14 September 2015 (Monday) - Thirty Four Years Later

On my way home from work I checked out the DNF on my geocache..... A DNF is a "Did Not Find" report made on a geocache. People log one of these when they look for a cache and don't actually find it. Either people just can't find it, or it could be a warning that the thing has actually gone missing.
The supposedly missing cache had originally been hidden in a crash barrier along a little-used country lane. It was very unlikely to be found by chance by any passers-by. And the actual cache itself was squirrelled away inside a Chinese puzzle box that wasn't cheap.
Sure enough it had gone. Sandwich box, Chinese puzzle box, the lot.
The person who reported it as missing had left a rather strange message in her log: "may be missing - I know how to open these boxes - so ????" On reading this you might wonder how she knows what sort of a box it was if she didn't actually find it.
This is the second box of this type that has disappeared from this location. I'm not saying the thing has been deliberately stolen by an unscrupulous geocacher, but I am reliably informed that the last one had been.
Theft of sandwich boxes... it's all a bit sad really.
Rather than coming straight home I stopped off at the opticians where my idiot magnet seemed to be working at full power. One of the receptionists was asking me the standard questions that receptionists ask, but it was difficult for me to hear her (and for her to hear me) as some incredibly stupid woman was also being asked questions. This woman refused point blank to come to the counter; insisting that she sat down and shouted across the store. She announced that answering questions was very stressful for her because she was on benefits, and then rather aggressively wanted to know why I wasn’t (on benefits).
Eventually I got in to see the optician, and I explained that I could be on benefits if it would help. The optician didn’t actually wet herself, but it came close. Once the giggling stopped I had the air blown in my eyes, did the letters and colours thing, and was then told that my eyes have gone off about as much as would be expected since last time.
The new specs arrive in two weeks’ time. That's two hundred more quid I'd rather fritter away on beer.
I came home, popped the lead on my dog, and we went for a walk. We got as far as Bowens Field (five minutes away) and then the heavens opened. We turned round, and by the time I got home I was soaked and my dog looked more like a seal than a dog.
This rain is a nuisance. I had intended to mow the lawn today. Instead I looked at my accounts (and wished I hadn’t), fed my smalls to the washing machine, had a bag of parsnip crisps and went to bed. I woke late in the afternoon to find I was cuddling "Furry Face TM" as though he were a teddy bear.
I was quite content to lay there, but the strange voices in my dog's head told him to declare a red alert, and he launched into a woofing fit right by my ear. I wasn't getting back to sleep after that. Instead I got up and methodically emptied the contents of the washing basket into the washing machine.
Once "er indoors TM" went bowling I ironed shirts whilst watching "Star Trek: Renegades". I've been watching rather a lot of fan-made Star Trek episodes and films lately. Star Trek: Renegades is by far the worst of the lot and (quite frankly) that was up against some stiff competition. It relied too much on having famous actors and heaving blue breasts and didn't actually bear any relation to the show for which it had been named.

And in closing today I'll make the observation that today is an anniversary. Thirty four years ago I started professionally testing blood. Thirty four years.... (glossing over one particular hiccup) it's not been a bad old job really. The only drawback was that when I first started I was promised a pension after forty years. I was promised that I could retire on full pension on September 14 2021. That's not going to happen, is it?

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