Fudge again spent the night upstairs on the bed. He makes
the most odd squeaking grunting noises as he sleeps.
I made myself some toast and peered into the internet as I
scoffed it. I saw that The Boy Scouts of
America
have gone bankrupt. When I took scouts to America we stayed on an American
scout campsite for a week. They were a very weird lot. Not at all like scouts
in the UK; they were far more like the army cadets. After a day or so I
realised that everywhere I went, at least one of their leaders was nearby. One
of their leaders later told me that word had gone out that “the Brit with
the tattoos” wasn’t to be trusted near the children for the simple reason
that I had tattoos. It was politely (but firmly) pointed out that I
wouldn’t be accepted as a scout leader in America because I had tattoos.
There wasn’t much else of note on-line this morning so I
took the dogs out.
We went up to Kings Wood as there aren’t usually that many
“episodes” when we walk up there. Today was a particularly good walk; we
met three other groups of dogs; each time we all just walked past each other
with no squabbles at all. Fudge didn’t straggle quite as much as he usually
does, and although there was some mud, it wasn’t as muddy as it might have
been.
As we walked we saw there was a lot of forestry operations
going on. Coppicing happens all the time, but today there were two gangs who
were cutting down trees and burning them. There were some serious fires
burning. Burning the trees? That’s new in Kings Wood.
With walk walked we came home for a bath. The dogs weren’t
as muddy as they sometimes have been, but with all the scare stories of Alabama
rot circulating, I wasn’t taking any chances.
I settled the dogs and went shopping…
Or that was the plan.
As I locked the door some chap came past jogging. He had
huge headphones on and was singing along (very loudly) to whatever music
it was that he was playing through those headphones. His singing was that bad
that all three dogs started howling, and I had to spend ten minutes settling
them again.
I drove to Angling Direct. I had a voucher to spend there,
and "My Boy TM" had told me that they had
discontinued their loyalty card. He advised me to get whatever credit to which
I was entitled as quickly as I could.
The last time I was there (9 August 2019) I was sure
they told me I had nine quid’s worth of credit on their loyalty card. Today I
was told that they’d had to abandon the loyalty card because their parent
company is listed on the stock market, but they could offer me two pound fifty
in-store credit. Together with my voucher this paid for some of a thermal upper
layer jumper thingy (and I paid the rest). You can probably get the same
thing for a fraction of the price in any outdoor-type shop, but sticking the
logo of any angling company onto anything does triple its price.
I went on to Tesco where I got lunch (and a bottle of
port). My piss boiled somewhat as I queued up. When you are watching the
nice lady on the checkout running your myriad items through the till, why wait
until the last thing has gone through before searching through your twenty
pockets and a handbag the size of a suitcase desperately trying to find your
purse?
I came home via B&Q where I got some bits and bobs with
which to bodge the fence, then came home and bodged the fence. It’s isn’t
wobbling quite as much as it was now, and I’ve fixed the hole through which our
dogs shout at next door’s dogs. I’ll mend it all properly later in the year
when the ground had dried out somewhat.
I had a sandwich whilst watching an episode of “Inside
No 9” then programmed “Hannah” for the end of the week. Programming
a sat-nav isn’t as easy as you might think.
I settled myself in front of the telly and turned on Netflix.
“Red Joan” was a
rather good film. I managed to stay awake for all of it then dozed until "er
indoors TM" came home and boiled up a really good bit of
dinner which we scoffed whilst watching the first episode of the new series of “Hunted” in which
members of the public have to evade surveillance for twenty-five days. Channel
Four is looking for people to take part in the next season of the show…
I’m up for that *if* I can get time off work.
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