When the dogs finally
stopped barking at shadows (at two
o’clock last night) I finally got some sleep. I did hear nice-next-door
doing noisy sex in the small hours, but I dozed through till seven o’clock when
I got up.
Over brekkie I had a
look at Facebook. Some ex-colleagues had been for a beer last night. I did
chuckle; knowing them and their various interactions I had to wonder if they
all really were that lonely that they would socialize with people they didn’t
actually like rather than be at home on their own.
Then my piss boiled (as it so often does). Someone had posted
one of those racist memes: you know the sort “Anyone who’s not from the UK eats babies” or some such drivel. Despite
the thing being patently a bunch of lies, people were queuing up to comment
about how terrible all these foreigners are and to believe the worst.
And (of course) the various on-line squabbles
persisted. It must be a month or so since I was last embroiled in one, for
which I am rather grateful. However it never fails to amaze me how those
causing the petty bickering on the various forums are those whose hobby is “posting on Facebook”. None of the
arguments on social media about astronomy, snake-keeping, dogs, hiking,
fishing, geocaching, ale-drinking etc are ever stirred up by anyone who is
actually active in that pastime.
I particularly like
geocaching in that regard; it is the work of two seconds to see exactly how
much of the hobby a given person has done throughout their entire geo-career.
Why is it that those who pontificate and deliver their sage opinions and rudely
dismiss all others haven’t actually gone out and done anything in the hobby for
a year?
As I scoffed my toast (and as my blood pressure went through the
roof) the washing machine ground away at some laundry I’d fed to it. That
machine is getting noisier and noisier. I have a service contract in which I
pay a tenner or so each month and no matter what goes wrong with it, the nice
people come and fix it. I’m wondering if this is such a good idea. Maybe it is
time to chuck it away and get one which isn’t screaming quite so much.
We got ourselves and
the dogs together and got into the car. We had plans for today, but bearing in
mind the torrential rain as we left Ashford, there’s no denying we fully
expected to get to Tenyham, meet our friends, have everyone look at the rain,
have everyone say “stuff that”, and
come back home again.
But we were wrong.
As we left Ashford the
rain stopped, We got to Tenyham to find a dry day. We met our friends and
joined in with the community litter-pick and tidy-up that was happening today,
It sounds weird, but I for one had a great time walking round picking up litter
and generally tidying. You wouldn’t believe how many beer cans and sweetie
wrappers were cluttering the place up. I was shocked to find a bra and a pair
of pants cast away with reckless abandon. And (perhaps I’m naïve?) I was amazed at how many syringes I pulled out
of the undergrowth by the railway.
With litter picked we
dropped off our bags of rubbish at the designated spot. I’d thought I would be
clever by bringing along my own litter-picking device; it was a shame this
thing broke half-way round and ended up in the rubbish. We then went back to
the village hall where refreshments were offered. I had a cuppa, a hot-dog and
a slice of cake, Very nice!
We then relocated to
the village of Painter’s Forstall where five of us took the dogs on a little
geo-wander. There are a couple of geo-series starting there. We followed one of
them and had a rather good walk. As we went we saw horses and buzzards and the
fattest sheep you ever did see. We played on a skateboard that we found, we
were amazed to find several tons of litter that had been fly-tipped, we found
our way blocked by an emergency ambulance, and Fudge ran off chasing whatever
it is that Patagonian Tripe-Hounds chase (twice).
With our walk done we
were looking forward to a crafty pint. We went to the pub near where we’d
parked…
Oh dear…
If any of my loyal
readers are in the vicinity of “The Alma”
in Painter’s Forstall, would you please (as
a personal favour to me) take your custom elsewhere. I can quite understand
that a pub may well be shut for a prior booking. That's fine with me. However I
would suggest that such a pub should not have the "open" sign up, then wait for potential customers to walk
through the door before turning the sign to "closed" then sarcastically pointing it out as though your
potential customer is some sort of retard.
I contented myself by
slating the place on TripAdvisor, and we all drove down to the
Chequers in Doddington.
"er indoors TM" and I had been
here last Friday for the Good Friday geo-meet. We’d been impressed, and today
we went back. Karl, Tracey and Charlotte had missed out last week; today they
were just as good as they’d been a week ago. Really friendly and welcoming
staff and a rather good ale on too. Four pints of that and a very good
selection of crisps made for a rather good bit of dinner.
We got home just as the
rain started again. I took a few photos today, as I so often
do. Once home I popped them on-line, and as the dogs snored I sparked up the
telly. “Lee and Dean” and “Thunderbirds Are Go” was entertaining…
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