26 July 2024 (Friday) - Car Service

I slept reasonably well, but again woke feeling rather pissed off and miserable. I’ve been doing this quite a bit lately. I’m OK once I get up and get going, but start the day incredibly morose.

I got up and got going. And made toast and had a look at the Internet. It would seem there’s a load of Adventure Lab geocaches that have gone live for next week’s Mega-geo-event. Created by all sorts of people. Had I known about this I would have been only too happy to have been a part of it. I’ve offered to help with several Mega-geo-events over the years. With the exception of the one in Sussex which was cancelled because of COVID my help has only ever been accepted by the events miles away (I wrote Wherigos for them). Presumably someone relatively locally doesn’t want me involved. Understandable really; I wouldn’t want me involved either…

I struggled with Wordle, then kicked everyone else out of bed in readiness for the morning.

 

The plan for the morning was to get the car serviced, so I loaded up the dogs and we all drove over to the garage. Whilst the car was in I asked the nice man to recharge (or whatever) the air-con, and to have a look at the rear left tail light. There’s an intermittent fault in which the car tells me to have a look at the rear left tail light, but when I do there’s nothing wrong with it. And I asked them to have a look at the cruise control too. The cruise control works fine, but there’s supposed to be an icon on the dashboard which comes on to tell me I’m in cruise control mode. There isn’t.

The nice man in the garage gave the dogs a treat each, and told us to come back two hours later. So we took a little walk round the footpaths along the edge of the Sevington Inland Border Facility. The place is huge, and I saw maybe six lorries in there. Surely it would make more sense to use that rather than half a motorway if there are issues at the ports?

 

We then walked out half-way to Mersham for geo-reasons. There is a geocache there. To be able to claim a find you had to have found a geocache which had been hidden in every month since 2002. I qualified when the thing went live, but what with one thing and another I didn’t get to go for it. And after a couple of months with no new caches going live within miles  I resigned myself to not qualifying for it.

Last night I had another look at the requirements for this cache. I didn’t have to find one hidden in every month since 2002. I had to find one every month from 2002 to 2022. A subtle difference, but I qualified for that Had I actually read what it said I would have done that cache ages ago…

As we walked we met a jogger. Clearly a jogger in that he had trainers on. But he also had a suit too. What was that all about?

 

Just as we were walking past the hospital on the way back to the garage my phone rang. It was the garage. I thought that was handy – we were on our way back there. But it wasn’t handy at all. The car wasn’t ready. The garage needed some part or other, and the garage would need the car all day.

Was that a problem?

What could I say?

We walked home. Once home my watch told me we’d done six and a half miles and fifteen thousand steps.

 

Having been out rather longer than expected the dogs tucked into their water bowl when we got home. I made a quick cuppa for me and “er indoors ^TM”, then cracked on in the garden. I got the lawn mowed, cleaned out the pond filter, tidied up the gravel then fell asleep by the pond.

I then sulked. I had planned to get some sleepers and start sawing them into shape. I had hoped to look at getting pond liner. All of which rather depended on having a car. So I read my Kindle for a bit then wrote up some CPD until the keyboard on my lap-top died. Re-booting sorted it out, but it was rather worrying. What was that all about?

 

With lap-top going again I then strained my brain on another geo-puzzle that went live on Romney Marsh a day or so ago. Seemingly based on cakes, puddings and desserts I *think* there’s some Star Wars related element to it as well. But, be that as it may, how I turn a list of cakes, puddings and desserts into numbers is beyond me.

And then my phone beeped. The garage had sent a video showing how bald my tyres were. Did this mean the car was ready? I phoned the garage… no it wasn’t ready but if I wanted they could replace the tyres in the meantime. And did I know my rear windscreen wiper blade was juddering?

I agreed for them to sort that lot out. I carried on struggling to sort out the puzzle pudding until the garage phoned back to say the car was ready. Six hours longer than I had been expecting it to take, but there it was. I like being able to zoom about in a car; keeping the thing in a zoom-able condition isn’t *that* much of an inconvenience really.

 

With my step count into the seventeen thousands I didn’t fancy walking to the garage. “er indoors ^TM” drove me and the dogs back over there (they were hoping for more treats) and she then drove on to her ex-works summer party. Sometimes I am rather jealous of her. She keeps up with all her old workmates. I don’t, really.

I took the dogs to the garage where they got more fuss and more treats, gave the nice man over six hundred quid, collected my car and came home where I sparked up Netflix and started watching something new. “The Decameron” was only released onto Netflix yesterday. It’s a comedy… and I know that not through having watched two episodes, but because it says so on Wikipedia. I might stick with it; it might perk up.

 

“er indoors ^TM” came home with dinner. At the risk of appearing ungrateful I fed the fishsticks to the dogs. I would have given them the garlic bread too if it wasn’t poisonous to them. It’s a bit poisonous to me too as it always gives me bellyache.

 

And in closing, today would have been a good friend’s birthday. Living where he did meant that I didn’t get to see Terry very often, but the half-dozen times we met up every year were always rather special.

He’s been gone three years now…

25 July 2024 (Thursday) - Pouring Hard

“er indoors ^TM” got up and left me asleep this morning. After half an hour Treacle came back upstairs and squeaked until I got up. She didn’t need me to do anything for her; she’d just decided I’d been in my pit for quite long enough.

As I drove home yesterday the weather forecaster was crystal clear that the weather in the South East would be dry overnight and dry today. It was quite clear that we’d had heavy rain when I let the dogs out, and the forecast had changed to drizzle all day.

 

I made toast and looked at the Internet. The plan for “er indoors ^TM”’s birthday next week had been to join in with one of the activities for next week’s Mega-Geo event. Sadly it turns out that the tickets all sold out ages ago.

I don’t want to detract from the hard work that has gone into the thing, but having been looking forward to joining in with some of the events planned for next week’s Mega-Geo event, it isn’t turning out like I thought it might. Previous Mega-events I’ve been to have been based at one place and all the activities go on from there. This one seems to be spread over much of Kent and Sussex, and involve a lot of driving for those taking part. I’ve seen quite a few complaints from people who had planned to go to the thing by train and stay for the week, and are now faced with either hiring for a car or having a rather boring week waiting about whilst everyone else goes out for the day.

 

When “er indoors ^TM” set off to work it was actually raining. By the time I’d got Wordle on the fourth attempt the rain had slackened off to drizzle, and with Met Check and the BBC giving totally contradictory weather forecasts I thought I’d just take pot luck.

I set a load of washing and the dishwasher going, and we went up to the woods and did one of our usual walks. As we walked my watch did a silly. What it usually records as being a shade under four miles was only three and a half miles today. But we got round in the dry. Expecting rain I’d taken a coat and carried it the entire way. Had I not taken the coat it would have poured hard.

 

We came home. As I emptied the washing machine and dishwasher so the heavens opened. I had planned to mow the lawn, but instead ran round with the Hoover despite Bailey trying to fight it, scoffed last night’s leftover kebab then set about the ironing whist watching a film on Netflix. Captain Underpants is always entertaining.

I then watched the last episode of “Boomers”. An odd series; like so many other series I found myself watching the last episodes because having watched so many it would be churlish to pack up half way through.

With the rain still hossing down I went through the monthly accounts. As always they could be a whole lot worse (is it wrong for me to want to have far too much money?) but they are certainly a lot better than they have been in the past.

 

With the back garden still awash with rain there was nothing I could do outside. I settled on the sofa with dogs and watched episodes of “Four in a Bed”. I’ve not watched the show for a while, but as ever proprietors of various B&B establishments crucified each other for things that they did wrong themselves. Today’s shows featured some chap who wouldn’t shut up about his having won the “Loo of the Year” awards for several years despite his glamping site’s loos having skid marks.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up sausages and chips for tea which we scoffed whilst watching “The Traitors US” in which twenty American so-called celebrities think that shrieking a lot makes them appear intelligent and astute.

 

Hopefully this rain will have stopped by the morning…

24 July 2024 (Wednesday) - Geo-Meet After Work

I slept reasonably well, but was still awake long before I needed to be. I made toast and watched another episode of “Boomers”. This one featured him who played Ford Prefect in the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The actor looks to have lost about two feet in height over the intervening years.

 I had a look at a dull Internet, got Wordle on my fifth attempt then got ready for work.

 

I wandered off down the road wondering where I'd left the car. I eventually found it two streets away. Sometimes I really think we need to move; if only to get off-street parking so I know where my car is.

As I drove to work the pundits on the radio were talking about how the Prime Minister has laid down the law and suspended seven Labour MPs who defied him by voting against his proposals for only allowing child benefits for two children. Whether or not this specific case is right or wrong, it really shows yet another failing with our so-called democracy. In the last few weeks we've clearly elected a load of MPs who must do as they are told or they will be ruthlessly slapped down. So much for our having a voice in Parliament, eh?

 

As I drove up the dual carriageway (which was once a motorway) I kept glancing over at the "Operation Brock" bit in which absolutely no lorries whatsoever were being queued. Again I found myself wondering why the Highways department have trashed a perfectly good motorway. I also saw three cars driving down the "HGVs only" bit...

I got close to Junction Five and joined the queue. At half past seven this morning the queue was already quite long enough. The traffic was reduced to only one lane because of roundabout-widening roadworks. Mind you I can't help but think that the half-dozen workmen might have been better employed actually widening the roundabout rather than just standing about. To be fair one digger was doing digging. But then again there was space for at least a dozen diggers to have been doing digging.

 

Work was work. Getting home after work was just as problematical as getting there had been. With lanes coned off for no apparent reason it took nearly half an hour to get to the motorway. Had there been anyone at all working I could understand why lanes might have been cordoned off, but no one at all was working. And as I drove down the “Operation Brock” bit of the motorway I saw one lorry in fifteen miles. Thet’s not “not many” – that’s “one”. I counted.

 

I got home, collected “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs and we drove to the Leas in Folkestone where there was a little geo-meet going on. With people from miles away in the area for next week’s Mega-meet we spoke hunting Tupperware with people from Scotland and Holland. And I got four points towards the next ge-souvenir.

 

Getting home rather later than usual we had a kebab for dinner. Having had a guts ache all week, that should either kill or cure.

 

23 July 2024 (Tuesday) - Rather Busy

I slept like a log until four o’clock last night, went to the loo, and then lay awake for the rest of the night. When I finally dozed off Treacle did some silly nonsense in which she rolled herself in all the bedding.

I got up, took the dogs into the garden where I harvested a bumper crop of dung, then made some toast. I peered into the Internet as I do. There was consternation being expressed at the number of road closures planned across the county for this weekend. Four major A-roads and two motorways look to be closed. It strikes me that the obvious answer is to only close one road (and one road only) at a time. Get all available workmen on it regardless of what firm they work for. and work round the clock until the job is done, then move on to the next.

Look at the shambles at Coldharbour (M20 J5) yesterday where the roads are up until Christmas. It took me half an hour to drive one mile and there was only one digger doing anything there.

 

I got the dogs onto their leads. Eventually. Morgan is a worry. He clearly loves the walks when we are out, but he trembles seemingly in fear whenever it is time to put the lead on, and when we get to the car and do “Boot Dogs” he cowers at the back. Does he get travel sick?

We got to the woods and had a rather longer walk than usual. I’d had reports that two of the geocaches I’d hidden had gone missing. And they were at opposite ends of the woods. The first one was missing so I replaced it. The second was fine.

As we walked we met another Jackshund – a dog crossed between a Jack Russell and a Dachshund. Like Morgan and Bailey are, and like my Fudge was. This one looked rather like Fudge; a paler colour, but a fat little barrel like he used to be before his kidneys gave up. We chatted for a bit; Jackshunds aren’t that common.

 

As we drove home we saw a car with the registration plate MUM 1. Once home the dogs went straight into the bath. The overnight rain had made the woods rather muddy, and we had grubby tummies.

After a quick sausage roll for lunch I set off on a little mission. First of all to return the frankly useless waterfall thingies that I’d mistakenly ordered from Amazon. The idea was that I did all the paperwork on-line and got a bar code emailed to me. I scan that in the shop that does Evri delivery, and they print the return label for me. Seems straight forward.

So I went to the nearest shop that does Evri deliveries but sadly the village idiot was on the counter.

She said I needed to come back tomorrow because they don’t have the machine to print labels. I asked what time the thing would be arriving tomorrow. She said it wasn’t. I asked her how I would print a label if I came back tomorrow. She said I wouldn’t be able to. I asked what good my coming back tomorrow would achieve. She gave me a dopey grin. I asked if there were any other shops locally that did Evri.

The nice lady in the shop by Aldi eventually printed labels from her machine, but it clearly wasn’t easy.

 

I then had a look at sleepers for the garden pond’s next upgrade. My first choice of places to go to (Wickes) didn’t have the bits I needed, neither did Jewson. The timber merchant near Stanhope had two sleepers that I could use. But only two. And on closer inspection both had great big cracks through them. The nice man there said to snap them up as they are shipping out all their stock to other branches as the place is closing next week. The landlord has doubled the rent.

In the end my last choice of DIY shops (B&Q) had what I needed. Well, not what I needed but what I might be able to use. As I was looking about I saw someone I recognized. The ex-chairman of my old scout group. I’d not seen him for years. We chatted for over an hour. It was rather odd really – twenty years ago the scout group was such a large part of my life, and consequently so was this chap and his family. And now I’ve not seen him for years. There are so many people like that in my life. Which is why I like Facebook – if nothing else it keeps me updated on what people are up to.

 

I wrote up some CPD then settled myself in front of the telly for the evening. “er indoors ^TM” boiled up a very good curry which we scoffed whilst watching the last episodes of “Meet the Richardsons”. A rather good show even if you do watching it wondering what is real and what is made up. Amazingly Kemah Bob really does sound like that.

 

I didn’t sleep well last night. I’ve walked nearly seventeen thousand steps today. In theory I really should sleep well tonight.

22 July 2024 (Monday) - Intimations of Mortality

I slept rather better last night, but was still wide awake at half past four. I lay awake for an hour, then got up, made toast and scoffed it whilst watching an episode of “Boomers” before having my usual look at the Internet.

Yesterday one of my old schoolfriends had his birthday. He posted to Facebook about it, and listed some of our old contemporaries who hadn’t made it this far. Overnight a lot of people had commented listing more names of old schoolfriends who’ve passed away. A surprising number of people with whom I grew up aren’t here any more. One drove a motorbike into a skip. One had diabetes and wouldn’t stop eating sweeties. One went down with the Herald of Free Enterprise. One had a stroke (aged fourteen!) One had an asthma attack and was dead minutes later. One died when the Nimrod he was piloting crashed. One had bowel cancer.  One committed suicide. The class bully had leukaemia. Quite a few people were posting all sorts of nice memories about these people… I didn’t have the heart to point out what a nasty piece of work the class bully had been. But it was a long time ago.

Following on from this I spent quite a bit of time today trying to recall a conversation from years ago. Two of the people in our year at school shared a name. Same first and last name. In my mate's Facebook post he claimed that one of these two had died; the one who sat on my table during physics lessons forty-five years ago. This came as a revelation, but as the day went on I could remember having heard this years ago.  I messaged the chap who I distinctly remembered telling me the news, but he couldn't remember the one who died; let alone telling me that he had died.

I must have heard it from an old school mate I once met on the train to Brighton in 1983 who regaled a list of many from our schooldays who had died before getting to twenty years of age.

The chap on the train said that he'd heard that I had been one of them.

 

As I drove to work the pundits on the radio were all a-twitter about the news that President Biden isn't going to run for a second term as President of the USA. The smart money was backing his vice-president who looks set to get the nomination of her party, but whether or not she will beat Donald Trump is a very different question. The expert being interviewed implied that by stating stark nonsense as actual facts.  Mr. Trump appeals to the rather thicker members of the electorate who seem to struggle to tell the difference between stark nonsense and actual facts.

 

Work was work. I did my bit. Being on an early shift was something of a result in that I got out early. But thanks to the roads I didn't get home with any speed. Works to widen the roundabout at Junction five of the motorway meant it took half an hour to drive the mile or so from the hospital to the motorway. And the utter stupidity which is Operation Brock meant it took another half-hour to get down the motorway.

As I drove through Operation Brock I did my usual thing of counting how many cars had ignored all the signs and notices and had driven into the bit clearly labelled "HGVs ONLY!!!". Last Friday there were six; four on Saturday and five yesterday. Today there were three.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up dinner then went bowling. I watched drivel on the telly from underneath a pile of dogs whilst trying to stay awake. I really need a decent kip. It doesn’t help that after nearly four weeks since my nose job it still feels as though I’ve been slapped in the face.

21 July 2024 (Sunday) - Dull

I woke feeling like death warmed up, got up and tripped over Treacle who was laying on the floor.

I made toast and scoffed it whilst watching an episode of "Boomers" which was rather excruciating, then had a quick look at the Internet to see if I'd missed anything overnight. I hadn't really.

 

The roads were rather quiet and deserted as I drove to work this morning. No one wants to be up and about at half past seven on a Sunday, do they?

As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about the upcoming American Presidential election. It would seem that last week's failed assassination attempt has effectively handed the election to Donald Trump.

He and his supporters are claiming that his survival was God's will, and apparently millions are gullible enough to believe it. Have I ever said that democracy is a silly idea.

There was also talk about how Third World countries have got the hump as more and more Western governments are putting conditions on the aid money they are sending. Apparently some see it as gross interference with their native culture when an aid package will only be given if a certain country stops persecuting gays or starts educating girls.

Funny old world...

And it would seem I'm going to get an above-inflation pay rise. I can remember being told (over forty years ago) that NHS workers got below inflation pay rises from Conservative governments and above inflation pay rises from Labour governments. Back in the day that might have been true, but I can't remember the Labour governments of twenty years ago being very generous. This lot might be, but there's also talk of their taxing pensions. Ho hum...

 

I got to work a tad earlier than I might have done, and went to the works canteen to treat myself to the cooked breakfast. I say "treat myself"... it was a tad grim and gave me a stomach ache which lasted some time.

Work was work; weekend working is always odd. The place seems strangely empty with only a skeleton staff in. But I was only working the morning. I was home by early afternoon. I got home to find the pond’s water level was down by six inches. A minor issue with the bog filter; I had hoped to replace it all in the late autumn. I might need to get a move on with it.

I ran out the hose pipe to top up the pond, and whilst I was at it I gave the plants a splash. And found a dead sparrow in one of the planters. I was rather amazed that the dogs hadn’t found it. Bailey would have eaten it; she is quite foul sometimes.

 

I then sat on the sofa… and woke up with neck ache an hour later. “er indoors ^TM” sorted some lamb chops and we scoffed them whilst watching more episodes of “Meet the Richardsons”. The show started well a few seasons ago, but it’s running out of steam. Bit like me, really.

20 July 2024 (Saturday) - Hic !

As I drove home yesterday evening the weather forecast said that it would be a hot and humid night and that people wouldn’t sleep well.

They were spot on, but too much ale did help.

 

I made toast and peered into the Internet as I do most mornings. There were petty squabbles about Lego and Star Trek, and endless adverts for Temu who seem to be making everything from children’s toys to saucy underwear these days.

Judging by the pictures I saw several people were on holiday; I suppose it’s the time of year for that. My old mate from Boys Brigade days who moves from hotel to hotel was posting to the world from the Lake District today. He says it is cheaper for him to lead the lifestyle he wants by moving form hotel to hotel rather than having a house of his own with all the associated expenses.

It’s another world, isn’t it?

I got Wordle on the fifth attempt. I also had another dubious friend request.

 

Being Saturday we drove round to Repton and Dog Club. We’d had three people asking about Dog Club in the week, and in a novel break with tradition two of them turned up. So often we have people asking so many questions about Dog Club and preparing us for a dramatic appearance, and then never showing up.

Dog Club went rather well. It was a shame that Pogo had to hump Kai, but there it is.

Having totally failed Steve’s “Guess the Lyrics” competition on the radio on the way to Dog Club we were out late and missed the Mystery Year competition on the way home.

 

We got home. The dogs immediately went to sleep. I counted up the Dog Club money and paid it into the bank, then cracked on. Washing on to the line, putting away the garden chairs from last night, running the shears over my head for a quick haircut, then popped over the road to get some beers for later.

Disaster.

For years the Polish shop over the road has had the best beer selection for miles. Today it was no different to Tesco. Such a disappointment.

 

“er indoors ^TM”  slipped off shopping. I fell asleep on the sofa and dozed for an hour or so until she returned. We had a spot of lunch, then set off to Sittingbourne where we had a rather good afternoon sitting in Karl and Tracy’s garden drinking beer, eating pizza and putting the world to rights. There’s no denying that after six pints cracking the gin open might have been construed as a questionable move, but it was a move I would certainly do again.

We left Pogo there; he is now having a little holiday. We came home down the M20 following a train which was setting off all sorts of sparks as trains do. “er indoors ^TM” said it was lightning; who am I to disagree (as Annie Lennox once sung).

I’ve got to be up early for work tomorrow… right now that seems rather ambitious.