30 July 2021 (Friday) - Another Facebook Friend ?

By the time we'd put the picnic table together last night it was rather late so “er indoors ^TM” went up to the KCF to get our dinner. Much as I like that stuff, it is rather salty, and I was up a few times in the night for copious amounts of orange squash, and consequently copious amounts of tiddling.

I eventually tired of going up and down the stairs and made an early brekkie As I scoffed it I watched another episode of "Chewing Gum" in which our heroine was surprisingly non-un-moral for once.

 

Needing to make an early start I didn't bother with the Internet this morning. I headed off to work. Initially I went in completely the wrong direction; the car needed petrol. Sainsburys does the cheapest petrol and does Nectar points too.

As I went into the kiosk to pay for petrol I took my time getting a sandwich and a bag of crisps. The argumentative old biddies on the tills were being particularly nasty about the customer who had just walked out, and having completely slagged off pretty much everything about the chap one said to the other "but he was nothing; you should have seen the one who came in on Wednesday". It was at this point that they realised that I could hear every word and they went quiet, which was a shame. I would have liked to have heard about "the one who came in on Wednesday".

 

As I drove in the right direction for work the pundits on the radio were talking about how Team GB has won a gold medal in the women's BMX bike riding event (and a silver medal in the men's event). It would seem that BMX bike riding is now an Olympic event with multiple categories. The commentator was trying to make a big story out of the fact that the woman who won the gold medal had paid for all of her expenses for the Olympics by crowdfunding. She's raised over fifty thousand quid that way. Good for her. Since she didn't have fifty thousand quid of her own to pay for it, she raised the money she needed. That's what I did when I was part of a team that took scouts to Canada (twice).

Mind you, the implication was that the British Olympic team should be funded by the government (and ultimately by extension by us). Most other sporting events are paid for by the sponsorship, with the participants being paid a wage and paid expenses. Is it fair to expect the taxpayers to pay for the Olympic team? I'm certainly not keen in the idea.

But after a little looking about on-line it seems that he UK Government *did* fund the BMX teams, but cut funding to the women's team to pay for the men’s team.

That's an entirely different can of worms.

 

There was also talk of a growing "thing" in that some employers are offering unlimited annual leave to their staff  The idea is that if you can show your boss that you've done all your work then you can have a day off. And you can have as many days off as you like *provided* you've done all your work. I quite like the sound of this... at the moment the hard workers and the skivers get equal amounts of leave. But under this sort of regime some (me!) would have a couple of days off every week, and some would never have a day off again. Ever.

I suppose the scheme is all very well all the time you are the one getting  time off. The take home message is to take advantage of your mate's efforts whilst dumping all your crap on him.... *if* you can get away with it.

 

I got to work. As I walked in I did chuckle. There is a lot of landscaping being done at work. One of the contractors turned to another, and as I walked past he announced "they want a shrubbery!" Since when did the Knights Who Say Ni! control the hospital grounds?

I did my bit at work, and got away early (being on another early shift). I drove home singing along to Ivor Biggun’s second album “More Filth Dirt Cheap”.

Once home I walked Treacle and Pogo up to the park and back. They were as good as gold. We saw several other dogs; Treacle ignored them all, and Pogo looked at each one and then looked at me as though to say “look – I’m being good”.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up fish and chips which we scoffed whist watching an episode of “Richard Osman’s House of Games” in which one of the celebrity contestants (I won’t say who) appeared to be drunk. I wonder if she was?

I did some ironing, wrote up some CPD, and then got a friend request on Facebook. Liane Francke  He, she or it claims to have started a new group of adults for WhatsApp featuring many single girls who are willing to “do the dirty deed” for free. If I join this group I get the opportunity to “do the dirty deed” with “my type of girl”. I considered telling him, her or it that “my type of girl” is one that feeds me, and (quite frankly) all the time “my type of girl” is wasting time on “doing the dirty deed”, she’s not getting busy in the kitchen.

I’ve reported Liane Francks to the Facebook authorities – I wonder what they will do.

29 July 2021 (Thursday) - Cake, Picnic Table

In this morning's episode of "Chewing Gum" our heroine met a unicorn... which was certainly utterly unlike anything I might have expected, and took unmorality to a whole new height. I shall stick to fluffy pink ones with rainbows, and idly wonder why my male friends who are "on the other bus" seem to be obsessed with them. If any of my loyal readers don't know what "unicorns" are, you can find out on Google, but I wouldn't recommend it.

There were a couple of squabbles kicking off on Facebook this morning. The co-op are selling ice cubes made with British water. "British water" ?! How does that work - have the co-op never hear of the water cycle? Water goes all over the planet. I suspect that the co-op means that by using water sourced from Britain they are reducing transport costs. However in doing so they are encouraging the half-witted jingoistic element who had been ranting (on various Facebook pages) that British water was far superior to foreign water. I rolled my eyes, and on reading about the next squabble I wondered if I would be going to prison any time soon...

For some odd reason several people were (independently) insisting that it was illegal to own a sword. According to what I can glean from the government's own website it is perfectly legal to have a sword (or two) in the house. But it is illegal to brandish them in the street or to try to sell them privately. However there were those who didn't hold with formal government advice and insisted that owning a sword was illegal because their mate said so and he was told by a policeman.

I did the final bit of admin on this month's Munzee clan war (there's lots of swords in there!) and set off to work.

 

As well as loads of talk of the Olympics on the radio there was also talk about COVID vaccinations and how several big companies (Google and Facebook were mentioned) are insisting that their employees be vaccinated against COVID before being allowed on their premises. This seems to be perfectly reasonable to most people, but the crackpot lunatic fringe were kicking off. Civil liberties were being infringed. Apparently it is one's God-given right to spread infection far and wide(!)

Interestingly most of the people I know who advocate against the COVID vaccine do so because they claim the thing is an unknown quantity, but have no problems (at all) in sourcing recreational drugs from dubious characters lurking on unlit street corners.

There was also talk about the threatened demise of the BTec. As someone with both an Ordinary and a Higher BTec certificate I would be sorry to see them go. I spent four rather good years getting those, and met many good friends as I did. There was some chap singing the praises of the BTecs on the radio today, but whereas in the past there would have been an interview with a lecturer or a college principal, the chap talking today was the chief executive of a local college. Isn't that a sign of our times?

 

Pausing only briefly to avoid being run off the road by a lorry of "Better Fencing Ltd" I was soon at work. The early shift started rather frantically, but eventually calmed down. We had a substantially better day than yesterday for two reasons. Firstly I didn't have to step up to cover for the boss (who had been off sick), and secondly because there was cake. More cake than sense.

 

An early start made for an early finish. I came home, mowed the lawn, and watched “er indoors ^TM” put the new picnic table together. We only had one serious mistake during assembly, but that was put right in less than five minutes. I must admit the thing is rather smaller than I thought it might be, and some of the wood is quite seriously pissed, but the table is together.

I wonder how long it will be before I drive the scraps of it to the tip…

28 July 2021 (Wednesday) - Bit Dull

I woke in something of a cold sweat. I’d had a nightmare in which a group of clones of “Bake Off: The Professionals” judge Cherish Finden were running a protection racket at work, and a gang of colleagues were retaliating by breaking the clones’ necks with a vigorous twist. The boss was concerned… not so much at the wanton murder as at the fact that we didn’t have a formal documented process for breaking the necks of extortionists.

I didn’t get back to sleep after that.

I made brekkie and scoffed it as I watched another episode of “Chewing Gum” in which “dirty deeds” were being done with various degrees of enthusiasm. Perhaps I should choose more moral viewing?

Brekkie telly is lonely these days. Whilst (towards the end) Fudge wouldn’t get out of his basket (he used to just lay there). I miss him not being there.

 

With brekkie scoffed I set off to work. The roads were rather quiet this morning, and as I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about Team GB’s success at the Olympics. For all that I am pleased for the success of the various athletes I can’t pretend to any patriotic pride over it. I must admit I can’t understand the attitude of those that do. People who (only a week ago) had never heard of synchronised diving or taekwondo are now supposedly experts on the matter. I’m sure I must be missing something.

 

I stopped off at Tesco. I needed some granola bars for lunch, and I got some beers for the weekend whilst I was at it. Tesco also had some of the same garden pots that I got from them last year. I picked up a couple with a vague idea to do something with them… I have no idea what though.

 

Work was work… we had a new girl start today. “Hello” I said “How are you?” “I’m fine” she replied. “My God is with me.” I used to think like that once; a long time ago. Mind you for all that her God was with her, he/she/it didn’t seem to get in the way at all, which was probably for the best on what was a busy day.

 

With work done I came home. The drive from Pembury is not that much longer than the drive from Maidstone, but it is hard work. From Maidstone I have a straight run down the motorway. Getting to and from Pembury involves a lot of country lanes and it is tiring. I got home just as “er indoors ^TM” was taking the dogs out. Usually I look forward to the dog walk… this evening I just wanted the five minutes peace while they all went out.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a rather good dinner. We scoffed it whilst watching “Richard Osman’s House of Games”. Have you ever seen it? If not I can thoroughly recommend it. But like all TV quiz shows over the last fifty years the first round should be “who are the celebrity contestants”. In this evening’s show I recognised half of them, which was a very high success rate.

Today was dull…