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1 September 2015
(Tuesday) – Rolvenden
I got up this morning and saw my dog was still fast asleep. He didn't
stir at all as I scoffed my toast. Mind you it was a different story when "er indoors TM" got up. He makes no
secret as to who is his favourite. Having got out of his pit he sensed that today wasn't a work day; it
was to be a "Fudgey Adventure"
and he immediately became very over-excited and wouldn't eat his breakfast.
Silly pup. The plan for today had been to go to Bethersden
to start planning out a new geo-walk that I would be setting. But overnight a
series of twenty seven geocaches had appeared in the Rolvenden
area. I asked on-line to see if anyone fancied a walk. Gordon did, and we met
up in Rolvenden and went for a little stroll.
Clearly marked footpaths, straightforward geo-finds, we had a good walk. We
saw steam trains and bee hives, "Furry Face TM"
was allowed off the lead on several occassions and
(in a novel break with tradition) he was as good as gold. Those that had set the caches had given us instructions to fetch one
cache home; they'd actually put out twenty-eight caches but one was too close
to an exisiting puzzle cache. We found the pot we
were to retrieve. It was less than an arm's length from the puzzle cache
which was not in any way disguised and was out in the open in full view. How
did they miss that? As the series had only gone out last night we wondered if we might get
a First to Find or two... we got one. As we approached hide #14 (which we
knew was still waiting to be found for the first time) we saw a familiar
young mother with her brood. I jokingly loudly announced "I know what
you are looking for" to which the children both denied looking for
anything. Mother told the children that all was well, that dog was Fudge, and
the children then told us where they'd already searched. No one recognises me; everyone recognises
my dog... With a little effort we got a joint First to Find here. Happy dance.
But Mum and littluns had already taken the only
other FTF that was still waiting. The first cache on the series was First to Finded
at quarter to eleven last night by an intrepid team who then did the walk in
the dark. Missing only two of the caches they logged the last one five hours
later shortly before 4am. I know I like chasing the First to Find, but I must
admit that with the recent rain the paths were slippery enough in broad
daylight today. Personally I'm not a fan of night caching. With only a few hundred yards to go to the end of the walk the heavens
opened. I had planned to stop off in Bethersden to
start planning my new walk, but with the heavy rain we said our goodbyes and
went home. With one bonus cache on the route (hidden by a "gary tardis"!) we'd
amassed twenty-eight geo-finds over a four-hour (and six miles) walk.
I might pop out to Bethersden tomorrow morning for
a walk. We shall see... Once home "Furry Face TM" had a bath. For
all that he'd been good, he had been spuddling in
stagnant water and he was somewhat "fragrant". And with him
bathed I had a shower myself before popping to the KFC for a spot of lunch. With a snoring dog on my lap I scoffed my KFC whilst watching last
night's episode of "Dark Matter". With only one more episode
to go the series is now getting rather good. Will Wheaton (of Star Trek
fame) has now appeared as the evil arch-baddie. He's quite good as an
evil arch-baddie. As I watched telly "Daddies
Little Angel TM" phoned; she was about as over-excited as
my dog had been when he realised today was a "Fudgey Adventure". Good news... she's
been accepted onto the waiting list for a council house in Ashford. It sounds
a trivial matter; it's not. Getting onto that list takes some doing. Being Tues the clans gathered. In Folkestone
tonight where we used ChromeCast technology to
watch the live video feed from the International Space Station. We saw UFOs as well... |
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2 September 2015
(Wednesday) – Bethersden
Yesterday I thought I might take my dog on a little walk round the Bethersden area to see if I could start planning a
geo-stroll. Events conspired against that plan, but today I woke at 6am, and
couldn't get back to sleep. "Furry Face TM"
seemed up for a walk, so we set off shortly after 7am. We started badly; a minor altercation with a cyclist. As I was pulling
out I didn't see him. When he'd finished shouting the "F"
word several times I pointed out that if he will dress all in black and have
no lights whatsoever, he really should use his bell or hooter more often when
it's obvious that motorists can't see him. And if he's too mean to pay for a
bell or hooter, then he might shout *before* it is too late . As he struggled to find any kind of response I told him that he was in
the wrong, and he needed to sort it out. We drove off. It didn't take long to get to Bethersden; I
put on my gaiters and we set off. I had a vague idea of the route I wanted to
take, and we pretty much followed that route. As we walked we met
over-friendly cows and ponies, and saw sheep and rabbits. We did struggle
with the paths in places though.It was pretty
obvious that farmers in that part of the world really don't subscribe to the
theory of marking out footpaths. For much of the way I was able to use the
GPS on "Hannah" to keep me on track, but there was one point
where the footpaths were utterly impassable. Fortunately the country lanes
there weren't busy. I went out hoping to be able to find hides for thirty five geocaches;
I got thirty five hides along (just over) eight miles. I've now got to
find an hour or so to communicate my plans to the geo-feds to see if the
route is acceptable. Some areas are owned by Forestry Commission or are sites
of special scientific interest, or are just no-go for geo-stuff even though
they don't look any different to anywhere else. Mind you my gaiters got a goot work-out
today. I'm quite pleased with them. I
took some photos whilst we were out, and once home posted them on
Facebook as I scoffed my lunch. And with lunh
scoffed I took myself off to bed. I would have liked to have slept for
longer, but I got a couple of hours asleep. I'm now off to Folkestone. "Daddies Little Angel TM"
says she will feed me before the night shift... |
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3 September 2015
(Thursday) - Between the Night Shifts
After a surprisingly busy night shift I listened to the radio as I
drove home. Did you know that our old friend science has revised the estimate
of the number
of trees on the planet. The best guess is that here
is three trillion trees on Earth. that's
seven times as many as were in the last guess at the number. There are those who feel the figure is a matter of indifference. It is
impossible to check the accuracy of that number, but it occurs to me that
someone has been paid good money to come up with it. Perhaps that money might be better
spent on the police. Apparently police in Lewisham
have taken to using buses as they've not got enough cars, and police in the
West Midlands take their time to get to emergencies as they've had to buy
cheaper police cars with no sirens. The criminal element must love hearing this in the news.... Once home I took "Furry Face TM" for a
walk. Bearing in mind that this was the sort of time that OrangeHead
and her posse were likely to be lording it round the park we went out to
Frogs Island instead. Apart from Fudge feeling the need to bark at absolutely
everyone he saw along the way, the walk passed off relatively uneventfully. We stopped off at the vets as we walked. I've noticed his collar seems
looser; I was wondering if the diet was working. Whilst he's not put on any
weight he doesn't seem to have lost any. I had all sorts of things planned to do after our walk; instead I went
to bed and slept until mid-afternoon. Once awake I spent an hour doing
geo-admin on the potential geo-walk I started preparing yesterday. That only
took an hour; let's see if it gets the thumbs-up. As I worked "My Boy TM" came home "quietly";
his sister had sent him here with a load of stuff to put into storage. I say
"storage"; her idea of storage is my idea of a spare bedroom. I'm now off to work a little earlier than planned; last week I
released a Wherigo onto the denizens of Canterbury.
Apparently it don't work on iPhones so I've offered
to let a nice lady have a go on my tablet. I hope she doesn't bite... |
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4 September 2015
(Friday) - Works Outing
After another busy night shift I set off to Folkestone. Littlun had a
hospital appointment today and I was under orders to transport him (and
hangers-on) to Ashford. I'm not quite sure what happened; I found myself
in Dover. I must have missed. To save time I decided to take the short cut
that I knew, and found myself on an industrial estate I've never seen before.
Fortunately sat-nav saved
the day. I eventually collected my crew and cargo and brought
them all home. With a little time to spare we went for a walk round Bowens
Field and the park. "Furry Face TM" started off
in something of a shouty mood; I think that seeing
everyone had rather over excited him. And then the over-excitement gave way
to a more "frisky" mind-set in which he started humping
every other dog he saw. I wish he wouldn't do that. He's been "done";
that was the only condition I set before we took him on. As we walked we met our friend Ralph (a little
black pug) who had a fight with Sid. Dogs do that. When dogs meet they either fight, sniff each others
bums, or hump each other. It is what they do. If more dog owners could accept
this, the world would be a better place. We came home and found littlun's
GodMother waiting for us. A quick cuppa than she took littlun (and
hangers-on) to the hospital appointment whilst I went to bed for a while.
I slept like a log until they all came home "quietly" five
hours later. I got up, left them to it and took the train to Canterbury. I
was a little early getting to Canterbury so I spent an hour geocaching. There is one particular
cache in Canterbury which had become something of a nemesis for me. You
start off with a little walk througgh the park
collecting clues which then lead you to a thicket of stinging nettles. I
first visited this thicket of stinging nettles in February of last year and
have been back at irregular intervals ever since. I failed to find the thing
so many times... Today was my lucky day; I found three caches (three!)
where this one was supposed to be. I particularly wanted to find this one as
on the thing was written one half of the co-ordinates of a nearby puzzle
cache. (I'd got the other half of these co ordinates
from a nearby simular cache about eighteen months
ago). And so armed with bonus co ords I set off
to a park in central Canterbury to find my geo-target. There was a minor hiccup when I got to this park;
the hippies were staging a hippy-festival. But I eluded them and found what i was looking for. Happy dance. I was actually in Canterbury for a works booze-up,
and so made my way to where we were supposed to be meeting. I was at the
Dolphin half an hour before anyone else arrived. I got myself a pint and sat
in the garden reading my Kindle app. I would have sat indoors but the drunken yobs were a bit loud. Probably harmless; but rather loud. Eventually everyone gathered; beer flowed, and we
went off to Parrots for a rather good meal. Can't really remember much of
what happened. I think we had a good time. I have a vague recollection of
Shepherd Neame stout being drunk (or was that me)... |
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5 September 2015
(Saturday) - Another Day
I slept like a log last night, finally surfacing from my pit shortly
after 8am. For me that is something of a lie-in.
Mind you my little dog was still fast asleep. He eventually hauled himself
out of his basket when he got the idea that there was toast to be scrounged (he
didn't get any). We could have done so much today. We could have spent the weekend at
geo-camp; but it is too cold to go camping this time of year. We could have gone to visit the geocachers
at geo-camp; but Bexhill was a long way to go just
to watch other people camping. We could have gone to the Ashford beer festival, but today was just
that little bit too cold to be sitting on wet grass spending a fortune to
give myself a headache. I'd already spent far too much on beer last night (and
got the headache) anyway. So finding myself at something of a loose end this morning I set the
washing machine on an overflowing laundry basket. As it chewed on my undercrackers I went through my letter rack. I’d not been
there for a while; it took a couple of hours to clear. There was a letter from the optician. I need to make an appointment to
get my eyes checked. The bank had written to me to give me an annual summary of the charges
made on my accounts. There hadn’t been any. So they’d spent time and money to
tell me that. In a similar vein I had a letter from the dentist saying that they
were under new management but it wouldn’t actually affect me in any way at
all. I wonder how many other letters they’ve sent out like that?
And how much that cost them? There were several vouchers from “Go Outdoors” all of which
expired last Tuesday. There was a letter from the pet insurance people saying that Fudge’s insurance
policy would carry on. It was as well that it did; otherwise it would have
lapsed a month ago. Mind you it is a fiver a month more than it has been for
the last year now that he weighs over ten kilograms. His diet’s not going as
well as it might. I finally got round to updating the household’s entry on the electoral
register; we’d only had two reminders. There was a reminder from the R.N.I.B. that
I’d kindly increased my monthly donation to them. (Had I?) There was a nice newsletter from the Aspinall
Foundation that went straight into the bin; but not before I’d taken out the
free admission ticket. They send me one of those every quarter; I use maybe
one in ten of them. Vitality Life sent me an annual policy review statement. “Vitality
Life” is a somewhat ironic name as they won’t actually stump up until I
croak. The car insurance people told me that the car insurance will continue.
I’m glad about that because it actually continued a few weeks ago whilst I
wasn’t looking. For the next year the policy is actually a little cheaper;
only £1.50 a month cheaper, but every little helps. Both of out geocaching accounts were up for renewal…. Together they
cost fifty quid, but realistically that’s not bad. Each account renewal was
only twenty five quid and I spend far more than that every time I go down the
pub. Bearing in mind how much I go hunting tupperware
the annual fee works out at about fifty pence per week. And I updated the astro club’s accounts. For
some reason the bank has now decided only to send statements once every four
months. After a hot cross bun for lunch we took "Furry Face TM"
for a walk. He usually has a walk first thing in the morning; he'd not had
one today and was becoming somewhat fractious. We went down to the Romney
Marsh and had a minor geo-wander. If nothing else thise
geo-lark shows us somewhere different to go for a walk. It was a good geo-walk; if somewhat overgrown in places. I think I
would have enjoyed it more were my arm not quite so painful. This tennis
elbow is getting to be a serious nuisance. It was also a shame that "Furry
Face TM" had to disgrace himslef
by rolling in fox poo. Once home I showered the fox poo from my dog, and after a rather good
bit of scoff "er indoors TM"
set off to the Saturday film night. I set about the ironing whilst getting
three hours worth of drivel watched from the SkyPlus box. We've now got forty six percent of the disk
space free on that SkyPlus box. Can't be bad... |
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6 September 2015
(Sunday) - Biggin Hill
After a really good night's sleep I woke up to have my piss seriously
boiled by the Ashford Herald. Apparently my street is the most
violent street in Ashoford. The half-wits at
the Ashford Herald have worked this out from the amount of times the police
are called to a street. The police have been called to Beaver Road twenty three times so far
this year. Is that a lot? I don't know. But look at the street which is in
position fourteen. Only four call outs but it only has a tenth of the amount
of houses that are in Beaver Road. That makes this street proportionately
twice as bad as my street. Does it really take a genius to work out that the
more houses there are in a street then the more of anything will happen. Also our road is *the* way home from all of the nightclubs to
the "delightful suburbs" where the council put the "more
challenging elements". (Or as my daughter in law so succintly puts it "it's the main route
for piss heads".) I have formally logged a complaint with the
Ashford Herald. I bet they don't do anything about it. On the plus side "er indoors TM"
discovered a Christmas cake at the back of the cupboard. It went out of date
in May, but I shall still scoff it. Bearing in mind how much I whinged about my
gammy elbow yesterday "er indoors TM"
ordered me to take some Ibuprofen. Whenever I hear of Ibuprofen I'm always
reminded of my old mucker Dave
"Rabbit"
Morley who died seven years ago. He considered himself an expert on the
drug because his wife worked where they were made, but he couldn't pronounce
the word Ibuprofen. He called it "Ibuferen".
I never saw him that often, but I miss Dave... We got our gear together, rallied the troops, and set off to Biggin Hill. We'd originally planned to walk around the
area last week on the Bank Holiday, but rain stopped play. A lot of people
were off at geo-camp this weekend, but there were still quite a few of us
raring to go for today. Ten of us and two small dogs met up just outside Biggin Hill and we walked about ten miles. We'd walked
this route before; but the geocaches which had been there in the past have
been replaced with new ones which gave us a reason to go back. We quite liked today's walk; starting from a pub the walk was in two
loops so we had the chance of a beer at half time as well as at the end.
Beautiful scenery, excellent company; as we walked we saw horses, sheep,
pigs, turkeys. There was an entertaining five minutes when "Furry
Face TM" saw a squirrel and set off in hot pursuit.
Little Charlotte clung to his lead and managed to restrain him, but it was a
close-run thing. Mind you if anyone is considering a walk round Biggin
Hill I feel I should specifically mention the horses. When I first walked
this geo-route I was kicked by a horse. Today one of us was nearly pushed
over by a horse, one of us actually was. One of us was nearly bitten by a
horse and one of us actually was. (Me) Biggin Hill horses are evil animals. We set out in search of about forty target geocaches. We found the
lot. I must say that was quite an acheivement. Some
of them were quite tricky hides, two involved arboreal antics, and in several
cases the GPS co-ordinates (according to "Hannah") were out
by several yards. But iffy co-ords and teeth-happy horses
notwithstanding, having started walking at 10.30am we were in the beer garden
having a de-briefing pint of Jail Ale seven hours later. I'd taken
a few photos whilst we were out. Once home I put those on-line, did the
secret geo-rituals on the laptop and over a rather good bit of curry watched
last night's repeat of Dad's Army. After all these years they still don't
like it up 'em. As my dog snored I then checked emails. Earlier in the week I'd taken
my dog for a walk round Bethersden with a view to
hiding nearly forty geocaches in the area. The geo-feds had emailed me back
to say all was well with my provisional route. The first stage of my plan is
now complete. Stage two goes into action tomorrow. In the most part it
involves visiting the cheapo-bargain shop on the way to work to see how many
sandwich boxes they have at rock-bottom prices. I'm hoping they have several.
At least thirty would be good. I must remember to pop in to that shop... |
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7 September 2015
(Monday) - Before Work
It was only when I got up this morning that I realised that I didn't spend all day yesterday whinging about tennis elbow. Much as I don't like
constantly munching drugs I thought I might just have some more of that
Ibuprofen, so after brekkie I scoffed two more. I took "Furry Face TM"
for our morning consitutional round the park. We
set off at 8am so most of the usual suspects hadn't yet shown up, which was
probably for the best. We did see the two old boys who always insist on
calling my dog over to feed him, but I saw them before they saw us so we were
able to take a diversion to avoid them. On the one hand they mean well; on
the other hand Fudge's hanging round them for scraps adds ten minutes to our
walk. And talking of scraps I had to extract a doughnut
from my dog's mouth as we walked. Someone had left one laying
on the pavement. We came home, and having some spare time before work
I spent a little time getting stressed with phone calls. I had been due to have had a follow-up appointment
at the hospital ten days ago. It had been cancelled and I'd had a message
that it had been rescheduled for some time today. I'd tried phoning them last
week to no avail. This morning I was told that the secretary dealing with my
case had been on holiday and that the specialist I'd been seeing had left and
gone to East Grinstead. There is talk of fitting me in to an extra clinic some time next week. I then phoned the mobile phone people. "Everything
Everywhere" sounds good as a company name, but anyone who's actually
used the EE mobile phone network would agree that "Nothing Anywhere"
would be a better description. I had no signal yesterday on our Biggin Hill walk but the Vodafone signal was fine. After a lot of messing around on an automated
switchboard (which kept telling me that they were committed to excellent
customer service) I finally got through to Chris who clearly couldn't
care less. She told me that my contract runs till 6 May 2016 and I can either
suck it up till then or buy out the remainder of the contract The fact that the
phone network doesn't work (apparently) doesn't invalidate the
contract. She suggested I spoke to the technical people who
suggested I took the phone to the shop in the town centre. The fact that the
issue is with their network and not the phone is neither here nor there... I then phoned the vets to arrange a booster shot for
"Furry Face TM". Apparently despite having
contacted us, the shot isn't due for a couple of weeks. I'll arrange
something closer to the time. And then I got through to the optician who arranged
an appointment for next Monday morning And so to work. I did get just a little bit cross
over the news on the radio today. Whilst it is hardly going to be the end of
the world, it is vaguely possible that there may be some power
cuts over the next few winters. The reason: building power stations is an
expensive business. Apparently old power stations are closing whilst new ones
either aren't yet ready or aren't even being built. Some of the pundits were
blaming policy makers for allowing the National Grid to get into such a
state. Personally I can't help but feel the problem is that the policy makers
have decided not to have a policy and to leave it all to market forces
instead. I stopped off at the cheapo-bargains shop and bought
thirty sandwich boxes. I've ordered the camoflague
tape. Once it arrives I shall get busy.... |
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8 September 2015
(Tuesday) - Another Late Shift
A somewhat restless night. Somehow I managed to escape from the duvet
and woke up shivering at 3am. Over brekkie I sparked up the lap-top and had a
look at social media. I had a friend request on Facebook from Amy Sabatino (who?) She lives in Georgia and sells geocaches.
Her on-line presence seems to be aimed at selling stuff. I already follow too
many people I barely know on social media. I don't really need any more. And
certainly not someone four thousand miles away who only exists (on-line)
to sell stuff. Mind you three people on my list have already added her. Why do people
do this? On the plus side I was asked if I would organise
the Kent cachers' New Year's Day event. I was quite
flattered to be asked to do that. Once I finalise my Bethersden
geo-project I shall make a start on this one. I need to sort out a circular
walk of about three to four miles starting and ending at a local pub. I had a
few ideas where to have this. However doing this locally is proving to be
rather problematical. Everywhere I look on the map is blocked off by old
caches which really should have been left to die but have been resurrected
even though no one actually goes to them any more.
I've asked if two such caches could be sent to tupperware
heaven and been told (quite comprehensively) to get stuffed. I took "Furry Face TM" round the park for
a bit of a walk. After humping a Yorkie we had a little chat with a chap who
was walking a terrier of some description. This chap launched into an epic
tirade about how nasty the local Huskies are; pointing at what he thought was
a passing Huskie. It was actually a Malamute, but I didn't have the heart to
tell him though. We came home, I settled my dog, and I set off to Folkestone
to see the littlun. (And his entourage). As
I drove I listened to the radio. After fifteen minutes I realised
that all I could hear was "blah, blah, blah"; I had no idea
what they were talking about. So I turned it off and squalled along to my
frankly excellent choice in music. I got to Folkestone, had a cup of chino, and
watched littun's antics. He's not too keen to be
held for too long any more. He prefers to run riot on the floor. He can now
stand up without any support or help getting up. Walking can only be days
away. Whilst I was there I loaded up the car with more assorted stuff to be
put into storage (i.e. my spare bedroom) and set off to Canterbury. As I drove I again turned on the radio, and again all I could hear was
"blah, blah, blah" so I again
turned it off and had a little sing-song as I drove. I got to work, did my
bit, and came home to find out nutty neigbour
ranting at the people who run the shop over the road. He was loudly telling
them (and anyone else who would listen) that he hates the English and
would like someone to introduce him to the millionaire Russian oligarch who
owns their shop so that he could become one of the oligarch's men. He then staggered off (clearly very drunk) and spent the rest
of the evening shouting very loudly at either his wife or the voices in his
head... |
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9 September 2015
(Wednesday) - God Bless Her !!!!
Anyone who knows me will know that I'm rather fond
of an American musical duo. Recently they formed a Supergroup
with Frans Ferdinand. This morning the corners of
the Internet in which I lurk were alive about their latest song.
It's a wonderful *new* song (according to the gobby
types who have recently discovered this sort of thing). It's the *latest*
great thing to come from this musical collaboration... apparently. To me it sounds exactly like it did when it came out
on their 1982 album "Angst in my Pants" but I didn't have
the heart to say anything. As I drove to work I listened to the radio. As well
as their usual hot air, the pundits were talking about how today the Queen
became the longest reigning British monarch. With forty monarchs since the
accession of William the First (glossing over the nasty interlude with
that Cromwell chap) the average King or Queen seems to last a little over
twenty years. Good old Lillibet ain't
done bad. The pundits on the radio wheeled on some proper
historians to say nice things about her, and much as I always thought myself
an ardent royalist these historians made me think. They seemed to believe
that future historians will agree that Elizabeth II was an excellent Queen.
But not for any reason of which I would have thought. She will be of historical importance because she
kept her trap shut. She does work tirelessly and is always seen here and
there doing the Royal thing. But I'd never realised
that she never actually says very much of note. Future historians are
probably going to refer to her as "Elizabeth the Silent";
particularly bearing in mind how outspoken her successor appears to be. I got to work for the early shift, and did my thing.
I've now been working for three consecutive working days. Doesn't happen when
I'm on nights. I much prefer the night shifts for that very reason. Today was
rather busy, but an early start made for an early finish. I came home, tidied the mess that "Daddies Little Angel TM"
had made on her visit today, and then took "Furry Face TM"
for a walk. Apart from his going into the river and refusing to come back out
the walk went reasonably well. We came home; the postman had delivered my parcel.
After an epic struggle with the packing tape I finally got the thing open.
More of the ingredients for the series of geocaches I'm putting together. I then had a look on social media and my piss
boiled. A week or so ago I posted on the group Wherigo
UK that I was getting a little fed up with spending hours creating on-line
GPS games that no one plays. There have been several replies over the last
week, but what really annoyed me today was people who I know live within half
an hour's drive of home who were saying how much
they love Wherigos. If they *really* do
appreciate my efforts why have they only bothered with two out of my
eighteen? And it's been two years since they did those two. I'm going to turn this lap-top off and watch telly... |
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10 September 2015 (Thursday)
– McDinner
After a rather restless night I got up rather earlier than I might
have done. I found "Furry Face TM" scratching at
the back door. Thinking he needed a tiddle I let
him out. But knowing what he is like I went out with him. He jumped out of
the door then stopped and saw I was going with him, Then he flew round the
garden like a thing possessed. I'm sure if I'd not gone with him there would
have been a *lot* of woofing. He did "do his business" - eventually. Over brekkie I found I had no drivel to watch on the SkyPlus box; yesterday evening I'd cleared a lot of it.
Fortunately the TLC +1 channel was showing an old favourite. In today's episode of "Toddlers and
Tiaras" there was upset as one of the judges was exposed to be a
relative of one of the contestants. With a minute or two spare I thought I might start sticking camoflage tape to the thirty-odd sandwich boxes I have
ready for my ongoing geo-project. I'd spent a small fortune buying camo-tape
from eBay. The stuff arrived yesterday but this morning I found it is not
actually adhesive. Ho hum.... I then checked emails. A minor disaster.... The munzee
I put on a bus stop by the hospital in Canterbury had been flagged as needing
maintenance and I couldn't log in to munzee dot com
to do anything about it. I clicked on the "forgot my password"
link and it said an email had been sent. Perhaps one was; I didn't get it. Oh well; no one does munzees anyway. As I walked to my car I saw my nutty neighbour.
He did his usual half looking at me and half looking away. I toyed with the
idea of asking what tonight's shouting would be about, and I really wanted to
know if his wife was actually going to stab him when he was screaming "get
away from me with that knife" two nights ago. But I thought better of the idea. Speaking to him is hard work. Instead i just went off to work. I stopped
off at Morrisons on my way. I bought some glue (£3)
and a sweetie bar (£0.85) and was charged £1.97. What was that all
about? Interestingly the pundits on the radio were this morning interiewing the top dog at Morrisons
who was saying that they were having to close
eleven of their supermarkets because of their bad financial position. I can't see the Canterbury branch lasting at this rate. I got to work and did that which I could not avoid. I got a formal
compliment today after my involvement in yesterday's serious emegency case. I was pleased about that. And I came home
again. I do that. Once home I met up with Jimbo and we took
"Furry Face TM" round the park. He likes that. (both Jimbo and
"Furry Face TM") and then having given my dog his
dinner we went for some McDinner of our own.
Italian-style McWotsit went down very well, as did
a triple caramel McFlurry and a choc chip iced
latte. It was with something of a stomach ache that the
went to the astro club's committee meeting. I've not been quite as enthusiastic about the astro
club as I might have been just lately, but after tonight's meeting I might
just possibly be re-enthused. Here's hoping... |
|
11 September 2015
(Friday) - Back to Bethersden
I slept like a log last night. However I'm very conscious that my idea
of a good night's sleep isn't what everyone else would think it is. I got up
shortly before 7.30am which for me was something of a lie-in. I scoffed
brekkie, got my stuff (and my dog) together and set off to Bethersden. I've been planning to put out a series of
geocaches in the area and today was Phase Two of the project. My plan was to
do the walk I did last week, but the other way round. The idea being I might
find the footpaths I missed first time round. I also hoped to suss out exact places in which to hide sandwich boxes. As we drove down the A28 we passed the point at which my route crosses
that road. I made a point of looking at the time. It took three minutes to
drive from there to where I parked the car, and forty five minutes to walk
back. There was a minor disaster. A week ago when we walked the route for
the first time I waypointed thirty five potential
geo-hot-spots on both "Hannah" and on my phone. Within
minutes of starting walking I realised I'd inadvertantly deleted all of them from my GPS unit. Oh I
did swear. Mind you my phone saved the day. Again. However using the phone to find my geo-hot-spots I was able to
re-waypoint using "Hannah" and I later found that my initial
co-ordinates (which were on my lap-top) were good. So I suppose I was
able to double check my earlier work; which was a good thing. As we walked "Furry Face TM" tried to
chase a rabbit, and we caught a glimpse of a small lizard. Those things are *fast*.
We also saw friendly horses and ponies and (some of our number) rolled
in fox poo. My plan to walk in reverse order worked; we found the footpath for
which I was searching last time. And I found hiding places for loads of
sandwich boxes. The only really down side to today's walk was that within a
few hundred yards of getting back to the car my dog dived into a river then
climbed out through the mud. But filthy Patagonian Tripe-Hounds
notwithstanding, after four and a half hours and a shade over eight miles we
were back at the car. I'd
taken a few photos as we walked. Once home I bathed those of our number
who had been rolling in fox poo and then posted those photos on-line. My mum
likes that sort of thing. I scoffed a quick sandwich whilst watching this
week's episode of "Dominion" then started preparing all the
on-line stuff for my Bethersden geo-project. It
only took three hours to do. As I worked I got a message - I'd won something. Regular readers of this drivel may remember that a month or so ago I
went to the annual national convocation of tupperware
hunters. It was a really good day out, and next year we are seriously
considering spending a week at the annual convocation. It will be in north
Wales, and I follow the Facebook page of the people who are planning it.
Earlier in the week they'd
had a competition. "Why do you love geocaching?" I
answered "A different dog walk every time". They decided
that was the best entry and I was the winner. I've not won anything worth more than a tenner in financial terms, but
I'm really chuffed about it. Unbearably smug doesn't come close to describing
me at the moment. I scoffed a rather good bit of tea, and then spent the evening camoflaging sandwich boxes. Never a dull moment... |
|
12 September 2015
(Saturday) – Visitors
I was up and about far earlier than I might have
been today because grand-daughter Lacey was coming for the day. She arrived (with
little Rolo) shortly after 7am, and whilst we
both waited for "er indoors TM"
to get up we watched "Toddlers and Tiaras". The difference
in our perspectives on that show was amazing. Lacey actually took it
seriously. I suppose that for the young girls it is a serious business. And whilst we watched the two dogs played
chaotically. Sometimes I worry that Rolo is so
small that he will get hurt, but he seemed to hold his own with Fudge today. "er indoors TM" emerged from her pit, and we drove down to Brockhill Park to walk the dogs. And to find two hidden
sandwich boxes too. Lacey's trainers let in the
water but she didn't seem too fussed. And after an hour's walk we came home
via McDonalds for McLunch. We sat outside with the
dogs, and whilst "er indoors TM"
got the dinner we watched the McMinion letting the
helium balloons fly off in the wind. I
took a few photos whilst we were out, and the girls then went off to Folkestone to visit Auntie Kat. I took myself off to bed
for the afternoon and slept like a log. I awoke to find that little Rolo
had had a little potty emergency. Bless him; he's
only a puppy. It didn't take long to dispose of the evidence. That will be
our little secret. I then had a quick look-see on-line. The geo-feds
have checked out what I did yesterday and have given me the thumbs-up. So I
shall start on Phase Three of my Bethersden project
(finalising the cache web pages) when
I get chance; with a view to doing Phase Four (actually hiding thirty
eight sandwich boxes) when days off and decent weather co-incide. I was thinking about this coming Tuesday but the
weather forecast is for heavy rain. I must admit I'm rather grateful to the "geo-feds"
for their help with what I'm working on; for all that I grumble about them
sometimes, the unpaid volunteers have a thankless job really. I'm off to the night shift
now.... The last few have been very busy. I wonder how tonight will turn out. |
|
13 September 2015
(Sunday) - A Day in Bed
Last night I had the radio on during the night shift. There was a lot
of talk about the new
leader of the Labour party. No one had a good word to say for Jeremy Corbyn.
He seems to be universally despised because (in a novel break with
tradition) he seems to believe in what the Labour
party was traditionally all about. When I was a lad politics was rather cut and dried. Leaving aside
their ability to actually acheive anything, there
used to be a choice in the basic philosphy offered
by the two main political parties. On the one hand you had naked greed and on the other hand you had
standing up for the underdog. However when I was a teenager Margaret Thatcher
came to power. Her major achievement was to show the underdogs that naked
greed was for everyone; not just for the elite. Unfortunately at the time the Labour party
was run by a bunch of half wits, nutters and cranks, and it took seventeen years of Tory
rule for the Labour party to finally get rid of
their tree-hugging politically correct nonsense. Unfortunately in doing so
they also abandoned all policies of social decency and just pretended to be
the same as the Conservatives. And now after years of copying the Conservative party, the Labour party has finally elected a leader who seems to
hark back to the ideals on which the Labour party
was founded. I'm desperately hoping he's not also harking back to the
tree-hugging politically correct nonsense as well. Time will tell. It always does. As I left work to come home this morning so the sky was a glorious
pink-red colour. Usually that colour
in the morning is a herald of bad weather coming later in the day. There's no
denying I would rather a wet Sunday be today when I'm on nights rather than
when I'm planning on doing things. I had a bite of brekkie and had a look-see on-line. I then spend half
an hour putting right the mileage on my trackable (it's a geo-thing).
It had been stuffed up by a scout group from Essex. I'd like to think it
wasn't deliberately malicious, but it was the sort of stuff up that would
take a lot of doing. "er indoors TM" took "Furry Face TM"
for a traditional Sunday walk, and I took myself off to bed where I slept
until late afternoon. They still weren't home when I got up; I'm used to "er indoors TM" never being home. But
the house seems empty without "Furry Face TM". I had more toast, then checked emails. I had
a DNF reported (it's a geo-thing) so I shall
check that out on my way to work. I'm off there now. And in closing today - consider the date. When I was a lad there was a
rather good sci-fi show (that didn't stand the test of time) called
Space 1999. The show was futuristic; the action was centred
on a base on the Moon, the Moon having been blasted out of Eath's orbit by a massive nuclear explosion. The date of
that explosion: September 13th 1999. When I was a lad that seemed so far into
the future. Today that date was sixteen years ago.... |
|
14 September 2015
(Monday) - Thirty Four Years Later
On my way home from work I checked out the DNF on my geocache..... A DNF
is a "Did Not Find" report made on a geocache. People log
one of these when they look for a cache and don't actually find it. Either
people just can't find it, or it could be a warning that the thing has
actually gone missing. The supposedly missing cache had originally been
hidden in a crash barrier along a little-used country lane. It was very
unlikely to be found by chance by any passers-by. And the actual cache itself
was squirrelled away inside a Chinese puzzle box that wasn't cheap. Sure enough it had gone. Sandwich box, Chinese
puzzle box, the lot. The person who reported it as missing had left a
rather strange message in her log: "may be missing - I know how to
open these boxes - so ????"
On reading this you might wonder how she knows what sort of a box it was if
she didn't actually find it. This is the second box of this type that has
disappeared from this location. I'm not saying the thing has been
deliberately stolen by an unscrupulous geocacher,
but I am reliably informed that the last one had been. Theft of sandwich boxes... it's all a bit sad
really. Rather than coming straight home I stopped off at the
opticians where my idiot magnet seemed to be working at full power. One of
the receptionists was asking me the standard questions that receptionists
ask, but it was difficult for me to hear her (and for her to hear me)
as some incredibly stupid woman was also being asked questions. This woman
refused point blank to come to the counter; insisting that she sat down and
shouted across the store. She announced that answering questions was very
stressful for her because she was on benefits, and then rather aggressively
wanted to know why I wasn’t (on benefits). Eventually I got in to see the optician, and I
explained that I could be on benefits if it would help. The optician didn’t
actually wet herself, but it came close. Once the giggling stopped I had the
air blown in my eyes, did the letters and colours
thing, and was then told that my eyes have gone off about as much as would be
expected since last time. The new specs arrive in two weeks’ time. That's two
hundred more quid I'd rather fritter away on beer. I came home, popped the lead on my dog, and we went
for a walk. We got as far as Bowens Field (five minutes away) and then
the heavens opened. We turned round, and by the time I got home I was soaked
and my dog looked more like a seal than a dog. This rain is a nuisance. I had intended to mow the
lawn today. Instead I looked at my accounts (and wished I hadn’t), fed
my smalls to the washing machine, had a bag of parsnip crisps and went to
bed. I woke late in the afternoon to find I was cuddling "Furry Face TM"
as though he were a teddy bear. I was quite content to lay
there, but the strange voices in my dog's head told him to declare a red
alert, and he launched into a woofing fit right by my ear. I wasn't getting
back to sleep after that. Instead I got up and methodically emptied the
contents of the washing basket into the washing machine. Once "er indoors TM"
went bowling I ironed shirts whilst watching "Star Trek: Renegades".
I've been watching rather a lot of fan-made Star Trek episodes and films
lately. Star Trek: Renegades is by far the worst of the lot and (quite
frankly) that was up against some stiff competition. It relied too much
on having famous actors and heaving blue breasts and didn't actually bear any
relation to the show for which it had been named. And in closing today I'll make the observation that
today is an anniversary. Thirty four years ago I started professionally
testing blood. Thirty four years.... (glossing
over one particular hiccup) it's not been a bad old job really. The only
drawback was that when I first started I was promised a pension after forty
years. I was promised that I could retire on full pension on September 14
2021. That's not going to happen, is it? |
|
15 September 2015
(Tuesday) - This n That
Over the last two weeks I've spent quite a lot of
time (and money) working on a new series of geocaches which will lead
people on a walk around Bethersden. With everything
finally organised the plan was to actually hide the
sandwich boxes today. But the weather forecast wasn't good, and I woke at 6am
to the sound of torrential rain. For all that my walk is a pleasant one, there is one stretch where (for several hundred
yards) one has a choice of walking on a ploughed field or in grass higher
than my dog is tall. Either way, after last night's rain neither would be
fun. And there are quite a few other places where we'd get wet and mucky. And
the stiles would be slippery. The geo-feds have told me that I have first
dibs on my chosen locations for three months so I decided to conceal tupperware another time, rolled over and went back to
sleep. I finally emerged from my pit shortly after 8.15am
when my back hurt too much to lie in bed any more. It is a long time siince I've lain in bed long enough to get backache. Ove brekkie I checked out cyber-space. On the last
two days I've had something of a retrospective. Today "er indoors TM" was having one. Three
years ago we went to Deal and did a wonderul GPS
adventure game based on "Dungeons
and Dragons". There were some photos of the day; didn't
I look thin! Dungeons and Dragons - a knight's quest. I could
make a Wherigo based on that. I also reflected on other old times; "er indoors TM" had found photos
of our old house. The place was changed somewhat in the twenty four years
since we moved out. It has been bought by a property developer and is now up
for rent. Over seven hundred quid per month for a two-bed terraced house !!! As I scoffed my toast "Furry Face TM"
jumped up, wiggled himself into place next to me and
went to sleep. I then didn't really dare move; not wanting to disturb him
until he woke up. It was as well that he slept. If awake he's only have been whinging to go for our morning walk. I'd planned a walk
but didn't want to do it until the rain stopped. Eventually the rain did abate, and we went for a
little walk. We set off along the back roads heading south where we spent
five minutes standing by a dog poo bin watching a juggernaut getting itself
wedged morwe and more into a narrow cul-de-sac. As
we watched so an old woman brought her dog to the poo bin to have its dump. I
pointed out that the poo was supposed to go in the bin, not just in its
general vicinity but the old woman pretended to be deaf. We carried on through Park Farm and home through Willesborough Dykes where the footpaths were covered in
earthworms being eaten by slugs. I never knew slugs ate earthworms. Having stopped off at Pets at Home (someone got a
bone for being good) we came home. I'd chosen not to go round the countryside today
because it would be too wet. Today's walk was all on tarmac paths but even so
"Furry Face TM" still came home wet and filthy.
He had a quick hose-off and then he set about his bone as I had lunch whist
watching theis week's episode of "The Last
Ship". Much as I quite like the show it has occurred to me
that the baddies could comprehensively stuff our heroes by stopping doing all
their baddying on the coast and by moving inland. I then started making a Wherigo
based on Dungeons and Dragons. After four hours of effort I had two minutes of
game play programmed, and then the clans gathered in Somerset Road. Nooo-gar (not nougat) was scoffed and we watched
the exploits of Captain Kirk; ably assisted by Mr
Leslie. Mr Leslie is a much under-rated Star
Trekker. And once home we caught up on the episode of Bake
Off from two weeks ago. |
|
16 September 2015
(Wednesday) - A Day in Bed
This morning I woke with feet as cold as ice but with my head
sweating. How does that work? Over brekkie I had a look-see on line. I found
a couple of things which piqued my interest. In a month or so there will be a
sing-along Rocky Horror event in Margate. With tickets only (!)
fifteen quid each I'm rather tempted to go along. I wonder if I can find
anyone daft enough to come along with me. I also found out some shocking news about an ex-Star Trek actress. "Kes" (in Star Trek: Voyager") was a sweet
naive cute little petal. Apparently the actress who played the role has
recently been charged
with indecent exposure having flashed at
children; earlier this year she was charged with evading arrest, resisting
arrest, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault. Makes you think, doesn't it? With heavy rain forecast for the late morning me
and "Furry Face TM" set off promptly for our
walk. We took the back streets to Singleton Lake where (for the first time
ever) there was no one fishing there. The idea of walking before the rain
was that we wouldn't get wet. My dog didn't hold with this theoory and he chased after the ducks until he was chest-deep
in the lake. I then restrained him from getting in the way of cyclists. I wasn't
really paying attention; I should have realised who
was on the bike earlier. We then walked round to Viccie
Park where we met all the familiar faces. Today OrangeHead
had taken it back to basics with only her Chunky Little Friend in tow; none
of her posse was to be seen. Fudge had a ding-dong with Chunky Little
Friend's dog, tried to have his way with a passing Scottie, and (for no
apparent reason) seemed to run in terror from a rather thin labrador. Once home "Furry Face TM" had his
breakfast and I spent an hour programming a virtual little old lady to kick a
gallant kight in the goolies
before taking myself off to bed for tthe afternoon.
I dozed fitfully; I gave up trying to sleep shortly after 3.30pm. I'm off to work for the night shift now. Via Folkestone.
I've been promised cannelloni for tea. I wonder what that is..... |
|
17 September 2015
(Thursday) - Baby Jake
I had my cannelloni for tea last night whilst
visiting the Folkestonians. It was really good: I'd
recommend the stuff. I then went on to work where I did my night shift. As I worked I listened to the radio; sometimes it is
interesting; sometimes piss-boiling. Great fuss was made about the new Leader
of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn. Whether or not
he's going to be an effective Leader of the Opposition remains to be seen.
But yesterday he was filmed refusing to sing along with the National Anthem.
He probably thought he was proving some political point but it blew up in his
face; he's going to sing
it in future. He then flatly refused to say whether or not he
would kneel to the Queen at meetings of the Privy Council; pretending he didn't
know the format of the meetings. Even though it is common knowledge that
he will be expected to kneel. A few days ago I was singing the chap's praises; now
as far as I'm concerned he's fallen at the first hurdle. After less than a
week in the job he's come over as a bit of a twit. Can't we just write him
off as a bad move and replace him now? With my work done I went home via the nearby Sainsburys. Shortly after midnight a new geocache had
gone live there. On the one hand a cheeky little FTF
brightened up an otherwise dull day. On the other hand having been placed
where it is, it has effectively stuffed up hours of work on the Wherigo on which I've been working for the last few days.
Oh well... I suppose I should have reserved the
space. I shall just spend a couple of hours setting the thing up in Ashford
instead. After all it's not as though the Canterbury masses are clamouring to do the Wherigo I
put there a couple of weks ago. Once home I changed my undercrackers.
I'd managed for quite long enough in a pair in which the elastic had gone. I
then took an impatient dog to Frog's Island and back again for today's walk.
Unusually for us our walk passed off without incident. Once home, pausing only briefly to throw honey all
over the kitchen floor, I had a spot of brekie then
I then took myself off to bed for most of the day. I had a rather restless
sleep, when the phone wasn't ringing and my dog wasn't barking, my sleep was filled with dreams (nightmares) of
the BBC's children's show "Baby Jake". "Baby Jake" is the youngest of a
hippy commune which seems to be squatting in a rather un-natural windmill. My
Grandson likes the program. With animation comparable to what Terry Gilliam
did for Monty Python I thought it was frankly scary. "Nibbles"
the rabbit looks like it is about to go for Baby Jake's throat, and the less
said about the Hamsternauts the better. According to Wikipedia the show cost nearly two
million quid to produce. Two million quid? Surely it could be done cheaper? I'm off to work for another night shift now. I might
have a little geo-adventure on the way. I've seen there's another new
geocache on the map *exactly* where I'd planned Thanington's
Church Micro... |
|
18 September 2015
(Friday) - Bit Tired
Last night as I worked I listened to the radio as
usual. Said radio served up its usual blend of interest and drivel. I couldn't beleive a year
has passed since the Scots voted to remain part of the United Kingdom. But
despite an overwhelming vote to stay, the Scottish Nationalists are still
agitating for another
referendum. Don't they realise that
they had their choice and was told to get knotted? And our old friend science has detemined
that the most painful place in which a bee might sting you is
the nostril and went on to discover that all large mammals pee for the
same length of time. Apparently all large mammals empty their bladders in twenty one
seconds. You would think science might have better things to
do with its time. Unless it likes that sort of thing. Having done my bit I was immediately seconded to
chauffeur "er indoors TM"
from the garrage to her work. She's having her
brakes seen to. Apparently this is going to cost me six hundred quid. So much for what I was going to spend it on... Wiith chauffeuring done I took "Furry Face TM"
for a walk. Bearing in mind the conclusions reached by our old friend science
I watched my dog like a hawk. He'd not been out for a tiddle
yet this morning so I was able to conduct a scientific experiment. I
concluded that either my dog doesn't count as a large mammal, or science is
talking rubbish. Squeezing out one drop of tiddle
every ten yards my Patagonian Tripe-Hound still had plenty in his bladder
after an hour. We walked via the vets where I made an appointment
for his booster shot for Monday morning. Today he walkled
in there without a care in the world. On Monday I will need to use all my
might to drag him in there. How does he know? We came home, I went to bed. I lost count of the
times "Furry Face TM" declared "Red Alert"
and was barking at absolutely nothing at all. After a couple of hours "er indoors TM" asked when I would be
waking up as her car was ready to be collected. So I fetched her and took her
to the garage. By one of life's myriad coincidences the garage was
next to McDonalds so we had lunch together. I came home, and didn't really feel like doing
anything particularly active. For a moment I felt rather guilty and looked at
thee bright sunshine outside and looked at my dog. Then in the space of about
ten seconds the sky went black, the rain was torrential and the thunder
started. So instead I spent a little time working on my latest Wherigo. Six hours later I'd created about ten minutes more
game play, and "er indoors TM"
came home. A bit of tea, then catching up with episodes of Bake Off... |
|
19 September 2015
(Saturday) - Teapot Island
I was rather later getting going than I might have been today. What
with having swapped duties around (I'm accommodating like that) I've
just worked four nights out of the last six. Perhaps that's why I was tired. Over brekkie I had a look-see on-line. The rugby world cup has kicked off
(does rugby kick off?) and I'm not going to dare to say a word against
it. I will however ask the question that why is it acceptable that everyone
else can openly sneer at any pastime I enjoy (such as hiking, saxophoning, geocaching, home brewing, playing cards, astronomising, kite-flying, camping) whilst if I say
a word against organised sport, serious offence is
taken? I can distinctly remember a rather nasty incident a few years ago when
a chap I thought was a good friend had been lambasting me about some sad
Trekkie cards I was collecting at the time. I then mentioned something about
"Mighty Morphing Queens Park Rangers" and I was told in no
uncertain terms that were I not a good friend of his sister in law he would
have knocked me out. (This was no joke - he was serious) Today is also national "Talk like a Pirate Day". I've
mentioned this in previous years. It is a silly game which has run its course
though; even the official website has gone.
The replacement's
not really been updated for some time either, which is a shame. I got dressed; putting on a pair of the new pants I'd bought in Morrisons the other day. There is something wonderful
about having pants with functioning elastic. I then took "Furry Face TM"
for a walk. We went round to the park; normally I avoid this place on
Saturday mornings because of all the joggers. Today we were alittle later than usual and most (nearly all) of
them had gone home. My dog played nicely with some other dogs; I wish he'd do that more
often. More and more these days he just ignores other dogs. We came home, and I spent another couple of hours working on my next Wheri-project. It took that long to get a mythical beast
to ask a riddle. I say "that long"; perhaps "at
least that long" might be more accurate. I've not got it to work
correctly in the simulator yet. Being at something of a loose end for the day I looked on the geo-map
and had a stroke of inspiration. There was a canoe-ing
geo-event scheduled to end up at Teapot Island this evening so we thought we
might pop in. We arrived at Teapot Island, solved a geo-puzzle, failed on a Wherigo and being three hours too early for the geo-meet
we retired to the riverside pub and downed ale and watched the world go by
for a while. When the time was right we wandered over to the camp site and helped
the canoeists ashore, then helped get the barbecue fire going. And we had a
frankly wonderful evening just sitting and chatting as it got darker and
darker. I slept all the way home... |
|
20 September 2015
Sunday) - Hawkinge, Vets
As is so often the way, after an ale or two I
didn't sleep well last night. I was up and eating cornflakes whilst watching
"South Park" at 3am in an attempt to settle my wayward
stomach. It settled (after a fashion); I went back to bed. However my
sleep was marred by vivid dreams in which I had been called into work because
I had recently been to London for a day's parasitology course (which
I had) and my wisdom was required. In my slumbers an associate had
gone bright yellow having contracted the rather rare strain of "bastard
malaria". I finally gave up with the idea of sleep shortly after 7am and watched
"Toddlers and Tiaras" over toast and coffee. That settled my
stomach far more than cornflakes ever did. As I was prepping "Hannah" for the day I had a
message. Yesterday we spent the evening at a geo-camping event. Nick's phone
had been charging in the car as we sat chatting. This morning - disaster.
Nick's keys had gone missing. "er
indoors TM" had a look in the car as I prepared to drive
back out to Yalding to deliver them, but they
weren't in our car. For all that we breathed a sigh of relief I can't help but wonder
where the errant keys went. "Furry Face TM" seemed rather subdued this
morning; only nibbling at his breakfast. Usually when he sees me getting
backpack and walking boots together he gooes
mental, but not today. Perhaps he was worn out with yesterday's excitement.
But subdued dogs notwitstanding we got ourselves
together and set off to the south coast. We had plans to walk three shorter geo-serieses
today, and so we drove out to Hawkinge to start the
"Up on the Downs" series. Billed as a walk of two and a half
miles the plan was to do this and another series before lunch,
and then move on to Samphire Hoe for the afternoon. We started our walk with a little diversion into Hawkinge
itself, and then went on to the country lanes. We saw rabits
and pheasants and fox poo. The walk was rather scenic; I
took a few photos whilst we were there. But as for a geocaching walk....
I don't want to be negative, it wasn't a bad walk. In fact looking back it
was actually a rather good one. And in his defence
the chap who'd put the series out did say he'd never had much to do with the
outdoors and that he was new to hiding tupperware...
but... I had a couple of trivial issues with the series. Personally I would
have put more caches along the route; I would have had more caches at places
where you change directions and footpaths just to make that change more
obvious. And I would question the published distance. Billed as two and a
half miles, three GPS units measured it at a shade under
four miles. However I would say that the first geocache could have been worked
differently. The puzzle was was overly complicated
and the final co-ordinates were some two miles away and weren't actually on
the walk. The final location involved a little detour from the circuit of
about half a mile. I would have done it differently. But I'm probably just being picky here. The chap who'd put the caches
out had obviously put a lot of time and effort into providing me with a walk
around places I've never been before, and for all that I might whinge, I am very grateful for his efforts. As we walked we noticed a little blood on Suzy-pup's side. We stopped
and looked closer. There was a gash in her side about an inch long. So rather
than carrying on into Alkham we abandoned our plans
for the rest of the day and drove to the vets in Folkestone.
In addition to the gash the vet found two puncture wounds. We are pretty sure
she ripped her side on barbed wire; either when chasing pheasants, or when
falling out of a tree (it's a dog thing). The poor pup didn't seem overly bothered but had we carried on she
would have got the wound infected. The vet closed the gash with three staples
and put a "bucket of shame" over Suzy-pup's head and ordered
rest, so we cut the day short and came home. Once home "er indoors TM"
drove "My Boy TM" up to the hospital. Cheryl's
back had been getting more and more painful. She is booked for surgery for a
slipped disc, and having been to the Accident & Emergency department
she'd been told she could have the surgery today. After a few hours of waiting around she was told things weren't as
urgent as they seemed and she was back on the waiting list and sent home
again. And with "er indoors TM"
off bowling I was left "home alone" with my dog. He seemed
really quiet, and as I did the ironing I had to turn the telly
up over the sound of his snoring. He's laying asleep next to me now; he sees absolutely
knackered. He has got an appointment with the vet himself tomorrow. I shall
ask them if I'm fussing about him unduly... |
|
21 September 2015
(Monday) - More Baseless Lies
This morning over a bit of brekkie I read that the police have dropped
one of the investigations they are conducting about Sir Cliff Richard on the
grounds that there was no
truth in the allegations whatsoever. The poor chap has had these baseless
lies hanging over his head for a year since the police first raided his home
(when he wasn't there). Apparently Sir Cliff found out that he was being
investigated through the media rather than being told directly. And for all
that it's all over the papers, Sir Cliff hasn't been formally charged with
anything. Whilst there is nothing worse than "interfering" with
children, as time goes on it would seem that there's also not much that is
actually rarer. I've lost count of the amount of celebrities who have had
their careers and reputations ruined by baseless allegations. Perhaps the law might be changed in such a way that reporters can't
comment on allegations until the accused has been found guilty in a court of
law. I put the lead on my dog and we set off early for our morning walk; as
we went up the road we saw a bus trying to do an about-turn. I have
absolutely no idea what a bus wold want to do an
about turn but it was causing serious traffic chaos as it did. We then went on through Bowens Field where, having ignored a dozen
cyclists my dog then went mental at the next one. Sometimes I wonder what
goes through his head. We made our way to the vets; someone was due for a booster shot. I
walk him in there at least once most weeks. We go into the waiting area, sit
for a bit and come out. When we are not seeing the vet there is no problem.
When we are seeing the vet he knows. I had to drag him in to the place this
morning, and once in the place he cowered under the benches. As he cowered I
got chatting with a chap who'd brought in a ferret with a sore foot. My dog's
terror of the vet was no match for his jealousy and he soon
came out from under the bench too see what
he was missing. We were called in to see the vet; "Furry Face TM"
was dragged in. I lifted him onto the vet's table and caught him in mid-air
as he immediately leapt off. The vet was really good with him. I told her
that he seems rather quieter than usual lately. She gave him a serious going
over and couldn't find any problems. She suggested the problem might be a
combination of a historic bad back and not being as young as he once was. I
expect there's a lot of truth in that. He got his booster injection, and we came home to find we'd had a
letter thorugh the door. I say "letter";
it was a flyer from "Nationwide Cleaners" telling us how a
cleaner could save us valuable time. It's no secret that I don't live in the tidieest of houses. Having someone to sort the mess would
be handy. Until I saw their prices. Ten quid per hour. Ten quid
!!!! Am I just being mean? As I drove to work Women's Hour was on the radio. Perhaps I'm just a
sexist pig but I usually find that show generally supercilious and patronising. As I tuned in they were starting an expose
on erectile dysfunction which I found to be presented in a rather insulting
sort of way. I formed the distinct impression that erectile dysfunction was
being presented as yet another thing that men did wrong purely to annoy
women. This was followed by a pre-recorded interview with the late Jackie
Collins (she died over the weekend)
who was reading some of the raunchier extracts of her books. Call me old
fashioned if you will but in my world there is no space for caressing nipples
on national radio at 10.30am. I stopped off in Morrisons for apples and bananas, then went on to Go Outdoors for some new
trainers. They weren't cheap but hopefully they will last a little while. I
have a twenty-eight day no quibble return period so we shall see. And then to work. And as is so often the way when on the late shift,
all of note in my day was over and done with by 11am... |
|
22 September 2015
(Tuesday) - Tribble-ations
After a rather restless night mostly spent tangled in the hose of my
CPAP machine I got up and watched the latest episode of "South Park".
It is now up to series nineteen and... I won't say that it isn't funny any more but I got the distinct impression that if you
aren't up on current affairs in the US then most of the show will go over
your head. I then watched the end of "Toddlers and Tiaras"
in which the winners were very happy and the losers were not. With a few minutes before having to leave for work I quickly checked
my emails. Amazon (dot com) recommended that I might like to download
the ebook "Brideshead
Revisited" because it was simular to
something I'd downloaded before; namely the ebook
"Brideshead Revisited" (!) The rain was rather torrential as I drove to work. And as usual I
listened to the radio. Hate campaigners are trying to forment
civil unrest by circulating rumours that the
British Legion has decided not to sell
poppies in certain areas in order not to upset the minorities. It turns
out that this is all lies. If poppies aren't being sold anywhere it is
because no one in that area is volunteering to sell them. Perhaps those who stir the hatred might be better employed selling
poppies. There was a lot of talk about the dire straits in which Addenbrookes hospital is finding itself. Once a world
leader it is now in "special measures". A lot of hospitals
are now in these special measures; mostly for ridiculous financial reasons.
And they really are ridiculous reasons. Hospitals are supposed to be run like businesses these days. However
if a proper business like B&Q, Amazon or even a lady of loose morals (to
name three at random) gets a customer they provide a service or a product
and present the customer with a bill. Hospitals don't work that way. They get
a customer (patient) and provide their service for free then tell the
Government what services they have provided. The Government then says it cost
too much, gives a fraction of what the actual cost was, and then wonders why
hospitals are all over-spent. Equally laughable are moves by the English Bridge Union to have the
card game "bridge" re-classified as a sport.
Sport England had told them to get knotted and have made the accusation that
there are hundreds of bridge clubs up and down the country who are just
trying to milk money out of Sport England. After two hours I finally got to work. A journey which normally takes
forty minutes was somewhat delayed by five seperate
floods across the road. Once at work I did my bit, and had a much easier
journey home. Once home I walked "Furry Face TM" round
the block, we had a rather good omelette then set
off to Folkestone. We terrorised
the baby in his ball pool for a few minutes, then went on to the Tuesday
gathering of the clans. The ChromeCast was a little
under the weather, but we played a few games, then made ourselves feel sick
through eating too many sweeties and watched Captain Kirk being inundated
with tribbles. Quality stuff.... |
|
23 September 2015
(Wednesday) - Off to Norfolk
Yesterday I had a whinge
about why Addenbrookes hospital was in special
measures. Here's
another reason.; the wanton profiteering of the drugs companies. One such
comapy has put of the cost of one of its products
from $13.50 to $750 for no other reason than that they could. Perhaps NHS pharmacies might start making their own
drugs and cutting out the commercial compaines
altogether? In the last day or so I also whinged
at the amount of accusations of child abuse being made against children which
later prove to be unfounded. Today over brekkie I was reading that eighty
per cent of the prosecutions brought by the RSPCA fail to end in a
conviction. There is talk of removing the RSPCA's right to prosecute as they
too clearly seem to delight in making baseless allegations. And just as I was launching into serious rant mode I
had a message; my lego Advent calendar will be
delivered next week. That left me in a better frame of mind to start on the
morning's chores. A bit of cleaning, a bit of laundry, a few
deliveries and a tip run, then I took "Furry Face TM"
for a short walk. We passed the vets, and as we often do we popped in and sat
in the waiting room for a few minutes. Bearing in mind how terrified he was
in the place only two days ago it was amazing how he didn't bat an eyelid as
we went in today. Where I usually battle to get him (and keep him) on
the scales he jumped on of his own accord and sat quietly. We walked round past the Riverside Inn. The field
there has a transient horse population. Some days there are no horses at all.
Last week I counted six. Today there were over a dozen horses there. Where do
they come from? Where do they go? Once home I packed my bits and pieces and waited for
"er indoors TM" to
return. Once she was home we loaded the car and set off on our adventure. In planning our route to holiday-land I'd seen there
was a virtual geocache only a couple of miles away from where we were
driving, so (after a hundred miles) as we came into Cambridgeshire we turned off. We needed to stretch our
legs a little, and a little walk up to a trig point seemed like a good idea. The description for the virtual cache said there
would be sheep in the field. There were Highland cattle. With great big
horns. But they seemed friendly enough and didn't bother me as I crossed
their field to do the secret virtual-geo-ritual. To be honest virtual geocaches are so obscure I
wouldn't turn down the chance to get one; after all I expect I can run faster
than a cattle. Back to the car, and after another sixty miles we
were skirting Norwich and in the village of Postwick
which is pronounced (by some) as "Possick".
We found the B&B... eventually. The post code took us half way along a
country lane. The instructions were to keep going until the lane became a
dirt track then follow the dirt track. About a mile past the point at which I
decided that we must have made a mistake we found our temporary home. It's a really lovely cottage miles from anywhere. We
settled in, and the landlord told us of a rather good pub not ten minutes up
the road. We soon found The Yare in Brundall, and
before we went in we went to hunt down a geocache which the app said was only
a hundred yards away. We soon had it. And (would you beleive?)
having driven a hundred and sixty miles, the last person to find it was a
fellow regular at the Kent cachers' meetings. Dinner was excellent; as was the two pints of ale
that washed it down. We had a minor hiccup in finding our way back to base,
but that's one of the problems of being based in the back of beyond. But we soon pulled up. A quick shower, and now we're
slobbing about in a rather luxurious lounge. I
shall make myself a coffee in a minute... |
|
24 September 2015
(Thursday) - Great Yarmouth (and elsewhere)
Being in a different bed, I didn't sleep that well. I saw every hour
of the night. I was just about to give up with sleeping and go have my
morning ablutions when I heard another resident of our guest house go into
the bathroom. He (she or it) was in there for half an hour. What were
they doing? When they finally finished I went in and was done in five
minutes. Brekkie was very good; marred only by having to make polite conversation
with the other people who were staying in the place. As we scoffed we
commented on the rain. The weather forecast said it would be finished soon. With brekkie scoffed the rain showed no signs of abating. So with
complete confidence in the BBC's weather forecast we set off on our planned
mission for the day. We started off with a little geo-nonsense. The UK's most
easterly geocache is in Lowestoft. It would be daft
not to get this one as it was (relatively) so close. It only took half
an hour or so to get to Lowestoft where (despite
the rain) we got not only the most easterly cache but also the most
easterly multi-cache and the most easterly church micro too. As the weather cheered up we then combined geo-nonsense and playing
tourist by visiting Burgh castle where we did a Wherigo.
Burgh castle was an odd place; little more than a wall in a field. I felt
sorry for the passing normal people who were obviously trying to hang round
us as our Wherigo cartridge was giving us far more
touristy information than the normal people were otherwise able to glean. From Burgh castle we went into Great Yarmouth to visit the Sea Life
centre. It was excellent. All sorts of sea-going beasts were on display. I
was in raptures over a crocodile and "er
indoors TM" got bitten of off a shrimp. But the highlight
of the place had to be the penguins. We watched their antics for ages. Did
you know that they bray like donkeys? After an age we moved on. We wandered up and down the prom but (to
be honest) I was a little disappointed with Great Yarmouth. I was born
and bred in a seaside tourist town, and the only difference between any of
them is the name on the rubbish that is sold to the tourists. Don't get me
wrong - I'm not saying Great Yarmouth is bad. Far from it. But I was
expecting something different and it is (in essence) just like
Weymouth, Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings, Folkestone and all the rest. Mind you I was disappointed with Amazonia.
I'd been looking forward to seeing the reptiles; the place had clearly been
shut down for months. With a little time on our hands we then drove up the coast to Kelling for a walk. And on the way home we were getting a
tad peckish so we thought that we'd take pot luck
and find a pub at random for dinner. As luck would have it we found the Brickmaker's
in Horsford. We were fortunate; Thursday night
is steak night. It took two pints of their (rather good) ale to wash
down the plate of steak and chips. If any of my loyal readers are ever north of Norwich I can thoroughly
recommend this place. We got back to the guest house shortly after 8.30pm to find we were
seemingly "home alone" so we slobbed
about in the sitting room. I
took loads of photos whilst we were out; I eventually got them on-line.
If I have anything bad to say about this guest house, it is that the wi-fi is a bit iffy... |
|
25 September 2015
(Friday) - Banham Zoo
Another restless night unfortunately. But at least today there was no
one else in the guest house to whom we had to be
polite. As we scoffed a rather good Full English we watched the deer in the
distance from the conservatory window. We were soon ready for the off. We went (via a few geo-targets)
to Banham Zoo. Many years ago when
holidaying in Felixstowe with the fruits of my loin
we had a day trip to Banham Zoo and I could remember it being a really good
day out. So seeing it was only half an hour's drive (or so) away we
thought we'd have a look-see. By the time we'd finished geo-mucking-about we arrived at the zoo
shortly before mid day. I was initially shocked at
the cost; forty quid to get the pair of us in there seemed a tad extreme but
in retrospect we got our money's worth. There were all sorts of animals there; big and small. And you could
get up-close with a lot of them. The meerkats were
really good, as were the mongooses (mongeese?).
The otters were noisy. the lemurs were sweet. The
penguins were all on their nests. "er indoors TM" took a really
good video of the giraffes which was marred only by my declaration (toward
the end) of "Christ!!! - Look at the size of that zebra's cock".
Perhaps I am naive but I didn't realise just how well endowed the average zebra is. We had a cream tea and watched a cheetah devour half a cow's leg. Then
we walked round the place again. The zoo was laid out in such a way that for
all that it is not huge, it seems a lot larger than
it actually is. We'd been there for over four hours before realising there were camels and tigers. I went there thinking it might be a good way to spend a couple of hours;
we were in there for over five hours. We only left because the place was
closing. We came home thinking we'd pick up a few random geocaches on the way
back to base, and that we might find a pub for dinner as we drove. We found
several random caches including one quite a way up a tree (and another Wherigo too) but we didn't randomly find a pub. So
instead we took a recommendation from our current landlord. The Shoulder
of Mutton in Strumpshaw is an odd place. I
walked in and took an instand dislike to the thug
who was falling about at the bar whilst shouting obscenities. They I saw the
barrels on the bar from which the ale was poured directly. Bearing in mind
that time was pushing on and that we were hungry we stayed and had cod and
chips. The food was *really* good, but of all the places we've visited
over this holiday so far, this place is far and away the worst. Leaving aside
the fact that the waitress couldn't keep up, this place needs to decide what
it is. At the one end (where we were) is a
haute cuisine restaurant. At the other end the thugs are competing to see who
can shout the F-word the loudest. You can't successfully cater to both
markets.... I
took loads of photos today, once we were back at the guest house I popped
them on-line as we slobbed about what I have come
to see as our personal lounge. I
took a few photos of the place. Apparently some other normal people are staying. I'm told I shall meet
them soon... I'm not sharing this lounge. |
|
26 September 2015
(Saturday) - Castle Acre
I woke at about 5am this morning and lay awake listening for whoever
else was staying in our guest house to go into *my* bathroom. At
6.30am I realised that rather than waiting for them
to get in the bathroom first (which would really boil my piss) I
should get out of my pit and do my ablutions first. So I did. We met the newcomers at brekkie. They were hippies (!) And
vegetarian hippies as well. I wasn't having any of their nonsense as I
scoffed my sausages and bacon. The hippies said their goodbyes; they were only staying the one night.
As "er indoors TM" got
ready I watched for deer out of the conservatory window. Unfortunately there
weren't any about today. "er
indoors TM" was soon ready and we set off for today's excusion. When we decided to come to Norfolk for our holibobs
we asked on the "Geocaching in East Anglia" Facebook group
if there were any must-do caches in the area. The first place we were told
about was the geo-walk around Castle Acre. We were told it was a walk of five
and a half miles which would take about three hours, so we had our morning
mapped out for us. We found the place and started walking. I made a minor
navigation error initially, but I can throw the pair of us over barbed wire
fences when the need arises. Despite our little diversion we had an excellent
walk. We saw trout swimming in the river, we found friendly cows, and we even
saw a grass snake. If only I had been quicker with the camera... As we walked we found ourselves passing the entrance to the ruins of
the Abbey, so we paid the nice lady from English Heritage and had a liittle diversion looking round the place before
continuing with our walk. As a geo-walk it was good; all of the cache hides had excellent GPS
co-ordinates. Personally I would have put in a few more caches (but that's
just me). But like all cache series the published distance was something
of an underestimate. Billed as a stroll of five and a half miles, "Hannah"
measured it as a tad under eight miles (and I did
turn off the GPS as we took our abbey diversion). Mind you for all that the walk was described as one of three hours, the same description did warn us that it was
possible to spend all day in the area. We did spend quite some time looking
round the Abbey and then at the end of our walk we had a look round the
castle then had a cream tea. Our original plan was to visit Castle Acre in
the morning and then go on to Sandringham in the afternoon. We finished our
cream tea shortly before 5pm. We abandoned our plans to visit Sandringham. We'll go there another
time. We'd had advice for where we might have dinner. The Ferry House in Surlingham is only a mile fom
our guest house, but what with there being a river in the way it really is
quicker to walk there from the guest house than it is to drive there. But we
were coming from Castle Acre so we drove. The place was welcoming; the staff friendly. the
beer choice was good and the food excellent. I'd certainly go back again if
the opportunity arose. I
took a few photos whilst we were out and once back to base I put them
on-line. As I type this I'm feeling rather sorry for our host at the guest
house. There is some big rugby game on the telly;
he's been raving about it since the moment we arrived. He's been looking
forward to it because tonight the guest house is full and he's been expecting
to watch the match with a room full of like-minded rugby fans. Everyone else
is currently cowering in their rooms, and I'm only in the lounge because I've
paid good money to be here. Periodically (when something rugby-ish
happens on the telly) he's making noises of amaazement and wonderment. He simply doesn't understand
that I have absolutely no interest in the rugby whatsoever and hasn't noticed
I've spent the last hour messing on my lap-top... Apparently England lost and "we" have got to do well
against Australia next week... Speaking for myself I'm not going to make any
effort against Australia at all... |
|
27 September 2015
(Sunday) – Southwold
It was rather sad to find myself having my last brekkie at Colts
Lodge this morning. As I admired the view there was a deer, bold as
brass, right in the middle of the field outside the conservatory. With brekkie scoffed we said our goodbyes to our hosts. If any of my
loyal readers need a bed for the night in the Norwich area I can't recommend
Colts Lodge highly enough. We've had a good holiday. We've eaten well, seen some rather good
views, had some good days out. However we didn't get
to some of the places we were hoping to see, and we didn't get to visit
friends that we would have liked to have seen. I didn't realise just what a large place
East Anglia is. Today's plan was (basically) to come home and to do something
or go somewhere on the way. Looking on the map it seemed that a trip to Southwold wouldn't be too much of a diversion. Southwold is where the nobs had a country house in "Upstairs
Downstairs". It is where they make Adnam's
beer. And there is a virtual geocache on the pier too. So we thought we'd
spend some time there. We got there.... I've spent a little time trying to be polite in my
phrasing. But I can't. Southwold was a bitter
disappointment. A few days ago I said that I was disappointed iin Great Yarmouth because it was little different to any
other seaside town. Southwold is very different. On
the sea front it has a pier, a crazy golf course, a boating lake and a stall
that sells ice cream. And that's it. If you search out the back streets you
might find the sweet shop but (frankly) I'm not sure it is worth the
effort. I took a few
photos of the place. It is very pretty but there really isn't much there.
Mind you there were thousands of peoople
milling about the place. Perhaps the rest of Suffolk is even duller? We then took a rather circuitous route home (via a geocache or two)
and collected "Furry Face TM" from his holiday
with "My Boy TM". I've missed that dog. He's
currently now asleep in his basket having been walking for much of the
afternoon. "er indoors TM" has gone bowling and I'm left "home
alone" yet again. It seems to be back to business as usual... |
|
28 September 2015
(Monday) - Bethersden Again
There was a lunar eclipse last night. I had all good intentions of
getting up and having a look but what with having come back from a busy hoiday I slept right through it all. Had anyone else been
up for the thing I would have got up. After all I had the day off work today just in case anyone had
suggested an alll-nighter. I had planned to rant about the eclipse today. But I don't really feel
ranty.... I feel - I supposed "resigned to
it" sums up my feelings. Earlier in the year there was a solar
eclipse for which the astro club arranged nothing.
On 23 May this year Saturn was at opposition which made for good viewing. The
astro club did nothing for that either. on 24 May I whinged and
suggested we might organise something for this
eclipse. Nothing happened.... I realise I'm to
blame. I should have sorted something. But part of me cynically can't help
but wonder why are we trying to build a multi-million pound observatory when
no one actually goes out and looks at stuff? Over brekkie I looked at photos of the eclipse taken by people who did
stay up. It looked rather pretty. I wish I had made a point of getting up
now. And as I scoffed my toast "Furry Face TM"
glared at me from his basket when he thought I wasn't looking at him, and
made a point of looking away from me when he thought I was. Since collecting
him from "My Boy TM" yesterday he had something
of a sulk on. When I was ready for the off I showed him his lead and he grudgingly
got up. Usually he runs mental at the sight of the lead. Not today. Today I decided to do phase three of my Bethersden geo-project. Having figured out where I wanted
to have my geo-walk (after two reconnaissance missions) and having
done all the geo-admin, today I went out and drop-kicked thirty-eight
sandwich boxes into various hedges. We got to Bethersden and had a good walk.
Admittedly I would have got on faster had I not taken "Furry Face TM",
but what is geocaching all about if not taking a dog for a walk. As we walked
we acquired another dog; a sheep-dog joined us at one of the farms. He was
very friendly and clearly had every intention to follow us on our way. I had
to tell him "SIT!" as we left his farm and keep pointing at
him to stop him following us. A little way down the route we were crossing a field full of sheep.
"Furry Face TM" started barking at them and the
flock ran off. Or that is (to be precise) all but one of the flock ran
off. One single sheep ran up to us and was every bit as friendly and
affectionate as the dog we'd recently shaken off. I made a fuss of this
sheep; my dog immediately started pulling away. I tried to get a photo of the
two of them together. The sheep was up for it but Fudge seemed to be
terrified of this sheep. We left the sheep behind, and after a near miss involving a sandwich
box and a river I saw one of the biggest birds I've ever seen outside of a zoo.
It was about fifty yards away, circling. The closest thing I've ever seen to
it was an eagle I saw when in Canada. I think this thing must have been a
huge buzzard. Andd just as we
were on the home stretch we had a little entertainment. There is a part of
the walk where the footpath goes rather close to someone's house. That
someone was a nudey ladey
without any clothes on who was sunbathing in the nip. I was shocked (!)
Unfortunately there are some people who shouldn't sunbathe in the nip,
and this nudey lady was one of them. We completed our walk; just over eight miles distance and just under
five hours time. Once home someone had a bath. One
of our number had been rolling in fox poo when the
opportunity arose during our walk. I'm not naming names but I will say there
were only two of us on the walk and it wasn't me rolling in the poo. I fancied a sandwich for lunch so I popped up to the corner shop.
There was a silly old bat in the shop who was loudly telling everyone that
she hoped they'd all seen last night's eclipse as there won't be another for
many years. I told her not to beleive what she read
in the papers, but she loudly dismissed me. Eclipses are ten a penny she
said, but last night's was special because it happened during a full moon.
"How often do you think that happens?" she asked me with a
self-satisfied smile. "Every single lunar eclipse - dur!!!" I replied, and before she could continue
I launched into an ad-hoc lecture about the phases of the moon and eclipses
using a can of Doctor Pepper to be the Sun, my sandwich to be the Earth and a
lamb samosa to be the moon's stunt double. As I concluded (to a minor round of applause from the assembled
throng) the old biddy dismissed it all saying "well I've never
heard any of that before and I'm interested in astromomy"
(not astronomy!) By now I was getting hungry and was more than a
little tetchy. So I told her that I had no doubt that she was interested in
"astromomy", but if she was also
interested in astronomy (as well) why had she never once shown her
face at the local astronomy club which has been going for at least seven
years. It was clear that this old biddy was not used to people telling her
when she was talking out of her arse, and she tried
to make out that there wasn't a local astronomy club..
I told her that as a founder member of the club and the club's current
treasurer I could assure here there certainly was. I gave her the web
address, details of the Facebook group and told her where to find us. The old bat had a sudden change of attitude and then started treating
me as though I was the Astronomer Royal and started telling me about her
grandchildren who live in Cork. It was at this point I realised I should
have kept my mouth shut I eventually shook her off, and then as the washing machine chewed on
my smalls I finally got to scoff my sandwich. By now "Furry Face TM"
had forgotten his sulk and he snored on my lap as I
set about the final bits of geo-admin for the geo-project. I had so much else I wanted to do this afternoon but by the time I'd fnished fannying about it was
nearly 5.30pm. With "er indoors TM"
off bowling I found myself watching vintage Doctor Who on the horror channel
whilst struggling with a geo-puzzle. If anyone can name the
people in this picture I'd be grateful.... |
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