4 November 2026 (Wednesday) - Early Shift, Dog Hospital

The anti-emetic worked in that Treacle had a good night’s sleep. I suppose I did; I slept through till half past four. I tried to get back to sleep, but that wasn’t happening.

I got up, made toast and watched another episode of “Minimum Wage” which wasn’t bad but now I’ve seen two episodes I find myself thinking it is a complete rip-off of “Superstore”. I suppose that if the formula worked once, why not try it again?

 

I had my usual look at the Internet. This morning my Facebook feed was crawling with adverts from insurance companies. I’d renewed the household insurance yesterday so these adverts were all a day too late. This is the trouble with “targeted advertising”. By the time the search engines figure out what you are looking for, you’ve already bought it. It’s very good for seeing what you should have bought, but not much help in actually getting it in the first place.

Three months ago I was ranting about how many pubs are closing and mentioned that the Halfway House in Challock was to re-open. The place did re-open… and would seem to have closed down again. It lasted three months. The news had appeared on several local Facebook pages this morning. There was quite a bit of bitterness from many who felt that the place’s failure was entirely the fault of the locals who weren’t spending enough money in the place. That struck me as a rather unfair position to take; why should anyone be responsible for the success or failure of someone else’s business just because that business is just down the road from them? Am I under an obligation to spend my hard-earned money feathering someone else’s nest just because they’ve built that nest nearby? Surely it’s up to a pub (or any business) to drum up its own trade?

There’s two very good pubs within a five-minute drive of the Halfway House which we’ve visited a few times (The Red Lion in Badlesmere and the Coach and Horses at Longbeech North). Going into competition with those two was a tad silly, wasn’t it?

 

I got ready for work and again set off west-wards through the -hursts and the -dens. As I drove I listened to the pundits on the radio who were talking about how the American electorate has handed Donald Trump’s arse to him on a plate. He’d apparently told everyone to vote Republican as if it was his name on the ballot paper, and the considered opinion was that was just what the electorate had done.

However bearing in mind how he carries on, if he just declares the election null and void I doubt there’s anyone with the balls to stand up to him.

Closer to home the EU and the UK have announced a deal to scrap red tape introduced by Brexit. There were interviews with people based in the UK who sold seed potatoes and others who sell shellfish. Both said that it was easier to export to the Far East that it was to export to Europe. Both said it was because of Brexit, and both said that we didn’t get the Brexit that had been promised. I can’t help but think that it is ten years too late to start raking up that squabble, but what do I know?

 

I stopped off at Tesco again to get lunch. Again those putting the sandwiches out had a serious attitude.

I went in for the early shift and the second day of the new computer… I try not to mention work on here but I’ll just say that it wasn’t the best of days.

 

Even though I was on the early shift I had to turn on the headlights after twenty minutes on the drive home, and it was completely dark by the time I got home.

“er indoors ^TM” went and collected Treacle this evening. She’d spent the day in Dog Hospital where she’d had IV fluids and her belly shaved for an ultrasound (Treacle that is, not “er indoors ^TM”). She ate some food whilst there, and once home she ate quite a bit of dinner. If she carries on this way and has a good night she can have the cannula taken out in the morning. She's had a dump that wasn't blood red (Treacle that is, not “er indoors ^TM”) so that's a step in right direction.

Here’s hoping.

Having spent over one thousand six hundred quid on vet bills in the last two days we could do without another day in Dog Hospital. I suspect Treacle feels the same, but for different reasons.

3 November 2026 (Tuesday) - Poorly Pup, Poorly Me

I woke at half past three to the sound of distant barking. It was Treacle at the back door frantic to get out. But she held it until I opened the door for her; other dogs (Morgan) would have just dropped it in the bathroom.

I went back to bed and dozed on and off for a couple more hours and come downstairs to find “er indoors ^TM” on the sofa. She’d let Treacle out half a dozen more times.

 

They went back to bed. I made toast and turned on the telly. I watched the first episode of “Minimum Wage”. I think I probably need to watch more than one episode before dismissing it entirely.

I had a quick look at the Internet. It was still there. Not much of note had kicked off overnight, so I got dressed and was just about to set off to work when Treacle came downstairs at quarter to seven and blew (rather impressively) across the kitchen floor. I thought there was some blood in it…

 

I walked through the rain to find my car. Radio Four’s weather forecast had commented how the south of the country was having a clear morning. I’d love to be a professional weather forecaster; people have such low expectations of them, No one really expects them to get it even remotely right.

I drove off west-wards through the -hursts and the -dens; today with no annoying warning light on the car’s dashboard. As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about “mogging”. Meaning to outperform or outshine someone or something, this has been named as Collins Dictionary’s word of the year 2026. No? – I’d never heard of it either.

There was also a few interviewers with various Americans from Maine. Traditionally a Republican stronghold, the locals are getting a tad pissed off with the antics of Donald Trump. However they are equally unimpressed with the Democrat offering, and most people were saying that today’s mid-term elections were all about choosing the least worst option. Much the same on the other side of the Atlantic as it is over here, eh?

I stopped off at Tesco where the shelf fillers were filling the fridges with sandwiches. They made no secret that they were working and that I was in their way. Some people have no idea about customer service, do they?

 

I got to work and had a full-on day. Today saw the launch of our new IT system, and (like pretty much everything) whether it went good or bad was entirely down to the individual’s personal attitude. I thought the thing went well; others bent over backwards to find fault. But either way we had cake.

As I worked I had messages from home. Treacle had again squittered impressively; this time it was pretty much all blood with squit in it. She went to the vets who did a load of blood tests which were rather inconclusive. She’s had an anti-emetic injection this evening and has got a load of special food and drink and medicine. If she doesn’t take any of those, she’s got another appointment with the vet tomorrow for a day in Dog Hospital on intravenous fluids and having an ultrasound.

 

It was rather late by the time we’d finished messing about this evening so “er indoors ^TM” popped up to the KFC to get dinner. We scoffed it whilst watching “Bake Off” which was rather entertaining. We also got a piece of KFC for Treacle… she wasn’t interested.

Meanwhile my toe (the one I dropped the sundial on yesterday) has gone a rather impressive colour.

2 November 2026 (Monday) - Bit Rubbish, Really

I slept well. When the dogs sleep so do I. I did my usual morning routine and peered into the Internet as I scoffed toast. People were up in arms over last week’s final of “Celebrity Traitors”. The winning charities certainly weren’t liked by the masses. Most of the people whinging on social media did seem to be in agreement that the only acceptable charity these days was that aimed at helping veterans. To my mind helping ex-servicemen shouldn’t even be a charity; it should be something that the government [ays for entirely. As I’ve said so many times, charities aren’t a good thing. In many ways all they do is to allow government (of all parties) to abrogate their responsibilities. Look at how we are expected to fundraise to pay for schoolbooks. Look at the hospice where my mum died which gets less than a third of its income from government sources and has to go cap-in-hand to the public for most of its running costs.

And I read that a local-(ish) pub had been named as one of the country’s top pubs. I went in there last year, was met by a lot of hostile stares, and walked straight back out again.

 

I Munzed, Wordled from “slept” to “scoot” in three goes and took the dogs out. We had a dull walk this morning. We drove over to the garage where the car was having its rear light sensor error looked at, and then we walked home. As we walked I remembered why we don’t walk round the streets of Ashford if we can avoid it. The place was heaving with weedy little people with huge dogs that they couldn’t control. One such dog yanked its owner over as it lunged and snapped at Treacle. I’d seen it coming and made sure she was in no danger, and we hurried off as the small little man screamed impotently at his dog which was clearly ignoring him. We then met a small woman with a dog what came up to her chest. This dog was on one of those ridiculously long leads which was dragging on the pavement behind her (it was at least ten yards long). She seemed amazed that we gave her such a wide berth.

We stopped off at “Pets At Home” as we walked. The dogs’ flea treatments were ready to pick up, and I got goldfish food too. The nice lady on the till charged me fifty pence less for the fish food than the price on the shelf said. That was a result.

 

We came home where the dogs got flea treated and I made us both a cuppa. With powdered milk as the real stuff had turned.

I then spent far too long on the phone to the household insurance people. I’d had an email with the renewal quote and they wanted two hundred quid more than they asked for last year. I eventually got through to someone whose English left a lot to be desired. I *think* she was asking how much I estimated various costs at, but I have absolutely no idea how much it would cost to rebuild the house if it was destroyed. Similarly I have absolutely no idea of the value of all the stuff that is in the house. When I suggested that they are the insurers and that they do insurance every day and surely they would have ball-park figures she got very excited. She tried to pretend that they as a company had no idea of the cost of rebuilding an average terraced house or of the value of all the stuff in an average terraced house, but it was difficult to make out what she was saying. After a few minutes of listening to her gibberish I told her that I was going to hang up and look on Go Compare and get a cheaper quote because I simply couldn’t make head or tail of what she was saying.

She didn’t like that.

But I hung up and had a look on Go Compare. That gave me twenty quotes which were less than what I’d paid last year, and forty-seven quotes which were less than this year’s price. The cheapest of the quotes I got was a third of the price of the most expensive one.

I phoned the insurance people back, this time getting someone who spoke English. She knocked serious bucks off of their quote. It always pays to quibble, even if quibbling wasted the best part of an hour.

I wrote up a little CPD, then had a look in the garden. I cleared dog dung (a never-ending task) then went round with the garden vacuum, and managed to drop the sundial on my foot as I went. That made me sit up and take notice.

I struggled with geocaching puzzles until my head hurt, then played a little Meowdoku, all the time listening to Treacle’s stomach gurgling whilst she farted. She’s eaten something that’s disagreed with her.

 

Eventually I got told the car was ready. The plan had been to walk the dogs out to get the car and then drive on to Orlestone for a quick walk, but it was hossing down and getting dark so I scrounged a lift from “er indoors ^TM”.

It turned out that all my car needed was a new bulb. The nice people at the garage didn’t charge for the diagnostic as they felt that was a bit much when all they’d done was replace the bulb, and because I’m a premium Halfords member I got a discount on the price of the bulb too.

 

I put a load of washing into scrub and “er indoors ^TM” boiled up some dinner. We scoffed it whilst watching more “House of Games”, then she went bowling. I cracked on with the ironing whilst watching “Lost In Space”.

 

It’s been a rather rubbish day today. No decent walk in the woods, loads of aggro on the phone, loads of waiting around for the car to be fixed, my foot really hurts, and Treacle is still squitting through the eye of a needle. 

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.