27 May 2026 (Wednesday) - Late Shift

As I scoffed my toast I saw photos of a friend having a beach holiday, and another friend travelling across the Canadian Rockies. There were a few fun posts like that today. There were photos of cats, there were photos of people geocaching… That’s what I want to see on my morning Facebook feed as I am a very nosy person.

And then there was an advert on Facebook from Oxfam reminding the word that the conflict in Gaza is still ongoing. I don’t want to appear cynical, but the public’s attention span for any given war is rather short, isn’t it? The media were all over the war in Ukraine until it all kicked off (this time) in Gaza. And then that was headline news until President Trump went and picked a fight with the Iranians. And that will be forgotten about when the next one starts. Type “how many wars are going on right now” into Google. It reckons there are over a hundred. People just want to argue, don’t they? And as is always the case it is rarely those with the argument who actually suffer.

And people were up in arms about the hospice near work which is in financial difficulties. Here’s a thought. Don’t buy their hospice lottery tickets. Don’t donate to them. Don’t go in teir charity shop. If the public stops supporting them then the government (of whatever party) would have to fund the place properly. Look at the state some schools are in with them being dependent on charity hand-outs to pay for text books.

 

I Munzed; our Guild has reached the last of our monthly targets. And then I went and kicked “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs out of bed. We drove to Orlestone for a shorter walk in the shade. We got there and saw about a dozen cars in the car park, and as always there were people sitting in the cars. Just sitting there. You’d think they’d get out and go for a bit of a walk, wouldn’t you?

We walked our usual walk. We saw a dog running about on his own about a quarter of the way round, but other than that we didn’t meet anyone else until we were twenty yards from the car park. As we walked Morgan tried to roll in some muck, but it was bone-dry muck. About two minutes from the end of the walk Treacle jumped in a huge puddle. I wish she wouldn’t. The trouble with that puddle is that we have a choice with our circular walk. It can either end with going past that big puddle or we go past the puddle first and end up with going up a steep hill.

It was good to get out; what with the ongoing heatwave it has been four days since our last walk. When we left home the car’s thermometer said it was nineteen degrees. We walked in the shade and I took water for the dogs, but Treacle did seem to struggle a bit.

It was twenty-two degrees when we got back to the car.

 

We drove home listening to the pundits on the radio talking about how the government is lowering VAT on tickets to theme parks over the summer. At first sight this seemed like a good thing, reducing the price of a ticket by about a tenner, but these theme parks are already operating at capacity. You might get a cheaper ticket, but you will have a longer wait. And (it was claimed) that there was no guarantee that you would get a cheaper ticket. When VAT on e-books was scrapped the price of e-books stayed the same; the publishers just pocketed the profit.

 

I made us both a cuppa, wrote up some CPD, tidied up in the garden, and got ready for work. And again when on the late shift the day was effectively over before noon.

26 May 2026 (Tuesday) - Still Too Hot

It was rather hot last night. Again being wide awake far too early I could either lay there awake, or get up. I got up and watched an episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale” which had had me thinking quite a bit. Have you seen the show? It portrays a rather dystopian future in which effectively most people in society are slaves living in subservience to a small minority. They do as they are told and are looked after.

Is this a bad thing?

Seriously… look at today’s society as exemplified by my morning’s Facebook feed.  Climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers, people who phoning 999 because of problems with their drain… Basing their life choices on their misunderstandings of a factually incorrect You-Tube video presented by someone who was making things up as he went along…

So many people are clearly incredibly stupid. Is allowing them a say in the running of society *really* a sensible thing to do?

 

I set off to work. As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about “financial irregularities” at the Scottish Nationalist Party where an ex-chief executive was caught with his hand in the till. Everyone else who was in any position of authority at the time was very publicly trying to distance themselves from the matter.

Well they would, wouldn’t they.

And there was a lot of talk about the organised shooting of pheasants and other game birds. Apparently organisers of these events are legally allowed to shoot any crows and magpies that might be in the area. They aren’t allowed to shoot, trap or poison birds of prey, but it would seem they are doing so anyway. Amazingly anyone can set themselves up organising game bird shooting; there’s precious little legislation or control of the activity. And presumably a lot of profit to be made; hence all the birds that might affect the business getting blown away.

 

I got to work and had a rather busy day. I’d parked where the car would be in the shade all day, but it was still thirty-four degrees as I set off homewards. Apparently today beat yesterday’s record and was the hottest day of the year so far with temperatures a degree higher than the works car park reported at Kew and Heathrow.

 

I came home with a vague plan to take the dogs out, but it was still five degrees hotter than the warmest that I like to take them out in. Instead I watered the garden and fed the fish.

 

We had a rather good bit of dinner which we devoured whilst watching another episode of “The Orville”. It’s not a bad show but I would enjoy is so much more if the ship wasn’t captained by the dog from “Family Guy”.

I’ve another day at work tomorrow….

25 May 2026 (Monday) - Hot Bank Holiday

It was a very hot night last night. I was dozing listening to Treacle’s panting at half past six when she jumped up and was sick. By the time I’d sorted that I was wide awake.

I got up and put a load of washing in to scrub. I could get it dry on the line before the strange fellow two doors down would have sparked up his barby. He’s an odd fellow; he’s often in the back garden making strange squeaking squawking noises, and has a barbecue going several times a week all year long.

 

I made toast and peered into the Internet. Even though it was a Bank Holiday people were still squabbling. There was a vicious argument raging about Brexit. Personally I never understood why so many people felt it was utterly unacceptable to live under the edicts of one committee the members of which they would never meet, and that it was far preferable to live under the edicts of another committee the members of which they would also never meet. The only difference between the two committees being that all of the members of one of them lived on the same island. I *really* have as much in common with people from Manchester and Sunderland as I do with people from Milan and Barcelona. But what do I know? Two world cups and one world war, eh? Ing-Ur-Lund!!!  But ten years have passed and it is all done and dusted with the whole Brexit thing. It’s now history, Why is Brexit still an issue for many?

And there was a rather bitter quarrel about which was the oldest active geocache in Virginia. Does it really matter?

 

I Munzed, Wordled from “night” to “visit” in four goes, the went to the garden. I had planned to take the dogs to Orlestone Woods and then on to Hamstreet garden centre, but it was too hot. Instead I set a table up in the shade, and as “er indoors ^TM” washed the carpets so I carried on painting garden ornaments.

I read my Kindle, I had a little sleep. We had a very good ploughman’s lunch, and Chris and Martin joined us for the afternoon. We put the world to rights, and got out the 3-D Blokus. Blokus is challenging enough when it is flat and on a board. But with three-dimensional shapes making geometrical figures, my poor brain was seriously strained. 

 

We had quiche and chips for dinner which we scoffed whilst watching an episode of “The Orville”…

Today was the hottest day of the year so far, and te hottest May Bank Holiday on record. It’s supposed to be even hotter tomorrow…

24 May 2026 (Sunday) - The Heatwave Continues

It’s a bit hot at the moment, and as is always the case when it is hot, those who haven’t got dogs and who know nothing about dogs are banging the canine welfare drum. Their latest idea is that dogs should be walked before eight o’clock in the morning… I was up for a mission to Kings Wood at five o’clock this morning, but no one else was. I tried to get back to sleep, but again I had limited space in which to try to sleep.

I got up and made toast. There was some half-witted anti-vaxxer posting drivel on Brian Cox’s Facebook page. It amazes me that these idiots don’t think it is at all possible that people who’ve studied something at post-graduate level for many years might (just possibly) know a little more than someone who has misunderstood a factually incorrect You-Tube video presented by someone who is making it up as they are going along.

These ones are allowed to vote, you know.

 

I looked at the monthly accounts. Bearing in mind in the last couple of days I’d suddenly had to re-tyre my car and shell out for bodywork on the “er indoors ^TM” – mobile I could have been a whole lot worse off. But as always I did the monthly accounts with a sense of “I want more”.

 

I Munzed. Our guild has reached Level Two, which was a result. I Wordled from “about” to “niece” in five goes. I got dressed. I did have a vague plan to go up to the county show at the Detling showground… but I’ve been there before. It is incredibly easy to end up buying a whole load of stuff that you neither need nor want, and which you can get cheaper on Amazon anyway. And the weather forecast was for a hotter day than yesterday… apparently the temperature went over thirty degrees in Frittenden yesterday and that’s only half an hour’s drive away.

So as “er indoors ^TM” went shopping I went into the garden…

 

It occurred to me that when I built the boxes in which I store spare decorative stones I’d built them off of the floor so that the bottom wouldn’t get wet. But that made a little hidey-hole for rats and mice. So I took that all apart and re-built it all flat to the floor.

I then lifted some of the rockery and seemingly a ton of shingle so that I could bury the cable powering the new aerator pump thingy. I put up another garden ornament and then “er indoors ^TM” came home from shopping and made us a cuppa. I took her into the garden to see what I’d done… and this is why I hate gardening. After two hours struggling in the heat it really did look just the same as it did when I’d started.

 

We then went back into the garden. “er indoors ^TM” craft club has had her setting things in resin and so that’s what she did. I got out those of the ceramic paints that hadn’t dried out and painted up some of the garden ornaments. It kept us both occupied.

 

“er indoors ^TM” sorted a rather good ploughman’s for lunch, and then I read my Kindle for a bit whilst listening to the antics of the neighbours. Nice-next-door had set up a large paddling pool, and together with some mates she was having something of a cocktail afternoon. She’s a good ’un… from what I remember she’s the seventeenth neighbour in that house since we moved in (in Autumn 1991), has been there the longest, and is far and away the best neighbour we’ve ever had.

The other side was getting her roof fixed. It has had a tarpaulin covering it for some months. Whilst she made a point of ignoring me, the chap doing the work seemed civil enough. But I did find myself wondering just who would come out to do roof repairs at a bank holiday weekend (especially as she is continually pleading poverty).

 

I had a vague idea to take the dogs to Orlestone in the early evening, but the temperature was still in the mid-twenties. Instead I ran the hose pipe out and gave the plants a dousing.

We had pulled pork burgers, and another evening on the Infinity Table – I lost four games, but won one. Go me…

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…