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30 June 2016 (Thursday) - Got My Ladder Back

Despite having spent much of yesterday yawning and telling everyone just how tired I was I only slept for about five hours and lay awake stroking a sleeping dog for an hour or so before finally getting up well before 6am. I'd slept with an ear full of olive oil (having had the thing bunged up all week) and it finally seems to have cleared.
Over a bit of toast I had a look-see on-line. I got just the teensiest bit cross. Last week we had the in-out Euro referendum. Thee "outers" won. Like it or not, that was the result. This morning (only a week later) many of those who (loudly) voted "out" were posting pro-remain propaganda on social media and also posting rather hateful stuff about those who'd led the "out" campaign.
Anyone who reads this drivel will know that I don't agree with democracy because a large part of the electorate (often including me) really don't have a clue what is going on.... I might have mentioned this before...

I popped the lead onto "Furry Face TM" and we went for a little walk round the park. It had rained overnight and everwhere was wet. So my dog chose the soggiest place imaginable to "drop his load". And he has developed an annoying habit in that when he "drops his load" he drops one bit then walks on before dropping the next bit, eventually leaving it along a trail of six feet or more. It takes some clearing up; especially when in grass taller than the dog is.
As we squelched on with soaked trainers we met OrangeHead's dog who was being walked by someone who looked like a younger version of OrangeHead. A Mark II version perhaps?
We also met lots of young families on their way to school. Some of the smaller children were on bikes and were being constantly shrieked at by mothers who were concerned that the children were too far ahead of them. I watched one such family with amusement. Mother was forever screaming for the child to slow down, and the child was forever falling off of the bike.
Have these mothers never cycled before? It is *very* difficult to cycle at a walking pace; probably beyond the ability of the average six year old. These mothers should either cycle alongside their children, or leave all the bikes at home.

However, apart from "Furry Face TM" trying to pick a fight with a bus, our walk passed off relatively well. Once home my dog had his brekkie and I drove off to meet "My Boy TM" for a spot of brekkie. You can't beat a fry-up. Or "frip" as they are known.

With brekkie scoffed out plan was to go to Cheryl's grandfather's farm where much of "Daddies Little Angel TM"'s stuff had been stored when they moved house over the last winter. By a process of elimination I'd determined that my ladder was either there or it was lost. I'd last seen the ladder at their flat in Folkestone and I was sure it had gone to the lock-up. Cheryl was adamantit was not.
We arrived, opened the lock-up, and the first thing I saw was my ladder. Finding my ladder was like being reunited with an old friend...


29 June 2016 (Wednesday) - Stuff

I was again up far too early this morning, and on finding no episodes of Dad's Army on the SkyPlus box (Saturday's episode was cancelled because of the tennis at Wimbledon) I put on an episode of the Irish equivalent of "The Joy of Painting". Effectively it was Bob Ross with a brogue... in the past I've been scathing about the program but it grows on you.
Today the star of the show was painting over the top of a pre-existing picture. An interesting idea; I should get my paints out again and have a go.

I set off to work. The news was abuzz with all sorts of stories. The referendum has caused some chaos; not least of which in the Labour party. The leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has been told in no uncertain terms to resign by pretty much all the Labour MPs. But as he was elected by a landslide majority of the membership of the Labour party he was refusing to go.
I'm sure he's a decent chap, but the press have clearly decided against him. There is never a news article about him in which he is not made out to be an idiot. And there was a *lot* of scandal following his election with all sorts of allegations that loads of Conservative supporters had joined the Labour party purely to elect a twit as the leader.
It is sad that history repeats itself. In the 1980s the Labour party deliberately made itself unelectable, and it is doing so again.

There was also talk of loads of deposits of helium having been found in Tanzania. That will put a spanner in the works for the space program. With a world wide shortage of the stuff helium mining on the Moon looked to be the only way to secure a supply of the stuff, and consequently something in which private enterprise might invest.
But Tanzania is much easier to get to...

As I drove along the A28 this morning I was very conscious of a van not five yards from my back bumper all the way. if any of my loyal readers need new floorings I wouldn't advise Clarks floors & carpets.

I got to work, and spent quite a bit of the day looking out the window. The morning was one of bright sunshine and the forecast rain which was due to start at mid day didn't start. There was a geo-walk planned for the afternoon. I would have liked to have gone along but getting the afternoon off had proved to be a tad problematical.

Mind you the rain did start when I was on my way home, and I got rather wet whilst walking "Furry Face TM" round the park this evening.
I then spent a little while planning for the weekend's geo-rally. We've not had one of those before. I *think* we can visit eight counties...



28 July 2016 (Tuesday) - WTF is Going On?

I was worn out when I took myself off to bed last night. However I was stil wide awake at 5am this morning. Over brekkie I watched last night's episode of "Game of Thrones". Despite a marked shortage of anything being flopped out it was rather good. However I watched it with very much a sense of "WTF is going on?" I *really* need to watch the entire lot again from the beginning (in quick succession) so I can find out just "WTF was going on".

And talking of "WTF is going on?", as I drove to work the pundits on the radio were asking that very question of the prominent Labour MEP Richard Corbett and the Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. Both made the same (rather valid) point. Last week the country voted to either remain in the EU or to leave the EU. In retrospect this question was rather simplistic. Had the "remain" side won then we would probably still have had all the nastiness we've had, but the country would have carried on pretty much the same.
However leaving the EU means radical change. Various flavours of change had been offered by two independent leave sides in the run-up to the vote. It is now becoming clear that many of the proposals offered by the "leave" sides were actually mutually contradictory. The savings made be leaving the EU can only be spent once; not multiple times. And Britain can either remain part of the European trading bloc (and have to accept all the associated rules) or it can leave. It can't do both. And no one seems to be brave enough to even mention the whole sorry topic of immigration.
It was made quite clear that until a new Prime Minister is appointed the only certainty is uncertainty.
Much hated Minister for Health Jeremy Hunt (and now a wannabe Prime Minister) has even proposed a second EU referendum in which the country will decide exactly what we do want having left the EU, and was talking about not actually leaving for another four years.

I got to work and had a rather busy day. I didn't like that very much. Mind you in between working we all found our our stripper names. Apparently your stripper name is the colour of your undercrackers followed by the last thing you ate. I was "blue biscuit". However the winner was undeniably the "black sausage" with "grey cheese sandwich" as runner up (for no reason I could fathom).

During the afternoon tea break the famous tennis player Annabel Croft was on the telly beiing interviewed about tennis (obviously!). During the late 1980s she was on telly all the time, and (quite frankly) made the thing worth watching.
Bearing in mind she's only two years younger than me I think it fair to say the years have been far kinder to her than they have to me....

27 June 2016 (Monday) - Bit Dull

I woke this morning to find I ached. Much as I like the walks on a Sunday I do ache on the following Monday. I struggled to get my carcass down the stairs, and over a spot of brekkie depressed myself by reading what was going on in the world of social media.
The aftermath of the referendum is going to take a long time to settle. A *lot* of those who voted out have loudly made it clear that they didn't vote for racism-motivated reasons. I suspect that many of them didn't. However the morning's news brought reports of a tirade of racially motivated name-calling, grafitti and even physical attacks happening all over the country. The mayor of London and the British Muslim Council have expressed concerns as has the Polish embassy in London.
Some of this may well be anti-Brexit proopaganda, some of it (including the ones personally know about) is not.
As a child I had such high hopes for the future.

I took "Furry Face TM" for a walk. As I put the lead onto him I noticed it was rather tight. He is supposed to be losing weight...
We went for a wander round the park. As we went I saw a woodpecker and I admired its beauty. They seem to be becoming more common in the park. My dog saw a squirrel and saw red. He set off in hot pursuit through a bush. I'm sure there used to be more squirrels in the park.
We also met a posse of dog walkers. Those who were never in OrangeHead's little gang seem to be forming their own clique. Whether it is just a mutual friendship or rivalry against Orangehead's chums is as yet uncertain, but this lot seem friendlier to me than Orangehead does.
I wore the trainers that got absolutely soaked on Saturday. They have dried out but seem to have shrunk a little. Maybe they will stretch again?

Once home I popped more stuff out to dry in the garden, and then chivvied my dog out of the gravelled areas. Having spent hours moving the chippings about, that dog had pushed them all back again.
I also looked at the washing line. It snapped under the weight of the event shelter yesterday. Getting a new washing line is easy enough, but I need a ladder to put it in place. My ladder "went into storage" when "Daddies Little Angel TM" moved out of Folkestone. "My Boy TM" claims he knows where it is. I sent him a text on the matter.
I then ran round with the Hoover. That is on the blink. Whilst it does suck stuff up it doesn't seem to move across the floor as easily as it once did. I've had a look at the thing but can't see anything wrong with it. I might give it a clout with my cooking hammer. That usually sorts things out (one way or the other).
I wasted ten minutes looking at the geo-map trying to plan for the weekend, then shouted at "Furry Face TM" who was going ballistic because the postman had arrived.

I set off for work a lot later than I usually do and pausing only briefly in Morrisons I was at work with minutes to spare. And as is often the case when on the late shift, everything worth mentioning today happened before 11.30am...


26 June 2016 (Sunday) - Back to Teynham

There is a virtual geocache in Guildford.... The idea is you go there, find a particular landmark of interest and answer a question about it. I'd looked the place up on Google images some time ago and thought I had the answer. I had since revisted my findings and confirmed my answer. Yesterday evening we drove a round trip of close on two hundred miles to get there and claim the find. On arrival I had a good nosey about. I found that which I was expecting to find from my research, and despite a good search I didn't see anything new to me or unexpected. So I sent an email with my answer to the chap to whom the answer was to be sent.
This morning's haul of emails had his reply: "Sort of coulda guessed that… but I’ll let you have it… "
Clearly I've missed something. I'm intrigued as to what.

The Internet was quiet on the referendum's aftermath. Probably just as well. I programmed "Hannah" for the day, solved a geo-puzzle that we actually found on today's walk, put the wet stuff from yesterday out to dry and we set off.

Loads of us met up in one of the back streets of Teynham, and then made our way along the road to meet loads more. I've rather lost count of how many of us came along on today's geo-expedition.
We had a really good walk. When we started I made a point of putting on my wellies (bearing in mind the torrential rain of yesterday). But I was wrong to have done so; there was only really a couple of muddy points on the walk. Thirty-odd geo-finds, a cock on the church (oo-er), a picnic in the sun and even a pub half way round. A good way to spend the day.
And with the walk done we popped into the Swan in Tenyham for another crafty half.

I took a few photos whilst we were out. I put them on-line whilst watching the live coverage from the Glastonbury festival. The Electric Light Orchestra were playing live.
As a child my old mucker Dave Thornton introduced me to ELO. Over the years their music has always featured prominently in the noise I play in my car. I was quite excited to see they were playing live... I was rather disappointed.
Only one member of the original line-up was on stage; I had no idea who all the others were, and I did notice that the obviously foxy ladies playing the violins and cellos all looked rather disinterested. And whilst the songs were all my old favourites, I felt vaguely disappointed.
I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was expecting more...

I've now got to re-program another Wherigo for the national geo-congress in August .


25 June 2016 (Saturday) - Rain, Airport Run


A restless night; I gave uo trying to sleep just before 6am and got up. I nearly fell down the stairs as I tripped over Rolo who was fast asleep half way down the stairs.
I spent a few minutes having a look on social media. The aftermath of the referendum is still reverbarating. Of the people I know personally, several who voted out were now vocally wishing they'd voted in. Some who'd not voted at all were ranting about the result seemingly oblivious to the fact that they should have actually voted. Others who'd not voted at all (and some who'd voted remain) were ranting about the failure of the opinion polls because they'd missed the chance to be on the winning side.
Perhaps most worrying is that some people with whom I'd worked for years no longer feel safe in the streets, and I am very concerned that one chap actually left the astro club's Facebook page because (to quote what he posted) "I now feel unsafe in this country (I have autism amongst other less serious conditions) as the UKIP / Brexit mob beleive people like me are not employable or even worthy of basic rights."
There are those who might sympathise with this view and there are those who would dismiss it. However it is clearly the honest feeling of some people for whom I can vouch. How many others feel the same? I am pretty sure that the family friend who has been assaulted in my own town by Brexiters for daring to voice a different opinion would agree. I wonder if future historians will record these details?

I had the usual haul of rubbish emails. LinkedIn spouted its usual irrelevant drivel with adverts for jobs in which I had no interest whatsoever, and Google was emailing me to tell me what was in my diary for the weekend. I did have an email from "All About Space" magazine offering me (and any members of the astro club) a cheap subscription. I forwarded the email to the astro club membership, but I shan't be taking up their offer. I don't see what they can offer that I can't already get free with two minutes on Google News.

I loaded up the car and set off to Shadoxhurst. The astro club was putting on a show for the Scouts' dog show and fete. Having the event shelter I felt I ought to get there early as we needed to get that up first. I arrived, and was very soon set up. I moved my car to the designated car park, and as I was walking back past the beer tent I jokingly asked if they were open. They offered me a pint; I took it, and went back to out stall. I then spent a rather good ten minutes enjoying that pint whilst watching the world go by.

Everyone soon arrived and it wasn't long before telescopes were all over the place. We got the solar scopes focussed up on the sun (in between the clouds) and talked astro to the passers-by (including the Mayor). We had a light shower, but it soon passed. And once the sun came out again I had a rather good chili wrap and a pint of red top. Another shower, more sun, more talking astro.... and then the heavens opened. Torrential rain, thunder, lightning and half an hour of the worst hail I think I have ever known. The ground became waterlogged, and then flooded. When the rain finally abated we packed up the wet gear and went home.
I took some photos whilst we were out. You can see them by clicking here.

Once home I stuck the wet stuff into the shed. I shall see about drying that out later. I put my trainers in the tumble drier; I think they are now fit for the dustbin but I'm hoping they can be salvaged. They are only a month old. I had a shower, and then sat down. For all that I had really enjoyed the fun in the rain at the dog show it was good to be warm and in the dry.
I then wrestled with my phone. I think some of the rain got into the thing today; it doesn't seem to be quite right. It seems to be having a problem with charging (in that it doesn't). I've had a look on Google; Google says to dry it out and hope for the best. There isn't much else I can do with it really.

"er indoors TM" came home, made the coffee and took the wolf pack for a walk. I didn't fancy going with them. If nothing else my shoes were still awash. So I had a cuppa and a slice of cake whilst I waited for them to return.

Once they were home we settled the dogs and went out to play. Today was a geo-calendar day and was also the day came back from holiday. So needing to go to Gatwick Airport to collect him we made a sligt diversion to Guildford for geo-purposes. There was one virtual geocache there I'd had me eye on for some time for Jasmer pruposes (don't ask!). Whilst in the area we thought we'd try three other caches. We found one of them. I am quite sure the others have gone.
We had a rather good bit of curry at Cobham services then made our way to the airport. I've never been to collect anyone from the arrivals department at Gatick before. It was quite an adventure watching everyone. And "er indoors TM" discovered that a packet of Polos is thirty pence cheaper in Boots there than it is in WH Smiths.
We waited for just under an hour, "My Boy TM" and his crew arrived. We paid twelve pounds (each!) to get out of the car park and set off home. As we'd driven up the weather had been awful and we'd seen two serious accidents on the M26. We headed home to find the M26 closed. Somewhat inconvenient... by the time we'd detoured and taken people home I got into bed just after 2am...



24 June 2016 (Friday) - The Day After

It was a very warm night; I didn't sleep that well. I eventually gave up trying to sleep and came downstairs shortly after 5am. I let Rolo out to do his business, and once I'd done mine I went out to find him. He wasn't in the garden. I spent a frantic five minutes trying to find him only to discover he'd gone back to his bed.

Over brekkie I watched the most recent episode of The Sky at Night which I'd recorded onto the SkyPlus box a while ago. It featured the whirlpool galaxy; it was rather good. That's something I've not said about his show for some time.

Being a geo-calendar day I set off to work rather early. There was one cache which was vaguely mid-way between Ashford and Canterbury. I say "vaguely" - in the back of beyond would be closer to the truth. I navigated the back lanes and finally found my quarry in a rather pretty valley.
Feeling flushed with geo-success I thought I'd get a second cache. Today is the last calendar-filling day when I am scheduled to be at work, and there was a cache near work which I had been holding in reserve as a back-up plan (even though I've failed to find it three times previously). I'd seen it had been recently replaced to I went and thought I'd have a go. After five minutes I gave up with the GPS and went with the hint which had been given, and found it some fifteen metres away on the other side of the road from where the GPS would have me looking.

I got to work and cracked on with the early shift. I had a rather busy day. Can't say I liked it very much. I consoled myself with McScoff then went on to astro club. It was a very good evening. An excellent talk, and an excellent stallarium show from Stevey. Things seem to be looking up with the club.

Oh - and the referendum results are in. I feel it speaks volumes that Nigel Farage (who was one of the leading llights of the "out" campaign) is disowning statements made by his campaigners, people who voted "out" have changed their minds less than a day later, and sterling has plummeted to a thirty-year low.
But what's done is done. Generations yet unborn will look back on today as being momentous. I *really* hope those generations will see today's result as having been the right one. Of course we will never actually know as we will never be able to compare what happens with what might have been.
But those who propose future referenda would do well to reflect on today. Those who were in the majority were not gracious in victory; those who were in the minority were bitter in defeat. There is now seriously bad feeling where there was once friendship.

I suppose that it will all blow over. Time will tell. It always does...


23 June 2016 (Thursday) - Bikes in Trees

My alarm woke me this morning. That rarely happens. I got up and for all that "er indoors TM" and "Furry Face TM" were snoring, little Rolo was raring to go. He didn't seem at all bothered by the torrential rain outside, and after five minutes I had to go out to fetch him in. It was only when I went out that he actually started doing that for which I'd sent him out. He'd just been playing in the rain.

Over brekkie I watched the episode of "Dad's Army" that the SkyPlus box had recorded last weekend. It kept me amused for half an hour. I then sparked up my lap-top and was rather disappointed to find that the email I'd sent trying to win a dirty weekend in Wiltshire had bounced back. I sent another email from a different email account, and that bounced back too. Oh well, I doubt my back would have been up to the stresses of a dirty weekend in Wiltshire anyway.

I popped up the road to the polling station to cast my vote. Whilst I was there I watched a minor commotion. Some idiot was loudly shouting that his allocated polling station was fifty yards in the wrong direction; he was walking past this polling station on his way to work. Why couldn't he cast his vote in this one?
I watched the spectacle for a while. I was tempted to make the observation that the polling station we were in was actually fifty yards in the wrong direction for me as well. Maybe we might do a swap?
But I'd already drawn my "X", and what is fifty yards for democracy anyway?

I then made my way to work. As I drove the radio made the announcement that most gay people are still afraid to tell anyone that they are gay. Is our society still so intolerant?

I got to work where there was a slight kerfuffle. "Luscious Luke" (as he calls himself) had been harangued on his way to work by a gaggle of children who had got a bicycle stuck up a tree. It never occurred to Luke to ask exactly how these children got the bike stuck up a tree, nor why they expected him to retrieve it for them. But he spent ten minutes getting it out for them, and then spent a little while regaling us with the story.
Had I been the one asked for help I would have taken a photo or two...

And that was my day.. but I shall still have a little rant. Today was the euro-referendum. Some voted in, some voted out. We'll know if the right choice was made tomorrow. But in the meantime there is uproar about pencils being used in polling stations. Apparently using a pencil makes it easier for MI5 to change the votes which have been cast.... (takes a deep breath)

Now I have no idea which utterly brain-dead retard first came up with this pathetically ridiculous notion, but it worries me just how seriously such half-witted rubbish has gained popular acceptance. Just think it through. Take Dover for example - purely because it was the first one that came up on a Google search. There are over fifty polling stations in Dover. Each one with (at least) two members of staff on duty. So if there is shenanigans at that point there would be a lot of people in the know. A lot of peoople to be bribed to keep quiet; surely too many to bump off without things looking susspicious.

Each station will (when polling closes) have the ballot boxes sealed before collection, and inspected on arrival at the counting centre. This would (in my opinion) be the best time for MI5 to nobble the ballot but there is a rather stringent process in place to specifically avoid such nobbling.
And again with so many boxes being collected there would be a lot of people in the know. A lot of peoople to be bribed to keep quiet; surely too many to bump off without things looking susspicious.

As for the counting, it is done in the open under the supervision of accredited observers of both sides. It would be difficult to maintain the secrecy of anyone fiddling the result there.
And that's just Dover. The process is repeated all over the country. Just how many peoople would have to be in on this to actually affect the outcome of the result? And if vote-rigging actually was going on, just how likely is it that not one person wouldn't let something slip? Does anyone *seriously* think that enough people could secretly be in on a vote-rigging scheme that would actually swing the result?

But *loads* of people have been expressing concern about pencils in polling stations. For myself I'm used to it. after all I've been voting for over thirty years.
It strikes me that there can be only two reasons for anyone to find voting by pencil surprising. Either they've not voted before... or...

22 June 2016 (Wednesday) - Wiltshire?

I got rather cross over brekkie. Absolutely anything happening in our street provokes Rolo into a frenzy of barking. And when he starts woofing Fudge feels he has to join in. Consequently I spent the best part of an hour telling dogs to shut up.
In between shouting at dogs I had a look-see on-line. Needless to say tomorrow's referendum was on everyone's mind. After so many months of campaigning to an electorate which (in the large part) hasn't the faintest idea what is going on, I'm getting a little sick of it now. It rather bothers me that money and racism are being given (by both sides) as the main reasons to stay and/or leave. And it seriously bothers me that the third most popular answer given when the public are asked why they are voting a certain way (I won't say which way it is) is that all their friends are voting that way.
I would ask that people spend an hour or so doing a little research, and that if you honestly thing that the UK is better off in the EU then vote to stay. If you honestly thing that the UK is better off out of the EU then vote to leave. And if you honestly don't know, then don't vote. Maybe spoil your ballot paper as a protest perhaps, but don't vote if you haven't a clue what is going on.

I then took the dogs for a walk. Oh it was frustrating. One dog would squeeze out a drop of tiddle. The other dog would then have to sniff it for thirty seconds then squeeze out a drop of tiddle on top. The first dog then had to sniff it for another thirty seconds before adding more tiddle. And so it would go on until I chivvied them forward. We would go maybe ten yards befre repeating the performance. This conitued until Fudge decided to join in with a group of dog walkers going the other way and refused to come back when called. I saw red at that point, put both dogs on their leads and frogmarched them home.

I settled them down and set off to work. I stopped off at Bybrook Barn to have a look at the stuff I shall need for the garden's forthcoming makeover. It looks like I will need to spend about fifty quid on materials to make the shingled areas good again. That's about fifty quid more than I wanted to shell out. I thought I'd do a price comparison so I had a look in HomeBase as well. Substantially the same stuff would cost about twenty quid more there.
Bybrook Barn it is then.

As I drove the pundits on the radio were interviewing Annabel Croft who was banging the drum that women's tennis doesn't get as much coverage as men's tennis. Having absolutely no interest in tennis whatsoever I thought it was something of a waste of air-time, but what do I know ?

Just as I was about to start work my phone beeped. The astro club had got an email; there is a competition to win the chance of a dirty weekend away in Wiltshire. All you have to do is.... join the astro club. I'm not telling the world about this competition because that would scupper my chances. I quite fancy a dirty weekend away in Wiltshire. I've told the membership about the competition by email. One of the things we need to do with the astro club is check just how up-to-date the email list is. The more out-of-date the better for my chances of a dirty weekend away in Wiltshire.

All I need is someone who's up for a dirty weekend away in Wiltshire. If all else fails I shall take "er indoors TM"

21 June 2016 (Tuesday) - Rostered Day Off

Yesterday evening I watched little Rolo with amazement. Fudge always has a few biscuits in a bowl down for if he is hungry. Most dogs would wolf them down. Fudge never has done so; he leaves them and just has one when he is peckish. Yesterday evening Rolo took several of those biscuits and hid them in various places round the living room. This morning he went round to his hidey-holes and ate them.

I then had a look-see on-line. It rained yesterday and social media was awash with everyone grumbling about typical British weather. This morning no one was saying anything; I wonder just how many people realised how good the weather was today.

I put the leads onto two dogs and then walked round to meet "Daddies Little Angel TM" and "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction TM". "Daddies Little Angel TM" was rather concerned about a potential zombie apocalypse and had some theory that it might be prevented by nanobots created from puffer fish stem cells. Apparently her ideas had a factual basis in science (!) I took the line of least resistance and just agreed.
We walked round the back of the Stour Centre almost as far as the rugby club, looped round the town centre and discovered a new field which led us to Godinton Road. We came home through the park where I finally plucked up the courage to let Rolo off of his lead. He was really well behaved; played "chase" with Fudge and came back when called.
The plan was to go our seperate ways, but on hearing that I was intending to crack on on the garden "Daddies Little Angel TM" came home with me and helped rake up brindle chippings. We probably spent an hour or so tidying up and getting ready for a concerted garden day in a couple of weeks' time. As the most recent fruit of my loin worked I played silly beggars with Jake, the dogs and the fountain; I put up a video of what we did. And then "Furry Face TM" had to have a bath.

As a reward for all our hard work I got us some KFC. I didn't get exactly what I'd asked for. And when they gave me half of what I'd ordered and I asked for the rest, they tried to charge me five quid more. I tried to argeu wit them, but after five minutes struggling I realised that life is too short to argue with someone who hasn't got the faintest idea what you are saying. (Am I being very nasty and racist when I say that for all that I do like KFC, in thirty years of living in the same road as that shop they have *never* employed anyone who speaks English with any degree of ability?)
But what we did get was rather tasty and we scoffed it whilst watching SpongeBob.

The younger two generations set off homewards, and I mowed the lawn and scraped a few more brindle chippings. I would have liked to have done more, but there is only so much scraping that one can do. So instead I consoled myself by zooming round the living room with the hoover before spending an hour or so on astro club bits and bobs. As I bitted and bobbed I discovered a problem with emails sent to BT Internet addresses; they all seem to bounce back.

I then slobbed front of the telly for a bit watching last night's episode of "Game of Thrones". After several episodes of absolutely nothing happening, last night's episode had quite a lot of fighting and battles. It was all rather exciting (even if absolutely nothing was "flopped out"); mind you I'm not entirely sure who is squabbling with whom and why they are squabbling. There is only one episode left in this current season. I can't help but feel that once I've seen that it wouldn't hurt to watch the entire lot from the start.

Being Tuesday the clans gathered; tonight in Willesborough. We put the world to rights then watched The Flash take on a mutant rampaging gorilla. Sooner The Flash than me...


20 June 2016 (Monday) - Yawn

I could have taken a circuitous route to work last night for geo-reasons. I could have gone chasing a First to Find. The thing had gone live at 9am yesterday morning, and when I left home at 6pm yesterday evening it was still unlogged. I decided against going after it and instead went straight to work. It was as well that I did; at 10pm someone finally logged that they had found it at 5pm... Why wait so long?

Work was somewhat odd... the lab in which I work has quite a few windows. And for all that today is the longest day of the year, last night was the shortest night. It didn't get dark outside until past 10pm, and dawn was breaking before 4am. Consequently the early part of the evening dragged, and it felt as though the day staff took an age to get in.

As I worked the radio spewed its usual brand of drivel. Having said that, one article amazed me. It is traditional to despair for the younger generation. It always has been. I can remember being told by my Latin teacher that this was nothing new - Pliny wasn't impressed by the youngsters he saw, and that was two thousand years ago.
But things *really* have changed. The youth of today are behaving themselves. Teenage pregnancies and crime rates are falling rapidly. More and more people in their early twenties are teetotal, and very few smoke. Truancy from school is at an all-time low.

The pundits on the radio were considering why this might be. All sots of reasons were given, but for myself I don't really care why. It is good enough that things are looking up. When the time comes (and it won't be *that* long) I can croak without having to worry (too much) about the state of the world that my grandchildren are inheriting.

I did my bit, and came home once the day shift had rolled up. I had arranged to go for a walk with "Daddies Little Angel TM" and "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction TM" but the heavy rain put paid to that idea. Instead I took myself off to bed for the morning. Much as I do like the night work, it it tiring.

I slept till mid day. I would have slept more but I forgot to turn the house phone off, and someone from Mumbai phoned ostensibly to have a friendly chat. I told them to piss off, had a spot of lunch, and on seeing the rain had stopped took the dogs round the park for a walk.
The walk itself was uneventful, but I do find Rolo to be hard work when he is on his lead.

Once home I set the washing machine loose on my undercrackers then spent the rest of the afternoon reprogramming one of my Wherigos. Some time ago I offered my Wherigos to the national week-long geo-meet which is happening in North Wales this summer. After a few hours work I got one done for them. I emailed it through and it immediately bounced back. As did all other messages to that email address.
But the two night shifts had taken their toll. I sat in front of the telly and woke up three hours later with Rolo fast asleep on top of me.

"er indoors TM" brought some curry homee for tea. A bottle of wine, "Tattoo Fixers" on the telly... can't be bad...


19 June 2016 (Sunday) - Fighting with a Swan

Apart from spending five minutes chasing an errant pigeon, the night shift went as well as night shifts go; if nothing else I had some time when I could have the radio on. Tony Hancock, Alan Partridge and Doctor Who were my companions for the small hours.

I had a little trouble getting home. Some organised group of cyclists had taken over the entire A28 to be their race track. These cyclists all thought they were on a par with cars; all cycling in the middle of the carriageway. I eventually navigated my way past them all and got home where I spent ten minutes clearing dog poop from the garden, hanging out wet laundry and loading the washing machine.

Whilst I waited for "Daddies Little Angel TM" and "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction TM" to arrive I had a look on Facebook. The pro-Brexit brigade were posting on-line in force. They amaze me. Most people who loudly advocate leaving the EU cite reasons which are absolutely nothing to do with the in-or-out referendum. Admittedly immigration by a points system (like Australia has) would be nice, but that is not on offer. Illegal immigration is a problem, but leaving the EU will not affect it. Apparently the elected European Parliament is not democratic whereas the unelected House of Lords is. People want British laws for British people whilst not realising just how few of the laws in the UK come from Brussels. And many of the nastier comments are prefixed with "I'm not a racist but..." as though claiming not to be racist allows you to be as racist as you like.
I've often said that I don't beleive in democracy. The EU referendum is a classic example of why I don't. So many people clearly don't understand what they are actually voting for.

"Daddies Little Angel TM" and "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction TM" soon turned up. I'd had an idea to drive down to Hastings to see my Dad for Father's Day but having been up all night meant I was probably a little too tired to drive. So instead we took the dogs for a little walk through the park to the lake to feed the ducks. It was a warm day, "Furry Face TM" and Sid roamed off the leads; Rolo stayed on his lead. He is still something of an unknown quantity.
Once at Singleton Lake we fed bread to the ducks whilst "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction TM" fed bread to the dogs. We were having a good time until Rolo picked a fight with a swan. We made a strategic withdrawal at that point.
It was then that we noticed that "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction TM" had lost his teddy bear. We retraced our steps and eventually met up with "Orangehead" who had found the teddy. How embarrassing.
Pausing only briefly for Rolo to try to fight with two Alsatians we returned homewards.

As I was hanging the washing out on the line I heard a plopping sound and some frantic splashing. Rolo had fallen in the garden pond. Silly dog.
Despite having been awake all night I managed five hours sleep. Longer would have been nice, but it wasn't to be.

I'm off to another night shift now. Hope "er indoors TM" gets that washing in from the line...