Another disturbed night.
When "er indoors TM" is having a
late night watching drivel on the TV till all hours, she often
doesn't notice Furry Face sneaking upstairs. He likes to sleep at the
foot of our bed, and he woke me as he jumped up shortly after
midnight last night. I wish that pup would stay downstairs where he
belongs. Having successfully barged the dog-proof gate open and crept
up undetected once or twice a couple of weeks ago, he now thinks he
can doss down on my pit whenever he feels like it.
I got up shortly before
6am this morning and set about yesterday's pile of washing up. It's
amazing how much washing up is left over following a visit from the
most recent fruit of my loins. I then watched most of another episode
of "Smallville". I'm getting quite into that show; even if
I have no idea of what's going on.
As I drove to work the
radio was abuzz with news of who has received recognition in the New
Year's Honours List. This morning's news featured an interview
with a lady who had raised thousands of pounds to give dying children
some good times. No one can deny that she richly deserved an award.
But awards for so many athletes? I suppose I can understand why
Olympians get honours; or am I being cynical in feeling that it keeps
the masses happy about having an Honours system? For all that most of
humanity enjoy watching sport and games, I can't see the attraction
myself, and never have. I really enjoy flying a power kite, playing
poker, going fishing, riding my bike. However watching someone else
doing that is (for me) incredibly dull. But I am in the minority; it
would seem to be what the public wants. As would watching that
someone else get a medal for doing so.
Mind you it is odd that
athletes who had performed in last summer's Olympic Games had
received honours for what they had done at the same time that a
ninety-two year old chap had only just received an honour for what he
had done in the Government's centre in Bletchley Park during the
second world war. And Kate Bush has just received an honour (for
her charity work) several years after she was most famous. And
the illustrator Quentin Blake has finally been given a gong.
Again countless civil
servants received honours for doing the jobs for which they are
richly paid, and that annoys me. In the past I was particularly
incensed by one such award, and wrote to the Home Office asking
(under the Freedom of Information Act) why a certain Honour had been
given. They told me that it had been well deserved, and that I should
mind my own business. Which put me in my place. Even if it didn't
stop me ranting. The country's Honours system is something I've
ranted about in the past, the first time being on January 4, 2007
(!).
I'd left for work a few
minutes earlier than I might have done today. Yesterday whilst out
geocaching my tally of caches that I'd found had reached nine hundred
and ninety nine. There are those who set great store by their tally
count and some can be quite competitive about it. You can even get
badges for numbers of caches found (akin to the distance swimming
badges I had as a child). I'm not really that fussed about the number
found. But I was told (in no uncertain terms) that my thousandth
cache was to be something special. I suppose I can see the logic.
There is a geocache in
the general area of Crundale named "Anno
Domine MM" (The Year 2000).I felt that the name of that
cache wouldn't be entirely inappropriate for the occasion, and it
wouldn't be more than ten minutes out of my way as I drove to work.
So I went to find it.
It was in a beautiful
area, with a really pretty view. It turned out that the name of the
cache related to an inscription on a bench overlooking a rather
spectacular valley. The cache was just behind this bench. The last
person to find it had mentioned something about hoping that a passing
dog hadn't disturbed it too much. I can't help but feel that that
person should have gone back after the passing dog had done its
thing. I found the cache sitting out in the open; in plain view.
Still, it made for an easy find, and once I'd done the top-secret
geocachers ritual with it (known only to us "special people")
I hid the cache under a pile of stones, enjoyed the view once more,
and then took the scenic route to work. There were one or two more
geocaches in the general area, but I've left those for when I'm next
working on a Saturday. They will break up the day nicely. Hopefully.
It's amazing how much
this looking for plastic boxes has become part of my life. There are
people who are very active in the Kent geocaching community who have
been playing this game for years who have only found a few hundred
caches. I've now been doing it for just under five months and have
found a thousand of them in that time.
And so to work . There's
no denying that I would rather not have been working this weekend. Or
would I? As I had a crafty cache on the way in to work it was a
lovely morning. but as the day wore on so the wind picked up and the
rain got heavier. I must admit that it wasn't long before I was
looking at the rain and feeling glad that the bad weather wasn't
spoiling a day off.
I did my bit at work, and
came home again. This time via the more direct route. Home to find
that "er indoors TM" had got me a
metal 1000 geocaches badge and trackable coin. They are quite nice,
actually. And, you know, I might just get myself a sew-on "1000
geocaches" badge as well. Unless any of my loyal readers might
like to get me one as a late Christmas present. (You can get them
on eBay you know) After all, I still have that hole in a fleece
that I need to cover up...
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