31 August 2025 (Sunday) - Shalmsford Street

I had a terrible night waking pretty much every twenty minutes either shivering with the cold or sweating hot. I blame far too much beer on Saturday afternoon.

I made toast in the hope that might settle my iffy innards and had a look at the Internet. I had nearly a hundred and fifty emails telling me that people had found the geocaches I’d hidden in Kings Wood. The group who are staying in the Travelodge had just walked a series of thirty caches and done a few extras on the way; another chap had come down with his bike in his car and done all three of the major series (that’s nearly twenty miles!) and a few of the others as well. That was more than I’d want to do in one go.

I Munzed, and got Wordle (petal) on the fourth attempt.

 

After a rather dull morning we took the dogs out for a little walk. Our usual stomping grounds heave with normal people at the weekends so we looked at the geo-map and planned a short-ish walk near Chartham.

We parked up on a little lay-by and walked across fields and along lanes to Down Wood, then down to the railway line and back to the car along the side of the lake. It wasn’t *that* hilly really and made for a good dog walk.

As we walked I took a few photos.

 

We came home where the event shelter we’d used yesterday was dry, so I put that away, and we had a tin of fizz and some crisps and dips. I checked my phone – I had another flurry of emails from the people who’d been staying in the Travelodge doing my geocaches in Kings Wood. Over the weekend they’d walked over twenty-three miles and now they’ve found all but one of the caches I’ve hidden there… They mentioned about going back for the last one in the morning. I wonder if we will see them on our morning constitutional?

I then spent a little while pondering the geo-map wondering about where I might put out another geo-series… There’s a few options, but wherever I go it needs to be a convenient dog walk.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching the latest episode of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”. The last few episodes were rather good. This one wasn’t bad, but wasn’t quite up to the standard which has been set. To be honest “Star Trek: Voyager” did pretty much the same story far better thirty years ago.

 

I must admit to a sense of guilt…I missed a very special birthday yesterday. Fudge would have been fifteen yesterday. He’s been gone four years now and I still miss him so much.

And on a more cheerful note it is ten years since I got my Monkey Puzzle tree.

30 August 2025 (Saturday) - All A Bit Vague

I slept through till quarter past four, and then just dozed on and off which was something of a pain in the glass. I got up at seven and stood on the scales. I’m under fifteen stone which was something of a result bearing in mind yesterday’s pig-out.

I made toast and had a look at the Internet as I do and nearly choked on my coffee. On the right hand side of this blog (if you are reading it from the blogspot website and not an app or the backup site) there’s a counter which says how often this blog has been visited. Two days ago (on the twenty-eighth) my diary was visited half a million times. What was that all about?

I had a string of emails. Someone had been visiting my geocaches in Kings Wood yesterday. Having seen them all on the geo-map they’d booked a Travelodge for the weekend and were making a little holiday out of what I’d set up there. A surprising amount of people come and stay in the area just to go for all the geocaches I’ve hidden in Kings Wood. Over the years there’s been dozens of people who’ve done this but I’ve only ever met one group of them… and that was because they organised a geo-meet. You’d think more people might do that (well, I think that!).

I Munzed, got Wordle (elate) on the fourth attempt and went and woke “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs. I’d heard their alarm but they’d slept through it.

 

With them awake I went and got my car from miles away and unloaded the Whelan’s shopping. Whelan’s do good stuff; it’s cheap, but it’s not light.

As I waited for everyone else to get ready so we listened to Steve on the radio. He was doing the “Guess The Lyrics” competition. “How can we drive to a movie show when the music is here in my car”? No? – Roxy Music. But I was unsure as to whether it was “Same Old Scene” or “Oh Yeah”. I went with my second choice and was right to do so.

 

We drove round to Dog Club and had a good session. Attendance was up and everyone seemed to have a good time. Fetching balls, chasing each other, sharing treats… not a bad way to spend half an hour.

As we drove home I got the Mystery Year competition on the radio right – when did Davros first appear in Doctor Who? 1975.

We had a cuppa and I counted up the Dog Club money, and then got ready for the day.

Family came over for the afternoon. We sat in the garden and it all got progressively more and more vague…

29 August 2025 (Friday) - Before the Late Shift

I had a reasonable night, but was still awake earlier than I needed to be. I made toast and peered into the Internet and was immediately presented with a Facebook group I might like to join – one specializing in dead and dying dogs. I suppose there’s a market for that sort of thing; personally I find it rather upsetting even if it is four years since my Fudge went. I was also presented with a photo of Donald Trump’s ex- chief of staff saying how stupid he is. This quote was from seven years ago… it is rather amazing how no one else has realised.

And there was no end of talk about a young Scottish girl brandishing knives and threatening to sort out the (supposed) migrant assault threat. Is there a migrant assault threat? If so the police need to sort it and been seen to sort it. It’s the lack of visible police action that encourages these vigilantes, isn’t it?

 

Despite the rain I took the dogs out. As we drove the pundits on the radio were talking about how loads of people are spending hundreds of pounds each month on weight loss drugs. The price of those is going up massively as Donald Trump doesn’t think it fair that people in the UK get them cheaper than people in the USA. One chap being interviewed said he spends about two hundred quid a month on these things and has lost thirty per cent of his body weight this year. I’ve lost nearly that amount by calorie counting and by bearing in mind that my cake hole is bigger than my arse hole (stop me if I’m getting technical!)

 

We went up to the woods where we had a short (only three miles) walk. It was raining when we started, but it fizzled out and was little more than drizzle as we walked.

We came home for a cuppa, and I saw that the Wherigo I’d written yesterday had been found. The chap who’d found it did so at about the time we got to the woods… which meant he probably left home about half past six. He must love it.

I then spent a little while working on my latest stroke of genius. I have this plan to make a fiendishly difficult geocaching puzzle but in order to solve the puzzle you have to end up with a string of digits, and the only digits my stroke of genius can come up with is one and nine.

Perhaps it isn’t as clever as I think it might be…

 

I set off to work in entirely the wrong direction taking a little diversion to Folkestone for “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” and Pogo. From there I headed back up the motorway. As I drove the sky went black and the weather went from mild drizzle to torrential rain in maybe two seconds. The motorway was suddenly under an inch of water and I could barely see more than a few yards in front of me. I didn't dare touch the brakes. And after a couple of minutes the rain and the black sky went as quickly as they came. I then took another diversion up to Sheerness and Whelans. I wanted to get some paving slabs to cover the manky bits on one of the garden sleepers. I got something that should do the trick, and a couple more gnomes as well. You can never have enough garden gnomes.

From there it was on to an incredibly busy petrol station in Aylesford, and an equally busy Sainsburys.

By the time I got to work for the late shift I felt as though I'd done a full day already.

 

I got to work. It was rather busy but there was cake, so all thoughts of diet went out of the window. And fish and chips when I got home didn’t help the lack of diet either…

I really should get those slabs out of the car…

28 August 2025 (Thursday) - A Walk, A Wherigo

With no alarm set I slept well. I popped to the loo in the night, and when I was up I loaded the washing machine. I do that so that when I get up I can hang out the washing and save a little time.

Which I did.

 

I made toast and had a look at the Internet. I saw that Kent County Council are having a consultation about what services they are going to cut next year. It speaks volumes about our society that I found out about this via Facebook, doesn’t it?

And I saw a friend of a friend had been given an award for ten years as a volunteer with a scout group in Eastbourne. I smiled; I was reminded of the time that I got a certificate for five years service to scouting... after I’d been a leader for thirteen years.

 

“er indoors ^TM” set off for a day in the office; I took the dogs to the woods. As we drove the pundits on the radio were all a-twitter because Grimsby Town football club had beaten Manchester United last night, and Manchester United are now out of the Carabao cup (no – I’d never heard of it either)

And there was loads of talk about Oasis who are off to play in America. The pundit being interviewed seemed to think that the music industry is all about bands performing live, and that studio albums and record sales count for nothing. I’ve not seen any band live for years; I tent to avoid them as I honestly believe that live bands are only any good for getting yourself a headache. If they are on a CD or radio you can turn the volume down.

 

We got to the woods and walked a different route to our usual ones. I try to vary it a bit; I remember dear Fudge who had his one route round the wood that he would do, and we had to do that route the right way as well. We had to start at the lower car park and walk clockwise along specific paths. He flatly refused to go anywhere else and had to go on the lead and be dragged if we diverted.

As we walked we joined in with a jogger, and had a paddle in a pond which had a sign saying “no dogs”. But there was horse crap along the paths marked “no horses” and there’s been camping in the “no camping” areas recently. What’s good for the goose is good for a goosing.

We used my “map my walk” app as we went, and again its measurements were slightly out. If we’d walked at the average rate that it calculated (from the time we took to cover the distance we walked) we would have walked it a minute quicker.

I suppose there’s not that many people picky enough to check the numbers.

 

We came home. Whilst I’d been out I found a space where I might hide another geocache; at Tuesday’s geo-meet a friend suggested an idea which would lend itself to a Wherigo so I cracked on writing the programming… until suddenly the heavens opened. I voomed out and got the nearly dry washing in.

 

I then cracked on with ironing as I do. As I ironed I watched a couple of episodes of “Black Mirror”. The first had me feeling sorry for a murderer, and the second one made me think. Ripping the piss from politicians is easy; I do it on here quite a bit myself. But actually coming up with a practical idea… that takes some doing.

The episode starred her out of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”

 

I then spent a couple of hours finishing off writing my new Wherigo. It’s a virtual paper-chase game which I suspect will have a cult following… those who do it will love it, but most people won’t even try. Such a shame.

But whether or not people go hunt for it, it was published within a couple of hours of my sending it for review. That was rather quick.

 

“er indoors ^TM” came home from work and boiled up quiche and chips which we scoffed whilst watching the first episode of “Destination X”. An odd show… contestants are effectively blindfolded and carted off round Europe. Occasionally they are given obscure clues as to where they are, and the one who guesses furthest away from their actual location gets the heave-ho. I won’t say the show was crap… but it would have helped if any of the so-called clues had meant anything to me. It spoke volumes that the one who had won extra clues was the first one out on her arse.

27 August 2025 (Wednesday) - Bit Dull Really...

It was a hot sticky night; I didn’t really sleep well at all. I got up far earlier than I might and watched an episode of “Black Mirror”; would you pay good money to have an AI simulation of your dead partner?

I then had a quick look at the Internet in case it had changed since last night, It hadn’t, really.

I munzed, ran round the back garden with a watering can, and got ready for work.

 

As I drove to work the pundits on the radio were talking about the latest news from the war in Gaza. I don't want to seem to be belittling the conflict, but it's been going on for years, and it will go on for years.

Then the sports news came on in which the pundit being interviewed made the amazing observation that the whole point of any sporting activity was to score more points that the opposition.  This was (sadly) presented in such a way that it was treated as an amazing revelation.

And then there was talk of yesterday's successful Starship launch.  

This was followed by an interview with some American who was very concerned that the Chinese might beat the Americans in the current race to the Moon. This chap patiently explained that if the Americans get there first they will claim the Moon for humanity, but if the Chinese get there first they will claim it for themselves. The chap got rather irate with the interviewer; apparently it is patently obvious that the Chinese want the Moon for themselves, and if they get there first, then that's it for the American space program. However this chap was utterly unable to explain how the Chinese would be able to enforce any such claim that they might make. How would they do so? Take up a few missiles and take pot-shots and any incoming American ships?

 

I popped into Sainsburys to get some odds and ends. Again the staffed tills were all closed. I ran some bottles of beer through the self-service machine, and one of the miserable old bats who otherwise might have been staffing a till grumbled and muttered as she came over to tell the machine I was old enough to be buying beer. You'd think that these people would have some training about how to be civil to customers, wouldn't you?

 

Work was work; things were busier than I might have liked. But (for once) the roads home were rather quiet.

I came home, did “Feed The Fish” and then went round the garden harvesting dog dung. The turds seemed much the same as ever; presumably those cheese and onion flavoured peas the dogs had yesterday didn’t do any harm.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a rather good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst staring at the telly. As we scoffed we quaffed a bottle of plonk. With change out of a fiver, it wasn’t a bad bottle of plonk at all…

 

Today was rather dull…

26 August 2025 (Tuesday) - Rucksacks, Geo-Meet

I slept quite well last night, but was aching far more this morning after yesterday’s gardening than I was yesterday after a day’s expedition the day before.

I did my usual thing of making toast and scoffing it whilst peering into the internet. There’s a “thing” going on at the moment where people are spraying red crosses onto any sort of white road marking in an attempt to make flags of St George. There were several of those on Facebook this morning. Those who can’t spell or put together a coherent sentence and use patriotism as an excuse for racism were amazingly proud of them. Personally I felt that the things would have looked a whole lot better if whoever did the spray-painting had taken a few seconds to put down masking tape to make the things look as though they hadn’t been done by a drunkard in a rush.

 

I Munzed, Wordled (annex – what a silly word!) and took the dogs up to the woods. As we drove there was someone from Reform UK on the radio being interviewed about how Reform UK would deport all the illegal immigrants. Sadly the chap refused to answer any of the questions put to him. It’s quite obvious how you might deport illegal immigrants. You get a whole load of them from the same country, stick them all in the hold of an RAF transport plane, fly them to an airport of their country of origin, and unload them all on the runway. You really wouldn’t have to do that many times before the boats would stop… but would any politician be brave enough to do that?

We got to the woods. Early last week there was a tent set up there. Late last week there was a camper van in the car park obviously having a little holiday. This morning a caravan was packing up; obviously having been there overnight.

 

We had a good walk… once we got away from the gobby woman. Some woman had tied more bells to her dog’s collar than you get in the average church belfry, and if the dog wasn’t making enough noise as it ran off in one direction, the woman was shrieking at the top of her voice as she tried to get her dog to follow her in the other. As she shrieked at me, those who’d set up the tent last week had left no end of food scraps which attracts her dog.

She eventually fell far enough behind that we couldn’t hear her. As we walked we saw a buzzard and a woodpecker. I saw squirrels; the dogs didn’t. As we walked we had a look at one of my geocaches which had been reported to be in an area swarming with ants. I didn’t see any, but I can’t imagine anyone would make up a story like that and go to the trouble to bother someone else about it. The little pot is now in a sensible place; I decided to leave it there.

As we walked I used my “Map My Walk” app. It’s odd. At every mile (or kilometer if that floats your boat) it tells you how far you’ve walked, how long it has taken you, and your average speed per mile. However what it actually shouts out isn’t in agreement with what it displays on its screen. The two were about a hundred yards and over a minute adrift.

 

We came home and had a cuppa. I then voomed round the front garden with the bionic burner… once I got it working. The extension cable wasn’t working, but the spare did. So once the garden (and nice-next-door’s garden) were bionically burned I took the extension cable apart to find why it wasn’t working. I could find nothing wrong, and when I put it all back together it was working fine. What was that all about?

I then got out the extending lopper and hacked back the overgrowth hanging over the fence from not-so-nice-next door, then went round with the garden hoover.

 

I came in to find my new rucksack had arrived… what a load of rubbish. It had no frame or rigidity. A seventy-litre rucksack doesn’t squash up so small that you can almost shove it in your pocket. I suppose that is why Amazon was knocking them out at less than a tenth of the price that Cotswold wanted.

Sending the thing back to Amazon was so easy. I pressed the “return” button, Amazon emailed me a barcode, I took the rucksack to Asda, showed the nice lady the barcode… and that was it. Whilst I was in the area I walked over to Mountain Warehouse where I spent forty quid on a new rucksack. Admittedly over twice the price that Amazon wanted, but under a quarter of the price of Cotswold.

 

I came home for a late lunch of peanut butter and marmalade on toast, wrote up some CPD (dull), then announced that I was going to feed the fish. Treacle was up the garden like a bullet from a gun; she loves the “Feed The Fish” ceremony as she gets some fish food. Is dried rice *really* that good?

And then I drove back round to Mountain Warehouse – the rucksack they sold me was missing some vital straps.

 

We then drove down to Rye for the evening – a chap from Vienna was on holiday and had organsied a geo-meet. I shared cheese and onion peas with the assembled geo-hounds, and I shared four pints of rather decent ale with myself…

25 August 2025 (Monday) - Bank Holiday Gardening

I was amazed that I wasn’t aching more this morning bearing in mind that when I staggered off to my pit lats night my watch told me I’d walked nearly twenty-one thousand steps yesterday.

I got up shortly after eight o’clock, set the washing machine going and peered into Facebook as I scoffed toast. It was still there. A few people had been up to bank holiday weekend things yesterday, but not many.

I had a little look at the monthly accounts. I’m not skint, but I’m nowhere near as rich as I’d like to be. Is that greedy of me?

 

I munzed, Wordled (mirth) and harvested dog dung. To be honest most of it got sloshed away with a bucket of water; there was quite a bit of dire rear going on this morning. That would explain why the dogs had been in and out of the house all night long. I hung out the washing, put more in, then we popped over to the garden centre. The pansies in some of our planters were looking tired. I had a plan to get a dozen plants for about a tenner. There was a sale going on at Bybrook Barn; I got three dozen for my tenner.

 

We came home for a cuppa, then I hung out the next load of washing then I cracked on with some gardening while “er indoors ^TM” went shopping. I pulled the dead plants from the planters, put in the new plants into place and moved all the pots and planters about to make them look tidier. And then with everything re-potted and moved I found a couple of pots that didn’t have nice plants in them at all; they had weeds. So I sent a message to “er indoors ^TM” to ask her to get a few more cheap plants.

I then rolled out the huge hose for cleaning out the pond filter, and cleaned out the pond filter, and then looked at the fishing line supporting the floating baskets in the pond. I added a little more slack line to them, and then spent ten minutes stripping the cordyline (as one does) and then “er indoors ^TM” returned. She’d got ten Sweet Williams for less than two quid.

 

We had a rather good ploughman’s lunch, then I potted the new plants, and moved the concrete garden bench. That thing is heavy; I might have strained something. I had an idea to move the buddleias into the shade, but according to the internet they like direct sunshine.

I must admit I’m not overly keen on it.

 

I then had a little look at the internet to plan the evening. It was as well that I did. There had been plans for a geo-meet this evening on the beach to the east of Folkestone. We’d seen a week ago that it wasn’t in the most accessible of places. Parking up at the old Roman villa it would be a little (twenty minutes) walk down through the Warren to get to the given location. Having finished in the garden and with a rather nice evening I wondered if we might go down to Folkestone. Sadly the meet-up had been cancelled. The chap who’d organised it (from Germany) had said “We're from Germany and traveling through the UK in a campervan. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a parking space. The city is very crowded. It wasn't ideal for us either”. Sadly anyone with access to Google Street View would have known that you can’t drive a campervan (or anything) along that bit of beach. You’d have thought the geo-Feds who allowed the meet to be announced might have pointed this out?

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a very good dinner which we scoffed whilst watching another episode of “Quantum Leap”.

I’m more worn out after a few hours’ gardening than I was after yesterday’s miles. Have I ever mentioned that I *really* hate gardening?

24 August 2025 (Sunday) - Edenbridge

As I scoffed toast over brekkie I saw that Facebook says that I am a “digital creator”. I wonder where it got that idea? I tried to change it to “fat baldy” but apparently that isn’t a valid category. I could choose between actor, artist, sportsperson, chef, comedian, designer… I left it on digital creator. Whilst I was at it I tried to change my preferred pronouns to “hatstand/fusebox” to be in keeping with what my LinkedIn account says, but again Facebook wasn’t having it.

I Munzed, got Wordle (spore) on the fourth attempt, and got ready for the off. Stuffing everything into my current rucksack was a bit of a squeeze. It’s a shame that the straps on my old big one have had it.

 

We loaded ourselves and the dogs into the car and set off to Edenbridge. There was some excitement as we went up the motorway; a hot-air balloon was landing in the field next to the motorway in the general vicinity of Harrietsham. Bearing in mind that you can’t steer those things (they go where the wind takes them) I rather thought bringing it down near the motorway and high-speed train line was a bit silly but what do I know?

 

We got to Edenbridge where we met Karl and Tracey. There were no girls along today. We set off on a little walk as always laid out for us by a series of geocaches. We had a rather good walk. Morgan avoided getting run over; it was a shame that Karl got rope burns from the lead whilst preventing Morgan’s premature demise.

We found a film pot geocache where we were expecting to find an ammo can – someone had pinched the ammo can. Who would steal from the hobby like that?

I found one of my old geocaches – the chap who’d hidden today’s series told me (some time ago) that he’d been to one of my caches that I’d replaced and found the original as well as my replacement. I told him to keep hold of it and re-use it. He had done so; I was rather pleased to see the thing being used.

We saw a gaggle of llamas who were very inquisitive.

We had bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale with our picnic lunch; back in the day that was my preferred drink. It must be over twenty years since I last had a bottle of newky brown. It was rather good.

And with seven miles walked we popped into the beer garden of The Old Eden for a couple of pints, some crisps, and pork scratchings for the dogs.

I slept most of the way home.

 

I took a few photos whilst we were out; once home I posted them to the internet. As the dogs snored (they were knackered!) we had a rather good dinner whilst watching the latest episode of “Lego Masters: Australia” which was sadly won by the team with the one contestant I can’t stand…

23 August 2025 (Saturday) - Late Shift

Finding myself wide awake far too early I got up and watched an episode of “Black Mirror” in the small hours. Imagine a world in which you had an implant which recorded all your memories and could cast them to a TV screen to watch with your mates later. The episode featured Jodie Whittaker who was rather good in the show, and not just annoying as she was in “Doctor Who”.

In the past I always used to get back to sleep after getting up and watching telly in the night, but sadly that didn’t happen this morning. I lay awake for another two hours before giving up and getting up.

 

I made toast and had a look at the Internet. It was still there. It usually is. Social media was dull but I had a couple of emails from geocaching dot com. The Wherigo I created on Thursday had gone live. And some people had stayed in a nearby travel lodge and been round Kings Wood finding the geocaches I’d hidden up there. Sadly they’d had issues with one and had said “The cache, cammo and tree was swarming with ants. I had to use a stick to retrieve the cache and then knock the ants off the cache to retrieve the log. Noting the quantity of anthills in the forest I have moved the cache for the next finder and left the hint in our log. Cache is currently behind a silver birch tree which is behind the original host tree, under log cammo”. There’s no denying that they meant well, but the law says it’s up to me to move the thing. Bearing in mind the entire wood is swarming with ants at the moment I’d be intrigued to see where they’ve put it. I’ll find out on our next dog walk.

I Munzed, and got Wordle (union) on the fourth attempt. I forgot to Wordle yesterday.

 

As we drove to Dog Club so Steve was on the radio doing the “Guess the Lyrics” competition: “You make me acknowledge the devil in me”. No? - Edwyn Collins – “A Girl Like You”. OK – it was over thirty years ago.

Dog Club was fun. Attendance was down again, but fourteen dogs ran riot including two newcomers who got on famously. As we drove home Steve was doing the Mystery Year competition on the radio. “It’s a Hard Life” by Queen? 1984. The same year as Edwyn Collins. I wonder if that was deliberate?

 

I set off to work. The "Operation Brock" stupidity had gone which made the motorway easier. I took a little diversion to pop into the Notcutts garden centre. 

Notcutts was heaving with people... the place seems to attract incredibly fat people (all wearing silly football costumes) who are totally oblivious to the fact there's anyone else on the planet, let alone anywhere near them.  They were waddling in each other's way (and mine), randomly stopping every few paces, and being incredibly surprised when another couldn't stop in time and then bounced off of them. Several times.

I wanted to have a look at the rucksacks in their branch of Cotswolds. They had a nice one... for two hundred quid. But (in all honesty) it wasn't as nice as the nice one I saw on eBay last night for seventeen quid. Mind you those silly football costumes worn by the fat people aren't cheap. Cotswold and Notcutts clearly seem to know their target audience.  

 

I got to work  and sulked. The original plan for today had me working the early shift at Tunbridge Wells. I managed to swap the early so I could do Dog Club, but that still left me with the late shift.  Being at work this afternoon meant that I missed the monthly geo-meet which was being staged at a micro-pub (with a particularly good beer selection) which was only a hundred yards from an ice-cream parlour. Oh well… by not going I probably saved about thirty quid. If nothing else that will pay for my new rucksack.

 

And there was cake at work… four hundred calories of cake…

22 August 2025 (Friday) - Early Shift

Last night I went to bed just before eleven o'clock and slept for less than two hours. I then dozed fitfully for a bit. When I finally nodded off again I had a rather vivid nightmare in which I was recalled to Canterbury hospital who wanted me to be in their Olympic team. Apparently due to some clerical mistake I'd been identified as a strong contender in the cross county running whilst eating cheese sandwiches event. It sounds rather daft in the cold light of day, but it was rather unnerving last night.

 

I got up at five o'clock and watched a rather good episode of "Black Mirror". How much money would it take for you to say that black was white and abandon all of your principles and moral standards?

As I watched so I heard the bin men coming up the street. They weren't shouting today, but they weren't being quiet as they hoiked the bins about.

 

I got dressed and wandered off to find my car. It was where I'd left it last night; it usually is. As I drove west-wards I listened to the pundits on the radio. Apparently the summit meeting the other day between President Trump and President Putin was a resounding success... for Mr. Putin. Having been greeted by Donald Trump the international exclusion of Russia is officially over. That was (so it was claimed) all that Mr. Putin wanted, and his not agreeing to anything at all was just an added bonus for him. Nothing at all seems to have changed on the ground in Ukraine.

Mind you, it all might be rather academic if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses which is looking more and more likely. For all that this can hardly be considered to be news, the scaremongers are warning of a sudden rising of sea levels by ten metres. At the risk of looking after number one, I'll make the observation that my house is about forty metres above sea level. At the moment...

 

I popped in to Tesco on my way to work and it was then that my phone beeped. The geo-Feds had a minor hiccup with that Whierigo I created yesterday. Nothing two minutes on the Internet couldn't sort, and with that sorted I got on with the early shift.

 

Work was work, and despite not having the best of days I was soon on the way home. Once home “er indoors ^TM” and I took the dogs down to Orlestone. Treacle tried to pick a fight with a particularly loveable Labrador, Bailey disappeared down a rabbit home, and “er indoors ^TM” collected acorns for squirrels. Personally I saw that as collusion with the enemy, but what do I know?

 

We came home for fish and chips which we devoured whilst watching this week’s episode of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”. It was rather good…

21 August 2025 (Thursday) - Walks, Wherigo, Tip Run...

I was asleep for over eight hours last night. That was a result. I made toast and rolled my eyes as Facebook told me about a roundabout in Chippenham that had been re-painted with the flag of St George. And as always there was a very fine line between being fiercely proud of one’s country and an unreasoning hate of anyone who doesn’t look as though they are of white Caucasian heritage.

I can trace my white Caucasian heritage back to 1760, but more and more I’m finding myself ashamed of my country rather than proud of it. Entirely because of the activities of those who say they are proud of it (even though I doubt they could trace it back more than a few decades at most). But this is human nature isn’t it? It’s not enough to follow one football team, is it? You are expected to express hatred to anyone who follows any other.

 

I got the leads onto the dogs and we went out. Yesterday as I drove there was all sorts of talk on the radio about how Nigel Farage was interfering in local council politics. Now it would seem that the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is doing the same.

 

We got to the woods where we had a rather dull walk. We went for five very uneventful miles. We chased no squirrels, we didn’t roll in anything, we didn’t upset anyone. Dull walks are probably for the best.

We came home where, after a cuppa, I went into the shed and gathered up rubbish for a tip run, then spent a little while struggling with geo-puzzles, Munzing, and I got Wordle on the fifth attempt before taking the rubbish to the tip. There was a little queue at the tip. Some lorries were moving about inside and someone had made a little “closed” sign by hammering a broken road sign to a broken road cone. It was rather sad to behold.

 

With rubbish unloaded I came home where we had a cuppa and a Whitby bun for lunch, and spent the afternoon writing a Wherigo. As we walked this morning I’d seen that the forestry people had opened up a new part of the woods (and opened up new paths too) and had opened up an area about ten yards in diameter in which the proximity rules of hiding Tupperware in the woods means I could put a new film pot out. So I did. And this afternoon I wrote a virtual game of Hide and Seek which people will have to play before being able to know where the new cache is hidden.

 

“er indoors ^TM” finished work and we took the dogs down to Orlestone for a walk. There was a minor hiccup when Bailey disappeared into a thicket and was missing for nearly three minutes. When she does that in Kings Wood I just keep going and she soon appears again, but “er indoors ^TM” was laying eggs.

As we walked we met a geo-buddy walking her dog, and chatted for half an hour or so.

 

We came home for a rather good bit of scoff. Burgers went down rather well as we watched more “Below Decks” in which the crew of a luxury yacht got more and more on each other’s tits as they couldn’t get away from each other.

And again another supposed non-working day was full-on. Close on seven miles (and over eighteen thousand steps) walked. A tip run done, a Wherigo written from scratch, a new geocache created, several geo-puzzles solved… I’m going to work for a rest tomorrow.

20 August 2025 (Wednesday) - Four Thousand Steps

Having had a few decent nights’ sleep, with an alarm set I had a terrible night. I gave up trying to sleep at five o’clock, got up and made toast. As I scoffed it I turned the telly on. Bearing in mind I’d slept through “Squid Game” the other day I didn’t bother with that. Instead I watched an episode of “Black Mirror” which was rather good, even if I was continually wondering what I’d seen two of the actors in. One had been a religious nut in “Plebs”, but I never did work out who was the actor playing the doctor.

I then had my usual root through the internet. Not a lot had happened overnight for once. Perhaps I was up too early? I Munzed, got Wordle (llama) on the fourth attempt, and got ready for work.

 

I drove round to Sainsburys to get petrol.  Her who used to be the cantankerous old bat on the till was rather chirpy today, and has been the last few times I've been in there. I wonder what's cheered her up?

I headed off west-wards through the -hursts and the -dens and all the temporary traffic lights listening to the pundits on the radio spouting their drivel as they do. Today there was a lot of talk about how local councils are being urged to go to the courts to prevent local hotels being used to house the illegal immigrants. It would seem that the driving force behind this is that odious Nigel Farage. In the past, the leaders of political parties haven't got involved with local politics; it would seem that now some of them do. A vote for Reform UK at the recent local elections looks to have been purely a vote for Nigel Farage... not that Reform UK is a political party. It started off as a private limited company, with Farage holding the majority of shares. He's since sold most of them off, but Reform UK remains a company and not a political party. A subtle distinction, but one that will come back to bite us all on the arse at some point I expect.

 

And then there were no end of so-called experts talking about what might be expected of an international peace-keeping force should there be a cease-fire in the ongoing Ukrainian conflict. There was all sorts of speculation about the RAF having to shoot down Russian missiles and Russian fighter planes... no one seemed to be able to explain why anything Russian would have to be shot down if it was Russia who was one of the parties declaring a cease-fire.

 

I got to Pembury where petrol was eleven pence a litre more expensive than it had been at home, and then cracked on with work. Which was rather less arduous than yesterday's supposed day off had been. The idea of semi-retirement was that I would carry on working but have more time at home and so start to wind down and take life a bit easier. However it seems I'm actually going in to work for a bit of a rest. Yesterday I did over twenty-one thousand steps. We’ve just polished off a bottle of plonk and I’ve only just got over four thousand steps…

19 August 2025 (Tuesday) - Twenty-One Thousand Steps

I slept well, but woke aching. That happens more and more these days. I wish it didn’t. I made toast and peered into the Internet as I do every morning. It was much the same as ever really. Squabbles about trivia and adverts for that in which I had absolutely no interest abounded. There was an interesting post – someone I vaguely know through geocaching was asking if anyone knew of a reliable psychic. Obviously this post had got a load of sarcasm. I remember back in the day I used to try to sell my paintings at the psychic fairs. I can remember one incredibly poorly attended session when it struck me that if any of the psychics in attendance were any good they wouldn’t have wasted their time. I can also remember one well-attended event when people were paying a lot of good money for massively overpriced crystals. There was a “faith healer” there who was charging a small fortune to wave feathers over the public, and he couldn’t keep up with the demand. There was an odd pervy bloke who was getting people to pay him to rub their feet. And there was a bloke who would surround you with tin foil, take a photo of you with flash photography and then (for a mere tenner) then explain your aura to you.  People couldn’t give the crackpots money fast enough, and I never made enough to even cover my costs.

As I peered into the Internet so Treacle and Bailey sat on the back of the sofa and growled at every passer-by. I wish they wouldn’t.

 

I Munzed, then took the dogs up to the woods. As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about some epic meeting that happened yesterday between the Ukrainian President and no end of Western leaders who are keen to keep the Americans paying for their proxy war against Russia. For once the Ukrainian chap was expressing gratitude.

We got to the woods; we walked a different route to our usual one. As we went so Treacle found a deer skull and wallowed in a swamp. Bailey rolled in something foul, and I found a strange object which turned out to be an Asian hornet trap. We only saw two other people; both over two miles from the car park, and one of them was carrying their cup of coffee in a cardboard Costa cup. That must have been stone cold.

 

After five miles we were back at the car. We came home where Bailey had a bath. I sorted us a cuppa and we had a Belgian bun with it. At three hundred calories that put back over half the calories I’d just walked off round the woods.

I rescheduled dentist appointments, booked the car’s MOT, then went into the garden and lined the three planter boxes I’ve been working on over the last few days.

 

By then it was lunch time. “er indoors ^TM” and I loaded the dogs into the car and we popped over to the garden centre. Having built and painted some planter boxes we needed something to plant in them. And something in them in which to plant the somethings. Two bags of compost and a few plants saw off the thick end of fifty quid. I think that next year I might get a few bags of seeds and grow my own plants.

 

We came home again for a cuppa and a hot cross bun (not quite two hundred calories) and then I went back into the garden. I got the compost into the planters and then the plants, and I sorted out the plastic planters that used to be round the rockery (and didn’t really work there).

I did my chair workout, then played the bots on chess dot com. I won some games, and so did they.

 

“er indoors ^TM” finished work and we took the dogs down to Orlestone. The dogs seemed to like their bonus two miles this evening.

We came home for a dinner of bangers and mash which we scoffed whilst watching more “Lego Masters: Australia”.

And I really should have an early night – I’ve walked over twenty-one thousand steps today…

 

18 August 2025 (Monday) - Rather Busy

I slept well for a change. Worn out after yesterday’s late shift perhaps? Back in the day Sundays at work were rather different. I used to be on duty all day on a Sunday as overtime, and I would be called in from home for specific emergency testing on named patients. Over the entire twenty-four hours I might be called in six or seven times all day long. Yesterday I did eight hours and I didn’t stop. How times have changed.

 

I made toast with peanut butter and marmalade. We get the cheapo marmalade at seventy pence a pot. It wasn’t that long ago when the stuff was twenty-nine pence. Yesterday as I got a sandwich from the hospital’s league of fiends (!) shop I saw they were knocking out home-made marmalade at four quid a throw.

As I scoffed my toast I peered at my Facebook feed which was absolutely awash with adverts for insurance. Did the Facebook bots read my diary yesterday?

 

I took the dogs up to the woods. As we drove the pundits on the radio were talking about the ongoing situation in Ukraine. It seems to me that this will go one of two ways. Either it will drag on and on as the Russians clearly have no interest in packing up any time soon. Or the Ukrainians will have to make massive concessions as the western world tires of paying for someone else’s war.

We got to the woods and took a different route to usual. As we started off I saw something that made me roll my eyes. Someone’s set up a little campsite in the woods. There’s not supposed to be any camping in Kings Wood. I once wasted months offering to stage a litter-pick up there and the nice people at Forestry England were deliberately obstructive at every turn. But a group of people have said “sod it”, set up camp and no one bats an eyelid.

As we walked so Treacle wallowed in a swamp and Bailey found some deer hide on which to chew. And three deer jumped on to the path not ten yards in front of us. The dogs looked at the deer, and the deer looked at the dogs, and by the time I’d got my camera out so the deer had wandered off. Or so I thought – enhancing the photo with Paint Shop Pro (when we got home) shows the deer was there.

 

As we came back to the car park we saw a woman with two labradors. As the dogs played I told her that the deer were active. “Deer?” she asked. She had no idea what a deer was, and seemed rather concerned that there were large unattended animals loose in the woods. She wanted to know who was stupid enough to release deer into the woods, and looked in utter disbelief when I explained that they were wild animals in much the same way as a fox or a rabbit would be. She was rather worried that the deer might attack her or her dogs… I took a deep breath and patiently explained that deer don’t attack, but her dogs might chase them. She wasn’t bothered about that; she had one of those dog tracker apps. You know – the dog tracker apps that are dependent on having an active internet connection that you can’t get in the woods. I patiently explained this… the nice woman explained that her dog detector app had never failed her before and she proudly showed it to me. She seemed rather miffed to find it wasn’t working. I assured her that I manage in the woods three or four times every week with no dog detector app, and left her to it.

 

I came home and made a start on painting the garden planters. After a little hiatus to chauffer “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” about then I mowed the lawn, and hacked back some of the trees pouring over the fence from not-so-nice-next-door. There’s so much that I cut back on that side; I could really do with a garden shredder. Back in the day I used to borrow Brian’s sister’s one, but he did an overnight fit to Scotland five years ago.

As I scoffed a cheese sandwich I had a look on Amazon; garden shredders are rather cheaper than I thought they might be. I shall give that some thought.

And with tat in mind I started today’s Wordle with “shred” which gave me an S and an E, but not in the right places. On the fifth attempt I got it – “issue”

 

I put another coat of paint onto the planters, and became very conscious that Treacle was watching my every move. When we get to mid-afternoon it is time to “Feed The Fish”. And with fish fed I sat by the pond for a bit soaking up the ambience.

I wrote up some CPD, I did my twenty minutes’ worth of exercises.

 

Because it is Monday, “er indoors ^TM” has gone bowling. I started watching the new series of “Squid Game”... and fell asleep.

 

17 August 2025 (Sunday) - Insurance, A Walk, Operation Brock

I slept well, but was still up earlier than I might have liked on a Sunday morning. I made toast and looked at the Internet. I’d thought last week’s episode of Star Trek was rather good, but sadly there were no end of so-called fans finding fault with it. It was the so-called fans that got the show cancelled in 2005, and the same killjoys won’t be happy until they’ve killed it again.

I checked my emails. I had an email telling me that my car insurance is due for renewal, and in the email the nice people from “Insurance R Us” said “You have been with us a number of years. You may be able to get the insurance cover you want at a better price if you shop around” I thought that was rather honest of them so I spent a little while shopping around. Bearing in mind I’m old, I thought that a well-known firm who specializes in the older members of society might be the best people to tap up for a quote (I don’t dare mention them by name for obvious reasons!). They wanted a hundred and fifty quid more than I’m currently shelling out.

I tried LV as I’ve heard they are cheap. After what seemed like an age they told me that they couldn’t insure me (!) Oh well, it’s their loss. I shall take my money elsewhere.

I then went through the U-switch comparison site and Money Supermarket, both of which gave me loads of quotes. Both including one from “they who shall remain nameless” which was quite a bit cheaper than what they themselves had quoted.

Bearing in mind how good my current insurers were when I had a prang a few years ago I think I’ll stick with what I’ve already got. But I shall give them a ring and see if they can’t get it any cheaper… I’ve tried it on in the past and they’ve often made a reduction.

 

And whilst I’m thinking about it, I really should review the house buildings and contents. When we had the leccie debacle last New Year our current insurer said we didn’t have emergency callout cover. I spent a small fortune getting someone out, and when I complained the nice lady insisted that we did have emergency callout cover… but wouldn’t reimburse me on what I’d spent because of their mistake.

But whoever I go with for house building and contents it won’t be LV – I’ve taken offence with them.

And whilst on the subject of insurance, if you can scrape up the cash, it is *far* cheaper to pay for a year’s worth in one go rather than shell out each month. The last time I looked I was saving about two months’ payments by getting a year’s worth in one go. Of course the flip side is that if (when) they balls up by saying that you don’t have emergency callout cover when you actually do, then you are stuck with them until the policy runs out.

 

With that in mind I started Wordle this morning with “quote” (despite the Q). It gave me the U and the O as being correct; if in the wrong place. To be honest that’s a better start than I usually have. I got it on the fourth attempt with “lousy”.

I popped into the garden and got a coat of paint onto that planter I built yesterday, then we took the dogs for a little walk. Two weeks ago we walked for a mile along the canal where we spent over an hour and a half looking for a geocache before finally giving up. Armed with a hint from people who’d been there and found it we went back and after quite a search we found it.

As we walked Bailey was entertaining. Twice she found fox poo in the long grass which she moved onto the gravel path where she rolled in it. You can clearly get better coverage of fox poo when the dung is in the open on the gravel rather than buried in long grass.

Treacle went in the canal and couldn’t get out, and Morgan was gobby.

 

We came home for a cuppa, then I set off to work. The plan for today didn’t involve work, but the late shift had gone sick, and there it is. As I have said so many times before, if I had my time again I’d work somewhere that owns a “closed” sign. But that’s a decision I should have made over forty years ago.

 

I drove up the motorway past the Operation Brock stupidity.  The lane toward Maidstone was rather busy as was the coast-bound lane. But the Operation Brock bit was all but deserted. As I drove the fifteen or so miles I counted seventeen cars and two motorbikes (all of which shouldn't have been in there), and perhaps (at most) twice that many lorries.

As I drove the radio was playing the omnibus edition of "The Archers". Seriously? How many people listen to that drivel? I looked it up. About five million people a week. Marginally more than the amount of viewers that tune in regularly to Eastenders and about a million more than the amount who watch Coronation Street.

One lives and learns.

 

I got to work and sulked. Yesterday afternoon I'd pootled in the garden dodging in and out of the house to avoid the drizzle. Today I'd volunteered to go into work and the weather was glorious. But it could be worse. I've got a job to go into.

 

I did my bit, and eventually the late shift arrived and I got to go home. Down the "A" road, and not the motorway. The Operation Brock stupidity was being removed. Apparently a spokesman for the bunch who bring it in and out of action (the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum) said the removal  was due to a decrease in expected tourist traffic. Now I'm no rocket scientist (blood, yes. Rocket, no) but it strikes me that next weekend is the Bank Holiday. The entire point of Operation Brock is to ease congestion at the post of Dover. If ever there is going to be congestion there, it will be at a summer Bank Holiday weekend. Won't it? If the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum are removing Operation Brock on the lead-up to a Bank Holliday, then surely they have no business instigating it ever again and are admitting that too? 

 

I must admit I see this as our new Reform UK County Council falling at the first hurdle. Operation Brock is a complete shambles at best, and something they could have easily put a stop to. Something my new county councilor assured me they were going to put a stop to. Perhaps they might put a stop to the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum - especially when you bear in mind that this august body is made up of them and those to whom they ostensibly give orders. They've had their chance and blown it.

Operation Brock will be back in a month or so…

16 August 2025 (Saturday) - Dog Club, More Carpentry

Finding myself wide awake at three o’clock I put that to use and put a load of washing in to scrub. And when I got up properly at half past six I hung the washing out and put another load in.

I made toast, and as I got the bread from the freezer I saw the freezer door had been left ajar. Again. Woops.

As I scoffed my toast I peered into te Internet as I so often do. The so-called alien spaceship on its way here (3I/ATLAS) probably isn’t aliens after all. That’s something of a disappointment.

And people on the Facebook fish tank groups were quibbling about temperatures today. Does a difference of two degrees matter in a fish tank? Especially when you are measuring it with one of those colour changing strips that you stick on the side of the tank? But for many people keeping the fish healthy is secondary to arguing about it.

 

I hung out the second load of washing and fed the week’s undercrackers to the washing machine. I munzed, got Wordle (matte) on the last attempt, and got ready for the off.

Steve was on the radio doing the “Guess the Lyrics” competition: “Will I have to wait forever Will I have to suffer”. No? -  The Three Degrees – “When Will I See You Again”.

Being Saturday we drove round to Repton for Dog Club. Attendance was noticeably down today, but we still had (about) fourteen dogs along. We played nicely; we shared treats. There was a dodgy five minutes when we saw little Penny had blood all over her paws. She’d cut herself on something but she didn’t seem overly bothered.

As we drove home Steve was going the Mystery Year on the radio. Donny Osmond – “Puppy Love”? 1972.

 

We got home, As Bailey was unceremoniously scrubbed (she will insist on rolling in fox poo) I put the undercrackers into tumble-dry and then counted the Dog Club takings. The money was down on what it has been, but attendance has been down a tad. I suspect (hope) people are paying the Repton people directly via text message. I don’t keep track of who pays; we operate on an honesty system. I’d like to think most people are honest.

We had a cuppa and a cherry Bakewell tart (two hundred calories) then I went into the garden.

 

I lined the box that I built on Thursday and put it into place by the pond, and put some of the surviving rockery plants into it, then had a little look at the plant boxes by the back door. I moved a few about (which is easier to type than it is to do), painted up the two new boxes that “er indoors ^TM” got from Aldi the other day, then sawed more left-over timbers into shape for making another planter box. Once I’d done all the sawing I suddenly realised that using the garden chairs as a saw-horse was a silly thing to do as the surface I lean on is curved and so the wood I cut isn’t as straight as it might be.

 

With wood sawed I was rather aching. “er indoors ^TM” made us a cheese sandwich, and having got something of a second wind I went back into the garden. I screwed the new planter box together, put a bit of a base onto it, and gave the thing a lick of paint.

 

“er indoors ^TM” set off to visit family. I would have liked to have gone, but my nephew has a rather huge pit bull which doesn’t like other dogs very much, and Morgan (particularly) cries pitifully if left alone for very long. Despite having had a very active day of carpentry I did my twenty-minute chair workout. That worked up even more of a sweat.

After a quick shower I activated my geocaching adventure lab in Chilham then set about the ironing. As I ironed I watched the last episodes of “Orange is the New Black”. I’ve now watched the show three times. This time I started watching it on 28 March. That took four and a half months to get through. I wonder what I will watch next…