I
woke to find my right upper jaw numb. That’s probably better than the throbbing
that has been going on for the last week... but no whinging !!
I
got up silly early, made toast and had a look at the Internet. One of the work-related
Facebook groups was asking how you cajole, grovel, plead or force people to
cover shifts at short notice. Back in the day all work out of office hours was
paid at an overtime rate which if not generous, wasn’t stingy. These days
there’s not the same enhancements, and consequently no attraction. I’m glad
getting people to cover these shifts isn’t my problem anymore.
At
the weekend I spent a little while looking at a newly published geo-series
solving geo-puzzles and fighting with geo-puzzles and exchanging ideas that
didn’t work with Gordon. Eventually between us we solved all the puzzles, and
Gordon suggested a little stroll today to go find all the geocaches. Admittedly
the closest was fifty miles from home, but I had this idea that a decent walk
in the countryside might help be shift this constant whinging that has been my
life for the last week.
It
did.
I
checked on Google last night to plan my journey. The predicted journey time was
vague to say the least so I left home with plenty of time. As I drove I listened
to the radio which was spewing its usual morning drivel. The Ukrainians being
interviewed were again being rather ungrateful about the amount of military aid
the West is giving them. This morning they were saying they’ve been given
enough to prevent defeat, but not enough to get victory. There was talk about President
Biden’s fitness for office. And there was again live telephone interviews that
simply didn’t work and kept cutting out. You’d think that the people at the BBC
would have realised by now that the technology simply isn’t reliable enough for
live radio, and they’d record the interviews a little ahead of time, wouldn’t
you?
I
got to our agreed meeting place far too early. But I’d rather be there early
than late. I popped down the road to the garage to get a cuppa and a bacon
roll. The cuppa wasn’t bad but the bacon roll was burned to the point of
incineration.
I
scoffed it anyway, and had a little doze until everyone else arrived. We then
set off on a little walk. Before I changed job I used to regularly go out for
mid-week walks with Gordon, but these last few years the shift system hasn’t
allowed it. It was really good to be out and about with him again, and also to
meet up with a new friend Ralph.
As
we walked we found an old archived cache that I originally found over ten years ago, and we got a cheeky
First to Find as well.
I took a few photos as we walked. It was a
rather good walk; we only took one wrong turn. Perhaps a tad too much on roads,
but you have to go where the roads and footpaths go, don’t you? Geocache-wise
the route was good. Straightforward hides with good co-ordinates. I suppose
being a new series it hasn’t had long enough for people to hide the things
where they think they should be rather than put them back where they find them.
Mind
you I would say that some of the hints were open to interpretation – which is
probably why we got that First to Find so many days after publication. Gordon
and I understood the hint to mean different things.
After
five hours and ten miles we were back at the cars. We said our goodbyes, and
headed off. As I drove home I was amazed by the amount of political posters on
the roadside. Quite a bit of the journey was the route I take when working in
Tunbridge Wells. In the past there has been no end of “Vote Conservative”
signs along the way. Today there was only a fraction of the political signs
that there used to be. Most of them were for the Liberal Democrats, and nearly
all the remainder were for the Greens. There were four Conservative posters. I
counted them.
I
came home and spent a little while entertaining “Darcie Waa Waa TM”
before going off to vote. The chap behind the counter told me there had been a
pretty much constant stream of people in and out of the polling station all day.
I
resisted the temptation to draw a big cock and balls on the ballot paper, but
put an “X” instead. Was it the right “X”? Time will tell; it always does.
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