19 April 2025 (Saturday) - Dog Club and Rolvenden

I can remember saying goodbye to Karl and Tracey yesterday evening, but from then on it was all something of a blur. I woke with a rotten headache at about four o'clock this morning and lay awake suffering for an hour or so before giving up and getting up.

I made toast and peered into a very dull Internet. You would have thought that what with yesterday being a Bank Holiday people would have been out and about and doing things. People probably were, but just didn’t do what I do and post it all over Facebook. I wish people would; I’m very nosey and like seeing what people are getting up to. Mind you I had over a hundred and fifty emails about people having found some of my geocaches in Kings Wood. Apparently a group of four went out yesterday to see if they could find over a hundred in a day. I’ve done that eight times in the past – it takes some doing. Thirty-seven yesterday was hard going.

 

Being Saturday we drove round to Repton and Dog Club. As we drove Steve wasn’t on the radio. His stand-in was better than the previous one, but it wasn’t the same.

Dog Club was fun. Attendance seemed to be noticeably down, but we still counted (about) eighteen dogs. Mayhem ensued, as it does.

 

From Dog Club we popped to the garden centre. During the week I’d been given a packet of random seeds, and so we got a planter and some compost and some buns.

We came home for a cuppa and those buns, and I then spent a few minutes putting the compost into the planter and toshing out the seeds.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up the pizza slices that were left over from yesterday. That made for a quick lunch, then we took the dogs to Rolvenden. Many years ago (five) “er indoors ^TM” hid a series of geocaches in the area. They’ve run their course, and a route of eight miles was a tad long anyway. So we went on a little recce to see if we (she) couldn’t come up with a shorter route. We (she) now have a provisional route of three and a half miles planned out.

After a couple of hours we were back at the car. We came home and had a cuppa, and the dogs were soon snoring.

 

“er indoors ^TM” sorted chicken wings for dinner which we scoffed whilst watching a film. “Yesterday” was rather good. And then we watched some documentary about a chap living in a canal boat. Looks a bit like needless hard work and farting about to me.

Oh – I took a few photos of today. Yesterday I walked more than twenty-one thousand steps. Today was only half that amount.

 

18 April 2025 (Friday) - Romney Marsh

The dogs were rather restless last night, and when they are restless so is everyone. They eventually settled, but I didn’t really. I got up at half past six, made toast and had my usual rummage round the Internet as I do every day. I suppose back in the day I used to read the newspaper which was equally drivel-esque.

There was a photo of the old Sainsburys supermarket in Hastings on one of the old photo memory pages. I remember that place – I always used to work the night before Christmas eve so that I would follow the family to Hastings on the train on Christmas Eve morning. My brother would meet the train and we would have a pint or two then go to that Sainsburys where mayhem ensued. As the shop was going to be closed for a day, the panic-buying was ridiculous. Some bargain would be announced on the Tannoy and there would be a stampede for that which you’d never normally buy in a million years. People would whip things from your trolley in desperation and so my brother would sit in the trolley, guarding the stuff we would buy and we’d take home to mum a whole load of stuff she neither needed nor wanted, and would throw out in the New Year. Happy days.

I also had a look at the “Hematology” Facebook page. Some work-related Facebook pages are good. Some are interesting. Some are quite educational and I learn a lot. This “Hematology” one is worrying in that someone will post a photo of something or other and ask what it is, and no matter what it is the answers will range through every medical condition from “perfectly healthy” to “three weeks dead”. And the more obviously wrong any given person is, the more aggressively arrogant they are that they are correct.

 

I Munzed and Wordled, and got ready for the day. We drove down to Old Romney where we met Karl and Tracey, and we then went on a little wander across the marsh. It was a shame Morgan had to roll in fox muck quite so early in the day, and Treacle didn’t help by paddling in the stagnant puddles. In a novel break with tradition it was Bailey who ended up the cleanest. Our walk was on flat ground which was just as well. Usually when up the woods we cover just over four miles; we walked over nine today.

As is so often the way our route was mapped out for us by a series of geocaches; thirty-seven of them along lanes and tracks and up trees. Most of them were found relatively easily; one was missing so we replaced it. From the hint and previous descriptions it would seem that if it was there it would have been an easy find. There are those who demand that replacing missing ones is up to the chap who hid it; personally if one of mine has gone I’d rather someone replaced it for me. I can pop out a new pot in less time than it takes me to whinge that it needs to be sorted.

 

After nine (and a bit) miles and five and a half hours we were back at the cars. We took a short drive home and had pizza and crisps in the garden. And beer. I opened a bottle of port to find it had gone off. Rather than being a ruby-red colour it had gone brown and lumpy.

I didn’t know it did that.

 

I took a few photos today. As I do. It’s been a while since we went on a decent day’s walk. We used to do it all the time – must get back in the habit of doing so again.

17 April 2025 (Thursday) - Not At Work

I slept reasonably well, and over some toast I watched another episode of “Back” on Netflix. In many ways it is very like “Peep Show” by the same people.

I then had a look at the Internet. One of today’s arguments on Facebook was on a pension-related group about National Insurance contributions. Do payments made before your eighteenth birthday count. I don’t see why they wouldn’t, but there were those that seemed to think there was an issue. I should really check that the government has made a note of my payments over the years really, shouldn’t I?

The other argument was about how you keep rainwater out of garden ponds as rainwater is supposedly dangerously acidic. Supposedly. You would think that it rained neat sulphuric acid from what some people were posting.

 

I munzed, and went to wake the dogs. Rather than going to the woods, we had a dull walk today. We drove over to the Skoda garage, left the car for its service and walked home. Usually when in the woods the dogs get to run about as much as they like. On the way home from the garage there wasn’t much scope for running riot.

As we walked we came past the bit near Asda which often floods. It wasn’t flooded today. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing I’ve eventually been told by the county council’s corporate director for growth, environment and transport that the river floods at the Asda underpass as that is the footpath’s lowest point (as if that wasn’t glaringly obvious) and it floods because of blockages downstream (as if that wasn’t glaringly obvious either). I’ve also been told that all the county councilors have jacked it all in pending the upcoming elections.

I shall see who gets elected in a couple of weeks’ time and see whose arse we kick to get some dredging done.

 

Once home I gathered dog dung and then mowed the lawn. And with lawn mowed I got out my paints and painted up more garden statues. A duck, a frog, a couple of badgers and three birds. I then pulled weeds, and had a look at the little pond. We’ve a second baby fish in there. A couple of weeks ago I saw a goldfish less than an inch long; there’s another one of about the same size but dark in colour.

We had a spot of lunch and then the phone rang. My car was nearly ready.

I finished painting, tidied up, and went to get it.

 

In the past I’ve dropped the car off and had this silly idea of walking the dogs until the car is ready. But there is only so much of an on-lead dog walk that you can do. Today there was a delay of over four hours between dropping the car off and being told it was ready.

I took the dogs over to get the car. A service, change of brake fluid, air-con re-gassing and a fancy video cost me the thick end of five hundred quid. To say nothing of three hundred quid’s worth of advisories that we’ll worry about next week.

Who’d have a car?

 

We came home where I made a cuppa, and put a load of shirts in to scrub. And then once they’d been scrubbed I ironed them whilst they were still damp – that’s the best way to iron shirts.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up sausages and we scoffed them whilst watching more “McDonald & Dodds” in which Uncle Bryn did it.

 

I really hurt right now – I wish I knew why. I’ve walked less than I walk on an average walk round the woods, mowed the lawn, painted some garden ornaments and done some ironing.

I really should program “Hannah” for tomorrow…

16 April 2025 (Wednesday) - Another Day At Work

After a reasonable night’s sleep I started watching “Back” on Netflix. It is amusing enough and has the advantage that the episodes are short. Why does so much on Netflix these days have to be an hour long?

I then had a little look at the Internet as I do.

Someone was selling a Zeroid. Back in the day (over fifty years ago) there was a range of robot toys called “Zeroids”. There’s a Facebook page about them that I started following a little while ago with a vague plan to see if I might get a Zeroid or two of my own. After all, I’ve sneaked Lego into the living room – how hard could it be to get a couple of small robots? And then I had a look at the prices of the things on eBay. Broken ones are changing hands for about a hundred quid. One in decent condition sold last night for three hundred dollars.

 

As I drove to work I found myself becoming rather sick of hearing about the antics of American politics from the pundits on the radio. When the UK found itself saddled with a Prime Minister who had clearly and demonstrably ballsed it all up there were processes in place to get shot of her. Doesn't the American constitution have such safeguards?

Mind you for all that Liz Truss was gone in a month, it did take a while to hoik that idiot Boris Johnson out. I suppose in many ways he was like Donald Trump in that many people will overlook what he's doing as he's rather entertaining to watch.

There was probably a lot more on the radio, but my attention drifted when the sports news came on. So often rather than reporting any actual news, the pundits just wheel on someone who was something or other to do with a recent sporting event with no regard to how eloquent they may be. And so rather than giving a good interview, the so-called expert just mumbles and continually repeats "um - yeah - you know". This has been going on for years; you'd think that peak-time national radio would have higher standards, wouldn't you?

 

I stopped off at the little shop in Sissinghurst to get a sandwich and to get some supplies for the weekend. Once I'd bought my stuff, just as I got back to my car some idiot woman driving the other way down the road pulled across the road and stopped her car blocking me in. She had a full-blown battle with the child in the passenger seat then forcibly dragged the child out and marched into the shop... leaving my car stuck.  I managed to reverse and get past her car, and I drove off - leaving her car in the middle of the road pointing the wrong way and effectively blocking the traffic. I could have said something; I couldn't be arsed. Not my circus, not my monkeys.

 

Work was work. I did my bit, and came home again. I really shouldn’t complain about my job, but it is seriously getting in the way of my doing whatever I would rather be doing.

 

Pausing only briefly for geocachical reasons “er indoors ^TM” boiled up fish and chips which we scoffed whilst watching the last episode of Martin Clunes and Neil Morrissey’s trip across France. That was rather good. We followed it with some utter tripe in which Bradley Walsh tried to pretend that the pyramids were built by aliens.  I never had him down as being so thick as to assign everything he doesn’t understand to aliens.

15 April 2025 (Tuesday) - A Day At Work

I didn’t really sleep very well last night. I gave up trying to sleep shortly before six o’clock, gave up and got up.

I didn’t fancy watching the telly today; I made toast and had a look at a rather dull internet. Very little had happened overnight really. There were also rants about water bills and how unfair it is that what we pay goes into some holding account which then pays our water bills later, and in the meantime the water company makes profit on the interest. My water bill has gone up by almost forty per cent, and my leccie and gas bill has gone up by ten percent as well. They run a similar payment plan. Maybe I should see if I’m in that sort of scheme and cut back on what I’m paying?

 

I Munzed, checked Google maps for my journey to work, and taking care not to wake anyone I got ready for the off. It was raining as I left for work. Oh well - the car needed a wash. Pausing only briefly to get some petrol I set off west-wards through the -hursts and the -dens and the traffic lights to Tunbridge Wells. 

 

As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about an interview with American vice-president Vance who sees the chances of a UK-US trade deal as being rather good. I don't doubt he does; most commentators seem to think that US fiscal policy has blown up in their faces as they simply don't understand how finance works. I can't pretend to be an expert on the subject, but I'm willing to learn. Take for example something President Trump has been very vocal about recently - the US's balance of trade with many smaller countries.

If you sell your toaster to your next door neighbour for a tenner and then buy his car for a thousand pounds, there's a trade imbalance in theory. However in practice if both sides are happy with the deal, what's the issue. Where's the sense in forcing unwanted transactions just so the amount of money going each way stays the same?

If I can understand that and explain it in less than a minute, it is rather worrying that the leader of the free world can't seem to.

 

I eventually got to work. I always say that I quite like working at Pembury but I hate going there. Some see that as a contradiction in terms, but it is spot-on. I like working there, but the journey leaves a lot to be desired. There weren't that many sets of temporary traffic lights this morning compared to what I usually face, but as always there wasn't anyone actually working where the traffic was being held up. And again no one had any patience at the traffic bottlenecks at Sissinghurst and Goudhurst church.

What Google told me would take fifty minutes was well over an hour.

 

But I got to work and did my bit, and for all that the rain had stopped the journey home again took a lot longer than Google would have me believe.

Once home we did the “Feed The Fish” ritual – my water irises are flowering… if water irises is what they are. If not, something else is flowering.

 

I can’t say that I worked especially hard today, but the novelty of working has definitely worn off.

14 April 2025 (Monday) - Deer and Lions

Much as I like Facebook, it is boiling my piss at the moment. It’s not so much the adverts and the irrelevant drivel, it’s how out of date it is. This morning I saw all sorts of posts about what friends had been doing over the last two weeks. An old mate came back from ten days’ holiday this morning – the photos of him at the airport leaving appeared today. There were photos of another old mucker who had been mountain-climbing… in late March. And I saw an advert for the beer festival which happened on Saturday.

A week or so ago “er indoors ^TM” posted up asking if anyone fancied an afternoon in the garden. So many people posted that the posting came up on their feed days after it had all taken place.

 

I took the dogs up to the woods. The car park was busy, but once away from the car park we managed to avoid most of the normal people. We had a little explore today; there’s one path at the end of the wood which heads east. I wondered if it went on to loop round with another path I’ve wondered about.

It didn’t.

It just went to a dead end, which was odd as there were horse hoof prints on the path.

As we walked back we saw the bluebells beginning to come out, and we saw a herd of deer; we’ve not seen deer for a few weeks. And I saw Treacle was carrying a stick. And then I looked closer. It wasn’t a stick. It was half a deer’s leg, and she wasn’t going to give that up without a fight. I took the line of least resistance and let her carry it.

 

Usually we walk just over four miles; we covered five and a half today. We came home, and I had a look on-line. I had hoped to do a tip run, but there weren’t any spaces available today. That’s unusual… but I did find the tip was rather busy when I went last Monday. So rather than a tip run I dug a small net out of the shed and spent half an hour trying to scrape the stones off of the bottom of the big pond.

I then ran out the hose and cleaned out the pressure-filter. A smelly job which used to take over an hour with the old box filters now takes less than fifteen minutes, and all the muck goes straight onto the monkey-puzzle tree.

 

And then “er indoors ^TM” told me my Amazon parcel had arrived. Yesterday I bought some more paints for the garden ornaments. I got out the burnt sienna and dulled down the lions which looked not unlike sherbet lemons yesterday.

 

It was late afternoon before I got round to Munzing today. I sparked up my app to find that our clan has reached our first of three goals for this month. And then I made rather hard work of Wordle, finally getting it on the fifth attempt.

With my back twinging I set about the bots on chess dot com…

I like chess dot com. I don’t like back twinging.

13 April 2025 (Sunday) - Painting, Beach

With nothing on the agenda for today my plan had been to have something of a lie in. Sadly I woke before four o’clock, and by the time I’d been lying in my pit bored senseless for three hours I’d had enough.

I got up and had my usual morning brekkie ritual.

The plan had been to watch last night’s episode of “Doctor Who” this evening, but with the amount of spoilers all over the internet this morning I found myself if I needed to see the show. There wasn’t much else going on really. I munzed, Wordled, and went into the garden to have a look at fixing that flooding gusher.

 

I had a stroke of genius – water needed to go through the weed proof membrane… so the weed proof membrane needed a couple of holes. All I needed to do was to scrape the shingle off of the two lowest points, cut an inch square hole in the weed proof membranes, put it all back together and all would be sorted.

Scraping back the shingle was easy enough, but cutting the membrane took some doing. My Stanley knife was slightly more blunt than my bum. I really would have had more luck rubbing my backside against the membrane  than using that Stanley knife. But then I remembered. Last weekend when I tidied the shed I labelled one of the drawers “Sharp Things”. And I stuck a packet of new Stanley knife blades in that drawer. There are those who feel that sharp things are best left in a drawer labelled “Sharp Things”, but I managed to fit the new blade without severe laceration. And equipped with a sharp blade I soon cut the holes I needed.

 

And then… more painting of garden ornaments. Rabbits, otters, frogs, crocodiles, lions. All came out rather well except the lions. Do you remember that episode of “Only Fools and Horses” in which Del Boy paints Mr. Chin’s Chinese restaurant with bright yellow luminous paint? The lions came out rather reminiscent of that.

 

We took the dogs out. We went to Broomhill Sands again. Being the weekend we thought the place might be busy so we left it till later in the day. There weren’t that many normal people abut, but there were a *lot* of kite-surfers. I counted fifty at one point. As they surfed and flew into the air, Treacle got incredibly over-excited as I threw pebbles into the water for her, and Bailey got incredibly over-excited as she found a week-dead dogfish. All three joined in with the dogfish which we eventually got from them, but Bailey then found something else equally foul. I have no idea what it was – she ate it before I could get it from her.

 

We came home and I had a look on Amazon. Pausing only briefly to cancel the internal paint I bought by mistake I ordered a job lot of garden ornament paints which should be here tomorrow. Hopefully in time for me to tone those lion statues down a tad.

 

“er indoors ^TM” sorted a rather good pasta bake which we scoffed whilst watching last night’s episode of “Doctor Who” despite having seen all the spoilers earlier.

It was far better than the Christmas episode we watched last night, but I found myself asking what the writers were up to. One minute the show was a serious hard-hitting drama; the next a frankly ridiculous farce.

Let’s hope the show improves… I want to like it.