3 December 2020 (Thursday) - Messaging Rohit

I had one of those terrible nights in which having woken feeling full of energy at twenty past one, I then lay awake for much of the rest of the night.

I gave up trying to sleep and opened my Lego Advent Calendar and had another "WTF is that" moment. There are a *lot* of those with Lego Advent Calendars. I then made myself feel rather ill by doing a COVID-19 test. To be sure of a proper result you really have to ram the swab right up the nose. And judging by how much my eyes watered I don't think I could have rammed it much further. But after half an hour's incubation it came out negative, which was probably for the best.

 

I watched an episode of "People Just Do Nothing" which would be hilarious if it clearly wasn't based on so many people that I have met, then got myself ready for work. It takes some doing in these dark mornings. I dare not wake "er indoors ^TM" or the wolf-pack, but have you ever tried to select a pair of shoes (out of half a dozen) in the dark?

 

As I drove to work the pundits on the radio were broadcasting excerpts from "Prime Minister's Question Time". I was reminded of my days at the Hastings Academy for Budding Geniuses/ Back in the day I would go to the Junior Debating Society (it took me years to work out why everyone referred to it as "mas-"!). There we were taught the rudiments of civilised debate, and how to prove that black was white by talking loudly and confidently and with an utter disregard for any (so-called) fact that might go against your point of view. Parliament operates in exactly that way. Loads of clever-sounding talk, much of it with no basis in reality, and none of it actually achieving anything. There are probably worse ways to run a country, but there certainly must be better ones.

There was a lot of talk about Jersey. The head honchos at Jersey and at Guernsey have apparently had a falling-out over the best way to control the COVID-19 pandemic. With Guernsey (supposedly) not having a single case at the moment and Jersey now entering a one-month lockdown (to ruin Christmas and the New Year) I think we now see who had the right idea.

There was also talk about the collapse of the department store "Debenhams". One of their suppliers was wheeled on. The chap talking would have done well in Parliament; he took umbrage at being called a "supplier" - he led a “retail focussed solution provider group”(!). But taking out the buzz-words and management catchphrases he basically said that the high street shops are going to have to change. He's got a point. "er indoors ^TM" told me what she wanted for Christmas on Sunday, and I had Amazon deliver it long before I would have had the chance to go shopping. Or take a comic shop that used to be in Canterbury which for years was a regular haunt. One day (about fifteen years ago) the chap running it realised that all of his profit was coming from mail-order and on-line sales, and having a physical shop was actually costing him money. Or take the vineyard's shop on the way to Pembury which charges way over the odds. When I buy something in a physical shop I have to make a special journey costing me time and money, and I am also paying for the running costs of that shop. Supporting local businesses is all very well... but why are we supporting something which is expensive and inconvenient?

 

I got to work for the early shift. As I started so my phone beeped. Rohit from the power company had sent me a message via WhatsApp. As the day went on messages went to and fro in which she asked the same questions that all her predecessors had asked, and I gave the same answers time and again. After several hours she commented that she was unable to read the meter remotely... which is one part of the problem. She suggested I read it myself and put the readings on to their web site...which is the other part of the problem.

Rohit was happy that the problem was now resolved, and asked if there was anything else she could do. She seemed rather miffed when I replied that the problem was not resolved and she might arrange replacement of the smart meter - like I asked for in the first place.

Once home I messaged her with the reading from the gas meter. The reading was (and still is) “NA”, but Rohhit didn’t reply. Instead one of their automated bots did. So it looks like I shall have to go through all the same conversation again tomorrow…

On the plus side I saw a smiley neutrophil down my microscope today…

 

I had intended to go on a Munzee resuscitation mission after the early shift, but it was dark and pouring hard. You know the rain is bad when the dogs refuse to go out. I’m so glad we got the roof sorted last weekend.

I wonder what’s for dinner…?

2 December 2020 (Wednesday) - Paying Too Much?

Sid was particularly shouty this morning. I wonder what that was all about. He eventually shut up and I scoffed a bowl of muesli whilst watching an episode of “People Just Do Nothing” before sparking up my lap-top.

Last night I saw a friend was posting on Facebook about changing his electricity and gas supplier. Earlier in the year I spent an age investigating the cheapest available option and went with… let’s just say the company I’d been with for years. Having signed up for what really was the cheapest deal I could find I’m now locked in until April 2022, and am paying about three or four times what I would be paying with Octopus Energy. But this reminded me that three weeks ago I contacted the power company because my smart meter was playing up and they still hadn’t replied. I logged into my account with that power company last night and it told me that my monthly estimated energy costs were almost (but not quite) thirty thousand pounds. Unfortunately their live chat thingy was broken. I sent them a message via WhatsApp (!) as their website suggested. This morning as I scoffed my brekkie they told me that their waiting times were longer than expected and that they would be with me as soon as possible.

 

I also saw my Lego Advent Calendar had got quite a few “likes” but reading the comments I don’t think that all of the people seeing the post quite understood what it was about. Perhaps they don’t have voices in their heads to explain it to them?

I checked my emails – I had a “Needs Maintenance” request on one of my geocaches. Apparently the plastic bag in which I had put the paper log had gone from one of the pots I’d hidden. For those of my loyal readers who don’t hunt Tupperware, this is possibly the most trivial reason imaginable to demand that I drop everything to make an utterly unnecessary maintenance trip. And the same person wrote “didn’t find” logs on caches that she didn’t find because she’d given up and gone home because it was raining.

I had a whinge about it on the local Facebook geocaching page and found myself squabbling with two snowflakes who had never before posted there.

 

Once I'd scraped the ice off of my car I set off to work. As I drove the pundits on the radio were spouting their usual drivel.

The Chinese have landed a probe on the Moon, and intend to fetch some Moon rocks back to Earth. They will come in handy seeing how the Americans have lost one hundred and eighty-four of theirs.

There was also talk of the COVID-19 vaccine that today was licenced for public use in the UK. There are a lot of people who are sceptical about this and feel that the thing has been rushed. I would ask them specifically what was wrong with the testing regime that the MHRA employed, and specifically what further testing they would like to see. (Waving hands in the air and vaguely saying "more testing" because they don't have the faintest idea, or spouting crackpot conspiracy theories aren't acceptable answers here)

And I was rather bemused as to why the BBC would waste valuable peak-time air-time on today's "Thought For The Day" in which some archdeacon or other prattled on for two minutes about how nice Christmas card are.

 

Work was much the same as ever. I did my bit and came home again. I put some washing in, and "er indoors ^TM" got KFC for dinner. She then vanished upstairs to do a Zoom meeting with her pals. I sparked up Netflix and watched a film. Or half of a film. “Adult Life Skills” was a total load of old tripe which I turned off half-way through. Others might disagree with me - if ever you get the chance to watch “Adult Life Skills” why not give it a go. You might like it. I didn’t. 

Oh – and I’m still waiting to hear back about my smart meter…

1 December 2020 (Tuesday) - Robot Crocodiles from Outer Space

I had a very restless night in which I was constantly waiting for my father to give me a lift somewhere or other. Having given up driving, he was never going to pick me up. I knew that, but it didn't stop me waiting though. Sometimes I wonder if my dreams are the battleground between my brain and the voices in my head. If so, I wish they’d declare a truce.

Before going downstairs I opened the first window of my Lego advent calendar and had a "WTF is that" moment. For the last eleven years I've bought a Lego Advent Calendar and been very good and not opened it a moment before I should. But the thing's Facebook page has quite a following and by not giving myself a few months grace I really do make a rod for my own back.

I made myself a bowl of granola, and as Sid snored I watched another episode of "People Just Do Nothing" in which it was Valentine's Day. Or "Valling Times" as our heroes would have us believe, then checked out the Internet. Last night I saw that the first puzzle in my Kings Wood series of geocaches has been found eighty-three times. As those eighty-three people walked round they went through the play zone of a Wherigo which takes about five minutes to play, and involves a hundred-yard detour to go get the final pot. But only fifty-three people did that. Thirty people didn’t bother with it.

According to Google ninety-five per cent of the population have a mobile phone and so have the necessary equipment. The apps are free. So why don’t people do the Wherigos? I asked on one of the local geocaching pages. I got the answer I was pretty much expecting. Those that do Wherigos love them. Those that don't do them have all pretty much given up on them before they have even started.

Why did I ask? - I did have plans to make more Wherigos for the New Year. Will I in the light of what I have been told? Probably...

 

I set off for work and was again amazed at some of the terrible driving around Ashford. Why drive with so little consideration for other road users when you have got "VJ Technology" emblazoned in three-feet high letters on the side of your van, or when your number plate is so distinctive? (HY GARY S - whoever you are).

As I drove up the motorway the pundits on the radio were talking about how the Scottish National Party are angling for another independence referendum. Financially it makes no sense at all, but from a viewpoint of nationalistic jingoism and hating the Sassenachs it makes perfect sense. Rather like Brexit.

And there was a lot of talk about how the Prime Minister is facing a rebellion of Conservative MPs who are planning to vote against his latest COVID-19 legislations. The rebel MPs are faced with choosing between what their leader wants and what their constituents want. On the one hand Boris might not advance their careers if they go against him. On the other hand if they upset the electorate they won't even have a job next time. Heaven forbid they might do what is best for the national interest rather than their own.

 

I got to work, and had something of a "macrocytosis" day. It made a change from yesterday which was very much a "reactive lymphocyte" day. But I did spend quite a while pondering on just what it was that I'd had in my Lego Advent Calendar. I considered looking it up on the Internet, but that would be cheating.

 

An early start made for an early finish, but by the time I’d got some petrol it was already getting dark. I thought about taking the hounds out, but it is hard enough work in broad daylight. Instead I had a shower and took a photo of what I’d got out of the Advent Calendar. It would seem that the consensus of opinion is that it is some sort of boat, but in the end I went with what the voices in my head had told me. And from a literary point of view I suspect I can do far more with robot crocodiles from outer space than I can with a boat. But bearing in mind I have absolutely no idea what is to come over the next three (and a bit) weeks I may well regret that rash decision.

You can see today’s instalment of the Advent Calendar by clicking here. Quite a few people have already done so…