30 July 2026 (Thursday) - Not At Work

I slept through till half past seven this morning. That was an improvement on the last two nights. I made toast and had a look at the internet as I do every morning. A friend was posting pictures and videos from her Cornish holiday in which her daughter seemed to be spending an inordinate amount of time jumping into the sea from harbour walls. I once did that in Hastings. Someone was posting to local Facebook pages offering to sell aerial photos of people’s house taken from his drone… sadly he was posting anonymously so no one could contact him.

And the world was up in arms because Nigel Farage hadn’t been invited to the cross-party talks about social care. All sorts of conspiracy theories were being thrown about but no one seemed to realise that now that Nigel Farage is no longer an MP he was not eligible to attend. He stood down from being an MP in the hope that he'd avoid scrutiny for the five million quid bung he received from Christopher Harborne. (that blew up in his face, didn’t it?)

I Munzed, Wordled from “slept” to “flume” and took the dogs out.

 

We drove up to the woods where we had an average walk. As we walked we saw where something had been chewing the bark from the trees (squirrels or deer?). My bird app thought it heard a merganser… which is a duck and there’s not many of those in Kings Wood. We saw deer in the distance – too far away to bother chasing them. And we met a woman on a horse… As she came toward us through the woods (on a supposedly “no horses” path) I grabbed the dogs by the collars and held them till she passed. She thanked me for holding the dogs, then made the snide comment that dogs are usually on leads. I smiled sweetly and thought better of telling her that horses are only allowed on the gravelled tracks.

And Bailey rolled in fox poo. Twice.

 

We came home for a bath, and I made us both a cuppa. I spent an hour marking a trainee’s work on thrombotic disorders. I wrote up some CPD. I put some washing in to scrub, rounded up all the dog turds that I could find, then voomed round the front and back yards with the bionic burner. Five minutes with that sorts the weeds.

 

“er indoors ^TM” went shopping. I made some toast for lunch and thought about my old lecturer and mucker Pete Chopping. Pete was chief biomedical scientist at Orpington Hospital forty years ago and in the evenings he used to lecture us at Bromley College of Technology. He was *always* banging on about what he called the “Tea & Toast Brigade” by which he meant pensioners who lived off tea and toast and with such a diet usually ended up with macrocytic anaemias (anaemic with really big red cells caused by not eating properly). He maintained that the “Tea & Toast Brigade” brigade were responsible for ninety-nine per cent of all the low folate results we saw in the lab (we measure folic acid every day). Pete would have laid an egg if he saw what I eat for lunch most days when not at work.

Pete was that rarity – he knew absolutely everything there was to know about haematology and could explain and teach so well. And he always got the beers in. He liked a bottle of White Shield. Such a shame that he’s gone…

 

With toast scoffed I ironed the shirts I’d washed earlier and ironed the rest of the ironing too as I watched an episode of “Stranger Things”. I managed to put the ironing board away without disturbing the dogs, and Treacle was asleep when I announced that I was going to “FEED THE FISH”. She leapt up squealing in excitement.

With fish fed I voomed round with the watering can, then sat by the pond for a bit and read my Kindle.

 

Over dinner we watched this week’s episode of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” which started well but the writers clearly wrote themselves into a hole from which they couldn’t get out. Half-way through “er indoors ^TM” asked how our heroes were going to get out of the pickle they were in, and sadly rather than resolving the plot the writers effectively said “sod it” and just ran the end credits. Such a shame.

We followed this with more “Bake Off: The Professionals”. Who would have thought that making a Battenburg was so complicated.

And we are now watching the Claudia Winkleman show. Apparently there won’t be a second season for which I am very grateful.

29 July 2026 (Wednesday) - Another Day At Work

I had another bad night. I got up at five o’clock, made toast and watched another episode of “Stranger Things”. This one was a full fifteen minutes shorter than yesterday’s one. One major difference between telly and streaming is that all the episodes of a series on the telly are all exactly the same length. There’s no two episodes of a streamed show that are the same length.

 

I Wordled from “early” to “valve” in four goes then had a look at the internet. There were quite a few posts about pubs re-opening of Facebook this morning. The Halfway House in Challock is to re-open. Having been taken over and re-named The Stag it soon went belly-up as the owners were targeting drivers of classic cars and motorbikes. Not only is this something of a niche market, it is also the very people who don’t spend out on the pub’s key product as they are all driving.

Ironically this is a mistake that the new owner of The Peacock at Goudhurst is looking to make as they are currently refurbishing and looking to target the biker community.

And the Kings Head in Wye has just re-opened after a refurb allegedly costing over a million quid despite there already being three other successful pubs within a five minute walk of the place.

Bearing in mind that (on average) two pubs close up every day in the UK, there’s some rather confident wannabe landlords locally.

And some chap was posting to the local Facebook groups whinging about the state of his food waste bin. It was rather disgusting (as food waste bins are) and he was getting rather aggressive about why the council aren’t going to clean it out for him. He said that he pays his taxes so why shouldn’t the council come clean his bin?

This chap is allowed to vote…

 

I set off to find my car. I'd had to park some distance from home last night. As I walked I found myself somewhat distracted by the young lady walking down the road in front of me. Perhaps I'm an old puritan, but she might as well have been stark naked for all that her "clothes" were keeping hidden. Perhaps she'd forgotten to get dressed this morning? After all it as only half past six.

 

I got lunch from the co-op. There was a minor delay as the chap at the front of the queue wandered off to get a cup of coffee from the self-service machine half way through paying for his stuff. He suddenly realised there had been a queue behind him at the counter and that he wasn't the only person on the planet. He then got into a panic as to whether he should finish paying for his shopping or finish getting his cup of coffee.

Sometimes I wish I didn't have this idiot magnet.

 

Yesterday I had to take a major diversion between Tenterden and Biddenden as the road was closed. I checked Google Maps before I left home and it told me the road was open. It lied. I got to London Beach to find the road still closed, so I took the same diversion I took yesterday. But bearing in mind Google said there were still road works on the A21 I bypassed those and went the way I'd come home last night on that part of the journey.

For all that I prefer working where I am now, the drives to and fro can be problematical.

As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about FIFA - the world's governing body for football. Following meetings at the recent World Cup, FIFA's head honcho is looking to sell off the rights to its major events (including the World Cup). Amazingly the company which looks set to make most money out of the deal is run by the brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law.

Is anyone surprised at that snippet?

 

Despite taking a rather convoluted route to work I got there far too early. As I walked in I could smell the scent of brekkie wafting on the breeze and I fancied a plateful. I've smelled that before; it is invariably a disappointment. But despite my better judgement I went to the canteen, got a plateful of the cooked brekkie and was again disappointed. It wasn't bad; just nowhere near as good as it smelled.

 

I went into the lab and did my bit. At lunchtime I had a rather eerie episode. I've been reading a book - a post apocalyptic story set in southern England in which a plague had wiped out most of humanity. Our heroes were in Sevenoaks and needed medical supplies.  One of the characters pointed out there was a hospital on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells. The author perfectly described the roads I drive down, the hospital drive, the hospital foyer, the corridors I walk down... but all described as they would be after a world-ending plague.

It was all rather unsettling

 

With work worked I came home. Google said the A21 was still slow so I headed cross-country via Matfield and Horsmonden again. It also said the road between Tenterden and Biddenden was open, and unlike this morning it was.

As I drove I listened to more Adrian Mole MP3s. It’s far more entertaining than the evening news.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up hot dogs and chips which we scoffed whilst watching the first episode of the new series of “Bake Off: The Professionals”. It was rather good. As was the hot dog and chips.  

28 July 2026 (Tuesday) - Diversions, Duck's Feet

I woke at ten past two feeling full of energy and raring to go. I then lay dozing before finally getting up at five o’clock. I made toast, watched an episode of “Stranger Things” then had my usual look at the Internet as I do. It was still there, and rather dull at six o’clock. No one was kicking off about anything, so I sorted the undercrackers that I’d washed last night, put some of them on, and got ready for work.

A couple of months ago I saw the boss had made a minor boo-boo and had put me on leave this week. As I got ready for work part of me wished I’d kept quiet and just taken the week off.

 

I had something of a "drive from hell" getting to work this morning. As I approached the turn-off to the A262 I saw the road was closed. There was a diversion sign pointing west-wards, but as I went west-wards there were no other diversion signs. That was helpful (!) I followed the back roads that I knew would take me to Sissinghurst and hoped that would bring me out past whatever had closed the road. It did, but it wasn't long before I joined a two-mile tailback on the A21. After forty minutes I got to the traffic lights which were causing the hold-up. You'd think road works which were clearly so disruptive would have people actually working on them, wouldn't you?

And then there was another major tailback caused by people struggling to get past a three car smack-up which had happened at one of the busier junctions.

 

As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about the company Johnson and Johnson who were facing legal battles about their talcum powder. It was alleged that the stuff caused cancer. Does it? I don't know. But it turns out that if a court declares that it is carcinogenic, then it is only carcinogenic where that court has jurisdiction. The stuff might cause cancer in America, but until such time as a UK court gets involved, the stuff is heigh, ho pip and dandy over here.

One lives and learns.

And there was a lot of talk about ex-servicemen who had been involved in atomic bomb testing in the1950s and 1960s. They were after compensation because the atomic bomb testing had given them cancer. Bearing in mind that anyone who was in the armed forces during that time would now be well into their seventies I must be missing something here.

 

Pausing only briefly to get lunch from Tesco I went into work. A colleague was just back from a safari holiday in Africa. Travelling all over the place in Tanzania and Mozambique... seven flights in twelve days. I'd like to do that... if it wasn't in a malarious area.

And there was talk of voluntary redundancies. Well, not actual redundancies, a voluntary "Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme". I thought about it, but I'd only get a year's money which wouldn't last long, and I quite like going in to work on a part-time basis. 

 

As I did my bit we had a phone call from one of the places to which we refer some specialist testing. The person on the other end of the phone was someone with whom I worked years ago. The last time I saw her was in a pub in Lyminge when I was part of a "rent a mob" supporting a friend's band and she was part of a hen party. I got her and the hen party to heckle the singer which was rather entertaining.

 

Bearing in mind the debacle I had this morning I checked Google Maps before heading home. I came home via Matfield, Brenchley and "Earl's shortcut". "Earl's shortcut" involves taking the back lanes between Biddenden and Bethersden and for all that it is half a mile shorter, it actually takes longer as the roads are so narrow. I'm not keen on taking it as the first fruit of my loins once went that way and ended up in a ditch, but with the main road closed I didn't have much choice. Ironically the bit where “My Boy ^TM” had ended up in a ditch was closed because of an accident so I had even more of a diversion to get round that bit.

 

Once home I found that the duck's feet had been delivered. Some time ago the doggy dentist lady had recommended that crunching chicken's feet was good for the dogs' teeth so we've been getting bags of those from Amazon. But Bailey had gone off of those. Bearing in mind she'd had the thumbs-down from the doggy dentist lady last week (and brushing her teeth takes some doing) we needed to sort something. Last week the doggy dentist lady mentioned duck's feet. All three seem to like those (for now).

You really can get a bag of duck's feet from Amazon. It’s a shame we forgot to cancel the standing order for chicken’s feet…

27 July 2026 (Monday) - A Day Off

With no alarm set, apart from a trip to the loo at five o’clock I slept for eight hours.

I hung out the washing that I’d put in to scrub at five o’clock, made toast and had a look at the Internet as I do. I was presented with a *lot* of photos of royal pythons this morning. For all that those who’ve never been within a hundred yards of one will shriek, they are sweet little things. I’d get another if not for the dogs. Bailey would certainly kill it.

And my cousin was complaining about seagulls. She lives on the coast. We have much the same issues (including a seagull nest on the roof) but the closest bit of sea to here is ten miles away.

There was a minor squabble on the Facebook page of “The Good Food Hunter UK”. The “UK” bit always makes me chuckle as from what I can see the fellow’s not hunted anything more than fifteen miles from Hastings. Like with most reviewers, those to whom he doesn’t give glowing reviews take offence, and it was all getting a bit personal.

And Bill Oddie had died. Everyone remembers his wildlife programs and “The Goodies”. Am I the only one who remembers “The Saturday Banana”?

I Wordled. I didn’t get the answer yesterday and so broke a Wordling streak of one hundred and eighty days of getting it right. Starting with “eight” I got it on the fifth attempt this morning with “poser”. I wonder how long this streak will last before I don’t get it right again.

I Munzed, and took the dogs out.

 

We went up to Kings Wood where we walked our usual circuit. I saw deer, but they were too quick to be photographed. The fairy doors were back (a rather sweet little touch) as were the hornet traps (not quite so sweet). And there had been a fire. The tumulus was covered in ashes and cinders. What sort of half-wit sets light to a scheduled ancient monument?

As we walked we had some messages from “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” who was not happy. She’d been walking Pogo and some random passers by asked when Pogo’s pups were due. She had to explain that he wasn’t pregnant; just fat.

 

We came home where I made us a cuppa. We’d had strawberries and cream yesterday and I used the last of the cream in my coffee. Very nice. I wrote up some CPD. Dull, but needs writing up. One day I will be called up to have my continuing professional development audited. In the past I’ve seen people having absolute panic attacks when trying to produce evidence of what they’ve learned over the last two years. My CPD mightn’t be very good, but I’ve done it.

I did a YouGov survey. If you do enough of them they give you money.

And I downloaded an app. I’m not sure if WeRoam is going to be much good, but time will tell.

 

I got the washing in, then cleaned out the pond filter. With the pressure filters it’s such an easier job than it used to be. One of the older ladies at Dog Club has inherited her (now passed on) husband’s koi pond and at the weekend her box filters (the sort we used to have) overflowed and she woke up to a three-quarters-empty pond. I don’t miss those old box filters.

I played Meowdoku – I’m currently the country’s number one Meowdoku-er. Go me!!

I read my Kindle for a bit and got the Kindle Bookworm award. Go me!!

We did “FEED THE FISH” and used up the last of the fish food, so I had a little look on Amazon. It certainly pays to shop about. Fifteen litres of the brand of fish food we get costs a shade over seventeen quid. Forty litres of the exact same stuff is just under twenty-one quid. That’s two hundred and sixty per cent more fish food for only twenty per cent more money. I’m just hacked off that it took me so long to realise this.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up pizza and chips and went bowling. I settled down with sleeping dogs and watched an episode of “Stranger Things”.

Again – I’ve had a day off and I’m worn out.

26 July 2026 (Sunday) - Early Shift

I had something of a restless night. I got up at half past four, and so did Treacle who seemed rather out of sorts. She had a stomp round the garden, did her thing, then went back to bed.

She’s been a but iffy for the last week or so. Am I being paranoid, or is she losing weight?

 

I made toast and watched an episode of “Stranger Things”. When the show ended and I turned off Netflix there was one of those ten minute long adverts playing for a pressure washer. That was a waste of some company’s money; who’s going to buy a pressure washer during a hosepipe ban?

I had a look at Facebook which reminded me that it would have been Terry’s birthday today. Terry was a good friend. Because of his work (for the Foreign Office) and him living fifty miles away we didn’t meet up that often, but when we did the time was rather special. I miss him.

 

I Munzed and got ready for work. As I drove off so the pundits on the radio were starting the "Farming Today" program. I often listen to that on a Sunday morning on my way to work for the simple reason that there is nothing else on. I won't say that it is rubbish; I'm sure there are some people who go into raptures of delight at the thought of it. But for me, if I were to type "something dull" into Google I'm sure that Radio Four's "Farming Today" would be in the top three suggestions.

I put my Adrian Mole MP3s on and drove up a surprisingly busy M20. There were a lot of cars there at seven o'clock on a Sunday morning. Some chap heading coastbound was driving far too fast in the dual carriageway bit and flashing his headlights like a thing possessed. What was that all about?

 

I got to work and cracked on. I can't really complain about working at the weekends. It is part of hospital work. Hospitals never close and so we work round the clock. But this was my fourth consecutive Sunday.  However as I always say I don't mind working at the weekends when the weather is iffy. Yesterday had been glorious. Today was overcast with drizzle. There's no denying that the garden needed it, and I'd rather be sulking at work when it is damp rather than sulking at home.

I did my bit, and came home listening to more Adrian Mole MP3s.

Once home I found that it hadn’t rained in Ashford.

 

I sat on the sofa with the dogs… and woke two hours later. I didn’t realise I was that tired.

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a very good bit of dinner. She does that. As we scoffed we watched episodes of “Upstart Crow” which I am reliably informed is a comedy.

One lives and learns.

 

Yesterday was full-on and non-stop. Today has been on the dull side… I spent much of it remembering little episodes with my old mucker…

25 July 2026 (Saturday) - Rather Busy

As I scoffed toast I looked at the Internet as I do. Someone had posted a photo to one of the Facebook groups that I follow. A picture of a large cat (a caracal or something like that) which they’d seen in Surrey. Or so they claimed. The original photo was forwarded to one of the group experts who looked at the geo-tagging in the photo and immediately saw that the original photo had been taken in Africa.

Oh dear…

And there was a *lot* of talk about last Thursday’s episode of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”. There were quite the arguments raging on the Facebook pages… The trouble with any sort of prequel series is that you already know that certain characters aren’t going to be killed off, don’t you? No? Well you would if you’d seen the show on which it was based. And if you hadn’t you really shouldn’t be picking a squabble with people who had. Shouldn’t you?

I Munzed, Wordled from “group” to “aloha” in five goes. “Aloha” – seriously? As I fiddled about so Steve wasn’t on the radio. His stand-in wasn’t the same.

 

We took the dogs to Repton and Dog Club. I tried to count; I think we had eighteen dogs along. Some were being quite “frisky”. It was a shame that Morgan was being a bit confrontational; there’s one big dog who is rather timid, and Morgan can’t resist trying to pick on him.

 

From Dog Club we drove to Rye Harbour. “er indoors ^TM” had arranged a jigsaw trade with someone there, and whilst we were in the area we thought we might walk the dogs round the nature reserve. I had this vague plan that we might see seals. We didn’t. But we had a good wander round. There was a series of geocaching Adventure Lab caches round the reserve which gave us a route for our walk. It was a good walk. We came back to the car through the caravan site. I always think I’d like a caravan on a site… but I doubt I’d ever use it if I got one.

 

We came home. Treacle had a bath as she’s been trusted to be allowed off of the lead and had gone in some manky water whilst we’d been out.

We then had a rather good afternoon in the garden. Some cheese and pickles, Meowdoku, crossword puzzles, a couple of beers and a little sleep. The dogs had chicken ice poles – a while ago we boiled up some chicken fillets and froze the water. They yummed them up.

 

We came in, and got the Infinity Table out and played “Ticket to Ride” on the UK, Asia, Switzerland and Europe maps. I won one game, so I saw that as something of a result.

I took a few photos today. Today was rather busy. I’m going to work tomorrow… my intention is for something of a rest.

24 July 2026 (Friday) - Early Shift, Accounts

With an alarm set I was awake early. Not as early as I often am, but still early enough.

I made toast and scoffed it whist watching an episode of "Stranger Things" then, taking care not to wake anyone, I set off for work. As I'd watched telly so I'd heard the bin men coming up the street. Back in the day the bin men used to collect the bin from your garden and take it back again. These days you have to leave the bin out on the pavement for them, and once they've emptied the bin they just fling in in the general direction of "away from the bin lorry" and leave the pavements awash with discarded wheelie-bins. You only get you bin back if you go looking for it, and only if you get there before someone else steals it because your bin is better than theirs.

I retrieved ours, put back those of a neighbour or two, then weaved my way in and out of all the other bins which had been strewn across the pavement as I went to find my car.

 

I went to the co-op to get lunch. As I was feeding coins into the self-service machine so the stench of cannabis filled the shop. Some chap staggered into the place absolutely reeking of the stuff. These days pretty much everywhere I go seems to stink of it.  The allotments by the co-op field are particularly bad for it. It might be grown there - it certainly smells that way.

 

As I drove up the motorway the pundits on the radio were talking about the new Prime Minister who has announced even more tax cuts. The general feeling was that his predecessor was something of a dull character. The new chap is trying to avoid his mistakes, endear himself to the masses and make a name for himself. First impressions matter. Or so it was felt.

Meanwhile that idiot Donald Trump  has given the world a whole load of new trade tariffs and wonders why no one likes him.

 

I got to work and saw one of the top bosses from where I used to work was visiting. He made a great show of saying hello (as though we were long lost buddies) and he asked how I was.  I told him I was far happier working in a place where I didn't feel physically sick every day at the thought of going to work. I named a few names that (in retrospect) I should have named ten years ago.

Part of me wonders if I was right to stick the knife in after so long... part of me doesn't.

 

An early start made for an early finish. I came home down the dual carriageway that once was the M20 and hit a traffic jam. A car had broken down, and we had three miles of ten miles per hour. Meanwhile what used to be the coastbound carriageway (supposedly for lorries going to the port) sat there completely unused.

I suppose I was only half an hour late home, so I shouldn’t complain too much.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up pizza and went off out. I settled with the dogs and looked at the monthly accounts.

They could be worse, but they could be a whole lot better. It would be nice if I could magic up some money like the new Prime Minister seems to be able to do.

 

I shall now watch some more episodes of “Stranger Things” and hope I don’t fall asleep…