I woke in a muck sweat at six o’clock this morning
following a rather odd nightmare in which yesterday’s geocaching walk had
turned out to be some odd front for a drug-smuggling cartel and in which "My Boy TM"
had decided to be a little boy again and promptly deliberately fell down the
stairs in an office chair as part of the smuggling drugs to Essex racket.
There
are a few people who wonder what goes on in my head; I am one of them.
Over
brekkie I looked at the Internet (I
usually do). Yesterday I’d posted a piccie of my ten thousandth geo-find to
the Facebook group “Geocaching in Kent”,
as had "er indoors TM". This morning the two
piccies had received over a hundred “likes”
and had had kind comments from loads of people (quite a few from people I had no idea who they were).
Ten
thousand geo-finds, eh? I had a little look-see at the official
stats page. At brekkie this morning I was the three hundred and
sixty-sixth most prolific hunter of Tupperware in the UK, but yesterday’s finds
hadn’t been counted then. Mid you it’s not just about the numbers. For me the
silly game of looking for film pots under rocks gives me guided walks and
something to do before a late shift. It has formed the basis of road trips to
Oxford, Norfolk and Cornwall. It was a far better tourist guide to Kos than any
official guide. And it has found me quite a few decent friends along the way as
well.
I spent a little while
trying to solve some geo-puzzles, and I got cross. I sometimes wonder if I’ve
solved all that I can within fifty miles. Perhaps those remaining puzzles are
either beyond me, or have no solution (I have
heard rumours that there is one such not too far from work that has been put
out purely to annoy a local puzzle solver).
We then took the dogs
round the park. Yesterday was ideal weather for walking; this morning an hour
round the park was *too* hot.
I set off in the general direction of work. I'd originally been rota-ed
to do the early shift today but earlier in the week I had been asked to swap to
do the late. With a fifteen-mile walk planned for yesterday I thought doing the
late shift might be a good idea. As it was I'd woken at six o'clock this
morning anyway and as I drove up the motorway I found myself wishing I'd kept
the early shift; at least I would have been finished that bit earlier.
I went to Sainsbury's to get tomorrow's pack-up, and some almond essence. Back in the day almond essence was the secret ingredient in my never-fail fishing bait. I thought I might revive the patented bread-paste tomorrow. I have high hopes for the stuff. Realistically I have low expectations, but I have high hopes. I suppose this pretty much sums up my approach to life. Mind you I hope it works; I can't wait to see "My Boy TM"’s expression if it does.
I then went to Aldi as I'd heard they had collapsible trolleys. I want
one to lug my fishing gear round lakes and ponds. They hadn't got any. I
wondered if the cheapo-bargain shop next door might have some...
Oh dear...
I asked the girl at the tills if they sold trolleys. She gave me a
shopping trolley. The sort you use to carry your shopping from the shelves to
the tills. I explained that I wanted to buy one. She said those
belonged to the shop. I asked if they had trolleys for sale; she gave me one of
the shop's shopping baskets. I again explained I wanted to buy a trolley; she
explained (as though I was some sort of
half-wit) that they belonged to the
shop. I took a deep breath and explained exactly what I wanted to buy.
On seeing her blank expression I then took another deep breath and
explained in great detail the entire concept of shopping and retail and
capitalism in general. Clearly this was far too much for her; she fetched her
manager who told me they didn't sell trolleys at all, but he had heard that
Aldi next door had some…
I went for some McLunch, but on seeing the swarming hoards of
ill-behaved brats running round the place I gave up and went into work where I
had a rather good broccoli-cheese bake and chocolate pudding with custard from
the canteen before embarking on work.
Work wasn’t too bad… I wish I’d done the early shift though…
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