31 January 2015 (Saturday) - Before the Night Shift

By the time I'd re-programmed my Wherigo I didn't get to bed until gone 1am. Consequently I slept like a log last night.

Over brekkie I saw that my Wherigo had received the official thumbs-up. I was pleased about that. Now I can start thinking about making the next one. I then sorted out the astro club's money. In a novel break with tradition, in my post-club-meeting tallly up I had exactly as much money as I thought I should have on the first counting. Usually it takes several attempts to sort it out.

For all that I have a degree in mathematics, I can't actually count.

I then went down the road; I had an appointment with the doctor. I've had a lump in my throat which has been slowly getting bigger and bigger. I went along expecting the worst, and the doc didn't actually say it wasn't the worst. She's given me some antibiotics and if the thing doesn't right itself in a week I'm too go back to see her.

I came home via the chemist (for antibiotics) and the bakery (for Belgian buns).

I collected "Furry Face ^TM" and we went for a walk. As we went along Christchurch Road we found a supermarket trolley blocking the pavement. It was from Asda (over half a mile away) and it contained a fire extinguisher. What was that all about?

We carried on through the park; we met an Irish Wolfhound. Surprisingly my little dog didn't show his usual "little dog syndrome"; instead he was scared. The big dog did nothing in any way threatening, but Fudge wouldn't leave my side. Mind you I say he was scared. Perhaps he was feeling under the weather.He'd had several bouts of dire rear whilst we were out. (I blame the squirty-cream I gave him yesterday)

Just as we came past Singleton Lake my phone beeped to tell me a new geocache had gone live. As luck would have it we were actually walking in the thing's general direction. The chance of a First to Find had appeared. It meant going a mile out of our way (and a mile back again), but what are FTFs for if not to chase?

We waddled round to try to find it; we took fifteen minutes to get to the cache site and another half an hour to actually have the thing in my hand. I was about to give up and sulk when inspiration came from a most unusual source. I was the first one to find it. Happy dance.

Five minutes later as we were walking home we met someone else who had been chasing the FTF...

On our way home I noticed a footpath near Singleton school that I'd not seen before. This path seemed to go in the general direction in which we neeeded to go, so we explored. We discovered Singleton Manor; a rather posh moated manor house. I had no idea that it was there. And it was only a mile from home. It's amazing what you miss.

As we came home we also discovered a private hedge. One can only wonder what prompts someone to put up a notice to tell the public that a hedge is private.

Once home "Furry Face ^TM" had a shower to wash the dirt from his tummy, and I had my Belgian bun for lunch. It wasn't the freshest I've ever had. And then I went to bed at 1pm.

I had been given the opportunity to go to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich with friends today. I could have gone to Hastings with "er indoors ^TM" and"Daddies Little Angel ^TM" to visit my mummy. But being on the night shift tonight meant for a relatively quiet day; so bed it was.

I slept surprisingly well, and woke to find tthat it was as well I'd spent the afternoon in bed. While I'd been fast asleep the weather had turned, and there was heavy rain outside. I then spent a little while learning more about .lua codes for my next Wheri-project.

I'm feeling rather ambitious and ahve a plan to devise a GPS game which will take a couple of hours, involving all sorts of tasks and activities and is (quite frankly) well beyond my .lua coding skills. But I shall have a go. Idiot enthusiasm usually trumps common sense.

I'm off to the night shift now (via Morrisons)...

30 January 2015 - (Friday) - A Day Off

The night before last I slept well with "Furry Face ^TM" on the outside of the bed and me in the middle. Last night "Furry Face ^TM" wanted the middle, and I spent much of the night battling with him. The obvious answer would be to have him sleep in his basket...

I had brekkie, and despite the snow I took my dog for a walk. I tried to get him to wear a coat. He ran and hid. I finally forced him into his coat and he flatly refused to move. So I let him have his way.

We went out and completed the final Wheri-test of my Mark II Wheri-attempt, and the first Wherigo that I have written from scratch (with no help of blagging whatsoever) now works fine.

After half an hour the snow stopped, and with testing done we came home via Park Farm, the Willesborough Dykes and Pets at Home where I had an episode.

Pets at Home were selling small bones for eighty pence. The sign on the shelf said so. When I got to the till I was charged over two quid. I queried this and some chap was sent off to investigate. He wandered off in another direction to pick up a clip board, went to the bones shelf, replaced the original price label with the correct price label from his clipboard, then announced that the price was correct.

I put the thing back and got one twice the size for half the price, and as Mr Clipboard was watching he couldn't quibble that price.

Home; I gave my dog's tummy a wash to get the worst of the dirt off, then left him scoffing his bone whilst I went out to Sainsbury. I re-fueled the car, then got a deli-bowl. I like those.

Whilst in Sainsburys I saw that a film crew werer recording an advert for Activia. Whatever that is. So when you next see an advert for Activia (whatever that is) look out for me in the background grinning like a loon.

I came home to scoff my deli-bowl. As I scoffed it I watched "Extant". Like much sci-fi it seems to concentrate on the "fi" to the detriment of the "sci". For example, given that one is on a space station which is rotating to simulate gravity; the areas with such simulated gravity would be those bits furthest from the axis. You wouldn't be walking about seemingly in full gravity in the axis areas only to climb to the extremities where you would be floating about. Basic physics tells us that.

I then spent a few hours farting about with about my latest wherigo adding some bells and whistles, submitted it for publication, and got the thumbs down. Apparently I'd put the cache on the edge of "a Heritage site which is a Scheduled Monument (Romano-British roadside settlement and World War II pillbox)". I thought I'd put it on a road sign on a pavement on a road which is a public right of way.

I took a deep breath. The alleged Romano-British roadside settlement is actually a fenced-off clump of brambles where gypsies perioically leave their horses, and the World War II pillbox (which is a couple of hundred yards away) has long since been left to collapse.

So I nipped out and retrieved the cache I'd hidden and put a different one on the other side of the road; all the time grumbling about the matter. How can one side of a suburban street be a Heritage site and the other not?

I collected Stevey from the station annd we went for McScoff. I had a McRib and now wished I hadn't. Not only was it the McMessiest thing I've ever eaten, it gave me McGuts ache too.

We then went on to one of the best astro club meetings we've had in a long time. A really good turn out, clear skies for stargazing, and an excellent talk and practical session on making your own comet.

I've now got to re-write that Wherigo. Should only take an hour or so...

29 January 2015 (Thursday) - Cold

I had a stroke of genius last night; for a change I slept in the middle of the bed and my dog slept on the edge. This arrangement worked well; or that is it worked well for me. I woke to find "Furry Face ^TM" stil snoring so I suppose it couldn't have been too bad for him either.

We shared toast, then went for a walk round the park. Two days ago I mentioned my first attempts at programming GPS-based games had had mixed results. This morning I tested the Mark II version which works. It might not be working perfectly but it's doing what I want it to do.

As we walked I could see a dog-debacle in progress so I got "Furry Face ^TM" onto his lead. Two mutts (of dubious lineage) were having what I could only describe as a "handbags at dawn" episode. The owner of one dog, an elderly chap, was ranting at the owner of the second dog about how well behaved his dog was and how it had never attacked another dog before. The owner of the second dog, a woman of indeterminate age, was just crying pathetically. Meanwhile the two dogs snarled and snapped at each other; neither actually doing any harm to anyone or anything.

With my dog on his lead I could be sure we wouldn't get embroiled in the squabble, and we left them to it.

Often when I'm on the late shift I'll go for an hour's geo-mission before work. It was cold today so I stayed in and carried on working on my latest Wheri-project. It's amazing how much effort goes in to producing so little result.

I set off to work; listening to the radio. I have no recollection of what was being discussed. Whatever it was, it wasn't memorable.

I got to work, and worked. At lunchtime I saxed for ten minutes. I would likee to have saxed for longer but it was too cold. And talking of saxing I missed my sax lesson today as I was on the late shift. The late shift was surprisingly busy, and I was late leaving as we had something of an emergency going on.

I was dubious about coming home; the word was that Ashford had been the recipient of snow. But I came home to find that it had all been a false alarm. I then spent the rest of the evening alternately playing tug-'o-fetch with my dog and trying to watch "Forrest Gump". I can vaguely remember writing a blog post about the film once...

28 January 2015 (Wednesday) - Feeling Tired

I slept like a log last night; finally being woken by my alarm. I woke surprised to find "Furry Face ^TM" wasn't crashed out next to me as he usually is; I found him in his basket looking rather sheepish. I couldn't work out if he was embarrassed about his sulk of last night, or embarrassed about the recent damp fresh dog-tiddle stain on the carpet.

Rather than watching telly this morning I spent some time clearing up dog tiddle instead.

Off to work; as I drove the radio spewed its mixed bag of gems and drivel. Our old friend science has discovered the oldest star known to have planets. Great show was made of the fact that this has tremendous implications, but no show at all was made of what these implications might be.

Some vacuous old windbag was wittering on "Thought for the Day" about how the original version of the Lord's Prayer had relevence to the Greek financial crisis. And researchers showed that pregnant members of the lower orders are more likely to give up smoking if they are paid to do so. Personally I can't see how anyone can afford to smoke these days - ten fags a day costs more than one hundred quid each month.

I got to work, I did my bit. I went out to practice my sax at lunch time. or that is I went out to do so, but didn't. It was too cold, so I sat in my car and surfed the net on my phone instead.

I also treated myself to a Cadbury's creme egg. There has been a lot of fuss recently about how the creme egg recipe has changed. It didn't taste any different to me.

With my bit done I came home. I was planning to go visit my grand-bub. I had an offer to go out to dinner with father-in-law as well. I did neither. Instead I spent the evening at home; a few rough nights recently had taken their toll. I just wanted a bit of peace and quiet.

I didn't get it. My dog sat on the sofa with me and spent the evening whinging for me to play tug 'o war and fetch. For most dogs that would be two seperate games; not for my dog...

I spent a little while on my new Wheri-project. I've programmed "the thing". Those of a geocaching persuasion will be able to have a go with "the thing" in a week or so. I hope.

27 January 2015 (Tuesay) - A Sulking Dog

I had a terrible night's sleep. When I finally wrestled some of the duvet back for myself and when the dog finally stopped trying to push me out of the bed I was beset by the most vivid dreams. I seemed to spend an eternity trying to shave with washing-up liquid and a tea-spoon whilst avidly watched by "The Man with No Alias (patent pending)" and his entire entourage.

Not content with having my bed, my dog then had a large proportion of my morning toast whilst at the same time blanking me. He's been in an odd mood since I told him off last night for various crimes. He rarely (if ever) gets told off, and when he does he seems to develop something of a cob about the matter.

Cobs notwithstanding we then went out for our morning walk. We went round to the park. Last night I did some serious Wherigo-writing and wanted to test out my efforts. I want to write a SmartPhone-based GPS game in which.... well, I won't give the game away. But I will say that my first effort had mixed results. On the one hand it does do what I told it to do. On the other hand it doesn't do what I want it to do. A quick posting on the Wherigo UK forum and within five minutes the thing was working fine (in the emulator). I do like the Wherigo UK forum. There's never any nastiness or arguing there. Mind you my having total admin power does help.

As I drove to work there was all sorts of drivel on the radio. The problems faced by people in mixed race relationships, the problems of period pains... nothing which gripped my attention.

With time to spare I went over to Kingsbrook to do some geocaching; there is one there that I'd failed to find three times before. But now I had some inside information and I found it after only a few seconds searching. It's actually a very good cache; excellent in fact. However the listed GPS co-ordinates are about fifteen meters awry. And I felt the hint given was rather misleading. But I've finally found this one now.

I still had a few minutes before work, so I had a little sax session; despite the fact it was on the cold side. I then did my bit, and over lunch saxed some more. I would have liked to have saxed all afternoon, but it wasn't to be...

Home rather later than usual to find the clans had gathered. More of The Flash. Zoom! Zoom!

26 January 2015 (Monday) - Still Rather Dull

I've heard good things said about the TV show "Mr Selfridge" so last night we watched the show. I don't think I'll be watching any more. It just didn't hold my attention. As the TV drivelled on my phone rang; it was work. Would I do the early shift tomorrow? I agreed; I'd rather have an early or a late start. Mind you I'd rather do the longer night and weekend shifts if possible because there are less of those and I get more whole days off. What with the vagaries of my shift system I've now got to work for the next four days. Four consecutive days(!)

I was just about to go to kip when the door crashed open. "My Boy ^TM" and his new beard were visiting after a heavy day's drinking. He talked rubbish for a few minutes then staggered off into the distance.

Unusually for me I took a while to get to sleep. And then I had a rather restless night. I think I saw every hour on the clock. I blame our new mattress. This "memory-foam" doesn't mould itself to the shape of your body at all. It just has a crater where I sleep, and I can't get comfortable because I'm just rolling into that crater all the time. I suppose this is the disadvantage of buying a hooky mattress from a dodgy bloke I met by chance in the street.

I got up a little while before the alarm was about to go off, and had all of my toast as "Furry Face ^TM" was still asleep. And so to work. As I drove I listened to the news. An election in Greece has seen a victory for the "Stick It Up Your Bum, Europe Party". They've come to power by promising an end to austerity. So either they really will tell the EU to "stick it up their bum" and the Greek economy will collapse, or they will (like every other politician) moderate their promises in the light of reality. Either way it's not going to be good for Greece. And consequently the rest of Europe.

he Prime Minister had a phone call. Some chap, in a moment of drunken bravado, phoned Downing Street and after a little to-ing and fro-ing got put through to the Prime Minister. Personally I can't see what the fuss is about, but the pundits were all a-twitter on the matter.

And after nine years of travelling, the New Horizons probe in about to start taking photographs of the planet Pluto.

I got to work; I've got used to lone working at night over the last few weeks. It was odd to have the place filled with people. I did my bit; at lunch I went out to the car park and did sax practice. My Mexican Hat isn't too shabby at all.

An early start made for an early finish. I came home, turned on my PC, got shirty on social media and defriended someone. Defriending on Facebook is a serious thing to do (!) but I'm afraid sometimes I take offence. Because I'm a scruffy noisy messy tattoed thug-looking ruffian people tend to overlook the fact I have more letters after my name than sense.

I do get miffed when someone dismisses something I say about a subject on which I have years of professional experience and extensive post-graduate qualification in favour of uninformed opinion... and then tries to tell me I know nothing

Perhaps I'm just too full of my own importance...?

I'm going to eat my penis-cake now...

25 January 2015 (Sunday) - So Bored...

I woke in need of a tiddle shortly after 4.30am. When I emerged from Trap One I saw my dog was standing by the back door. “What a good dog” I thought and opened the door so’s he too could go for a tiddle. He flew down the garden shouting and barking at the top of his voice.

I got a torch, a coat, a pair of wellies and chased him back inside where he looked most indignant at having his woofing disturbed.

I went back to bed where I shivered for a while before getting back to sleep, and was licked awake at 8.30am by a small dog who was acting as though nothing at all untoward had happened overnight.

Over brekkie I saw my plans for the day had gone awry. I’d turned down other offers for the day and not organised any outings so’s I could help sort out a garden, only to find the gardening day had been cancelled.

With ‘er indoors ^TM off candle-mongering I found myself at something of a loose end. Mind you she had left me cake, so I scoffed the one that didn't look like a penis and then took “Furry Face ^TM “ for a walk. We went round the park and on to Singleton Lake. Half of the lake was frozen over; the part that wasn’t frozen had loads of fishermen doing their piscatorial thing. They must love it, it was really cold.

We then went round to see “My Boy ^TM ” but he wasn’t in. I had a cuppa with Cheryl and Lacey before coming home for lunch. Being “Home Alone” I treated myself to KFC and watched the first episode of “Extant”. It shows promise even if I think I can see where the plot is going.

I then spent much of the rest of the afternoon at the PC. I did the monthly accounts; they would have been rather healthy had I not just bought a new back door. And then I bashed my head against the floor to get my brain working and did some programming. Over the last few months I’ve published several Wherigo geocaches. The Wherigo is a GPS-based game played on the SmartPhone. If you know where to look on-line you can get the base programming and then tweak it to make your own Wherigos. I’ve done that quite a bit recently, but now I thought I might have learned enough to write one from scratch. I’ve made a start on a guide round Ashford. It’s amazing how long it took to do so little…

After several hours getting cross with .lua codes I had a shower, turned on the telly and watched a James Bond film. "The Man with the Golden Gun" is a film of its time. Racist, sexist; it was relatively entertaining when first made, but now its rather dated. Did Britt Ekland *really* need to be running round in a bikini quite so much?

It speaks volumes that the sort behaviour celebrated and glorified in that film is the very behaviour for which celebrities of that time are now being prosecuted.

"er indoors ^TM" came home with curry and we settled ourselves in front of the telly to catch up watching episodes of "Big Bang Theory" we'd recorded onto the SkyPlus box. They were more entertaining than James Bond but i can't help but wonder if that too is a show that has run its course.

Today was dull...

24 January 2015 (Saturday) - Sprivers and a Geo-Meet

In retrospect last night's phall was a mistake. After six pints of "Cocky" it seemed like a good idea. After half an hour spent sitting on the loo at 4am I might just have seen the error of my ways.

Rather than wasting the day staying within sprinting distance of a toilet I decided to stick wiith the original plan. The valiant band of tupperware-hunters gathered (only half an hour later than planned) and we drove out to Sprivers; a little area of woodland owned by the National Trust. Seven well-placed geocaches led us on a good walk on a rather bright (but cold) morning. The caches themselves were good; some what we might expect; some rather tricky and well hidden. And some which were rather genius. It was a shame that my being somewhat heavy-handed broke one of them. I've sent an email to the chap who hid it begging forgiveness.

I took a few photos whilst we were out; these were rather pretty woods.

With walk done we then drove up to the Hop Farm for the monthly geo-meet. This was the formal lauch of preparations for the Mega-meet in May. I spent a few minutes chattting with the organisers about the astro club's involvement in the stargazing event on the first night, I had a rather good plate of fish and chips. I got one or two hints for some geo-puzzles which have (till now) eluded me, and despite having less than full reliability in the guts department I still shifted four pints of Spitfire.

I then proceeded to sleep all the way home, and once home I tried to put the hints I'd been given to use in solving geo-puzzles. And failed... I shall try again later.

"er indoors ^TM" set ooff flogging candles and I put on a DVD. "Essex Boys" is a film I've seen before; I quite like it; it was ideal viewing for a quiet evening spent waiting for my guts to settle....

I think I'll have an early night.

23 January 2015 (Friday) - Works Outing

Last night's sax lesson went surprisingly well; and I learned something. It turns out not all notes have sharps and/or flats. Mine certainly don't, but some of them aren't actually supposed to have them at all. Apparently there isn't actually a note called "E-sharp". When you see E-sharp in the music you are supposed to play an F instead (go figure!). I asked why they don't just write "F" on the stave in the first place; teacher assured me there is a valid reason for making the entire process needlessly complicated.

As with alll things musical I took it on faith and kept my (non-sax-related) noise down.

As I drove from the music school to work I listened to the radio. There was an alternative comedian on the air. Let me qualify that - Bridget Christie isn't so much an alternative comedian as an alternative to a comedian. I suppose some might find her feminist rantings offensive. I didn't. Mind you I didn't find them funny, entertaining or amusing either. I listened to the show for half an hour wondering what it was supposed to be. Comedy? Satire? Feminist Politics? Listen for yourself and tell me...

Would I be really out of line by putting in a formal complaint about the show to the BBC? Now so much about the show itself as about why the BBC isn't running stuff which is worth listening to instead.

I called in to Morrisons for a bottle of Doctor Pop. A 100ml bottle of branded fizz is over a pound. Two litres of Morrison's own Doctor Pop is fifty pence. I know what I'm drinking(!)

And then on to work where (in between actually doing stuff) I listened to the radio some more. There were news programs, documentaries, plays. Readings from novels and interviews with Australian footballers. All sorts of trivia was aired overnight.

Royalty is facing baseless allegations, the wrappings of fag packets is to change, e-cigarettes might be more dangerous than the real thing. And Arab Kings have died.

But most importantly in my world is the revelation that nudey jubblies are to return to our newspapers. Hoorah(!)

I do like the night shifts, but last night's did seem to drag. I was rather glad when the day shift turned up and I could set off homewards. Getting home was easier said than done; with road works at Chilham and no real alternative route home (without going well out of my way) I was half an hour later home than I might have been.

Once home I realised I'd lost my aastro club woolly hat (again), andd so got a cold head as I took "Furry Face ^TM" for a walk round to the park. As we walked we tried to pick fights with several mopeds, a dustbin lorry and a shop. Other than that the walk was relatively uneventful. I was pleased about that - I was rather tired after two night shifts. as we walked I replaced two of my geocaches which had gone missing. they sem to do that.

WIth the walk done I set my alarm and went to bed. It was a shame tthat my dog declared "Red Alert" for no discernable reason some two hours before I actually wanted to get up. So with time on my hands I took the train to Canterbury and wasted some of it on a seven part multi-geo-thingy. I must admit I wasn't expecting much from this particular multi-geo-thingy; the chap who first hid it (several years ago) hid many others around the county at the same time and left most of them to fall into disrepair. So much so that when I see his name I expect to put a "Needs Archiving" log. But not this time. This one featured a well thought out walk round the town ending up with a decent cache in a rather scenic place.

I treated myself to a McFlurry then made my waay to the Wetherspoons to await the arrival of my colleagues. Unfortunately the inestimable Soup Boy (patent pending) is leaving for pastures new. He's decided to take a year to build up his physical fitness in order to attract commercial sponsorship. He wants to be a professional runner. Some see this as rather brave or foolhardy; I admire him. Better to have a go (and maybe fail) than not to try.

People soon arrived, and had the odd half-pint of shandy. Personally I went with six pints of "Cocky" (no surprises there) and pausing only briefly over a case of mistaken identity in the gents we then went for a curry.

I had a phall...

22 January 2015 (Thursday) - A Day Asleep

I've taken to having the radio on during my night shifts; on night shifts I'm working on my own for much of the time and the radio can be company. When I drive to work the radio boils my piss for half an hour or so; night shifts have hours of urinary vaporisation.

Last night there was a documentary on Josie Cunningham. Her agent was making great show of how it's good that she is hated by so many people as that makes for good publicity, and how her tweets (on Twitter) are read by millions.

No - I didn't know who she was either. I had to look her up on the Internet - I had no idea who she is. Apparently she's famous for having had a boob job on the NHS, and having thus achieved a moderate amount of fame she now generally acts outrageously in order to self-promote.

As my favorite periodical once described her, she is FFFA (Famous For F... All). But for all that she is FFFA, it pays her bills. The sad part of her sorry tale is that the general public have nothing better to do than to lap up her antics.

There was also talk about a call from Sussex Police for men in a Sussex village to come forward to provide DNA samples to eliminate themselves from a murder investigation.

This case made my piss boil. Not so much the case itself as the reaction to it. Surely it makes sense to have everyone's DNA on file? Given that there is blood at a murder scene (or "other fluids" at a rape scene) with the entire population's DNA on file it would be a simple matter to eliminate the innocent. And (more importantly) a difficult matter for those whose DNA was found at the crime scene to explain what it was doing there.

So why were the bleeding-heart-civil-liberty brigade whinging about this? Is it such a problem to have one's DNA record on a police file? After all, other than using it to eliminate or incriminate what else are the police going to do with this data?

And a few minutes air time was devoted to a prospective UKIP MP who has announced that the jobless should not be allowed the privilege of being allowed to drive a car.

Lynton Yates, the party's candidate for Charnwood in Leicestershire believes the jobless should catch buses rather than clog the roads with traffic. In a campaign leaflet handed to constituents, he argues that all those who claim benefits should automatically have their driving licences suspended. Presumably this twit feels he can get more votes from those in work than those not in work. And (in true UKIP fashion) this chap is rather vague about the specifics of how this policy would be put into practice.

It was with something of a sense of relief when the day shift arrived and I could turn the radio off. I came home via a geo-diversion to Wye. Once home I walked my dog round to Frog's Island and back home via Pets at Home where I bought him a huge bone. The idea was that the bone would keep him occupied whilst I slept.

It didn't really. He must have jumped on and off of the bed a dozen times during the day. Added to that the phone didn't stop ringing. It made for rather poor sleep.

I'm now off to another night shift... via sax lesson. I don't think this one will go very well...

21 January 2015 (Wednesday) - FTF, Snow

A rather good night's kip was marred only by laying half-awake for over an hour in excuciating agony because I didn't want to get up for a tiddle. If I get up and tiddle, with the wonders of CPAP technology I can be asleep again in less than five minutes. But I don't. I lay there in serious pain because I don't want to actually get up. Which is silly.

I finally got up shortly after 7am and spent a few minutes checking out the e-world. Not much had happened overnight really. As I scoffed I had an email. A new geocache had gone live only a mile away. I *could* have jumped in the car and sped off chasing the FTF, but from the map it looked like the cache was not too far from the route of our morning walk. So I got dressed, put the lead onto "Furry Face ^TM" and we went for our walk. We got to where the cache was, and after quite a bit of searching I discovered that I was the first one to find it after all. Happy dance.

We walked on to Singleton Lake, and as we walked so the snow started. It only lasted for a few minutes, but it was quite heavy and rather scenic.

As we walked we met several other dogs; all of which were wearing coats. "Furry Face ^TM" seemed to be the only dog in town without a coat. I wish he'd wear one. We came through the park where I again saw the white heron, and as I watched it flying about, so my dog stole another dog's ball and ran off with it. I wish he wouldn't. Thankfully the dog wasn't one of OrangeHead's pack so I was grateful for small mercies. As luck would have it we met up with OrangeHead as we walked along Christchurch Road. When she's not surrounded by lackeys, synchophants and assorted hangers-on she's actually quite civil, as she was this morning.

Once home I washed the dirt from my dog's belly and spent a few minutes looking for the charger for my telecope's power pack. I've a vague idea to suggest a few observing sessions over the next few weeks, but need the power pack charged first. I can't find it; this will be the second one that I've lost. If it's not here by the weekend I'll go to Maplins to buy a third.

I found out too late that there is a huge toy fair going on in London this week; I suppose I could have popped up yesterday if I had known. Or possibly swapped shifts about. Still, such is life. Sparks were playing in the UK only a couple of months ago. It's rather frustrating to find out about these things after the event.

I watched a DVD, had an early lunch and spent much of the rest of the day in bed. I'm off to the night shift now...

20 January 2015 (Tuesday) - Birds

My piss boiled over brekkie as I got a message from my cousin that the Sun newspaper is to stop the whole "Page Three" thing.

How can they stop this? Girlies flopping out their jubblies on page three is a British institution. I knew I was grown up when I was older than the girlies who were flopping them out, and I knew I was old when my daughter was older than the girlies who were flopping them out.

I remarked on social media that it was the end of civilisation, and took my dog for a walk before the world ended.

We walked past where I intend to hide the final part of my current Wheri-project, and then on into the park. As I walked a passing normal person asked for my ornothological opinion. She'd spotted a strange looking bird. My get reaction was to advise her to tell it (in this new world order) to put its tits away, but I was polite, and had a look. She had spotted something unusual. It looked like an albino heron; being very heron-esque in shape, but being completely white in colour. (Herons are usually shades of grey). I then spent fifteen minutes trying to take a photo of this unusual avain only to find that whilst my back was turned "Furry Face ^TM" had been rolling in fox poo.

I put a photo of the bird on Facebook and was told that it was actually an egret. One lives and learns. Mind you wikipedia says that egrets are the same as herons (only white) so I'm claiming a victory for my bird-watching skills.

I then spent much of the rest of our walk remembering happy days at Red Lake Primary School's bird club. As a child I spent many a happy lunch walking the fields around the Red Lake part of Hastings; Mrs Wright would take twenty or so of us out bird-spotting. Making enough noise to wake the dead we never usually saw more than a few sparrows, but after "bird club" we would all report sightings of eagles and albatrosses. In fact on one occassion even an ostrich was alledgedly sighted by a keen-eyed nine-year old.

We walked on to Singleton Lake and then came home. As we got back so the snow started. I say "started"; there was one flake but it was enough to start an avalanche of panic on social media. No more page three *and* snow really was seen as the end of the world.

As the world reeled in terror I gave my dog his brekkie, and I settled down to solve a rather tricky geo-puzzle. In the past I've found some geo-puzzles which make reference to other geocachers by name. I've instinctively disliked them; feeling them to be cliquey and elitist. However I was told that a geo-puzzle which went live yesterday mentioned me by name. I didn't see how it might, but after an hour's head-scratching I found that it did mention me.

Now *this* geo-puzzle isn't in any way cliquey or elitist. It's actually rather good... unlike the ones that *don't* mention me specifically (!)

I practiced my sax for a minute, then having chucked a singing dog into the garden I practiced for several minutes. "Blue Moon" is coming along nicely. "Blueberry Blues" isn't.

The nice man from Everest then came to give us a quote for a new back door. His quote was about double what I was hoping to pay, but after all is said and done I need a new back door. I had considered a cheaper brand but the cheaper brand had the "advantage" that if I ever locked myself out I could kick the thing open. And what is money for if not to squander foolishly on expensive doors.

I treated myself to KFC for lunch, and scoffed it whilst watching a DVD. "Bonded by Blood" is based on a true story about Essex gangsters. With KFC scoffed I watched the end of the film with my dog asleep on my lap. I then fiddled about with Wherigos for a bit before doing more ironing and a bit more saxing.

After a rather goood bit of tea we went round to Somerset Road where the clans gathered. Sausage rolls were scoffed, toilets tiddled into (!) projectors set up, and we watched another episode of "The Flash". I do like that show - I have yet to fall asleep during it....

19 January 2015 (Monday) - The Bermuda Triangle

I slept like a log last night. A fidgeting dog woke me shortly before 9am and I got up to find an empty house. I sulked a little, and then had brekkie. I checked out the world of social media. I discovered that today was “Blue Monday”; allegedly the most depressing day of the year. Consequently I carried on sulking for a bit, and then took “Furry Face ^TM “ for a walk.

As I was gathering up his “eggs” a car tooted at me. Cheryl and Lacey were driving by. It was shortly after 9.30am; I wonder what Lacey was doing out of school. I shall find out.

We then walked up to Singleton Lake where we chased a squirrel up a tree. I say “we”; it was my furry associate who did most (all) of the chasing. We came home through the park where we didn’t see any of the familiar faces of OrangeHead’s Gang (which was probably for the best)

Once home I set about the laundry and the washing up, and then spent a large part of the day working on yet another Wheri-project. This one is loosely based on the Bermuda Triangle and features a randomisation feature about which I’m feeling rather smug. I’ve got to do a little field test tomorrow, but all being well it should be ready to go by the end of the week.

Three hours was the spent slaving over an ironing board, and with ‘er indoors ^TM off bowling I set about sorting my undercrackers. They don’t sort themselves…