11 August 2026 (Tuesday) - Early Shift

I woke as I so often do feeling full of energy and raring to go… at quarter to one. I dozed on and off for the rest of the night before giving up and getting up at five o’clock.

I made toast and watched another episode of “Stranger Things” then had my usual root around the Internet.

This morning’s petty bickering was on one of the CPAP-related Facebook pages. Someone asked whether using a CPAP machine made you eligible for a Personal Independence Payment. My piss immediately boiled. A *lot* of people get these PIP payments and rely on them. But just for using a CPAP machine? I can see a reason for getting a benefit payment for having sleep apnea, but the CPAP machine alleviates the effects of sleep apnea. The squabble had seriously polarized the CPAP-using community. One half was saying to suck it up and get on with life. The other had clearly seen what they thought was a potential gravy train and was trying to jump on it with talk of campaigns to get sleep apnea and CPAP use added to the list of things for which you get a hand-out.

I then laughed out loud at a Nigerian vicar who seriously  had the hump, He was bemoaning how the Western world welcomes Nigerian doctors and engineers and skilled people, but there’s no openings for Nigerian happy-clappy vicars.

And I had an email telling me that one of my caches in Kings Wood was missing. Oh well… that’s tomorrow’s walk planned for us.

I loaded the dishwasher and set off for work.

 

As I drove up what used to be a motorway so the pundits on the radio were talking about local high streets. The head honcho of one of the nation’s leading chain stores was whinging that little independent shops all look shabby and should close up so that his chain stores could take their place and (with their corporate money) would make high streets look better.

There was then a lot of talk about the state of high streets. The chap being interviewed wouldn’t say where he was talking about (as he was frightened to) but he spoke of one high street which was nothing but vape shops, barbers and nail bars. Newsagents, grocers and “proper shops” kept going bankrupt, but vape shops, barbers and nail bars do a roaring trade. Or they are a front for organised crime, or so it was claimed.

 

I got to work and did what I couldn’t avoid. I took a little detour on the way home. A fellow member of Dog Club had something for me. Many years ago her husband had built a rather impressive garden pond, but he passed on a while ago. And our friend had found just how much hard work a garden pond can be. A small goldfish pond is enough work. My pond in the garden keeps me occupied. But a large Koi pond takes a *lot* of looking after. Her triple-filtration system had taken to blocking up recently. I’ve seen the mess when a box filter blocks up, and ours was a fraction of the size of hers. She’s mentioned the blockages a few times over the last few weeks. And after the latest blockage her pump gave up the ghost (those aren’t cheap). There comes a time when enough is enough.

She wondered if I’d like anything from the pond. I’ve probably got too many fish in my pond, but I was very grateful for floating plant pots (complete with pots), some fish food and various accessories.

It was good to meet up and chat… one thing she said made me think. Her house is in the better part of town and she was talking about getting a builder to professionally fill in the pond and remove the walls (it’s not a job for an amateur). She said that most builders double the price for any job up her road as there’s this preconception that if you live in the better part of town then you are loaded. She’s probably right… I know of people who live up that road who inherited the house who would never otherwise be able to afford to live there.

 

I came home where we fed our fish and popped the new pond plants into the pond. I shall sort them properly tomorrow. 

“er indoors ^TM” went off on cat duty. I had a shower and a little doze. It’s all very well only having an hour’s sleep, but it does leave you tired.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up some sausages which we scoffed whilst watching the final of “Bake Off: The Professionals”, and then a couple more episodes of “Ann Droid” which is slowly growing on me…

Treacle is currently having a serious tantrum in the kitchen. She wants her supper, and when she wants her supper she makes no secret of it…

10 August 2026 (Monday) - A Walk, Ponds, Ironing, Folkestone

I woke in the small hours following a rather vivid dream in which I was at an Open University Summer School doing some subject about which I knew absolutely nothing at all. This is something of a recurrent dream which I seem to have with annoying regularity. I wonder what that is all about.

 

I got up, put a load of washing in to scrub, and watched an episode of “Stranger Things” (in which strange things happened), then sparked up my lap-top. The Internet was much the same as ever. Today’s whinge was about bonfires. People were complaining about the smell. They’ve probably got a point. There’s a family a few doors up who barbecue constantly. And by “constantly” I mean every single day from April through to October. At least they give us the morning to get the laundry dry.

My cousin had posted a video of seagulls tearing her black rubbish sacks apart. Our seagulls are noisy, buut they don’t do that (yet).

I Munzed, Wordled from “scrub” to “snipe” via “shale”, “spoke” and “stipe”, then hung the washing out.

 

Once the dogs had scoffed brekkie we went for our walk. We went earlier than usual as it was going to be a hot day. As we drove the pundits on the radio were saying that we in the South East were having our fifth heatwave of the year whilst parts of Scotland had had a month’s worth of rain over the weekend.

Am I alone in seeing the obvious answer here. Having local water companies is such a silly idea. Surely it would make far more sense to have a national water company with the ability to pipe water from where there are floods (Scotland) to where there is a drought (my house). After all that’s how I get the gas to heat my water, isn’t it?

 

We got to the woods and walked our usual route. No one rolled in anything, we didn’t squabble with anyone. It was all rather dull which was probably for the best.

We came home listening to more Adrian Mole MP3s, and once home no one needed a bath. I unloaded the dishwasher and put bedding and towels in to wash. Once I’d had a cuppa I went into the garden. Monday has become pond filter cleaning day, and it has to be said that having a pressure filter means it’s a far faster job these days, and there’s a lot less smelling of fish poo at the end of it all.

I hung out the bedding and towels and sat by the pond for a while watching the pigeons drinking from the bog filter. They do that quite a bit.

 

“er indoors ^TM” sorted some lunch, and with that scoffed I spent a couple of hours doing the ironing. As I ironed I watched a couple more episodes of “Stranger Things”. As I ironed I was very conscious of Treacle watching me “like a pork” (to coin a phrase). I put the ironing board away and she flew up the garden. I stayed inside. After five seconds she came running back and looked at me expectantly. I said the magic words “I’M GOING TO FEED THE FISH!”, and she flew up the garden squealing in excitement. We fed the fish. And the dogs. Last week I mentioned the economies of buying fish food in bulk,,, a lot of that saving goes straight down the dogs’ necks.

 

“er indoors ^TM” finished work and we drove down to Folkestone Harbour. We had a little wander about then went to the old Folkestone Harbour railway station where there was a geo-meet happening.

It’s always good to catch up with friends… I didn’t get the chips. Four pounds for a portion of chips.

Seriously !?!?!

9 August 2026 (Sunday) - FTF, Working, Hot

I woke far earlier than I needed to and lay awake for too long. I eventually got up, made toast and had a stroke of genius (I do that from time to time). Last night a new puzzle geocache had gone live not *that* far from work but I had no idea how to solve the puzzle. But this morning I had an idea. Going on-line to blag a copy of the second Harry Potter book gave me the numbers I wanted and the geo-checker said my answer was correct.  And it was on the way to work (sort-of).

 

As I drove off to find this cache there was some right old tripe on the radio. There was a lot of talk about some Russian bishop who was supposedly getting backhanders from Vladimir Putin. There were two theories as to why this might be. Either the bishop had some gossip on Vlad, or Vlad was sucking up to the Almighty.

And there was an interview with one of the head honchos at the Mother's Union  which is a sort of religious version of the Women's Institute. The woman being interviewed seemed to be rather jealous of the W.I. for no reason that I could fathom. I gave up listening to the drivel on the radio. Sunday morning radio is usually on the rubbish side (at best).  I listened to Adrian Mole on MP3 instead. This morning he was squabbling with the love of his life. Some things are universal...

It wasn't long before I was in some obscure back street near Sevenoaks. There was no one about, I rummaged on a street sign and soon had the geocache I was hunting. And no one else had got there before me. I was First to Find. Result. Go me.

As I drove on to work there were a few spots of rain on the windscreen. A tiny shower. Not much, but some rain. And then I noticed the roads were awash. That wasn't rain. That was leaking pipes. You'd think that what with all this talk of drought and water shortages the water companies would be on the case wouldn't you? The trouble is that they are on the case. Their case being making money for foreign investors. Sadly the days when a UK water company had actually providing water as its main raison d'etre are long gone.

 

I got to work. I thought better of the cooked brekkie as it gave me belly-ache last time. Instead I popped into the works M&S and got myself a croissant then got on with the morning.

The original plan for today had been a little wander round Eastling doing a few geocaches to finish off the current set of geocaching Treasures. But on Friday the boss had phoned. There had been a minor staffing disaster at work and she’d had to ask people to swap shifts about. And having solved her immediate staffing issue she would need someone to step into the breach this morning. Could I help?

Oh, go on then. I didn’t mind really. If I did I wouldn’t have spent a life in hospital work, would I? And the weather forecast was against doing much today. It had been rather warm yesterday and the forecast was for thirty degrees from mid-day onwards.

According to my car’s thermometer it was thirty-three degrees when I finished and came home.

 

I drove slowly through the “Operation Brock” stupidity, and once home we had a cheese roll for lunch. You can’t go wrong with a cheese roll.

We spent the afternoon sitting in the garden (in the shade) until “er indoors ^TM” set off on cat duty. I had a shower, put some washing in, and wrote up some CPD.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching more “Bake Off: The Professionals”. And then we started watching “Ann Droid”. Bearing in mind the writers and the cast, the first episode was a tad disappointing.

It might perk up though. Here’s hoping.

8 August 2026 (Saturday) - Northiam

This morning’s Facebook feed again showed the ignorance of the general public. The pub just down the road from where I used to live has been “saved from demolition”. Sadly there were a load of people who thought that that because planning permission to build houses on the site had been refused, the pub was going to re-open.

Several people were banging on about how few pubs there now are in the area, and how “they” should open more. There’s as many pubs open in any area as can make a living out of the pub business. Recently I mentioned the Peacock Inn in Goudhurst which closed (because it wasn’t making money). Someone’s taken it on and re-opened it, but yesterday the Eight Bells in the middle of Hawkhurst (not five miles away from the Peacock) closed its doors for the last time.

 

I Munzed (deploying a scrapstar), and Wordled. I started with “vague” and got one letter right, but in the wrong place. But that did help. My second try was “civil”, then “ivory” finally ending up with “privy” on the fourth attempt.

As I fiddled about Steve was on the radio doing the “Guess the Lyrics” competition. “And the night goes by so very slow. Oh, I hope it won’t end though”. I had no idea – it was “Alone” by Heart.

I had no idea either.

 

We drove round to Repton and Dog Club… We had a good time with the usual mayhem. It was a shame that Roo had to kick off right at the very end, but that’s what dogs do. And with Dog Club done we drove to Northiam.

We’d had a vague idea that we might have gone to the main day of the national geocaching mega-event week in Norfolk today… purely because it was *the* national geocaching event. But the last one we went to was something of a disappointment. I’ve been to seven mega-events, Five of them involved a lot of travel to be faintly disappointed, and the other two sort-of happened in the background whilst we were at a weekend-long camping event. These mega-events are really geared up for the people who are staying for the week.

With a three-hour trip to travel the one hundred and sixty miles to get there for a day trip, I would have gone stir-crazy on the way, and we wouldn’t have got there till the early afternoon. We decided against going. Maybe next year we could hire a cottage in the area of wherever it is going to be (somewhere in the West Midlands, apparently).

Instead we went to Northiam where there was a set of geocaches on (mostly) flat ground which would get us most of the latest set of geocaching Treasures that were released last week.

 

We had a very good walk. The footpaths were well marked and clear. As we went we saw some squirrels and a herd of deer charging across the fields. There was a strange fellow with an umbrella, but he kept his distance. Bailey went rogue for about ten seconds, and came back having lost her name tag. We’ll get another from Amazon.

We took a lot of water for the dogs. It was only a short walk – a mile less than what we walk round the woods several times each week, but I for one was glad to get back to the car at the end.

I took a few photos as we wandered.

 

Once home I did the geo-admin, posted the photos of our walk, and counted the Dog Club Money. Bearing in mind we ask for one pound fifty per dog I was rather bemused to end up with nineteen pounds thirty pence.

“er indoors ^TM” popped out. Over the summer she checks up on the cats of various friends who are on holiday. I stayed home with the dogs.

 

“er indoors ^TM” returned and we spent the evening playing “Ticket To Ride” on the Infinity Table.

I lost every game…

7 August 2026 (Friday) - A Horse-Free Zone

I rolled my eyes as I peered into the Internet this morning. I thought last night’s episode of Star Trek was one of the best ones… judging by the posts on-line it would seem that it wasn’t as popular as I thought it might have been. I found myself thinking back twenty years when “Star Trek: Enterprise” was cancelled because the (so-called) – fans slated the show. After all, who’s going to carry on making a TV show which gets such bad reviews from its target audience.

I sent out birthday wishes, Munzed, and took the dogs out. As we drove to the woods the pundits on the radio were in Clacton interviewing people who were going to vote for either Nigel Farage, Count Binface or thirty other nobodies. I can only imagine that the interviews broadcast were done for dramatic effect; I’d never heard such ill-informed stupidity. People openly admitted they knew nothing of politics or policies but believed every word that every politician said to them, and most of them said they would probably vote for the last one they heard from, as that one would be the one they remembered.

And people say democracy is a good thing.

 

We got to the woods where we had an episode. I plan our walks so that we are mostly off of the gravelled tracks. That’s the bits where horses aren’t supposed to go. As we walked one of the narrower tracks (well away from the horse areas) so two old bats on horses came toward us. The one in front was shrieking “two metres, two metres”. I got the dogs on their leads and dragged the dogs as far back into the bracken as we could go. As the horses came past so the one in front looked at us like we were the shit on her shoe. The one at the back thanked us for getting out of the way. I politely pointed out that horses are supposed to stick to the gravelled tracks. The one in front started ranting that she’d paid for her pass (over twenty quid less per year than I pay for parking), she can ride her horse where she likes, and had I cleared up my dogs’ poo. I pointed out that her horse was taking a dump right then, and asked if she’d seen the “no horses” sign. She stormed off shouting that there was no need for me to be so “unpleasant”.

At least her mate had the good grace to apologize.

 

We came home listening to Adrian Mole MP3s. Once home I made us a cuppa which we had with the last of the Rice Crispie cakes. I sparked up my lap-top and had a look. I was right. There’s places in Kings Wood where horses can go, and places where they can’t.

I Wordled from “horse” to “feign” in three goes… there’s only so many (one) words that start with “fe” but don’t end in “e”.

I then downloaded the fifth Adrian Mole book in MP3 format, and spent a little while fiddling about with my MP3 sticks. I shifted all the audiobooks onto another stick so that when I tell it to randomly play music it won’t randomly play various chapters from audiobooks. Hopefully.

 

I had a Bombay Bad Boy pot noodle for lunch then set about solving geo-puzzles. As time wore on I became more and more conscious of three sets of eyes looking at me. Eventually I stood up and thee dogs jumped up. I looked at Treacle and she looked back. I opened my mouth a few times without saying anything. Each time she quivered in excitement. When I finally said “I’M GOING TO FEED THE FISH” she squealed in excitement as they all ran to the pond.

There’s so much fuss over some dried rice.

It was as well that we went out; I’d forgotten that I’d hung washing out earlier.

 

I then spent an hour fighting with Paintshop Pro struggling to create today’s piccie showing the paths in the woods where horses are allowed, and where we had our earlier episode. It wanted to create the text in such a way that it that would impress graphic designers, but would actually be unreadable.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a rather good pasta bake which we scoffed whilst watching an episode of “Bake Off: The Professionals”. One of the contestants had dyed his hair. In the previous episode he had greying hair. Suddenly he looked as though he had rubbed boot polish all over his head. It was embarrassing to watch.

Why can’t people just grow old gracefully?

6 August 2026 (Thursday) - Flat Battery, New Geocache

I slept better last night but again woke feeling rather morose. I made toast and had my little look at the Internet. There were quite a few photos of people going on holiday and being on holiday. I was rather envious of the people being on holiday, but not of those going. A subtle difference? It’s the travelling that I don’t like. I’m quite regretting not having arranged to go to the week-long geocaching event that’s on now in Norfolk, but it’s three hours and a hundred and sixty miles away.

I had a snarky email. At the weekend I downloaded a glucose-measuring app on my phone. It was rubbish. It asked loads of questions but didn’t measure anything (well obviously it couldn’t on a phone) so I said as much in my review. The people who made it had taken umbrage. 

I Munzed, Wordled from “miles” via “brine”, “tripe” and “cripe” to “gripe”. A rather appropriate word for me…

 

I got the leads onto the dogs. As I started the car it sounded a tad sluggish but at the time I thought nothing of it. As I drove I listened to the pundits on the radio who were talking about Professor Jason Arday who has resigned from Cambridge University over allegations of plagiarism. I don’t know what Professor Arday did or didn’t do, but one of the allegations against him was that he claimed to have written and published a particular book which he hadn’t. Some chum of his was wheeled on to defend him. I wish I knew who this pal of his was; this chap felt there was nothing wrong with claiming to have written a book when you hadn’t. This chap said he’d planned to write books himself which he hadn’t, and implied that the intention to write a book was synonymous with actually writing one.

 

We got to the woods and once we were away from the car park we had a good walk. We hid another geocache in the woods (I wasn’t happy with the one I put out yesterday). As we turned a corner we saw a deer not ten yards away. We chased squirrels and rabbits.

Sadly we knew when we were getting back to the car. The noise level definitely went up as all the families going on their annual dog walk were shouting at each other. Despite only being inches apart they could have been heard miles away.

 

We got back to the car… and it eventually started. Once the thing eventually leapt into life it have me a warning message that the battery was on the low side.

I dropped the dogs at home and drove round to Halfords. The nice man got his gadget out and showed me that my battery was deficient in both volts and amps. But he said he wasn’t surprised – he said it looked like it was the car’s original battery which would make it eleven years old.

He said he could sell me a new battery and fit it, but said that if I joined their premium club it would actually be fifteen quid cheaper. So I joined their premium club, got the discount, and not only do I now get money off from other things I buy in Halfords, I get a free MOT too. That’s a bonus.

 

I came home and made us both a cuppa, then sorted the admin for the new geocache we hid today. It took over an hour to devise what I hope is a particularly fiendish puzzle. I have this theory about geocaching puzzles… everyone whinges on saying how that difficult puzzles are all part of the game, but hardly anyone can ever solve the tricky ones. To illustrate this contention I put one out last year. It’s been found four times.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up bread rolls which we scoffed with the last of the weekend’s cheese, then I had a minor pootle in the garden. The sleepers round the pond were rather crusted with pigeon poop. I was amazed at how easy the stuff came off. I then alternately read my Kindle, Meowdoku-ed and dozed by the pond. As I slobbed about shamelessly being bone idle I found myself wondering. I’d shelled out the thick end of a hundred and fifty quid to get my car’s battery done earlier. Was I being mean? – that price struck me as expensive. I phoned my usual garage who said they wanted three hundred and twenty quid to do the same job.

I shall be going back to Halfords for car issues from now on. I’ve put their phone number into my phone and everything. I had a look at their website – I can get ten per cent off of a new pressure washer… such a shame that what with the hose pipe ban they are currently a no-no.

And then my phone beeped. The geocache I’d hidden this morning had gone live, and I’d got the souvenir for hiding it.

 

“er indoors ^TM” sorted a rather good curry which we washed down with a bottle of the cheap plonk whilst watching this week’s episode of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”. I won’t give any spoilers but I will say it was the best episode of Star Trek for some time. 

 

5 August 2026 (Wednesday) - It Ain't Diabetes

With an alarm set I woke at quarter to three and just lay awake. I gave up trying to sleep at five o’clock, got up and scoffed toast as I watched an episode of “Stranger Things”. It was rather good.

I then had my usual look at the Internet.

I had a minor sulk as I peered into Facebook this morning. People were posting holiday photos from Spain and Dorset and Austria and the Lake District. But a *lot* of friends had been posting from Norfolk where they’d arrived for the beginning of the five-day national geocaching mega-event. I would have liked to have gone myself. Back in the day I used to organise no end of long weekends away at kite festivals and camping events. I suppose I could have sorted something but we’d left it too late to book anywhere to stay in the area, and camping is simply too much like hard work these days. Back in the day I used to organise mid-week and weekend mass geocaching walks, but sadly since I’ve not had time to organise them, no one else has taken up the mantle.

I Munzed, Wordled from “minor” through “boils” to get it with “posit” on the third go for the simple reason that pretty much every other possibility had the “i” in the wrong place.

 

I set off to find my car. As I walked I saw her who lives down the road and likes walking. I've been seeing her on and off for nearly forty years. Her son went to school with “My Boy ^TM” and was one of my cubs (a particularly odd child who chose not to speak but to communicate by pulling faces. He could speak, but preferred to grimace). I often see her walking about Ashford. All over Ashford at all times of day. This morning she was marching past our house at half past six. I often wonder why she walks so much. Does she want to stay out of her house?  Should I be contacting someone about her?

 

I found my car. As I drove to work so the pundits on the radio were interviewing some dog groomer. The woman being interviewed simpered and wittered and basically wasted ten minutes of peak air-time. I couldn't help but wonder what she'd been brought on to the radio for.

They had tried to get her to talk about flea and tick treatments (not that she actually said very much at all), and once she'd gone it turned out that the spot-on-the-neck treatments used to prevent parasite infestations (like I dobbed onto the dogs' necks on Monday) are under scrutiny.  There's calls for them to be banned from general sale after an inquiry raised concerns about their impact on their environment.

Apparently they are widely available in all sorts of shops and supermarkets,  and the component chemicals are being found in rivers and streams. I was always under the impression that the stuff was only available with a vet's prescription and that dogs had to be kept dry after they'd had the treatments dobbed onto them?

I'm going to carry on treating the dogs with the flea jollop and they will carry on having their tick collars. There's no point in waiting until the ticks and fleas have latched on and given them no end of diseases before you do anything about it, is there?

 

I got petrol in Aylesford. Today it was only a penny a litre cheaper than in Ashford. And with a few minutes spare I went for a little walk looking for somewhere to hide a geocache. There's a souvenir for anyone who hides on in August.

And then I cracked on with work.  At tea break I started reading a new book on my Kindle. It was terrible. Poorly edited, poorly proof-read. It read as though it had been written by a foreign schoolchild and translated into English by another schoolchild as a rather rushed bit of homework. I gave up with it at lunch time and rated it at one star on Amazon and Goodreads with the recommendation that it be withdrawn from sale and proof-read. Harsh? Maybe. But it had the potential to be a good story; if a tad unreadable. The chap who wrote it has done himself no favours by rushing publication. I then got another e-book from Amazon. It wasn't *quite* as bad, but was still on the crap side... zombies in outer space? Seriously? I suppose I shouldn't really have had high expectations for ninety-nine pence, should I?

 

I came home to find the nice Amazon man had delivered my glucose monitor. I’ve been feeling numbness and tingling in my left hand for some weeks now. Occasionally in my left foot and right hand as well.

I realise it has been very hot recently but I do think I’m more thirsty than I have been for some time; more so that would be explained by the heatwaves. My father had late onset diabetes as did my grandmother. I don’t want anyone to think I’d had a look at Google and diagnosed myself… but I had a look at Google and diagnosed myself. But with a random blood glucose of five point three mmol/L I think I’ll have another look at Google.

Or ring the doctor…

 

“er indoors ^TM” came home. She’d taken the dogs out, and she seemed stressed. They had been totally ill-behaved little sods for her. Odd – they normally see her as pack leader. I’d have thought they wouldn’t have dared to put a foot wrong.

 

I’m feeling rather tired. If only I could sleep when I have an alarm set.