16 October 2023 (Monday) - Bird Fights

Morgan jumped off of the bed with a crash at half past three. I hurried after him to find him waiting by the back door. He went out, and after a few minutes came back in again. I wasn't going out with him; it was a tad chilly. We all went back to bed and (thankfully) unlike yesterday that was it for being up in the night.

 

Over a bit of toast I watched another episode of "Alice in Wonderland"; for a post-apocalyptic series set in a world in which pretty much everyone but a very small number of people have died, there seems to be an awful lot of survivors cropping up. I suppose the writers suddenly realised that with a cast of a precious few, wantonly mowing people down with machine guns on a regular basis soon eats through your available characters.

I got dressed... then got dressed again properly. I'd no idea just how uncomfortable it would be to have pants on back-to-front. And then I set off... and realised that it was officially winter. "Official Winter" starts when the car is covered in ice for the first time since summer, and I had to do some vigorous scraping this morning.

 

I had a quick Munzee session in which I capped a dozen (rather dull) points of interest and a Space Manatee (which was also on the dull side) then set off up the motorway. Today I was working at Maidstone; it’s a much easier journey.

As I drove the pundits on the radio were interviewing the deputy leader of the Scottish Nationalist party who ranted that pretty much all the failings of the Scottish Nationalist government in Scotland are down to the actions of of the English. And there was also an interview with the Israeli ambassador to the UK who answered ever suggestion that the Israelis are being heavy-handed in Gaza with the rant that the UK fought a war eighty years ago so we were in no position to take the moral high ground.

There was quite a bit of ranting on the radio this morning; being English certainly wasn’t seen as being a good thing by some parts of the rest of the world.

It was also pointed out that sixty years ago today the Lava lamp was invented, and a hundred years ago today the Disney corporation was founded. Don’t say I never learn you nuffink!

 

I got to work a tad early so I made a cuppa and used my phone to tune in to my morning Facebook fix.

A friend had been taken ill yesterday; he's now on the mend. I've not seen him for some time; if he didn't live sixty miles away I'd see him more often. I find this more and more. Back in the day I was much more outgoing and sociable and spent so much time with so many people. These days I rarely see anyone outside of family. I really should do something about that.

 

Work was much the same as ever. Unlike yesterday I did spend some time looking out of the window today. As the day went on so a flock of starlings and a flock of goldfinches were having an ongoing battle for who would have the top of the biggest tree outside our window. At first it was the starlings who chased off the goldfinches. But the finches came back with reinforcements… and so the battle ebbed and flowed. It was all a rather gentle spat, but entertaining nonetheless.

 

With work done I came home. Coming home down the motorway is much easier than coming home cross-country. We fed the dogs and gave Morgan his medicine; he was well enough to put up a fight about that.

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up dinner and then went off bowling. I put more “Alice in Borderland” on the telly and ironed shirts.

I hope Morgan sleeps better tonight… I need a decent night’s sleep.

15 October 2023 (Sunday) - Poorly Pup

I heard Morgan jumping off of the bed at three o'clock so I hurried after him. He was a good boy and waited by the back door to be let out. I trusted him to do his thing and he soon came back inside and we were all soon back in bed.

He jumped up again at quarter to four. And at quarter past four. And shortly after that… Just before five o'clock he didn't make it to the back door and there was quite a bit of blood-stained sick and he was bringing up coffee-ground-like bits too. that's never a good sign (it's semi-digested blood - yuk!)

After this he settled, but by this time I'd been up with him seven times so I didn't bother going back to bed. I made brekkie and watched a bit more of "Allice in Borderland" whilst listening for the sound of a small dog coming down the stairs. Sure enough he soon came down again.

 

I left “er indoors ^TM” with strict instructions to take him to the vet, and I set off to work on a very dark and cold morning. As I drove I listened to a frankly ridiculous program on the radio which seemed to be taking the line that any religious or superstitious old tosh (no matter how patently absurd) could become factually correct *if* it was put to music. Which is why people in church sing hymns (apparently). The presenter then went on to claim that someone has made a musical called "Yahweh vs Allah" which will supposedly sort out religious wars once and for all (!)

Amazingly this program was called "Something Understood".

There was then the usual farming program in which the presenters were visiting a farm in Devon which has been nominated for "Farm of the Year", where the presenters were rather surprised to find it was being run as a business rather than as a shambles.

 

Apart from the usual road racers who infest the A262, the roads were rather quiet this morning and I made good time to Pembury. I had enough time to go look for a geocache. Having spent a little while puzzle solving yesterday evening I was hopeful... I found a location which matched the description of where I thought I should be... but no cache.

 

I went in to work and had a rather busy day. Usually when I’m working at the weekends I grumble about what the weather is doing, but I had no idea what the weather was like today; I really didn’t stop.

But as I scoffed a bit of dinner I had a look at the Internet through my phone. Again we completely forgot about Hastings bonfire which happened last night. Back in the day I used to organise mass outings to the bonfire parades... these days people just go in smaller groups on their own.

We probably wouldn't have gone last night, but it would be nice to have been reminded that it was on.

As I worked “er indoors ^TM” sent updates on Morgan. She showed the vet photos of what he'd sicked up and the vet seemed to agree with my diagnosis; hopefully just a rather bad bout of gastroenteritis but possibly an ulcer or damage caused by something that the daft dog might have eaten. He was given medicine and instructions to return if there's no improvement in five days.

“er indoors ^TM” took him and his furry associates for a walk; apparently you wouldn’t have realised he was poorly.

 

I came home to find three sleeping dogs; “er indoors ^TM” had gone to visit the in-laws. I put the telly on, put on more “Alice in Borderland” and was soon sleeping myself.

I wonder when “er indoors ^TM” will be home?

14 October 2023 (Saturday) - Dog Club, Rye Harbour

Despite the excitement of having family round I slept very well last night. I would have slept better had my phone not started bellyaching about wanting to have a virus scan at ten past five this morning. If it wanted one that badly, why didn’t it just do one for itself? Did it really need to bother me about it?

 

I got up, and eventually so did everyone else. Seeing there was something of a delay, ably assisted by “Stormageddon – Bringer of Destruction ^TM” I took my three dogs round to Dog Club. Grandson had been keen to see Dog Club, and he seemed quite impressed with what was going on. We had a decent turn-out of pups and the usual mayhem ensued. Mind you when I say “mayhem” it was all good-natured mayhem. Loads of charging about and playing and dog-piggybacks (!)

“er indoors ^TM” and the rest of the tribe soon arrived, and “Darcie Waa Waa ^TM” had a great time alternately chanting “dog dog dog” at the assorted throng and snogging any dog which was daft enough to get too close. Pogo was well-behaved and seemed to enjoy himself. Treacle had a first – she played with another dog at Dog Club. Admittedly it was her brother Pogo, but it was something of a result.

 

Ideally I would have stayed a little later at Dog Club – there was to be a meeting of… I suppose “leaders” or “organisers” isn’t really the right word. But apparently there was an “episode” at one of the later sessions of last week’s Dog Club in which someone brought his newly rescued dog along and then pissed off leaving it unattended. But what do you do when that happens? When the chap who started the club isn’t at the early session I suppose I am seen as “in charge” for the simple reason that I hold the key to the gate. But most people arrive after I’ve opened and wouldn’t know that. At the early session everyone keeps an eye on their own dog, everyone seems to know what dogs are like, any “episodes” are nipped in the bud (most of the time by Morgan having a time-out) and it all seems to work. I suppose having smaller dogs makes it easier? But with having family along and with having yet another one-day weekend I wanted to make the most of the day. So I sent my apologies to the little meeting with the observation tat I think the early session is running OK, and we cracked on with our day.

 

The girls and Pogo got into the “er indoors ^TM”-mobile, “Stormageddon – Bringer of Destruction ^TM”, the dogs and I into mine and we drove down to Rye Harbour for a bit of a walk. We followed the path from the car park to the river’s estuary and back again.

After our little walk “er indoors ^TM” and “Stormageddon – Bringer of Destruction ^TM” went into the visitor centre to get a cuppa for us all. “Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM” stayed outside with “Darcie Waa Waa ^TM” and the dogs whilst I sulked. I’d suggested that we went to Rye Harbour in the hope of seeing seals, but we hadn’t seen any. No one else seemed rather bothered, but I was sulking. And then we saw one swimming about. I shouted to the most recent fruit of my loin and she took a photo of it. Several passing normal people heard my shout and came hurrying over, But they were too slow, and were not at all amused when “Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM” loudly announced “Bollox – it’s gone”. The look of shock on the faces of the normal people gave me quite a fit of the giggles.

 

But just as “er indoors ^TM” came back with our drinks, so the seal came back, and we watched him (or her?)

swimming about for five minutes whilst we had a cuppa.

If ever you visit Rye Harbour I’m told that the visitor centre is a good place to see the seals whilst relaxing with a cuppa. Mind you for all that the cuppa was rather good, a cuppa and a bit of cake all round came to over thirty quid; they don’t give it away.

I took a few photos of our little family adventure. It was rather good, but (it has to be said) the photos of the seal really don’t do it justice.

 

We said our goodbyes; “er indoors ^TM” took the kids back to Folkestone. I came home as I’m on yet another one-day weekend and had stuff to do in the garden.

As I drove I realised the car was quiet. I’d turned the radio off to talk with grandson… and I then realised I’d missed one of the highlights of the week; Steve doing the Mystery Year contest.

 

We came home. The dogs were all soon fast asleep. I rolled out the pond hose and cleaned out the pond filter. As I pootled I realised that the aerating mini-fountain in the pond wasn’t there. After a bit of fiddling about I found it. Laying on its side on the bottom of the pond. Had a fish knocked it over?

I made a cuppa, and as I watched another episode of “Alice in Borderland” I felt a tad peckish. There was quite a bit of KFC left over from last night’s tea. Warmed up chicken is good, but yesterday’s chips?

I then had a (quite frankly) stroke of genius. With far too many left over chips to chuck, I thought they might make the basis of a curry. I put a pan of water on, ripped up all the leftover chips and chicken and popped them in together with some ketchup, an oxo cube and all sorts of this and that which I found in the fridge and left it simmering until “er indoors ^TM” came home.

It went rather well with some rice and a bottle of Piesporter. 

 

13 October 2023 (Friday) - A Housefull

Treacle was snarling for absolutely no reason at all at three o'clock this morning. That woke me up. And on hearing Morgan running downstairs at four o'clock I got up and chased after him. It was pouring hard outside but he still went out; it must have been urgent.

I gave up trying to sleep at five o'clock and watched the first episode in the second season of "Alice in Borderland" which was more like an episode of Alexei Sayle's "Things Exploding", then got ready for work.

 

This morning the lights on my car seemed OK - they worked, and there were no warnings coming up. I headed off west-wards listening to the pundits on the radio who were again talking about the deteriorating situation in Gaza. Apparently the Israelis have ordered a million people to sling their hooks and move. The United Nations have asked them not to say that, as it is clearly impossible for a million people to sling their hooks and move but the Israelis remain adamant.

Meanwhile the Americans and the UK are sending warships to help the Israelis anyway. I expect the Ukrainians must be rather pissed off about that.

 

As I drove through a rather dark rainy morning I think I inadvertently found a road race. A couple of cars dangerously overtook me at Biddenden and then drove as close as possible to the back end of the car in front for several miles. This sort of thing happens rather often... a clear sign of the absence of police on the roads.

 

I got to work and did that which I couldn't avoid. But being on an early was a result. Once I was done I drove down to Folkestone to collect “Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM”, “Stormageddon – Bringer of Destruction ^TM”, “Darcie Waa Waa ^TM” and Pogo.

As we drove home so the warning about the iffy rear light came on again. Just the warning though. The light seems OK.

 

Once home we had a “Dogs Chaos” five minutes in the garden, then watched some Lube-Tube videos (as I am reliably informed “You Tube is pronounced). We sang our own words to some of the songs… “There Was a Man Who Had a Dog and Desmond Was His Name-O”. For some reason Darcie Waa Waa ^TM” thought this was hilarious.

After a couple of hours “er indoors ^TM” and “Stormageddon – Bringer of Destruction ^TM” went up the KFC. They came back with dinner which included baked beans… “Beans Beans, the Wonderful Fruit. The More You Eat, The More You Diarrhea”. Apparently.

In a novel break with tradition the dogs were shut in the lobby so we could eat without scrounging pups harassing us. They weren’t keen on that.

 

“er indoors ^TM” and “Stormageddon – Bringer of Destruction ^TM” are currently making all sorts of things with her craft stuff. “Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM” and “Darcie Waa Waa ^TM” have thrown in the sponge and gone to bed.

I’m biding my time… I’ve heard rumours of jelly and ice cream.

12 October 2023 (Thursday) - Dull

I slept like a log last night, which was a result. I got up, made brekkie and scoffed it whilst watching more "Alice in Borderland" which has taken an interesting turn; the picture cards have turned up. When you need a complete deck of cards in order to stay alive, having no picture cards is a definite disadvantage.

I then had a little look at the Internet. Someone on one of the local groups had recently bought a pet tracker and had put up a picture of where her cat had gone overnight. It was rather amazing just how far a cat roams. Such a shame that the things don't work on dogs which have gone walkabout when out in the woods.

 

I got ready for work, and pausing only briefly to nearly (but not quite) splat a cyclist I set off. Why on Earth would anyone be riding a bike in pitch darkness on the wrong side of the road, with no lights or reflectors and clad entirely in black? Do they want to die? I wound down the window to shout abuse at the idiot and was somewhat amazed to see it was someone far older than me. You'd think he'd know better, wouldn't you?

Mind you the warning about checking the car's rear light didn't come on this morning (but the rear light did).

 

As I drove through the rain the pundits on the radio were talking about moves afoot in officialdom to try to curb the growth in teenagers vaping. It rather amazed me that this was seen as news; forty years ago I was part of a very small minority of teenagers who didn't smoke. Kids have always smoked; did anyone seriously expect vaping to be any different?

There was also talk of the recent samples of asteroid returned to Earth from the asteroid Bennu. The pundits on the radio amaze me sometimes. Last week they were banging on that the world is short of all sorts of mineral resources and today they were presented with a solution to that problem...  and all they could do was take the piss out of anything remotely sciencey

 

But most of the morning's radio was devoted to the ongoing situation in Gaza. Things look pretty bleak there, and are showing no sign of improving. Meanwhile there's thirty-one other wars going on elsewhere in the world to say nothing of a major earthquake in Afghanistan.

Our old friend science has found something new – “never-seen” material that is “beyond the periodic table”.

And none of these got a mention.

 

I got to work and did that which I couldn't avoid. Work was a tad dull, really. As I drove home “er indoors ^TM” sent a message. The co-op was doing a deal on steak and chips; could I pick some up on the way through. I did… Admittedly the steak and chips was cheap. But it was cheap because there was sod all of it.

 

Some days in my life are rather good. And others are on the dull side…

11 October 2023 (Wednesday) - Bit Tired

Having spent much of yesterday afternoon asleep it's probably not surprising that I woke feeling full of beans and raring to go at twenty to two this morning. I lay dozing on and off until three o'clock when I heard a thud. One of the dogs was going downstairs. They only do that for one reason so I hurried after whichever one it was. As I suspected it was Morgan; he's had an iffy rear end for a day or so and I'd rather he did what he had to do outside rather than on the carpet. Sadly our getting up meant everyone else followed us, and we were all restless for a while. (I say "we" - I could quite happily have gone back to kip given half a chance).

When Morgan got up again at five o'clock I saw that as God's way of saying I'd wallowed in my pit for quite long enough.

 

Once he'd "raked out" in the garden I made toast and watched another episode of "Alice in Borderland". It's a good show spoiled by sloppy writing. Take today's episode in which fifty-eight people were involved in a game-to-the-death. After seemingly endless killings, at the end there were clearly over a hundred contestants still going strong.

I got ready for work; by this time everyone else had settled and were all sparko...

 

As I started my car so  the alarm about checking the tail light came on. Even though the tail light came on. The garage says the sensor is at fault here; I shall have to put up with this until they can fix it.

As I drove west-wards the pundits on the radio were talking about the frankly awful situation in Gaza where no end of innocents are again suffering. This morning they were interviewing someone from the UK luxury foods industry who had the arse about the war, or more specifically the media's coverage of it.  Apparently the constant mention of ongoing atrocities makes people in the UK realise just how lucky they are, and so they spend any spare cash on charity donations for international aid and stop buying caviar, champagne and brandy. The implication was that if people want to have wars, that is all very well. But could they do it quietly and not cut into the luxury market's profit margins.

First world problems, eh?

There was also a report from the Labour party conference claiming that if (when) they come into power the Labour party is going to build one and a half million new houses. I wonder where? Certainly not between Ashford and Pembury; the Conservatives have beaten them to pretty much every spare scrap of land there.

And then my piss boiled at the "Thought for the Day" in which some vicar or other earnestly explained that it was natural for us all to be angry with his God for seeming to be doing nothing about the ongoing situation in Gaza. He totally glossed over the demonstrable fact that his God really isn't actually doing anything...

 

With a few minutes spare I took a little diversion through Staplehurst on my way to work. Having solved several geo-puzzles in the area I expect we'll be going for a walk there some time soon. There are four multi-geocaches up the high street where you have to go to a location and get information on the spot to solve a different sort of geo-puzzle. I got all the information required to find them (as well as dinner from Greggs) and set off to work.

 

Work was work… the morning wasn’t so bad. The afternoon was somewhat marred by the guts ache that the baguette from Greggs gave me. It looked so nice as well.

 

I came home where “er indoors ^TM” boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we washed down with a bottle of plonk whilst watching more “Detectorists”.

The dogs all seem rather subdued and slept much of the evening… perhaps (like babies) they should be kept active and awake to ensure a good night’s sleep? I’m going to plot where these four multi-geocaches are, and see if I can’t plan a little walk in the area.

If I can stay awake…

 

10 October 2023 (Tuesday) - Rostered Day Off

Last night everyone was settled and I slept rather well. Over toast I had a peer into the Internet. There was a petty squabble about the price of full-sized Daleks on one of the Dalek building Facebook pages… Now that’s “one of the Dalek building Facebook pages”; there’s quite a few people into building daleks, and they are incredibly critical of each other. Other than that, there wasn’t a lot going on so I set off to town.

 

As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about the ongoing situation in Gaza. The Foreign Secretary was being interviewed on the matter. It was quite plain that regardless of what was actually happening, the UK would side with the Israeli government and regard the Palestinians as Satan incarnate. Meanwhile the poor innocents on the ground suffer.

I got to town a tad early and had a little look around. The town has changed quite a bit since I last had a look. Ashford has a surprisingly large number of nail bars, international food suppliers, and vagrants begging.

I joined the queue outside Boots which was being entertained and disgusted (in seemingly equal measures) by a rather drunk young pair who were boasting about the strength of the cider they were swigging, and telling anyone who would listen that the pissed woman needed a new bandage for her knee. Apparently she’d smashed it rather badly when out on the piss the other day. She seemed unable to keep hold of the crutches which she was holding, and was falling over every time she dropped them. Interestingly when Boots opened their doors the drunks showed no interest in going inside, and seemed rather upset that they’d lost their captive audience.

 

I went in to the optician which is based there. I had photos taken of the insides of my eyes, had air blown into them, and read various letters of various sizes. After twenty minutes I was told my eyes were pretty much unchanged from last time and I didn’t really need new glasses. I was pleased about that.

I popped to Tesco for milk and pastries and came home. After a cuppa and a croissant I loaded the dogs into the car and we went up to Kings Wood for a walk. Kings Wood is odd in that there’s usually about twenty cars in the car park, but once you are more than a hundred yards from the car park if you see more than two other walkers, that’s a lot. Today we walked about three and a half miles (guesstimating from the step count) and saw one other walker with two dogs. Apart from Treacle wading in a swamp, the dogs were as good as gold; coming back when called and not upsetting the only other person we met.

 

We came home via the petrol station where I saw an old friend. Someone who had a baby at about the same time that “er indoors ^TM” squeezed “My Boy ^TM” out. In the late eighties we were rather chummy… she didn’t recognize me at all when I smiled this lunchtime.

 

Once home I put a load of washing in to scrub, and whilst it scrubbed I wrote up some CPD. And with CPD written up I went into the garden and mowed the lawn, then sat by the pond reading more “Game of Thrones” on my phone’s Kindle app. As I read I watched the antics of a pigeon who was having a drink not four feet from where I was sitting.

I then dozed off for an hour or so…

Today was rather busy for a rostered day off.