7 August 2024 (Wednesday) - Another Busy Day

I ached when I woke this morning; probably the result of having walked over eighteen thousand steps yesterday.

I got up, made toast and sparked up my lap-top. As I peered into the internet I was bombarded with adverts for camper van hire and dog friendly cottages. Clearly the Internet had been paying attention to what I’d been looking at yesterday. Mind you I suppose it was having a go at being helpful. I also had adverts for a dog show taking place thirty miles away, a Nepalese football tournament and the suggestion that I might like to follow the Royal Mail stamps and collectables page(!)

I saw a colleague had a birthday today. I’ve known her for years; like me she left the rather nasty atmosphere of the local hospital for somewhere much better. I thought she was in her early thirties; she was forty-seven today. Where does the time go?

 

And I had an email from the power company about my energy usage. I looked at their “energy hub” then sent an email back to them about my energy usage last month.

Did I really spend six times more money watching telly that using the washing machine and dishwasher?

It claims I used eighteen quid’s worth of electricity on hot water. My water is heated by gas.

In any case, how can they tell what device in my house is using power?

I suspect this whole thing is just some random guess, If it is correct I would seem to be paying about fifty pounds per month on the direct debit more than I should be. I’ve asked them to look into it.

 

I took the dogs up to the woods. We walked for four miles and once we were out of the car park we only saw two other people. One older lady with a spaniel who we often see, and who has only recently started replying when I say hello to her. And one young lad scooting about on an off-road moped which he really shouldn’t have in those woods. Mind you he stopped when he saw the dogs and waited for us to come past, so he’s not as bad as some.

 

We came home, had a cuppa, then once I’d hung out the washing I painted those sleepers. I say “painted”; “ronsealed” is a more accurate description of what I did. Having ronsealed I looked the stuff up on-line. Apparently it’s toxic to fish… Ho hum… All I can say is that I’ve been using it on the sleepers round the pond for as long as I’ve had a pond, and even dropped the stuff in the water before, and had no adverse effects that I know of.

Talking of the pond, I found our little disabled fish had died.

I had a little tidy-up in the front garden, bionically burned the weeds, then got out the hand-held pressure washer and had a go with that. I got a third of the front garden done before the battery packed up. It’s nowhere near as powerful as the mains powered pressure washer, but it is far less arse-ache to set up, use, and put away. I then pootled and fiddled and realized that the Ronseal on the sleepers was dry so I gave them another coating.

By the time I’d watered the plants and fed the fish I was knackered.

 

I had a shower, settled in front of the telly and woke in time for dinner. “er indoors ^TM” made a very good bit of scoff which we washed down with a rather good bottle of cheap Malbec whilst watching an episode of Celebrity Bake-Off. And then an episode of Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over in which Stacey was staying with a Mormon family in which there was a chap with two wives. Have you ever watched the show? It’s rather good. Stacey goes and stays with people whose lives aren’t what many people consider normal. And as the show goes on you slowly realise that these supposedly strange people aren’t that different to everyone else.

As I once said to a colleague (who was once feeling rather self-conscious about her hijab) everyone is pretty much the same. Everyone is an idiot, and everyone likes cake.

6 August 2024 (Tuesday) - More Sawing

As I sparked up my lap-top I saw there was a request for moderator action on one of the Facebook groups I moderate. Someone had the “Reform UK” as their Facebook profile picture and had prompted others in the “Upstairs Downstairs” group to take offence. Some people really will argue about anything.

I had a quick Munzee session, again struggled with Wordle, and got ready for the day.

 

I put a load of washing in to scrub then took the dogs up to the woods. As we drove the pundits on the radio were talking about how residents of tourist destinations across Europe seem to have got the arse with tourists. People who live in these places claim that property prices are going through the roof because every available house is being snapped up for the tourist trade.

As Oliver Hardy once remarked, “twas ever thus”; the locals in Hastings hated the tourists forty years ago… even though without the tourists the town would have been dead.

 

We got to the woods and had a good walk. Having had reports that four of my geocaches had gone missing I went to have a look. We took a rather circuitous wander round the woods only to find that three were where they were supposed to be.

We made our way back to the car where my watch told me we’d walked for four and a half miles. We came home, I made a cuppa, then cracked on with sawing those sleepers. After an hour or so I’d got the basic waterfall shape done… then I remembered the washing I’d put in to scrub. Woops. I hung that out as “er indoors ^TM” boiled up some sausage rolls for lunch. And with lunch scoffed I realized that there was still more sawing to be done.

Sawing is hard work.

 

I thought about getting a coat of wood preservative onto the sleepers, but decided against it. Instead, seeing what great reports I’d read of last week’s Mega-Geo-Event I looked at hiring a camper van to take to next year’s event. They ain’t cheap to hire, you know…

I *might* go in a tent. But only *might*.

 

Being a rather good evening “er indoors ^TM” and I took the dogs down to Folkestone where we had a little walk along the Leas, Munzing as we went.

We were rather late getting home so we had KFC for dinner. Happy days.

5 August 2024 (Monday) - Rather Busy

We had a rather good day yesterday. As did the dogs getting treats and scraps where they could. Bailey in particular took advantage of what food was going. Arguably too much; for a small dog she threw up a surprisingly large amount of vom on the bedspread at half past three this morning.

I stuck it in to wash and went back to bed where I dozed fitfully.

 

I got up at eight o’clock, hung out the bedspread and made toast which I scoffed whilst I had my usual rummage round the Internet. Friends had been canoeing in Cornwall, others had been white water rafting closer to home, some had been playing with their band at a local pub, some drinking in Greece… That’s why I like Facebook. I’m nosey.

There was also talk of next year’s Mega-Geo-Event. Apparently it is taking place somewhere near the Severn Estuary in the first week of August. Do I want to go? Quite frankly the camping puts me off. I know from experience how much arse ache setting up a proper campsite takes (as opposed to roughing it in a tent). But it might be fun. I’ll see if “er indoors ^TM” is up for it.

I had a little Munzee session from the sofa, struggled with Wordle, and got ready for the day.

 

I took the dogs up to the woods. Steve had mentioned that the A251 was closed, but the closure was further up than Kings Wood; we got to the woods and walked our usual circuit without any problems or episodes. The dogs were as good as gold; no running off or chasing deer.

We came home and I put loads into the washing machine then spent a few minutes putting away all the garden stuff. And with that done I started sawing sleepers into shape. However the saw wasn’t really up to it. It was a tad blunt to begin with, and by the time I’d carved the first sleeper I might as well have rubbed my backside against the wood to cut it.

 

“er indoors ^TM” dished out a plate of leftovers from yesterday which I scoffed for lunch, then I went shopping. First of all to the garden centre to get the liner for the new bog filter project. As we came home from paddleboarding last week we had a look at the liners in World of Water at Rolvenden. They wanted thirteen quid per square metre for the stuff, and I need at least six square metres. The garden centre across town did a lump of the stuff three metres by three and a half metres for forty quid. It pays to shop around.

I came home via B&Q to get a saw – they did a “buy one get one half price” deal so I came home with two saws, got the rest of the sleepers chopped in half, and carved half of the waterfall shape. Carving that took two hours; I’ll do the other half tomorrow.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up more leftovers then went bowling. I cracked on with the ironing whilst watching something on Netfllix. “Cunk on Earth” is absolutely brilliant; one of the best things I’ve ever seen on telly.

If you’ve not seen it, give it a go.

4 August 2024 (Sunday) - Hic!

Despite having been disconnected from the Internet overnight I woke to see my phone had loads of notifications. It really does seem to go on-line of its own accord during the night to see if it has missed anything. There was news from those who had been camping overnight at the Geo-Mega-Event; someone or other had arranged an early morning alarm call by having a bagpipe band kicking off at eight o’clock. I wouldn’t have been happy about that either. The frankly ridiculous drumming that took place yesterday (twice) was bad enough.

Such a shame that having had what many people told me had been a good week’s holiday it had to be marred by bagpipes so early in the morning after what was apparently quite the party last night.

 

Whilst “er indoors ^TM” had a tidy up I slipped off to Asda for some shopping. “er indoors ^TM” gave me a copy of some bar code or other that I had to tell the cashier to scan. I got my shopping and presented the bar code. The cashier woman spent five minutes telling me that thus bar code would do nothing, and to prove it she scanned the bar code.

She was seriously unimpressed when her till then told her to give me a discount.

 

I came home and got the event shelter and chairs out of the lock-up and set up for the afternoon. Friends and family came round, and I for one drank myself silly. It was rather good to catch up…

3 August 2024 (Saturday) - UK Geocaching Mega

As I peered into the Internet over brekkie I saw I had a friend request on Facebook. The photos of this one had a man’s head photoshopped onto a woman’s body, and the album of photos of that person had a range of photos of different people.

Quite a few people were up in arms about a trans-gender boxer winning medals at the Olympics… even though the one accused of being a man wasn’t, never was and never had been. The ability of social media to be completely wrong never fails to amaze.

 

I chivvied “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs out of bed and we got ourselves organized. We set off to Dog Club. As we drove Steve was doing the “Guess the Lyrics” competition on the radio; I for one didn’t have a clue.

Dog Club went rather well. We had a new dog along which told Morgan off. Quite frankly he needed telling off; I wish more dogs would tell him off.

 

With Dog Club done we said our goodbyes and drove off up the motorway. Steve was doing the Mystery Year competition on the radio. When did Tommy Cooper die? I can distinctly remember it being 1983. It was 1984.

We listened to Steve as far as we could as we drove up the motorway. As we drove I Munzed like a thing possessed until we got to Ardingly and the UK’s Mega-Geo-Event.

 

I must admit I’d been a tad sceptical about this, but we had a great time. We arrived and almost immediately met an old friend. Aleta moved to Norfolk a few years ago; it was great to catch up. We then had ice creams and chatted with more friends before having a spot of shopping. I bought some badges and a geo-coin that will go into a drawer and never see the light of day again, but you need souvenirs of a day like today.

We had a rather good dinner from the burger stall which we scoffed with friends. We met more friends and chatted with them. We played the thirty ad-labs that had been set up for the day, and in between we played the fifty Adventure Lab Caches that had been set up for the Mega event. As we played, the dogs were strictly supervised by their new friend. We’d met little Lana at Wednesday’s picnic event where her mother said she was dog mad. She’d got on famously with the dogs then, and she asked if she could take Bailey’s lead. All three were quite happy to be supervised.

As the afternoon went on we heard dogs barking and yapping; there is something quite satisfying when it is someone else’s dog.

 

All too soon we were told that the event was coming to an end. We spent a little while finding friends to say goodbye; we didn’t find everyone. And then we sat in the car park for an hour finishing off all the Adventure Lab Caches.

 

The sat-nav took us a different way home to they way we’d gone there. With “er indoors ^TM” wanting a drink and Treacle squeaking for a tiddle we pulled up in East Grinstead. As luck would have it, we were within fifty yards of a virtual geocache. So we did the secret geo-ritual before getting a tin of Fanta each and going home.

 

The plan had been to go shopping when we got home. But the plan had been to get home some time in the mid-afternoon. It was well into the evening by the time we pulled up, so we got some KFC and have got a plan to be at Asda for opening time tomorrow.

 

I took a few photos today.  And I got my highest daily geo-score today as well. Two hundred and eight-seven smiley faces… I’m worn out.

2 August 2024 (Friday) - A Birthday

It was rather hot last night, which gave me the dilemma I have on every hot night. Should I lay awake all night because it is hot, or should I turn on the fan and lay awake all night because of the noise the fan makes?

I turned the fan off about four o’clock and dozed until eight. I made toast, took “er indoors ^TM” up a birthday cuppa, then peered into the Internet. Loads of friends had been camping in torrential rain last night; one of quite a few things I don’t miss about camping.

I had an email from Credit Karma saying my score had changed, but I couldn’t log in to my account. After a bit of farting about I cleared my browsing history which wiped my lap-top’s memory of absolutely every password of which it had ever heard, but still left me unable to log into Credit Karma. Oh well… no great loss really.

 

We set off on today’s mission. As we drove up the motorway we counted fifteen cars in the “Operation Brock” part. Fifteen! How do these people do it? As you come down the motorway it is clearly signposted who has to go where.

We got to Maidstone and Mote Park, and parked up. The RingGo app gave us the option of either six hours parking or fourteen. What was that all about?

We had a little GPS games session. A geocache, a series of geocaching Adventure Labs, six Shaun the Sheep statues and more Munzees than sense. Despite being closely supervised Bailey still managed to roll in something feral.

“er indoors ^TM” took her into the toilets and washed her in a sink.

 

After a couple of hours we were back at the car. We drove down to the Bull at Linton where we had a rather good bit of dinner. It was a shame that there was a swarm of children charging about the beer garden, but they weren’t charging anywhere near us.

It was also a shame that we couldn’t run a tab. I offered to leave my card behind the bar, but their policy was that people sitting outside pay for everything as they go. It seemed like unnecessary farting about to me, but what do I know?

 

We came home and I mowed the lawn. “er indoors ^TM” then slipped off for a haircut and then went on to cake with “My Boy ^TM” and Cheryl. I slobbed in front o the telly until she came home when we watched the final of “The Traitors USA”. Sadly the end was rather predictable, but entertaining.

 

Hopefully “er indoors ^TM” had a good day… 

 

1 August 2024 (Thursday) - Paddleboarding

I got up feeling rather miserable. I do that more and more these days. I made toast and had a look at the Internet in the hope that something revolutionary and earth-shattering had happened overnight. It hadn’t. Squabbles and petty bickering abounded. Today Facebook featured some political arguments about the Chancellor of the Exchequer stopping the cold weather allowance for some pensioners. I’m not entirely sure this is as bad as some would have us believe; they will just give some other benefit to make up the shortfall. The trouble with any attempt at discussion on the matter is hampered by so many people treating political parties in much the same way as they do their favourite football team or a religion; they choose an allegiance and stick with it through thick and thin.

I also had an email telling me that my new pressure washer which arrived last weekend should be arriving next Wednesday.

 

We loaded ourselves and the dogs into the car and drove down to Bodiam where “er indoors ^TM” left me. For Christmas she’d bought me a taster session at paddleboarding. Sadly the nice people at Epic Life have asked that people don’t bring dogs along, so “er indoors ^TM” took the dogs off for an hour or so and left me to it. To be honest the paddleboarding place wasn’t the easiest place to find, but once there I was soon in a wet suit and after a quick introduction on the river bank I was soon sailing the seven seas (or the river Rother to be more precise). The nice lady instructor apologized that they don’t allow dogs along; apparently they’ve had issues in the past with dogs jumping in the river and trying to get on the paddleboards with their owners. I could imagine Treacle doing just that.

The nice lady said that we would practice paddling, turning, standing up and kneeling down, sail down to the bridge and come back. Despite falling off three times by the time we got to the bridge the nice lady said we were about twenty minutes ahead of schedule, and did I fancy paddling on downstream to see Bodiam Castle across the fields. So we paddled a little further than most people do.

There’s no denying that I was knackered by the time we got back to base. But I would certainly do it again.

 

I walked up to the lane to find “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs waiting for me. From Bodiam it was only a short hop to Cripps Corner where Gordon had hidden a series of geocaches five years ago. He’d mentioned that he was planning to archive the series in a month or so; since we were in the area it made sense to go for a little walk round the woods. Being Forestry Commission woods we knew the place would be dog friendly...

Here’s a tip for all dog owners…

If something is described as being “dog friendly” you automatically assume that all will be heigh-ho pip and dandy, don’t you? But  “dog friendly” things rarely are. Being “dog friendly” generally means little more than that dogs aren’t expressly barred.

Despite a DNF (always a hazard when hunting Tupperware) we were having a rather good walk up until about half way round when “er indoors ^TM” commented that there were deer running through the woods. It was a shame that Morgan had to chase them. As he disappeared into the distance I had a theory that he wouldn’t keep up with them, but by the time he’d run out of steam he’s be on the other side of the circular path that cut the wood in two. So if we followed that path we might meet up with him. It was a good plan, thwarted only by the circular path leading into an impassable swamp. We back-tracked, and a couple of hundred yards past where we’d lost him we found him sprinting back along that circular path. With his tail between his legs and crying pathetically. I could hear his sobbing form twenty yards away,

Dogs really do cry.

 

We finished out geo-walk, and my phone pinged. The nice lady at Epic Life had sent me some photos of me on the paddleboard. I shamelessly blagged them and added them to the photos I’d taken whilst we’d been in the woods. You can see them all by clicking here.

We came home. The plan for the rest of the afternoon had been to mow the lawn and do some washing. But by the time we’d got home my watch told me I’d done over sixteen thousand steps (and I’d not taken it paddleboarding!) so as “er indoors ^TM” scrubbed mud from surprisingly muddy dogs I ran out the hose, filled up the pond, and took it easy.

 

I popped over the road and got what turned out to be the world’s worst bottle of wine which we used to wash down a rather good plate of chili.

As we scoffed and guzzled we watched more episodes of “The Traitors”; a surprisingly entertaining show despite its making absolutely no sense whatsoever.

I am reliably informed that a storm is on the way.