2 July 2026 (Thursday) - Wishing Well

With no alarm set I slept through. I woke for the first time at five o’clock, rolled over, and finally got up at eight. I made toast (as I do) and had my usual look at the internet (as I do).

A friend was trying to get people to sign a petition for the government to hold a referendum to bring the water industry into public ownership. There are those who feel that public ownership of resources and services isn’t the most efficient way to run them. It might not be, but there’s no denying that the way the water companies run in the UK is nothing short of shambolic. We can pump gas all the way across the country; why not water?

I saw an ex-trainee of mine was having a birthday today. He was forty. Forty !! If asked I would have said late twenties. Where do the years go?

And it was claimed that Donald Trump has personally made over two billion dollars out of being President. I always thought he couldn’t be as stupid as he appears to be.

 

I took the dogs up to the woods. We walked our usual circuit and everything passed off very uneventfully. We didn’t see anyone else, we didn’t chase anything. Treacle went in a muddy puddle and Bailey rolled in something foul, but (all things considered) an uneventful outing.

We came home. Treacle had dried off so the mud brushed off. Bailey got a scrub, and I made us both a cuppa. I Munzed, and Wordled from “bring” to “maven”. Maven? It means “a trusted expert, connoisseur, or someone highly skilled in a specific field who understands its ins and outs”. One lives and learns.

 

I set the dishwasher going and went into the garden. Once I’d gathered up all the turds (there were quite a few) I got those bits of wood I sawed and painted earlier in the week. I screwed them all together, then unscrewed them and screwed them together how I should have done in the first place. Bish bosh – I had a roof for my wishing well. I put some roofing felt on, then put the roof into place. I measured up for my horizontal and within a few minutes my bucket was hanging.

The roof felt is a bit scuffed in places; I should really have done the roof felt on the lawn rather than on the patio, and it needs something inside the actual well, if only for appearances. But it don’t look too bad, does it?

I’m quite pleased with it bearing in mind I know absolutely nothing about DIY. I keep threatening to do some DIY evening classes (if only I could find any). I can remember having an argument with our French teacher at school (about fifty years ago) when I said that we really should be taught practical stuff at school. My old teacher was adamant that I was at a grammar school and we didn’t do menial manual labour. In years to come I would pay the lower orders to do that sort of thing for me (or so I was told). I wonder what happened to old Steve Werrett – things certainly didn’t turn out like he would have had me believe.

I got out the lawnmower and gave the lawn a haircut, then sat by the pond and had a late lunch of lemonade and sausage rolls as I read my Kindle.

 

I got uncomfortable on the wooden bench by the pond so I crept into the house and loudly announced that I was going to “FEED THE FISH”. The dogs went from snoring to half-way up the garden in less than two seconds. And with fish fed I marked some trainee’s portfolio work.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we washed down with another bottle of that three quid plonk as we watched another episode of “McDonald and Dodds”. Playing for two hours we got it down to an hour and a half by fast-forwarding through the adverts.

I can see why the streaming apps don’t allow you to fast-forward through the ads…

1 July 2026 (Wednesday) - Early Shift

Again I woke feeling full of beans and raring to go... at half past one. And again I then lay awake for much of the rest of the night before giving up and getting up just before five o'clock.

Being the first of the month I cracked out a new razor blade hand had my daily scrape, then spent five minutes wrestling with the bread bag. I wanted toast; the bread bag didn't want me to have toast, or any bread at all. I eventually got into the bag, but it was a closely fought battle. I scoffed toast as I watched another episode of "The Handmaid's Tale". The show started well but seriously lacks continuity. I've got a theory that the different episodes were written by different people, none of whom had actually watched any of the previous episodes.    

 

I set off for work just after six o'clock. There was mist over the fields as I drove west-wards. It was quite scenic. As I drove there was a lot of talk on the radio about how the (going) Prime Minister has managed to find loads of money for the defence budget... or to be precise he's announced loads of spending and is leaving the piddling details of finding the money up to his successor. Apparently it is vital that the UK spends tons of money on its military forces as the Russians are planning to invade in 2030. Personally I can't see the Russians having a go at the UK; I'd have thought that the Russians would have learned from their debacle in Ukraine. I'd also have to ask what is the point of the UK's nuclear deterrent if not to put the wind up anyone fancying their chances.

I stopped off in Tesco to get a sandwich. One of the tills had been opened by an assistant, and so I went there. Sometimes the self-service tills can be too much arse-arch. 

The woman in the queue in front of me and the woman on the till were both talking about their plans for this evening. "We" are starting at five o'clock they both said... I thought they were friends who were planning an evening event. They weren't. "We" was the England football team who was playing some match this evening which they were both going to watch (on their own). Some people (i.e. everyone but me) take football so seriously and so personally.

 

I went in to the early shift and did my bit. And an early start made for an early finish. The roads home were surprisingly busy. I was going home early because I was on the early shift. Seemingly the rest of the country was going home early to watch the football.

Once home I did “FEED THE FISH”, and then “er indoors ^TM” drove us all out to Petham where a chap who was on holiday in the area (up from Cornwall) had organised a geocaching meet-up. A dozen of us spent an hour or so chatting. It’s always good to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.

 

We were a tad late home so we had KFC which we scoffed whilst watching an episode of “McDonald and Dodds”. Generally I don’t like police dramas, but this one is strangely captivating… 

30 June 2026 (Tuesday) - Cheap Plonk

I woke feeling full of beans and raring to go... at half past one. I then lay awake for much of the rest of the night before giving up and getting up just before five o'clock.

I made toast and watched an episode of "The Handmaid's Tale" in which I got scouting flashbacks. Rather than talking, the lead character of the show was doing this arty-acting-thing where she was supposedly communicating her feelings by pouting and smiling and looking wistfully at the camera. Back in the day when I was a Cub Scout leader one of “My Boy ^TM”'s contemporaries used the same technique to communicate. Rather than speaking, he would go up to someone and grimace. He seriously expected people to know what he wanted simply by pulling strange faces at them, and his success at communication was on a par with her in the TV show this morning.

And with telly watched I got another coat of woodstain onto the wood which I sawed yesterday, then set off for work.

 

It was a shame that I'd forgotten that there were traffic works in Chart Road, but they only delayed me by ten minutes. I was soon on my way up the motorway listening to the pundits on the radio who were spouting their usual brand of drivel as they do. There was so much talk about Andy Burnham. At the moment he really can do no wrong... it will only be a matter of time before he is out on his arse like all the rest.

And there was a lot of talk about a national review of midwifery. Some woman from some pressure group or other was being interviewed. She really boiled my piss when she referred to babies that had been "killed by the NHS". Was she seriously saying that health care professionals were going out of their way to cause harm? That was the message that I got. Admittedly the NHS isn't perfect, but giving air-time to this sort of ranting does absolutely nothing for staff morale, does it?

 

I popped in to Sainsburys to get lunch , then went into work. Earlier than I might have done. I spent quite a bit of time teaching one of the trainees the mysteries of blood film morphology, but as the day wore on the bad night's sleep did weigh on me. 

 

I walked out of work past the hospital’s league of fiends (!) shop who were again knocking out fruit. I got a punnet of strawberries from them, and took a diversion to Aldi to get some cream.

Coming home was hard work. The motorway was seemingly full of idiots trying to constantly tail-end everyone. I remembered not to drive down Chart Road, but not doing so took me through the town centre… I was only twenty minutes late home.

 

I got another coat of woodstain onto my sawn wood, and we watched the last episodes of “Canal Boat Diaries” as we scoffed dinner. We washed it down with a bottle of plonk; we got a job lot of cheap plonk. At three quid a bottle it wasn’t at all bad. We’ve paid far more for far worse…

And those strawberries were rather good too.

29 June 2026 (Monday) - A Walk, More Tyres, Aching

I slept through till seven o’clock this morning which was something of a result. I made toast and had a look at the Internet as I do. It was rather quiet this morning… someone had posted on Facebook that they’d seen a large black cat (non-moggy) near Tunbridge Wells. I wonder what it was. I once saw a very large black cat walking across a field near Hawkhurst, but that was twenty years ago. Photos of panthers look very like what I saw – I’m not saying it was a panther but it certainly wasn't someone's moggy.

 

I took the dogs up to Kings Wood. As we drove the pundits on the radio were talking about the immediate ascension of Andy Burnham. There was precious little fact, but endless speculation.

We got to the woods to find some woman washing her smalls in the car park. I smiled at her and asked if she’d camped overnight. She said she had, and that it was a lovely place to camp.

We walked our usual walk. Treacle found four swamps. Bailey rolled in something foul. After four miles we came back to the car park to find the campers were cooking their breakfast. They seemed happy enough. I can’t help but wonder how Forestry England are going to enforce the proposed parking charges on people only stopping for an hour or so when other people are camping overnight with impunity.

 

We came home. The girls had a bath. I made a cuppa for me and “er indoors ^TM”, Wordled from “slept” to “crude” in four goes, Munzed, then went out again.

I needed a Stanley knife. Against my better judgement I went to B&Q where (for once) I got what I needed with no fuss. From there I drove round to the Repton centre. Over the weekend we’d heard third-hand rumours that there had been complaints about the Dog Club. It turned out that there hadn’t been, and all was fine. Or as fine as could be expected for Saturday mayhem.

 

I came home and with the heatwave gone I cracked on in the garden. I got on with my wishing well project. Toady’s plan was to get the uprights into place. That involved cutting some holes in the tyres I painted the other day, and sticking the uprights through those holes.

Have you ever tried to cut a hole in a tyre?

Whenever you hear mention of someone having had their tyres slashed, I’d seriously question it. It took all of my effort to force a brand new Stanley knife into the tyre, and it took sustained effort to get the knife to actually go through. And as for any actual cutting… I eventually got six holes cut, sawed the uprights to size, and got them in place.

Flushed with success I then started sawing the wood for the roof into shape… and I had a minor hiccup. Somehow I’d lost a bit of wood. A bit that was two and a half metres long. I wonder where that had gone?

It didn’t take *that* long to nip over to Wickes to get another.

And equipped with all the timber I need (I think), I sawed it all to size and gave the new stuff a coat of wood stain.

We did “FEED THE FISH” , I voomed round with the watering can and suddenly it was four o’clock and my step count for half the day was double what it had been for Saturday and Sunday combined.

 

I made a cuppa for “er indoors ^TM” and myself, and realised just how much pain I was getting from my right elbow. I’d certainly overdone it with the cutting of the tyres.

The wishing well is nearly together. It just needs the roof to be built … I’ll do that later in the week when I can take my time over it.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a rather good bit of dinner then went off bowling. I turned on the telly and it suggested a film I might like. “Downton Abbey; The Grand Finale” was rather good but I got the impression that the writers had forgotten what had gone before in that show. The plot was all about the great scandal of Lady Mary having got divorced… this was the same Lady Mary who in the third episode of the show porked the Turkish attaché to death. I would have thought that after porking the Turkish attaché to death, getting a divorce would have been rather trivial, but what do I know – times were different back then.

28 June 2026 (Sunday) - Working, Crosswords, Stuff

I woke feeling full of energy and raring to go… at twenty to two. I didn’t get back to sleep after that as it was a hot and sultry night. I eventually gave up trying to sleep and got up. I watched another episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale” … bearing in mind premise of this show is an uncaring state forcefully taking children from their mothers (sound familiar!?) I’m finding this rather hard going at times.

 

I set off to work. As I drove the talk on the radio was of a religious nature this morning (what with it being a Sunday). There was an interesting article about religious freedoms in America in which it was suggested that the biggest threat to religious freedom was the exponents of those advocating a competing religion to your own one. Two senior bishops of different churches came on, and there was an embarrassing five minutes in which both bishops flatly refused to let the other say a word. Both claimed that they were being shut down (which they were) and both claimed that they were tolerant of others (which they weren’t).

As I drove there was an inordinate amount of groups of cyclists; both pedal ones and motor ones. I always thought that pedal bikes were banned from having organised road races, but they seem to do them with annoying regularity.

I drove through Pembury this morning as I had a few minutes before work. I spent a few minutes looking for a geocache along the main road. I eventually found it. I hesitate to say that it was buried in someone’s front garden, but it was buried in someone’s front garden.

And I got petrol. In the past the petrol in Pembury has been about eight pence per litre more expensive than that in Ashford. Today it was five pence per litre cheaper. One thing which puzzles me is how petrol prices go up and down so regularly and vary so much within such short distances. The sweetie bars, sandwiches and chocolate that the petrol stations sell are all the same price everywhere, so why does the price of petrol go up and down?

 

I went in to work where I had a rather hard time of it. Such is life. But I was only working a half day today and so was soon on the way home. As I drove home I tuned to Radio Four Extra as they were playing a dramatization of the Secret Diary of Adrian Mole. What I heard of it was rather entertaining. It was a shame that for most f the time I was listening to silence as the signal kept cutting out.

I’ve mentioned before that either DAB radio is a disappointment, or the one in my car needs replacing.

 

I got home where it was too hot to take the dogs out. Nowhere near as hot as it has been recently, but still too hot. And all the normal people come swarming out at the weekend and I really didn’t fancy dealing with them today. So we sat in the garden and I struggled with a crossword puzzle. One clue really had me foxed. “Daunting, Formidable (8) A - - - - O – E”. I can’t *really* be “arsehole” (can it)?

We did “FEED THE FISH”, I ran round with the watering can, and Treacle was threatened with having her buzzer collar put on. When she barks the thing vibrates uncomfortably. The idea is that if she didn’t bark at absolutely everything then it wouldn’t vibrate.

Usually the threat of the thing is enough to shut her up, and the threat worked.

 

We had a rather good bit of dinner and watched more “Canal Boad Diaries” in which our hero was having aggro with sunken trees.

The more I watch this show, the more I’m getting the impression that canal boating is quite a bit of arse-ache. We’ll probably still have a go at some stage though…

27 June 2026 (Saturday) - Dog Club and Board Games

It was a hot night. Morgan was whimpering and crying in the small hours, and once he settled so the thunderstorm hit. After a while “er indoors ^TM” remembered she’d left the skylight in the attic room open. Woops.

I got up at seven o’clock, made toast and had a look at the Internet. It was still there. It usually is. Apparently there was a big public meeting in Hastings yesterday to discuss renovations and improvements to the amenities around the sea front. Sadly what none of those in the meeting seemed to realise is that all of the amenities aren’t in public ownership. If the owner of a putting green or a boating lake chooses not to spend a small fortune on doing it up (for no financial gain) then no amount of public rancour will change anything. Especially when those expressing the rancour don’t actually spend any of their money in the amenity they want doing up. I blame Margaret Thatcher. It was patently obvious that taking anything out of public ownership and making it a profit-making business is going to stop whatever it is having its primary purpose as whatever it was supposed to be. Look at the current mess of the country’s trains and water supply.

 

I Munzed,and Wordled. “While” was a silly word with which to start. So I tried “start” which gave me the first letter. “Scuff” gave me the first two letters, and I got it on the fourth attempt with “scoop” for the simple reason that I couldn’t think of any other word that might have fitted.

As I strained my brain Steve was doing the “Guess the Lyrics” competition on the radio. He gave the clue that it was from the seventies. “Let that feeling grab you deep inside and send you reeling where your love can’t hide”. I recognised it as being “Let Your Love Flow” but I had to look on the internet to find out who sang it. It was the Bellamy Brothers.

 

Being Saturday we drove round to Repton and Dog Club. Attendance was down; we only had a dozen dogs along. I blame the heat. But a good time was had by all; even if there was a lot of eating of grass going on.

As we drove home so Steve was doing the Mystery Year on the radio. There were several songs which gave me flashbacks of the Open University summer school. And “Something Good” by Utah Saints? 1992.

 

We came home. We had a cuppa and a doughnut and I counted up the Dog Club money, pocketed it and transferred that amount into the Repton’s people’s bank account. This time I made sure there was no foreign coins in there.

 

Chris came round and we sat in the garden playing on “the board” which is not entirely unlike the Infinity Table.

I took a few photos as we played. It was rather good…

26 June 2026 (Friday) - Still Far Too Hot

I had a better night than I might have had with this heat, and despite the bin men making their usual early morning racket I stayed in my pit until nearly eight o’clock.

I did have a vague idea to get up early and go chasing for First To Find on a puzzle geocache that went live yesterday which I solved yesterday but it was too hot to go out then. But someone else had had the same idea, and having got up at five o’clock they’d found the thing two hours before I got up.

 

I made toast and had a little look at the internet. Someone with whom I used to work was having a birthday today. I sent out birthday wishes. And I rolled my eyes.

One thing which has boiled my piss about the current heatwave is that Facebook is filled with postings about how we should all keep dogs inside, and about how cruel it is to walk dogs in this heat. I suppose the underlying sentiment is admirable, but the posts are all very passive-aggressive, clearly from people who know absolutely nothing about dogs, and are pretty much all from people who post anonymously as they are too cowardly to put their names to what they are saying. I tried telling my three that they couldn’t have a walk this morning, and they weren’t having any of it. They all stood by the door and whined.

So we went to Orlestone rather earlier than we might have done. We walked about a quarter of the distance we usually cover, with pretty much no hills and pretty much all in the shade. Morgan and Bailey managed to find fresh fox poo, and Treacle found a water-filled ditch.

After half an hour and a mile and a half we got back to the car at about the sort of time we would usually start our walk.

 

We came home. Yesterday “er indoors ^TM” came home with a packet of croissants. We had one with jam and a cuppa. I Munzed; Our Munzee Guild has hit the last of our monthly targets, and we got all our rewards. I Wordled from “night” through “trace” to “acute”. I wrote up some CPD. I wrote to my MP about the hose pipe ban which is supposedly coming into effect next week. Ironically I wrote to him last year about the floods near Asda when he achieved nothing, so my hopes aren’t high.

I then spent a little while fighting with my lap-top. My email provider had upgraded their website recently, and like pretty much every IT upgrade I’ve ever seen, rather than improving matters, the upgrade left the thing utterly unable to function in any way at all. Eventually I managed to get it working… deleting browsing history and cookies did the trick… until I tried to log in again later.

 

Bearing in mind the heat was supposed to subside  a little tomorrow (and I’m working on Sunday) I popped over the road to get some beer for an afternoon in the garden. I wasn’t the only person to have that idea… why do so many people have to take the entire family whenever they go shopping? Does it really need six people to stand round watching one person actually buying stuff?

And then I popped up the road to the other shop to get ice cream. Each little corner shop has its specialty… I was reminded of my grandmother who would spend an entire day shopping getting supplies from a dozen different shops.

 

And then I ran round the garden. I cleared the dog turds, cleaned out the pond filter and voomed about with the watering can. The snapdragons are looking rather good.

We had a rather good curry for dinner which we devoured whilst watching more “Canal Boat Diaries”… we’ve found a canal boat hire company which takes up to three dogs… Personally I think taking the hounds on a boat is a recipe for disaster, but what do I know?

 

And when fetching the bins back earlier, “er indoors ^TM” found a tenner in the front garden. That was a result.