31 July 2015 (Friday) - Another Busy Day

I slept like a log last night; finally waking shortly before 9am. Over brekkie I had a look on line to see if 'd missed much whilst I'd been sleeping. The local motorway is now open London-bound. Which is better than it was, but would still be causing huge traffic problems. Apparently the Prime Minister is chairing crisis talks about the problems in Calais which are causing these delays on the motorway. The news reports say that the Army is on standby. However these reports didn't say what they were on standby for. Bearing in mind the problems are caused by thousands of refugees fleeing a war zone, whatever the Army is asked to do has got to be worse for the refugees than facing a war zone to make these people turn round.

I had a Facebook message from Jennifer Shepherd who said "Hello Dave and Cath, How are you both, and the doggies? Life here is fine, but the damp weather is not doing our joints much good. Our first week here was great, but now the weather is really awful. We have been out visiting our friends. Harvey and Sophie took us to IKEA last Sunday, it was very interesting, we bought a couple of bits, but I think it is more for the youngsters, I have the time of the flights here for you Dave, departure time 17.00 and arrival time 20.45pm. Hope that it is still ok for you to pick us up. Will say goodnight, and we both look forward to seeing you on Monday 10th August. Lots of love Charles and Jennie XXX "

I can't help but wonder where I am supposed to be picking them up from, or indeed wonder who Jennifer Shepherd actually is.

By the time I'd scoffed my toast it was 10am. Seeing we had another fine day I went into the garden and got busy. Lawns don't mow themselves. I also mucked out the fish pond filter. They don't muck themselves out either. It has been a little while since I did that and it is a job best done when *I* choose to do it rather than waiting until the thing blocks up with pond scum.

Over lunch I watched "Toddlers and Tiaras". "Alyssia" (aged three) looked quite obscene, and her ambition was listed as "wanting to get potty trained".

The Rear Admiral then called, and we took "Furry Face ^TM" for a little geo-stroll round Bethersden. It was a sunny afternoon, and an hour's walk went down very well. We then came home and with the arrival of Stevey we went for McDinner. MsDinner went down very well and seeing how we had time to spare after a visit to the Tesco CashPoint we had a frappucino and cake in Costa.

And so to Astro club. I wasn't going to go to Astro club tonight; my heart wasn't in it. To be honest it hasn't been for the last few months. But seeing how I'd been told the meeting was going to be somewhat lacking in committee members, and with two hours to go I was asked to be prepared to step in for a possibly absent speaker I was convinced to put in an appearence.

Was I glad I went? Well, I like meeting up with friends. But as for the club itself.... Perhaps my mood wasn't helped by the phenomemal guts ache that the evening's pig-out had induced.

Let's just say that for all that I'm the treasurer and have been a member since the very first meeting, I really don't feel part of what's going on any more.

As I drove home I had such a strong feeling that I wouldn't ever drive out of that car park again...

30 July 2015 (Thursday) - Traffic Chaos

I woke about two hours earlier than intended, and I lay awake sulking about what might have been today.

Some months ago I had a vague plan that today would be day five of an eighty-one mile hiking/camping extravaganza but I didn't get myself organised in time. So the backup plan was that today would be day five at the national geocaching megaa-event, but again I didn't get myself organised in time. The third plan was a family day with "My Boy ^TM" but he was called into work. The fourth plan (visit "Daddies Little Angel ^TM") and fifth plan (geocaching in Blackheath) both were kiboshed by "Operation Stack" so found myself at something of a loose end.

I brekkied, got washing on the line, put the lead onto "Furry Face ^TM" and scrounged a lift with "er indoors ^TM" to her work. I then took my dog for a little walk exploring North Ashford, and we came home walking past several traffic jams. I took a few photos of our walk if only to show that parts of Ashford are quite scenic and to prove to those who've not seen it what a pain Operation Stack can be.

Once home I put another wash load in, sorted the astro club's accounts and then took several hundred quid to the bank. I had this plan to treat myself to a chocolate eclair milkshake from the Chill Time Milkshake Bar. I got there to find the slowest assistant in the histroy of shop assistants who was painfully trying to serve six rather thick children (and two thicker parents); each of which was struggling to read (out loud) the menu. After ten minutes none of the thickies had got past the first of the six boards listing the various milk shakes on offer.

I gave up and set off home. As I walked I had yet another call on my mobile from Wiiiiiiiinstooooooon from "First Solutions". Wiiiiiiiinstooooooon got surprisingly aggressive when I reminded him that I had already told him to piss off three times so far this week.

I got home, got all the washing off of the line and started ironing it all. As I ironed i watched an episode of "Dominion". A week or so ago I mentioned that this second season was rather dull. Today's episode was an improvement on what had gone before. After "Dominion" I watched "Upstairs Downstairs". The war was finally over, but Hazel succumbed to the Spanish Flu.

It was probably rather sad, but I knew it was coming. Have I ever mentioned I've seen all the episodes before?

Brian called round to collect some bits and bobs left over from last weeekend. We got chatting. Over the years we've chatted about so many things. Today we were discussing Brian's recent retirement and my hopes for early retirement. and then we had one of those moments when we both suddenly realised we were old.

And talking of being old, as I sat watching telly my heart had a funny five minutes in which I felt it beating but nothing seemed to be happening. A rather odd sensation; I do hope it's not about to pack up...

29 July 2015 (Wednesday) - Aylesford

I slept well until 4am; then lay awake feeling rather restless until getting up and watching episodes of "Family Guy" a couple of hours later. I then had a look-see on the Internet. There is consternation that Tesco have decided to stop selling Ribena and Capri-Sun on the ground that they are sugary drinks which contribute to obesity.

Am I the only one who thinks it odd that they have no plans to stop selling Coca-cola?

I programmed "Hannah", popped the lead onto "Furry Face ^TM" and set off to Aylesford where seven of us (and two dogs) met up for a little geo-stroll. There's no denying that in places the scenery wasn't quite that of some of the other walks I've been on, but nevertheless we had a good time. We found disused railway tracks and giant hogweed. We found a priory and a riverside walk that I never knew were there. We mistook a multi (its a geo thing), completely failed to find the letter "A" and even did a little geo-maintenance too.

I took a few photos as we walked. I do that.

After a few hours we found ourselves back at the cars having walked a little over eight miles. Normally I would have had a straight run home down the motorway but what with "Operation Stack" I was forced to take a rather convoluted route home via Sutton Valance and Headcorn.

Once home "Furry Face ^TM" took himself to his basket and started snoring. I put the tellly on and watched "Upstairs Downstairs". Virginia has appeared on the scene, and I nodded off until "er indoors ^TM" came home,

A rather good bit of gammon, Yonderland on the telly....

Just got to decide on a plan for tomorrow and Friday now.... My original plan went west some time ago. My backup plan's fallen through. And Operation Stack has now closed the motorway in both directions and put all the traffic onto all the "A" roads.

If all else fails the lawn doesn't mow itself and the laundry basket's getting very full again.

28 July 2015 (Tuesday) - Doddington

I slept well, and over brekkie watched an episode of "Dad's Army" that the SkyPlus box had recorded. If the BBC are playing them in order we are now past the black and white episodes and on to the colour ones. I had no idea so many had been made in black and white.

I had a little look-see on-line. Not much had changed in cyberspace overrnight. Mid you the nutters at MessageToEagle (dot com) were pushing a theory that ancient aliens visited Earth to steal all the gold to make black energy. (No - I have no idea what black energy is either)

However in reality there was consternation. Overnight Kent Police had activated Operation Stack again. For those of my loyal readers who aren't aware of the fun we're having, "Operation Stack" is occurring seemingly all the time now. Whenever it is not possible to cross the channel (for various reasons) the local motorway is closed and used as a car park for all the traffic which is waiting to cross the channel. It is incredibly annoying to those stuck in traffic, effectively stuffs up the entire county's traffic, and in true British fashion people have a good old whinge about it on social media.

Personally I feel they'd do far better by following the French example by actually doing something; after all to express displeasure at their misfortunes the French cause Operation Stack for us.

Mind you I'm not sure exactly what we could do. Maybe blockade the M20 at Junction 1 southbound to stop the lorries coming our way in the first place maybe?

Bearing in mind the traffic chaos I set off a little earlier than I might have done for today's little walk. A couple of days ago I'd posted on a geo-forum asking if anyone was free for a stroll in the week. I suggested a few possible routes, and there was some interest in a little walk near Doddington. The geo-series was one I'd originally seen go live on Good Friday. But I was working then. Today seven of us (and one dog) had something of a geo-toddle. Rebecca and Chrissie and four under-fives came with me on a Wheri-wander. I had this idea that the Doddington Wherigo would be ideal for the littluns. It would be fun and appealling to them as it was based on helping the Easter bunny, and because it was billed as an hour's walk it wouldn't be too much for little legs.

Our plan was to do the Wherigo, and pick up any geocaches we walked past on our way. Perhaps I'm an old softie, but I absolutely loved walking with the littluns. I had to consciously slow myself down; I tend to race ahead at the best of times, but I managed to walk at a sensible pace for much of the time. A combination of SmartPhones, wheri-compatible Garmins and a tablet kept the littluns attention and despite a rather biting wind I think the littluns had fun. They enjoyed the geocaching and the hunting out of clues for both a multi and the wherigo.

We found seven geocaches (four icon types) over three and a half hours, (I even took a few photos whilst we were walking). Not the most prolific of days, but I really enjoyed being out with the littluns. If only the fruits of my loin would be more keen on walking (and hunting sandwich boxes) I could take the grandchildren up hill and down dale occassionally.

All too soon it was home time. I took a rather circuitous route hme via Hothfield just to make sure I would be nowhere near Operation Stack's overflow, and having got some petrol we came home. "Furry Face ^TM" went straight to sleep and over a spot of lunch I watched last night's episode of "Dark Matter" in which our heroes discovered a rather saucy sex-android. They all then did what those of dubious morals would do to sex-androids. Personally I wasn't the least bit surprised when the sex-android went haywire and tried to kill everyone. Possibly I've watched too much sci-fi over the years but most androids tend to run amok shortly after discovery. It seems to be a feature of androids. Hopefully scientists yet unborn will solve this problem when eventually they start making the things for real.

And hopefully they will have enough of a moral compass to just say no to the entire concept of sex-androids.

As the sex-android went haywire for the umpteenth time I had a phone cal from "First Solutions" who wannted to speak wiith me about the loan I took out at some unspecified date during the last thirteen years. Soometimes I just hang up on these nuisance phone calls. Other times I deliberately waste their time for as long as possible; I see this as a public service saving others from the harrassment.

Today I strung them on for at least ten minutes before telling them I had been deliberately wasting their time.

"er indoors ^TM" came home, woke me up, and told me a new geocache had gone live only a mile away. We popped the lead onto "Furry Face ^TM", flew out chasing the First to Find and pipped Smidge (or Smudge?) to the post. FTF - happy dance.

With our usual Tuesday plans on hold we then took "Furry Face ^TM" down to Ham Street for a little walk. I ache a little now...

27 July 2015 (Monday) - Busy, Busy

I got up a little earlier than I might have this morning. I was worried about "Furry Face ^TM"; he had been so subdued and quiet last night. After we came home from a rather wet walk yesterday afternoon he took himself to his basket and didn't move from there from about 3.30pm through to bed time. I took him out to the garden for the sort of thing for which dogs go into gardens, but he just went straight back to his basket. This morning he still seemed quiet but when I opened the curtains he climbed onto the back of the sofa and started guarding the house. Something of a result...

I set the washing machine going, and I had brekkie whilst checking out the Internet. Not a lot was going on really. I had posted on the Facebook "Geocaching in Kent" page to see if anyone fancied a stroll today, but the thread had been somewhat taken over by someone who was making plans to do a walk I'd already done. I've put up plans for two more walks thhis week; here's hoping.

I then put washing out on the line to dry and took my dog for a walk; he'd perked up quite a bit.

I'd had reports that some of my geo-hides in the Newtown area needed a little TLC. One was entirely missing; one was absolutely fine. We came home via the vets from where I got more flea treatment stuff for "Furry Face ^TM". I also got him weighed; he's lost half a kilogramme since his last weigh-in.

Once home "Furry Face ^TM" had his teeth brushed. He diddn't like that very much. And as he chomped on the bone I'd got him for his brekkie I took the top box off of my car and put it away. It would have been easier if I had some help, but I managed. I then emptied out one of the garden storage boxes. I found a whole gazebo I never knew we had, and I found a whole load of tent fragments which I took to the skip together with loads of other assorted rubbish. I was amazed at just how quick I gathered together a car load of stuff for the skip.

By now the seccond wash load was finished so I hung that out and had a spot of lunch whilst watching "The Last Ship". I liked the first season but the second season doesn't really seem to be quite as good.

The trouble wiih post-apocalyptic fiction is that the whole premise is that most of humanity has died; and it doesn't help that having a military theme our heroes have a propensity to keep blowing everyone else away. And so to keep the show going the writers have to keep producing more and more baddies seemingly out of thin air. It is now beginning to stretch credibility just a little.

A day's holiday isn't complete without ironing, and bearing in mind how long it is since I last did any I then spent about three hours ironing like a thing possessed. As I ironed I watched a film. "St Elmo's Fire" is supposed to be iconic. I thought it just dragged on too much.

I then got the last of the stuff from the weekend's garden party put away. Or that was my plan. The gazebo poles were full of rain water, so I've had to leave the poles out to drain overnight.

By the time "Upstairs Downstairs" came on I was feeling as though I needed a break. I thought I'd rerward myself with a cup of coffee and a Belgian bun. After fifteen minutes of searching it turned out that "er indoors ^TM" had scoffed the bun for her brekkie.

By the time "er indoors ^TM" got home from work I was feeling quite worn out. We had burgers for tea; there's a few of those to be eaten up. "er indoors ^TM" is off bowling now. She don't know about the chocloate eclairs I found in the fridge...

26 July 2015 (Sunday) - Rainy Day

I woke at 4am feeling like death warmed up. I got up and had a tiddle, and looked at a little dog who seemed to be incredibly sheepish. Then I saw why he was incredibly sheepish. He'd obviouisly scrounged too much barbecue meat yesterday. I cleaed up his little mess and went back to bed. I slept through till 8am when I had a surprisingly lonely brekkie with everyone else still asleep. I set the dishwasher doing its thing and bearing in mind the weather forecast said that the wonderful sunshine would only last for a couple more hours I went out to clear the aftermath that was the back garden.

I soon got the chairs away and set the dishwasher chewing the grime off of its second load. After a while Fudge and Sid came out to see what was going on, and everyone else got up just as the rain started.

It wasn't long before we were driving the Folkestonians home; we took a rather circuitous route via Bilsington so as to avoid the motorway chaos. (There's an on-line petition about the thing that everyone should sign). We had a cuppa and "er indoors ^TM" played with littlun whilst I dozed on the sofa until it was his nap time and our home time.

We had cancelled a geo-walk today because of the rain, so on the way home we stopped off for a crafty geocache, and having done the secret "found it" dance we came home to carry on feeding stuff into the dishwasher.

After a hot-dog lunch (we'll be having a few of those over the next few days) I took "Furry Face ^TM" for a little walk. A spot of geo-maintenance, then we walked past the park. We couldn't go in the park; it was fenced off for Ashford's "Create" festival. Every year the council spends about ten thousand pounds of our council tax money on putting on an open air music festival. It's surprisingly popular. Mind you I'm put off attending by the need for a compulsory body search performed on all attendees by hired thugs masquerading as security operatives. Is it *really* necessary to body-search young families? And it it is, is this the sort of event we want in our park?

Mind you I think we at the astro club here have missed an opportunity. The "Create" festival would have been the ideal place for us to have put on a stall to advertise the club.

Our walk took us about twenty minutes; we both came home soaking wet. I put a load in the washing machine and fell asleep in front of the telly. A night shift followed by a day's heavy drinking had taken their toll. I then spent much of the rest of the day sitting quietly in front of the telly whist the washing machine and dishwasher both did their things.

My little dog also spent the rest of the day sitting quietly too. Perhaps the excitement of yesterday was a bit much for him, or perhaps he is a little under the weather.

25 July 2015 (Saturday) - Garden Party

During last night's night shift I had a tea break in the early hours and I checked out what I had been missing on social media. There had been seriously heavy rain overnight, and Facebook was alive with comments grumbling about "typical British weather". Oh my piss boiled. Thursday had been a glorious day. Last weekend had been wonderful. There have been so many good days over the last few weeks, but it only takes a speck of rain to make everyone forget the good weather.

I also saw I'd missed something. Amazingly I didn't realise it was the Canterbury Beer Festival yesterday and today. In years gone by this has been a major event in my annual calendar; this year the thing completely slipped my mind.

I also checked out the news a little later in the night. Apparently the United Nations have decreed that the smacking of children in the home must be banned. It transpires that smacking an unruly child contravenes its human rights.

Both fruits of my loins had good hidings when I felt it was appropriate. In one case it worked; in the other it was water off a duck's back. But I will say that it's been my experience that there are two types of people who advocate against corporal punishment for children; those with no children of their own, and those with the most ill-behaved brats.

Bearing in mind the difficulties of getting across the county at the moment I came home from work via Folkestone where I collected "Daddies Little Angel ^TM" and her entourage. We came home and after a couple of hours kip i woke to find teh family all hard at work preparing for the afternoon's party. The weather turned out to be far better than expected; the home brew wasn't too shabby at all, "My Boy ^TM" did a wonderful job on the barby and I had an excellent time with probably about forty friends and family.

It all got rather vague towards the end.... And I forgot to take any photos.

24 July 2015 (Friday) - Rainy Day

Bearing in mind the rather long walk we had yesterday I would have thought I might have slept better than I did. "Furry Face ^TM" went straight to his basket when we got home and slept for twelve hours without moving. I had somethng of a restless night being wide awake by 5.30am.

I gave up trying to sleep, got up and watched Billie Piper in "Secret Diary of a Call Girl". In today's episode she had some rather racy undercrackers and had a fight with her sister. And I had to turn the volume up to be able to hear it over the sound of dog snores.

I then had a look at a geo-puzzle which has had me foxed for some time. If nothing else these puzzles keep my brain working (after a fashion)

I then went over to the hospital for the results of the aspiration of the side of my neck. Pausing only briefly to find a nearby geocache I then sat and waited patiently for a specialist who was stuck in the traffic delays caused by Operation Stack.

I finally got in to see the chap and was told that there was nothing to worry about, all was fine, but since there was nothing to worry about and that all was fine they couldn't rule out the possibility of things actually being very bad indeed.

So I've got to go have a full-blown biopsy some time in the next couple of weeks.

I came home via Matalan; having ripped the crutch out of two pairs of trousers recently I thought I'd best get some replacements. And also via the cake shop for a bit of elevensies. These days the cake shop is run by Lee Davies; I remember him from when he was one of my cubs. He's now got the lumberjack-beard that all young men seem to have these days. He seemed well and we reminisced on old times for a few minutes.

With cake scoffed I looked at the household accounts. A weekend away after getting new boots and a GPS unit has taken its toll on the finances. I have been worse off but I've been better off too.

Sill I won't complain. There's light at the end of the tunnel. It wasn't that long ago that things were far worse.

I spent the afternoon in bed, and then spent an hour working on another geo-puzzle. If any of my loyal readers can't make sense of it please feel free to let me know so I can gloat. I've been looking at this one (on and off) for two years.

Brian popped round for a few minutes, and then after a rather good bit of tea I set off through the rain to the night shift. I always say I like the night shifts; I wonder how this one will go...

23 July 2015 (Thursday) - Benenden

After a rather late finish at work last night and a fairly stressful evening I thought I'd sleep like a log. But today's plans called for an early start. And, as is so often the case for me, an early start means a sleepless night. I would probably have slept better had "er indoors ^TM" not been thrashing about for much of the night. I did wonder if she was having nightmares but I've found it best to let sleeping "er indoors ^TM"s lie.

Yesterday I mentioned that the Facebook-feds had forced me to change my name on social media to something they felt was more recognisable. Over brekkie I saw that I had recevied more than thirty messages of support. I was rather pleased about that.

But for all that I would rather be "Manky Badger" on Facebook, it is their toy they are letting me play with.

 

"Furry Face ^TM" had a little woofing fit shortly after 6am, but (in a novel break with tradition) he ate his brekkie. He did look rather knackered, and I contemplated leaving him at home today. But when he saw my rucksack he went mental. So (with "Hannah" programmed) we set off to Benenden. A new geo-series had gone live there earlier in the week. There are those who might feel I would have the inside story on these caches; after all it was "er indoors ^TM" who'd hidden them. But we cache seperately in that respect. I knew nothing about the series. In much the same way that there is a geo puzzle box in our garden. The thing is three feet long and two feet high. You need to work out a fiendish puzzle to get it open; she don't know the secret and I'm not telling her (!)

I got to Benenden where I soon met up with Cliff, Gordon and geo-pup Norton, and we set off hunting out plastic boxes. There are those to whom I cannot explain the fascination of geocaching. I wish I could; we had an excellent day. Excellent company for a really good walk over (about) seventeen miles, and being guided by GPS we didn't go more than fifty yards down any wrong paths. We managed three pub stops on the way; it was a hot day and those stops were appreciated. As we walked we found a field of Christmas trees and got mobbed by a herd of cows. We saw squirrels and woodpeckers, more butterflies than we'd ever seen before, and an odd bird with a yellow head. I thought it was a Patagonian Chicken-Eagle, but I might have been mistaken.

Today was also the first serious test for my new walking boots; I'm rather pleased with them. Mind you it remains to be seen how long they will last. I would like to be able to report detailed statistics of our moving time and stopping time and distances covered and maximuum and minimum elevations acheived, but in a triumph of pressing the wrong button I managed to do a factory reset on my new GPS unit about a third of the way round the route. It was a shame I did that; I'm finally getting to grips with the device.

We started walking at 8am; we finished a minute or so after 5pm having found over fifty caches, not having had any elude us, and totted up fifteen First to Finds into the bargain too. We did mistake a multi for a traditional, but that will be our little secret. Both Cliff and Gordon got their highest cache count for a day which was something of a result too.

If you know where to look on Facebook you can see some photos of the day.

We said our goodbyes (for now) and came home. "Furry Face ^TM" snored most of the way. Once home I hosed the dried fox poo of off my dog (wish he wouldn't roll in the stuff), had a shower myself and then did the secret e-geo-thingy known only to the cognescenti.

"er indoors ^TM" arrived home, and with "Furry Face ^TM" completely worn out and fast asleep we had a bottle of plonk and watched "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" on the DVD. Party on dude !!!

22 July 2015 (Wednesday) - What's in a Name ?

I slept well, and over brekkie I checked my emails. The geocache I spent so long working on yesterday had recieved the official thumbs-down from the geo-feds. Mind you they'd listed it's specific failing, so after thirty seconds more effort I re-submitted it and it was live two minutes later. You can see the thing by clicking here.

Seeing the washing basket was overflowing I set the washing machine to do its thing and then took "Furry Face ^TM" for a little walk. As we went up Beaver Road there was a whole load of small children on the other side of the road on scooters and bikes. They seemed quite happy, but that is more than could be said for the mother running after them who was shrieking and shouting.

I can never understand this about parents. Scooters and bikes allow the children to travel faster than they would if they were walking. So if the parents want the children to stay with them, why do they allow them to take their scooters and bikes?

We had a "near miss" incident in Bowens Field. There was a squirrel minding its business on the grass. My dog set off in hot pursuit. The squirrel narrowly escaped up a tree, and as the squirrel turned round (clearly to gloat) it lost its footing and fell out of the tree landing inches from a rather surprised "Furry Face ^TM". Fortunately for all concerned the squirrel got back up the tree safely.

We came home; I put the washing on the line and put another load in to scrub. I checked out the Internet. Two people had solved the first part of my new puzzle cache. I'll be honest - that was two more than I was expecting.

I could have gone to Folkestone this morning to see the baby. But the motorway was again closed due to whatever nonsense the French are up to this time. Instead I messed about on the Internet until the second wash load was ready to hang out. I hung that out, gave myself a quick haircut, and out of interest I weighed my dog. He looks a bit thinner than he has been; according to the bathroom scales he's eight kilogrammes. That's three down on what he was. That can't be right. We shall walk round to use the vet's scales when I remember.

I went to work, did my bit, stayed an hour late (because that's the kind of guy I am), and on the way home tried to log into Facebook. Tried and failed. I've been on Facebook as "Manky Badger" since 2007. Someone squealed to the Facebook feds that a different name appears on official documents and I had the choice to change my name or quit Facebook. I know others feel differently but unlimited photo storage, instant communications and social media all for free is something I quite like. So I've put up the name I was born with. It's a cheap price to pay.

Mind you I'd like to know who squealed me up though...

21 July 2015 (Tuesday) - Pluckley

Over brekkie I saw one of those "Please Share" things that flood Facebook. But this one made me think. There was a photo of a chap who had supposedly acted in a very threatening way and had supposedly done criminal damage to a car. But rather than reporting the incident to the police, the alleged aggrieved party splashed it all over Facebook. The person who'd been threatened and had her car damaged had a photo of the chap who supposedly was the vilain of the piece. The photo featured the chap's business name, his landline phone number and his mobile phone number.

So why wasn't this passed straight to the police? Something doesn't add up here.

I'd suggest we all be very careful about what we share on social media.

I popped the lead onto "Furry Face ^TM" and we went for a walk. With none of the usual suspects available for a walk today I took my dog to Pluckley. Three new geocaches had appeared over the last month or so, and using the GPS they make for a rather good guided walk. I found two of them; rather good ones. I didn't find the third; i came away under the impression that the thing had probably been drop-kicked into a hedge.

But even though I didn't find it, Pluckley is always good for a walk. I even took a few photos too.

We came home, and I found a certain dog had lost the name tag from his collar, so I went round to Pets at Home where I got one done at twice the price they do the same thing for on eBay. Over lunch I watched the most recent episode of "Dark Matter". The show started well, but we are now up to episode six and it's losing its initial promise.

I had a little doze, then spent a little while preparing a new geocache. It's something I've been working on for a while. Dead simple to find but rather trickier to open. It is surprising how long it takes to set up these things. I then watched "Upstairs Downstairs" on the ITV Encore channel before falling asleep until "er indoors ^TM" came home.

We then got the last of the tents back into its bag, scoffed an omelette, then rallied the troops and set off to Folkestone where the Internet had gone west. We watched an episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise"; I stayed awake. Can't be bad...

20 July 2015 (Monday) - After the Night Shift

After the night shift I listened to the radio as I drove home. The Home Secretary was being interviewed on the radio. Much as it pains me to say so, she seemed to be talking sense. She was discussing dealing with terrorism arising from the UK's home-grown malcontents and how the government was proposing legislation to deal with it. However her whole point of view was hampered by the fact that those who would blow up the nation would seem to have the legal right to peddle their hateful views.

Whilst I'm not advocating a wholesale totalitarian police state, should every fool really have the legal right to do whatever the *F!* they want with no regard to society at large?

Once home I popped the lead onto "Furry Face ^TM" and we went for a little walk. I'd been told that one of my geocaches needed a little TLC so we took a little stroll down to Kingsnorth to sort out the errant film pot. As we left home the morning looked dismal; as we walked so it started raining quite heavily. I took a chance and kept going and after a while the rain eased up.

We soon got to the site of "Sidney's P-Mail" and I eventually found the cache. It wasn't where I originally hid it. and it wasn't the cache I'd originally hidden either. I replaced the thing with a whole new cache and we carried on with our walk. I had intended to carry on along one of our usual walks, but chest high wet crops put me off the idea. Instead we took a rather circuitous diversion and came home via Singleton Lake and the park.

There was a rather interesting sight as we came though the park; Fifteen (or so) skin-tight lycra clad young mothers were jogging en-masse; each one with a small child in a push chair. I smiled sweetly at them as they all happily bounced past.

Once home I gave my little dog a bath; he'd got rather grubby. Letting him swim in the lake had rather attracted the pond scum.

I had a vague plan to go up the KFC for lunch but I found a pack of cheese scones in the kitchen which were three days past their sell-by date. I gave them a minute in the microwave and scoffed them as I watched last night's episode of "The Last Ship" which I had recorded onto the SkyPlus box.

Feeling a little bit tired I thought I'd have a little lie down. I took myself off to bed and woke five hours later...