds of our house his
garden starts once the drive comes past our garden, *not* before it.
If he’s amenable to me giving the tree a pruning it won’t forget, all is
fine. If he kicks off I’ll have to speak to a
solicitor and that might get messy. “er indoors TM” sorted a rather good
lunch (there’s posh!) of baguette and stilton and as I scoffed it I suddenly has a stroke of genius. All morning I’d been
looking at the fish pond; worried about the reduced
water flow through the filter. Reduced water flow would result in reduced
oxygen levels, and so many fisheries locally have reported oxygen
crashes recently in which pretty much all the fish die simultaneously
because of catastrophically low oxygen levels. I suddenly remembered that
three residents ago in nicer-next-door, him who went off to run a pub
gave me a load of stuff from his garden pond (that he’d closed
down years previously). I can remember him saying that I had a pond and he didn’t, the stuff he had would be of more use
to me than it would to him, and if I didn’t want it I should chuck it away.
Being something of a hoarder I stuck a large crate of pond stuff in the shed,
and today I dug it out. There was a rather large pump in there, and after
fifteen minutes it was in the pond and powering a very basic fountain. It
doesn’t look particularly pretty but it is making lots of bubbles, and that’s
want the pond needs. I then shifted the rockery about, scooped
away loads of shingle and wired in the (supposedly) waterproof double
socket to power both the ultra-violet bulb that I have got and the one which
is coming. As I scooped shingle and hoiked boulders
I uncovered a little slow-worm. Back when we first
dug the pond there were loads of slow worms in the garden; I hardly see any
these days. All that I did today was so simple to type,
but such hard work to do (and in temperatures over thirty degrees too!).
By this stage I was ready to drop. I got out the Doctor Pepper and sat
reading “Jeeves and Wooster” until “er indoors TM”
said dinner was ready. And a very good bit of dinner it was. I’m absolutely worn out… and my hand is so
painful (from where I spiked a screwdriver though it yesterday) |
14 August 2022
(Sunday) - Still Too Hot
I ached somewhat when I woke this morning.
Perhaps I overdid it somewhat working in the garden yesterday. Something else
I overdid was turning down the hot water. I had this idea if the hot water is
on for a shorted time (and at a lower temperature) I might go some way
to reducing the fuel bill. However when I came to
have a shave the hot water was tepid at best. I’ve turned it back up a notch
or two. “er indoors TM” set off to
collect “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”, “Stormageddon –
Bringer of Destruction TM” and Darcie Waa Waa to take them to the family swimming at Faversham. I
thought better of going. I’ve had enough of this sunshine, and I’m too fat to
be waddling abut in my swimmies. Instead
I got on with ironing all the clothes that I’d washed yesterday from last
week’s holiday. As I ironed I watched a couple of
episodes of “The Sandman”.
Supposedly the second most popular show on Netflix right now, it has made a
good start. After a couple of hours of ironing it was all
done, and I had a look up the garden. Whilst still far too hot outside, it
wasn’t as hot as yesterday. And I had a sudden thought. During the winter the
shed roof leaked quite a bit. After the heatwave of the last month the shed
roof isn’t going to get any drier, and there is heavy rain forecast for the
coming week. Despite the heat, today was the perfect opportunity to re-roof
the shed. First of all I measured
the length of the shed roof… and therein laid my mistake. What with a bit of
overlap on the sides I needed three strips of roof felt each being one
hundred and thirty inches long. I drove to B&Q and got a roll of roof
felt, then came home and cracked on. I only got three of the lengths I needed out of
the roll of roof felt I’d bought, and I got all wound up about it. Three of
those lengths is three hundred and ninety. The roof felt was supposedly ten
metres long. In theory I would have over half the roll left; in practice I
only had a tiny strip about ten centimetres across left over. I phoned B&Q; had a rant, and just as I was
putting the finishing touches to the roof I realised
that my felt strips were one hundred and thirty inches long. Inches. Not
centimetres. Woops! But if nothing else the shed’s roof is now
waterproof. It’s a shame that there’s some serious gaps between the planks on
the sides of the shed, and in the shed door, but that will be a problem for
another day. One day later in the week when the rain comes, I expect. “er
indoors TM” returned with “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”,
“Stormageddon – Bringer of Destruction TM” and Darcie
Waa Waa, and little Darcie Waa Waa
was living up to her name. She was distraught and would not stop crying.
Eventually she settled after having been given some Gaviscon. The plan had
been that we would all then go round to see My Boy TM”, but
“er indoors TM” drove the most recent fruit of my loin and
her branch of the tribe home. Littlun clearly needed to sleep, and “er
indoors TM” said she’d meet me at My Boy TM”’s
house later. Managing
to scrounge a lift from Glenn and Matt I beat her
there by about an hour and a half. We
had a rather good evening. The first fruit of my loin sparked up the barby and we scoffed ourselves silly. And once we’d
reached the point at which no more food could possibly be eaten, Cheryl got
out the puddings. I feel stuffed. But again
I also feel rather knackered having overdone it yet again. And my hand still
hurts… |
15 August 2022 (Monday) - Back to Work
I woke
probably every twenty minutes all night long last night. With no reason to
get up I sleep well. Knowing there was an alarm set meant I barely slept last
night. I took the
puppies outside to do their thing, and with thing done they cried at the door
to go upstairs to have an hour or so on the bed with “er indoors TM”.
And having run upstairs they cried on the landing for me to come up and
protect them from Treacle. She can be rather grumpy at the babies first thing
in the morning. I made toast and listened to the seagulls squawk. We seem to get a lot of seagulls, even
though you can’t get any further inland in Kent than where we live. As I
scoffed toast (and as another COVID test incubated) I watched another
episode of “The Sandman” then set off to work. There was no end of doom and gloom on the radio
this morning. First of all there was talk of the ridiculously
high energy costs. Was Jeremy Corbyn's plan to nationalise the power
companies such a bad idea? All I am doing by paying far too much money to EDF
is subsidising the French energy bill. And then there was no end of talk about crackpot
religion. Girls in Afghanistan aren't allowed to go
to secondary school any more. The chap being interviewed on the radio
said that it is all very well for the educated people in the world's cities
to want to educate women but doing so offends the ignorant and uneducated
superstitious people who run the show in the hinterlands in Afghanistan. Time for new people to run the show, perhaps? And over thirty years ago Salman Rushdie gave
offence when he wrote some book or other. Those who were offended offered up
a reward for his death, and on Friday the
chap was stabbed. Religion... it's such a comfort, eh? I got to work a tad earlier than I might and took
a little walk to cap four Qrewzees (it’s a
Munzee thing). If only more people would do this it would make the Clan
War a bit easier, but in order to do what I did this
morning you have to be a premium member. And that costs money. Not a lot (about
fifty pence a week), but there are those who have made it quite clear
they will not put their hands in their pockets and that they expect others (i.e. me) to do the things that cost. Perhaps
I should do the same. Mind you I got to unlock a Qrate,
so all wasn't entirely bad. And then it was back to work. It wasn't a bad day
really. I have a job that I am trusted to do, and I spent quite a bit of time
teaching a trainee today. I like doing that. Being on an early shift I got out early (obviously!).
I had planned a dog excursion to the woods, but it was still twenty-eight
degrees when I got home. Rather than going to the woods we just pootled in
the back garden. I say “pootled”; I pootled,
the dogs kept trying to eat algae from the pond. I wish they wouldn’t.
Eventually “er indoors TM” came home and put a stop to
their shenanigans. “er indoors TM” boiled up
a good bit of dinner then set off bowling. I settled in front of the telly
with the dogs and watched another episode of “The Sandman”. This
morning’s one had featured Jenna Coleman as a lesbidaceous
exorcist. This evening’s starred her who was Brienne of Tarth (out
of “Game of Thrones”) as Lucifer. I’m quite enjoying this show… it’s based on the
book by Neil Gaiman. I’m nearing the end of my
current e-book. Maybe I might try some of his books? |
|
16 August 2022
(Tuesday) - This n That
I
would say I slept better last night, but I'm not sure that would be true. I
slept longer, but seemed to spend much of the night
in a rather perplexing dreamscape. Having scored top marks in the works'
"Zombie Apocalypse Training" program, I was seconded to the
hospital's training department to lead "Zombie Apocalypse Training"
for all staff. And then found myself faced with a
real-life (death?) Zombie Apocalypse. I
was rather pleased to wake up. Treacle
made me laugh this morning. Her attitude to the puppies is rather
inconsistent. Yesterday evening she and they were playing very nicely
together in the garden. Paul and his boys visited yesterday evening and
Treacle growled at them and wouldn't let them near the puppies. This morning
the puppies were terrified to go near the bed as Treacle was guarding it and
wouldn't let them anywhere near it. Once
the dogs had sorted themselves out and gone back to sleep
I made toast and watched an episode of "The Sandman" (featuring
Remus Lupin from "Harry Potter" as a well-intentioned idiot)
before setting off for work. As
I got into my car so not-so-nice-next-door got into her car and made a
point of blanking me. It was rather laughable; parking her car against
the traffic she was staring right at me whilst pointedly ignoring me. A shame
really; I feel I should point out the ridge tiles on her roof that are about
to come off. She
then tried to turn her car round. That too was rather laughable. I must admit
I often find myself asking if she has ever had any driving lessons, let alone
actually passed the driving test; she is terrible at driving. With
her finally out of the way I set off to work listening to the radio as I do.
there was more talk about the situation in Afghanistan one year after the
western forces effectively
abandoned the place. And
there was talk
of COVID vaccines too. Just
as I drove in the hospital drive I saw a colleague
walking past. I smiled and waved, as did he. And a short while later I heard
he'd phoned in sick. Had he turned round and gone home, or does he have a
double? Work
was work; but getting home was hard work. It took as long to drive the two
miles from work to the motorway as it did the twenty miles from there to
home. I
got home just as “er indoors TM” was taking the dogs out.
Rather than going with them I took the opportunity to get the event shelter packed
away before the forecast rain came. Mind you the thing wasn’t entirely dry;
the feet into which the poles fit each had an inch of a rather pungent liquid
in them. I couldn’t say with absolute certainly that it was Morgan piss… but there’s not many other possibilities. To
think that having him was my idea… |
|
17 August 2022
(Wednesday) - There Was Cake
I
put the event shelter away yesterday evening as I wanted the lawn to get the
benefit of the forecast overnight heavy rain... it didn't come. Last night
the weather forecast gave over ninety per cent chance of heavy rain from four
o'clock onward this morning. I let the puppies out to bright sunshine. Once
they'd done their thing they went upstairs and looked at me from the top of
the stairs. I carried them and dumped them on a sleeping “er indoors TM”
whilst Treacle glared her indignation at me. I made toast and watched another
episode of "The Sandman" featuring a sadly non-lesbidaceous Jenna Coleman (which was something of a
disappointment) As
I drove to work through a very dry and bright morning it was obvious there
had been no rain up the motorway at all. And my piss
boiled as the pundits on the radio were talking about the so-called "blood
scandal". At first sight this blood scandal is terrible; people have
been given all sorts of infections through transfusions of infected blood and
blood products. But when you look a little deeper into the matter... Much
of the infected blood came from America where the less salubrious members of
society were being paid for their blood. And so the
habitual intravenous drug users could finance their drug habits by selling
their blood. Why did the UK use American blood? Because UK residents don't
donate (not sell!) anywhere near enough of the stuff. This
morning it was announced that all the victims are to get interim payments of one hundred thousand quid
each. There was an interview with one such victim this morning whose life
was blighted when a blood transfusion in 1975 gave her hepatitis C. Now
there's two issues here... Firstly blood transfusions aren't given
lightly. There must have been a clear and serious reason for that
transfusion. Secondly
hepatitis C wasn't
identified until 1989. Is it reasonable to accuse the NHS of negligence
when they were trying to help and had no knowledge of a disease which
wouldn't be identified for another fourteen years? And
they wonder why fewer and fewer people want to go into healthcare as a
career… I
got some petrol before work, then went in to Sainsburys for this and that. In
a sign of our times there wasn't anyone on the tills
so I had to use the self-service checkouts. But there was an interfering
busybody member of staff who wouldn't leave me alone as I tried to scan my
shopping. She wasn't at all impressed when I suggested we went over to a
proper till where she could do the job that she is paid for and that I was
trying to do for free. And
so to work where I sat by a large window and spent
much of the day watching for the forecast rain. By mid day
the weather forecast had an eight per cent chance of rain for mid-afternoon,
and that was when the torrential rain came. I say “torrential”; after
two minutes it had gone. I’m
reliably informed that other parts of the country had massive amounts of rain
today, but I didn’t see any. Mind
you there was cake, so the day wasn't entirely wasted. |
|
18 August 2022
(Thursday) - Random Ranting
Having
discovered an errant turd on the carpet behind the
table last night I took no chances this morning and frogmarched two very
sleepy puppies into the garden far earlier that any of us would have liked.
After a while both eventually tiddled. Dogs are
strange things. I wake up every morning in dire need of the loo; dogs wake up
with no such urge and are quite content to bimble
round the garden playing silly beggars before eventually "producing"
after ten to fifteen minutes later. I'm
finding that these days so much of my life revolves around the toilet habits
of two small dogs... They
went back to sleep, and I watched an episode of "The Sandman";
this one featuring Stephen Fry as "Gilbert". I went to
school with a Gilbert; albeit a different one. The rat I dissected during my
A-level biology classes was named after him. He ran competitively at county
level in the late 1970s. He once sold me a pedal-bike that fell apart within
a week of my buying it. And he sadly died some time ago in
an air crash. And
so to work. My piss boiled
as I drove. The pundits on the radio were talking about the recent murder of
Thomas O'Halloran; an eighty-seven year old chap stabbed to death
whilst on his mobility scooter in London. The chap's local MP was interviewed
who said that this was the fourth murder in the area in six days. For all the
hot air vented and crocodile tears shed, no one was brave enough to address
the core issue that the police are (yet again) unable to keep the
streets safe. Is there *really* any practical alternative to having
vigilante mobs keeping us all safe? A-level
results were
published today. It would seem that grades have
fallen. Seriously? For the last two years COVID restrictions have meant that
A-level results have been issued on the strength of what teachers think the
students would achieve, and which teacher is going to claim that their
students would get anything other than a brilliant result? And
hot on the heels of COVID, double figure inflation and record breaking
temperatures is a predicted world-changing
volcanic eruption according to our old friend science. That would be a
nuisance... With work done I came home… and was lucky to get
there. As I came down the Operation Brock contraflow (with a fifty miles
per hour speed limit) I was intensely conscious of the lorry behind me.
Inches behind me. Either the driver was falling asleep at the wheel and was
unaware of how close he was. Or he was impatient with the speed limit and was
deliberately trying to hit my car to get me to go faster (even though
there were other cars in front of me). I’ve emailed the email address on
the side of the lorry to ask which it was. I
wonder if they will reply? |
|
19 August 2022
(Friday) - Master of Munz
With
no need to be up early I let “er indoors TM” see to the
puppies this morning. I listened to her refereeing their squabbles as I had a
shave, and by the time I’d scraped they’d all had their brekkies. So I took them to the woods a tad earlier than usual. As
we drove the pundits on the radio were making great show about how so many
under-thirties are spending a third of their income on
rent and how this is unaffordable. Seriously? When we moved to our first
flat in Pavilion Road in Folkestone the monthly rent was one hundred and
seventy-three quid a month. At the time my monthly take-home pay was two
hundred and thirty-three quid. Three quarters of my income went on the rent
thirty-eight years ago. Even allowing for “er indoors TM”’s
wage (which was intermittent at best as she was young and working through
an agency) at our financially best we were spending over half our income
on rent. Why is this being bandied as news today? As Oliver Hardy once
remarked “Twas ever thus”. We
got to the woods; we had a good walk. As we walked
we met two dogs on leads. Treacle walked straight past
but the puppies made a point of trying to bother them. Fortunately (amazingly)
three sharp blasts on the whistle got them to come to me each time, and as we
walked we practiced whistle training until Morgan
lost interest. He has a rather short attention span even when food is
involved (which makes training problematical). We
came home, I had brekkie and as three dogs snored on the sofa next to me I watched another episode of “The Sandman” and
then sparked up my lap-top. Yesterday
I mentioned I’d emailed the company of the lorry which nearly crashed into me
(several times) as I drove home last night. I had a reply. The chap
who’d emailed me said that he would review the lorry’s dash-cam footage. On
the one hand I feel guilty that the driver might get into trouble. On the
other hand he was either asleep at the wheel or
deliberately driving dangerously. I
also had an email from the power company. My bill for the period from
February to August was available. The power company operates this daft scheme
in which I pay so much a month into a holding account. Twice a year they
produce a bill, and take the money I owe from that
holding account. You’d think that with SmartMeters they would take exactly as
much money as is needed to pay for what I’ve used, wouldn’t you? After all
the SmartMeter updates the power company every half-hour. However…
in the last six months I’ve paid just under one thousand two hundred quid to
them, and in that time I’ve used just under nine hundred quid’s worth of
power. I’m three hundred quid in credit with them, and I’m told my monthly
payments are staying the same. Oh well… better in credit than in debt, eh? I
settled the dogs (they didn't need much settling) and drove round to
B&Q. Over the years some of the panels on the shed walls have warped, and
my plan for Sunday is to replace them. I got the drill bit and galvanised
nails for the job, but the fence panels themselves were too big to fit in my
car. They would have easily fitted in previous cars, but not the new more
sensible (smaller) car. I shall go back tomorrow with “er indoors TM”
to help me carry them home. And
from B&Q I set off to work. Work was much the same as ever. As I did that
which I couldn’t avoid I got a message from Munzee HQ. They’ve had an awards
ceremony and I got given several e-badges (which was nice!)… |
|
20 August 2022
(Saturday) - Late Shift
I
overslept somewhat today. Thinking it was perhaps shortly after seven I woke
to find it was after nine o’clock. I flew downstairs to see to the puppies.
They were both fast asleep. With
the morning ritual done and cleared away (yuk!) I made toast. Having
run out of jam I had a rummage in the cupboard and found some honey. That was
good for an argument. I like the set stuff (as God intended) but “er
indoors TM” prefers “the runny shite” (to coin a
phrase). Mind you the so-called “set” stuff wasn’t as set as it
might have been. I
had a look at the Internet as I scoffed the toast. The Internet was still
there, and much the same as ever. Rather than wasting my time there I
chivvied “er indoors TM” into action and we went to
B&Q. Yesterday I looked at lengths of wood for fixing the shed and
decided I’d need help to carry them home… Did they shrink overnight? The same
things were much more manageable this morning, and I carried three home having wasted twenty minutes of “er indoors TM”’s
time. Once
home I fed the pond fish. “er indoors TM” cleared up dog
sick. It was one of the puppies – you could tell because of the fish food (dogs
are gross creatures!). I
set off for work. It wasn't my idea; I've already worked five days this week,
but I had been allocated six. The pundits on the radio were talking about
diesel shortages in Haiti so I turned the radio off and sang along to my odd
choice of music. As
I got near to work I took a minor diversion for
geo-reasons. Every year the third Saturday in August is International
Geocaching Day and there is an e-souvenir if you log a find on that day. I've
got one on the last nine, so I felt really should go for it today. There was
also a world-wide attempt to get the most logged geo-finds on any one day. No
one really seemed to know what the most on any one day was before, so I
suppose no matter what happens, a record will be claimed anyway. I made the
find and went on to work. Looking back through my diary I see that of the ten
International Geocaching Days I've been involved with I had been working on
nine of them. I
got to work and went to the canteen. Fish fingers and chips followed by jam
roly-poly and custard went down very nicely. But (as is so often the way
with the late shifts) the day was effectively all over by the early
afternoon. Some
days in my life are rather good... and others have a highlight of a trip to
B&Q and a bowl of jam roly-poly and custard... |
|
21 August 2022
(Sunday) - Not Working (?)
As I shaved I heard “er
indoors TM” telling Morgan off about some crime or other. Even
though Treacle is far and away the naughtiest dog, it is always little Morgan
being told off for one thing or another. I made toast (with set honey!) and had
a look at the Internet. There had been a geo-meet yesterday in honour of
International Geocaching Day yesterday I couldn’t get along (what
with work) but it looks like it had been well attended. And there was a
new geocache this morning too. A shame it was so close to work; having driven
there for the last six days I wasn’t going to make the journey again today,
but hopefully things are back on the up for hunting Tupperware? I sent out some birthday wishes and found
myself thinking as I did so. A friend from way back was having a birthday
today. During the late seventies we were the best of buddies through our
membership of the Boys Brigade. But over the years we went our separate ways.
I’ve only seen the chap in person twice since 1983; the first time at the
retirement of the chap who ran the Boys Brigade, and the last time at the
funeral of the chap who ran the Boys Brigade. Stalking my old mucker on the
Internet it seems he’s the managing director of some big firm in the city and
has an annual income of about half a million quid. If I had an annual income of about half a
million quid I’d only want to see the likes of me
once every twenty years as well… “er indoors TM” got the Asda
shopping, then set off to Folkestone. Today was the Folkestone air show and
the tribe was going to see it. If you like planes (which seemingly
everyone else does) it is a really good day out.
I’ve seen it before and can remember it as being hours of tedium. You stand
plaintively staring into the sky, and about every half-hour or so some plane
or other comes over which (to my uneducated eye) all look the same. I got on with what I had planned. On 4 April
2008 I got a new shed. According to shedman.co.uk
a decent wooden shed (if maintained) should be good for thirty years… Over the years I’ve replaced the roof felt
twice, but rather more serious maintenance was needed today. Some (six)
of the planks on the side had warped leaving great big gaps through which
rain could pass. I tried bodging the holes last year with decorative filler,
but that didn’t work. So I got new planks yesterday
and the plan was to pull off the warped planks, cut the new ones to size and
put them in place. Easy… Or so you’d think. To be honest (apart from
putting the drill through my thumb) everything went rather well. There
was a minor hiccup when I found that I needed to replace two more panels than
I had first thought, but I did that with the off-cuts I
took a few photos as I worked… I must admit I’m rather pleased with the
result bearing in mind that the only woodworking skills I’ve got (such as
they are) are entirely self-taught. As I worked
I found myself reflecting on the words of an old schoolmate (Simon
Hargraves) who once asked our French teacher why we wasted our time at
school learning Latin and religious education and ancient history. He asked
why we didn’t learn useful things such as woodwork like the boys at the
secondary modern school did. Our old French teacher replied with something
I’ve remembered all my life, and sums up where I’ve
gone wrong all these years. He said that we were grammar school
boys. He said that in years to come we would be paying the ex-
secondary modern school boys to do the manual labour
for us, and that as ex- grammar school boys, manual labour would be beneath
us. I suppose it is for my mate having his
birthday today (him on half a million a year)… By the time the shed was fixed it was
mid-day, and I had a stroke of genius (I have them from time to time).
It occurred to me that all the normal people who infest the woods would be
having their lunch, and we might get a walk without being plagued by them. The idea nearly worked. We got three quarters of the way round the
woods when we turned a corner to see someone who had seen us first and was
putting his dog on a lead. Rather then putting my
three on their leads I blew the whistle. Having had perfect whistle training
in practices up to that point, the puppies were a tad slow coming back.
Treacle came instantly, and as the normal person walked past
he made some sarcastic comment about a success rate of one out of three. He
then saw my dogs were getting treats and, presumably wanting one for his dog,
made some conciliatory comment about how bad his dog behaves off the lead and
that the puppies weren’t that bad really. I told him that they were babies (which
they are) and were still learning (which they are), and I walked
off up the path with all three perfectly at heel. It was only a shame that when I put the
treats away the babies chased off down the path to bother the normal person’s
dog again. We came home and I had lunch. Haagen Dazs lime mojito sorbet washed down with a can of Tizer. Not everyone’s first choice of lunch, but it did
for me. As I’d fiddled with shed panels this morning I’d also been doing the laundry and getting it
onto the line. With walk walked and lunch scoffed the laundry was all dry. As
I got it in so there was a noise. The Red Arrows flew overhead. Directly over
the garden; they couldn’t have been more than fifty yards up. And as the dogs snored
I spent a couple of hours doing the ironing whilst watching the last episodes
of “The Sandman”. “er indoors TM” came home and boiled
up a rather good bit of dinner, only marred by the pain in my thumb… I had
one day off this week and I didn’t stop. |
|
22 August 2022
(Monday) - FTF, Dragons
I
found myself awake rather earlier than I might have been. Sleep wasn't
happening so I got up, tiddled the puppies and took them up to see “er
indoors TM”. They are so eager to go upstairs every morning,
but they don't dare go without me as Treacle is so grumpy toward them. With
dogs settled I made toast and had a quick look on-line. That geocache near work that went live yesterday
morning still hadn't been found, so with the chance of a First to Find I set
off earlier than I might have done. As
I drove up the motorway the pundits on the radio were interviewing various
government ministers. Firstly about the unmonitored
dumping of raw sewage onto Britain's coastlines, and about the cost
of living crisis. Everyone
was talking about which agencies and charities might help, but no one in
authority seemed to feel that it was up to them to do anything as none of
them had the power to do anything. Isn't this the trouble with Britain today?
Ever since Margaret Thatcher came to power forty years ago pretty much
everything to do with the running of the country has been sold off to
profit-making companies. I'm not saying that things were any better back in
the day, but at least with nationalised infrastructure those supposedly in
authority could actually do something about the
running of the country (whether they did or not is entirely a different
matter!) I
got to as close to the new geocache as was possible to drive,
and started walking. As I walked a woman came up the path toward
me... "Good morning" she announced. She then told me
that today was her birthday (she was forty) and proceeded to give me
the detailed version of her life history. She seemed happy enough, but I
formed the distinct impression that she was incredibly lonely... how many
people are out and about on their own on obscure footpaths talking to random
strangers at half past six in the morning on their fortieth birthday? Eventually
she wandered off, and I followed my sat-nav (phone) to a tree in a
thicket where I rummaged to no avail. After a few minutes I had a look at the
next tree along and found that for which I had been searching. And I was the
first one there. FTF... Result!! I
went in to work for the early shift. As always I get
in early so the night person could slip off promptly, and then spent much of
the day peering down a microscope. At
tea break my phone pinged. “er indoors TM” had sent
instructions. Usually I buy the household's bumwipe whenever I pop into Sainsburys on my way to work.
But I have been relieved of bumwipe acquisition
duties; she's set up a standing order with Amazon for bumwipe
made out of bamboo which is (apparently) more eco-friendly than the
stuff that comes from trees, and has less packaging
too. I
can't wait for the first consignment to arrive... An
early start made for an early finish. I came home and took the dogs to the
woods. We met two other groups of dogs. We played with the first set, and gave the second set a wide berth. The second set
of dogs were each the size of cart horses and were both on leads. The woman
holding the first dog was nowhere near strong enough to control that dog. Why
get a dog that is far stronger than you are? With
“er indoors TM” off bowling I watched the first episode of
“House of the
Dragon”; the prequel to “Game of Thrones”. Initially I nearly
turned it off; for the first ten minutes it was just like the first “Star
Trek” film; all special effects. But it soon chirped up. I won’t say what
happened but I will say that I’m looking forward to
next week’s episode… |
|
23 August 2022
(Tuesday) - Before the Night Shift
I
slept like a log last night, for which I was rather pleased. By the time I
got up “er indoors TM” had seen to the puppies, but they
were rather excited to see me. I
made toast and peered into the Internet as I do most mornings. It was still
there. I had a friend request on Facebook fromربيع
منصور who
presumably saw something that I had posted on a work-related Facebook page. I
don’t know this person, have never had any dealings with him, her or it whatsoever, and from what I can determine from
Google Translate they seem to be something of a religious nut. I think I will
steer well clear. I
took the dogs down to the woods. As we drove there was an interesting program
on the radio in which people with diametrically opposed points of view were
invited to try to understand the other person’s perspective. There was a
rather aggressive-sounding harridan who was banging on about how unfair
private schools are (because she felt they are far better than state
schools), and that the money spent on them should be spent on state
schools as that would be fairer. Some headmaster of
a private school pointed out that there are good and bad private and state
schools, and the more calm the headmaster was, the more angry the woman
became. It made for entertaining listening even if it didn’t really achieve
anything. We
got to the woods and had a good walk. Not seeing anyone else as we walked
probably helped. Mind you there was something large crashing about in the tree tops. Judging by the squawking it might well have
been a pterodactyl. I
came home and pootled about waiting for a delivery. The plan for the morning
had been to sort the new pond filter which was due to arrive today. I’ve
heard it said that God laughs when we make plans… I
saw red when I eventually looked at the front door and saw there was a “we
tried to deliver your parcel” from Royal Mail. According to Amazon the
delivery was attempted half an hour after we’d got home from the woods. I
blame myself… I should have contacted the seller when I bought the pond
filter from Amazon on Saturday. If I’d known that they were going to use
Royal Mail I would never have ordered it. Amazon
leave the thing on the doorstep for you. Royal Mail employ postmen who sneak
silently to the door and push a “you weren’t in” card and then expect
you to go get the thing from the sorting office yourself the next day. I
really have watched them do it. Watch the parcel delivery people yourself…
Perhaps I’ve got a bad local one, but if he had any intention of delivering
parcels he would carry them from the van to the houses, rather than bringing
just a handful of “you weren’t in” cards. I
must admit my mood wasn’t helped by the fact that having clicked the next day
delivery option on Saturday morning, once they had my money
they’d then said the day after Saturday was Tuesday… I
contacted the seller who seemed to be utterly disinterested. Oh well… their
loss. I immediately bought a job lot of Koi food from another aquatic
supplier out of spite. I
then did a little CPD… and got
it wrong. I say “wrong”; the blood transfusion simulator is very
much a work in progress that no one seems to be working on. I suspect (hope)
I’ve found a glitch in the system. And
with something of a sense of failure I went to bed for the afternoon. On
waking I watched the first episode of “Shadow and
Bone”; a watchable enough show. And as I watched I got a message that
our Munzee clan had reached its monthly target today. That was a minor
result. I didn’t think we’d get the required amount of Qrewzees
– to get those you have to be a paid-up Munzer (not just anyone can do a Qrewzee,
you know!) and only half of our clan have paid up. I
also got a message that there had been another attempt to deliver my pond
filter at half past three this afternoon… There hadn’t. I
shall collect it from the sorting office tomorrow… when hopefully I won’t be
so grumpy. |
|
24 August 2022
(Wednesday) - So Tired
Last
night’s night shift was rather hard work; I was very pleased when the early
person arrived so that I could go home. As
I drove home the pundits on the radio were interviewing the Defence Secretary
Ben Wallace about the UK’s continuing involvement in the Ukrainian conflict.
Mr Wallace was saying how the western allies of Ukraine have
to walk a tightrope in that they want to support the Ukrainians
without overtly antagonising the Russians. Mr Wallace wasn’t at all happy
with the suggestion that what with the ongoing cost of living crisis (with
inflation looking set to hit eighteen per cent and the Russians putting the
price of gas through the roof) more and more people feel the UK can’t
afford to get involved in other people’s wars. He wasn’t happy… but didn’t
really have a plausible reply. A bit like the wannabe Prime Minister Rishi
Sunak who was interviewed for twenty minutes and said so much without actually saying anything. I
got home, had a quick wash and brush-up and headed
down the road to the dentist. As I’d driven past there on my way home there
had been some teenage girl sitting on a push-along scooter outside the
dentist. She was still there as I went in. I
saw the hygienist first. This one was amazed at how good my gob was. The last
time I saw her (26
February 2021) she’d given my cake-muncher the serious thumbs down
and was particularly rude about it. I’ve not done anything different in the
meantime and I’ve since seen two different hygienists who were happy with my
trap… what was that all about. I
then went in to the dentist for a check-up. I was in
and out in less than a minute before making appointments for next February. The
girl on the scooter was still sitting outside as I left. I
drove into town (to get that pond filter that Royal Mail hadn’t delivered
yesterday) and parked in a half-empty Vicarage Lane car park. That place
is usually heaving; where were all the cars? I
wasted ten minutes fighting with the ticket machine. I don’t begrudge the
sixty pence parking fee but I do begrudge the waste
of time to get the machine to actually sell me a ticket. Once I’d finally got
the ticket I walked over to the sorting office, got my parcel and was back to
the car in seven minutes. I thought about haranguing the sorting office staff
about their (frankly crap) delivery staff,
but there were enough other people giving them a hard time already. I
came home, got the dogs and (driving past the girl on the scooter who was
still sitting outside the dentist) we went down to Orlestone
Woods. There were a few cars in the car park, and as we walked into the woods so several people (and their dogs) were
walking out. We saw more people in the first fifty yards than we usually see
on the entire walk. In fact other than the groups on
their way home we only saw one other bunch; a young couple with *loads*
of dogs. Presumably that had been their van in the car park with the
dog-walking company logos all over it? And
with walk walked we again drove past the girl on the scooter who was still
sitting outside the dentist as we came home. I
managed a little sleep, but not much. There was a knock on the door. A few
days ago “er indoors TM” had stuck
a whole load of crockery in the front garden. There was no room in our
cupboards for it, but it was too good for the bin, so if anyone wanted it,
they could help themselves. A passing young mother’s daughter wanted one of
the cups. Were they *really* going free? Finding
myself awake I spent a few minutes looking at my new pond filter and
determined that the ultra-violet light worked. I could sort the rest another
time. I then downloaded the bank statements and went through them. Bearing in
mind that over the last few weeks I’ve had two major holidays and a
catastrophic failure of the pond’s filter system, I could be a whole lot
worse off… I
feel absolutely worn out… a night shift will do that. I need an early night.
I often say that but oh-so-rarely actually do it. |
|
25 August 2022
(Thursday) - Before the Late Shift
I
made toast and as I scoffed it I saw something on Facebook.
The "Pantosaurus" song has been
stuck in my head all day... Remember – your pants cover up your private
parts!!! As
I drove the dogs to the woods for an early morning walk there was some gay
Christian icon being interviewed on the radio who making great show of being
gay and of being a Christian. Now I have no issue with the gay community at
all. Many friends and members of my family are gay. I have some issues with
Christians though; mostly because they don't actually
understand what being a Christian is all about... and that is why Gay
Christians annoy me so much. Have
you ever read the Bible? I have. I used to be a steward in the Methodist
church. It was up to me to hire and fire the vicars. So
I know a little bit about the Bible. Much of it is contradictory, and there
are a lot of occasions in which for every statement the Bible makes on a
subject, there is another saying the direct opposite... except for
homosexuality. The Bible is crystal clear on this matter. The Bible thinks it
is a big no-no. Gay Christians are going against the direct orders of their
God... (Personally I'm with the gay community rather
than the Christian one here, but read the Bible. Seriously. According to the
established teachings of the religion, the two don't mix - if you disagree,
don't tell me, tell God!) We
got to the woods and had a walk, and I realised something. Treacle has always
been wary of other dogs, but recently she has been a lot braver, standing up
for the puppies. But today when the puppies went to say hello to two Spaniels
we often meet, Treacle shied away. She did that yesterday too. She's gone
back to her old ways; has she decided the puppies are old enough to
stick up for themselves? To be fair they (mostly) don't need sticking
up for any more. We
came home, the dogs went to sleep, and I set off on a little mission.
Navigating my way through all the road works in Ashford (and there were a *lot*) I eventually got through and out to
Canterbury where I picked up a child's garden slide. A straight one. This
will form the central part of my next garden project. From
Canterbury I drove through the rain up to Sheerness where I had a little look-see
at the stuff in Whelan's. I saw something else that I might need for the next
garden project, but wasn't sure, so I contented myself with two garden gnomes
and a dragon. It was a shame that some idiot driver forced me to brake so
hard that one of the gnomes bashed against the dragon and chipped it... I
then faced something of a hold-up on the A249. There are massive road works
at the junction of that road with the M2. Were I
the Minister for Transport I'd bring in a rule whereby that if someone digs
up the road they have to fix what they have dug up
before digging the next bit... There are great swathes of land dug up with no
one finishing anything off up there. I
then went to the pond shop in Aylesford having forgotten what happened last
time I was there. The obnoxiously rude woman was still behind the till. If
there was anywhere else selling pond stuff within striking distance
I would have given her two fingers and walked out... I
stopped off for some petrol as I then headed to work. Getting petrol was easy
enough; paying for it not so. There was some
epically fat woman standing in the doorway to the petrol station's kiosk
piddling about on her phone. She was utterly oblivious to the fact that no
one could get in or out of the kiosk with her blocking the way. Eventually
after several tactful coughs, the chap three in front of me loudly announced
"will you get out of the way!" and the woman seemed to wake
up with a start. She was obviously shocked to realise where she was and had
no idea of the obstacle she had been to everyone.
She bustled away apologizing to anyone who would listen. The
rest of the day was rather dull... (pant
- pant - pantosaurus...) |
|
26 August
2022 (Friday) - International Dog Day The internet was rather dull as I scoffed toast.
But not as dull as the morning's radio. As we took the short drive to the
woods the sports news was on. They really might have been continually
repeating "blah blah sport" for all that it interested me. I
have always maintained that sport is to be done, not watched. And as for
listening to some has-beens (or never-were) talking about sporting
events that happened yesterday... I suppose enough people must be interested
in this to have it on the radio. .. We got to the woods and had a good walk. Everyone
behaved and came when called (eventually). No one rolled in anything
disgusting. All in all, a good walk. Narrowly avoiding a collision with a van from J
Knight and Sons we made our way home. I've often remarked on the fallacy of
having your business emblazoned on the side of your van if you are going to
drive like a lunatic. I settled the dogs, and
set off on another shopping mission. I shall need more pond hose, rocks and
cobbles for the planned pond project so I got that
from Bybrook Barn. Eventually. No one told me that
the main road going west out of Ashford was closed. It took a while to
navigate the diversions. Bybrook Barn also
had a new attraction; a "Compost Drive Thru"; I decided
against that. however they didn't have the bits I
need for the upgrade to the pond's fountain so I went to the pond shop in Notcutts where I found a rather helpful assistant. A
great improvement on the miserable one I encountered in Aylesford yesterday.
I explained what I wanted, and the girl in Notcutts
was quite honest. She didn't know if she had anything, so she rummaged under
the counter and dug out her box of odds and sods and said I could have a
rummage to see if I could find anything useful. I did. As I walked back to my car a passing elderly
couple were telling all and sundry to avoid the butchers in Notcutts as "it smelled rank". I didn't
small anything as I walked past; I wonder how many people they put off going
in there? I then had a stroke of genius and realised that
my next project required paving slabs, so I went to Wickes. How easy to type
"I went to Wickes". Have you ever tried to drive thought Maidstone.
usually I go right round the outside, but Wickes is
right in the middle, and Maidstone has a (frankly) bloody awful
one-way system. But I got there, and as I queued to pay there was a near
punch-up. I must admit that the chap in front of me did himself no favours.
He was standing around some five yards from the tills. I asked if he was in
the queue; he glared at me, walked back another five yards
and said it was a socially distanced queue. So socially distanced that
another shopper didn't even realise there was a queue and went straight up to
the tills. The chap advocating social distancing might be scared of COVID-19 but he certainly wasn't scared of people pushing in. It
was rather entertaining, but I managed not to laugh out loud. I then put my
back out heaving the larger paving slabs into the car. The first fruit of my
loin says he'll help me move them tomorrow. With a little time on my hands
I popped to Sainsburys (as I'd forgotten to pick up lunch). I saw that
petrol prices are falling, and that Sainsbury's in Aylesford are selling the
stuff seven pence a litre cheaper than in Ashford. And so to work where
having cake made for a rather good day. Unlike “er indoors TM”
who messaged me a photo of little Bailey who had smothered herself in fox
poo. She don't do that when I walk her... but I
suppose that what with today being "International Dog Day"
she did it as a celebration. And just as I was on the final stretch at work my
phone rang. Dad had been taken ill and an ambulance was on the way. I left
work immediately. And as I drove I got the message
that the ambulance was taking him to the hospital in Eastbourne. Maidstone to
Eastbourne in the dark wasn’t the best of trips, but I arrived in the car
park at the same time as my brother, and we actually beat the ambulance with
Dad and sister in law by a couple of minutes. After a lot of waiting and waiting I eventually
got in to see him… He’d had a stroke and didn’t seem to be in a good way.
Eventually the staff moved him to a ward, and it was clear that he needed a
good night’s sleep, and there was nothing more to be achieved by our hanging
round getting in everyone’s way… I got home at one o’clock… which was a lot
earlier than I had expected. |
|
27 August 2022 (Satuday) - Back to Eastbourne
I
slept surprisingly well last night. Yesterday had been rather full-on. I’d
spent much of the shift at work telling people that what with dog walk and
shopping I was worn out before I started work, and I suppose following that
with an impromptu road trip of a hundred miles didn’t help matters. Mind you
after five hours I was wide awake. I
made toast and phoned the hospital (East Dean ward) and was told that
Dad had had a “good night”. What an utterly meaningless phrase that
is. Apparently when I phoned he was sleeping but was
easily roused. I made an appointment for me and my brother to visit this
afternoon (you have to make appointments to
visit!) then saw about some brekkie. With
little of note on-line I went into the garden. I had a look at the fountain
attachments I bought yesterday. It turned out they weren’t what I wanted, but
I bodged the pond’s fountain into shape, and managed to hide its power cable
too. And I then cleaned out the pond filter. It cleaned far quicker and
easier than the old one ever did. I
unloaded the car of the cobles and rocks that I bought yesterday, and with “My
Boy TM” busy I managed to get the heavy paving slabs out and
into place; even if I did do for my back and cut my hand rather impressively.
As I waited for the bleeding to stop I mooched about
planning until it was time to set off. There
had been plans to go to the monthly geo-meet today. There had also been plans
to go to the Duck Race in Hythe. Instead I drove to
Hastings, and after a cuppa with family (together with my brother) I
set off to the Eastbourne hospital for the second time in as many days. Dad
was as well as could be expected the day after a major stroke. He was sleeping, but woke when he heard us. He tried to speak to us, but was slurring a lot. He wasn’t happy about being in
hospital; he certainly wasn’t happy about being in Eastbourne. He wanted
lemonade, but as he seems to have lost the ability to swallow that was a big
no-no. We stayed with him for forty minutes, but it was clear we were tiring
hm by being there, so we slipped off as he slept. I
came home to a message from “er indoors TM”; she was off to
the woods with the dogs. Did I want to come along? I did. We had a good walk.
And with walk walked we came home for a bit of dinner. Maria had sent up some
pies… Oh they were good. I’m
feeling rather worn out… I’ve had a rather stressful couple of days. And my
hand is rather sore. |
|
28 August 2022 (Sunday)
- Family Bingo Afternoon
Another
restless night; despite going to bed earlier than
usual I slept for less than five hours, and after two more hours of laying
wide awake I got up. With
the puppies tiddled and settled with “er indoors TM” I made
toast and watched another episode of “Shadow and Bone” then phoned
Eastbourne hospital to find out how Dad had done overnight. I spoke to one of
the nurses who said that he was still unable to swallow
and they’ve put a tube in to feed him. He don’t like
it and is trying to pull it out. They’ve put mittens on him to try to stop
him. He
was being reviewed by the chest people this morning as he seems to be
developing a chest infection (from where he’s not swallowing properly).
He’s been on oxygen overnight but his O2 level was back where it
should have been. There
was talk of physio and speech therapy after the weekend… I
decided not to go down to visit today as they said there was really not a lot of change… Yesterday and Friday I was
convinced I was tiring him out by being there. I
went into the garden and fiddled about wit the pond. I laid the paving slabs
and got the splash pool cleaned out. I then fiddled about plumbing in the new
second filter box, and got the slide covered over to make a cascade… After
over two hours I stopped; not entirely happy with what I’d done. The
slide/cascade arrangement is far too short. If I can get a longer one I can push the filter boxes back and disguise them. It
will stay as it is until such time as I can get a slide thingy which is two
metres long (double the length of the one I’ve got) or until I get fed
up with it. I
took the dogs to the woods where we had a good walk. We met three sets of dogs and all encounters went well. The puppies said hello
nicely, and Treacle kept her distance. With
the rain having subsided we went round to the abode of “My Boy TM”
for a family bingo afternoon. Over the year everyone has put in ten quid each
month, and we had several rounds of bingo for cash prizes. Bearing in mind
what I’d put in over the last few months I was twenty quid down on the deal.
But it wasn’t about the money; we had a rather good afternoon. And after six
pints of ale it was all rather vague… |
|
29 August
2022 (Monday) - Bank Holiday Woodwork
Yet
another restless night. I woke to see two missed calls from my brother on my
phone. I phoned him (expecting the worst) but there was little news of
Dad really. His temperature spiked overnight and he
has been put on antibiotics, but that goes with a chest infection. Apparently his sisters are visiting today and once they’ve
been and gone my brother is going in to see him. I decided against going
down; he will be worn out after all that lot. I
had a look at the pond as the puppies tiddled… I wasn’t entirely happy with
what I did yesterday as the cascade/slide isn’t long enough. But the thing
didn’t seem to have leaked in the day since I set it up yesterday, which is a
“proof of concept” if nothing else. As
I scoffed toast I had a look at the Internet. My
cousin was bemoaning the state of her local cinema. It isn’t what it used to
be. Back in the day things were different. My aunts used to go to “The
Classic” in Hastings every Tuesday evening as there were only three TV
channels in those days and no VCRs or streaming. No matter what film was
showing, it was better than the telly. And cheap too. But these days I've got
a thousand channels of stuff on the Sky box which I can watch in peace and
quiet and press the "pause" button whenever I like. I
can’t help but think that cinemas have had their day. It costs over a tenner
to sit through a film with the smelly burping farting great unwashed; many of
whom are messing about on their mobile phones. I can't remember when I last
went to a cinema... certainly I’m in no rush to go to one any time soon... And
the proprietor of “The Red
Pig” was having a rant on Facebook. The Red Pig is a little roadside
café at Pett Level which has been giving tea and
cake to refugees (who arrive in a boat) whilst they wait for the
authorities to arrive. This little act of humanity has sparked quite a bit of
outrage from the haters. I’ll just make the observation
that (in my experience) many of those who object to the refugees do so
as they see refugees as competition for their dole handouts, and it is those
who were once refugees who now do many of the jobs in the UK that those
jealously guarding their dole handouts won’t do. We
didn’t make plans for today… we had one or two options but what with Dad
being a tad poorly (to say the least!) I wanted to be available and
relatively local just in case. But the dogs needed a walk, so we walked over
to Singleton and walked up part of the Greensand Way. I’d had reports that
some of the geocaches I’d hidden there were missing. Some were, some weren’t.
I replaced the ones that were missing, and “er indoors TM”
got to log finds on the ones that were there (and on the two I replaced). The
walk up the Greensand Way is rather pretty, and when you almost (but not
quite) get to Hothfield there is a lovely little path down past Ripper’s
Wood and back to the river where the dogs like to swim. It is only a shame
that there are so many sheep along that way; the dogs were on the leads far
more than I would have liked. We
got home at mid-day and had a Belgian bun and a cuppa for lunch, then I went
to B&Q. As we’d been walking I’d had a (frankly
genius) idea of rather than hunting around to find the exact child’s
slide that I want, I might make a wooden frame and cover it with the spare
pond liner that I’ve got to make a cascade of the size that I want. I
got to B&Q… and after ten minutes demanded to see the manager. I pointed
out to her (and she had to agree) that at most only one out of twenty
of their customers were watching where they were going. I’d had a dozen crash
over the timber beams I was pushing on my trolly, and as I ranted at the poor
boss-lady so the normal people were continually
bouncing off of each other. I suggested that she might put a sign on the door
saying: “open your eyes and look where you are going”. She admitted
the need for one, but felt that people might take
offence. I made the observation that when the idiot
public sue for damages, she might change her mind. But it was obvious she was
more worried about getting rid of me than about people falling over each
other. I
went to load my shopping into the car… and had a minor disaster. The timbers
didn’t fit; they were too long. I phoned “er indoors TM” who
was brilliant and hurried round to help me carry them home. And
with shopping shopped “er indoors TM” went off to visit her
mother. I decided against going; all her family would mean well, but they
would all be asking after my Dad, and tutting and shaking their heads. He
wouldn’t want any of that. Instead I cut the timers
to length and shape, and built the wooden frame that I need for cascade MkII. After three hours I had the thing made but was
aching somewhat. I’ll put it in place another day, eh? I
really ache now… |
|
30 August 2022
(Tuesday) - Early Shift, Eastbourne
I
had planned to start off today by saying “it’s not been a bad Bank Holiday”
as it was my first Bank Holiday not working since the beginning of May 2021
and my second not working Bank Holiday since August 2019. But despite some
rather productive garden work and impressing myself with my woodworking
skills it could have been a lot better. If only Dad had been well enough to
get to the bingo afternoon; he’d been looking forward to it for so long. Talking
of which I phoned the hospital to ask after him. No news is good news I
suppose; there had been no change overnight. I made my appointment to visit (I
suppose it makes sense) and watched half of yesterday’s episode of “House
of the Dragon” which so far seems entertaining enough. I suspect like “Game
of Thrones” (the show on which it is based) it will benefit from
being watched a few more times. I
set the dishwasher going. That's quite a thing these days. Back in the old
kitchen we had a smaller one which was just right for two of us. We've now
got a humungous one, and since I'm too mean to run it half (three-quarters)
empty it only goes on twice a week. And when it finishes it takes some
emptying (!) I
got dressed, and chuckled as I saw Treacle and Morgan cuddled up together. An
hour earlier Treacle had had quite the grumbles and snarls about the puppies
coming up for the last couple of hours of the night, and there they were
snuggled up together. I
drove through the rain to work. As I drove some admiral or other was trying
to make light of the UK's aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales
having broken down. What an admission; it was all over the news. I bet
the Russians and the Chinese keep quiet when their aircraft carriers go
west... And
there was quite a bit of talk of the Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim
Zahawi who was off
on a jolly to America. Bearing in mind the new Prime Minister will be
announced soon, he'll probably be out of a job within the week, so why not
make the most of it and get the freebie holiday when he can. I would -
wouldn't you? But
the main news of the day was the announcement that thousands of pubs face
closure as they can't afford the ongoing energy costs and rising bills. The
cost of living crisis is hitting everyone; for a
long time a trip to the pub has been something of a luxury. If people can't
afford to eat and heat their homes, a cheeky piss-up certainly not in
the budget. The chap being interviewed was quite open that he can’t pass on
his costs to the public any more, and was hoping (demanding)
that the government subsidise him. Will
this be the death knell for pubs? Will they go the way of The Golden Egg and Rumbelows? Work
was the same as ever. I worked through what might have been tea break so that
I could get out a tad earlier than usual when on the early shift,
and set off to Eastbourne. Looking at the map there is no easy way to
get from Maidstone to Eastbourne but at least I did it in daylight today (unlike
last Friday night). Next
time I will take the main roads and totally ignore the sat-nav which was
obsessed with taking the narrowest of country lanes. So there I was driving along Smith’s Hill (B2010) when White Van
Man came flying round the corner far too fast openly fiddling about on his mobile
phone. The lane might have been wide enough for us to pass at walking speed (but
only just). I swerved and scraped the hedges, and out of the corner of my
eye I saw the look of panic on his face. But he didn’t slow down at all, and
was out of sight in less than two seconds… Presumably his van is scratched up too; I have no
way of knowing. It has been suggested that I might have benefitted from a
dash-cam. But (to the best of my recollection) this is my first
smack-up in eighteen years. After an hour and a half I
eventually got to Eastbourne Hospital. Dad seemed far better than he was over
the weekend, but was still very tired. He dozed off
after twenty minutes, and I slipped off. Getting home was much easier (and less traumatic)
than getting there. Oh…
today would have been Fudge’s twelfth birthday… |
|
31 August 2022
(Wednesday) - No More Lateral Flowing
I
had another restless night. I'm getting a bit fed up with them. I doze off
during the daytime, and lie wide awake at night. But
as Oliver Hardy once remarked, "twas
ever thus". I
gave up trying to sleep, and it was still dark when I took the puppies out
for their morning tiddle. And once tiddled they went upstairs to spend the
rest of the night with “er indoors TM”. They are funny;
they love being on the bed, but are scared of
Treacle grumbling at them when they go up. I have go
with them and keep Treacle quiet whilst I lift them onto the bed. I
made toast and watched the second part of the second episode of "House
of Dragons" which was quite good, and then set off for work. I spent
a moment or so looking at the (epic) scratch on the side of my car.
How much will that cost to put right? I'd posted a photo of the damage on
Facebook last night and several people had commented about having a dash-cam.
But what's the point? Perhaps the insurance people might do something with
dash-cam footage, but I'm convinced the police won't. “Stormageddon –
Bringer of Destruction TM” 's dad was once knocked off of his moped and run over by a woman who blatantly
drove through a red light. The entire episode was filmed on one of these dash-cams.
It plainly showed he was in the right and she was in the wrong. But
Folkestone police refused to prosecute. As
I drove to work the pundits on the radio were talking about how Germany (and
the rest of Europe) are facing problems as the
Russians have turned off the Nordstream gas
pipeline. Ostensibly claiming that this is due to "maintenance issues",
the Kremlin has made no secret that the gas is off because the
West is siding against them in their ongoing Ukrainian debacle. It just
amazes me that everyone is pretending to be surprised about this. And
there was a lot of talk about "affordable housing" in
Cornwall. House prices are going through the roof as people sell their houses
to the rich
who want a holiday home. In the village of Megavissey
the local council has tried to stop the sale of houses to non-locals,
insisting that people buying a second home should pay more than the locals...
but they are having trouble enforcing any such rules. If I was selling a house I'd sell it to the person who would pay me the most
for it. I
blame Margaret Thatcher who (forty years ago) turned a house from
something you live in into a financial investment. Work
was work; I had an MGUS
sort of day (as one does from time to time). But today we had an
announcement. For the last couple of years I've been
doing a lateral flow test every four days. It's been a pain in the arse (nose!) but the government has announced that I don't have to do
them any more. I'm pleased about that. Mind you having only ever missed one test in all that time (when
I was on holiday in Gran Canaria) I've only got
a reporting rate of eighty-nine per cent. How does that work? With
work done I took the dogs to the woods. As we walked
we met a young family with a small French bulldog (on a lead). The
children told me that they had thought that their dog was the smallest dog in
the world, and there I was with two smaller dogs… and they weren’t even on
leads. They asked their mother why my two weren’t on leads. Mother said that
the gentleman (me?) had trained the puppies very well. One
lives and learns. |
