5 February 2026 (Thursday) - Rather Busy

I intended to have an early night last night: I eventually went to my pit shortly before one o’clock. But the dogs were tired and soon settled, and with them quiet I slept well.

 

I got up at eight o’clock, made toast and had my usual look at the Internet. Reform UK featured quite prominently in my Facebook feed this morning. Two of its latest recruits have ballsed up and mistakenly voted against party policy in the House of Commons. And having got voted into power in the local county council after promising endless savings, the Reform UK councillor in charge of making them has resigned because they’ve had a year and not actually made any savings.

However on a more local level things are different. Our Reform UK councillor is working wonders in highlighting the issues with the pot holes in the local roads. And sadly our local (Labour) MP is full of hot air, and has turned out to be something of a disappointment..

I sent out birthday wishes, Munzed, and starting with “Tired” I eventually Wordled my way to “swoop” on the last attempt.

 

The weather forecast was light rain showers for the whole day, so I took a chance and took the dogs to the woods. As I drove “In Our Time” was on the radio; today talking about the plays of William Shakespeare. He died over four hundred years ago, and according to Wikipedia he “is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist”. So many people still rave about his works. We read his plays at school… I can remember them being tedious and dull. But (like with pretty much every bit of literature we ever read at school), the teachers did their level best to kill it stone dead. Many years ago we also read “Fahrenheit 451”, “Lord of the Flies”, “2001”, “Animal Farm”, “1984”, “All Quiet on the Western Front” (among others). My English teachers over-analysed everything, made all sorts of tenuous nonsensical connections and extrapolations, and sucked all the pleasure and enjoyment out of every book we ever come close to. Years later I went back to these books (and others) to find that they are actually rather good.

Why do English teachers make a point of putting students off of reading?

I really should try Shakespeare again…

 

We got to the woods to find the light rain had subsided to little more than drizzle. We kept (mostly) to the more well-trodden tracks and once we were away from the car park the woods weren’t as muddy as they might have been. But sticking to these tracks meant our walk was about a mile shorter than usual.

 

We came home where the dogs had their paws and bellies washed. I made us both a cuppa and sparked up my lap-top. A friend had seen the Prime Minister in Hastings. He was talking about the ongoing Mendelson scandal… He won’t last. The trouble he faces is that he average voter doesn’t understand politics and just wants to be entertained.

I marked more trainee work, wrote up some CPD, did a lesson and some puzzles on chess dot com, put washing in to scrub and then had a minor pootle in the garden. The seed in the bird feeder had got damp and had sprouted into grass, so I eventually managed to get the thing apart, I got the grass out and scrubbed it up. I put the bits on the radiator to dry.

 

By then my shirts were washed so I ironed them. Shirts are far easier to iron when still damp. And then I cracked on with the rest of the ironing. As I did I watched some episodes of “Four In a Bed” in which like was certainly *not* compared with like. There was a rather fancy hotel (which pulled out after the second episode), a Blackpool seaside B&B, a rather rough and ready pub, and a glamping campsite. It really wasn’t a fair contest, but it rarely is.

 

I put the bird feeder back together again, filled it, and put it back into place just as it was getting dark.

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up pork chops which we scoffed whilst watching this week’s episode of “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” which was perhaps the best one so far. I won’t give any spoilers, but having been a Trekkie for over fifty years did help…

 

Oh – and as the rain continues to fall, the hosepipe ban has been lifted.

4 February 2026 (Wednesday) - Early Shift

I woke in a cold sweat at half past four this morning following a rather vivid dream in which I was unable to unblock my tent's drain which was bunged up with a variety of geocaches. 

I wasn't going to get back to sleep after that so I got up, made toast and watched an episode of "Harlots" in which the main protagonists were getting rather lesbidaceous (which was rather entertaining). But one thing in the show made me wonder. Were there really gentlemen's clubs in which members would get together to kill prostitutes two hundred years ago? No one ever told me about them; if true, that would have made Mr. Fletcher's frankly dull history lessons far more interesting.

 

I got dressed, and set off to work.  The road works on Chart Road that delayed me for an hour last night were still there this morning. One of the busiest roads in the town bunged up with traffic lights and reduced to single file traffic whilst absolutely no work was taking place. There were quite impressive queues at six o'clock this morning; it would have been mayhem at rush hour. I really don't see why road works on a major thoroughfare can't be worked on round the clock until the job is done.

Going up the motorway wasn't good either. With the slow lane filled with lorries going at fifty miles per hour and the middle lane filled with lorries overtaking them at fifty-one miles per hour I was again forced into the fast lane and was constantly tail-ended by those anxious to fly past at breakneck speeds.

As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about all the government's latest initiative for cancer screening... Am I being cynical in thinking that this will be dead in the water before it even starts? What the current (and every) government needs to do is to leave the NHS alone and stop re-organising. The NHS spends too much time having re-organisations at the expense of doing what it is supposed to do.

 

I stopped off in Sainsbury to get a sandwich and another bottle of the Malbec that I got yesterday. Getting the sandwich took some doing; there was some bloke blundering about in front of the fridge who was utterly oblivious to the world around him. The chap was genuinely surprised and shocked when he crashed into the woman standing next to him and suddenly realised he wasn't alone. He clearly had no idea there was anyone else in the shop with him.

Again the self-service machine wanted verification that I was old enough to buy a bottle of plonk, and again the woman doing the verification refused to acknowledge me in any way. Would saying "hello" or "good morning" have caused her physical pain?

 

I got to work and did my bit.  As I did I had a phone call. Jane from "Later Living Help Line" was keen to tell me that if I needed to go into residential care the fees could be as much as six thousand quid per month. Did I want an initial free consultation with one of their experts. This expert would then advise me on which sort of specialist expert I would need to pay to tell me pretty much what I already knew.

If I need residential care it won't come cheap. I've decided I don't want it and if I get to the stage of needing it, then would rather have my plug pulled.

I told her that I wasn't interested, but she seemed reluctant to be told to buzz off. To be honest I found her telephone manner rather off-putting; she spoke to me as though I was already senile. I suppose that's her target audience though, isn't it.

Also as I worked I saw something rather nasty. Loa loa is a parasitic worm; about a tenth of a centimetre long it swims around in your blood and can live for over fifteen years. As parasites go they are rather good at it as (for the most part) they are innocuous and you don't realise they are there. I'm told that "they make good lodgers" (!), and also that if you've got an infestation I'm told you can sometimes see them swimming in your field of vision as they can get into your eyes. 

Fortunately today's case was a quality control one; a sample sent to us from the London School of Tropical Medicine to check we know what we are doing. But it's still something rather nasty... 

And if that hasn't turned your stomach enough, bear in mind that it could be worse. I can remember deciding that I didn't want to be a medical microbiologist one summer's day in 1982 when I watched the head of the microbiology department holding up a bottle of diarrhoea, and several senior colleagues were all delighted that they could see things swimming in it.

I don't often mention what I do at work. Much of it is rather confidential, and much of it turns people's stomachs... being a blood tester isn't for the faint-hearted... 

 

Being on the early shift meant I left work whilst it was still light, and with the road works in Chart Road finished I got home a lot quicker than I did yesterday. And with the road works in Chart Road finished it was quite clear that had they cracked on with it last night, this morning’s delays would have been avoided.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up chicken escallops which we scoffed whilst watching more of “The Traitors: Ireland” in which the contestants again spent much of the time bitterly bickering with each other.

 

Having been up since half past four I might have an early night…

3 February 2026 (Tuesday) - A Bottle of Plonk

I managed a couple of hours sleep until “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs quietly came to bed last night. The minor riot didn't last *that* long, but it was some time before they all stopped fidgetting. I dozed on and off; eventually giving up and getting up at five o'clock. 

I watched another episode of "Harlots"; the plot is getting rather good. And then I had a quick look at the Internet. A friend was asking if anyone remembered The Grumbleweeds. I used to listen to them all the time when I was a lad. They were perhaps the funniest thing that had ever been on the radio. “Wilf "Gas Mask" Grimshaw” always had me in hysterics. And then they moved to being on the telly. What a disappointment. Full of confidence on the radio, they would make half-hearted attempts at jokes when on screen, and then nervously smile at the camera in the desperate hope that someone might chuckle. Hilarious on the radio, just pitiful on the telly. Such a shame.

And I saw adverts for the Folkestone Shoreline development. On Saturday I mentioned the flats on Folkestone seafront; this morning my Facebook feed was crawling with adverts for the place.

 

Taking care not to disturb anyone I got ready for work. It was rather amazing how a gang which could be so noisy and restless in the small hours could be so peaceful at seven o'clock.

I got to my car and eventually set off. Some idiot had wedged his mini into the space in front of my car leaving me maybe eight inches of space. There certainly wasn't enough space to walk between my car and that mini.

Once on my way I listened to the pundits on the radio talking about (soon to be ex-) Lord Mandelson who (when in government) apparently passed on no end of confidential information to disgraced Jeffrey Epstein quite possibly giving him the heads-up for all sorts of dodgy dealings.

 

I went in to Sainsburys where I got a sandwich and a bottle of plonk. As I scanned the bottle through the self-service machine it said it needed clearance for me to be allowed the bottle of plonk. The delightful assistant (who hates me filling the self-service machine with all the copper and silver coins I cash up from the Dog Club takings) stomped over, scanned her card into the machine, and stomped off again. At no stage did she actually speak or even grunt to me. She then stood and glared as I emptied all the copper and silver coins from last Saturday's Dog Club into the self-service machine. When I was done I proudly told her that I'd put over nine quid's worth of small change in and that my pocket felt a lot lighter.  She turned a rather bright shade of red. I don't know why this bothers her... but it is rather amusing that it does.

 

As I worked “er indoors ^TM” sent a message. The nice boiler mad had been and done the annual service. Apparently we needed a new gasket, and he sorted that for us.

 

Coming home was a nightmare. What with hold-ups at junctions seven and eight on the motorway and unattended traffic lights on Chart Road the journey home from Maidstone (which usually takes forty-five minutes) took just over two hours.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up some very good burritos which we washed down with the bottle of plonk I’d bought earlier. Sainsbury’s “House Malbec” is rather good stuff, and you get change out of a fiver as well. I shall get another bottle of that tomorrow.

As we scoffed we watched the latest episode of “The Traitors: Ireland”. This lot of contestants are rather argumentative…

2 February 2026 (Monday) - A Day Off (?)

I had a relatively good night. However if I’m in my pit for more than six hours I usually start aching and my hips were particularly painful this morning. I got up, and did my usual morning routine.

The Internet was much the same as it ever is. The river had burst its banks near Asda again. And again people were queueing up to whinge, but no one was prepared to whinge at the councillors and MPs and agencies that could do something about it. The local Green councillor has said that there’s been a study done and the issue is that the river needs dredging downstream. However he says that’s someone else’s department. If only people would tell the Environment Agency about the floods rather than posting on Facebook… if only people understood how the world works.

And there was a lot of complaining about cyclists vooming about in the dark, all clad in black with no lights on their bikes. I’ve seen several of these lately along the A28. Do they really want to get flattened; you don’t see them until they are nearly under the front wheels of your car.

I Munzed, and with the dogs having had their brekkie I took them to the woods.

 

As we drove the pundits on the radio were having a “discussion” about genetically modified foods in which a university professor explained exactly what genetically modified stuff is all about, and a clueless half-wit spouted complete rubbish. It bothers me that the BBC treat considered expert opinion and deranged ranting as being of equal value.

We got to the woods and Morgan immediately downloaded. I sighed, bagged it and left it by my car’s front wheel; I wasn’t going to carry that round the woods. It wasn’t long before we met another dog, The dog came and said hello; Bailey screamed in terror and bolted, and Treacle and Morgan both leapt forward to stick up for her by shouting at the other dog...

It was all soon sorted; a total over-reaction by Bailey, but the poor woman with the other dog was distraught with worry about poor Bailey (who can be a real drama queen at times). I eventually persuaded the poor woman that no harm had been done and all was fine, and we continued our walk. We took a slightly different walk to our usual one to avoid the worst of the mud. After Bailey’s scare the rest of the walk was rather dull. But we had a minor result; when we got back to the car someone had tidied up the bad of dog dung I’d left.

 

We came home. I washed the mud (and fox poo) off of the dogs. I set the washing machine going, made us both a cuppa, and we had it with a lemon curd bun. I then did geo-paperwork.

First of all I got on to English Heritage (again). Back in December I contacted them about getting permission to set up an EarthCache at Camber Castle. They said to give them ten days… thirty-five have passed.

And then I looked at the geocaching Adventure Lab I’d set up at Lenham church. It’s a simple thing; you call it up in the geocaching Adventure Lab app and it takes you to five locations round the church and asks you a question. One of the locations is the War Memorial. You go there where you can see the names of lots of people on the memorial and their occupations. The question is “What is the occupation of M E Gale?” So you look at the War Memorial, find where it says “M E Gale – nurse”, and type “nurse” into the app. One hundred and twenty people have managed to do this so far, but this morning as we’d walked round the woods I’d had a message that someone had logged that the question wasn’t clear. How much clearer can I make it?

I sent out no end of invites to this month’s geo-meet.

 

By then the washing machine was done so I hung the washing on the clothes horse, put more washing in, wrote up some CPD, marked more trainee portfolio work, and then feeling as though I hadn’t stopped I turned on the telly and did my usual thing of spending the afternoon getting cross at the contestants in “Four In A Bed”.

Here’s a tip for anyone going on that show – if someone says something insulting or upsetting about your establishment, you will be the second one to find out. The first will be absolutely everyone else because they actually show the problem on the telly. Just saying “I don’t believe you” makes you look to be a twit when they’ve already shown the issue to the rest of the world.

During the adverts I hung out washing and put the undercrackers into scrub.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up pizza and then went off bowling. I settled on the sofa and watched more episodes of “Harlots” which is a surprisingly good show. It’s now got to the point that the plot is so good that they don’t need to keep brandishing the jubblies. And they aren’t. Which is probably for the best…

1 February 2026 (Sunday) - Early Shift

I woke at four o'clock. Not exactly raring to go, but I was awake. I got up and watched an episode of "Harlots" as I scoffed my toast. I wonder just how historically accurate that show is. Even with no jubblies being brandished it was certainly more interesting than the history lessons I had at school. Our history teacher had us (over the course of a year) copy out some rather dull text book, and consequently we learned nothing.

 

Taking care not to wake anyone I got ready for work and set off. As I drove west-wards I was amazed at how many other people were up and about at six o'clock on a Sunday morning. So many houses with lights on; so many cars driving far too fast on a very dark, wet and rainy morning.

As I drove I listened to the radio.  It started off with an article about the history of film-making. Apparently colour film was first seriously developed by Hitler's Germany, and so using colour film was seen by many as a political thing and using it was felt by many to be supporting the Nazis. And this is (supposedly) why black and white films persisted so long when colour film was available. Don't say I never learn you nuffink!

This was followed by half an hour about the history of the Old Gloucester breed of cattle. What might have been a very dull subject was brought to life and I found myself engrossed.

 

I went in to the early shift and had a rather full-on day. Periodically I looked out the window and saw that it rained pretty much all day. I don’t mind working at the weekends when it rains.

Eventually home time came, and I came home.

 

Having left home in the dark I got home just as it was getting dark. I found that “er indoors ^TM” had been busy doing laundry, and I was dragooned into helping make the bed. My contribution was to measure the duvet; apparently duvets and duvet covers come in a range of sizes. I had no idea.

 

We had a rather good bit of dinner, then spent the evening playing “Ticket to Ride” on the Infinity table. We had three games: Europe, Switzerland and Nordic Countries. I amazed myself by winning two games. Now I’m beginning to understand the scoring, this game is getter better and better….

I’m glad we got the Infinity table out; weekend days when I work can be somewhat dull otherwise…

31 January 2026 (Saturday) - Dog Club, Folkestone, Infinity Table

As I peered into Facebook this morning I saw some extremes – heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures from friends in America; over forty degrees from friends in in New South Wales.

Other than a lot of nasty bickering about politics there wasn’t much else on social media this morning really. Perhaps I should fiddle with the settings of my Facebook feed. I see so little from the groups I’ve joined (period dramas, eighties music, painting, dogs, fishing, Sparks, Munzing…) and I get so many suggestions of “you might be interested in” about things that are of no interest to me at all.

Three Facebook friends had birthdays today. One I vaguely know through having met through geocaching. One with whom I used to work ten years ago. And one who died a couple of years ago. Paul was a good ‘un. Very active in the kite-flying community he was one of the people who organised everything so that everyone else could have a good time. The world needs more people like him.

I had no emails of note. I Munzed, and Wordled from “thing” to “allot” in five goes. As I strained my brain so Steve was on the radio doing the “Guess the Lyrics” competition. “We know all our lines so well. We’ve said them so many times. Time and time again”. No? – “Wow” by Kate Bush.

 

We drove round to Dog Club where we had a rather good time. It was a tad cold, and very muddy. But the dogs had a great time. They usually do. It was a shame that Roo had to get a tad amorous at Smudge. He does that, but today we got as far as brandishing the lipstick. That sort of thing is always very entertaining all the time it is someone else’s dog doing it.

As we drove home Steve was doing the Mystery Year on the radio. When did Chessington World of Adventure open? 1987.

I like my Saturday early morning with Steve on the radio and Dog Club. I missed it last week, and unless I can swap shifts I will miss it again next week.

 

We took the dogs down to Folkestone and had a rather good walk along the Leas. There’s some rather posh apartments where the market used to be. I had a vague plan about upping sticks and retiring to one of them until I had a look at the place’s website. I’d be paying a *lot* of money for very little other than a sea view which for much of the winter would be bleak, and for much of the summer would be heaving with the normal people.

 

We came home; I dozed for an hour or so, and then Mark and Sam came round. They’d been thinking about getting an Infinity table, and so we spent the evening putting ours through its paces. Trouble, Sorry, Game of Life, bowling, Chicken Wrangler, Hungry Hippos… It was good to catch up. There are so many people in my life that I really don’t see enough of. We really must do this again…

Perhaps the fourth pint was a tad keen – I’ve got to be up early tomorrow…

30 January 2026 (Friday) - Bit Dull

I would have slept well had Treacle not decided to stomp all over my head at half past four, and having stomped all over my head she then took over my pillow. “er indoors ^TM”  “quietly remonstrated” with her (!) and Treacle set up next to me and pushed and pushed. I eventually dozed off again once she eventually fell asleep.

 

I got up at eight o’clock and stood on the scales. I stood on them before going to bed last night, and overnight my weight had gone up by two pounds.  I stood on them again after I’d had a shave and my weight had come back down by five pounds. What was that all about?

I made toast and had a look at the Internet. I do that every morning. It was much the same as ever.

I Munzed, and looked at the drizzle. With rain showers forecast for all day I thought I might as well take a chance on a walk and hope for the best.

 

As I started driving so the heavens opened, but the downpour only lasted for about a minute. As we drove to the woods the leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch was on Desert Island Discs. Like so many politicians she spoke a lot of sense. Politicians wind me up. When you listen to what they have to say it is so sensible, and usually utterly at odds with what their stated policies actually are.

We got to the woods. We walked four miles; not quite our usual route as I didn’t fancy the uphill bit in slippery mud. As we walked we saw several other dog walkers, and a herd of deer which was far too fast for me to catch with the camera.

 

We drove home via the petrol station where (as well as petrol) I treated myself to a creme egg. There’s a hundred and seventy calories I really didn’t need. And we had a minor episode as we came along Brookfield Road. Some idiot in a lorry took exception to my stopping for the red traffic light and had a good blast on his hooter, and then drove about two yards from the back of my car for the next mile, even though from his high vantage point he could see I could go no faster. It was a shame that his lorry bore no company logo so I had no idea to whom I might complain. I contented myself by having a little whinge on rate-driver.com. More people should use that website.

 

We got home and the dogs had a warm shower. For all that we were right to have gone out for a walk (we had maybe five minutes of drizzle in an hour and a half’s walking), the dogs got very grubby. And with them scrubbed and soon snoring I made a cuppa for “er indoors ^TM” and me.

I then spent an hour marking more trainee work. It’s what I used to do back in the day when I was supervisor and manager. But back in the day things were different. When I was supervisor and manager I never felt that I was very good at supervisor-ing and manager-ing. I’ve never seen the need for endless paperwork, and I don’t have the temperament for meetings. I can remember (about twenty years ago) being formally ordered to a meeting at which the managers of our department would discuss our approach to a larger meeting of a bigger group of managers. However the outcome of that larger meeting had already been decided.

Not only was I the only one who felt that both meetings were a waste of time, I was taken to one side and told that I wasn’t being a team player.

I don’t want to go back to supervisor-ing and manager-ing, but I can assess trainee’s work.

 

I wrote up some CPD, and them remembered I’d not Wordled. So I Wordled. Starting with “waste” was a waste of a go, so I tried “found” and got two vowels (if nothing else). “Group” got me no closer. Bearing in mind that there wasn’t really anywhere else to put the vowels I eventually came up with the answer (jumbo) on the fourth attempt.

 

I did my usual trick of spending the afternoon watching episodes of “Four In a Bed” in which an obnoxious pair of oiks won despite no-one actually managing to sleep in their establishment because of all the road noise. 

 

“er indoors ^TM” sorted fish and chips and went off out for the evening. I settled under a pile of dogs and watched more episodes of “Harlots”.

I’ve spent a lot of today watching telly…