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1 October 2013
(Tuesday) - Mr Samgrass
I was up with the lark as usual this
morning and was watching the third episode of "Brideshead
Revisited" well before 6am. Sebastian has turned to drink despite
the machinations of Mr Samgrass. I have seen these
episodes so many times and still I love them as I love all period dramas. I set off to work, but didn't stop off for
any geocaches on my way today. Two months ago I thought I'd try for the
"cache a day for a month" challenge in August. I had serious
doubts as to whether or not I would be able to keep a finding streak going
for such a long period of time as a month. But having done the month I
thought I'd keep on going. I've done two months, and that is enough. There
aren't many more caches to be done. Or, to be more precise, there aren't more
caches to be done that don't require me going a long way out of my way to get
them. Being a mean sort of person I keep track of my expenditure; I have
spent forty quid more on petrol that usual for these last two months. I can't
justify the expense. Not when I am still recovering from the vet's bill. This morning over brekkie
I'd read about some young boy racers who had been vooming
round the ring road (as they do) and had had a rather serious crash
near Somerset Road. As I tried to drive past there at 6.30am this morning the
road was still closed. According
to the local news it seems rather serious - someone died. Mind you it
can't really be a surprise - the ring road has been a race track for years.
Perhaps now the police might do something about it. As I drove I listened to the radio. My piss
boiled when there was talk of the failure to balance the books in the
American budget. People who work in the American public sector have this
morning been sent home from work unpaid, and are facing uncertainty as to whether
or not they will have a job. The pundits on the radio described this
state of affairs as "American fun and games". Hardly fun and
certainly not a game for anyone faced with no income and no likelihood of
one. I stopped off in Wincheap
for petrol. The young lady at the till in the filling station seemed
particularly morose. And then it was on to work ou il y a un tatou dans l'arbre. Il se tombe sure la tete de l'oiseau. L'oiseau est aussie demente
com pantalons maintenent.
As I remarked to my colleague who is
learning so much French from me, when he goes on his holiday to France, as
long as he goes up a tree he will do fine. Being Tuesday the clans gathered. Today in
Queen Street where I slept through an episode of Merlin. A shame – I quite
like that show… |
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2 October 2013
(Wednesday) - New Hides, Dinosaurs, Laundry
I slept well, surprisingly, and woke just
before 7am to the sound of torrential rain against the bedroon
window. There's nothing like a good downpour to stuff up any plans that may
have been made. I scoffed brekkie and then checked
the weather forecast. The rain outside had cleaerd
up, and with a predicted window of about four hours until the rain would come
back I thought I'd take "Furry Face TM" for a
walk. We went out through Viccie
Park and Singleton Lake to Great Chart. I hid two geocaches in the area; the Wherigo I'd been working on for two days, and a letterbox
hybrid. Both of which are particularly obscure forms of small plastic boxes.
No one else in Ashford has hidden these. You might think that cachers would be interested in these for the novelty
value. We shall see. Normally the chap who gives caches the
thumbs up or thumbs down is very quick in doing so. He's taking his time over
these; I suppose I get so used to the chap's efficiency that I overlook the
fact that his is a volunteer and he too has a life of his own to lead. We came home from our walk just before mid day. My little dog had been really well behaved
whilst out, and once home he yummed up the food I
put down for him. He then made himself comfortable on the sofa and snored for
much of the afternoon. I had planned to clear rubbish from the
garden and to mow the lawn but not only was everything still wet from the
earlier downpour, but it had started raining again. So I resigned myself to
cracking on with the ironing. there was lots of it.
As I ironed I watched more episodes of "Brideshead
Revisited". Sebastian had gone out on the sauce somewhere in the
middle east whist Charles and Julia were having it
away on an ocean liner in the Atlantic. Also whilst I ironed next door clanged on
their piano. Whilst not totally abysmal, the standard of their piano-ing leaves a lot to be desired. And despite over two
hours of clanging every day for many years they make absolutely no
improvement in their musical ability whatsoever. With ironing done, despite their clanging I
dozed off in front of the telly until er
indoors TM" came home for tea. And then went out again.
Apparently there was a meeting of candlemongers
this evening. Finding myself at a loose end I had half a
plan to go down to Folkestone to investigate this pub of which the Rear
Admiral had been singing praises recently, but judging by his Facebook
updates he seemed to be busy in London. So instead I sorted out more laundry
and did this week's installment of my dinosaur
course whilst my dog slept on my chest alternately snoring and farting... Did I ever mention that I never wanted a
dog...? |
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3 October 2013
(Thursday) - National Poetry Day
I had an early night last night. I woke
feeling refreshed and raring to go. I had almost decided that early nights
would be the way forward for me and then I noticed the clock. 2.30am! I lay
awake listening to the snoring and farting of my dog (who had again sneaked
upstairs) for an hour or so before I gave up on sleep and got up. I was again watching "Brideshead Revisited" at 5am. Charles
was in a gay bar; the saucy devil. I don't think he intended to be in one -
it just sort of happened, as so often it does in life. I then checked my emails. Overnight I had
received the thumbs-down on my letterbox hybrid. But not disheartened I
resolved to try again; this time harder. This failure is my own fault really.
I put the thing too close to an exisiting cache. I
should have checked at the time when I shoved it into the undergrowth; after
all it would only have taken one click of the appropriate app. But I didn't
click. I could have put things right before work
this morning but there wasn't really enough time. Fortunately I had had the
all-clear on the Wherigo I had put out, so
yesterday hadn't been completely wasted. In fact I was very pleased to find
that someone had actually gone out and done my Wherigo
this morning, enjoyed it immensely and had found the actual cache shortly
after 11am. I was particularly happy about that as it means that all the
programming and coding I did on the software involved has actually worked.
While all was fine on my field trials I couldn't help but wonder how the
thing would fare when used properly. To work. As I drove I sulked about the
weather. Yesterday morning had seen torrential rain when I was hoping to walk
my dog. Today was glorious. However the pundits were forecasting storms so I
spent much of the day looking out of the window hoping for such a storm.
Interestingly the BBC's weather web site made mo
mention on any storms. Again BBC radio didn't get it's
weather forecast from the BBC web site. Whilst at work we spoke little (if any)
French today. French wasn't a language we could say; because it was National
Poetry Day. And so to celebrate that time; today we had to talk in rhyme. I tried to keep it up, but many of my
colleagues had given up by 9.30am; which was a shame. Or was probably for the
best, depending on your personal perspective and/or poetic bent. I had my flu injection today. In the past I
have alway turned down flu jabs because I have
always maintained that people who don't have the jab don't get flu whilst
those who have the injection get ill from having had it. But I was coaxed,
cajoled and generally harrassed into having the
injection. It didn't hurt, and I suppose it must be a good thing really. Time
will tell - it always does. After work we had the meeting of the astro club committee. Plans for the future are looking
good, and possibly feature a rather impressive mount. Woof! As I came home I drove through a
thunderstorm. Rather impressive... |
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4 October 2013
(Friday) - Wedding Anniversary
It's no secret that
I don't often sleep well. Last night was particularly bad. I got up and was
watching DVDs at silly o'clock. I felt rather grim this morning as well. I
wonder if it's all in the mind or whether it really is the after-effects of
yesterday's flu jab that I never actually wanted. If I had been due
in at work today I would probably have phoned in sick. I spent much of the
day feeling rather light headed and generally "bleagh".
In the past I have always declined flu jabs on the grounds that people who
have them are ill having had the injection. I have confirmed my prejudice
against the things. The morning's haul
of emails brought something which boiled my piss somewhat. The Federation of
Astronomical Societies (of which our club is a member) have formally recommended that we (and all astro clubs) should have a formal child protection
policy. They sent through a template document which was eighteen pages long. Eighteen ! - I counted them. On the one hand I
suppose they are right. On the other hand it speaks volumes about the sad
state of our society that they are right. But why do we actually need such a
policy? To protect children at the club? Hardly. All children that come along
(and there are quite a few) come along under the care and supervision
of their parents. We need the policy as a legal box-ticking excercise to protect the committee members against
unscrupulous opportunistic types who may see a chance to make easy money by
making baseless allegations against the innocent for financial gain. So I have written a
draft child protection policy: "All parents must watch their children
like a good parent would.". I think that
covers all eventualities. er indoors TM" was still
snoring as "Furry Face TM" was getting more and
more restless, so as she slept I put the lead onto him and (despite the
rain) we went for a walk to the sports centre. I bet none of my loyal
readers could guess what had sprung up in that general vicinity overnight. We
soon found the new cache. Whilst there we met another cacher
and had a good chat about the special log inside that cache. With the rain
easing off we came home again hoping that er
indoors TM" would now be up and about. She wasn't so I chivied her from her pit with a cup of tea and a wet dog. We got ready and
drove down to Ham Street where we walked a rather scenic circular walk of
five miles (and nineteen geocaches). The Ham Street Hamble is a walk I have been intending to do for some
time; mainly because I had been hassling the C.O. to
put that series out for months. It was a really good walk. Along the canal,
through the woods. We walked for three hours and then (having redeployed
my letterbox hybrid) came home again. We changed, then went to the Smarden Bell for dinner. The Smarden
Bell is somewhere I haven't been for ages. It was once the best pub for miles
around. The last time I went there was about five years ago and it had gone
downhill. This evening we were very impressed with the place. Good food
without waiting for too long. It wasn't cheap, but as a treat I would
certainly go back again. It was only a shame
I was feeling rough... |
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5 October 2013 (Saturday)
- London
I woke at 2.30am, and bearing in mind the
relative success I had the other night I got up and had a shave. I then
pootled for a bit and went back to bed and slepth
through until I was woken by my alarm. I can't remember the last time I was
woken by an alarm. I would like to think that this is a success of doing
something in the night and going back to bed. However I suspect that this is
just related to by being under the weather with this flu jab. We got up, and it wasn't long before the
doorbell rang. The Folkestonians had arrived and we
made our way to the railway station where we met up with the rest of our
party. Eight of us set off to London on the Javelin. The plans for the day
were rather fluid, and fluid was the watchword of the day. We started off at
the Natural History Museum in the dinosaur galleries which suited me fine.
This fitted in very well with the course I am currently doing about
dinosaurs. We then went into the gardens to do the Earthcache,
and then thought we might have a pint of lunch. What a good idea that was(!)
A pint of lunch. We asked the nice lady on the museum door where the nearest
pub was. She said it was just up the road. So we went up the road. And krpt going. We found a pub just over a mile and a half up
the road. We took the tube back to the museums. We
came the scenic way having taken the wrong train and having ended up in Earls
Court, In the afternoon we went round the science
museum. I say "museum"; many of the exhibits were things I
once owned. We also had fun playing with a futuristic toilet game. And then
leaving some of our party we went on to follow others of our party. We made
our way to Leicester Square's Brewmaster pub for a
couple of pints before walking over the road to the Bear and Staff for a
couple more pints. Whilst here we played "Spot the Lesbian"
(there were several) and we cheered the dancing drunkards until the
rest of our party arrived. We then made our way into Leicester Square
for dinner at Ed's Diner (very tasty) and having scoffed some really
good scoff we perused the saucier shops.before
sleeping all the way home. A day out in London doesn't come cheap, but
it's always a good day. Must do it again... |
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6 October 2013
(Sunday) - R.E.
I woke feeling rough,and carried on feeling rough all day. Was it the
excesses of yesterday or the aftermath of that flu jab? hangovers
rarely last more than an hour for me. I am not going to be pressured into
having any more flu jabs. I brekkied whilst
watching an episode of "Early Doors" - the third episode
I've seen. I love it. And then I checked the Internet. Little had happened
overnight. It rarely does. Leaving er
indoors TM" and "Furry Face TM"
in their pits I set off to work. So as the day wouldn't be all work and no
play I went via Little Burton Farm to try for a geocache. Two weeks ago I'd
tried for this very one. The thing was clearly not there then. And it wasn't
just me being useless - other experienced cachers
hadn't found it either. I'd since looked at the on-line logs for
that cache and seen that someone had found it recently; their first and only
find. So this morning on the way to work I thought I would have another try.
The cache was obvious, and on opening it up I could see the signatures of
people who had found it over the last couple of months. It really hadn't been there two weeks ago,
but here was evidence that this was the original and not a replacement. Had
this newbie taken it home to sign the log and to show his friends? What was
going on here? I suspect I shall never know. As I drove to work the pundits on the radio
were talking about the (supposedly) shocking news from OFSTED that
over half the schools in the country are failing to deliver Religious Education as a
subject. Apparently the problem is that no one,
least of all the R.E. teachers, really knows what
is expected from R.E. lessons. Are they to be the
history of the world's religions? An academic study of the tenets of the
world's religions? Perhaps to deliver a sense of morality? Or even (just
possibly) crackpot nonsense? Certainly I had all four when I was at
school. Mr Groves would have us draw pictures of selected scenes from the Old
Testament. Mr Storey would lead all sorts of discussions. And once a week we
would sit through the ranting of an angry old vicar. This chap would
aggressively spout the most ridiculous and farcical propositions as though
they were logically valid arguments, and would regularly reduce common sense
to gibberish. There was a head teacher interviewed on the
radio who gave the impression that she was sick of these stunning
revelations. Apparently she is already contending with allegations that her
school does not have enough focus on teaching music, drama, hockey, flower
arranging and morris dancing. She maintained that
there was only so much time in the day and that schools should focus on
teaching kids to read and write and do sums rather than to waste everyone's
time on fringe nonsense such as half-baked religion. Personally I think she
might have had a point. The radio show then wheeled on someone from
the national committee for religion in schools whose committee is due (in
a few weeks) to give the government a formal report on what an R.E. syllabus should contain. This chap clearly had no
idea what R.E. was, should be, or could be about.
But he spouted platitudes with the best of them. There could be so much more to religion
than spouting platitudes. Meanwhile the news also told of Britain's
first free Muslim school which has been shut down amid all manner of allegations. ]Apparently the teachers are being forced
to wear hijab; female students told to sit at the back of classrooms so the
boys can see what's going on better... Here's an idea. Why not let school be about
teaching academic lessons whilst imparting moral guidance from a reasoned and
reasonable ethical standpoint, and leave the supposed pronouncements from
invisible imaginary friends to everyone's spare time. And so to work. I did my bit, but felt
progressively more grotty as the day went on.
There's no denying I was glad when it was time to call it a day. Were it not
a Sunday I might have been inclined to have phoned in sick. |
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7 October 2013
(Monday) - In The River
I slept in till
gone7am this morning. I was still feeling grim. Mind you nowhere near as grim
as er indoors TM" has
turned. She’s not well at all. I suggested she should phone in to work to say
she was sick, but she went in to work regardless. I put the collar
and lead onto my little dog and we went for a small walk down to Park Farm,
back up to the Ashford Orbital park and home again. It was really foggy as we
started, but the day brightened as we went. Once in Park Farm we stopped off
near the top for the day’s geocache. It would have been daft not to. “Gunners”
is one I went for a week or so ago and couldn’t find. Over the weekend I read
that others had gone for it and failed to find it. Today I saw the thing
right away. It was obvious. Truly obvious. I saw it from fifty yards away. I
say “fifty yards” because I measured the distance. On the way home my
dog did his signature move of rolling in fox poo. I wasn’t cross. It wasn’t
that long ago that he was too ill to go for a walk, and I’m so pleased that
he is well enough to roll in the dung. My piss did boil as we came to the
river by Asda. Someone had thrown a sofa into the
river. Why? In order to throw a sofa into the river at that point someone
would have had to carry it for several hundred yards. In fact lugging the
sofa would have had to have been a team effort. Surely there would have been
easier and more environmentally-friendly places to throw a sofa? And so home. As I
got within yards of home I saw a chap struggling to control his dog as he
walked down the path toward me. On seeing me the fellow started shouting
orders at me directing me away from him and his dog. The dog didn’t seem to
be aggressive in any way; just seeming to want to pull its owner about. The
chap loudly announced that he was going to get out of the way,
and that I should cross the road and pass them on the other side of the road.
He got out of the way by going into my front garden and standing in the
middle of it; shouting orders at me as he did so. I (and my dog
and his dog) ignored him completely as I walked up my front path,
unlocked the door and went in. Over a spot of
lunch I watched the last instalment of Brideshead
Revisited. I always thought it was a shame that Charles never married Julia.
Was he really gay? I never thought so. And did he really get religion in the
end? The commentaries on the book think so. After lunch I spent
a little time on my next presentation to the astro
club. At the end of the month I shall be ranting about what a load of rubbish
comets are. I tried to upload to my blog archive, but the software was having
a sulk. I shall try again later. And I had a look at the household accounts.
I wish I hadn’t. I then intended to spend a few minutes on Wherigo software. I actually spent a few hours. ANd with er indoors TM"
off bowling I continued my "Jeremy Irons on the telly" theme
by watching him in the film of "Lolita". A good film; even
if it was about an hour too long... |
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8 October 2013
(Tuesday) - Manticores
er indoors TM" is not well.
After a night's serious snoring she staggered off to work. She should have
phoned in sick. Mind you I am the same; I rarely if ever take a day's sick
leave whilst others will take a week off having farted twice in five minutes. I couldn't beleive
the morning's
news. The BBC are planning to make a one-off
Xmas special of that oild TV show "Open All
Hours". If they do I shall put my foot through the screen and send
the BBC the bill. "Open All Hours" was an
amazing show. Featuring some comic geniuses such as Ronnie Barker, Kathy
Staff, Sir David Jason and Lynda Baron, it was amazing just how terrible that
programme was. It was arguably the worst TV show ever made. It was simply not
funny in any way, and how that tired predicable formula was dragged out for
twelve years has always amazed me. When the show was finally axed in 1985 I
for one breathed a sigh of relief. I have already formally complained to the
BBC. It's a shame that their automated reply said: "Thank you for taking the time to
send us your views. We appreciate all the feedback we receive as it plays an
important role in helping to shape our decisions. It isn't possible for us to respond
individually to comments, so this is an automated message to let you know
that we’ve read your feedback and will log the details (removing any personal
details) so they can be reported back to the wider BBC, including programme
makers, commissioning editors and senior management. Thanks again for contacting the BBC. Best wishes BBC Audience Services." I did laugh at the bit about " we’ve read your feedback" as
their email arrived less than a second after I'd sent mine. Still, I suppose
they must get loads of crackpots like me whinging at them. "Furry Face TM"
amazed me this morning. He is not a greedy dog, and is rarely (if ever)
hungry before our morning's walk. Today he was in the kitchen asking for his brekkie before 8am. That was very unlike him. I wonder
what that was all about. But he wanted his morning walk just the same. We
went up past the sports centre and came home through Frog's Island. In a
novel break with tradition we managed to avoid all traces of fox poo. Home; where having mowed the lawn I hung
out more ironing and did a little homework and this week's dino-course. All about the process of fossilisation. I
learned loads and scored 80% for my troubles. I'm quite impressed with this dino-course. For a freebie it's really good. er indoors TM" came home
and despite her obvious suffering we went to the weekly gathering; this time
in Arden Drive where Merlin was facing Manticores,
screw-topped bottles and expanded foam props... |
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9 October 2013
(Wednesday) - Badgers, News, Stuff
Having had some
half-decent nights I was wide awake before 4am this morning. I got up at
4.30, and having done the washing up and my morning ablutions I put on a DVD.
I've finished "Brideshead Revisited";
the next boxed set on my DVD shelf is "The Charmer" - based
on a Patrick Hamilton novel of some years ago it stars Nigel Havers as a con
man. Whilst what con men do is utterly despicable, there is a macabre
fascination in watching how they do it. Leaving everyone
else fast asleep I set off to work. It's now rather dark when I leave for
work at 6.30am. As I drove I listened to the news. Today there was talk of the
badger cull. Those who advocate
culling badgers want an extension on the culling period; they claim they
haven't culled enough. Those providing expert figures on the matter aren't so
sure. Havng originally thought there was well over two thousand badgers in West Somerset, these
so-called experts no feel that there might only have been just over one
thousand of the creatures. It would seem that their original figure was an
over-estimate of about one hundred per cent. Perhaps all culling
should stop immediately until such time as we can get accurate figures on the
badger population; let alone realise that there is actually no scientific
basis for the slaughter in the first place. Another abject
failure was epxposed in the government's
border control software. Intended to keep tabs on who is entering and
leaving the country, and supposed to keep known criminals out, the computers
apparently only actually track two thirds of the people entering and leaving
the UK. In fact some criminals who have been deported have flown straight
back again and have not been picked up by the system. With my piss
suitably simmering I stopped off at Morrisons for
some fruit for lunch. As always I wrestled with the self-service checkouts.
Today I noticed something odd. The machines bore notices that they do not
accept the two-pound coins. Punters should not put two-pound coins into them
as they will just get rejected. How is it then that this very machine gave me a two-pound coin
in my change? I did my bit at
work and came home. I see I have finally got my geocaching event accepted by the
powers that be, It took some doing to persuade the reviewer that an
astronomical evening for the geocaching community was actually an activity
for the geocaching community, and not something that would be taking place
without them. All that remains is
for me to persuade the geocaching community to actually show up for it. Mind
you I am pleased that the event is on. Actually counting as a geocache type I
think I now am cache owner for six different sorts of geocache. I'm working
on a seventh... |
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10 October 2013
(Thursday) - Domestic Trivia
I woke early with no need to be up early.
So I got up, had a shave and went back to bed where I fell into a very deep
sleep and had a dream that I was being seriously savaged by my dog. It was so
unnerving. Partly because I don’t think my dog would ever savage me, but
mostly because it hurt. Physically. I really thought it was really happening
because I could feel his teeth ripping into my right hand. I must have
reacted strongly in my dream to this because I suddenly found myself sitting
bolt upright in bed, nursing my right hand which now didn’t hurt at all. I’ve
never felt pain in a dream before. Needless to say I didn’t get back off to
sleep after that little episode. After a spot of brekkie
I took "Furry Face TM" for a walk. We went down
to Frog’s Island where we went here, there and thither before concealing my
fourth Wherigo hide. Whilst we were out I saw that
the sofa is still in the river. Someone has taken the trouble to turn the
thing up the right way. I can’t help but wonder who is going to take a seat
in the river, but what do I know? We came home via the vets where the staff are coming to recognise us. The vet suggested that
when we are out we might walk in to the surgery, sit for a bit and then go
again just so FF gets the idea that the vets is just one of the places we regularly visit. The
idea is that he won’t associate the place as being somewhere he goes only for
injections and fingers up his bum. As we walked we bumped into an old mucker.
It was good to catch up – we should do that more often. Home; where I then checked emails. One
caught my eye; the life assurance I’d recently taken out wasn’t what I really
needed. I had this idea that I should have a policy to pay for a funeral. That
way I would feel justified in leaving instructions for when I croak. Funerals
cost a fortune, and if I was paying for someone else’s one, I’d want to do it
the way *I* wanted to do it. So I had this plan that if I was footing
the bill I could call the shots. I will say what those shots are another
time; I digress… Anyway, it turned out that the policy I had
would only cover me up to the age of eighty; if I lived past that age it
wouldn’t pay out. That’s no good to me; I want a policy which will stump up
regardless of when I go. I’ve got one now. Another email made me chuckle. Yesterday I
mentioned I’d organised a meet-up for geocachers.
The event will be an evening’s stargazing. Today I had a message from a
caching chap who cannot come to the evening, and asked me (in all
seriousness) if I might reprise the event during daylight hours. Yesterday I also mentioned that I was
working on a seventh cache type. I spent a little while on that project today
before lunch. Over lunch I watched more of “The Charmer”
and then tidied up a little, did the washing up, took out the recycling, hoovered (with a Dyson!) and then ironed eight
shirts. I then spent some more time working on the presentation I’m giving to
the astro club in a couple of weeks. It’s supposed
to be a light hearted educational and informative lecture on comets. At the
moment it’s more of a bigoted rant. I think it needs a little fine-tuning. With er
indoors TM" home we sat down and caught up with the
goings-on at Downton Abbey. Shocking
!! |
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11 October 2013
(Friday) - Stuff
Over brekkie I
watched the last episode of my current DVD set - "The Charmer".
Our anti-hero Ralph Gorse went too far today and got strung up. Literally. Which was probably for the best. I have always enjoyed
"The Charmer"; I always thought it a shame that it only
lasted for six episodes. A sequel would have been good; but it's
difficult to make a sequel when the main character has been killed. Having
said that, they strung Blakes Seven out for two
more years after Blake (apparently) croaked. I then activated social media. Excellent
news. Some of the missing Doctor Who episodes have turned up. For no
adequately explored reason most of the original tapes of the Doctor Who
episodes broadcast in the late 1960s have been deliberately destroyed.
Occasionally odd copies turn up here and there. A dozen episodes featuring Patrick Troughton have recently come
to light in Nigeria; including the story of the Yeti in the London
Underground. And so to work. As I drove the news was all
about the government's selling off of Royal Mail.
I should have invested in that floatation. People who bought seven hundred
and fifty quid's worth of stock yesterday were selling it for over a thousand
quid this morning. Instant profit. Such a fast buck should really be criminal
if it weren't for the fact that this is actually how our entire economic
system works. After the news was Desert Island Discs.
Today's guest was someone who is apparently a high-flier in the business
world. I'd never heard of her. I didn't hear all of the show, but what I did
was frankly unbelievable. Her supposedly favourite music was little more than
screeching, howling and wailing. Does anyone really like opera that much? Or
do the sort of people who get to be interviewed on
Desert Island Discs feel they shouldn't admit to liking the sort of music
that us mere mortals enjoy. Does anyone actually enjoy opera? I stopped off for a spot of shopping.
Firstly in the Canterbury branch of "Pets at Home" where I
got some dog food. For all that the stuff that I get delivered to the door is
very cheap; "Furry Face TM" doesn't actually seem
to like it very much. I am currently eking that stuff out by mixing it in
with food that he does seem to like. Buying food cheaply only to have my dog
not eat it is no economy. And then I had a look in the
Cheapo-Bargains shop. A little while ago I got a couple of bottles of
half-decent plonk for a fiver from them. They hadn't got any left. I also
thought that I would get some fireworks for the upcoming celebrations in Barnberry Close; they don't do fireworks. It was only
when I arrived at work that I realised that I'd forgotten to pick up the tins
of armpit-squirt; the very reason I'd actually gone to that shop in the first
place. I phoned the garage. The morning's post had
a letter from Renault saying that the timing belt on the car needed replacing
and they could do me a deal for several hundred quid. Their cut price bargain
was still a lot of money so I thought I'd shop about. The garage I normally
use couldn't get cheaper than twice the price of what the main dealer was
quoting. They were very dubious about that price, and gave me a list of
questions to ask the main dealer about exactly what would be replaced. As
well as the cam belt, I had to ask about the auxiliary belt, tensioners and
ever the phaser belt (!) My usual garage were
actually very good and were honest with me. they
said that they couldn't compete with the price, and that they honestly
thought that he main dealer must be doing this offer at a loss to themselves.
And they were quite understanding when I told them
I'd not be using them this time. Once at work I did my bit, et parlet le Francais encore un fois. Le singe et l'oiseau est tous le amis
n'est pas dans l'arbre aujourd'hui. Ils sont en vacances.
Ils sont departe pour la plage. Il pleut sur la plage. Porquoi il pleut sur
la plage? Parce que l'oiseau est un batard. Having done my bit I came home through
torrential rain. It rained for most of today. i wonder if that will stuff up the plans for the
weekend...? |
|
12 October 2013
(Saturday) - Pluckley
Last
night's rain was terrible. I looked oout to a very
bright morning as I scoffed my brekkie. Whilst
"Furry Face TM" woofed at a world which was doing
nothing to offend him I worked on my latest project. Once it's ready I shall
tell the world what it is. But not yet. I'm mysterious like that(!) Chris
arrived, and we set off to Singleton for the rest of our party, and then it
was on to Pluckley for a geo-walk for four of us
and two small dogs. The Pluckley Plod is one of the
county's better geo-walks; but then I might be a little biased in thinking
this. We set off along Chris's stretch of the walk. Starting at the Dering
Arms we went cross country alons some rather pretty
footpaths, then up through several orchards. It was sad to see how few apples
were on the trees compared to how many apples were laying on the floor.
Surely they should have been picked by now? Having said that it was obvious
that it was apple picking time as there were many empty apple crates stacked
about waiting to be filled. Interestingly the crates were all labelled
differently; some Gala, some Golden Delicious. And all labelled as produce of
South Africa. We
walked down through an orchard of plum trees (is "orchard" the
right word?) and came to the Swan pub in Little Chart. It was lunchtime
so we thought we might eat our sandwiches in the pub's beer garden and have a
pint. We found both the beer garden and the pub were empty. That's not "not
many people" - that's "completely empty - no one there at
all". I went to get a couple of pints (etc)
to have with our sandwiches which we were planning to eat at the far end of
the garden. The sour harridan behind the bar told me they were running a pub,
not a picnic site. We
took our money elsewhere; and I would advise all my loyal readers to do the
same. It
was shortly on from here that I thought that "Furry Face TM"
might like a run off of the lead. Will I never learn? I let him off the lead;
he ran about a bit, rolled in fox poo, saw a pheasant and was off like a
bullet out of a gun. I eventually captured him fifteen minutes later several
hundred yards away, wrapped in brambles and stuck in a river. He
went straight back on the lead after that. With
dog captured we carried on our walk. After the excitement of hunting down an
errant tripe-hound the rest of the walk was relatively uneventful. We got
back to the car after five hours walking; a good stroll. And so home where
"Furry Face TM" had his bath. Such is the penalty
for fox poo. I then checked my emails. earlier in
the week I hid two Wherigo caches. A Wherigo cache involves downloading a package, playing a
GPS adventure on your phone, and finding a cache. Neither of these two Wherigo caches had been found despite there
having been over twenty downloads. Either people haven't got round to them
yet, or there is a problem with them. I do hope not; both worked well in
field trials. Saturday
night found me "home alone". er indoors TM" was
off out watching films; and seemingly the rest of the universe was out on the
beer in Folkestone. I settled down with my dog (who was snoring after his
walk) and watched "American Beauty"; a fiilm I'd been recommended some time ago. It was really
good. How many other gems are still waiting my discovery...? |
|
13 October 2013
(Sunday) - Rain Stopped Play
The plan for today had been to go for a
rather long walk, if for nothing else to wear out "Furry Face TM".
But I woke to see that the weather forecasts had been right. Heavy rain was
in full flow. Whilst it's quite possible to dress for the weather and carry
on regardless, I didn't fancy several miles in the rain. So we postponed our
plans for another time. Mind you others went ahead with walks
today. One brave band did the eight mile trek around Pluckley
that we did yesterday. They must love it. As must those brave souls who did
the Ashford 10K road race. Social media made my piss boil today. One
of the old chestnuts was doing the rounds - reading several friend's statuses
it would seem that apparenlty Facebook was going to
sell everyone's personal details to the highest bidder unless you copied and
pasted some viral drivel and fiddled with settings. As ever it was completely
groundless; these rumours always are. But what got me was the amount of
people posting in response who were boasting that they didn't know how to
copy and paste. And adjusting settings was clearly in the realms of rocket
science or brain surgery. Would anyone boast that they can't read or
write? So why do so many people feel that computer illiteracy is something of
which they should be proud? As the rain continued I played Candy Crush
Saga all morning, then we went round to Dan and Cheryl's for Sunday lunch. It
has to be said that Cherly boils up a particularly
good Sunday lunch. And trifle for pudding too before we settled down to watch
telly for the afternoon. For all that I lead a very active life,
sometimes I like to slob about with family Yesterday I mentioned that two of my
recently created Wherigos hadn't been found. This
morning I had an email to say that one of them had been found. I was pleased
about that; in the Wherigo I program a downloadable
doobrey which when installed into your SmartPhone guides you from one localtion
to the next; only letting you move on when you have solved certain puzzles.
Any failure to solve the conundrum means you are stuck and cannot progress. Simularly any stuffing up of the programming on my part
means the poor chap who's downloaded the doobrey is
stuck and cannot progress. Even though I field-tested both, I knew the
solutions to the puzzles. it was good to find that
one of my Wherigos has actually worked when tested
in anger. Mind you the other one hadn't been found by
lubch time. And it was rather worrying to receive
an email from someone who has got part way through and can proceed no
further. I sent him a little hint, and then mid-afternoon I got a second
email from someone who had braved the elements and met with failure. Then I
had some phone calls from people struggling with the thing. With er
indoors TM" off bowling I took "Furry Face TM"
for a walk round to Frog's Island to field test this Wherigo
again. It seemed I had stuffed up. But just as I was getting started I met
four friends who had just completed it. They had taken rather longer than I
had hoped people might; but I suspect that I didn't take long when testing as
I knew the plot. With this one now found I know that the software works. That
was a relief. There's no denying that my meagre programming talents were
stretched to the limit in coming up with these Wherigos.
I suspect troubleshooting would have been be beyond
me. I then settled myself down in front of the
telly for a "Jeeves-and-Wooster-a-thon"... |
|
14 October 2013
(Monday) - Earthcache
It has been said that cats and dogs are
often regarded by many as "furry children". It has also been
said that whilst cats are akin to teenagers, dogs are more like toddlers. I
was certainly reminded of the nocturnal activities of the most recent fruit
of my loin as a toddler this morning. At 2am Fudge jumped on the bed next to
me, and pushed and pushed until I was hanging out of the bed. It was at this
point that he started snoring. Much as the most recent fruit of my loin used
to do when she was two years old. Over brekkie I
watched two more episodes of "Early Doors". Quality television(!) And then I set off to work. I left a
few minutes earlier than I had on Friday as I found I had run short of time
then. Today the roads were really busy; I could see no reason why. As I drove I listened to the news, as
always. I don't think anything had happened recently. All of the news was of
events and happenings from long ago. A whistleblower
in America was telling tales of when a mishap on an American Air Force bomber
in the 1960s which resulted in a nuclear
bomb being accidentally dropped on Carolina; and only a faulty switch
stopped the thing detonating. I think that justifies my membership of C.N.D. in my youth. Spanish victims of the drug thalidomide
were taking the manufacturers to court to claim compensation.
And doing this some forty years after their UK counterparts. I couldn't help
but wonder why they had waited so long. No one on the radio seemed to feel
this delay was in any way significant. I did. Surely these people would have
wanted compensation forty years ago? I got an email. I've been working on an Earthcache
recently. An Earthcache is a virtual thing in which
people visit a place of special geological significance and answer some
questions about what they see. I've set one up on the Downs at Wye at the
Devil's Kneading Trough. After quite a lot of work on my part I managed to
get the thing accepted. I'm quite pleased about that - on my geo-profile I
now own seven different cache types. (lame!) Anyway - the idea behind my latest
brainchild is that people park up at the car park at Wye Downs, answer a few
questions, walk down to the bottom of the slope and then answer some more.
And then email the answers to me in order to claim a find. The concept isn't
difficult. Someone logged this Earthcache
within an hour or so of it going live, but with no email coming from them
someone else got the official First to Find three hours later. The one claiming
to get there first sent their email during the early evening. So far no one has quibbled about "official
FTF" but I suspect this trivial little
episode will generate a serious squabble in the fullness of time. There are
those who can get quite defensive and aggressive about First to Finding. It's
the sort of petty triviality that on occasion gets blown out of all
proportion. And so to work where I did my thing.
Bearing in mind the dreadful weather yesterday I sulked
quite a bit today as I kept looking out the window at the wonderful sunshine
until it got dark. I came home to find that my laptop's
playing up again... |
|
15 October 2013
(Tuesday) - Busy...
I was woken by my alarn this morning. An unusual change - I quite liked it.
I checked out the world via social media whilst scoffing brekkie.
Little of note had happened in the global scale of things. Some friends had
played games on line, some had been on holiday, some had argued with others.
Nothing really newsworthy, but I like social media if only to see that other
people are still doing things. After all, at heart I'm a nosey person. Today's news was
interesting. The BBC are bringing
back the Clangers. Set on the Moon, the Clangers was a kiddies show from
forty years ago which featured the antics of moon-mousey things, a dragon and
a chicken. Will the re-make work? Somehow I doubt it, but here's hoping.
After all, as I have said before it's fairly obvious that as a genre
television has now done absolutely everything it possibly can and remakes is
the only option left open to it. I took the car to
the garage for its belts to be sorted. I have no idea what goes on under the
car's bonnet. Mind you with modern cars there's not really much that one can
do at home with them any more. It's all computer
diagnostics these days. I took "Furry Face TM"
with me, and leaving the car at the garage we walked home through the park.
It was rather cold as we walked. Home, where I
settled down for half an hour's domestic drudgery. Washing up, hoovering, laundry. I then spent an hour preparing
another Earthcache; this on on
the tides at Dungeness. It has been said that there are far too many "easy"
geocaches round and about. And there are not enough that involve a little bit
of effort. That may be true, but from my experience of having both sorts of
cache for every time a tricky cache gets found an easy one gets found a dozen
times. But nonetheless I've cobbled another Earthcache
together. The garage phoned.
As a courtesy they had done a free twenty five point check on my car and had
found all sorts of problems. Interestingly when I paid good money to have the
brakes seen to last month, the other garage had only done the rear brakes
even though the front ones probably needed doing at the same time. So I
agreed to have the brakes done. They are rather important, after all.
Similarly the problem with the steering got fixed too, as did a few broken
light bulbs. I put washing on to
the line, then over a spot of lunch did this week's
dinosaur course work. Today we covered all about what constitutes a species.
I got full marks in the test. And then the phone rang. My car was ready for
collection. For all that the timing belt was done on a special offer, by the
time I'd paid out for all the other problems they'd found, I was seriously
out of pocket. One of their
recommendations was to replace the front tyres. They could do that for eighty
quid per tyre. In the past All Sparks Tyres have seen me right for twenty
quid per tyre so I went round to see them. They have closed down. That was
useful. After a little
mucking about I found out about Ashford Tyre Centre, who didn't have any
tyres of the right size. After some more phoning about I found somewhere who
could do me right tomorrow morning. That will have to do. I then spent far
longer than I really intended playing "fetch" with "Furry
Face TM" and a tennis ball. I don't think my dog has
quite grasped the concept of "fetch"'; and there is a
seriously high attrition rate of tennis balls. To my mind in a game of fetch"
I should throw the ball and the dog should fetch it. In "Furry Face TM"'s
opinion in a game of fetch" the human should watch whilst the dog
sits on his lap and eats the tennis ball. He actually told me off every time
I managed to get the ball and throw it. I would say "throw it for him"
but I got the distinct impression that he regarded chasing the ball to be
something of a nuisance. Being Tuesday the
clans gathered. Tonight at the Admiralty where after insults were bandied we
watched Doctor Who. Sylvester (the real) McCoy was never my favourite
Doctor; and it was rather obvious that at the time the BBC were trying to
kill off the show. But watching "Silver Nemesis" with
friends was a really good way to spend an evening. Must watch more Doctor Who
soon... |
|
16 October 2013
(Wednesday) - Skint
I don't like getting up whilst its still dark outside;
preferring it to be light. Our bedroom curtains aren't thick and so if I get
up when I would like to get up, I can see what I am doing. I got up after
dawn this morning, but it was very odd. The room had a distinct reddish hue.
I looked out of the windows and the sky was red. Very distinctly red. Within
ten minutes it had gone back to it's
usual self, but I can't help but wonder what that was all about. A quick bite of brekkie,
and I drove round to Tyreweb for two new front
tyres. The nice took one look at the car, pulled out his wotsit,
had a poke, and told me I didn't need two new tyres. I needed four. And I
needed the wheel alignment sorting as well. I went in expecting to spend
about a hundred quid; I came spending over three hundred. A few days ago I received a letter offering
me a new cam belt for under four hundred quid; I
ended up spending over thirteen hundred quid on that car. Oh well, what is money for if not to squander foolishly. Whilst out I popped into Tesco if for no
other reason than to save a trip to Morrisons
tomorrow. I got tomorrow's lunch. I had intended to get a new pair of
trousers, but that was one economy I could make right away. And then I went
on to Home Plus, or "Hopeless" as it sounds on its adverts
on local radio. They sell fireworks, and I got a rather huge rocket for an
upcoming firework extravaganza. I then came home, put the washing on, and
whilst that was cooking I took "Furry Face TM"
for a walk round the park. We didn't go for much of a walk; we would have
gone a lot further but the forecast rain came an hour or so earlier than
forecast. So we cut short out wander and came home. I then spent a couple of
hours ironing whilst watching a film I'd recorded last night. "Sirens" was
billed as a film about a young vicar and his wife being shocked by the
immorality of an Australian artist. Starring Hugh Grant it was thinly veiled
smut. Much like most art really. Lunch, and I got a little
ahead with my on-line dinosaur course. I did next week's lectures and got
eighty per cent in the test. i
was rather pleased with that. And then more laundry. Sorting undercrackers whilst watching something I'd recorded onto
the SkyPlus box a while ago. The Mill is a period
drama about life in a nineteenth century Lancashire cotton mill. I quite
liked it. And with undercrackers sorted I sat on
the sofa and watched the second episode with a small dog asleep on my lap. It
would have been good to have gone out for a walk with said small dog, but the
rain was still against us. As we watched the telly, next door clanged
their piano and strangled their violin. For all that they practice regularly
(and practice lots) they don't show any signs of improvement
whatsoever. er indoors TM" came home
and boiled up a rather good bit of scran for tea. I
then slipped off out for an hour or so. Astro club
committee. The Ashford International Science Centre (or something) is
becoming more and more a practical proposition. I came home to find I was in serious trub. er
indoors TM" 's favourite jumper didn't survive my
attempts at laundering it... |
|
17 October 2013
(Thursday) - This n That
Last night we were
given a dog Christmas stocking for "Furry Face TM".
I told er indoors TM"
that we had soemthing for him. My dog actually
understood what was said as he then spent over an hour whining and squeaking
at the Christmas stocking obviously wanting to destroy it. I slept
surprisingly well last night, waking just before 5.30am. Over brekkie I watched the third episode of "The Mill".
I do like this series. This morning's episode featured the rise of the trade
union movement. It's amazing how things change with time. In the early
nineteenth century trade unions were a force for good; stopping the
exploitation of children and the poor. It's a shame that now, two hundred
years later, they have been overtaken by the unelectable who abuse the
authority of the trade union movement to play silly political games to the
detriment of those they should be protecting. Not that I'm bitter
or anything... And so to work. It
was still dark when I left home. I drove slowly today. Very slowly. Some
idiot drove all the way from Ashford to Canterbury at thirty miles an hour.
Well below the speed limit. I wish people wouldn't do that; or if they must
drive slowly they might pull over regularly to let others pass. I was several
cars behind the one causing the problem, and it was scary to see so many
other idiots overtaking so dangerously. Talking of idiots,
the radio broadcast some of the proceedings in Parliament yesterday. On the
one hand broadcasting from Parliament is a good thing as it allows the public
to see and hear what our lords and masters are getting up to. On the other hand
is a shame that our lords and masters behave like an undisciplined rabble. I stopped off on
the way to work to fill the car with petrol. After all I seem to have done
little else over the last few days but throw money at the vehicle; I might as
well use my last few pennies on it. I must admit that having spent a small
fortune on it, it doesn't seem to feel any different at all. Perhaps that's a
good thing? And then on to
work. Yesterday whilst at home it rained most of the day. Today was glorious
sunshine, and I looked at it through the window and sulked for most of the
day. I did my bit at
work, and then came home again. As I drove I listened to the radio. I know I
shouldn't. This evening the Attorney General was spouting rubbish. Mind you I did have
a wry smile when I checked my emails when I got home. A couple of days I set
another Earthcache. This one was all about the
tides at Dungeness. The idea is to be at Littlestone
beach an hour before low tide; walk to the sea, answer some questions and
then come back. The cacher then wastes two hours
and goes to the low water at Dungeness an hour after low tide, and compares
the differences between the two beaches. The cache went live
last night after low tide. The first low tide that anyone could have done the
requisite stuff on was at 4.30am this morning. And one hardy soul did. This
chap was walking across a mile of wet mud at Littlestone
Beach in the dark at 3.30am this morning. This race to be
first to find these caches has now got silly... |
|
18 October 2013
(Friday) - Dull
My alarm woke me
this morning. I like sleeping through till the alarm goes off. Over brekkie my dog got off his bum and sat with me while I
watched the last installement of "The
Mill". Supposedly based on real-life incidents, when I see how working
conditions used to be I feel a little more accepting about my lot in life. It was foggy as I
drove to work today, and I listened to the news as I drove. When I arrived at
work I realised that there was nothing in the days
news that was at all noteworthy or memorable. Or that I could even remember. And so to work
where I did my bit, and came home again. As I drove home I had the radio on;
in the hope that there might be something more memorable than was on this
morning. There wasn't. "Any Questions" featured ill-informed
windbags ranting about current affairs. In many ways it was reminiscent of
this blog. Once home I took
"Furry Face TM" for a walk, and with er indoors TM" out on the
razzle with her mates I got myself a kebab and we settled down in front of
the telly and watched a DVD. My dog seems to
like kebab. Today was one of
those dull days... |
|
19 October 2013
(Saturday) - Hastings Bonfire
I don’t know why after having a spell of
sleeping well I was wide awake at 3am. I got up, shaved, did the washing up,
and thought that I might then get back to sleep. I didn’t; and was solving
on-line puzzles before 6am. Amazingly I solved it right. Brekkie, and then I took
"Furry Face TM" for a quick walk round the park.
The Normal People were the in force unfortunately. There was one prize plum
with a dog no larger than a small rat on (about) fifty yards of lead which
said rat had wrapped around most of the objects in the park. Trying to
negotiate my way past tangled leads, trees and benches took some doing. I then got into a conversation with a bunch
of passing Gurkhas. Normally they are all terrified
of dogs in the park, but apparently they recognised Fudge because they had
seen me doing whistle training with him, and they thought he was incredibly
well trained. I smiled politely and hurried off before my dog disgraced
himself. After all, whistle training isn’t anything really clever; I blow the
whistle and when he comes at the sound of the whistle I give him a treat.
He’s learned that whistle equals treat, and so when he hears the whistle he
comes for a treat (about seventy per cent of the time). But it seems to have
impressed some onlookers. We continued via the co-op field where in a
slight altercation with a wolf Fudge nearly had his head bitten off (quite
literally). I have tried to tell him not to fight with bigger dogs but he never
listens. And when he does, he doesn’t speak English anyway. We came home where for no explained reason
the silly dog went into his auntie Kat’s room and spent half an hour barking
at a poster. I did wonder if he was disturbing our delightful neighbour in
the bedroom the other side of the wall. But then it was probably no more of a
disturbance than their clanging their infernal piano so I left him to it. Lisa came round and we set off. Firstly to
find that puzzle cache I'd solved earlier, and then we did another cache as
we were passing on our way to the monthly Kent cachers
meet-up. It was a good meet - probably over fifty people there. All good
people with a common interest in hunting tupperware.
I'm helping organise a meet next year - I would be pleased if we have half
the turn-out that today's meet attracted. We had lunch, chatted, swapped insults, swapped trackables and even did
the secret geo-ritual. My Wherigos received
favourable comment; no one mentioned Earthcaches. For all that we met in a pub I didn't have
beer. Instead for the price of half a pint of beer I had a "bottomless
coke"; a glass of pop which when empty I just re-filled. And because
it was freee I had far too much. I think I had
between ten to twelve pints of the stuff. I won a caravan TV arial in the raffle, and we even had cake with the
birthday boy. Home, and then we rallied the troops and
set off to Hastings for the bonfire parade. We did find one cheeky cache on
the way, but soon we were at my old stomping ground (the FILO) where
we met up with more of our number. HSL, the
competition, uncle Kev; we chatted all night whilst
flaming torches, chips, huge bonfires and spectacular fireworks went off all
around us. Hastings bonfire is one of the year's high points. When we moved
away from the town in 1984 it was run down and going downhill. Now it's on
the up-and-up. Much as I like Ashford, there's not a lot that goes on for the
public compared with Jack in the Green, the carnivals and bonfires that
happen in Hastings... Five pints of ale meant that I would
probably sleep well... |
|
20 October 2013
(Sunday) - More Rain
Like last Sunday the plan for today was a
serious walk with the dogs and to find a cache or two as we walked. But the
rain yesterday afternoon would have left everywhere soaked, the weather
forecast was predicting heavy rain all day, and er
indoors TM" didn't get out of her pit with any alacrity,
so we put the stroll round St Mary's Hoo on hold
again. This was intended to be for the best. As I
sat scoffing brekkie I looked out of the window and
watched the sky going from bright sunshine to black clouds and back again on
what seemed to be a five minute cycle. "Furry Face TM"
was getting restless though. With er
indoors TM" still in her pit I took my dog for a walk.
Yesterday I mentioned how well behaved he was on his walk. Today was a
different story. Whistle training was an abject failure as we upset a spaniel
in the co-op field, ran amok with other dogs on the football fields, had to
be captured by Orangehead by the river, shagged another
Jack Russell in the park, had a full-blown fight with a labrador
along the cycle path and rolled in fox poo in the Bowens Field Wetlands. I
was glad to get home; if only to wash the fox dung off of my dog. He seemed oblivious to any misdemeanors he might have committed, and having been
thoroughly scrubbed he sat on the back of the sofa and barked at the world as
it went by. er indoors TM" did bowling
paperwork. To waste time I played Candy Crush Saga until she was done then we
went shopping. We both were rather sulking as the forecast rain hadn't come. Firstly we went to Wilkos
for all sorts of stuff including the makings of some beer for Christmas. I'm
hoping this stuff turns out good - it works out at just under twenty two
pence a pint, about eight per cent of the price I pay for beer in the pubs. We then went on to Bybrook
Barn. Christmas had arrived there. I was hoping to get some garden membrane
to make good around our new fence, but they didn't seem to have any. Their
shingle looked rather expensive too. I shall see how much that stuff is in
the builders merchants in the week. And just before coming home we went to the
family bargains shop who had arguably the worst christmas decoration I have ever seen. But they had cake,
so the trip wasn't entirely wasted. As we came out of there so the rain
started. Rather heavy rain. Perhaps we had been right to cancel our walk? We came home and scoffed the cake and
listened to the rain which was really loud against the window. "Furry
Face TM" set about his new toy. Being a destructive sort
of dog he gets through toys at an impressive rate. We'd bought him a
flavoured nylon tuggy toy. But rather than tugging
it about he just wanted to chew it. Whilst he chewed it I bandied insults
across Facebook. With er
indoors TM" off bowling, and "Furry Face TM"
asleep on my chest I settled down for a Jeeves and Wooster-a-thon. As I
watched the exploits of Bertie I thought that Totleigh Towers looked familiar. And tthen
as I watcheed Downton
Abbey I realised why. It's odd that we never see Sir Watkyn
Basset in Downtoon Abbey - after all they live
there too,,, |
|
21 October 2013
(Monday) - Munzees
Last night saw a return to insomnia, with
me waking after only three hours sleep. I was up and washing up at 5am. To
pass the time I watched a couple of episodes of a show featuring Timothy
Spall sailing round the British coast in a barge. I found the show quite
entertaining, but couldn't help but remember my brother's dislike of the
actor. Apparently the fellow wasn't too impressed with being raucously
greeted by my brother at the boat show at Earls Court a few years ago.
Personally I sympathise with Mr Spall. And watching the show gave me a mild
surprise - I never knew that Timothy Spall had leukaemia nearly twenty years
ago. A lot of people do survive that terrible disease nowadays. And so to work. In the dark and the rain.
As I drove I listened (as always) to the news. The deputy Prime
Minister was speaking out against his own
government's education policies. The pundits on the radio felt that this
was a sign of current political times; with the Con-servatives
falling in the public's popularity, the dribbling democraps
are angling for position in the next government in which (apparently)
they plan to be in a coalition with the Labour party. To that end they are
now sucking up to the Labour party. You have to admire their obvious
opportunism if nothing else. There was also a feature on changes to
legal aid. Legal aid is no longer available to people fighting for access to their children
following divorce. Instead of legal recourse, such people are
to be offered "mediation". It would seem the public are
treating "mediation" with the contempt it deserves and are
representing themselves in court to the consternation of seasoned legal
professionals. Apparently the legal profession don't want us mere mortals
representing themselves in court because us mere
mortals tend not to fart around with legal jargon; preferring to apply common
sense to our arguments. This is not held in high esteem by those in legal
professions. The implication was made on the radio that perhaps their gravy
train was about to be de-railed. I couldn't possibly comment other than
observing that it's a shame that justice isn't something the average man in
the street can afford any more. As I drove into Wincheap
there was talk on the radio about the amount of waste in supermarkets. I went
to Morrisons today and bought two apples and two
bananas. One each for today and one each for tomorrow. This morning's radio
featured the
revelation from Tesco that four out of every ten apples they sell is
wasted. The same is true for one banana in ten, half their bakery output and
most of their bagged salads. They were rather vague about whether people
bought it and wasted it at home, or whether it went manky in the shops. But
either way it's a lot of waste. Which is why I count the fruit I buy, and buy
what I need and no more. On reflection my grandmother always had a
bowl full of fruit in her living room which was going manky. While I was parked in Morrisons
I left the car in the car park and walked over the road to the park &
ride. there was a Munzee there. Munzees are
the latest "this week's novelty". They are a bit like
geocaches in that they are secreted all over the place and you use GPS
technology to find them. But rather than tupperware
boxes, Munzees are QR
codes. Often very obviously on public display (stuck to lamp posts or public
bins) and ignored by all. Today's one was blatantly obvious from twenty yards
away. When you find them you scan them with your phone, and then clear off to
find the next one. For some reason they aren't anywhere near
as common (locally) as geocaches. There are hundreds of geocaches in Ashford.
there are no Munzees at
all. Yet. there's a few in Canterbury, but not many.
I shall have a hunt round the map and see if it's worth carrying on with this
game. I did my bit at work and came home via a
geocache I had hidden in Chilham some months ago.
The word was that the cache had gone. The word was right - it had vanished.
So I replaced it with a spare I'd brought along just in case. I wonder if Munzees
get muggled? |
|
22 October 2013
(Tuesday) - Toblerone
Despite a rather good night's sleep I woke
with rather a bad back this morning which gave me grief all day. In
retrospect I should have taken a sickie. Sometimes it seems to me that I take
far less sick leave than the rest of the universe. Perhaps I should look
after myself from time to time? Over brekkie my
dog sat on my lap and chewed his new toy whilst I watched the next DVD set on
my shelf - "Earth 2". At first appearance it might seem a
rather run-of-the-mill sci-fi show but it has one major difference to most of
the other shows on telly. There are no military characters, nor is anyone in
any police force. Perhaps that is why I liked it, and why the
show was cancelled. But it was entertaining enough whilst I scoffed my toast.
Being on the late shift I left for work
rather later than I usually do, and I met all the rush hour traffic. As I
drove the Foreign Secretary was being harangued on the radio. He spoke for
ten minutes about the current situation in Syria without actually saying
anything. That is a good trick if you can do it; I would imagine it is invaluable
in a politician. Apparently today marks the fiftieth
anniversary of the founding of the National Theatre. To commemorate the
occasion the pundits on the radio staged a telephone interview with an old luvvie who had been in the first ever performance staged
by the National Theatre. The talk was all of "how lucky we are as a
nation", "the envy of the world", but no one seemed to pick up
on the fact that the one being interviewed had long since upped sticked and moved to America from where she was telephoning. Today also marks the two hundred and
sixteenth anniversary of the first
recorded parachute jump. Being before aeroplanes, this jump was from
a hot air balloon. I would like to have done a parachute jump.
Now let's read that sentence carefully. I would like to have done one. I
certainly would not like to actually do one. To work where I did my bit. Last night I
made my lunch and I put it in the fridge overnight. When I opened the box
this morning I found that a toblerone had appeared
in it. That was a welcome surprise. And with my bit done I came home. I dislike
the A28. This morning as I drove there was a fool in the car behind itching
to overtake me. He eventually flew past on a dangerous bend only to find the
queue of traffic that was holding me back. I followed this twit for the next
eight miles. This evening I was again in the thick of the drunken drivers;
driving down the centre of the road at twenty five miles per hour. One wonders about the entire concept of
traffic police... |
|
23 October 2013
(Wednesday) - FTF and Beer
I was woken at 7am
by a small dog sitting on my chest licking my nose. He does that. I got up
and had brekkie. I checked out the “Geocaching
in Kent” Facebook group and sighed. There were a few threads griping
about various problems in caching which are entirely the
making of using GPS units. I wish I knew why
people hunt Tupperware with a GPS unit. They aren’t designed for that job.
And those who advocate doing the job the long–winded way also advocate the
unnecessary use of software (which no one seems to understand) as
though making the job into hard work was a clever thing to do. I usually take my
dog out immediately after brekkie, but the weather
was against it. He didn’t understand, and he looked like he was going to cry
when he saw I wasn’t going out. Whilst I waited for the rain to stop I got
the makings of forty pints of brown ale on the go, and then did the monthly accounts.
They didn’t look very good, but then bearing in mind the hammering that they
received from car repairs a week or so ago I wasn’t really surprised. The rain had eased
off, so I put “Furry Face TM “s lead on him and we went
round the roads through Newtown and into Frogs Island. Whilst there I looked
for one of my own geocaches. Several months ago a rather good geocache (that
Jose had made for me) went missing and I replaced it with a magnetic key
holder. I had received a report that someone had found two caches when
looking for that one so I thought I’d have a look. Sure enough the original
cache had returned. I wonder where that had been. And then Fudge
woofed at a passing scratter on its way home from Asda. The scratter dared to be
disrespectful to my dog and I saw red. I offered to shove said scratter’s shopping up its arse. The scratter
soon hurried off. Perhaps I shouldn’t
have done that; but he shouldn’t have been rude to my dog. We carried on with
our walk, popping in to Pets at Home; if only so “Furry Face TM
“ sees the vets as part of our walk and not as somewhere he should be scared
to go. Once home I put
some washing in the machine, made a cup of coffee and checked my emails. Red
Alert! A series of a dozen geocaches had just gone live (fifteen minutes
previously) and so with the chance of a First to Find I stuck the lead
back onto my dog and we zoomed off to Appledore. The Appledore Amble is a series of caches in a vaguely
circular walk out of Appledore, through some
wonderful scenery and comes back along the canal. We arrived in Appledore, parked up within yards of the first cache and
could see no one else was caching yet. I pulled my boots on and soon had the
first cache in hand. I was the first one there. Happy dance! FTF. Oh yes! We carried on along
the walk, FTF-ing as we went. At the third cache I
had a shock. I found what looked like it might be a geocache in a sock tied
to a bench post. As I undid it I saw the actual cache a foot away, but I was
intrigued. Someone had tied a sock to a post, and inside that sock was a note
saying that this was the Saxon Shore Way sock #7. I wonder what that was about? Presumably some rival form of geocaching in which
one hides socks? We failed to find
the fourth cache; the brambles were too thick for my liking. I say “we” – my
dog has very little interest in geocaching. Fox poo is another matter as he
proved whilst I searched. We pressed on
through ploughed fields and thick mud. Despite missing cache #4 I continued
finding caches that no one else had. Usually where a load of caches go live I
tend to share the love and only take one FTF. But
this was a series of caches; designed to be done as a series. Those that
chase FTFs could have driven round if they were in
a rush. Me and my dog walked. And FTF-ed with clear consciences. We had a minor
hiccup at cache #8. The route then went along the canal. There were marked
footpaths along both banks. When I found I couldn’t get within forty metres
of cache #9 it was clear I’d chosen the wrong bank. As I was walking back to
the bridge ‘er indoors TM
sent the news that
other cachers had started the cache series from the
other end and had FTF-ed some. I managed one more FTF, then met “The Three of
Us” (there were two of them) at cache #10. We chatted for a
bit. It was odd. I’m sure I’ve not met them before, but they recognised me.
Or to be precise they recognised “Furry Face TM “; their
first words were “This must be Fudge”. I then gave up FTF-ing and started geocaching. The two are very
different concepts. I found three more caches, and having got all of the
clues to find the bonus cache I couldn’t find what I was supposed to do with
these clues. Usually the clues give you co-ordinates of the bonus. These ones
didn’t. After twenty minutes of head scratching I logged that I hadn’t a clue
and came home. I came home to find
that the chap who had hidden this elusive bonus cache had since posted an
apology. He had overlooked publishing the instructions on what to do with the
clues. Some might see that as being rather frustrating. I saw it as a relief
that I hadn’t overlooked something obvious. To Folkestone. I’d
heard reports of the Firkin Ale House so I went there with the Rear Admiral.
They did a nice drop straight from the barrel. And cheese too. And a
wonderfully decorated lavatory. We had an elegant sufficiency and moved on to
Kipps Kipps is another
alee house of which we’d not heard such good reports. It seemed OK to me.
They had Dogbolter, which can’t be bad. From there
we wandered and staggered to Wetherspoons who were
doing something nutty. We then staggered off for a kebab, kissed goodbye and
I found the train station. I got there at the same time as the train so
didn’t have time to get a ticket. The ticket inspector on the train laughed
when I told him I didn’t have a ticket, and he said that he thought I looked
honest and I should buy one when I got off. I would have if I had seen
anywhere open to buy one from. When I got home I
found these
photos on my phone… |
|
24 October 2013
(Thursday) - A Walk, and a Lazy Day
I felt rather rough this morning when I
woke. Can’t imagine why. Once I would drink a gallon of ale and be fine the
next day. Not any more. I got up, thought about
having a shave, and went back to bed. I eventually arose just before 9am.
This time we found the elusive bonus cache;
and also cache #4 that I couldn’t find yesterday. This had been found for the
first time this morning and it would seem that the co-ordinates I used
yesterday were about one hundred metres adrift. Again it was a good walk; a
certain small dog seemed to like it.
|
|
25 October 2013
(Friday) - Astro Club
Over brekkie I
watched the next instalment of "Earth 2". Today's episode
featured Tim Curry (of "Rocky Horror" fame) as the
arch-baddie; a part he played very well. I'm quite "getting into"
this show; so far it's rather good really. I know I've seen it before, but I
don't remember much about it. I can vaguely remember brrowing
it on video cassettes recorded from the telly many years ago. And then before leaving for work I checked
social media. There is a major meet-up of geocachers
planned for next May - a "Mega Meet". From what I can work
out a "Mega Meet" is not entirely dissimilar to a village
fete. Along the lines of Challock Goose Fair, or
the fun days at Gilwell we used to take cubs to. There were postings on the Geocaching in
Kent Facebook group suggesting that people might like to offer help and
assistance in running this event. I fought the urge to say anything. A few weeks ago I looked at offering the
services of the astro club for this. We could have
staged solar observing for the punters during the daytime and stargazing at
night for those camping out at the Mega. We could have put on planetarium
shows for anyone and everyone. It's the sort of thing that the astro club does; and does well, and does without asking
for anything in return. I made the offer, and was asked for fifty
pounds for my suggestion to be considered, so I abandoned the idea. On
reflection I can't help but feel that whoever is organising this Mega-Event
has totally misunderstood what I was offering. I also wonder how many other
offers of help they are turning away like this. This morning's drive to work was rather
depressing. Heavy rain and pitch darkness. As I drove through Chartham there was a near accident. I very nearly flattened
a cyclist. The idiot was cycling along the busy A28 at 6.45am. It was still
night; there were no street lights, and this fool was dressed entirely in
black with no lights on his bike at all. The news gave me cause for a wry smile.
Apparently American secret agents have been monitoring the private
communications of European governments including personal phone calls made by
the German Chancellor. Am I the only one who doesn't find these revelations
surprising? I was under the impression that every government spied on every
other government. There was an ex-First Sea Lord interviewed
on the radio who said quite candidly that from his personal experience he
assumed his every movement was under the surveillance of various
international organisations. I stopped off in Morrisons
to get some lunch, and some tea for later. I got what I wanted and took it to
the self service tills where I was met by a rather
grouchy old biddie (in Morrisons uniform) who announced that all the
tills in the shop were closed and I would have to try somewhere else. I was
about to ask her whether she would recommend Asda
or Tesco when she grudgingly conceded that they had just opened till number
twelve. I went there and was met by someone pretending to be happy in their
work. They asked me if I needed help in packing my items. "All five
of them?" I asked. My sarcasm went unnoticed, which was probably for
the best. I did my bit at work, and came home. I left
a little earlier than usual because tonight was astro
club. I could have listened to the news as I drove. Usually I do, but tonight
I didn't fancy it. Instead I put on a CD of "Ivor Biggun"
and sang along to rude songs. And so to astro
club. Not a bad turn out. It might have been better, but it was half-term
week. I gave a talk (rant) on comets which seemed to be well received,
and in a novel break with tradition we had clear skies so we got the teleescopes out and stargazed. I don't do that anywhere near enough... |
|
26 October 2013
(Saturday) - Quack Quack (Oops!)
I awoke after a surprisingly good night's
sleep to find it was 7am. I liked that. Whilst er
indoors TM" snored I watched more "Earth 2".
Frankenfurter was spreading discord, as is the wont
of most baddies. He was doing quite well until True saw through his ruse.
Interestingly the actor who plays True's father was
the sergeant in "Starshp Troopers"
and does the voice of Mr Krabs in SpongeBob SquarePants. I then had a go at (or with) the astro club's accounts. This time they agreed. We have as
much money as we are supposed to have. Probably a million and a half less
than we need; but we are working on that. We put on old clothes and set off to a
certain farm. Over the summer during a camping weekend we helped get some duck
houses out of ponds. These duck houses have since been cleaned, varnished,
proofed and generally refurbished and were ready fo re-floating. There was a minr
hiccup when the tractor wouldn't start, but fortunately there was an
emergency back-up tractor on hand to provide a bump start. Having provided a
bump start we had problems findng neutral (such
is life!) so we reverted to the emergency back-up tractor to drag duck
houses to ponds. Mud, cow poo, smelly pond water, rancid ropes; I love doing
the duck houses. I've been involved with floating and retrieving them for
years and wouldn't miss it for anything. I'm told that "Dreadnaught"
(the latest duck at the farm) is particularly pleased with the
floating of his house. We came home, and after hosing the mud and
cow poo off of "Furry Face TM" we had coffe and a Belgian bun for lunch. I was tempted to got for a McDonalds; in years
gone by I would have done so. In years gone by I was nearly twenty stone in
weight. er indoors TM" then had a
hissy fit. Whilst out this morning she'd taken some rather scenic photos of
me and a small dog both covered in assorted farmyard gunge. Fiddling with her
phone over coffee she managed to delete the photos. Woops! Lacking any decent waterproofs er indoors TM" wanted to
get some. She went to the Outlet Centre. For want of anything better to do I
went along too. I've not been to the Outlet Centre for ages; and it will be
ages before I go again. The shops there sell stuff that you can buy in Tescos or Asda for a fraction
of the price. I saw one wooden child's toy for sale at twenty quid which was
identical in every respect to something I saw last week for sale for six quid
in the Cheapo Bargains shop in Wincheap. I have long maintained that designer
outlets appeal to people who have money to burn, and have again proved my
prejudice. Mind you judging by the crowds there seem
to be a lot of peoople with money to burn. Finding myself at a loose end I thought I'd
get ahead with my dino-course. I watched three
lectures on how continental drift has confused dino-ologists,
and then got full marks on the subject. I was rather smug about that. I then
put Candy Crush Saga on the PC and slept in front of it for an hour. And then
I had a stroke of genius. It's always easier to iron shirts when they are wet
straight out of the washing machine. So with er
indoors TM" off to the film night I put shirts in to
wash. The washing machine is still going. It
shows no sign of stopping. I think it's gone mental... |
|
27 October 2013
(Sunday) - Hoo
That washing machine needs a good service.
I put it on for a quick wash last night and put a film on whilst I waited for
it to stop. It scrubbed all through "Wayne's World",
"National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" and most of "Rocky
Horror Picture Show" before it gave up on my shirts. With the clocks going back woke earlier
than usual, and following a 4am shave I went back to bed. But any chance of
an extra hour in bed was wiped out by a small dog with no understanding of
Daylight Saving. I watched more "Earth 2" over brekkie, remembering this morning's arch baddie (wearing
rags) in last night's film (in racy underwear). "My Boy TM"
phoned shortly after 8am. He was up and about and wonderred
if I fancied going for a fry-up. I did, but time was short so reluctantly
passed the opportunity this time. And then on with the business of the day.
Having foolishly listened to weather forecasts for the last two Sundays (and
wasted the days) we decided that we were going out today. Three of us and
two small dogs set off to Hoo on the Isle of Grain.
Plumbus's Hoo Massive was
billed as a series of twenty eight geocaches over five miles, and we felt
that would do the trick for today. It did, but... Over the last year I've done many geocaches
series, and invariably they are listed as being shorter than they actually
are. Today was no different. All the information said this was a walk of five
point two miles. Two sat-navs independently
measured the distance at six and a half miles. And the various cache descriptions were
odd. Each cache bore a title number, one to twenty four (!) but the decriptions following the title had a different number,
one or two higher. For example the verbals for
cache #21 all referred to cache #23. Most of the caches needed new logs. many were completely full. And the last four caches were missing.
That's not "we couldn't find them"; the verbals
all referred to a series of twenty eight caches, but there were only twenty
four for which listings could be found. But that all sounds rather negative, doesn't it? I don't mean to be so down on the
series; it was a very good walk in somewhere that I would probably never go
if not for this silly obsesion with hunting plastic
boxes. Our walk finished rather earlier than we
expected, so we did a couple of other nearby geocaches. At one I turned on my
Munzee app and (completely at random) found
we were leess than ten yards from the only Munzee on the Isle of Grain. We also found that we were
within striking distance of a cache which was in a disused milatery bunker, so we scrambled into that and spent a
very entertaining ten minutes tunnel-ratting. We picked up a couple more
caches as we drove home; finishing the day in church (literally) with
my cache count at two thousand four hundred and ninety nine. I really should
find a special cache for my upcoming milestone. I
took some photos while we were out. Home; and after a rather good bit of tea er indoors TM" set off bowling.
I watched a couple of episodes of "Jeeves and Wooster". Bertie was using treacle to steal a painting. Apparently
that is what art theives did eighty years ago. Meanwhile in Downton
Abbey there was consternation as Lady Edith found out that she's gotten
herself "in the club". Not to be
outdone, cousin Rose can caught in flagrante in the
kitchen with the jazz singer. And there was disturbbing
news from Uncle Harold. I'm looking forward to the next installment... |
|
28 October 2013
(Monday) - After the Storm
Last night I went to bed feeling vaguely
annoyed. We had been promised (or threatened with) the worst storm for
twenty five years. It had been windy yesterday, and there had been heavy rain
during the evening. But I slept well; normally heavy rain is noisy against
the window. It wasn’t last night. Extreme weather is often akin to bright
comets; never lives up to expectations. It’s the unexpected ones that take us
by surprise. Last night’s storm was a bit of a disappointment. We’ve had one
fence post break and two panels fall down. Or, to be more precise, next door
have had one fence post break and two panels fall down. It’s their fence.
Mind you the dustbin lid seems to have vanished. I wonder where that has
gone. I took my dog round the park immediately
after brekkie so we could see the damage to the
surrounding area. There were a few branches blown off of trees in the park,
and a couple of footpaths were blocked as we walked around Singleton Lake,
but hardly the promised apocalypse. Whilst pootling my phone rang. the most recent fruit of my loin had the cob. Having
travelled half way across the county to get to Big School she had a message
to say the University was closed as the lecturers couldn't get there. And
she'd hurt her neck too. We came home and I popped down road to the
chemist to get some Vaseline for beer-related purposes. Whilst in the area I
had a look in the bakery. They did french sticks
and cake at three quarters of the price of the local corner shop. It pays to
shop around. I then voomed round with the Hoover
and put washing onto the washing line. Or half of the washing line – the
other half had come down with the fence overnight. I was just about to make a cuppa when the door bell rang. It was the plumber. he
was early; that suited me. The boiler needed its annual service. I have been
told that not having a boiler serviced is an economy I might easily make. But
I've seen what happens to unmaintained boilers. The chap did his thing whilst
"Furry Face TM" woofed at him, and was soon on
his way. I then made my cuppa and had my cake whilst watching a film I'd recorded the
other day. "F" was... well, it was
rubbish. Supposedly a horror film: it was about an alcoholic teacher who
found himself in a school after hours with various pupils and teachers all of
whom were being murdered by rather elusive hoodie-wearing thugs. I think the
film was supposed to be allegorical. Though it could have been allegorical of
absolutely anything. I then got busy with the home brew. Last
week I started some brown ale off for a Christmas party. That is now in the
barrel, and my own Christmas stout is in the bucket hopefully fermenting. I
then did this week's dino-course; dinosaur
evolution. I only got sixty per cent in the test. I should have paid more
attention. I would have played Candy Crush Saga, but the computer wasn't
having any of it, so instead I found some FTP freeware that actually worked
and backed up all of September's blog rantings. I
seem to have missed an anniversary; whilst my little dog was busy being ill
in early September I missed the seventh anniversary of my first blog entry.
It wasn't anything special (much like the following two thousand five
hundred and fifty-odd entries), but I've blogged every day for the seven
years since early September 2006. I heard a commotion in the back garden.
"Next Door" have fixed the broken fence. With new panels. I
shall have to paint them. And there are gaps at the bottom of the new fence
panels. I shall have to get more brindle chippings. I'll do that another
time, eh? I then had a look at a project I started a
while back but rather let slip. My
lego train set is almost complete. I've ordered
the last few bits I need to complete the track. Next I need to find somewhere
to set it up permanently and to do some landscaping... |
|
29 October 2013
(Tuesday) - More Rude Songs
I didn't wake until 4am today. With the clocks
having gone back, a week ago that would have been 3am. I see this as
something of a result. Over brekkie I
shared my toast with my dog and watched the latest antics of the colonists on
Earth 2. Like most television programmes the plot doesn't stand up to any
serious scrutiny, but it is entertaining nonetheless. Today our heroes were
after water; it was in short supply in the desert where they were doing their
thing. With the clocks having gone back it was
light when I set off to work. It won't be for much longer, but I am grateful
for what daylight there is. As I drove I listened to the radio as always.
There was consternation at the beleaguered industrial
plant at Grangemouth where the unions seem to
be hell-bent on destroying everyone's livelihood in the name of silly
politics. This morning's news featured the revelation that union officials at
the plant had been spending a lot of their time on party political issues.
The only real surprise in this snippet of news is that it is considered
newsworthy. When I was a union representative twenty-odd years ago I can
distinctly remember going to a meeting of representatives in London and
finding that out of twenty or so people in the meeting I was one of only
three who wasn't an active Labour party councillor with much higher political
aspirations. My journey to work was rather quicker than
usual today for no reason that I could see. Some days the journey takes only
twenty five minutes; other days the trip is nearly double that time with no
apparent diffence in road conditions. I did my bit at work and came home. As I
drove home the radio was dribbling about the increased deaths in recreational
drug users. There were various theories being expounded by the pundits, but
rather than listening to prudish righteous indignation I turned the radio off
and sang along to rude songs sung by Ivor Biggun.
I've looked him up on
Wikipedia. Apparently he's still playing the pub circuit in Suffolk. I
wonder if I might organise a trip out to see him playing? Home - where the clans had gathered. More
Merlin. I do like the show, but I'm not sure I can take the King seriously.
The actor playing the King was the Prime Minister in "Little
Britain", and is currently playing the lead sad-act in the especially
lame "You,
Me and Them". If you've not seen this show yet, don't feel that
you should watch it. It's gone to one episode so far, and for me that is more
than enough. |
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30 October 2013
(Wednesday) - Crocodile
Yesterday morning as I scoffed my toast and
watched the telly the stars of "Earth 2" were dying for lack
of water. In this morning's episode they were camped next to a rather large
river. No one commented on this; least of all my dog
who was intent on eating the crusts of my toast. Winter is officially here as for the first
time I had to scrape the ice off of my car's windscreen. I say "scrape"
- it's nothing that pouring a bottle of cold water can't shift. But it is
still cold. As I drove to work I felt rather sorry for
the boss of the power company Eon. He'd been daft enough to come on to the radio
to be interviewed, and the interviewers weren't especially kind to him.
Bearing in mind his company is one of the few not to have announced a serious
price rise I thought they were somewhat mean to the poor chap. However like
everyone else in the power business, he was utterly unable to explain how
anyone can actually physically change electricity or gas supplier when the
stuff you use comes down the same cables and pipes (you just pay someone
else). The morning's news also featured an
interview with Chas and Dave who have (apparently) now been a double
act for fifty years. Personally I prefer the dulcet (and ruder) toner of Ivor
Biggun, but I have never been known for my musical
bent. I stopped off in the Cheapo Bargains shop
as I had a few minutes spare. Last night "Furry Face TM"
didn't eat his tea. I had flashbacks of the last time he was off his food.
But he wasn't ill this time. He was just being fussy. he's
not too keenon tinned dog food. Last night when he
thought no one was looking he would quietly scoff some of the dog food he was
pretending to ignore. He just didn't like it as much as he likes sardines.
You wouldn't have thought that a dog would like sardines, but Patagonian Tripe
Hounds are not your average mutt. I thought I'd see how much the sardines
were in the Cheapo Bargains shop. I expected, or at least hoped, that the
Cheapo Bargains shop would live up to its name. It didn't. Their sardines
were eleven pence per tin more expensive than Morrisons.
It pays to shop about. Last week I saw they were selling USB
speakers. I quite liked the idea of having one; I saw the price. Twenty quid.
I thought better of that idea. And so to work where the burning question
of the day was "Would you rather be a crocodile-sized fish, or a fish-sized crocodile". For those of my loyal readership who cannot
spot the blindingly obvious I will merely say that there is a correct answer
and a clearly stupid answer. I will not insult anyone's intelligence by
pointing out which is which. |
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31 October 2013
(Thursday) - Hallowe'en
I was absolutely
all-in when I went to bed last night. I was wide awake and having my morning
shave at 4am. My morning DVD fix of "Earth 2" was quite
entertaining; featuring the bald one out of "Lost" as the
latest baddie. I then took
"Furry Face TM" for his morning constitutional.
It was raining, so we didn't go as far as perhaps we might have done. The
rain was that annoyingly fine rain - fine enough to make you think it;'s not actually raining, but wet enough to make
everything soaking wet. Lisa came round
and we set off to Maidstone. A while back Lisa had arranged to do some
extreme caching. Having found myself on the verge of a milestone cache I
thought I might tag along. Steve had been wonderful in offereing
to get us up the tree; Joe and Ian were marvellous to offer their advice and
assistance. We arrived in Madstone to find ropes
already in place. Ropes - this was no amateur muck-about. This geocache wasn't especially
difficult to find. In fact I could see it from forty yards away. Trouble was
those forty yards were "up". The cache was clearly visible
towards the top of a tree. Fortunately for us Steve showed us how the ropes
worked, and as young Jesse made his ascent (to his one hundredth cache)
Lisa and I practiced (under expert supervision) on lower branches. Pulling yourself
up a tree takes some doing; in theory it is simple, in practice it is
physically hard work. In retrospect those who had been up the tree before me
had gone about eighteen inched too high up the rope and had not given
themselves enough slack. Being last up I learned from their mistakes and once
I was half a mile off the ground I found the tree-bit and cache signing
relatively straight forward. I must admit that I felt I did choose a rather
good cache for #2500 as I did the secret geo-ritual at the top of the tree. I amazed myself
on the descent. I shoulted down to ask for
instructions. I was told to but all my weight on the rope and to get off the
tree. Scary? Funnily enough it wasn't. I have been scared in trees before
when I was only a few feet off the ground. But I was so high that I knew that
if anything went wrong it wouldn't hurt; I'd be dead. And knowing that
somehow gave me an inner calm. I just did as I was told and came down (mostly)
under control. But certainly far faster than I went up. We then went on
to another cache up another tree. I went on to the tree, but not the cache.
My baack was still playing up from doing the duck
houses at the weekend, and my arm was still in cramps from the first tree
ascent. But it was good to watch others going up. And with everyone up who
was going up we adjourned to the local pub for a crafty half. Again, many
grateful thanks to Steve, Joe and Ian for sharing their skills, abilities and
kit. Despite the cold and the wet it was great fun. I
took a few photos as well... Home, where I
shaved my head and painted it silver before going round to Lacey's Hallowe'en party.
Staging a Hallowe'en party for fifteen seven year
old girls is a brave thing to do. Personally I quite enjoyed the performance.
I was quite impressed with llittle Sasha; her
mother had warned us that she was very quiet and rather shy. The child was
the life and soul of the party, and on several occassions had to be restrained from showing off her
"business" to all and sundry. And then once all
the fur had stopped flying we went round to the WIndmill
in Hythe Road where the clans had gathered to support "Access All Areas"; a
local band with whom several of us feel we have a
connection Good tunes, good company. And I even scared someone in the
lavatory too... I
took photos there as well... |
