13 November 2026 (Friday) - Shopping Lists

I had a frankly awful night. I woke at half past midnight and then dozed on and off for the rest of the night, not staying asleep for more than fifteen minutes at a time.

I got up, made toast and watched an episode of “Minimum Wage” then had a look at the Internet as best I could. Apparently Microsoft was having issues with Copilot, Word, Excel and all sorts of their products seemingly o a serious go-slow. Apparently it was some sort of communication issue, which is entirely the problem with Microsoft stuff, isn’t it. Once I’ve bought something from them, why do they forever need to keep in touch with it?

I tried to check my emails; it wasn’t happening so I got ready for work.

 

I went to my car to find that it is now officially winter; I had to scrape ice from the windscreen. I drove off to work through some rather busy roads. As I drove there was no end of talk on the radio about the state of technology. Apparently the head honcho of Nvidia has been porking a Chinese spy. Is that the end of the world? What secrets can he tell the Chinese? All the Chinese have to do is buy any bit of technology, take it home and take it apart to see how it works?

 

I got to Sainsburys. I needed a bit of shopping so I got a trolley. Someone had left their shopping list in it. Whoever it was clearly likes “triffles”. They also wanted “benifit cerials”… is that cornflakes on Universal Credit? And surely six tins of rice pudding is a tad keen, isn’t it?

As I shopped so the shelf fillers were doing their thing. I can’t help but think that if they management is going to insist on not filling shelves whilst the place is closed then maybe they might give the staff some training in dealing with the public. I was rudely barged out of the way (and given some serious attitude) a couple of times.

 

I went on to work where I did my thing. It was rather hard work today; I stayed an hour late to help with our new IT system. I don’t mind helping out, nd it made for a much easier drive home.

 

Today was rather dull… the highlight of the day was someone else’s shopping list…

12 November 2026 (Thursday) - Argentinian Malbec

I was sleeping like a log when Treacle kicked me in the nuts shortly after seven o’clock this morning. That woke me up.

Facebook was interesting as I scoffed my toast. My cousin has spent the last few months reporting an underground banging sound near her house. After being fobbed off by UK Power Networks for some time, last night (at about ten o’clock)! they started digging up outside her house. At five o’clock this morning she was woken by a knocking on the door and was told she was being evacuated as the ones doing the digging had bashed through a gas main.

She’s currently in a hotel at UK Power Networks’ expense.

 

I Munzed, Wordled from “power” to “karat”. I got it by randomly putting in the letters I had left until the app accepted something.

I took the dogs up to Kings Wood where we had a good walk. We took some different paths to our usual ones. The dogs chased a squirrel up a tree. I forgot about the pheasants along the south side of the woods; Treacle nearly had one, and all three got the red mist.

As we walked I gathered a little litter. There was one of those foil balloons on the ground, and the foragers had left quite a bit of rubbish too.

 

After five miles we were back at the car. We came home for a cuppa, then I popped round to the New Chimneys. Partly to thank them for last night, and partly to arrange another Puzzle Club.

I came home via the co-op where I got us Belgian buns for lunch.

 

Once home I had a little pootle in the garden, but it was cold. I harvested dog dung, then turned off the pond filters for the winter.

We had our Belgian buns for lunch, then I settled on the sofa. With Bailey snuggled up next to me I set about geo-puzzles. One seemed to be about perishable foodstuffs in the food hall of Marks and Spencer but was actually about electrical resistance. Which is entirely the problem with geocaching puzzles. I solved it and then strained my brain with a puzzle which I first thought was about Michael Jackson, but I now think is something to do with a series of mystery novels. I wasted ages on that one and eventually compiled a list of puzzles I couldn’t solve… I sent out a message asking for help from some of the people who’d hidden some of them. I got some hints… and I shall keep thinking. If all else fails I shall ask for help at the next puzzle club.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a rather good curry which we washed down with a bottle of Argentinian malbec whilst we watched this week’s episode of “Bake Off”. I told Facebook about our Argentinian malbec, and got recommendations about other stuff I might like… Personally I like the cheap stuff.

We’re now watching an episode of “Tempting Fortune”… Call me a beast if you will but there’s some seriously epic chests being brandished.

11 November 2026 (Wednesday) - Rain, Puzzle Club

With no alarms set I slept through until after eight o’clock. I got up, saw it was raining, sighed, and made toast. I sighed again as I peered into the Internet. Some idiot had the hump because he’s lost his legal case. He had sued the local bus company because he felt that the rainbow logo on the bus offended his religious sensibilities, but ironically lost his case for the simple reason that he’d sued the wrong bus company. Would he have won if he’d sued the right company?

Another idiot thought he had found incontrovertible evidence that Noah’s Ark was real and (somehow) consequently all of modern science was wrong, and was asking for financial contributions to prove his theories. And another religious crackpot was comparing modern society with “Salmon and Gamora”.

I get a load of religious nonsense on my Facebook feed; none of the righteous can ever explain why their god never comes up with the cash. Somehow the AI algorithm at Facebook would seem to have lumped religious crackpot-ism in with flat Earth nonsense and anti-vaccination bollox… oh, there’s a *lot* of it out there.

 

I Munzed. I opened two Qrates, and I had an email saying that Munzee HQ had sorted my issue with the missing Widdlz Workshop. I Wordled. Starting with “wrong” didn’t give me a single right letter. I started again with “table” and got it with “bless” on the third go.

And then seeing how it was still raining I got on with the ironing.

 

As I ironed I watched the last episodes of “The Doll”. It was an odd show. I thought it was going to be a Polish version of “Upstairs Downstairs”; it featured some successful and rich businessman who was looked down on by all the other nobs because he wasn’t an aristocrat… even though he had tons of money and they didn’t have a pot to piss in. It also featured some glamourous young woman who everyone seemed to want to marry, even though she was horrible. A lot of the plot hinged around someone or other having set light to a boat for no apparent reason. I can only think the show lost a lot in translation.

 

The rain stopped; we went to the woods. As we walked we met another dog walker we know by sight, and the foragers were having a little (great big) campfire. They seemed happy enough; in theory there’s no fires allowed in the woods, in practice not my circus, not my monkeys.

We walked our usual route without any episodes. Nor any fracases, altercations or ding-dongs either. I suppose I should really grade the severity of our (my) incidents really, shouldn’t I?

 

We came home. I Meowdoku-ed, and had a look at some geo-puzzles. I solved one… and then “er indoors ^TM” drove me round to the New Chimneys and Puzzle Club. For some time there’s been talk of a Kent geocaching puzzle club and tonight was our first meeting. We already have monthly geo-meet-ups, but they are more of a social thing. The idea for tonight was to get together to share ideas and suggestions about solving geo-puzzles. I must admit I had high hopes but low expectations, but the meeting went rather well. No one was handing out answers (like I’ve heard happens at other puzzle clubs) but instead we talked about puzzles that some of us had solved and those who’d solved them gave suggestions and pointers. And we looked at puzzles that none of us had solved and brainstormed. We had fifteen people along… we shall certainly do this again.

10 November 2026 (Tuesday) - Late Shift

When the dogs weren’t shoving me about I spent an inordinate amount of time last night embroiled in a nightmare in which our new works computer was attempting (and succeeding at) global domination.

I made toast and had my usual look at the internet. I’d woken this morning with an earworm… a song about “Aubrey the Strawberry” I had a vague recollection that he might have been a magician who came to my primary school every Christmas. I asked on the school’s Facebook page.

Facebook told me a friend had a birthday today… I didn’t recognise the name at all. I eventually worked out it was someone with whom I worked many years ago who had since married.

There wasn’t much else happening on-line, so I chivvied “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs out of bed.

I Munzed, getting a Quick Grow potion. I Wordled from “works” to “truce” in four goes. And seeing “dog brekkie” was done I took the dogs out.

 

With time short we went to Orlestone, and as I turned off of what used to be the old A-road and on to Birchett Lane so two stags ran across the lane. I thought that they were solitary creatures. Google says they are. Clearly deer don’t read the Internet.

We had a good (if short) walk. The nice people from Forestry England were doing whatever it is that they do in the woods. We exchanged pleasantries and then Morgan peed up their tyres. He pees up everything; I wish he wouldn’t. And we met another nice lady; the meeting went far better than yesterday’s one.

Mind you we had a minor hiccup when we came home. Some bloke was walking down the pavement toward us. Clearly he wasn’t too sure with dogs so he walked up our front garde path and stood in front of our door, obviously expecting us to walk past. However things didn’t go according to his plan. With some weirdo in the garden the dogs went mental.

 

I made us both a cuppa, Meowdoku-ed, and chased up some purchases I made last week. I’m a great fan of buying things on-line, but what happens when things go wrong? For example this missing Munzee Widdle Workshop. I emailed them a few days ago and heard nothing. I emailed again this morning and got an automated reply. So they got this message, if not last week’s.

 

I set off work-wards. I stopped off at the petrol station in Aylesford where the stuff was again quite a bit cheaper than it is in Ashford. I got a sandwich whilst I was at it.

As I sat in the works car park scoffing my sarnie I got a phone call. Someone living in Bexhill had found one of Treacle’s lost collar tags. By law all the dogs have to have a tag on their collar with my contact details in case they get lost (the dogs; not the tags). Treacle’s managed to lose several tags. This one was found on a golf course some time ago. The nice lady who found it saw the pink butterfly design and thought it was a marker that you put down to remember where the golf ball was. It was only this morning when she turned it over and saw my name and phone number, so she rang me to find out what the tag was all about.

She says she will post it back to me…

 

I went into work. It wasn’t one of the better shifts. I pride myself on leaving as little as possible for whoever is taking over from me… tonight the night shift had its work cut out.

 

I came home where “er indoors ^TM” was watching “Last One Laughing”; a show featuring ten comedians competing to make each other laugh without laughing themselves. The last contestant to keep a straight face wins the trophy. I rather lost interest… I suspect the thing will run and run. There was no danger of anyone laughing…

9 November 2026 (Monday) - Busy, Busy

A few days ago (on the day after bonfire night) I mentioned how few fireworks had been going off. Looking at Facebook this morning it would seem they all went up last night. I heard quite a few explosions as I walked to and from the car last night. I didn’t *see* anything; just heard large explosions. Sadly that is fireworks these days. When I was a lad they were pretty things you looked at in the back garden. Then rockets became “the thing” and it was all about pretty light shows in the sky. I didn’t see a single rocket in the sky this year on any of the late shifts I’ve done recently. These days it is all about the loud bang. My dogs don’t seem bothered about them, but a lot of people were whinging about them this morning. Partly because it was a problem, and partly because people like to whinge. If loud explosions are seriously an issue then now is the time to write to councillors and MPs and campaign to ban the loud ones. But will anyone actually do anything? No. Of course they won’t. It’s like the footpath round by Asda which floods every winter. Over the last couple of years I’ve written to the MP and the local councillors, but no one else has done anything.

 

I Munzed, then Wordled from “night” to “loamy” in five goes. “Loamy”? Seriously?

I took the dogs up to the woods which are really autumnal now. We found one of those painted rocks… I’ll move it on. We walked our usual circuit. The dogs chased shadows and missed squirrels and deer. Treacle went through a swamp, and we had an “episode”. Some idiot woman came up the path with two dogs. I say “dogs”; I really have seen smaller horses. Whilst the woman shrieked at me that her dogs were friendly they both set about chasing my three, and as Bailey screamed in terror the woman got rather aggressive and ranted that a Jack Russell has a more dangerous bite than either of her two. Before I could say anything she hysterically screamed that I should “get a life” and stormed off leaving her largest dog facing us in what I can only describe as a confrontational way.

What do you do when this sort of thing happens? I had a not dissimilar episode six years ago when a passing looney attacked Pogo, hysterically ranted at me, and (somehow or other) I was the one who had the police coming round.

 

We came home. I made us both a cuppa then had a pootle in the garden. I looked at the lawn and decided against mowing it. There’s probably all sorts of bugs and things starting hibernation and don’t need to be disturbed. The grass people say that you should leave it after late October, and who am I to argue with them?

So instead I harvested a frankly epic crop of dog turds. Never a pleasant job, but certainly much easier now that Treacle has gone back to “solid” from “liquid”. I pruned my Cornus alba and buddleia… well, not so much pruned as “hacked back”. They both seemed to benefit from being pruned last winter.

Whilst I was at it I pruned my own head. That pair of hair trimmers has certainly proved to be a saving.

 

I came inside; it was cold in the garden. Being Monday I cleaned out the fish tank filter and siphoned up the gunge off of the bottom of the tank. Not that there was much, but I’ve set a reminder on my Google calendar that Monday is “clean the fish tank” day. That little fish tank is looking far better than it used to. Live plants, live snails and cleaning out the filter weekly has made a serious difference.

I wrote up a little CPD (as I do), then cracked on with ironing shirts. As I ironed I watched a couple of episodes of “The Doll” on Netflix.

 

I had a little kip. “er indoors ^TM” boiled up dinner then went bowling. I tumble-dried undercrackers (never a dull moment) whilst watching more Netflix.

 

I’m worn out… I’ve got another late shift tomorrow.

Meanwhile research has shown that Daves are the best at doing DIY… 

8 November 2026 (Sunday) - Phone Games, Late Shift

I slept through until after nine o’clock this morning. I got up, made toast and had a look at the Internet. Nothing much had changed overnight. Or had it? My Facebook feed needs looking at. Take this morning for example I got endless adverts from Temu trying to sell me mis-advertised crap (which I then report as fraud). I saw loads of gibberish about why atheism is silly and why the Earth is flat from feeble-minded simpletons who sadly don’t realise just how stupid they are. I was told about who was having a birthday today, and (with over seven hundred Facebook friends) I had updates from three of them. One’s cat had a birthday, one had been to a card fair, and one was saying how foggy it was.
Surely others had done something yesterday?
 
Sadly I’d left it a tad late to get the dogs to the woods, so I piddled about on my lap-top. I wrote a reference for one of my ex-trainees. He’s asked me for help as I’ve known him for years and because I’ve experience of what he’s facing; being up before the professional regulator (it ain’t nice!). The chap’s been accused of taking drugs in the workplace, of making racial slurs and of putting broken glass in other people’s lab coats. Did he do it? I can’t say that he didn’t because I don’t have absolute proof that he didn’t. All I can do is write a letter to the adjudicating committee saying that I would find that very unlikely and out of character. Will it help him? Somehow I doubt it. But that’s our legal system, isn’t it? Our regulator operates on the legal principle of “balance of probabilities” in which a panel will decide that a fact is proved if they think the incident is more likely than not to have occurred. Someone makes allegations and someone else decides who to believe. It’s a long-established principle of law and has been used for years. Sadly it’s not a foolproof system; obviously those making the decisions are far more likely to listen to people with official standing and rich lawyers. It’s how small children are taken away from their mothers. Not that I’m bitter…
 
I looked at the Dog Club money… it’s a bit of a shambles. Bearing in mid we ask for two quid per dog, how can we end up with an odd fifty pence in the pot? And how can people put on the register that they are paying by cash when I’ve already taken the pot home?
 
I Munzed. I Wordled from “taken” to “first” in three goes. I Meowdoku-ed. I’m now in the Bronze League (whatever that means), got dressed and set off to work.in a bit of a sulk This is now the fifteenth weekend that I had worked out of the last twenty. I don’t really mind going in at the weekends, especially on a day like today when we needed extra help. But having arranged to see family this weekend (what with people travelling miles for a get-together) I had a bit of sulk. I had hoped to see a gaggle of aunts today.
 
I got to work, I did my bit. As I worked so my phone beeped. Out Munzee guild had reached the first of our monthly targets. Result (!) Work was rather better than it might have been what with the new computer.
And with my bit done I came home again. There was fog forecast, but it was nothing like as bad as the fog had been on Friday night.
 
“er indoors ^TM” had boiled up a rather good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching Mr. Bean on the telly. What with the scaffolding blocking the satellite signal we’re restricted to the apps on the telly itself. But there’s still far more choice than we can cope with.
Mind you, have you watched Mr. Bean recently. Whilst it is still hilarious, it’s rather dated.
Bit like me, really…

7 November 2026 (Saturday) - Hastings

As I said yesterday, on last night’s late shift we had a red alert at five to going home time. You don’t just walk out on time when that happens. When I finally did walk out (as I said yesterday) I then drove home slowly through thick fog. I scoffed dinner shortly after eleven o’clock last night and went to bed just after midnight.

I woke full of energy and raring to go at two o’clock, and then lay awake for the rest of the night. I tried to get back to sleep, but it wasn’t happening. I did doze a little, but not much. I gave up and got up at six o’clock.

 

I made toast and had a little look at the Internet. Back in the day I would read the newspaper… the Internet is much more poorly written and (these days) has far fewer tits, but on reflection is much more interesting *because* it is much more poorly written. Take for example the government’s planned hundred pounds bung to help poorer people pay their energy bills. The thick element really were surprised to find that the left wingers were for it and the right wingers were against it. Or the post on one of the local Facebook pages from some half-wit asking for recommendations of a supplier of illegal fire-sticks for avoiding paying for satellite or Cable TV providers. And the Pope was recommending universal health care for all. So much for prayer, eh?

Mind you there’s no denying that a few more tits wouldn’t go amiss.

I Munzed, Wordled from “alert” to “prate” in four goes. “Prate” – I got it as a guess as I has the last four letters. I had to look it up.

 

“er indoors ^TM” and the dogs got up and went into the garden to do what they do (well, the dogs did). Treacle’s “doings” are getting back to how they should be. One of the less savoury aspects of dog-herding is that you develop an unholy fascination with the quality of dog dung.

 

Steve was on the radio this morning. The “Guess the Lyrics” competition was “Mothers got her hair do to be done”. It seemed vaguely familiar… it was the Pet Shop Boys – “In Suburbia”. I gloated - “er indoors ^TM” is a big fan of the Pet Shop Boys but she couldn’t work out which song it was.

We got ourselves organized and drove round to Dog Club. And then drove back home again as I’d forgotten the key to the paddock.

 

We had a good session at Dog Club. Attendance was down – I blame the cold foggy morning, but the dozen dogs that were along had a great time charging about, playing and enjoying treats..

As we drove home Steve was doing the Mystery Year on the radio. Godley and Creme singing “Under your Thumb” and the King got married for the first time. I can remember the King getting married; I was working at the Harbour Restaurant at the time which would have put it in 1980 or 1981. I said 1980… I should have said the other year.

We came home via the co-op where we got Belgian buns, and scoffed the with a cuppa once we got home.

 

Leaving “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs at home I went up the road and got a train to Hastings. I had a little wander round the town. It has changed beyond all recognition since I was last there. Pretty much all of the shops have gone; the only shops left are those selling that which you can’t have delivered by Amazon.  And most (almost all) of the pubs have gone too.

I walked a circuitous walk to my brother’s house, and after a cuppa we went down to the Wetherspoon’s. Our cousin joined us and we had a couple of drinkies there, and some more in the old town. Back in the day Hastings town centre was where it all happened and the old town was dead. How things have changed.

It would have been good to have stayed on, but I didn’t want to chance missing the last train, so I said my goodbyes and came home…

 

I’ve got to work tomorrow…