Last night saw a return
to insomnia, with me waking after only three hours sleep. I was up
and washing up at 5am. To pass the time I watched a couple of
episodes of a show featuring Timothy Spall sailing round the British
coast in a barge. I found the show quite entertaining, but couldn't
help but remember my brother's dislike of the actor. Apparently the
fellow wasn't too impressed with being raucously greeted by my
brother at the boat show at Earls Court a few years ago. Personally I
sympathise with Mr Spall.
And watching the show
gave me a mild surprise - I never knew that Timothy Spall had
leukaemia nearly twenty years ago. A lot of people do survive that
terrible disease nowadays.
And so to work. In the
dark and the rain. As I drove I listened (as always) to the
news. The deputy Prime Minister was speaking out against his own
government's education policies. The pundits on the radio felt
that this was a sign of current political times; with the
Con-servatives falling in the public's popularity, the dribbling
democraps are angling for position in the next government in which
(apparently) they plan to be in a coalition with the Labour
party. To that end they are now sucking up to the Labour party.
You have to admire their
obvious opportunism if nothing else.
There was also a feature
on changes to legal aid. Legal aid is no longer available to people
fighting for access
to their children following divorce.
Instead of legal
recourse, such people are to be offered "mediation".
It would seem the public are treating "mediation"
with the contempt it deserves and are representing themselves in
court to the consternation of seasoned legal professionals.
Apparently the legal profession don't want us mere mortals
representing themselves in court because us mere mortals tend not to
fart around with legal jargon; preferring to apply common sense to
our arguments. This is not held in high esteem by those in legal
professions. The implication was made on the radio that perhaps their
gravy train was about to be de-railed.
I couldn't possibly
comment other than observing that it's a shame that justice isn't
something the average man in the street can afford any more.
As I drove into Wincheap
there was talk on the radio about the amount of waste in
supermarkets. I went to Morrisons today and bought two apples and two
bananas. One each for today and one each for tomorrow. This morning's
radio featured the
revelation from Tesco that four out of every ten apples they sell
is wasted. The same is true for one banana in ten, half their bakery
output and most of their bagged salads.
They were rather vague
about whether people bought it and wasted it at home, or whether it
went manky in the shops. But either way it's a lot of waste. Which is
why I count the fruit I buy, and buy what I need and no more.
On reflection my
grandmother always had a bowl full of fruit in her living room which
was going manky.
While I was parked in
Morrisons I left the car in the car park and walked over the road to
the park & ride. there was a
Munzee there. Munzees are the latest "this week's
novelty". They are a bit like geocaches in that they are
secreted all over the place and you use GPS technology to find them.
But rather than tupperware boxes, Munzees are QR codes. Often very
obviously on public display (stuck to lamp posts or public bins) and
ignored by all. Today's one was blatantly obvious from twenty yards
away. When you find them you scan them with your phone, and then
clear off to find the next one.
For some reason they
aren't anywhere near as common (locally) as geocaches. There are
hundreds of geocaches in Ashford. there are no Munzees at all. Yet.
there's a few in Canterbury, but not many. I shall have a hunt round
the map and see if it's worth carrying on with this game.
I did my bit at work and
came home via a geocache I had hidden in Chilham some months ago. The
word was that the cache had gone. The word was right - it had
vanished. So I replaced it with a spare I'd brought along just in
case.
I wonder if Munzees get
muggled?
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