1 November 2026 (Sunday) - The Greensand Way

I woke to the sound of Morgan crying at four o’clock. He was laying next to me, fast asleep and crying. He was clearly having a nightmare. I fussed him until he settled then popped to the loo. I came back to find Bailey had come from nowhere, grown ten times in size and taken up half the bed. How can such a small dog spread out so much. I dozed on and off, finally getting up just before nine o’clock.

 

I had a shave with a new razor blade as I do on the first of every new month. I had a very vague idea about not doing so. Last year I did Movember. I’ve done it a few times and really hate the mo. I’ll find someone else who’s doing it and give them a bung.

I made toast and had a look at the Internet. This morning there was talk about the Shepherd Neame brewery who have announced their new “business plan”. Apparently they are downsizing their Faversham premises, selling off some of the buildings, pulling out of making third party beers (a lot of supermarket own brand is made by them) and concentrating on their key products. Are they going bust? I quite like their output, but their reputation has always been iffy at best.

I then blagged a multi (it’s a geocaching thing). I Munzed, then chucked everyone out of the Munzee Guild in readiness for the upcoming Guild Ganes (which start in a couple of days). I tried to Wordle from “multi”, but it wouldn’t take that as a word. So I started again with “guild”. It took that and. I soon got to “-iper” but having tried “wiper”, “piper” and “riper” I had no more goes left. It was “viper”. Oh well, it was only a forty-day streak that ended…

 

The dogs came down and I chivvied them round the garden. Treacle seemed to have got over whatever had bothered her yesterday. Perhaps it had been simply all a bit too much for her; she does usually spend a lot of each day asleep.

I voomed round the garden with a trowel harvesting dog dung, and then we took the dogs for a little walk. “er indoors ^TM” had reports that some of her geocaches along the Greensand Way were missing so we went to have a little walk to sort them. Some were missing, some weren’t. We found one that had been archived as being missing four years ago. With hint “top of post” that’s where we found it. Admittedly in the top of the wrong post, but less than five yards from the post it should have been in.

 

With maintenance done we came home. Once we’d scoffed some fresh bread and soup we did “FEED THE FISH”, then I put a load of washing in to scrub.

I cleaned out the filter of the fish tank, and siphoned up some of the muck off of the bottom of it. I need to make that a monthly task.

I had a look at the programming of the Wherigo we did yesterday… I thought there was a minor issue but over a dozen other people have done the thing and no one else has whinged, so I’ve not tweaked it.

I copied the last month of diary to the backup. You wouldn’t think I’d need a backup diary, but my first two years of blogging were done on Yahoo 360 which they just shut down without so much as a by-your-leave.

I wrote up some CPD.

I had a look at the Dog Club takings; I’m still waiting to hear from the Repton people about their setting up a dedicated text number. I shall give them another week.

I polished my boots…

And then I played a little Meowdoku.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a very good curry which we scoffed whilst watching “Lego Masters: New Zealand”. With (literally) one minute to go, one of the teams completely accidentally destroyed their model. It was the sort of thing which was incredibly entertaining all the time it was happening to someone else.

 

Perhaps yesterday’s six pints were too much, perhaps I overdid it today, but I’m worn out.

31 October 2026 (Saturday) - Dog Club, The Woods, Games Night

I slept better than I have done recently. Not having to do “dog duties” at three o’clock helped. It was a shame that I woke with the world’s worst hangover; especially bearing in mind I’d only had a tin of diet Doctor Pepper yesterday evening.

I got up, made toast and had a little look at the Internet as I do. It was much the same as ever. Idiots were showing off their ignorance and arguing over trivia with people who clearly had nothing better to do. There was no end of nastiness being stirred up about Wetherspoons supposedly banning poppies. The fact that they aren’t and the whole thing is a fabrication by troublemakers was utterly irrelevant to those who clearly just wanted an argument.

And it turns out that testosterone doesn’t help brain fog in menopausal women. Apparently it has recently become common knowledge that it does purely because thick people have said so on Facebook

 

I sent out birthday wishes; two of the people on my Facebook list were having birthdays today. I’ve not seen either for years, but social media allows me to stay in touch.

I had a quick Munz – everything I did earned me triple points which was a result. I Wordled from “three” via “mooch” to “yahoo”. As I did so Steve was on the radio doing the “Guess The Lyrics” competition. This morning it was “But that night on our honeymoon we stayed in separate rooms”. I had absolutely no idea – it was from 1970. "Band of Gold" by American singer Freda Payne.

 

We went round to Repton and Dog Club where we had a great time. The dogs (all fifteen of them) charged about, most of them loved the packet of sprats that I’d brought along.

And with Dog Club done we drove up to Kings Wood listening to Steve doing the Mystery Year competition on the radio. I have absolutely no idea what the record he was playing was, but I had a vague recollection of hearing it at a fundraising event with the scouts. We were raising money for our second trip to Canada which would have put it between 2000 and 2004. I guessed 2002 and was right.

 

We met Karl and Tracy at the woods and had a rather good walk round. We started off with one of my Wherigos and found one or two issues with it. I shall sort those in the week. From there we walked out to where we had the squirrel episode earlier in the week and we had a little picnic. Having walked past the spot a couple of times a week for the last few years it was good to sit there for an hour, scoff a sarnie, have a couple of beers and watch the world go by.

From there we built a badger, then made our way back to the cars.

 

We came home where I had a little sleep. I woke when “er indoors ^TM” came round with the Hoover. And then Chris arrived with the big Infinity Table, and was followed by Steve and Sarah.

We had a rather good evening. Admittedly I was second to last in “Game of Life” but I did some serious gloating when I won both “Sorry” and “Ticket To Ride”.  And because I won, Chris awarded me with a collectable Ticket To Ride” keyring. I can either use it, or save it… I’ve a vague plan to get a little frame for it. Similar collectable items have ended up being rather valuable.

 

Today has been rather busy… I’m quite worn out, but not as worn out as Treacle. She wanted to go out quite late this evening, and after a few minutes I went out to see her sitting by the back door looking confused. She seemed to be very much out of sorts. I’m suspecting the worst, but I worry too much about my little dogs.

She’s currently laying on the living room floor snoring…

30 October 2026 (Friday) - The Final

Morgan jumped up and charged downstairs at half past three. I went after him. He was only out for two minutes and we went back to bed… where he jumped on top of Treacle who then kicked off. By the time I’d settled them all I was wide awake. I tried to get back to sleep but it wasn’t happening. I lay awake and finally gave up and got up at half past five.

I made toast and watched an episode of “Lost In Space” in which we found the two reasons why the mad killer robots were bent on galactic domination. Firstly because they were bent on galactic domination and secondly because they were mad killer robots. There’s only two more episodes of “Lost in Space” left; I suppose I should finish the show.

I then had a little look at the Internet. It was still there. I Munzed, and got ready for work.

 

As I drove up the motorway the pundits on the radio were talking about bitcoins. Apparently the computers that run bitcoins have been hacked and people have been done out of loads of money. The company who got hacked say they will make sure no one is out of pocket, but the woman who was wheeled on to talk about the matter pointed out that the legislation about compensation for such matters dates back to the nineties and before the Internet was a thing.

And there was talk about the UK’s defence spending. Apparently foreign companies which are awarded contracts by the Ministry of Defence will be expected to invest an amount equal to the value of the contract they got back into the UK.

Like that’s going to work…

And there was loads of talk about Patrick Stewart who died yesterday. Bearing in mind he was famous for Star Trek and X-Men films you’d think that the pundits on the radio would have wheeled on someone from those backgrounds to talk about him, wouldn’t you? Instead, they brought on pompous Shakespearian actors of whom no one had ever heard to make pompous speeches.

 

I got petrol (six pence per litre cheaper in Aylesford than in Ashford) then went to Sainsburys. I got some odds and ends, then got cross with the self-service tills. The things won’t sell beer to me; the staff have to come over and agree that I’m old enough. You’d think that the facial recognition software would be able to tell, wouldn’t you?

 

Work was work. Today was busy; I was glad when it was home time. “er indoors ^TM” boiled up pizza and garlic bread which we scoffed whist watching the final of “Celebrity Traitors”. I won’t say who won or who lost as it’s not fair to give spoilers, but I will say to look out for the glaring continuity error in Claudia Winkleman’s lippy.

29 October 2026 (Thursday) - Rostered Day Off

I slept rather well, but woke feeling rather morose. I do that more and more these days. But I could either lay there sulking or get up and get on, so I got up and got on.

I made toast and scoffed it as I peered into the Internet as I do every morning. The first thing I saw on Facebook today had me wondering. A friend of mine supports a mission in Africa which has been devastated by a cyclone, and was asking for prayers. Seriously? Seriously? As an ex-happy-clappy-god-botherer myself I really don’t understand how religion works.

And there was talk about how the UK should apologize for the slave trade. My piss boiled. What a load of bollox. Those who had slaves back in the day bought them from slave traders in Africa who were selling their neighbours. The Europeans didn’t go catching slaves themselves – it was the Africans who did all that bit. And in 1833 the UK banned slavery, spent forty per cent of its wealth paying for this and then spent until 2014 paying off that cost. (It’s all a matter of public record) I’m in no way responsible for the slave trade and I’ve already personally paid off part of the cost of sorting it all out.

I Munzed, and tried to Wordle. My phone wasn’t having any of it this morning. Eventually it got going and I started with “slave”. I struggled this morning; eventually getting it right with “motor” on the last go.

 

I got the dogs organised and we went out. We went to the garage as there’s an issue with my car. Whenever I turn on the lights it says to check the rear tail light… but there’s nothing wrong with it. I spoke to the garage about it on Monday. We agreed it was probably a sensor issue and they said to bring it in this morning. So we drove over. As we waited to be seen so some rather simple-minded idiot in the waiting room shrieked “doggies!!!” and started to maul the dogs about. I smiled sweetly; what else can you do without giving offence?

The nice garage man came out with me to the car. I showed him the problem and he said he’d need to book the car in for a diagnostic. I rather thought that was what I had done, but apparently not. I’m taking it back next Monday.

 

So rather than walking home (as I’d planned) we drove up to the lower car park at Kings Wood and had a little walk around the woods. The place was heaving with squirrels and pheasants which made for a rather difficult walk what with the dogs having the red mist pretty much all of the way. There was a rather funny near-miss episode when Morgan chased a squirrel up a tree and the thing fell out and (quite literally) bounced off of Bailey’s head. But apart from that no one came close to catching anything.

There were a few normal people walking their dogs… and I realised just how good my pups are. When I want them close I whistle and they (mostly) come when called. We saw several people hysterically bellowing at dogs which were pointedly ignoring them.

 

After four miles we came back to the car. We came home for a cuppa, then with the dogs snoring I went into the garden. The lawn was wet, but it needed to be mowed. Having grass long enough to hide dog turds is always a recipe for disaster.

And with the lawn mown I scooped up a load of dead leaves from the gravelled areas, voomed round with the garden vacuum then pulled some weeds. I planted those lavender plants I bought last week… and deliberately stopped there. I did think about carrying on doing more, but I was beginning to ache, so I called a halt and came inside.

I had a look at writing up some CPD… I started off by updating my LinkedIn account. I added Dog Club to my volunteering section, told it I wasn’t actively seeking a job and removed my pronouns. Some time ago I’d put “fusebox” and “hatstand” as my pronouns. I removed those.

And then I had a conversation with Microsoft CoPilot about a work issue. I copied the entire lot into a CPD entry, closed my eyes and woke an hour later.

 

We did “FEED THE FISH” then I saw I had an email. I’d had a repayment from lendwithcare – this time Karen (a pig farmer in Ecuador) had paid me back something. Not that I really need or want the small amount involved… but what is a small amount to me was life-changing to Karen in Ecuador.

What Karen had repaid me I then lent to Nguyet who lives in Vietnam where she is trying to set herself up as a fishmonger. She might make a go of it. Hopefully I can do something to help her.

Why not lend someone a bit yourself if you can spare it? Fifteen quid is what they ask for, and fifteen quid is (about) the price of a couple of drinks, a couple of bags of crisps and some pork scratchings for the dogs.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up fish and chips which we scoffed whilst watching “Celebrity Traitors” in which James Acaster did something that no one had been expecting.

 

And Sir Patrick Stewart has died. 

28 October 2026 (Wednesday) - Early Shift

Again I woke to the sound of Morgan jumping off the bed in the small hours. I chased after him. Unlike yesterday he was a bit more urgent in his need to get out… and I was glad that he’d got out. I would have been prod to have farted like he did.

He then went back to bed, but as I was up anyway I made toast and scoffed it as I watched an episode of “Lost In Space” in which not a lot really happened.

I had a little look at the Internet. It was still there. Not much was happening at half past five, but I did see one friend had a birthday today and another friend had said they were coming to Puzzle Club.

I Munzed, Wordled from “sound” to “grist” in four goes, then got ready for work.

 

As I drove to work the pundits on the radio were talking about how some farmer somewhere was waging a losing battle against grey squirrels.  There was a lot of fuss about how not only do they out-compete the native red squirrels but they also carry a virus that wipes out the red ones.

I can remember being told this at primary school in the early seventies; surely it's a tad late to be doing anything now?

There was a lot of talk about tax cuts being made in today's budget. Tax cuts are all very well, but tax cuts can only be funded by reducing that which the tax was going to be spent on. And there was talk about how the Chancellor of the Exchequer is scrapping standing charges on gas bills (even though he doesn’t really have the power to do so). If the gas companies are losing income (which they clearly will), all that will happen will be that they will put the gas price up.

Let's not pretend to be surprised when it happens.

And concern was expressed at the outcome of a government survey on vaping when it turned out that more than three quarters of responses to a consultation on plans to create a smoke-free generation and restrict vape sales were actually put forward by artificial intelligence bots.

Ironically when I asked Microsoft CoPilot to make a happy caricature of a computer filling in the YouGov survey it then suggested the idea of a load of computers on Parliament discussing vaping. Today’s second piccie wasn’t my idea.

 

I popped into Pembury's Tesco to get lunch. Seeing one of the tills had someone working at it I joined the queue. The woman on the till wasn't at all happy about that, and suggested I might like to use the self-service checkouts. I suggested that I wouldn't; having a couple of bottles of plonk in my shopping meant that the staff would have to get off their arses to help me anyway, but she wasn't happy...

 

I went into the early shift and did my bit as I do. I had a surprisingly busy day and was glad when home time came. I drove home listening to the antics of Harry Potter on the audiobook, and having left home in the dark I got back home in the dark.

 

Once home I sat on the sofa. The idea was to have a little go at Meowdoku. I woke over an hour later. “er indoors ^TM” boiled up a very good curry which we washed down with one of the bottles of plonk I’d bought earlier. As we scoffed we watched last night’s “Bake Off” in which the foxy one got the heave-ho which was a shame if you liked the foxy one. Which I did.

27 October 2026 (Tuesday) - Puzzling

I woke to the sound of a dog jumping off the bed. That wouldn’t be Bailey; she’s too small to jump that far. I heard the sound of ears thrashing about as a head was vigorously shaken. That would be Morgan who got up. I leapt up. If he’d got up he needed the loo, and if he can’t get into the garden he’s not above dumping in the bathroom. The other dogs will “bake it”, but not Morgan. I ran downstairs to find him by the back door and I let him out, but widdling or downloading wasn’t high on his list of priorities. There was a lot of playing silly beggars in the garden to be done first first.

 

Eventually he came back in and went to sleep on the sofa. I made toast and looked at the internet. It was rather dull. But I had a emails

The geocaching puzzle club meet I set up yesterday had been accepted and published by the geo-feds.

And Lucia (the pig farmer in the Philippines) had repaid some of the money I’d lent her last month.

I sent out three birthday wishes, Munzed and Wordled. Starting with “sound” I eventually ended up with “bingo” on the fifth go.

 

I got the dogs onto their leads but by the time we’d walked ten yards to the car the rain had gone from drizzle to torrential. The nice lady on the radio had said the morning would be “sunny with a few showers”. It might have been where she was.

We abandoned the walk and came home where I spent a while looking at puzzle geocaches. There’s a *lot* out Sandwich way that boil my piss. I’ve been looking at them for years and still can’t figure them out.

After a couple of hours spent brain straining I’d solved nothing. Am I being a sourpuss-grumpy-face in wondering if some people really don’t want their puzzles solved… which is one of the reasons I’d set up this geocaching puzzle club. So in the spirit of possibly getting myself a few more hints I sent out over fifty personal invitations to this meet just in case someone might give me a hint or two…

And then I saw that the rain had eased up. We went for our walk.

 

We did our usual circuit of the woods. As we walked we saw loads of red toadstools, and I saw the deer. The dogs didn’t, but they got wind of something in the roots of a tree and did some serious digging. Morgan rolled in something, and Treacle waded in swamps. As we came to the end of the walk Morgan put the wind up some foragers. He does that.

We were right to have postponed our walk. At half past eight it was hossing down. At half past ten the rain had stopped, and there was glorious sunshine by mid-day.

 

We came home where muddy tummies were washed down, and I spent a while trying to solve another geocaching puzzle. One I’d set myself. I’d been asked for a hint on how to solve it; I couldn’t remember how to do so, and I’d created it.

I wrote up some CPD, I played some Meowdoku and then there was a frantic hammering on the window. I went outside to see three teenagers arguing with a chap about twenty yards down the road. One of the children came up to me and demanded that I gave him my slippers. And then said “f*ck the slippers, give me your glasses”. I know it’s probably not politically correct but I was about to give the child a slap when his mate shouted “run” and the three of them ran off. The chap they’d been arguing with walked up the road on his phone to the police; they’d given him a hard time too. He gave my details to the police, but I doubt anything will come of it. Back in the day I used to knock on people’s front doors and run away. Admittedly I was probably about half their age, but children aren’t allowed out of their houses any more, are they? Take Kings Wood or Orlestone where I walk the dogs. You’d think that kids would play in those woods, wouldn’t you. They are only just over half an hour away on a bike. When I was a lad we’d walk miles to play wide games at Fairlight sand quarry. There’s never any kids running riot in the woods like we used to.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up pie and chips which we scoffed whilst watching another episode of “Lego Masters: New Zealand”. Both were rather good.

 

I’ve got to go to work tomorrow…

26 October 2026 (Monday) - This N That

I slept well… I woke about seven o’clock which bearing in mind clocks going back was eight o’clock in the old money. I made toast and had my usual peer into the Internet. Some complete idiot was posting to one of the Romney Marsh Facebook groups demanding that supermarkets, data centres, coffee shops, solar farms and pretty much the entire twenty-first century be banned from the Romney Marsh. The chap had no answer when it was pointed out that he clearly felt there was no contradiction between using a mass social media platform which relies on data centres and huge amounts of energy and still wanting to keep his own area looking like it did in the Middle Ages.

And another friend had posted about clothing scams appearing on Facebook…  I was glad she did. I’d made a note of a couple which I was going to get as Christmas pressies for “er indoors ^TM” .

 

I got the leads onto the dogs and we went to find the car. We made our way to the woods listening to the pundits on the radio spouting their usual drivel. This morning they were talking about French politics (as if the British stuff isn’t tedious enough).

 

We got to the woods where the drizzle was still drizzling, but we carried on and walked our usual circuit of the woods. The weekend’s rain had made the ground rather wet, and the hoof prints were clearly visible along the paths marked “no horses”. As we walked there was a minor commotion. Morgan flew off like a bullet from a gun, hotly pursued by the girls. There was a bit of a scuffle and some screaming… and then Morgan jumped back and a squirrel flew up a tree. Had he caught it and then let it go?

As we walked I gathered rubbish. Lager cans, biscuit wrappers… there’s far more litter in the woods these days than there ever used to be.

 

We came home where the dogs had a warm shower. Their paws and bellies were a tad grubby. For the next few months they will be going into the shower after walks. I know so many friends who tell me their dogs don’t go into the bath from one month to the next. My three get so mucky on one walk round the woods.

I made us a cuppa, then Munzed and Wordled. Starring with “mucky” I went to “risky” and then found myself stuck as I couldn’t think of any words that ended in “ky” that didn’t end in “cky” or “sky”. Eventually I struck on “hanky” (as in “Mr Hanky the Christmas Poo”) but it wasn’t that. After a lot of brain straining I came up with “geeky” which was the answer. That one was hard work.

 

I then popped out. I went to Morrisons over at Singleton to get some ales and ciders. The Morrisons at Canterbury yesterday had an excellent selection. The Morrisons at Singleton didn’t have any.

Whilst I was in the area I popped into Singleton Barn. There’s been a lot of talk about a geocaching meet intended for a get-together for solving geo-puzzles. There’s a corner in Singleton Barn we’ve used for meets in the past. I thought we might use it again. In the meantime they’ve put a dartboard right in the middle of where I had in mind. Ho hum…

I drove round to the New Chimneys and had a chat with the nice man there. He seemed very keen for us to have a meet, and I’ve arranged for us to go in a couple of weeks’ time. I shall now spend the next two weeks worrying… I’ve organised geo-meets before only to have the venue let us down at the last minute.

Here’s hoping for the best.

 

I came home where I set the washing machine loose on some laundry, and whilst it did its thing I wrote up the verbals for geocaching puzzle club. With that done I ironed shirts (and watched more “Lost in Space”) as the washing machine had a go at the undercrackers. And with telly watched I wrote up some CPD.

 

“er indoors ^TM” went shopping and came back with pizza. I saw that as a result, and we scoffed that whilst watching “Lego Masters: New Zealand”. It was rather good.

 

And in closing, Walter Koenig has died. He was Alfred Bester in Babylon 5 and Pavel Chekov in Star Trek. He was rather big on the sci-fi circuit.