28 August 2018 (Tuesday) - Pod System

I got up early; it was that or lie in bed wide awake.  Totally forgetting all about granola (whoops) I made myself some toast and scoffed it whist watching "Orange is the New Black" in which our heroes seemed to have an awful lot of freedom to wander here and there doing their own things whilst supposedly under guard in prison.

Pausing only briefly to destroy the toothpaste (!) I then got myself together and set off for work. As I drove I listened to the radio, despite what it does to my blood pressure. Firstly there was a lot of hot air about the Northern Ireland Assembly. Supposedly the body which runs Northern Ireland, in practice the body hasn't met in over a year since with no political party having a majority no one seems able to form any sort of power-sharing arrangement. There were politicians on all sides squabbling live on air (like unruly children), but no one made any comment about how the day to day running of Northern Ireland seems to be carrying on just fine without any political oversight from them whatsoever.

There was also a lot of claptrap being spouted about the gang culture which has supposedly gripped the streets of London. Ex-policemen were arguing bitterly with community leaders and well-meaning do-gooders. I'm no expert but it seemed that despite their all getting very angry with each other, they all seemed to be in total agreement with each other and all were saying the same things.

As always I had a commercial van tail-ending me for much of the way to work. Today's van was from Storage Control Systems of Paddock Wood and again must have been driven by a dimwit; would anyone with any intelligence drive so badly and dangerously with their company's details emblazoned all over the van they were driving so dangerously?

I stopped off near Paddock Wood for geo-reasons before going in to work. There was supposedly a geocache there which hadn't been found in over a year. Another resurrection? Not this morning. The hint for the thing was "FPX" and it was described as being tiny and magnetic but not near the metal fence. I found a metal box clearly labelled "FPX" which was spot-on for where  the GPS would have me go but it was right by a metal fence. There was nothing magnetic stuck to it, but there was however two sets of people peering out of their living room windows not five yards away from this "FPX" box.  Not wishing to worry the normal people I shoved off to work, and logged a "Needs Archiving" - we can't have the normal people being frightened, can we?

And so to work. What with one thing and another I postponed my usual look at Facebook until I had a tea break. Someone had posted on the “Ashford” Facebook page. Living in Willesborough, their child had been allocated to a school in Finberry which is about a mile or so away through an industrial estate and across a very busy dual carriageway. With no public transport to Finberry at all this person was trying to line their child up with a lift. Bearing in mind that this new Finberry estate isn’t *that* big, what on Earth was the council thinking of when they built a school there? Clearly the expectation is that everyone has their own car to get to places where the buses don’t go.

I almost (but not quite) choked on my coffee when I read what a friend had posted up. I use the word “friend” in the Facebook sense in that anyone on my list is considered a friend. There are a few people on my “friends” list purely for the entertainment value they provide. One had clearly forgotten who her friends (and especially her husband’s friends) were, and another was banging on about what a bastard her ex- was when the truth of the matter was that she’d forced him away by trying to pressure him into a marriage he didn’t want.

People can be a worry, can’t they?

As I worked "My Boy ^TM" messaged me. His mate was flogging a “pod system”. A “pod system” is a glorified rod rest. I’ve got rod rests, but I’m told that one has to have the right stuff. I must admit I’m a tad miffed to have spent twenty-five quid on the thing only to find it is just the stand. There is nothing on which to balance any fishing rods. Mid you I’ve got some bite alarms somewhere I can stick on it (I think). All I need now is a couple of butt grips, but I think it fair to say that I’m not alone in needing a butt grip.

Mind you the “pod system” does look pretty damn sexy. It should impress the ladies… or those ladies that are impressed by things that stink of fish.

27 August 2018 (Monday) - Bank Holiday

Treacle woke me up by stomping all over me at three o’clock. I then lay awake for an hour before giving up trying to sleep. I got up and looked out of the window and saw a parking space up the road so I went out to move my car. I’d parked round the corner where parking is only allowed until eight o’clock so the car needed moving. As I walked to my car I was amazed at just how dark it was. Over the last year or so the council have replaced most of the street lights with l.e.d. lighting which is cheaper and very environmentally-friendly but doesn’t actually provide any useful illumination. As I looked up and down the street I could see one or two of the old-style sodium street lights – around them were small islands of visibility.

With the car moved I watched “Hot Lesbian Prison Action” (Or “Orange is the New Black” – the title Netflix eventually went for) then went back to sleep for a few hours.

There was a minor near-panic at brekkie time. Not wishing to disturb "er indoors ^TM" I’d moved her car too. I didn’t tell her; I’d let her sleep. Perhaps I should have told her before she looked out of the attic window and saw it had gone.

Over brekkie I emailed my local councillor to complain about the rather rubbish street lighting. I doubt it will achieve anything, but a whinge never hurts. As I griped, "er indoors ^TM" and "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction ^TM" played with the Lego. They saw the Lego box as a toybox; Treacle saw the Lego box as her own personal sweetie jar. Much of our Lego now has teeth marks in it.

After two hours we were finally in a position to walk round the park. As we walked, mayhem ensued as it so often does. I made a little video of out antics; you can see it by clicking here.

We came home, had a sandwich, then drove round to "My Boy ^TM" who was staging a bank holiday barbie. A few beers, some chicken and burgers, a bit of cake… you can see some piccies from the day here.

I then slept all the way to Margate as we took "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction ^TM" home.

I’ve had quite a busy bank holiday weekend… I’m looking forward to going back to work for a rest.

26 August 2018 (Sunday) - Hastings Hill Hike

I woke up earlier than I had intended, and over brekkie watched an episode of “Orange is the New Black” in which not a lot really seemed to happen. I tried to get Fudge to eat his brekkie, but he wasn’t having any of it.

With "er indoors ^TM" taking "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction ^TM" to visit family today, Fudge and I set off on a little adventure.

As we drove the pundits on the radio were wittering on about religious stuff. First of all they were emphasizing the importance of youth in today’s church. They were going that forty years ago. As a religious nut in the early eighties I can remember forming the distinct impression that as far as the church was concerned, anyone over twenty-five years of age could get knotted.

There was then a lot of hot air about what the Pope should or should not say during his visit to Ireland, and this was followed by a frankly unbelievable discussion about the concept of “faith”. Having an unshakable belief in twaddle and crackpot-ery was somehow admirable.

We got to the helipad car park near Fairlight. Many years ago I was locked in the public toilets there by a passing maniac who thought me and my mate were going to vandalise the place. We were held there until a policeman arrived and told the passing maniac to let us go. I wish I knew who that idiot was; in today’s society I could sue him for millions.

Aleta and Jackie soon arrived, and we set off on a little walk. First of all along lanes and paths (that were very familiar to me) leading to Fairlight sand quarry; somewhere where I and many friends used to play wide games. I always say that Fairlight sand quarry is one of my favourite places; it was, but the last time I went back there was a couple of days before I got married. We used to play there all the time. Children clearly don’t play there any more – the place is terribly overgrown with weeds and brambles. Such a shame.

From the quarry we then tackled the Firehills. I wanted to do today’s walk because I can remember the Firehills from my youth. "er indoors ^TM" *didn’t* want to do today’s walk for exactly the same reason. The Firehills are pretty, but the operative word is “hill”. There are serious ups and downs.

At one of the hilliest points we saw someone had set up a tent overlooking the sea. What a beautiful place to set up camp.

As we walked we saw a couple of footpath closures. As we debated where to go, people walked out of one of the closed footpaths. We had a chat and were told that for all that many paths were closed, all were still passable. We carried on regardless – the paths *were* passable if a little steep.

We’d started walking at nine o’clock. The rain was forecast for mid to late afternoon. It arrived at mid-day just as we were at the furthest point from the cars. It didn’t help that I’d not packed a decent raincoat. But what can you do when caught in the rain? You can sulk or you can make the most of it… either way you end up equally wet.

Having said that we did cut out the last part of the walk in order to get back to the cars quicker.

It was a good walk - I took a few photos as we walked, but I pretty much stopped when the rain started.

Caching-wise… we knew that quite a few caches on the Hill Hike were missing. Originally we’d planned to go walking with the chap who’d hidden them and we would combine our walk with a maintenance run, but he wasn’t free today so we’d offered to do maintenance. We had to replace six caches and put new logs into three more. There are those who would whinge about having to do so; I was glad to help, and wish more people would help out in this way. The Hastings Hill Hike is now good to go again.

Of the caches that we did find some had been created by a 3-D printer. They were rather good. Two were little puzzle boxes that were tricky to open. I’m sure they are great fun in decent weather, but in the rain they were a game I could have done without playing.

Two caches involved solving anagrams. Do the phrases “Punky Carrot” and “Flamenco Nettle” mean anything to you?

And the last cache of the day hadn’t been found since July 2017 – another resurrection cache. That’s eight I’ve found in total; six in the last two weeks.

We got back to the cars, said our goodbyes and made our way home. As I drove I rather thought Fudge might have slept. He didn’t; He was poised and barked at every splash every time we drove through a puddle. I might just have driven through one or two more puddles than I needed to.

Once home I put on dry clothes. Much as I like going out for a walk, there is no denying the fact that I also like dry pants. Fudge ate the breakfast he’d turned his nose up at earlier, and I scoffed a sandwich before watching a bit of telly. It don’t watch itself, you know.

"er indoors ^TM" and "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction ^TM" came home from terrorising the relatives, and as we scoffed dinner we watched some home videos, and then “Animals Close Up Through a Wide Angle Lens”. “Animals Close Up Through a Wide Angle Lens” is always popular.

"er indoors ^TM" is currently trying to settle "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction ^TM". He’s not keen on the idea…

25 August 2018 (Saturday) - A House Guest

Finding myself wide awake and in some discomfort,  I got up at three o’clock and went to the loo (tripping over Fudge as I went). The loo didn’t help, and being wide awake I watched an episode of “Orange is the New Black”. Just as the episode was ending I did the world’s biggest fart, and then went back to bed where I *would* have slept like a log had Treacle not thought it was play time.

Eventually she settled.

I got up just after eight o’clock and stood on the scales. No weight loss this week, but no weight gain either. I then had a look at the Internet. Facebook was much the same as ever with lies and triviality being bandied about in equal measure. I quite like the triviality, it’s the lies that boil my piss.

I spent a few minutes fighting with a geo-puzzle; eventually giving up and emailing the chap who’d set the puzzle. It turns out I had the right answer all along but the software wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do. Software rarely does.

I spent a few minutes doing dull BTLP-TACT (work stuff) in which I simulated an emergency, and then learned how to filter my GSAK. Filtering GSAK is something that most people learned years ago, but I’m still getting the hang of it.

"Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM" arrived and made off with a set of spanners, leaving "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction ^TM" in her wake. He’d been looking forward to a weekend with us (apparently).

We started off with walking the dogs round the park. "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction ^TM" came along on his scooter. You’d think some form of propulsion like that might have speeded him up, wouldn’t you? He probably could have gone slower if he’d really tried, but even Fudge was getting impatient with him.

As we walked we found some child’s party in full flow in the middle of the park. They had gazebos up, which is a big no-no with the council, and some of the children coming to the party were being driven directly to the party with cars driving down through the paths on which cars are expressly forbidden.

Eventually we got out of the park, through the co-op field and past the allotments where some people were growing “sensibles”. We eventually got home, but it took some doing. Once home we had a cheese sandwich each and I fell asleep waiting for "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction ^TM" and "er indoors ^TM" to do whatever it was that they were doing.

Eventually we got out of the house.

We went to the co-op so’s I could use their cashpoint machine (and again the machine didn’t give me a receipt), and we then drove down to Burmarsh to Mini Moo’s Maize Maze and Fun Yard. We had a Groupon voucher for Mini Moo’s Maize Maze and Fun Yard and thought we’d have a go.

I don’t want to be negative about the place, but when we arrived it looked closed. There is a rather tired-looking play area with the sort of play equipment that you would have in your own back garden; none of it seems to be particularly heavy-duty.

There are a few bales of hay which for a sort of “water pistol arena” around which the children can charge whilst squirting the water pistols supplied by the place. The water pistols are filled from rather grubby-looking dustbins of water most of which were empty or swimming with hay. The biggest problem with the “water pistol arena” is that it isn’t cordoned off; anyone passing to and from the maize maze seems to be fair game for a good soaking.

We got to the maize maze. There were boards to find inside the maze; after half an hour we realized what the code on the boards was; if you are a super-genius you can work out how to get round the maze. We just blundered.

We had a little episode in the maze; in the middle was a platform the floor of which really could do with being nailed down. Stepping on one end of a plank of wood and having the other end fly up was rather disconcerting; even more so when it happened with several planks.

Having been rather disparaging about the place, I think it is only fair to say that "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction ^TM" seemed to like it. He certainly lasted far longer there than he did at the zoo. I’d go back. Given a few years to find its feet, Mini Moo’s Maize Maze and Fun Yard may well achieve greatness.

We wondered what most recent grandchild would make of geocaching so we went to find a couple on the way home. He seemed quite taken with the idea.

We came home via Tesco; did you know they give free fruit to the littluns as they walk round? I didn’t. S.B.O.D. scoffed an apple as we shopped.

Once home I quickly excused myself and drove out to Warehorne to collect my eBay win. I had to go to “The Leacon, Warehorne”. Have you ever been to Warehorne? I think it fair to say that two-thirds of the twenty-odd houses there have “Leacon” in their address. Leacon House, Leacon Manor, Leacon Cottage, Leacon Farm, Leacon Farm Cottage, Leacon View… I eventually found the place, but it took some finding.

I came home to find that "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction ^TM" had strewn Lego everywhere and "er indoors ^TM" was pulling Lego out of Treacle’s mouth almost as fast as Treacle was eating it.

Having been in the maize maze earlier it seemed only right that we had corn on the cob for tea, and fish fingers and chips for afters.

As I’m writing this blog entry our little guest is currently destroying some of "er indoors ^TM" candles whilst Treacle is eating the yogurt he’s left on the table.

He’s having a bath shortly… or so I’m told. I’m not getting involved!

It has been a rather full-on day today – there’s a few photos on-line; you tend to forget just how much hard work toddlers can be.