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1 July 2024 (Monday)
- Another Dull Day
There
was a little more sensation in my upper lip this morning, but only a little.
I made toast and had a look at the Internet. Some of the work-related
Facebook groups I follow were being spammed by the religious crackpots. I
thought about arguing with them, but there’s no point. Several
of the candidates for the upcoming election were posting photos from
yesterday’s armed forces event in Viccie Park, and
pretty much every candidate posing had someone being rather nasty about them. As
this election campaign wears on I find myself
wondering why anyone would stand for office. It
turns out there was a food and drink festival in town yesterday… I missed all
mention of that. More and more these days I find out about events after they
happened. With
vague plans for future projects I disassembled my
Lego town in the attic room; “Darcie Waa Waa TM” had
destroyed much of it anyway. And then, as seems to be the way at the moment, I then spent the morning fast asleep. “er indoors TM” boiled up a cheese
and pickle bagel, then I drove “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”
about on her errands, then had a minor pootle in the garden. But only a minor
one. And
then I had a message from “My Boy TM” who met Matt
Lucas today. Apparently he is a sterling chap.
That’s good to hear; So often I’m hearing bad reports about various
celebrities on Facebook pages set up for celebrities. We took the dogs for a little wander round the
block. As I walked I was rather nosey about people’s
front gardens; I want to do something with our front garden, but I’m not
quite sure what. I’ve got some ideas now. According to my watch we walked for just over a mile
and I came home dripping sweat. And yet again I’ve had a rather dull day. Should I
be taking so long to get over an operation? I’m
getting rather fed up with dull days. |
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2 July 2024 (Tuesday)
- Still Whinging
Again I felt rough when I woke, and felt
substantially rougher once I’d hosed out my sinuses with saline. I’m getting
a tad fed up with this. Eating “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”
left over McBurger yesterday evening probably
didn’t help as I had a stomach ache which lasted far
too long, and my back was playing up too. I
made toast and had a look on-line. Last night I spent an age trying to find
an on-line form from which I could get a sick note. This morning
I managed to find the right web page, but it wasn’t easy. Rather than looking
for anything to do with “Ashford Medical Partnership” I should have
been looking for “accessklinik”. Am I alone
in thinking this isn’t as helpful as it might be? I
eventually submitted all the information that the surgery has already been
told and hoped for the best. I
then had a look at Facebook. Last night the Facebook feds gave me an hour’s
restriction on what I could and couldn’t do because in idly scrolling through
I’d somehow breached their community standards. I’d love to know what I did
wrong. Whatever restrictions I’d been under seemed to have passed, and I got
my usual rummage done. There wasn’t much happening this morning, which was
for the best really. Feeling
rather sick and still feeling as though I’d been smacked in the chops I wrote up a little CPD, then
had a couple of hours sleep as that’s what I seem to do in the mornings at
the moment. I
woke feeling iffy. Stomach ache, back ache, and sore
gob still. I spent the afternoon sulking doing on-line jigsaw puzzles to get
the final co-ordinates of geocaches I will hopefully go find at some point
over the next few months. As
I puzzled I had a message – I’d been given a year’s
geocaching membership as a little thank-you for my efforts for the hobby.
That was a kind thought. When
I’d applied for my sick note I was told to expect it
by four o’clock. I had a text message at half past five directing me to a web
site where I could download it. The surgeon had told me that I should take
three weeks off. He instructed the GP to give me a sick note for two weeks, and
the GP gave me a note for two and a half weeks… That’s another week and a
half in which to perk up. I
hope I perk up soon. Have I mentioned I’m getting a tad hacked off with being
unwell. I
might do another geo-jigsaw before bed… And I might whinge a bit more
as well… |
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3 July 2024
(Wednesday) - Little Bit of Politics
I
woke this morning determined to stop the whinging which has been most of my
last week. I made toast and had my usual look at the Internet as I do. It was
much the same as ever; today’s most impressive bitter argument was whether or not a photograph from the original series of “Star
Trek” had been photoshopped. It was a matter of the utmost indifference
to me, but there were those who felt it to be a matter of life and death. As
a first step to stopping the whinging I thought I might get back into the
habit of a morning dog walk. Despite the forecast rain I took three dogs up
to Kings Wood where I’d had reports of a missing geocache. Sadly
it wasn’t one which was anywhere near a car park, but replacing it made for a
good walk. As
we walked Bailey found a bone to crunch on. I wish she hadn’t. According
to my watch we walked for just over five miles today. Perhaps a little much
for a first time back… is it really only a week or
so since I last gave the dogs a decent walk round the woods? At the end of
the walk my watch told me I’d done eleven thousand steps; it was under one
thousand yesterday. As
we drove home there was a rather interesting program on the radio about the
right to protest. Professional people who get arrested for protesting are
facing the loss of their professional registration for protesting. If you
have a professional registration and get arrested
you are legally obliged to tell the registration body and there will be an
investigation in case you are bringing the profession into disrepute. There
were interviews with ex-nurses and ex-doctors who claimed they’d been struck
off for noisily waving placards. We
came home; I had a little sleep, then struggled with geo-puzzles for the
afternoon. Here’s a question. How many letters are there in the phrase “jam
roll”? Seven? I thought so, but no. There’s six. You count the two “l”s as only one distinct
letter. One lives and learns. We
had a rather good bit of dinner, and as I’m typing this, the Masked Singer is
on the telly. I’ve not seen it before; what a load of tripe. And
in closing today, don’t forget to vote tomorrow. As I said the other day I’ve got a choice of six candidates at next week’s general election. With less than a day to go,
only four of them have stuck their propaganda through the letterbox to let me
know where they stand. I’ve read the literature carefully. At first sight
as is the case at every election, those currently in power (nationally and
locally) say sh*t is sugar to stay in power,
and the opposition politicians have all adopted “vote for me – I’m not as
crap as them” as their political position. But here’s what they have to say for themselves… Our current MP (Conservative) is claiming he
will do all sorts of things that he has already had fourteen years to do and hasn’t, and has spent quite a bit of time posing on social
media recently trying to take the credit for other people’s efforts. The Green candidate openly admits that she hasn’t
got a whelk’s chance in a supernova (as Ford Prefect once remarked), but says that if elected she would hold the (presumably
Labour) government to account. Seriously?
With the
polls predicting the Labour party having
more than three times the MPs of all the other parties put together, Sir Kier
ain’t going to listen to anyone, is he? The Consensus/Independent chap has put quite a lot
of paper through the letterbox, but has said a lot
without actually saying anything. I messaged him to ask what his policies are
on a range of issues. He didn’t even reply, so as far as I’m concerned he can get bent. The Labour chap talks a
good fight. He actually talks sense, but a vote for
him is a vote for all that comes with the Labour
party. I’ve always felt that the Labour party is
such a good idea in theory… but in practice is an entirely different
proposition. Sadly the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK couldn’t be bothered to stick
anything through the letterbox. Mind you neither of them could come up with a
candidate who lives locally so I suppose they don’t see themselves as
contenders? So who do I vote for? In a novel break with tradition for me I’d like to
vote sensibly. When I talk about “sensible voting” I mean that I want
to form an opinion based on careful consideration of the issues being voted
about. Mind you, I have to wonder
if doing so is worth the effort. The trouble we have in the UK is that the
carefully considered opinion of someone who has spent time forming this
opinion is of no more worth than the passing whim of a half-wit… Here’s some examples of “sensible voting”
from people I know… Voting Labour for
twenty-five years until you get promoted to supervisor then voting
Conservative because Labour is for workers and
Conservative is for managers. Voting Conservative because your father once said
you are a “true blue” even though you don’t agree with a single thing
they stand for and everything with which you agree is Labour
party policy. Checking the latest opinion poll before the election
and voting for the party seeming to be in the lead as a vote for the losing
party is a vote wasted. Voting for Brexit as your manager thinks it is a bad
idea. Voting against Brexit as your manager thinks it is a
good idea. Voting Conservative/Labour/whatever
because that’s what the newspaper’s headline said to do. Voting Conservative/Labour/whatever
because your mum told you to do so. Voting Conservative/Labour/whatever
because your latest main squeeze is a mad-keen Conservative/Labour/whatever supporter and being very loud about their
chosen party will increase your chances of doing the dirty deed with/at/on
them. Voting for Brexit so that a particular brand of New
Zealand cheese will be back in the shops… even though the dairy packed up
over forty years ago. So who am I going to vote for? At the moment
I’m probably going to draw a picture of a huge cock and balls on the ballot
sheet. Admittedly it’s hardly a “sensible” vote, but with the
predicted landslide Labour victory it is as good as
any other political stance. Mind you, if any of my loyal readers are undecided,
here’s a half-way decent website which
asks your opinion on a range of subjects and might help you make your mind
up. Interestingly it doesn’t advocate drawing a picture of a huge cock and
balls on the ballot sheet as a political stance. But whoever gets in will make some good decisions
which will go utterly unnoticed, some bad ones which will be pasted over
every headline, and will get lambasted in this diary
with annoying regularity. As
part of my trying not to be so negative, I might just see if I can
periodically highlight some of the good things that they might do. |
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4 July 2024
(Thursday) - North Chailey
I
woke to find my right upper jaw numb. That’s probably better than the throbbing
that has been going on for the last week... but no whinging
!! I
got up silly early, made toast and had a look at the Internet. One of the
work-related Facebook groups was asking how you cajole, grovel, plead or
force people to cover shifts at short notice. Back in the day all work out of
office hours was paid at an overtime rate which if not generous, wasn’t
stingy. These days there’s not the same enhancements, and consequently no
attraction. I’m glad getting people to cover these shifts isn’t my problem
anymore. At
the weekend I spent a little while looking at a newly published geo-series
solving geo-puzzles and fighting with geo-puzzles and exchanging ideas that
didn’t work with Gordon. Eventually between us we solved all the puzzles, and
Gordon suggested a little stroll today to go find all the geocaches.
Admittedly the closest was fifty miles from home, but I had this idea that a
decent walk in the countryside might help be shift this constant whinging
that has been my life for the last week. It
did. I
checked on Google last night to plan my journey. The predicted journey time
was vague to say the least so I left home with
plenty of time. As I drove I listened to the radio
which was spewing its usual morning drivel. The Ukrainians being interviewed
were again being rather ungrateful about the amount of military aid the West
is giving them. This morning they were saying
they’ve been given enough to prevent defeat, but not enough to get victory.
There was talk about President Biden’s fitness for office. And there was again live telephone interviews that simply didn’t
work and kept cutting out. You’d think that the people at the BBC would have
realised by now that the technology simply isn’t reliable enough for live
radio, and they’d record the interviews a little ahead of time, wouldn’t you? I
got to our agreed meeting place far too early. But I’d rather be there early
than late. I popped down the road to the garage to get a cuppa and a bacon
roll. The cuppa wasn’t bad but the bacon roll was
burned to the point of incineration. I
scoffed it anyway, and had a little doze until
everyone else arrived. We then set off on a little walk. Before I changed job I used to regularly go out for mid-week walks with
Gordon, but these last few years the shift system hasn’t allowed it. It was really good to be out and about with him again, and also
to meet up with a new friend Ralph. As
we walked we found an old archived cache that I originally found over
ten years ago, and we got a cheeky First to Find as well. I
took a few photos as we walked. It was a rather good walk; we only
took one wrong turn. Perhaps a tad too much on roads, but you have to go where the roads and footpaths go, don’t you?
Geocache-wise the route was good. Straightforward hides with good
co-ordinates. I suppose being a new series it hasn’t had long enough for
people to hide the things where they think they should be rather than put
them back where they find them. Mind
you I would say that some of the hints were open to interpretation – which is
probably why we got that First to Find so many days after publication. Gordon
and I understood the hint to mean different things. After
five hours and ten miles we were back at the cars. We said our goodbyes, and headed off. As I drove home
I was amazed by the amount of political posters on the roadside. Quite a bit
of the journey was the route I take when working in Tunbridge Wells. In the
past there has been no end of “Vote Conservative” signs along the way.
Today there was only a fraction of the political signs that there used to be.
Most of them were for the Liberal Democrats, and nearly all the remainder
were for the Greens. There were four Conservative posters. I counted them. I
came home and spent a little while entertaining “Darcie Waa Waa TM” before going off to
vote. The chap behind the counter told me there had been a pretty much
constant stream of people in and out of the polling station all day. I
resisted the temptation to draw a big cock and balls on the ballot paper, but put an “X” instead. Was it the right “X”? Time
will tell; it always does. |
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5 July 2024 (Friday)
- Rain Stopped Play
On
Tuesday when I was in the thick of “Whinge Mode” when I went to bed I’d only done nine hundred steps. Yesterday when I set
off to my pit I’d done just under twenty six
thousand steps. I ached a little when I got up this morning. I
made toast and had a look at the news. The election results were in. Locally
we’ve now got
a new MP. The Labour chap is now my elected representative. Mind you I
wouldn’t say he won. Reform split the Conservative vote. Had Reform not stood
locally pretty much everyone who voted for them would have gone with the
Conservatives and they would have won by seven thousand votes. Mind you only
sixty per cent of the electorate turned out. I
had a
friend request on Facebook. Stacey looked to be wipe-clean which was
probably for the best. With
drizzle forecast for the day I thought I might as well bite the bullet and
take the dogs out anyway. We got to the woods, walked half a mile and the
drizzle turned to torrential rain. We turned round, but
were all soaked by the time we got back to the car. As
we drove home the talk on the radio was about yesterday’s election. First of all the eminent politician Peter Mandelson was being
interviewed. It was a shame that he mumbled and muttered so much that no one
could hear a word that he was saying. And then there was an interview with
someone or other about what the new Prime Minister’s first actions might be.
It was mentioned that he would need to have a budget announcement as soon as
possible. Possibly as soon as September. Soon? There’s no urgency with these
people, is there? We
got home, had warm showers to hose off all the mud, and I made us both a
cuppa then did a little CPD. But only a little. I geo-puzzled for a bit, then
drove “Darcie Waa Waa TM” to
collect her mother. The journey was rather dodgy. With motorway notices
saying a major delay to get to Folkestone I tried to take the A-road only to
find it closed. I eventually got to Folkestone via Hythe. Fortunately
littlun slept for most of the journey. We came home via Canterbury as I had a
vague idea to call in at the petting farm at Chilham,
but littlun was still asleep and the rain had picked up. So
we came home as the rain eased up a bit. “Daddy’s Little Angel TM” and
“Darcie Waa Waa TM” went
to the park. I had a plan to have a look in the garden, but the drizzle got
heavier so I carried on fighting with geo-puzzles until “er
indoors TM” sorted out dinner. Yesterday I walked ten miles in the glorious
sunshine. Today I got soaked to the skin in five minutes and spent the rest
of the day avoiding the rain. And I’ve got guts ache now… |
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6 July 2024
(Saturday) - Still Raining
The
noise of the rain woke me in the night, but it had stopped by the time I got
out of my pit, which was something of a result. I scoffed toast and had a
look at the Internet as I do most mornings. It was surprisingly not full of
political talk. With such a low turn-out perhaps people just don’t care any more?
I must admit the electoral system isn’t right, is it? Look
at the results. The Labour party have got two thirds of the seats in the
House of Commons with only one third of the total vote. The Liberal Democrats
have got seventy-one seats, but with half a million more votes Reform UK have
only got five. And
an ex-girlfriend of a friend was getting loads of stick on
Facebook. Having buried her husband (who died after a long illness) only
three weeks ago she has now announced she’s in a relationship with someone
seemingly old enough to be her father and everyone was lambasting her. I’ve
not met her in person for some time, but her Facebook feed can be
entertaining. Being
Saturday we set off to Dog Club. There was quite a
good turn-out, and the dogs all seemed to have a great time. Morgan got told
off by a bigger dog, which was probably for the best. I forgot to take any
dog treats, but Eric’s mum brought along a box of gravy bones as Eric doesn’t
like them. All the other dogs did. As
we drove to Dog Club I totally failed on Steve’s
guess the lyrics competition on the radio, but I got the mystery year on the
way home. When was the first run of Doctor Who cancelled? 1989. We
got home, hung out the washing and had a cuppa. Then the rain started so I
got the washing in, hung it round the house and cracked on solving
geo-puzzles whilst watching the weather go from overcast to glorious
sunshine, and the rain going from none to torrential seemingly regardless of
the colour of the sky. I
was reminded of a dozen or so kite festivals in Brighton which always took
place in early July when the weather would be just the same; beautiful and hossing down in repeated succession. As I geo-puzzled we carried on listening to Steve on
the radio… and after a while we stopped. Steve’s show was rather good, but he
finished at mid-day. The chap who took over was playing some rather
depressing music. “er indoors TM” told
Alexa to play Disney songs instead. Eventually we decided enough was enough and went for
a drive if only to get some petrol. We came home via Pets at Home as we were
short of dog food. “er indoors TM” went
in to the shop to get dog food, and I stood outside waiting whilst the dogs
cried and screamed because they had been deserted. After two minutes “er indoors TM” came
out with dog food, put it down because it was heavy, and Morgan piddled all
over it. We came home… through the rain and I spent the rest
of the day geo-puzzling. Rather a waste of a Saturday, but Dog Club was fun. |
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7 July 2024 (Sunday)
- Cheeky Pint
I
slept reasonably well. I put washing in to scrub,
made toast and had a look at the Internet to see what I’d missed overnight.
Not much, really. One thing caught my eye; people were acting surprised at
the revelation that the price of petrol isn’t constant, and that there are
savings to be made by going to a different petrol station. Was this really news to so many people? I sent out two birthday wishes, then went into the
garden. Lawn to mow, fish pond filters to clean. It
was raining so I gathered dog dung and came back inside and had a go at yet
more geo-puzzles. Eventually the rain held of long enough so I could
have a look in the garden. I got the fish pond
filters cleaned out, and pulled weeds and generally tidied up. After an hour
I had something of a backache so gave up and came back inside. I did a little
CPD (must write it up!) and even more geo-puzzles. And
then we got the dogs onto the leads, and with “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”
and “Darcie Waa Waa TM” off
for a cheeky Subway we drove round to the New Chimneys where we met Heather
and Andy and spent a rather pleasant hour sitting in the garden putting the
world to rights. It was rather good to catch up; there are so many friends I
see so rarely these days. I was glad we got out and met friends today; just
lately other than hiding from rain, so little has been going on in my life… |
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8 July 2024 (Monday)
- This n That
I
had a terrible night. Treacle spent the whole night smacking her chops and
kept me awake the entire time. I gave up trying to sleep, and as I got up so the chops-smacking stopped. I made toast and glared into the Internet as I
scoffed. I had a friend
request on Facebook from Carla Kidd who suggested I might like to
play with her in her room and had sent a rather dodgy link that the antivirus
didn’t like at all. I suppose enough people pay them to make it worth their
while. I sent out a birthday wish, and
rolled my eyes at a squabble on the Facebook pond-related pages in which some
Australian chap had asked about keeping his pond relatively warm in winter,
and then having to explain time and time again that July in Australia *is*
winter. And it would seem that there
is quite a growth industry in paying someone else to build your Lego sets for
you. Apparently more and more people want the
completed Lego set, but not the aggro of building
it, and there are those who are happy to do the building… for a price. I took the dogs up to Kings Wood for a walk. As we
walked there was a little drizzle, but we kept going, and had a rather good
walk. We met a few other dogs, and once they’d all said hello my lot walked
past. They do that when not on leads. When they are on leads it is one big
argument. What’s that all about? We came home, and with it not raining for once I
cracked on in the garden. I got the lawn mowed,
vacuumed the gravelled areas, and then did
something I’ve been meaning to do for ages. I picked all the dead leaves from
not-so-nice-next-door’s overgrowth out of the monkey puzzle tree. That took
over an hour. I then ran out the hose and topped up the pond, and
after three hours fiddling about in the garden I was worn out and the pond
looked just the same as when I’d started. I made a cuppa and wrote up some CPD. Before “er indoors TM” went
off bowling she boiled up bacon and egg bagels. Once she’d gone “Daddy’s
Little Angel TM” came home and I pretended I hadn’t been fed, and got another bagel. Very nice. Word
is “er indoors TM” has split her bowling
shoes. I see that as a result – she can have a new pair as a birthday
pressie. And
my face is glowing – I’ve caught the sun. |
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9 July 2024 (Tuesday)
- House Seems Empty
With
Treacle not making slurping sucking noises all night long I slept well. I
made toast, and as always just at the point when I was about to eat it when
still hot so all the dogs came down wanting to go to
toilet. This morning quite a few friends were posting to the
Internet to say that they were off on foreign holidays. Holidays are good;
foreign ones are OK… for me there’s far too much travel involved with a
foreign holiday. By the time I’ve got to the airport I’ve done all the travel
that I want to do. I had an email. Nectar and eBay would seem to
have had
a falling out. I
then drove “Daddy’s Little Angel TM” up to Maidstone
where she had appointments, and as she appointed I
sat around waiting. Eventually I got bored enough to get myself a coffee and
a croissant. I was pleasantly surprised to get change out of a fiver too. With
appointments appointed we came home, and it wasn’t long before “My
Boy TM” and Cheryl arrived. He’s closing
down his little pond and had brought me the last fish and a lily pad.
A golden rudd will pootle about the pond nicely
enough, but I’m unsure about the lily pad. I’ve never had any luck with them
in the past. As
we fiddled with the pond so the girls packed, and “Daddy’s
Little Angel TM” and “Darcie Waa Waa TM” soon
set off on their little holiday. The house was incredibly quiet as I then
wrote up a little CPD in
a shallow attempt to redeem myself after the balls-up I made of it yesterday. “er
indoors TM” boiled up some
pizza and I cracked open a bottle of plonk. We watched the first two episodes
of “Celebrity Race Across the World”. I’ve no idea who the so-called
celebrities are, but the show seems entertaining enough. Having had “Daddy’s
Little Angel TM” and “Darcie Waa Waa TM” here
for nearly three weeks, the house seems rather quiet… |
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10 July 2024 (Wedesday) - Woods, Puzzles...
Treacle did start smacking her chops last
night, but not until nearly seven o’clock. And she soon stopped. I got up
just before eight, let out those dogs that wanted to go out, and made toast.
The Internet was rather dull this morning. No dubious supposedly women
sending me friend requests, no quarrels about filling garden ponds with all
sorts of chemicals but avoiding tap water like the plague. I did see a friend had had a post removed by the Facebook feds though.
Apparently she breached the Facebook community
standards by telling her mates on which days dustbins would be collected. It
turns out that pretty much anything related to Swale council is red flagged
by Facebook’s automated bots at the moment. I put a load of washing in to scrub then took the dogs up to Kings
Wood. Now that Pogo is with us for a little while I was worrying about having
four to look after, but Pogo amazed me. He stayed
close, and I chuckled as watched him. He was keeping an eye on the other
three; especially the puppies, and when he felt Morgan was getting too far ahead he would trot forward and there would clearly be
some silent conversation going on after which Morgan would slow down. Perhaps it was my imagination, but as we came to the end of the
walk Pogo did seem to be struggling. He’ll get used to the walks; he’s done
them in the past. We came home. I hung out the washing, then chased Bailey off of a freshly laid dog turd that she had decided would
make a good snack. I made us both a cuppa, then cracked on
solving geo-puzzles. A new series of geocaches had gone live at Lullingstone yesterday. It’s an area we’ve walked round a
few times before; it is rather pretty and should make for a good walk at some
point over the next few weeks. Mind you when I say “solving geo-puzzles”
there wasn’t much solving. Each of the ones I was looking at today were
challenges. You need to have found a certain number of a certain sort of
geocache to qualify. For example one was to have
found a hundred and fifty with the “swimming” attribute. I’ve found
thirty; there’s only about ten of these within fifty miles of home. After having reviewed fifty I saw the weather
had perked up a bit so I cracked on in the garden
for a bit. I emptied the back garden green waste into the bin at the front, bionically burned the weeds in the front garden and sat
by the pond pondering the extension to the bog filter that I put in a couple
of months ago. It don’t look pretty, and the
existing bog filter is very full. It all needs a re-think. On the plus side the new lily pads had lasted
a day, so that was something of a result. “er indoors TM” went off out for some appointment or other (I don’t dare
ask). I’d not been in the garden for long
but I think I might have caught the sun. So I sat on
the sofa, and as the dogs snored I carried on looking at that new series of
geocaches at Lullingstone. Out of the eighty-one
new caches I qualify to claim finds on about two thirds of them. I
didn’t qualify for the rest and probably never will. Bearing in mind these
have all been set for the upcoming mega-meet next month it’s a shame that
these geocaches near Lullingstone couldn’t have
been open to everyone and the silly challenges hadn’t been set in the arse end of nowhere. I suspect I might be a little less scathing if I qualified for more of
them. “er indoors TM” boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we scoffed whist
watching more “Race Across the World”. A rather good show, and for once the
dogs didn’t spend the entire time demanding dog biscuits as they so often do. |
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11 July 2024
(Thursday) - Penshurst
As
is always the way, with an alarm set I didn’t sleep well and saw every hour
of the night. I eventually gave up trying to sleep, got up, made toast and
had my usual look at the Internet. It was still there. Apparently
the England football team won some match or other last night. A rather
important match judging by all the fuss. Even the Prime Minister was getting
excited about it. I wish I could see what everyone else sees in
football; it really is a matter of the utmost indifference to me. Leaving “er indoors TM” and
the dogs fast asleep I got myself organized and set off. I had a little
Munzee mission round Ashford before popping in to
Sainsbury’s to get a sandwich for the day, then I headed off to Penshurst. The sat-nav said I might like to go via the
motorway. I did as I was told (it is always a good move in life) and
soon found that “Operation Brock” had been re-activated. In theory “Operation Brock” is a brilliant
idea in which miles of motorway is freed up to use as a lorry park because of
issues at the Port of Dover. Sadly in practice it is
a rather stupid way of turning a motorway into a rather slow dual
carriageway. I drove at a snail’s pace up the motorway whilst not a single
lorry was using the miles of created lorry park. As I drove I listened to the pundits on the radio
talking about how my water bill is set to go up by nearly half over
the next year. There was some expert being interviewed who made the valid
point that since privatization the water companies have competed with the
banks as a place in which people might like to invest money to make money. Consequently the water companies have been playing silly
financial games and not concentrating on the business of providing water to
the country. The observation was made that, if operated correctly, the
infrastructure of the country doesn’t generate money but costs money. It’s hardly rocket science, is it? I got to Penshurst with
half an hour to spare, and quickly zoomed round the nearby geocaching
Adventure Lab series before heading back to the car. After a few minutes
Gordon arrived with Norton, and Ralph was soon with us. We then walked round
the recently published series of geocaches. Relatively easy finds all along
well marked paths it was only a shame that we made such good time that we
were home before the three pubs we passed opened. I
took a few photos as we walked today. Back in the day I used to go
for a mid-week geo-walk quite often. What with all the excitement of the last
few weeks it was rather good to get out with friends today. Having taken me to Penshurst
up the motorway, my sat nav brought me home cross country where it seemed I’d
trailed dried mud all through the house before I’d left this morning. I ran
round with the hoover, then fell asleep on the sofa for the rest of the
afternoon. “er
indoors TM” is off out on a
little mission. There’s talk of her coming home via the kebab shop… |
|
12 July 2024 (Friday)
- Back to Work
The dogs didn’t settle last night, and consequently neither did
I. “er indoors TM” had something of a fight with
them shortly after three o’clock, and I then lay awake for the rest of the
night. I gave up trying to sleep and sparked up Netflix. I watched the first
episode of “Boomers”
which passed half an hour, then had my usual root around the Internet. Apart
from a very
dubious friend request on Facebook, this morning it was rather dull.
I sent out a couple of birthday wishes then got ready for work. As I walked to the car it was hossing down.
So different to yesterday. I drove off, then spent a couple of minutes
waiting for the car in front to get past the bin lorry. In a novel break with
tradition the bin lorry was stopped by the pavement with plenty of space for
cars to pass. Sadly despite two feet clearance on
either side, the car in front was reluctant to go forward. Eventually we got
going, and I took a little trip round the town Munzing Points of Interest as
I do. As I drove up what was once a motorway the pundits on the radio were
talking about President Biden's rather iffy performance yesterday. With no
end of influential people showing great concerns about the President's
ability, in a
speech yesterday the chap confused the names of the leaders of
Russia and Ukraine, and then went on to confuse the names of the
vice-president and Donald Trump. At over eighty years old does he seriously
want to be President for another five years even if he is fit enough? The rain had eased off as I got to work. Going back to work wasn't the
original plan for today. Originally the surgeon told me he would sign me off
for three weeks which meant going back to work next Thursday. However the paperwork he gave my GP said to take two weeks
off. I spoke to the GP who signed me off for two weeks and two days. A
rather odd amount? So I went back to work today. I
found myself thinking about going back to work after prolonged time off when
I used to work in Canterbury, when I would feel physically sick at the
prospect of turning up there. I had been rather looking forward to going in today.
Being happy in your workplace is such a bonus. Mind you there had been some changes. There was a new set of shelves
behind one of the analysers, and a new bogroll holder in the gents. Perhaps rather trivial in
the great scheme of things, but I don't do change very well. Work was work. No cake, but we had cookies. I also had an interesting
conversation with a colleague. Just lately we've been watching episode of
"Race Across the World" in the evenings. If I were to be a contestant I've been very vocal about how I would save
money on accommodation costs by taking night buses. “er
indoors TM” is
probably getting sick of hearing me banging on about it. My colleague is off
to Glasgow tomorrow. He's not taking the night train or the night bus but
going during the day. The night bus is just like any old bus in which you sit bolt upright
all night long. There used to be a proper night bus with bunks but even at
twenty quid from London to Glasgow not enough people were using it to make it
financially viable. And the seats on the night train don't recline enough so
that you can sleep. You can spend three hundred quid on a cabin on the night
train if you want, but at that price you might as well fly. Travelling at
night would seem to be (quite literal) arse-ache
at best. And one of the hospital's therapy dogs came in to visit us at lunch
time. I'm not sure what I was expecting from a therapy dog, but compared to
my wolf-pack it seemed rather quiet and subdued. Work was rather hard work – I’m glad I’m not back till next Thursday. |
|
13 July 2024
(Saturday) - Rather Busy
I
slept reasonably well; of all the dogs little Bailey takes up an awful lot of
bed space when she puts her mind to it. I made toast and had a look at a rather dull
internet. Not much was going on at all really. I spent a few minutes
wrestling with a geocaching puzzle that
went live yesterday. I have an idea what it is all about,
but turning that idea into longitude and latitude wasn’t going as well
as it might until I had a sudden stroke of genius. Ironically with no finds
having been logged I might have had a First to Find, but I wouldn’t have got
to the Romney Marsh and back before Dog Club… We drove to Dog Club. As we drove Steve was on the
radio doing the guess the lyrics competition. I didn’t have a clue. Dog club was fun. Pogo came along. He spent the
first few minutes on his lead as he was finding it all a bit too much, but
after a few minutes he joined in. All dogs find it a bit much to begin with,
but soon get the hang of it. As we came home I got the
Mystery Year competition right on the second attempt. When was the last
Jeeves and Wooster series made for the telly? 1990. “er
indoors TM” set off to craft club. I took the dogs home and had a busy morning. I
washed the fox poo off of Bailey, hung out the
washing and put more in, generally tidied up and threw away, and ran round
with the Hoover. By the time “er indoors TM” came
back from craft club I was worn out. We loaded ourselves and the dogs into the car and
set off to Tudeley; a small village near Tonbridge. We took mostly the route
I take when working on Pembury, and as always the
roads were a nightmare with totally unnecessary temporary traffic lights
seemingly everywhere. But we weren’t *that* late. We had a rather good afternoon sitting in the
sunshine drinking beer and port and chatting… up until the torrential rain
stopped play. Amazingly I stayed awake as we drove home, and it
wasn’t long before Steve, Sarah and Chris came round and we had a very good
evening on the Infinity tale playing “Sorry”, “Ticket to Ride” and Game of
Life”. A very good day… |
|
14 July 2024 (Sunday)
- Cheeky FTF
Last night I saw that the First to Find was still
waiting on that geo-puzzle I solved
yesterday, so my plan for the morning was to wake at dawn, nip down to
the marsh to find it and be back in bed before anyone realized I’d gone. However far too much ale and port yesterday meant
that it was nearly ten o’clock before I rose from my pit. I had a little look in the garden when I got up.
Yesterday I’d put two loads of washing onto the line which both got soaked in
yesterday’s rain. This morning they were drying
nicely. This weekend’s weather is typical for the second weekend of July. In
years gone by we would have gone to Brighton Kite
Festival for the second weekend of July and we would have had one day of
glorious sunshine and one day of torrential rain. Every time. I made toast and had a look at the Internet as I do.
It was still there. Seeing that the First to Find was still waiting on
that cache on the marsh we took the dogs down to the marsh to see if we might
get it. We parked up, and according to the map we had to follow a footpath
across the fields for a little way, so the dogs got a little run. We got to
where the GPS said that the geocache was. I saw a likely looking place, and
after a minute or so it was in my hand. No one else had signed it. We were
first. Result. We then went on for a minor wander round Lydd, then
took a rather circuitous route home. Once home, seeing the laundry on the line had dried
I put still more in to wash, then with “er indoors TM” off
shopping I spent a little while generally tidying up around the house before
having a cheeky little doze on the sofa. I seem to be doing that more and
more just lately. Dozing on the sofa that is, not tidying up. “er
indoors TM” boiled up a
rather good bit of dinner which we washed down with a bottle of Sainsbury’s
claret. It went down rather well as I carried on washing undercrackers. As
the rest of the country was busy shouting at the telly, I was washing
undercrackers. This evening the England football team was playing
in the final of some big European tournament. I only mention this because
there is talk that if the England team win (note that’s “the England team”
and *not* “England”) then the Prime Minister might get the King to give
us all an extra Bank Holiday. I have no interest whatsoever in the football,
but I’m quite keen on getting a bonus Bank Holiday. Or half of one I suppose, as I now only work part time. And I’ve lost half a tooth. I’ll go bother the
dentist in the morning. |
|
15 July 2024 (Monday)
- St Swithin's Day
I
slept reasonably well. Periodically I wonder about moving house; an en-suite would be nice as it is quite a trek to the
toilet in the night. I had a rather quick brekkie this morning then
popped down the road to the dentist to see if I could get an appointment
today. This week’s receptionist (there’s someone new every time I go)
seemed surprised I went to the surgery rather than phoning; I asked if she’d
ever phoned the surgery and she gave me a rather embarrassed smile. They said
they could fit me in at lunch time, so I went home, put a load of washing in to scrub and took the dogs out. As we drove to the woods the pundits on the radio
were talking about last night’s big football game. It turned out that the
England team didn’t win, so there’s no Bank Holiday to be had. There was talk
about the manager of the England team being sacked because of the defeat. I
don’t know much about it, but it strikes me that being a football team
manager is a thankless task; they seem to get sacked very regularly. We got to the woods; we had a rather good walk. One
of our usual ones that didn’t take the slope down and the consequential slope
back up again. It was a shame that Treacle had to wade through the swamp, but
that’s what she does. After four miles we were back at the car. We met a
few other dogs; I wish Pogo wouldn’t scream at them. He didn’t bark or go up
to them or be in any way annoying or threatening. He just screamed. He does
that. I wish he wouldn’t. We came home. I pegged out the washing, put more in
and made us both a cuppa. There was a minor
disaster in that when we wrote the shopping list yesterday
we forgot we’d run out of biccies. Fortunately we’ve a job lot of expired Snickers bars from
the Bargain Warehouse, so we had one of those each. I had my root round the Internet rather later than
usual today. But it was much the same as ever. People were arguing about
garden ponds, crackpot religions, dogs, Star Trek… Google told me that I am one of the top ten pub
reviewers… I saw someone I used to know was moving house today.
He and his nearest and dearest have sold up and are moving hundreds of miles
away to start a new life. Quite a few friends have done this over the last
few months and years. Wales, Scotland, East Anglia, the West Country…people
want to be anywhere but the South East it would
seem. Some people moved to be with family and friends. Some moved for a job.
Some are going home. Others just took a leap into the unknown, which is
rather brave. Sometimes I think I’d like to move house. Somewhere
with off-street parking and a chodbin closer to my
pit. But where… either Ashford, or *just possibly* (but incredibly
unlikely) back to Hastings. I suppose I took a leap of faith when I moved
from Hastings to Folkestone all those years ago, and another when I went from
Folkestone to Ashford. But I was young and brave then. I went down the road to the dentist where the
waiting room was rather full. But again like with
any medical appointment the person having the appointment had brought along
an entire tribe to keep them company. With my gob fixed I then went on to the pet shop to
get some odds and sods, and as I was in there so the drizzle started. I came
home to find “er indoors TM” had brought in
the washing from the line. Together with that which was in the washing
machine I struggled to find space to air out all the damp washing. With damp washing spaced out we had a cuppa with biccies. “er indoors TM” daid we had biccies; I just
couldn’t find them. I then cracked on with something I’ve been meaning
to do for ages; a general little tidy up round the chodbin.
Wiping the blind took twenty minutes. I washed the walls down, scrubbed the
skirting boards and generally tidies up a bit. It took an hour and at the end
I was knackered and, like gardening, it looked just
the same as it did when I started. I then spent an hour writing up CPD. As I wrote up I kept glancing out of the window. In the great scheme
of things cleaning the bathroom and writing CPD had been pencilled
in for tomorrow. Today was supped to be an “in the garden” afternoon.
But I’d come home from the pet shop in the drizzle, and the radio was giving
yellow warnings of rain and thunderstorms. However the rain stopped about ten
minutes after I got home, and the afternoon was rather dry. “er
indoors TM” sorted dinner
then went bowling. I’ve settled myself in front of the telly for the evening. This forecast torrential rain hasn’t come yet. I
wonder if it will? After all, if it rains hard
today, it will supposedly rain all summer. |
|
16 July 2024
(Tuesday) - Gardening
I
had a restless night. When the dogs settle all is well; there’s plenty of
space for them at the foot of the bed so why do they spend all night long
trying to nudge me over? I made toast and had a look at the Internet. There
was consternation on one of the Jack Russell Facebook pages I follow. Someone
had been banned because the only posts she ever made to that page were posts
begging for money to pay for vet bills. The people implementing the ban took
the line that being able to fund a dog was an integral part of having one. I
thought that perhaps a tad harsh, if true. And there was a semi-joking meme about how following
the England football team’s defeat by the Spanish, sales of tapas have
rocketed in Scotland and Wales… I wonder if that’s far from the
truth. There’s a really odd relationship
between the countries of the so-called United Kingdom. The English aren’t
really that bothered about the others, but the others *really* hate
the English on the pretext of historical events from hundreds of years ago. I’m always running into Welsh and Irish and Scots
who really hate England and the English despite their living and working in
Kent from where they couldn’t be further from their home country but still be
on the same island. I took the dogs up to the woods for a walk. We took
a longer walk than we did yesterday, and my watch told me we walked a tenth
of a mile less. What was that all about? I had a plan we’d been done before
the forecast rain; sadly we weren’t. The rain
started when we were about a mile from the car. We got rather wet, and the
rain stopped on the drive home. Once home I ran round with the Hoover, and rather
than having a cuppa I got myself a Magnum ice cream
from the shop over the road. They are two and a half quid each these days.
Can you believe it? I scoffed it as I watched drivel on the telly, and
with drivel watched and ice cream scoffed I went into the garden and pootled. I trimmed the lawn edges, mowed the lawn, kicked
the gravel to some semblance of tidiness, then did something I’ve been
meaning to do for years. We laid all the stones round the pond on 9 April 2007, and over
the intervening seventeen years the world and his wife has felt obliged to
throw the stones into the pond. I got a net and hoiked
quite a few out. The trouble is that it isn’t easy to get to the bottom of
the pond what with pumps and hoses and leccie
cables all over the place, but I got quite a lot out. As is always the way when working in the garden
after four hours I was worn out, and the garden looked just the same as when
I’d started. I fed the fish, spent a little while staring at the
pond, then looking at Amazon. My pond’s bog filter isn’t big enough. I’ve
twice tried to expand it, and both times I’ve made the mistake of trying to
do so on the cheap. The first time I bought things which simply didn’t fit, and ended up throwing good money after bad and
building a second pond. The second time I bought a cheap tank which I bodged into place but didn’t bother putting in the effort
to sink it in the ground and I’ve got something which will look OK all the
time that plants are in full growth (as they are now) but will look
dreadful in a couple of months’ time. I’ve bought a couple of waterfall blades. Once they arrive I shall get some sleepers that fit them. Then in
the autumn I shall spend a couple of days doing some serious carpentry and
digging a hole. I also got a small hand-held pressure washer as
setting up my current one is too much arse ache,
more armpit squirt and a couple of bottles of smelly. I’ve been sweating a
lot recently and don’t want to be whiffy(!) I then dozed until “er indoors TM” boiled
up some dinner which we scoffed whilst watching the most recent series of “Meet the
Richardsons”. Supposedly the Richardsons have split up… I can’t
help but wonder if this is something purely for the telly show. |
|
17 July 2024
(Wednesday) - Folkestone
I
didn’t sleep that well last night. Shortly after I finally nodded off “er
indoors TM” ‘s alarm woke me, and then once she’d
got up, Treacle started barking for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I got up and made toast. The Internet was its usual
argument. There was quite the squabble this morning about a flood relief weir
in the far east on one of the Facebook pages I follow. Was it made in the
twelfth century or in the 1980s? I would say “who cares” but it would
seem quite a few people did care. You wouldn’t believe how heated people got
over something so trivial. “er
indoors TM” fed the dogs
and I took them up to the woods. We had a rather good walk round. The place
was surprisingly much muddier than it had been yesterday. We met two other
groups of dogs, and Pogo’s reaction was
entertaining. If the other dogs don’t get in first
he screams. But if the puppies recognize the other dogs, then Pogo just
stands and watches in amazement. We walked for over an hour; at the end my watch said
we’d covered over four miles. Getting home was entertaining. We got to within a
few hundred yards of home and found ourselves stuck behind the local DPD van.
We’ve met this one a few times before; the chap who drives it is an idiot.
When he has a delivery he doesn’t pull over, like
anyone else would. He just stops his van in the middle of the road, saunters
out to make the delivery, chats on the doorstep, then wanders back and drives
on to the next port of call where he again blocks traffic in all directions. We eventually got home. I hosed the mud from
Morgan’s belly (no one else had a grubby tummy) then sorted a cuppa for me and “er indoors TM”.
I did dull housework for an hour or so, then spent a couple of hours ironing
whilst watching a film on Netflix. “Unfrosted” was
rather good - a comedy about the origin of
pop-tarts with an all-star cast including Tyrian Lanister
out of Game of Thrones. After this I watched an episode of UFO –
made in 1970 and supposedly set in 1980 it hasn’t aged well. I wrote up a little CPD, then once “er
indoors TM” had finished work we drove down to
Folkestone. There was a geo-meet on the Leas from which I collected a Mad
Hatter trackable. And having met and chatted with (mostly) German
tourists we took a little walk along the Leas before coming home. Being rather late(ish)
home we had KFC and watched more “Meet the Richardsons”. I’ve got a guts ache now… |
|
18 July 2024
(Thursday) - Pies, Late Shift
I slept well last night (for a change)
spending over nine hours asleep in my pit. That was something of a result. As I made brekkie so my phone beeped. The car
parking I’d bought on the Ringo app last night was about to expire. I hadn’t
realized that there was free parking from six in the evening until eight in
the morning, so by parking at quarter to six and getting an hour’s worth I’d
effectively brought three quarters of an hour’s parking this morning. Woops. I had my usual look at the Internet. There were a lot less people
wanting to join the “Upstairs Downstairs” Facebook page I help
moderate this morning. The show has started a re-run on ITV3 recently and the
group which used to get two or three membership requests a week has recently
been getting a couple of dozen every day. There was an argument about the correct name of the Post Office Tower in
London. Some people were pretending not to realise
the thing was over sixty years old. Apparently it is
to be converted into a hotel. I munzed from the sofa and captured “er
indoors TM”’s baby dragon. Then took five goes to get
today’s “Wordle”. At the risk of giving spoilers, today’s answer was “Nerdy”
– rather appropriate. I wrote up some CPD. CPD (continuous professional
development) is something I legally have to do
to keep myself up to date with what’s going on at work, but to anyone who
doesn’t test blood it would be incredibly dull. But within minutes of having
written up an incredibly dry few lines about this week’s newsletter from
Oncology Central, that entry had had views. I set off to work... with a few moments to spare I thought I might pop
into Matalan to get some more work shirts. They had stuff which was either
utterly posh or totally casual. I'll have a look on Amazon later. Bearing in mind the utter shambles that is Operation Brock I decided
against going up the motorway. I took the A-road instead and stopped off at Lenham. I thought I might treat myself and got a steak
and kidney pie from the local bakery. I took one bite and the thing utterly
disintegrated and sprayed its contents everywhere. It wasn't so much a pie as
a gravy-filled grenade. It was as well that it came with a foil tray; I ended
up slurping the wreckage out of the tray. Pies do that. If you are ever going
to scoff a pie, have a plate, knife and fork to hand. Pasties and steak
bakes are a different matter, but never trust a pie. I didn't actually go to Lenham
for the pie (I wish I hadn't now). I've got a geocache near the
church which has had reports of being missing. I had a little walk across the
fields to where it was supposed to be and found it was missing. I replaced
it. It was a shame that the people who logged it as missing couldn't have
done that. You really can replace the thing quicker than you can write a log
saying "it ain't there any
more" and save me a load of pie-related arse-ache.
But there it is. I drove on to the petrol station for fuel both for the car and myself.
Having learned from my earlier pie-related disaster I got a sandwich and a
bag of crisps. And then it was on to work for the late shift. Work seemed
rather odd, but then ever since I've gone part time it's seemed odd. I'm not
quite sure why. I did my bit. I don't really like the late shifts, but there
it is. I came home to find my new waterfall attachment (for the bog filter)
that I ordered from Amazon had arrived. It was far too small. That’s going
back. |
|
19 July 2024 (Friday)
- A Birthday Get-Together
I
was rather late to bed last night and slept like a log until quarter to one,
then dozed fitfully looking at the clock every twenty minutes. This happens
every time I have an alarm set. I got up at half past five and made toast which I
scoffed whilst watching an episode of “Boomers”, then had a little
look at the Internet. It was much the same as ever. A new series of geocaches had gone live about an
hour’s drive away. I featured in one of the caches;
rather flattering to be mentioned. And overnight the people who’d supplied
the pond waterfall attachments had sent an email saying they would accept the
things back again, which was just as well because they are going back whether
they would be accepted or not. Three people on my Facebook list had a birthday
today. I sent out birthday wishes, failed at Wordle, then got ready for work. I
set off to work... once I remembered where I'd left the car last night. As I
drove the pundits on the radio were talking about the upcoming presidential
election in America. Donald Trump has been confirmed as the Republican
candidate, and there are moves afoot to get someone who's not in their
mid-eighties to be the Democrat candidate. Poor President Biden would seem to
be quickly losing the confidence of everyone. The implication was that the
American public are being faced with a choice between the incompetent and the
incapable, and given such a choice no one wants to
choose "incapable". There
was also an interview with the new Defence minister who is today meeting with
the Ukrainian president who's got the arse because the UK government won't
let them fire UK weapons into Russia. I must admit I was rather disappointed
with the new Defence minister. After so many years of Conservatives, this Labour minister sounds exactly the same as the Tories in
that he said a lot without saying anything. I
suppose that's politicians for you. I did my bit, and came
home. We had a rather good evening in the garden with friends having a little
get-together in honour of a sixty-fifth birthday. A very good evening… the fourth bottle of ale might
have been a mistake… |
|
20 July 2024
(Saturday) - Hic !
As I drove home yesterday evening the weather
forecast said that it would be a hot and humid night and that people wouldn’t
sleep well. They were spot on, but too much ale did help. I made toast and peered into the Internet as I do
most mornings. There were petty squabbles about Lego and Star Trek, and
endless adverts for Temu who seem to be making
everything from children’s toys to saucy underwear these days. Judging by the pictures I saw several people were on
holiday; I suppose it’s the time of year for that. My old mate from Boys
Brigade days who moves from hotel to hotel was posting to the world from the
Lake District today. He says it is cheaper for him to lead the lifestyle he
wants by moving form hotel to hotel rather than having a house of his own
with all the associated expenses. It’s another world, isn’t it? I got Wordle on the fifth attempt. I also had
another dubious
friend request. Being Saturday we drove round to Repton and Dog
Club. We’d had three people asking about Dog Club in the week, and in a novel
break with tradition two of them turned up. So often we have people asking so
many questions about Dog Club and preparing us for a dramatic appearance, and
then never showing up. Dog Club went rather well. It was a shame that Pogo
had to hump Kai, but there it is. Having totally failed Steve’s “Guess the Lyrics”
competition on the radio on the way to Dog Club we were out late and missed
the Mystery Year competition on the way home. We got home. The dogs immediately went to sleep. I counted up the Dog Club money and paid it into the bank,
then cracked on. Washing on to the line, putting away the garden chairs from
last night, running the shears over my head for a quick haircut, then popped
over the road to get some beers for later. Disaster. For years the Polish shop over the road has had the
best beer selection for miles. Today it was no different to Tesco. Such a
disappointment. “er indoors TM” slipped off shopping. I fell asleep on the sofa and dozed for an hour or so
until she returned. We had a spot of lunch, then set off to Sittingbourne
where we had a rather good afternoon sitting in Karl and Tracy’s
garden drinking beer, eating pizza and putting the world to rights.
There’s no denying that after six pints cracking the gin open might have been
construed as a questionable move, but it was a move I would certainly do
again. We left Pogo there; he is now having a little
holiday. We came home down the M20 following a train which was setting off
all sorts of sparks as trains do. “er
indoors TM” said it was lightning; who am I to
disagree (as Annie Lennox once sung). I’ve got to be up early for work tomorrow… right now
that seems rather ambitious. |
|
21 July 2024 (Sunday)
- Dull
I
woke feeling like death warmed up, got up and tripped over Treacle who was
laying on the floor. I made toast and scoffed it whilst watching an
episode of "Boomers" which was rather excruciating, then had
a quick look at the Internet to see if I'd missed anything overnight. I
hadn't really. The roads were rather quiet and deserted as I drove
to work this morning. No one wants to be up and about at half past seven on a
Sunday, do they? As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking
about the upcoming American Presidential election. It would
seem that last week's failed assassination
attempt has effectively handed the election to Donald Trump. He and his supporters are claiming that his survival
was God's will, and apparently millions are gullible enough to believe it.
Have I ever said that democracy is a silly idea. There was also talk about how Third World countries
have got the hump as more and more Western governments are putting conditions
on the aid money they are sending. Apparently some
see it as gross interference with their native culture when an aid package
will only be given if a certain country stops persecuting gays or starts
educating girls. Funny old world... And it would seem I'm going to get an above-inflation pay
rise. I can remember being told (over forty years ago) that NHS
workers got below inflation pay rises from Conservative governments and above
inflation pay rises from Labour governments. Back
in the day that might have been true, but I can't remember the Labour governments of twenty years ago being very
generous. This lot might be, but there's also talk of their taxing pensions.
Ho hum... I got to work a tad earlier than I might have done, and went to the works canteen to treat myself to the
cooked breakfast. I say "treat myself"... it was a tad grim
and gave me a stomach ache which lasted some time. Work was work; weekend working is always odd. The
place seems strangely empty with only a skeleton staff in. But I was only
working the morning. I was home by early afternoon. I got home to find the
pond’s water level was down by six inches. A minor issue with the bog filter;
I had hoped to replace it all in the late autumn. I might need to get a move
on with it. I ran out the hose pipe to top up the pond, and
whilst I was at it I gave the plants a splash. And
found a dead sparrow in one of the planters. I was rather amazed that the
dogs hadn’t found it. Bailey would have eaten it; she is quite foul
sometimes. I then sat on the sofa… and woke up with neck ache
an hour later. “er indoors TM” sorted
some lamb chops and we scoffed them whilst watching more episodes of “Meet
the Richardsons”. The show started well a few seasons ago, but it’s
running out of steam. Bit like me, really. |
|
22 July 2024 (Monday)
- Intimations of Mortality
I
slept rather better last night, but was still wide awake
at half past four. I lay awake for an hour, then got up, made toast and
scoffed it whilst watching an episode of “Boomers” before having my
usual look at the Internet. Yesterday one of my old schoolfriends had his
birthday. He posted to Facebook about it, and listed some of our old
contemporaries who hadn’t made it this far. Overnight a lot of people had
commented listing more names of old schoolfriends who’ve passed away. A
surprising number of people with whom I grew up aren’t here any more. One drove a motorbike
into a skip. One had diabetes and wouldn’t stop eating sweeties. One went
down with the Herald of Free Enterprise. One had a stroke (aged fourteen!)
One had an asthma attack and was dead minutes later. One died when the Nimrod
he was piloting crashed. One
had bowel cancer. One committed suicide. The class bully had leukaemia. Quite a few people were posting all sorts of
nice memories about these people… I didn’t have the heart to point out what a
nasty piece of work the class bully had been. But it was a long time ago. Following on from this I spent quite a bit of time
today trying to recall a conversation from years ago. Two of the people in
our year at school shared a name. Same first and last name. In my mate's
Facebook post he claimed that one of these two had died; the one who sat on
my table during physics lessons forty-five years ago. This came as a
revelation, but as the day went on I could remember
having heard this years ago. I messaged the chap who I distinctly
remembered telling me the news, but he couldn't remember the one who died;
let alone telling me that he had died. I must have heard it from an old school mate I once
met on the train to Brighton in 1983 who regaled a list of many from our
schooldays who had died before getting to twenty years of age. The chap on the train said that he'd heard that I
had been one of them. As I drove to work the pundits on the radio were all
a-twitter about the news that President Biden isn't going to run for a second
term as President of the USA. The smart money was backing his vice-president
who looks set to get the nomination of her party, but whether or not she will
beat Donald Trump is a very different
question. The expert being interviewed implied that by stating stark
nonsense as actual facts. Mr. Trump appeals to
the rather thicker members of the electorate who seem to struggle to tell the
difference between stark nonsense and actual facts. Work was work. I did my bit. Being on an early shift
was something of a result in that I got out early. But thanks to the roads I
didn't get home with any speed. Works to widen the roundabout at Junction
five of the motorway meant it took half an hour to drive the mile or so from
the hospital to the motorway. And the utter stupidity which is Operation
Brock meant it took another half-hour to get down the motorway. As I drove through Operation Brock
I did my usual thing of counting how many cars had ignored all the signs and
notices and had driven into the bit clearly labelled "HGVs ONLY!!!".
Last Friday there were six; four on Saturday and five yesterday. Today there
were three. “er
indoors TM” boiled up
dinner then went bowling. I watched drivel on the telly from underneath a
pile of dogs whilst trying to stay awake. I really need a decent kip. It
doesn’t help that after nearly four weeks since my nose job it still feels as
though I’ve been slapped in the face. |
|
23 July 2024 (Tuesday) - Rather Busy
I
slept like a log until four o’clock last night, went to the loo, and then lay
awake for the rest of the night. When I finally dozed off Treacle did some
silly nonsense in which she rolled herself in all the bedding. I got up, took the dogs into the garden
where I harvested a bumper crop of dung, then made some toast. I peered into
the Internet as I do. There was consternation being expressed at the number
of road closures planned across the county for this weekend. Four major
A-roads and two motorways look to be closed. It strikes me that the obvious
answer is to only close one road (and one road only) at a time. Get
all available workmen on it regardless of what firm they work for. and work
round the clock until the job is done, then move on to the next. Look at the shambles at Coldharbour (M20
J5) yesterday where the roads are up until Christmas. It took me half an
hour to drive one mile and there was only one digger doing anything there. I got the dogs onto their leads.
Eventually. Morgan is a worry. He clearly loves the walks when we are out,
but he trembles seemingly in fear whenever it is time to put the lead on, and
when we get to the car and do “Boot Dogs” he cowers at the back. Does
he get travel sick? We got to the woods and had a rather longer
walk than usual. I’d had reports that two of the geocaches I’d hidden had
gone missing. And they were at opposite ends of the woods. The first one was
missing so I replaced it. The second was fine. As we walked we
met another Jackshund – a dog crossed between a Jack Russell and a Dachshund.
Like Morgan and Bailey are, and like my Fudge was. This one looked rather
like Fudge; a paler colour, but a fat little barrel like he used to be before
his kidneys gave up. We chatted for a bit; Jackshunds
aren’t that common. As we drove home
we saw a car with the registration plate MUM 1. Once home the dogs went
straight into the bath. The overnight rain had made the woods rather muddy,
and we had grubby tummies. After a quick sausage roll for lunch I set off on a little mission. First of all to return the frankly useless waterfall thingies that
I’d mistakenly ordered from Amazon. The idea was that I did all the paperwork
on-line and got a bar code emailed to me. I scan that in the shop that does Evri delivery, and they print the return label for me.
Seems straight forward. So I went to the nearest shop that does Evri deliveries but sadly the village idiot was on the
counter. She said I needed to come back tomorrow
because they don’t have the machine to print labels. I asked what time the
thing would be arriving tomorrow. She said it wasn’t. I asked her how I would
print a label if I came back tomorrow. She said I wouldn’t be able to. I
asked what good my coming back tomorrow would achieve. She gave me a dopey
grin. I asked if there were any other shops locally that did Evri. The nice lady in the shop by Aldi
eventually printed labels from her machine, but it clearly wasn’t easy. I then had a look at sleepers for the
garden pond’s next upgrade. My first choice of places to go to (Wickes)
didn’t have the bits I needed, neither did Jewson. The timber merchant near
Stanhope had two sleepers that I could use. But only two. And on closer
inspection both had great big cracks through them. The nice man there said to
snap them up as they are shipping out all their stock to other branches as
the place is closing next week. The landlord has doubled the rent. In the end my last choice of DIY shops (B&Q)
had what I needed. Well, not what I needed but what I might be able to use.
As I was looking about I saw someone I recognized.
The ex-chairman of my old scout group. I’d not seen him for years. We chatted
for over an hour. It was rather odd really – twenty years ago the scout group
was such a large part of my life, and consequently so was this chap and his
family. And now I’ve not seen him for years. There are so many people like
that in my life. Which is why I like Facebook – if nothing else it keeps me
updated on what people are up to. I wrote up some CPD then settled
myself in front of the telly for the evening. “er
indoors TM” boiled up a very good curry which we
scoffed whilst watching the last episodes of “Meet the Richardsons”. A
rather good show even if you do watching it
wondering what is real and what is made up. Amazingly Kemah Bob really does
sound like that. I didn’t sleep well last night. I’ve walked
nearly seventeen thousand steps today. In theory I really should sleep well
tonight. |
|
24 July 2024 (Wednesday) - Geo-Meet After Work
I
slept reasonably well, but was still awake long before
I needed to be. I made toast and watched another episode of “Boomers”.
This one featured him who played Ford Prefect in the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy. The actor looks to have lost about two feet in height over the
intervening years. I had a look at a dull Internet, got Wordle on
my fifth attempt then got ready for work. I wandered off down the road wondering where I'd
left the car. I eventually found it two streets away. Sometimes I really
think we need to move; if only to get off-street parking so I know where my
car is. As I drove to work the pundits on the radio were
talking about how the Prime Minister has laid down the law and suspended seven Labour MPs who defied him by voting against his
proposals for only allowing child benefits for two children. Whether or not
this specific case is right or wrong, it really shows yet another failing
with our so-called democracy. In the last few weeks
we've clearly elected a load of MPs who must do as they are told or they will
be ruthlessly slapped down. So much for our having a voice in Parliament, eh? As I drove up the dual carriageway (which was
once a motorway) I kept glancing over at the "Operation Brock"
bit in which absolutely no lorries whatsoever were being queued. Again I found myself wondering why the Highways department
have trashed a perfectly good motorway. I also saw three cars driving down
the "HGVs only" bit... I got close to Junction Five and joined the queue.
At half past seven this morning the queue was already quite long enough. The
traffic was reduced to only one lane because of roundabout-widening
roadworks. Mind you I can't help but think that the half-dozen workmen might
have been better employed actually widening the
roundabout rather than just standing about. To be fair one digger was doing
digging. But then again there was space for at least a dozen diggers to have
been doing digging. Work was work. Getting home after work was just as
problematical as getting there had been. With lanes coned off for no apparent
reason it took nearly half an hour to get to the motorway. Had there been
anyone at all working I could understand why lanes might have been cordoned
off, but no one at all was working. And as I drove down the “Operation
Brock” bit of the motorway I saw one lorry in fifteen miles. Thet’s not “not
many” – that’s “one”. I counted. I got home, collected “er indoors TM” and
the dogs and we drove to the Leas in Folkestone where there was a little
geo-meet going on. With people from miles away in the area for next week’s
Mega-meet we spoke hunting Tupperware with people from Scotland and Holland.
And I got four points towards the next ge-souvenir. Getting home rather later than usual we had a kebab
for dinner. Having had a guts ache all week, that
should either kill or cure. |
|
25 July 2024
(Thursday) - Pouring Hard
“er
indoors TM” got up and left
me asleep this morning. After half an hour Treacle came back upstairs and
squeaked until I got up. She didn’t need me to do anything for her; she’d
just decided I’d been in my pit for quite long enough. As I drove home yesterday the weather forecaster was
crystal clear that the weather in the South East
would be dry overnight and dry today. It was quite clear that we’d had heavy
rain when I let the dogs out, and the forecast had changed to drizzle all
day. I made toast and looked at the Internet. The plan
for “er indoors TM”’s birthday next week had been
to join in with one of the activities for next week’s Mega-Geo event. Sadly it turns out that the tickets all sold out ages ago. I don’t want to detract from the hard work that has
gone into the thing, but having been looking forward
to joining in with some of the events planned for next week’s Mega-Geo event,
it isn’t turning out like I thought it might. Previous Mega-events I’ve been
to have been based at one place and all the activities go on from there. This
one seems to be spread over much of Kent and Sussex, and
involve a lot of driving for those taking part. I’ve seen quite a few
complaints from people who had planned to go to the thing by train and stay
for the week, and are now faced with either hiring
for a car or having a rather boring week waiting about whilst everyone else
goes out for the day. When “er indoors TM” set
off to work it was actually raining. By the time I’d
got Wordle on the fourth attempt the rain had slackened off to drizzle, and
with Met Check and the BBC giving totally contradictory weather forecasts I
thought I’d just take pot luck. I set a load of washing and the dishwasher going,
and we went up to the woods and did one of our usual walks. As we walked my
watch did a silly. What it usually records as being a shade under four miles
was only three and a half miles today. But we got round in the dry. Expecting
rain I’d taken a coat and carried it the entire way.
Had I not taken the coat it would have poured hard. We came home. As I emptied the washing machine and dishwasher so the heavens opened. I had planned to mow the
lawn, but instead ran round with the Hoover despite Bailey trying to fight
it, scoffed last night’s leftover kebab then set about the ironing whist
watching a
film on Netflix. Captain Underpants is always entertaining. I then watched the last episode of “Boomers”.
An odd series; like so many other series I found myself
watching the last episodes because having watched so many it would be
churlish to pack up half way through. With the rain still hossing
down I went through the monthly accounts. As always
they could be a whole lot worse (is it wrong for me to want to have far
too much money?) but they are certainly a lot better than they have been
in the past. With the back garden still awash with rain there was
nothing I could do outside. I settled on the sofa with dogs and watched
episodes of “Four in a Bed”. I’ve not watched the show for a while,
but as ever proprietors of various B&B establishments crucified each
other for things that they did wrong themselves. Today’s shows featured some
chap who wouldn’t shut up about his having won the “Loo of the Year” awards for several
years despite his glamping site’s loos having skid marks. “er indoors TM” boiled up sausages and chips for tea which we scoffed whilst
watching “The
Traitors US” in which twenty American so-called celebrities think
that shrieking a lot makes them appear intelligent and astute. Hopefully this rain will have stopped by the
morning… |
|
26 July 2024 (Friday)
- Car Service
I
slept reasonably well, but again woke feeling rather pissed off and
miserable. I’ve been doing this quite a bit lately. I’m OK once I get up and
get going, but start the day incredibly morose. I got up and got going. And made toast and had a
look at the Internet. It would seem there’s a load of Adventure Lab geocaches
that have gone live for next week’s Mega-geo-event. Created by all sorts of
people. Had I known about this I would have been only too happy to have been
a part of it. I’ve offered to help with several Mega-geo-events over the
years. With the exception of the one in Sussex which
was cancelled because of COVID my help has only ever been accepted by the
events miles away (I wrote Wherigos for them).
Presumably someone relatively locally doesn’t want me involved.
Understandable really; I wouldn’t want me involved either… I struggled with Wordle, then kicked everyone else
out of bed in readiness for the morning. The plan for the morning was to get the car
serviced, so I loaded up the dogs and we all drove over to the garage. Whilst
the car was in I asked the nice man to recharge (or
whatever) the air-con, and to have a look at the rear left tail light.
There’s an intermittent fault in which the car tells me to have a look at the
rear left tail light, but when I do there’s nothing
wrong with it. And I asked them to have a look at the cruise control too. The
cruise control works fine, but there’s supposed to be an icon on the
dashboard which comes on to tell me I’m in cruise control mode. There isn’t. The nice man in the garage gave the dogs a treat each, and told us to come back two hours later. So we took
a little walk round the footpaths along the edge of the Sevington
Inland Border Facility. The place is huge, and I saw maybe six
lorries in there. Surely it would make more sense to use that rather than
half a motorway if there are issues at the ports? We then walked out half-way to Mersham
for geo-reasons. There is a geocache there. To be able to claim a find you
had to have found a geocache which had been hidden in every month since 2002.
I qualified when the thing went live, but what with one thing and another I
didn’t get to go for it. And after a couple of months with no new caches
going live within miles I resigned myself to
not qualifying for it. Last night I had another look at the requirements for this cache. I didn’t
have to find one hidden in every month since 2002. I had to find one every
month from 2002 to 2022. A subtle difference, but I qualified for that Had I actually read what it said I would have done that cache
ages ago… As we walked we met a
jogger. Clearly a jogger in that he had trainers on. But he also had a suit
too. What was that all about? Just as we were walking past the hospital on the way
back to the garage my phone rang. It was the garage. I thought that was handy
– we were on our way back there. But it wasn’t handy at all. The car wasn’t
ready. The garage needed some part or other, and the garage would need the
car all day. Was that a problem? What could I say? We walked home. Once home my watch told me we’d done
six and a half miles and fifteen thousand steps. Having been out rather longer than expected the dogs
tucked into their water bowl when we got home. I made a quick cuppa for me and “er indoors TM”,
then cracked on in the garden. I got the lawn mowed,
cleaned out the pond filter, tidied up the gravel then fell asleep by the
pond. I then sulked. I had planned to get some sleepers
and start sawing them into shape. I had hoped to look at getting pond liner.
All of which rather depended on having a car. So I
read my Kindle for a bit then wrote up some CPD until the keyboard on my
lap-top died. Re-booting sorted it out, but it was rather worrying. What was
that all about? With lap-top going again I
then strained my brain on another
geo-puzzle that went live on Romney Marsh a day or so ago. Seemingly
based on cakes, puddings and desserts I *think* there’s some Star Wars
related element to it as well. But, be that as it
may, how I turn a list of cakes, puddings and desserts into numbers is beyond
me. And then my phone beeped. The garage had sent a
video showing how bald my tyres were. Did this mean
the car was ready? I phoned the garage… no it wasn’t ready but if I wanted they could replace the tyres
in the meantime. And did I know my rear windscreen wiper blade was juddering? I agreed for them to sort that lot out. I carried on
struggling to sort out the puzzle pudding until the garage phoned back to say
the car was ready. Six hours longer than I had been expecting it to take, but
there it was. I like being able to zoom about in a car; keeping the thing in
a zoom-able condition isn’t *that* much of an inconvenience really. With my step count into the seventeen thousands I didn’t fancy walking to the garage. “er indoors TM” drove me and the
dogs back over there (they were hoping for more treats) and she then
drove on to her ex-works summer party. Sometimes I am rather jealous of her.
She keeps up with all her old workmates. I don’t, really. I took the dogs to the garage where they got more
fuss and more treats, gave the nice man over six hundred quid, collected my
car and came home where I sparked up Netflix and started watching something
new. “The
Decameron” was only released onto Netflix yesterday. It’s a comedy…
and I know that not through having watched two episodes, but because it says
so on Wikipedia. I might stick with it; it might perk up. “er
indoors TM” came home with
dinner. At the risk of appearing ungrateful I fed the fishsticks
to the dogs. I would have given them the garlic bread too if it wasn’t
poisonous to them. It’s a bit poisonous to me too as it always gives me
bellyache. And in closing, today would have been a good friend’s birthday.
Living where he did meant that I didn’t get to see
Terry very often, but the half-dozen times we met up every year were always
rather special. He’s been gone three years now… |
|
27 July 2024
(Saturday) - Before the Late Shift
I
had a rather vivid dream last night in which I had gone to the barber’s for a haircut and he’d cut my fringe rather
short. This was a rather serious matter for me, and I was really upset about
it… What was that all about. I’ve not had a fringe for
years. I made toast and had a look at the Internet as I do
most mornings. It was still there. Not a lot was happening on Facebook, which
was probably a good thing. I had an email; Amazon had sent me a refund for
those waterfall thingies which I bought in good faith only to find they were
no use for what I had in mind. That will pay for a couple of sleepers. And I saw that our Munzee clan had reached its
monthly target. I got Wordle on the fourth attempt, then “er
indoors TM” and the dogs descended. We did our usual
wander round the garden as dogs do in the mornings. There were reports of a
dead fish, but all the ones I could see looked to be quite contentedly still
alive. Being Saturday we drove
round to Repton where we had Dog Club. Several new dogs (and their people)
were along, and a great time was had by all. Having totally failed on Steve’s “Guess the
Lyrics” competition on the radio on the way there, I was one year out on
the Mystery Year competition on the way home. Once home I popped to the corner shop for pastries, and scoffed them whilst deploying Munzees at the Mega-Geo-Event. That should be good for a
few points. And I discovered there’s a second Mega-Geo-Event near Reading
which is taking place today. No one told me about that one. Ho hum… I set off to work. I hadn't got as far as the
turn-off to Dog Club (about a mile) when the tyre pressure warning
alarm went off on my car. The new rear tyre that was fitted yesterday was
under pressure. I pulled up where I could and pumped it up a bit. And then as
I drove up the motorway for all that the cruise control was working there was
no icon on the dashboard to tell me the car was in cruise control mode...
like the nice man in the garage said there should be and that he would ensure
was working. Oh well. The car has got an MOT in a few months' time. They can
sort the cruise control icon then. It's not as though this is the first time
they've not looked at it. In a novel break with tradition there were actually some lorries queued up in the "Operation
Brock" bit of the motorway. Not many; certainly
no more than could have been parked up at the Sevington
inland border control place. But some. I only saw one car driving down the HGV bit this
morning, but he was towing a caravan... if that is any excuse. As I drove I was wondering
if Radio Ashford has got a new transmitter - the signal got as far as Harrietsham this morning. Needing supplies I went to the Aylesford branch of
Sainsburys. This place never fails to entertain. The woman on the till was
nearing the end of her shift and was loudly giving her supervisor a countdown
of how many minutes there were before she was getting up and leaving "all
this lot" waiting as she rudely waved dismissively at the queue at
her till. Being a member of "all this lot" I was rather glad
to have got through with three minutes remaining. I thought about wasting her time with inane
questions about the Nectar points on the voucher she rudely thrust at me, but thought better of doing so. Instead
I passed the voucher (for five per cent off of my shopping the next time I
spend over a hundred quid) to the chap behind me in the queue and left
the woman on the till shrieking that the vouchers weren't transferable. I went to work and did my bit whilst sulking and
staring out of the window. On Thursday I'd not got much done as it had been
pouring hard. Yesterday there was lots I could have done but I wore myself
out on an epic route march in the morning. I could have got stuff done today
if I'd not been working. I always say I don't mind working at the weekends...
but I do mind if the weather is good. Rather a waste of a Saturday really… |
|
28 July 2024 (Sunday)
- New Pressure Washer
As
I scoffed toast this morning I saw that someone had
commented on the photos I’d posted to the Dog Club’s Facebook page yesterday.
“It was my dog’s first time at dog club and he
really had a great time and it was lovely watching him playing with all his
new friends will definitely be going back”. That was good. Mind you the
dogs usually have a great time at Dog Club. Any issues (not that there are
many) come from the people. I also saw that today was my brother and sister in
law’s seventeenth wedding anniversary Seventeen years, eh? If asked I would
have said ten. But that’s why I keep a diary, I was at that wedding. I also had an email from Amazon. A week or so ago I
ordered a hand-held pressure washer. When I came home last night
I saw that it had arrived. This morning Amazon had sent me an email saying
that they had had no notification that the thing had been shipped, and if
they don’t get that in a week then they will refund my money. I suppose I
should tell them that it has arrived. Mind you, Amazon also thought that I might like
their new range of “Friends” T-shirts and hoodies. I absolutely loathe
and detest that show. I had a quick Minz, got Wordle in four goes, then
got dressed and opened up my hand-held pressure
washer. The instructions had clearly been translated into English by someone
who doesn’t speak English, but after a little farting around I got it all
together. To be honest it was a bit of a disappointment, but I had taken the
battery straight out of the packaging so I put it on
to charge, and then went shopping. I thought I might get those sleepers I’d seen in
B&Q. However when I looked at those sleepers in
B&Q they had a notice saying that they’d been treated with biocides and
weren’t suitable for use near ponds. I came home and had a little look on-line to find
that pretty much every timber merchant is closed on a Sunday. So I voomed round the garden
with the Bionic Burner. That’s one garden tool which does work. I made us both a cuppa,
then seeing how the hand-held pressure washer’s battery was charged I thought
I might see if it worked any better with a full charge. It did. Much better. Comparable to how well the existing
pressure washer works. However the little one has
the advantage that because it operates out of a bucket I have to go get more
water regularly and this prompts me to have a sweep up of all the dirty
water. Without this prompt (as happens with the existing pressure washer)
I end up ankle deep in a filthy mire. With
the garden washed we went round to see “My
Boy TM” and Cheryl. We sat in the sunshine scoffing
barbecue chicken. Not
a bad way to spend the afternoon… |
|
29 July 2024 (Monday)
- There Was Cake
I had an early night last night for once. I went to
bed and lay awake for an hour or so. I finally nodded off and then “er
indoors TM” and the dogs came up. The dogs stomped
about until I was wide awake, then they all settled. I then dozed on and off
for the rest of the night; not sleeping for more than twenty minutes at a
time. Some nights I’m out cold; others not so. I gave up trying to sleep, got up and made toast. I
tried watching another episode of “The
Decameron” but gave up after ten minutes. There are eight episodes of
the show; I gave up after two and a bit. It wasn’t the best. I
had my usual look at the Internet. It would seem I’d missed quite a bit this
weekend. Portsmouth Kite Festival, Piratemania,
Maidstone’s River Festival, Folkestone Pride parade, Folkestone Kate Bush
Day… Had
I known about what was happening in Folkestone yesterday I would have been
there. Not so sure about the other events but it would have been nice to have
known about them. Given notice I could have swapped work shifts about. Oh
well…I’m sure it wasn’t all a conspiracy of secrecy; I just really do need to
pay attention. Over
the weekend some people had walked my series of geocaches in Kings Wood and
reported two missing. The furthest two from the car park. That’s not
necessarily a bad thing – it will make for a dog walk in the next week or so. I
sent out birthday wishes, got Wordle on the fifth attempt, and had a little
Munz session from the sofa. The requirements for next month’s Munzee Clan War
have been published. Next month we need to get “Garden Scatter Points”
and “Storyland Bouncer Points”. It’s not just scanning bar codes stuck
to lamp posts, you know. However I’m finding that as
time goes on this game is getting too complicated for me… I set off to work. As I drove the pundits on the
radio were talking about how the latest Chancellor of the Exchequer has
announced that the country's financial situation was
far worse than the outgoing Conservative government had claimed it
was. But then, to paraphrase Mandy
Rice Davis, "well she would, wouldn't she?" The general consensus was
that this announcement and the subsequent cancellation of all sorts of public
projects including scaling back on new hospitals and road tunnels under
Stonehenge is a prelude to major tax hikes that she promised she wasn't going
to do. Amazingly she's also announced above inflation pay rises for teachers and NHS workers. Not that I don't want
a pay rise, but the timing leaves a lot to be desired. I suppose what she's
doing is to try to get some parity between the private and public sectors. It
needs doing. Yesterday I heard about a distant acquaintance whose manual labouring brings home fifty per cent more money than what
I get. Not that I'm jealous (I am!), but if I make a mistake I'm up
before the professional regulator and out on my arse.
On the other hand how can you balls up digging a
hole in the road? I'd left home early this morning expecting traffic
chaos at the Coldharbour roundabout. I never got that far; the motorway was
closed at the previous junction, and I had a little diversion through
Aylesford. I got to work and cracked on with the early
shift. Work was much the same as ever, but today I had the added bonus of having my annual appraisal. Not that I am
cynical about that sort of thing, but I'm too old for that sort of nonsense.
I've done career advancement in the past and (in all honesty) didn't
like it very much. Where do I see myself in five years
time? Either pushing up daisies or eighteen months away from full
retirement. Do I want to take on any extra roles or responsibilities? Not
really. Been there, done that, wasn't keen. I intimated (said outright) that I'd like to
stop the night work, but I can't see that happening. Back in the day when I
started this game (in 1981) the night work was paid rather better than
it is these days. People did the night work for the money, and stopped on
their thirtieth birthday as the youngsters were keen for the money. Nowadays
the money is nowhere near as attractive, no one wants to do it, and people
don't even start in this line of work until they are over thirty anyway. And as well as an appraisal there was cake as well. Personally I was far more interested in the cake. As always an early start
made for an early finish. I came home and got that little hand-held pressure
washer out and had a little blast round the patio. “er
indoors TM” boiled up fish and chips then went bowling. I made myself comfortable
on the sofa with the dogs and watched a film on Netflix. “Queenpins” was
rather good. Fun, entertaining… and then I woke up and realized I’d slept
through half of it. |
|
30 July 2024
(Tuesday) - Another Early Shift
I
had a far better night’s sleep last night but was still wide awake before
five o’clock. I got up, made toast and had a little look at the Internet as I
do. Several people were posting holiday photos. It would
seem that there’s ticks at the Mega-Geo-Event, people were grumbling
about the pensioners in their households not getting a winter fuel allowance. I put out some virtual Munzees
at today’s planned geo-event at Eastbourne beach. From the Mega-Geo-Event to
Eastbourne is an hour’s drive (according to Google)… I feel sorry for those who’ve
planned months in advance to come to this Mega, travelled miles (many
internationally) and have found that by using public transport (without
their own car) they’ve rather wasted their time and money. I got Wordle on the fifth attempt, then set off to
work. I went via the petrol station at the Ashford Sainsburys. As usual the
woman on the till had a face like a smacked arse. She
always looks so miserable. You'd think she'd jack it in and go get a job that
she doesn't hate quite so much, wouldn't you? As I drove up the motorway the pundits on the radio
were talking about what the latest Chancellor of the Exchequer has been up
to. She's effectively decided to do away with the pensioner vote and suck up
to the NHS workers by giving them a pay rise funded (in part) from the
winter heating allowance. Mind you not all of the NHS
workers are happy. The average NHS worker looks set to get a five and
a half per cent pay rise but the nurses have got the arse because the junior doctors are getting four times
that. Personally I remember the strikes of the early
80s when we all stood together until the nurses got a socking great pay rise
at which point they gave two fingers to everyone else, went back to work and
the united NHS work force collapsed. It's just a shame that the vast
majority of nurses involved with that have long since retired. There was also talk about the stabbing
in Merseyside in which it would seem someone or other went
absolutely psycho with a knife in a children's dance studio. The local MP was
on the radio this morning asking that people didn't spread speculation and rumours on social media. I suppose the chap's got a
point, but it strikes me that if an arrest has been made and the chap who did
it has been caught, why don't the authorities put him in the stocks in the
town centre and let people throw rocks at them? Seriously. Why not? Meanwhile the triathlon event at the Paris
Olympics has
been postponed on account of there being too many turds floating
down the Seine. Or so the French water quality expert being interviewed
claimed. He blamed it all on the heavy rains of last week,
but was rather vague on the details. Personally
I can't see how that works. Are there turds in rainwater? Or are there random
turds sitting about the riverbank which get washed in by the rain? Work was work, but being on
another early shift meant I got out early. My car’s thermometer told me it
was thirty-two degrees as I left the works car park. The car park is always
warm, but it didn’t get below twenty-nine degrees once on the journey home. Road works meant it took nearly half an hour longer
to get home than it might have done, but there it is. I had another blast
round the patio with the pressure washer, watered the plants and fed the
fish. As I pootled I saw
that the sweet peas had flowered. Well, one flower, but that’s a start. “er
indoors TM” boiled up a
rather good bit of steak which we washed down with a bottle of plonk. Hopefully that might make me sleep… |
|
31 July 2024
(Wednesday) - Lullingstone
I
woke in a cold sweat at four o’clock following a nightmare in which our
tortoise had died tragically. We haven’t got a tortoise,
and have never had one. What was that all about? Other than that I slept
well, finally getting up at eight o’clock. I made toast, sparked up the
Internet and sent out birthday wishes to two friends, then had a little
look-see to find out if I’d missed much overnight. I hadn’t really. I had a
message from someone wanting to come to Dog Club on Saturday. I replied, but…
We get three or four such messages a week from people who want to come along
but claim that their dog is a very special case, we’ve never seen any dog
like their’s before. Maybe one in ten of these
enquiries results in anyone actually turning up. We got the dogs organized and set off on today’s
mission. As part of the week’s Mega-Geo-Event there was a litter tidy-up and
a communal picnic at Lullingstone today. We drove
up to Lullingstone and fell at the first hurdle. I
couldn’t pay for car parking as there was no Internet signal for the RingGo app to work. A passing friend said that you can
pay RingGo from home as long as
you pay it the same day. Here’s hoping. The plan had been to spend an hour litter picking
and doing a Geocaching Adventure Lab at the same time. But what with there
being pretty much no mobile data signal in the valley we gave up after having
done the two ad-lab stages at the top of the hill, and
went down to the river where we tried to littler pick whilst Treacle played
in the river. Bailey had a little paddle, but Morgan wasn’t having any of it. As has been my experience with geocaching litter
picks, we always go to the wrong place to gather litter. The vast bulk of our
litter was lolly sticks from our Magnums and bags
of our dogs’ turds. I’ve since heard that no one made a point of getting
formal permission for the litter pick… something I was told I needed to have
when I was planning to hold one in Kings Wood. I suppose this would explain
why our event clashed with a rather well attended children’s story telling
event, and why when I arrived I had the last space
in the car park. From litter picking we moved on to the communal
picnic where we met and chatted with some new friends, and I walked round
giving dog treats to any dogs I met. Sadly there
weren’t many. Dogs, or people really. The people we were chatting with said
that bearing in mind how many people were at the Mega-Geo-Event campsite he
was surprised at how few people were at the picnic. I suppose there were
fifty or so there. Back in the day we used to get that many turning up to the
monthly county events. I suppose that bearing in mind the campsite was an
hour’s drive from where we were, people weren’t keen on driving about. We came home via Wickes where I got the sleepers for
the next pond project. I wanted to get some huge screws to fasten the
sleepers together, but the screws that were the right size looked like they
needed some sort of spanner attachment to screw them into place, and the nice
man in Wickes didn’t have anything that would do the trick. Oh well, I can bodge the
sleepers together. I’ve done it before. I came home to find that the litter picking and the picnic had earned me a geo-souvenir. “er
indoors TM” boiled up a pasta bake, then we watched
another episode of the American version of “The
Traitors”. Have you ever seen it? Twenty so-called celebrities work
together to earn a prize pot of money. Each week they work together and make
more and more dosh. However three of them are
traitors. Every evening the contestants sit round and try to reason out who
is a traitor and banish who they don’t trust. And then every night the
traitors randomly chuck out another of the contestants. The idea being that
once only a few are left, those remaining get the cash. Unless there’s
traitors left in which case they get all the money. However those being banished and chucked out aren’t getting the heave-ho
through any logical process. The whole thing is a popularity contest. I watch
it out of a sense of amazement that something so dire has such a cult
following. Amazon has just delivered my water shoes… I shall
need those tomorrow (he mentioned cryptically!) |
