14 July 2020 (Tuesday) - Before the Late Shift


With "Daddy’s Little Angel TM" and "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction TM" no longer in residence the house was incredibly peaceful as I scoffed my toast this morning. I had a little look at Facebook as I do and found myself embroiled in an argument about the literary merits of the late JRR Tolkien. An advert for one of his books had appeared on my Facebook feed and in the comments someone had said that he was rubbish. I should have known better, but I chipped in and it all kicked off.
I can’t work out why the books of JRR Tolkien are so popular. The best and most spot-on review of “The Lord of the Rings” that I ever read was in Viz magazine (!) where the book was described as “ninety-five per cent adjectives, three per cent stupid names and only two per cent story” and having read the trilogy a few times I think that is a fair summary. The trilogy stretched to well over a thousand pages and really dragged. It would have made a much better read had it been about five hundred pages shorter.
Mind you, people like Woody Allen and Will Ferrell films too, so what do I know?

I sent out some birthday wishes, and with "er indoors TM" having emerged from her pit we got the dogs into the car and set off. We went to Orlestone Woods again. We got to the woods, walked our usual circuit and came home again. A rather uneventful walk, but it was good for what *didn’t* happen. We didn’t have to be on-the-lead-off-the-lead every five minutes. We didn’t have to be forever on the lookout for cyclists who weren’t looking where they were going. We didn’t have to contend with other dog owners who don’t have the faintest idea how a dog thinks.
Fudge did insist on playing “dog piggy back” with a passing hound ten times his size; I wish he hadn’t.

We came home, and I popped to the corner shop for a sandwich for work. As I paid (by card) I mentioned that I hadn’t been to the bank to get any cash since February. The nice lady behind the till said that they rarely took cash payments anymore; most people were paying by card nowadays, and we both laughed about the antiques we used to use; cheques. When did you last use a cheque?
Some chap in the shop overheard us and started a rant. He was going to pay with cash and he was proud of it. There was (inexplicably) some merit in going to the cashpoint machine in the town centre on a regular basis, and (somehow or other) by using a contactless card I (personally) was responsible for all the sins of the world. I smiled sweetly…

Once home we had a cuppa and I dug out my cheque book. I have written two cheques in the last five years.
I then had a little mid-month review of the accounts. I am far from destitute but… I started the month feeling relatively flush. But a trip to the vets and a new pair of shoes have made a dent.
I played “Cookie Jam” on Facebook games, and then got ready for work.

After that, the rest of the day was on the dull side…

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