23 May 2026 (Saturday) - Dog Club, Badlesmere, Pub, Hot

I spent much of the night hanging off the edge of the bed; if only the dogs would give me some space.

I got up and let the dogs out for a tiddle. Morgan has taken to peeing up my pile of tyres; I wish he wouldn’t. I made toast and had a look at the Internet. There was a passive-aggressive post on the Dog Club Facebook page. It’s going to be too hot for the bigger dogs today (apparently) so could we (I) rearrange the meeting times to the evenings. I sighed. No, I can’t. Meeting at nine o’clock suits me personally. It might be a tad warm right now, but there is plenty of shade, and if we bring some water along the dogs would be fine.

So many people in so many walks of life suggest “why don’t we…” when what they quite openly mean is “why don’t you…”

As I scoffed toast so Bailey sat on the sofa next to me scoffing her brekkie. She is getting fussier and fussier about eating. And Steve was on the radio doing the “Guess the Lyrics” competition:. “I hear your name whispered on the wind. It’s a sound that makes me cry”. I had no idea. It was Boy Meets Girl - Waiting For A Star To Fall from 1988.

I Munzed, Wordled from “night” to “chuck” in three goes, and we got ready for the day.

 

We drove round to Repton and Dog Club. For all the talk about how hot it was going to be we had fourteen dogs along. We stood in the shade, there was plenty of water for the dogs, and far more got splashed than ever got drunk.

As we drove off so Steve was doing the Mystery Year on the radio. I got it with the first record I heard. 10cc – Good Morning Judge. I can remember that being played at the Miller’s Arms just down the road from where I used to live during the celebration party for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977.

 

We drove up to Badlesmere where we met Karl and Tracey. They’d had reports of issues on their geocaches in the area so we joined them for a little walk. Some of the geocaches had issues, some didn’t. None had issues that those reporting them couldn’t have put right in less time than it took to report the issue.

And with walk walked we adjourned to the pub. Usually we would have gone to the Red Lion in Badlesmere, but that place has more and more specialised in being gluten-free. Which is all very well if you want a gluten-free meal, but it can be rather restrictive, and leave you with a menu of only half a dozen meals.

Instead we drove a mile or so down the road to the Wagon and Horses  where we sat in the garden and had a few beers and a rather good bit of dinner. A starter of olives with bread and oils and vinegar. A cheese ploughman’s. Three pints of ale and a couple of gin and tonics. It was rather good to catch up and have an afternoon in the pub garden. And the dogs were rather well behaved too.

 

We came home. The plan was to sit in the garden, but I was a tad heavy-handed with one of the chairs. After a while I gave up trying to mend it nicely, and brute force put the thing back together again.

I woke up a couple of hours later.

 

We got out the Infinity Table and played a few rounds of “Ticket to Ride”. I got my highest ever score (three hundred and twenty-five) and my lowest (twenty-one).

22 May 2026 (Friday) - Another Day Off

I ached a little this morning. What with one thing and another I covered seventeen thousand steps yesterday.

I made toast and had a look at the Internet and rolled my eyes. The county council has decreed that council meetings will now include saying the lord’s prayer and singing the national anthem. After a year of their being in power, despite what they assured me that they would do, Operation Brock is still in place, there’s more pot holes (and they are deeper), the boats full of immigrants are still coming, and the underpass down the road keeps flooding. But rather than sorting out that which needs sorting they’ve found a way to further divide the country.

Again the party which demands patriotism is the party that makes me ashamed of my country.

Interestingly our local councillor who was elected under the Reform UK ticket and went to the Restore Britain party was remarkably silent on the matter.

And I saw that Michael Keating (who played “Vila” in Blake’s Seven) died yesterday.

I Munzed, and Wordled from “ached” to “vocal” on the last go.

 

I took the dogs up to the woods. As we drove I saw her down the road who is always walking. I’ve seen her out before six in the morning and after eight at night. She just walks and walks.

We got to the woods and walked a shorter route than yesterday. I thought it would be about three miles; it was four and a bit. As we walked we met four other groups of dogs. And as is always the case, the way the meeting went was entirely down to the people and not the dogs. Three meetings were amiable and friendly. The fourth involved some stupid woman trying to wrestle two boxer dogs into a hedge whilst muttering curses. I didn’t actually tell her to get stuffed, but it was close. We’ve met her before; in the past she’s demanded that we turn round and go back as the path isn’t wide enough for her to get past with loads of space. Other dog walkers have told me that they’ve reported her to the dog warden… not that I imagine the dog warden would want to get involved.

On the plus side Bailey didn’t smother herself in fox muck.

 

I came home, made up both a cuppa then went shopping. On Wednesday when I saw Karl he spotted that one of my car tyres was past its best. I drove round to Kwik-Fit who couldn’t even look at my car until late afternoon. I drove on down the road to Elite Garages where the nice man had a look at the iffy tyre. He agreed that it was iffy, and he pointed out that two other tyres were also iffy (to say the least). He said that he’d got some work on, but that he could sort it all in half an hour’s time. I sat and waited…

After an hour I saw my car driving off. That was a tad worrying, but it was the test drive.

The nice man came back. New tyres all round, wheel alignments and a bill for three hundred quid. Bearing in mind that Kwik-Fit’s website had quoted me two hundred quid per tyre I saw that as a result. It certainly pays to shop around.

Whilst I was there I inadvertently caused a minor squabble amongst the staff. I asked what was going to happen to the old tyres, and if they were just going to be thrown away, could I have three of them for a little garden project. One of the mechanics announced that he regularly uses old tyres for projects in his garden, and the other mechanics seemed to be rather miffed that no one had told them about recycling used tyres as garden ornaments.

From there I drove round to Bybrook Barn garden centre for the hose for my aerator water feature thingy. Three metres of hose at one pound forty-nine pence per metre and a joining attachment costing one pound fifty shouldn’t cost just over nineteen quid, should it? (Have I ever mentioned that I’ve got a degree in mathematics?) Eventually I persuaded them that the bill should be just under six quid.

 

I came home. Eventually. Seeing the roads through the town were gridlocked I tried to come home through Chart road only to find it was equally bunged up.

By the time I got home and had unloaded my hose and used tyres I was rather worn out, and it was rather warm outside. I came inside and had a little look on-line at plans for making a little (well, not so little) wishing well. I then wrote up some CPD then announced that I was going to “FEED THE FISH”.

 

And whilst I was at the pond I rigged the hose I’d bought to the new water feature, then set the thing up and tested it. It all worked fine, which was something of a relief. I’ve now got to lift rocks and slabs and move shingle to bury the cable… but that is a job in itself. I’ll do that at some point over the weekend. And while I’m at it I shall have a think about the base of the fish ornament. The wooden base doesn’t look quite right.

 

“er indoors ^TM” went off to collect her car. She’d had some bodywork done on her car today. And once she was home she boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching another episode of “The Orville” and “Race Across the World – The Reunion”.

For all that it would be hard work, I’m rather tempted to apply for the next series of the show. All I need is a team-mate to do all the brainwork as we race.

 

I still ache… compared to yesterday today was rather lazy – I haven’t cleared fourteen thousand steps.

Oh – and today is World Goth Day…

21 May 2026 (Thursday) - Not On Any Shift

I rolled my eyes as I read Facebook this morning. Someone I know had posted about how Earth would "lose gravity" for seven seconds on Aug. 12, 2026 — leading to "40 million deaths from falls" among other cataclysmic outcomes. It was claimed that NASA knew all about this and was working on "Project Anchor" organising special preparations for this cosmic event.

However simply typing "Project Anchor" shows you that it is all a load of bollox. Why are people so quick to spread this drivel? Are they so stupid that they believe the conspiracy theories, or too lazy to take two seconds to do some fact checking?

And I was amazed to see that my MP had written to the Transport Secretary to complain about Operation Brock. Up till now he has been constantly kissing the government’s arse… clearly the Prime Minister’s shaky position has given him some courage.

 

I took the dogs out. As we drove the pundits on the radio were interviewing some idiot from OFCOM. Apparently kids are still accessing all sorts of things on the internet that they shouldn’t (including hard-core smut). The idiot being interviewed was adamant that the internet providers had been severely sanctioned… but when pushed she admitted that “severely sanctioned” was effectively a telling-off, and being asked not to do it again. The obvious answer would be to shut down the offending companies but that would go against the companies right to allow kids to access that which they shouldn’t.

I found myself reminded of some of my old schoolteachers. We actually liked and respected those who wielded the slipper (when they had to) and laughed at those who tried to reason with us.

 

We got to the woods. The other day I mentioned that I try to walk different routes… It occurred to me that no matter what route we walk, the last mile is always the same. So today we walked a very different route. As well as the usual shenanigans we chased a rabbit (it might have been a hare) and chewed a deer’s backbone.

As we walked I had my Map My Walk app running. I’ve mentioned how the thing disagrees with my watch about the distances we cover. Today it thought we’d walked half a mile less than what my watch said, and it thought we’d taken five minutes longer to do so.

It also has issues with its own timings. As I complete each mile it tells me how long I’ve been walking for, and how long it took me to cover the most recent walked mile. So in theory when I complete the first mile, the two times it announces should be identical. In practice they are *always* different. How does that work?.

Today we walked somewhere between five and a half and six miles. In that time we saw three other people, and all of those were within a couple of hundred yards of the car park.

 

With walk walked we came home where Bailey had a wash (with soap!). “er indoors ^TM” was having an office day so I just made myself a cuppa. I had an Aldi kit-kat with it. I like those – imagine a kit-kat but with good chocolate.

I Munzed, Wordled from “earth” to “agree” in three goes, then set the dishwasher going and had a look in the garden.

I mowed the lawn. I bionically burned the weeds. I had a little look at the new water feature thingy. I *think* I know how I might attach a water hose to it. I shall have a trip to the pond shops tomorrow. I marked some more trainee work, and then feeling rather worn out I made myself another cuppa and watched more of “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

 

I had a little kip, then “er indoors ^TM” returned. As we scoffed dinner we watched the final of “Race Across the World”. Italy to Mongolia… it was quite a trip. I wouldn’t mind a guided tour round Mongolia if only I could be sure the dogs were looked after…

20 May 2026 (Wednesday) - Before the Late Shift

Back in January I mentioned that Forestry England were charging to park a car in Battle Great Wood. Last night Steve told me that Forestry England are going to start charging for parking in Kings Wood. Bearing in mind our average walk, and bearing in mind the cost of parking at Battle Great Wood that would set me back about thirty quid a month.

So I joined Forestry England which costs eight quid a month and gives me free parking. This morning as I scoffed my toast I saw that the tree huggers are contacting Forestry England to find out what the new parking charges will mean for them. I wonder if they are hoping for a discount. And quite a lot of locals were oh-so-happily showing off their ignorance about how the world works. Kings Wood is run by Forestry England. It is utterly and totally nothing at all to do with either the local council, the county council or any of the privately owned local building companies. But still those with single-digit IQs were ranting about how some vague “they” were planning to chase everyone out of the woods so that “they” could build more houses.

Building in those woods is an argument that was done to death twenty years ago.

I Wordled from “great” to “wreck” in three goes. I Munzed, opening two qrates and getting two more.

I went upstairs and got dressed maybe not as quietly as I might have done. I wanted to get a move on and everyone else needed to get up anyway.

 

With time shorter than usual I took the dogs to Orlestone. As we drove the pundits on the radio were saying that what with the Strait of Hormuz closed, Russian oil can now be bought… *if* it is first processed in another country. What’s that all about?

We got to the woods and walked a couple of miles. The dogs were well behaved; it was a shame that Bailey had to roll in fox poo, but there it is.

As we walked I ran the “Map My Walk” app. In January I accepted the challenge to walk one thousand kilometers over the year. I’m over half-way.

 

We came home where Bailey had a bath. With soap (!) I got changed and leaving “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs I set off to work a bit earlier than I might have done.  I'd looked at Google Maps and saw that to get to Whelans (in Sheerness) the quickest way was to go up the motorway. It was a shame that no-one had told Google that the Operation Brock stupidity was back in place. I drove the sixteen miles at seemingly a snail's pace stuck behind a rather wide static caravan which was taking up both lanes.

I can remember at last year's elections the Reform UK candidate was quite clear that under a Reform UK led county council, Operation Brock would be a thing of the past. Mind you they said the same about stopping the illegal immigration and sorting out the flooding at the Asda underpass, didn't they? You don't suppose that they just said that black was white and made all sorts of claims about which they would be utterly powerless to implement purely in order to get elected, do you?

I got to Whelan's. Yesterday I phoned the garden centre that I couldn't get to (because of the traffic) and found that the water feature fountain ornament that I wanted was far too expensive. I had this idea that Whelan's might have something at a much better price.

They did.

 

Whilst I was there I saw a rather nice little bird water bath thingy. I thought that I might get that as a little pressie for Karl and Tracy. I'd be driving past their house on the way to work so I thought that I could park up and using my ninja-like stealth I could sneak it into their garden, and then disappear like a shadow, leaving them scratching their heads in wonderment about where the new ornament had come from.

It was a good idea which was sadly thwarted by their motion-sensitive camera.

I need to work on my ninja-like stealth.

 

From there I went on to Aylesford Aquatics. Three years ago I slated the place on Google reviews and it hasn't got any better in the meantime. I had an idea I might get the hoses I need for my new water feature... Let's just say that I sighed and walked out, and leave it at that.

I then drove on to the petrol station at the nearby Sainsbury's where I got petrol and lunch. Getting lunch took some doing. I can't help but wonder if I was being thick... It turned out that despite every single food item being labelled as "meal deal", only certain items were actually in the meal deal. The woman behind the till felt that it was rather obvious what was and what wasn't in the deal, and seemed to think that the labelling was some sort of advertising or artwork. It certainly wasn't in any way intended to let people know what was and wasn't in the meal deal.

I sighed again.

 

I then went on to the late shift which was busier than I'd hoped. 

I’m not a fan of the late shifts…

19 May 2026 (Tuesday) - Early Shift

I was fast asleep when “er indoors ^TM” decided to have an argument with Bailey last night. Personally I can't see why Bailey can't go out into the garden every twenty minutes all through the night if she wants to... as long as I'm not disturbed about it.  I eventually nodded off again but woke in a sweat following a rather vivid nightmare in which an old friend had devised a money-making scheme. The idea was that by replacing lockers at swimming pools and sports centres with fridges, people's clothing would stay fresher for longer. I'm not sure how come I got the job of replacing the nation's lockers...

 

Finding myself wide awake at four o'clock I tried to get back to sleep, but it wasn't happening. I got up and as I made toast there was quite the procession of dogs wanting to go into the garden.

I scoffed toast whilst watching another episode of "The Handmaid's Tale" in which again not a lot seemed to happen. As I watched so that noisy dog came up the road... It was odd. The moment I heard its barking I charged outside to tell the owner to keep the noise down... and there was no one to be seen in the street. 

 

I got dressed and set off for work. This morning the DAB radio worked fine all the way from home to work. As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about how the Scottish First Minister is planning to put a cap on the price of groceries. In theory it's a rather good idea. In practice if shopkeepers are forced to sell food without being able to make a profit then they aren't going to sell food, are they? It’s called market forces...

And there was talk about the Ebola epidemic in Africa. It was claimed that much of the problem was down to the locals not trusting proper medicine and preferring to use crackpot faith healers. You have to wonder why, when proper medicine works and crackpot faith healing doesn't.

 

I popped into Sainsburys to get lunch. I counted all my coins into the machine. As I did so the rather angry assistant glared at me. I don't see why it was such a big deal to her, but clearly it was.

And then I went in to work where a colleague had made fudge in honour of her birthday. It was rather good, and I'm reliably informed that it is quite easy to make. I might have a go.

 

The plan was that after work I would go to Bybrook Barn garden centre to have a look at a water feature I could hook up to the new aerator pump. I drove to the garden centre… and joined the queue of traffic at Sainsburys. After twenty minutes I’d travelled maybe twenty yards so I gave up and came home.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up sausages and we scoffed them whilst watching more of “The Orville”. I might have an early night… I’m worn out. Even if being at work my step count for today is only a third of what it was yesterday.

18 May 2026 (Monday) - A Walk, Ironing, Stuff...

I slept rather well last night. Over brekkie I had my usual root around the internet and my piss boiled on one of the supposedly work-related Facebook pages in which people were talking about an incident on a cruise ship when a call went out for someone who knew their blood group so they could give a unit of blood to a fellow passenger.

Blood transfusions simply don’t work that way… unless it is your intention to kill someone. I was reminded of my days in scouting when a local group were going to Africa and the leader wanted to know everyone’s blood group so that he could know whose blood could go into who… He was serious. He’d done his research by reading up on Wikipedia (!) and I had to involve the Chief Scout and the British Blood Transfusion Society to dissuade him.

Here’s a tip… if you ever meet anyone using the phrase “universal donor” or “universal recipient” then you know for a fact that the person you’ve met knows absolutely nothing about blood transfusions.

And I saw that the Rother Valley brewery has closed down. They brewed “Level Best”, “Blues” and “Smild”; three of my favourite beers. It turns out the chap who ran the brewery is in his eighties and he’s had enough. I’m twenty years younger and I know the feeling.

I Munzed, and Wordled from “about” to “loath” in four goes.

 

I took the dogs out. I tuned the radio to Radio Four’s DAB channel, and again as I went past the Matalan roundabout and up Chart Road so Radio Ashford came over the top of it. Perhaps it’s an interference thing as it only happens in that location?

As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about the new head honcho at the BBC. Last week he was a big cheese at Google. I can’t see what transferrable skills a search engine company would have for a broadcaster, but this would seem to be how senior managers operate. Perhaps I might jack it all in and become a coastguard or a driving instructor?

 

We got to the woods where we met Nala. Nala was a rather lovable staffie who clearly wanted to join in with our group and come with us. She showed no inclination to go back to the rather angry looking thug who was screaming at her from across the field, and I can’t say I blamed her for that.

We walked a variation on our usual walk. I’m keen that we don’t do the same walk every time. Back in the day we got into a vicious circle with Fudge who got so used to the route we took that he wouldn’t walk any other route. And the route we took had to be the anticlockwise way round as well. He simply refused to walk anything different; I had to put his lead on him and drag him if we wanted a change.

As we walked so Bailey rolled in fox poo. Treacle thought the sink hole had dried out. It hadn’t; the stinking mud was belly deep. Morgan chased squirrels.

 

We went out having seen the weather forecast had been for showers. We walked about four and a half miles over an hour and a half and it was only when we got home that the rain hit.

The girls both had a bath. With soap. I then made us both a cuppa and looked at the rain. I did have a plan to sort the pond aerator pump I’d bought on Friday, but that could keep until the rain stopped. And with the lawn wet, mowing it would have been silly.

I put shirts in to wash, wrote up some CPD, and marked some trainee’s portfolio work. For all that the trainees put in a lot of effort I do think they miss out by not going on a day release and meeting up with other trainees and getting lectures from senior workplace staff in a university environment. Like I did.

I suppose that was rather expensive though.

 

After a couple of scones for lunch I did the ironing. A dull task, bit one that needed doing. As I ironed I watched a couple of episodes of “The Handmaid’s Tale” which featured her who was rather lesbidaceous in “Orange is the New Black”. And then with the rain having subsided I ran the hair trimmers over my head and did “FEED THE FISH”. I then topped up the new bird feeder. Sadly when the advert said “doesn’t scatter seed” what it actually meant was “scatters seed like a thing possessed”. We’ve ordered some seed trays, but having re-organised the area around the feeder last week it is now much easier to sweep up with a yard brush.

As I topped up the feeder so I could see the sparrows getting rather impatient, and the robin was on the feeder by the time I’d put the bulk supply of bird seed into the shed.

And then a blue tit came for some food. That was a result.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up fish and chips which we scoffed whilst watching “Richard Osman’s House of Games”. Have you ever watched it? It’s one of the better TV quiz shows which is sadly marred by the so-called celebrities who star in the show who are always oh-so-quick to proudly show off their ignorance.

 

“er indoors ^TM” then went bowling as she does went bowling as she does most Mondays. I made myself comfortable on the sofa and watched a couple more episodes of “The Handmaid’s Tale”. The story doesn’t seem to be going anywhere…

17 May 2026 (Sunday) - Boughton Aluph to Wye (and back)

It was a rather late night last night as we watched the voting for the Eurovision Song Contest. My choice (the Romanian dominatrix lesbians) came in third. The winners (Bulgaria) had five hundred and sixteen points, while the UK came in last with just one point. Back in the day I would have said “We came in last” but I don’t feel any connection with what is supposed to be my country these days. Yesterday there was a “Unite the Nation” rally… it’s rather ironic that those who are loudest in advocating patriotism are those who make me ashamed to be British.

 

I didn’t get up till half past nine this morning. That was something of a result. I made toast and peered into Facebook as I do. Several friends were off on holidays. Dorset, Seattle, Spain… And there was a strange posting on one of the work-related groups. Someone had posted a photo of a blood film and had asked a multiple-choice question of what the salient features were. Amazingly everyone had got the answer right, and then at the bottom of the page I saw “Show Hidden Comments”. Apparently some comments were hidden because they may be “offensive, off-topic or spam”. I clicked to see the hidden comments. None were offensive, off-topic or spam. However all of the hidden comments were giving wrong answers.

I Munzed and Wordled from “night” to “bylaw” in four goes as two magpies argued in the garden. That didn’t bother the dogs much(!)

 

I looked at the weather forecasts. The BBC claimed there would be rain showers all day. The Met Office claimed it would be dry until early afternoon. We chose to go with the Met Office and took the dogs out for a walk.

We drove out to Boughton Aluph and walked along quiet lanes and footpaths to the church. The plan was then to go back to the car, but it wouldn’t be *that* far to go into Wye and the weather looked OK. So that’s what we did. It was a shame that Bailey had to roll in fox poo, but that’s the sort of dog she is.

We walked out to The Sawyers.  I once went there with my Fudge when the beer selection was amazing. Today they only had a couple of ales on, but the place was friendly. And we met Alan there. It was good to catch up.

From there we went on on to the Tickled Trout. It was a friendly enough place. It was rather pretty sitting by the river. But… Eighteen quid for a pint and a half and four bags of crisps? Seriously? The same had been ten quid cheaper not five minutes’ walk up the road.

From there we headed back to the car. It was a shame that “er indoors ^TM” dropped Treacle’s lead on the way back, and with lead retrieved it was another shame that Bailey had to run amok in a thicket, but there it is.

We got back to the car to find we’d covered six miles. I thought it would have been maybe three and a half.

We came home and with the sun still shining we had a pint and some crisps in the garden.

I took a few photos as we walked and sat and drank. I was so glad we’d not taken much notice of the weather forecast.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up pizza which we scoffed whilst watching another episode of “The Orville”.

I’m quite worn out; we’ve had a busy day…