14 February 2026 (Saturday) - Dog Club, Woods, Lego, Games Night

I woke up shivering at three o’clock this morning: the dogs had captured most (if not all) of the duvet. I managed to get back to sleep for a bit.

I got up at seven and made toast. As I scoffed it I saw that my Facebook feed was awash with the news that having been elected on the promise of cutting taxes, our new Reform UK county council are actually putting the council tax up by four per cent. Mind you when I say “our new Reform UK county council” it’s actually “our old Tory county council”. It really is the same old piss in a different shaped bottle.

I saw a friend’s cat had died. Having lost his wife and his son, now his pet has gone. Some people really don’t have any luck.

My father in law had re-posted something on Facebook. Someone or other had posted to LinkedIn (yes – I know!) complaining that it costs a small business over a hundred thousand pounds to employ three full-time people (on minimum wage). Have I missed the point here… shouldn’t any employee (as an absolute minimum) make enough money for their company to cover their own wages?

 

I Munzed, Wordled from “radio” through “pouts”, “clock” and “blown” to “bloom”, and strained my brain at Steve’s “Guess the Lyrics” competition on the radio. “People stare and cross the road from me and jungle drums they all clear the way for me”. I had no idea either. It was “Is there something I should know” by Duran Duran.

 

We drove round to Repton and Dog Club… we had a good time… mostly. But things were a tad fractious. Some weeks every dog gets on famously with every other dog.  Some weeks there are quarrels and arguments. And when there are Morgan always feels the need to get involved. We had some spats today. All finished as quickly as they started, and Morgan immediately came away when called. But I’d rather we didn’t have the spats.

It was only a shame that Bailey was being hard work. She either stands still and doesn’t move, gets cold, starts shivering and needs to be bundled into my fleece. Or she runs off on her own little missions to find holes in the fence. Today she just stood and shivered until I bundled her into my fleece.

The nice lady from Doggy Dentals came along too because it is pet dental health month. She was offering a free once-over for anyone who wanted their dog’s gob checked out. Bailey and Treacle have got an appointment with her in a week’s time, but we’ve not taken Morgan to her so far. She had a look at his mouth and said he was fine. That was a result.

As we drove off so a little queue for check-ups was forming.

 

We thought we might take the dogs for a walk; after all Bailey had hardly moved (under her own steam).  As we drove Steve was doing the Mystery Year on the radio. Alvin Stardust and his co ca choo, Jon Pertwee leaving the Tardis… 1974. Today the radio signal started breaking up at the top of Charing Hill… so strange that the radio signal is good for twenty miles going west, but struggles to make five miles going north.

Bearing in mind that Kings Wood is usually heaving with the normal people at the weekends we drove up to Longbeech North where there was only one other car in the car park. We walked for two and a half miles and only saw one other person, and they were in the distance. And (as an added bonus) the woods were nowhere near as muddy as Kings Wood can be.

 

We came home where I put muddy dog coats and human trousers into the washing machine, and we had a cuppa and a cake. I sorted the Dog Club money; this fortnight no one had emptied all their loose change into the pot. There was a tenner, and some pound and fifty pence coins. I transferred the total (plus nine quid for our subs) from my current account into the Repton account, and pocketed the cash. I use it in the self-service machines in Sainsbury’s… The old bat in Sainsburys seems to have the hump when I fill the machine with coppers and five pences; it will be a shame that I can’t wind her up for a couple of weeks.

 

I hung out the washing, then spent a little while putting a Lego set together. I quite like the Lego botanicals: the mini-orchid is rather good.

I then rested my eyes for a bit… and woke up an hour and a half later.

 

Chris, Sarah and Steve came round, and we had a rather good evening on the Infinity Table. I came second to last in “Game of Life”, last in “Sorry”, offered sage advice in “Trouble” and came last in “Ticket to Ride”, but it is always good to catch up with friends. It was a shame that Morgan had to disgrace himself by helping himself to the chicken pieces, but that’s the sort of dog he is.

We’ve got another games night in the diary already…

13 February 2026 (Friday) - The News

I slept well, but was still awake far too early. I made toast and watched an episode of “Harlots”… Given that you were about to be hanged for a murder you didn’t commit, and got rescued and taken far away from the crime scene, would you *really* go back and parade around for all to see?

 

I had a little look at the Internet; it was much the same as ever. People were looking to argue about anything that they could possibly argue about. I wish they wouldn’t.

An old school friend had his birthday today. We used to get up to all sorts of mischief when we were ten; how can he be sixty-two?

I Munzed, then got ready for work.

 

I drove to work through a dark and foggy morning... and chuckled as the pundits on the radio told the world how bright it was in the South East.

As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking with Sir Gus O'Donnell who as Cabinet Secretary was once the country's top civil servant. Apparently the Prime Minister has had a falling out with his most recent successor. The ins and outs of the squabble are immaterial; what made me sit up and take notice was Sir Gus's comment about the theoretical interaction between the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretary. He felt that the Prime Minister should dream up policy which he would discuss with the Cabinet Secretary in the hope that the Cabinet Secretary agreed with what the Prime Minister had in mind; the implication being that the Cabinet Secretary could say "no" if he didn't agree.

Surely the Cabinet Secretary should do as he is told? 

 

And there was talk of some big international meeting at which the American Secretary of State told delegates from around the world that "The world is changing very fast right in front of us"  and that the European countries  "must prepare for independence from the US". That was being seen as a wake-up call to the world, but it's been pretty obvious that the USA is now sick of being the world' s policeman.

 

I popped into Sainsbury's to get lunch and a card for “er indoors ^TM” for tomorrow, and when I came back to the car so two bishops were arguing on the radio. Apparently the Church of England has abandoned proposals for same-sex blessing ceremonies. As it should (!)

Don't get me wrong - I'm all for anyone setting up shop with anyone else that they want to. But the Church of England simply can't do so whilst maintaining any credibility. Their bible is quite clear on the matter. It clearly says that being gay is a no-no. It's simply wrong, but it is clear on the matter. And if you are going to be a bishop and promise to uphold all the claptrap that goes with your religion, then there you go - you simply can't do the decent thing *because* your bible says you can't.

It amaze me how bishops can try to appeal to the gay community without throwing away everything they believe in.

 

Work was work. I did my bit and came home again. “er indoors ^TM” boiled up sausages and chips which we scoffed whilst watching this week’s episode of “Starfleet Academy” which was something of a disappointment compared with previous episodes. Sadly the arch-baddy they’ve picked for the show is a bit rubbish…

12 February 2026 (Thursday) - A(nother) Day Off

With “er indoors ^TM” off to the office today I thought we might help her get ready by getting out of her way. So we had an early Dog Breakfast then I took the pups out.

I did chuckle as we drove to the woods. The pundits on the radio were talking about the UK’s latest growth figures. Apparently the economy isn’t doing as well as some might like, and they wheeled on some independent member of the House of Lords who has a track record of being critical of the government’s financial record. But bringing this chap blew up in their faces. The bloke started off by saying that the news was nowhere near as bleak as it was being made out to be. And he said that the truth of the matter was that now that the Prime Minister’s position is no longer in question, the BBC were just looking for some other shit to stir. He listed all sorts of things that the government had done, and pointed out that they’ve met more of their manifesto promises than most governments have done. The pundits on the radio got rather twitchy and asked if this independent lord was actually as independent as he could be. The chap replied by pointing out that “independent” didn’t mean that he had to bend over backwards to find fault all the time.

He’s probably got a point.

 

We got to the woods and went for a rather good walk. As we went we didn’t see anyone else until we were almost back at the car park; that’s the way we like it. When we got to the car my MapMyWalk app said we’d covered four and a half miles; my watch said five and a quarter. Which (if either) do I believe?

 

We came home for a warming shower and belly wash. I voomed round the garden harvesting dog dung, put the dishwasher on, and as the dogs snored I had a cuppa. I then had my usual peer into the Internet. There was still more squabbling on the Facebook page about the Asda underpass. It’s quite clear that the locals would rather argue about it than have an underpass that doesn’t constantly flood.

I Munzed, Wordled from “about” to “surge” then popped over the road to the corner shop to get lunch. As I walked out of the front door I saw something odd… a stethoscope laying on the path of nice-next-door. I brought it it; it was wet so must have been there in the rain overnight. I sent her a message.

 

As I scoffed lunch (and then did the ironing) I watched a film I’d recorded from the telly. “Sense and Sensibility” was a load of tripe.  It started off with a bunch of women getting chucked out of a mansion the size of Buckingham Palace and we were supposed to feel sorry for them when they felt hard done by because they ended up in a twenty-plus bedroomed country estate which was clearly supposed to be a bad thing.

 

I managed to top up the bird feeder before the heavy rain started. I had planned to get the ultra-violet tubes out of the pond filters this afternoon, but that wasn’t going to happen. Instead I spent an hour or so creating a new geocaching Adventure Lab. Late last year it was suggested that we (the Kent hunters of Tupperware) club together to create a series of ad-labs in the shape of the Kent horse logo. The thing is slowly taking shape.

 

“er indoors ^TM” came home and boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching this week’s episodes of “The Traitors: Ireland” which was little more than one big argument… but it has to be said that the one whose birthday it was might as well have run round in the nip for all that her clothing kept hidden.

 

Oh – and I’ve been playing with the ChatGPT picture generator again. The picture looks very good… until you actually pay attention. There’s a great big hole in my left thigh, and I’m carrying four dog leads, but only two of them attach to dogs. And the one dog which isn’t on a lead is the one that (from sad experience) always needs to be the first to get put on a lead.

11 February 2026 (Wednesday) - Before the Late Shift

I slept well. I made toast, took another antibiotic and had a look at the Internet. It was still there. Someone had posted to one of the local Facebook groups saying that people asking for employment were more likely to get it if they used their own names when asking rather than some silly Facebook-generated nickname. It speaks volumes about the potential applicants that this needs to be pointed out.

I saw that there is to be a protest this weekend at the RNLI HQ protesting about lifeboats being used to save the lives of asylum seekers. There was one of those in Hastings a few years ago when some activists arranged to prevent the lifeboat being launched… and then a few months later the same sheep who’d blocked the lifeboat turned up to fundraisers to help those same asylum seekers… apparently rent-a-mob went along to wherever they saw the masses were being directed that week without a thought for what they were actually supporting.

And there were rumours about the derelict Odeon in Ashford to be refurbished, and endless suggestion about how they might do it and what they might do with it… with no-one having any idea who “they” might be.

These people are allowed to vote and do jury service, you know.

 

I sent out birthday wishes to two people with whom I used to work ten years ago. One was something of a religious nut. The other was something of a worry. One day he announced that he’d got a job in Southampton and said that he was looking at moving companies as he didn’t drive. I offered to drive a van…

We had a good day moving him, but I can remember loading up the van. It was just him and some bloke from work (me). I assumed all his mates would be at the other end to help with the unloading. We got to Southampton where there wasn’t anyone. Just me and him. I can also remember being very reluctant to leave him; he seemed happy enough but there was something rather sad about leaving him on his own. But twelve years later he’s still there, and seemingly happy enough.

 

I Munzed, Wordled from “drive” to “vegan”, then looked at the geo-map. Geocaching HQ had announced the requirements for the next load of Treasures which will go live next week. I had a look at the map and planned a couple of little geo-expeditions. I had a go at some puzzles on chess dot com, then amazed myself by beating a bot before writing up some CPD.

I didn’t take the hounds out this morning. It was wet and I didn’t have time to get to Kings Wood and back, and then bath the dogs before work. Over the summer we’d go to Orlestone, but that would have been an epic swamp today.

I thought about chasing a First to Find… a new geocache went live four days ago and no one had been to find it. The problem was that this one was in Whitstable, and working in Pembury today would have meant driving twenty miles in exactly the wrong direction before I even considered heading to work.

 

The dogs got rather excited as I got ready for work. They thought they were coming out with me. Sadly for all of us, they weren't. 

I drove round to the petrol station to refuel. As I came out I mumbled and muttered. The right turn to the motorway was blocked up and I had to go the long way round. It was as well that I did; three quarters of the way round I remembered I didn't need to go up the motorway today. Had there been no obstruction I would have been well on my way to Maidstone before I'd remembered. 

 

I'd also forgotten to get lunch so I popped into the little shop in Sissinghurst. The place had three or four young mothers (with their children screaming in the cars outside) doing their shopping. All in their pyjamas complete with fluffy slippers. Why do people go shopping in their pyjamas? 

 

I stopped off in Goudhurst as a few years ago I'd hidden a geocache there. I'd had reports that it had gone missing; it had. It didn't take *that* long for me to replace it. To be honest the people whinging that it had gone missing could have replaced it in less time than it took for them to whinge about it, but there it is.

And fuelled with geo-enthusiasm I stopped off in Pembury to log a find on a geocache that had been almost (but not quite) buried by the post box.

 

I went in to the late shift. I rather dread late shifts in a hospital which is a dedicated trauma centre. You'd think after all these years I would be a bit more used to the excitement, wouldn't you? Work could have been worse, but I got quite a bit of stick about what if the squirrel that bit me on Monday had been radioactive; I would now be the superhero "Squirrel Man", but what my special powers might be would seem to be anyone's guess... and there were a lot of guesses being made…

10 February 2026 (Tuesday) - A.I. Artwork

I slept well, but the bite on my finger was sore this morning, as was my arm where I’d had the injection. I’ve heard people whinge about injection sites being sore; I’ve not had one play up like this one before.

The nice nurse said to give the bandage on my finger a day, so I pulled it off this morning. Bandages are good for attention-seeking, but cuts (and presumably bites) heal better when left open.

 

I took another antibiotic, made toast and had a look at the Internet. Not a lot was going on. I rolled my eyes at some of the work-related Facebook pages on which so-called medical professionals bent over backwards to show their ignorance. I know the average person wouldn’t be able to distinguish between a Howell-Jolly body and basophilic stippling… but a reasonable comparison would be that a professional driver would know the difference between a bus and a train.

I sent out birthday wishes (via Facebook and WhatsApp), and spent a few minutes checking dates. I’m sure that yesterday was the birthday of someone who was once important in my life. It *might* have been an old drinking mate from my days at Brighton Technical College… I’ve not seen Dave Ferrief for years. I’ve tried to get in touch with him; the last I heard he was somewhere in Surrey.

 

The weather forecast was for light rain showers so I took the dogs out anyway. As we drove to the woods the pundits on the radio were talking about how the Prime Minister seems to have ridden out the scandal surrounding him… the scandal being that he was unaware of someone else being a wrong ‘un.

We got to the woods at about the time we were driving home yesterday, and there were a lot more cars in the car park today. There’s a lot to be said for getting there early. Had we been earlier we would have missed today’s idiot. As we walked one of the narrower paths so some woman came up the other way with two Boxer dogs. Her dogs were fine and didn’t seem to have any issues, but she went hysterical and shrieked that we had to go back the way we’d come because we couldn’t go anywhere near her. I find it is usually best not to argue with idiots so we back-tracked.

I mentioned this episode to other dog walkers we know; apparently despite being new to the Kings Wood dog walking scene, this idiot woman has made herself known. One or two were talking of reporting her, but I’m not sure to whom it is that you report idiots.

Our walk was muddy; despite chasing squirrels the dogs didn’t catch any today which was probably for the best… both for the squirrels and me.

 

After nearly five miles and nearly two hours we were back at the car. We came home for a bath. I made up both a cuppa, filled up the bird feeder and went round the garden hunting for dog dung.

I spent a little while writing up CPD, then played about making caricatures with ChatGPT.

 

I spent a while watching episodes of “Four In A Bed”. The last place to host in today’s episodes won today for the simple reason that the first place didn’t actually do breakfast, and the second and third places hated each other. 

And then I had a message. A chap with whom I went to school (from 1975 to 1981) will be back in the country in a week or so’s time. Did I fancy a little meet-up. I would. It would be good to organise a reunion… However there’s hardly anyone from the good old days at the Hastings Academy for Budding Geniuses who still lives in Hastings. I’ve posted to the school’s old boys Facebook group… You never know.

 

“er indoors ^TM” went off to her works quiz night. I sat in front of the telly with the dogs and binge-watched the new BBC production of “Lord of the Flies”. One of many books that the English teachers at school killed stone dead, it’s a rather good story. However what the BBC strung out over four hour-long episodes could have been better done in two.

I’ve got to go to work tomorrow…

9 February 202 6 (Monday) - Squirrel Bite

I stood on the scales this morning as I’d planned. My weight has held constant for the last two weeks. Oh well, as long as it’s not creeping up again, I suppose.

I made toast and had my usual look at the Internet as I do every morning. I hadn’t missed much overnight. Nothing appeared in my Facebook feed apart from some utter nonsense about improving sleep quality by going for three to four mile walks in the mornings (!)

I Munzed, then took the dogs for a walk.

 

We went to the woods. We were early this morning – at half past seven there wasn’t any other cars in the car park. It was rather misty; I hoped to see deer, but we didn’t. We had a quiet peaceful walk right up to the last half-mile when I could hear a screaming. Bailey had a squirrel in her mouth, and the other two were watching in much the same way that small children in a playground crowd round a scrap shouting “Fight! Fight”. The squirrel was screaming; I told Bailey to let it go which she did. I lifted the squirrel onto a branch where it would be safe; the bloody thing sunk its teeth into my finger. A classic example of the two hundred and eighty-fifth Rule of Acquisition. “No good deed ever goes unpunished”.

 

The blood poured out and over a minute passed before the squirrel finally let go. But rather than running up the tree it ran down to the ground where Bailey was waiting. Bailey caught it again and shook it like an old sock. This time Bailey gave it some serious stick and broke its back. Seeing the poor squirrel had had it I stomped on its head to put it out of its misery. And with the thing killed, Bailey lost all interest in it. Treacle then carried the carcass looking very proud with herself.

I then stood and watched the blood gushing from my finger with a sense of WTF do I do now? It had.(mostly) stopped bleeding by the time I got to the car. We came home where “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” and Pogo had arrived for a little visit. I washed my hand and the dogs, and the expert opinion was that I should have my hand looked at. So I ran “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” home, and as we drove so the most recent fruit of my loins called up the hospital waiting times app. As luck would have it, the shortest waiting time was at the Folkestone walk-in centre so once I’d dropped her and Pogo off I went there.

 

“Squirrel bite” raised a couple of eyebrows; the closest they’d had for some time was a tourist who’d had a nip off of a seagull. But I was in and out in a couple of hours. The main cause of delay was (so I was told) that squirrel bite isn’t something they see very often, and although the consensus was that I needed a tetanus jab, expert opinion was divided as to which antibiotics to prescribe. I spent a quiet couple of hours reading “Harry Potter” on my Kindle whilst the experts deliberated.

I got the tetanus jab, three days of antibiotics, and a nice bandage.

 

I came home where the dogs were all settled. Bailey clearly had no idea of what I’d gone through this morning. I put some washing in to scrub, made some toast for lunch took my antibiotic and watched some episodes of “Four In A Bed” which featured some silly chap who made a big show of telling everyone that he took great pride in being a disagreeable old scrote. He then took offence when all the other contestants treated him like a disagreeable old scrote.

 

I put a load of undercrackers in to scrub whilst “er indoors ^TM” boiled up burgers. We scoffed them then she went off bowling. I settled underneath a pile of dogs and watched more “Harlots”.

My finger is a tad sore, but where I had the tetanus injection is particularly tender.

8 February 2026 (Sunday) - Eastwell to Challock (and back)

Morgan’s snoring into my ear woke me this morning. I felt surprisingly chipper bearing in mind the amount of beer and port I put down my neck last night.

I got up, made toast and wrote up yesterday’s diary,,, eventually. My lap-top had a funny five minutes and wouldn’t highlight or copy any text, and wanted to open endless amounts of new word documents for absolutely no reason that I could fathom. Eventually I resorted to my universal fix – I pulled its plug and started again. Generally if pulling the plug doesn’t work then whatever the problem is, it is beyond fixing.

 

I had my usual rummage round the Internet; there were quite a few photos from the works outing yesterday. There had been some eighties music event in Maidstone yesterday. I’d been invited to go, but… I wasn’t keen and we had other plans. Going out is all very well, but as time goes on I’m going off of the idea. There isn’t a music event on the planet at which the volume is less than deafening. The event was heaving with the normal people. And I suspect the beer was about four times the price of the beer I had last night.

I Munzed, and got Wordle on the third attempt… there are only so many places that you can put an “m”.

 

We got the dogs organised and took them out. During the week someone had posted to the Ashford Area Country Walks Facebook page giving directions of a six-mile walk from Eastwell church. We had an idea that it might be a good route for a series of geocaches… 

It wasn’t.

With probably a third of it across wide-open fields, and a quarter of it along roads and lanes it wasn’t ideal for a trail of film pots under rocks. But it was a good walk through the countryside even if the local landowners did seem to have a bit of a thing for “Private – Keep Out” signs.

The dogs got to run off their leads for some of the way, but I watched Bailey “like a pork” (to coin a phrase) and the moment she showed any sign of getting the red mist up, she went straight back on the lead and we avoided any little episodes of standing at the edge of an impenetrable thicket waiting for her to get bored with snuffling after whichever mouse, rabbit, squirrel or figment of her imagination had set her off this time.

I took a few photos as we walked. We came home via Westwell where there was a geocache (it had to be done).

 

The dogs were filthy; they had a bath, and then we had a cuppa with Mr Kipling’s Easter mini-Battenbergs. Have you tried them? Supposedly raspberry flavour; they tasted of hubba-bubba bubblegum to me. They aren’t unpleasant, but they wouldn’t be my first choice of a cake.

 

I read more “Harry Potter” on my Kindle app and as I did, I felt a tad tired. I closed my eyes for a few minutes… and woke an hour and a half later. What a waste of an afternoon. I shall be wide awake in the small hours.

 

I wrote up a little CPD, then “er indoors ^TM” boiled up a chicken dinner which we scoffed whilst watching another episode of “The Floor”.

I shall read some more “Harry Potter” in a bit…  

I shall have a weigh-in tomorrow morning. What with a long walk today I’ve eaten two thousand calories less than I need to break even today. I bet my weight has gone up…