18 February 2019 (Monday) - Before the Night Shift


Everyone slept well last night. A ten-mile walk seems to have that effect on people and dogs. I made myself some toast for brekkie, and as I scoffed it Fudge came and sat with me and watched every move that Pogo and Treacle made in case he was missing something.
He wasn’t.
I used the lap-top to see what I’d missed in the world overnight. I hadn’t missed very much really. For some odd reason Facebook was suggesting that I might like to buy a sledgehammer. I wonder what prompted that?
I had an email to say that a new geocache had gone live not very far from work. Had I been on a core shift this morning I might have chased the First to Find. But I wasn’t. So I didn’t. Instead I did a rather dull YouGov survey the subject of which I have already forgotten, got myself dressed, and took the dogs out.

We did our usual circuit of Bowen’s Field and the park. We only had one fight today, and that was very early in our walk. I say “fight”; Pogo just shouted a lot at another dog who was on a lead. Whilst I am a great advocate of having dogs on leads on the streets, why not let them run in the parks?
As we walked we met OrangeHead’s posse; but they were without their leader. Fifteen minutes later we met OrangeHead walking in the opposite direction with a face like a smacked arse. Has there been more fallings-out in the Viccie Park dog walking cliques? Whilst I’m on civil terms with most of the dog-walkers who frequent Viccie Park I make a point of not chumming up with any of them. Over the years I’ve found arguments to be had in scouting, astronomy, keeping snakes, flying kites, geocaching… it would seem that walking dogs also has its fair share of squabbles.

Once home I harvested all the dog dung from the garden. I didn’t *quite* block the chod-bin; buckets of water and vigorous stirring with a trowel soon budged the recalcitrant turds. I then got the lawn mower out and gave the lawn a little once-over. As I mowed I smiled as I remembered “Nutty Noodle” (our frankly insane neighbour who hasn’t been seen in over two years). Whenever we were on speaking terms he would always tell me off when I was mowing the lawn. No matter what I did to mow a lawn, it was always wrong. The grass would be too wet or too dry. It would be too early in the day, or too late. I would be cutting it too short or not cutting it short enough. The brand of lawn mower would be wrong… I wonder what happened to “Nutty Noodle”? I suspect he really is in a lunatic asylum somewhere.
With the lawn mowed I then spent a little while generally tidying up around the garden until my back hurt too much. I then got out the shears and gave myself a haircut, then played Lego for a few minutes.

Last November I bought a black and white Lego house – it was a special gimmick with Weetabix from over forty years ago. It was the first house I added to my little Lego town, but (using the mini-figures as a guide for scale), it was just a little bit too small. I’ve extended it by six studs in width and two bricks in height and cut down the tree. Its garden might need a little work now…

Just as I posted up a photo of my Lego house to my Lego album there was an almighty crash in the hallway. The postman had delivered two letters. Judging by the noise I thought he had kicked the door down.
I had a letter from the British Blood Transfusion Society telling me my membership was up for renewal. I pay them nearly a hundred quid a year and seem to get very little for my money. It turns out they offer an awful lot of stuff… if only I could log on to their website. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing it seemed they had the old email from my previous employer which I haven’t used for over two years. Which was why I wasn’t getting anything from them.

Over a bit of dinner I watched the last episode in this series of “SAS: Who Dares Wins”. I rather like that show even if I’d never be good enough to be in it.

I went to bed for the afternoon. Just as I nodded off all three dogs started howling and screaming. I have no idea what set them off but I had to poke each dog in turn to shut them up. When poked each dog shut up, and looked at me as though to ask what was going on.
I got a couple of hours’ sleep, then watched the first episode of “Traitors”. It seemed watchable enough. Having set the SkyPlus box to record the series I found out the entire lot is available for download. I’ve downloaded the second episode.

"er indoors TM" should be home soon. A quick bit of scoff then I’m off to the night shift. There’s a geo-meet this evening on the way to work. I might pop in if I have time.

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