16 January 2016 (Saturday) - Geo-Meet

I felt decidedly grim as I scoffed my toast this morning. Can't imagine why !

My little dog seemed to realise that I was under the weather; he sat with me and generally looked soppy. As I scoffed I found myself reflecting on Trev's retirement yesterday. When I started working for the NHS (all those years ago) I was told very clearly that if I joined the pension scheme I could retire on full pension (i.e. half pay) after forty years service. That would be on 14 September 2021 which now isn't that far away.
A week or so later I was told that a mistake had been made; I wouldn't actually start paying pension until my eighteenth birthday and so retirement was put back until 21 February 2022.
Having spent several year planning to retire when I would be fifty-eight I was rather miffed to find that somewhere along the way one or other government had changed the rules and I wouldn't get a full pension until I was sixty. I whinged to the pension office and was told in no uncertan terms that I had effectively been done out of two years of pension contributions, and to suck it up.
So I stopped whinging and sucked it up.
The rules have changed again. I dare not consult them.I suspect that far from only having six years to go (which was what was promised) I probably have closer to fifteen years of working left to do. I hope that is not the case.
I *really* should start looking into the matter.

As I sat feeling sorry for myself I had an email. There is a geo-puzzle which has had me foxed for a few days. I won't say which one it is but I will say that I had figured out that the puzzle was about the Spice Girls and Geri Halliwell. With this in mind I spent hours struggling with their birthdays and chart positions of their records but had been unable to solve the puzzle. So a day or so ago I did the only thing which was left open to me. I looked at the list of people who had found that geocache and emailed the one who I thought was most likely to take pity on me.
It turns out that the puzzle wasn't about the Spice Girls at all; it was about telephones. Sometimes I hate trying to solve cryptic puzzles.

"er indoors TM" and I then drove out to Wingham for the monthly meeting of the Kent chapter of the Hunters of Tupperware. It was good to meet up with friends, but I must admit that the attendance was perhaps a little less than it might have been. But we had a rather good spot of lunch, and a good chat with friends. And after the walk we had a little stroll round the village. It was a good afternoon for a walk; even if it was a little cold.
We came home via the hospital to collect my car; I'd left it there last night. Once home we took the dogs round the park. Again it was still a good afternoon for a walk, but again it was cold.

"er indoors TM" set off to whatever it is that she was doing this evening, and I ironed shirts then settled down in front of the telly with my wolf pack. Rather a dull Saturday night, but after a hectic night last night and a rather busy day today I felt that I needed a rest...


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