27 April 2023 (Thursday) - Before The Late Shift

I felt rather better when I got up this morning, which was something of a result. I went straight to the pond and was very pleased to see the water level was where it was last night, and that the water was noticeably clearer than it has been.

I wasn’t pleased to see the amount of dog dung in the garden though. Having cleared it all yesterday afternoon, how could three small dogs have generated quite so much?

I made toast, took another antibiotic, and had a look at the Internet. There were squabbles on Facebook about dustbin collection, hospital management, parking at the post office… Everyone is so keen to rant on-line. So few want to stand for election to do anything.

I had two dubious friend requests on Facebook. One seemed to be having difficulty keeping its chest under control, and the other was called “John”.

 

With a few minutes spare I took the dogs out. I wondered if Orlestone Woods might have dried out a bit; it is quite the swamp during the winter, so we went there to have a look. Kings Wood is bigger and drier, but over twice the journey away.

We got to Orlestone and walked out usual route without seeing a single other person. It was a bit boggy in places, but it could have been a whole lot worse. The dogs behaved well; last year I rather went off of the place as Morgan would run riot when we were there, but he was as good as gold today.

As we walked I was amazed at just how many trees had been cut down. I realise that the place is a working woodland and that the trees are cropped for wood, but it was rather sad nonetheless.

 

We came home and the dogs had a bath. Some needed it more than others. I then set off in totally the wrong direction for work; I needed petrol. I drove past the place in the town centre which prides itself on having the cheapest petrol for miles around and drove to Sainsburys who were knocking the stuff out at two pence per litre cheaper.

And then I headed for work. Having made careful note of the time I'd left home and the time I got to the A28 I think it fair to say that getting petrol added half an hour to my journey. Half an hour(!) - I would have thought ten minutes at most.

 

As I drove the pundits on the radio were presenting an incredibly dull documentary about Frank Zappa so I turned the radio off and sang along to Ivor Biggun as I drove west through the -hursts and the -dens. Much as I grumble about the journey to Pembury, when I get a clear run (like I did today) it is a pretty drive, even if it takes (almost) twice as long as the run to Maidstone.

As I drove through Pembury I saw the garage which usually sells petrol at ten pence more per litre than the garages in Ashford had changed its policy. Today they were knocking it out at a penny less than the price charged by the supposedly cheap place in Ashford. It pays to shop around.

 

I got to the work's car park, ate my lunch as I read more of my Kindle, then got on with that which I couldn't avoid. And as is so often the way on a late shift, the day was effectively over by the early afternoon.

26 April 2023 (Wednesday) - A Day's Leave

I woke at one o’clock and had something of a coughing fit, but after that I dozed on and off until “er indoors ^TM”’s alarm went off at half past seven. I got up, blew my nose until it bled, then made toast.

As I scoffed I saw that there was a photo on one of the Hastings-based Facebook groups that I follow that made me think. When I first met “er indoors ^TM” her mother and stepfather ran the Corner Café by the railway station in Hastings, and there was a photo of the place. Quite a few people had posted memories of that café; no one I’d ever heard of though.

Someone had posted a photo of his ticket for a “Sparks” concert on one of their many fan pages. The ticket specifically stated: “Not suitable for under-5s”. You have to wonder what sort of a society we have where the patently obvious has to be so blatantly pointed out.

 

Despite the coughing I loaded the dogs into the car and we set off to Kings Wood. As we drove the pundits on the radio were talking about instances in which your life changes in a moment. They wheeled on some woman whose life had done just that, but ironically after two miles of driving they were still droning on such a long-winded introduction that I turned the radio off and sang along to Ivor Biggun instead.

Just as I got to the woods I had a message. “Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM” was distraught as “Darcie Waa Waa ^TM” had been shitting black and blue (quite literally) and she was trying to get an urgent doctor’s appointment.

Five minutes later she messaged asking if I thought that the ten thousand blueberries my favourite youngest granddaughter had eaten yesterday might have had some bearing on her dung.

 

We walked round the top of the woods today. I found two more final locations for geocaches. Treacle found the mud. She really is a swamp monster; if there is muddy water, she is in it. I blame the spaniel part of her heritage (she’s half spaniel).

We had a shorter walk than usual today; as we came back to the car we met Sam and Lyn who were off Wherigo-ing. It was good to catch up.

 

Once home I popped to the corner shop for supplies. Specifically something to blow my nose into. Having eco-friendly bogroll delivered once a month is all very well all the time I’m not blowing my nose through it like a thing possessed. Bearing in mind what the stuff is used for I got the Happy Shopper stuff at half the price of the posh brand.

I would have got some boot polish if they had any, but I was the first person to ask for it in the memory of anyone in the shop. I got some pastries instead. Once we’d scoffed them with a cuppa I went and had a look at the pond.

 

I felt grim, but I made a decision. I could sulk, or I could crack on and see what happened. I heaved Neptune out of the way, and raked up loads of shingle so’s I could get to ground level. Taking great care not to slash myself I used a Stanley knife to cut the weed-proof membrane then got digging. I excavated a hole big enough for the large bucket in which the pressure filter would sit.

My plan for the day involved me getting that far, then wasting the afternoon watching episodes of “Four In A Bed”, but finding that I had perked up somewhat I cracked on. In a novel break with tradition I read the instructions of the pressure filter and decided to see if I could get the thing in place. First of all the old filter boxes came out, I re-plumbed the hoses from the pond pumps so both would feed into the new filter. I bodged the now redundant second in-pipe to become an out-pipe, tightened up all the jubilee clips and turned it all on.

I’m reluctant to tempt fate here, but I will say I’ve had far less successful turn-on of pond filters. There’s a minor issue with the electrics, but that can keep till another time.

I then raked shingle back to from where I’d raked it earlier, and then got out my spirit level (“My Boy ^TM” would be so proud of me!). I organized a flat area and heaved Neptune back into place. I then heaved the garden rocks about to make it all look rather scenic.

“My Boy ^TM” then arrived to help me move my soil bin. This morning I had a dustbin half-filled with soil. The soil from the hole I dug had gone into the bin and filled it, and I couldn’t move it. Together we shifted it.

Whilst I was in the garden I started mowing the lawn… then stopped and frog-marched Morgan inside. He simply would *not* stop attacking the lawnmower.

I looked at the filters I’d taken out and decided against cleaning them today. I wasn’t on top form and I’d already spent five hours in the garden making it look substantially the same as when I’d started. 

I shall clean the filters another day and then see if I can sell them. They are only a year old and the ultraviolet bulbs are only a couple of weeks old. Sell them… or swap them for ornamental garden rocks.

 

“er indoors ^TM” sorted a rather good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching this week’s episode of “Celebrity Hunted” in which so-called celebrities really did seem to be trying their hardest to make themselves obvious to those hunting them.

Mind you, it is easy to be disparaging from the comfort of my sofa. I wonder how I go about applying to go on that show?

25 April 2023 (Tuesday) - Taking A Sickie

I woke feeling like death warmed up, but I do that quite often. But by the time I’d coughed through an episode of “Shameless” hawking up green muck I decided enough was enough and phoned the person on at night to warn them that I was going to take a sickie today.

Whilst I waited for the GP to open up I had a look at the Internet. A couple of my genuine female friends had posted that they have been receiving friend requests on Facebook. Their friend requests were all from macho army-type blokes. I thought that rather ironic that the friend requests I received today were obviously blokes who had photo-shopped their heads onto women’s bodies.

 

I had a look at my GP’s website. Seeing they opened at eight o’clock I thought I’d get there promptly and form a queue; you hear these horror stories about trying to get an appointment. I got there at half past seven and the receptionists told me that they don’t actually do appointments any more. It is all done by telephone consultation. I wasn’t sure how someone could hold a stethoscope to my chest over the phone, but there wasn’t really very much else I could do but go home and wait patiently for someone to phone me back.

I came home via the bakery where an ex-cub’s mum was behind the counter. She didn’t recognize me.

 

Just as I got home my phone beeped with a voicemail message. The doctor had phoned and gone straight to answerphone. I phoned the surgery and on finding I was forty-ninth in the queue I thought I’d pop round to tell them I was still up for a consultation. However the surgery I walked to this morning doesn’t see GP patients any more. I have to go half-way across town for that.

So I drove across town and told them what had happened. The receptionist assured me I was still on the list to be phoned and suggested I went home and waited.

I got home to another voicemail message.

I drove back to the surgery and explained there was clearly an issue with my phone. Phoning me simply wasn’t an option. They asked what I suggested. I suggested that as I was there the GP might physically see me. They told me the GP worked remotely. I suggested that the GP might phone me on a surgery phone. The receptionist then told me they didn’t have any phones even though I could see two.  The receptionist asked if I might borrow a friend’s phone. I pointed out that I was coughing up green gunge and that she was actively stopping me getting medical attention. She said she’d ask her manager, and disappeared for about ten minutes.

I was then invited in to a consulting room where a rather angry GP lambasted me about how crap my phone was, brandished a stethoscope and asked to listen to my chest. I was tempted to ask how she might have done that over the phone, but kept quiet. After a couple of minutes I walked out with the prescription for amoxycillin that I knew I needed all along.

 

I got home, and feeling worn out after the episode with the GP (let along feeling ill enough to take a day off work sick) I spent eight hours working on my current Wherigo project.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up dinner which we scoffed whilst watching episodes of “Richard Osman’s House of Games”; a good show somewhat spoiled by the winning contestants clapping for themselves like demented sealions.

A pet hate of mine is people clapping for themselves.

I feel like death warmed up… my stomach really hurts from the constant coughing.

I’m going to bed.

24 April 2023 (Monday) - So Dull...

 

I woke feeling rather grotty. Having shifted one cold I seem to have acquired another.

I made toast, watched an episode of "Shameless" then thought about phoning in sick, but decided against it. Perhaps I should have done so?

 

I set off cross-country to Pembury; have you driven along the A28 out of Ashford recently? You wouldn't believe the amount of new houses that have been built recently. Mind you talking to young colleagues, they all want a new house. No one wants to buy an old house these days.

As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about "Storm Ulysses”; a storm from 1903. Researchers have taken meteorological observations from that time , plugged them into the computers, used this data to make weather forecasts of what might have happened after Storm Ulysses nd compared it with what actually happened. And (would you believe it?) found there is stuff to be learned from looking at the historical record.

Is this so amazing? If you are going to try to guess the future based on the past, surely you need as much historical information as you can possibly get? Ans trying to predict what actually happened is probably a rather good way to test your theories. It strikes me that the only question here is why has it taken so long for weather forecasters to realise the patently obvious? I would say "are they thick or what" but bearing in mind their demonstrable failure to do their job...

There was also a lot of talk about the political situation in Sudan with about a thousand British citizens stuck in a war zone. Mind you it would seem that Sudan has quite a history of coups going on.

I wouldn't want to go there.

And it would seem that vaccination uptake by UK teenagers is at a low with more and more people subscribing to crackpot anti-vax theories rather than to proven fact.

 

I got to Pembury and popped into Tesco for some odds and ends. Tesco there has succumbed to the self-service checkout craze. It was a shame that the machines simply didn't work. If I can find another supermarket that is in a convenient location, I shall start taking my money there... or my credit card as Tesco’s self-service checkouts don't seem to like cash.

 

Work was too much like hard work for my liking, but an early start making for an early finish is rarely a bad thing. I drove home through torrential rain. The dogs flatly refused to walk up the garden with me to feed the pond fish, so I took tat as a walk being out of the question.

Instead I downloaded bank statements and had a look at the monthly accounts. For some reason the payment for the puppies’ healthcare plan wasn’t taken out last month. I chased that up with the vets; all seems to be in order at their end. I wonder what’s going on there?

 

“er indoors ^TM” sorted dinner then went bowling. I settled in front of the telly and tried not to fall asleep…

Some days in my life are really good (like Saturday two days ago), and some (like today) are just dull.