I went to bed just after ten o’clock yesterday evening. I woke at half past nine this morning. The week away had certainly taken its toll. I put another load of washing in to the washing machine to scrub and had a shave. Much as I loved being away for holiday, I’d certainly missed having a shaving mirror which was in the general vicinity of the sink in which I was shaving.
Just as I was making toast the dogs went frantic. Cheryl had arrived with something to put in the freezer. I have no idea what it was; I didn’t dare ask. I get told that something is being put in the freezer and I say “Yes Ma’am”.
I had peanut butter and marmalade on toast (what do you mean – yuk! Try it!) and had a little look at the Internet to see what I’d missed over the last week. I hadn’t missed much as it happened. So I pondered the geo-map planning some new walks, and re-thinking some plans, and pondering what I had in mind for the Adventure Lab caches I’ve been given by Geo-HQ. And all of the plans look to be thwarted by old existing geocaches which have been laying there unfound and rotting for years. Whilst there is a case for keeping some of the older ones, do we really need quite so many kicking about? Slowly but surely they are strangling the hobby.
I went out into the garden, hung out washed trousers and mowed the lawn. In the ten days since I’d last mowed it, it had got rather long. And with edges strimmed and lawn mowed I hung out more washing and then attacked the stepping stones that go up the centre of the lawn. When I set them in place (about fifteen years ago) I just laid them and thought they would sink into place. They have done just that, and having sunk a fraction of an inch below ground level, the grass and soil is actually encroaching over them. So I lifted each in turn, using garden scissors trimmed the grass and soil round the edge of the hole, and re-laid the stone. Simple enough to type, but by the time I’d dealt with the five ant nests I found whilst doing it (I wondered where all the ants were coming from) two hours had passed and I had developed and burst a rather impressive blister on my thumb.
Having got up rather late, by the time we’d realised we were rather peckish it was nearly two o’clock. “er indoors TM” boiled up a rather good bit of lunch then went shopping. I tided up the garden carnage and again confirmed what I have been ranting for years. Gardening is such a futile exercise. Having spent the best part of three hours in the garden it looks just the same as when I’d started. Admittedly the lawn and paving slabs do look tidier, but you’d need to have that pointed out to realise.
“er indoors TM” went shopping; I got the ironing board out. I don’t know just how much laundry “er indoors TM” generated for me last week on holiday (I don’t count her stuff – I just wash and iron it) but I had washed seventeen t-shirts and six pairs of trousers of my own. Between us I’d got enough ironing to keep me occupied whilst I watched a DVD. “Scum” is an old favourite film of mine. I have seen it dozens of times. How has it taken me so long to realised that one of the senior prison wardens was played by the actor who was Mr Samgrass in Brideshead Revisited?
With “Scum” and ironing finished I then watched David Attenborough on the “Eden” channel. I didn’t realise that the largest egg in the world was something that was given to him (in fragments) over fifty years ago.
A rather good dinner, two episodes of “House of Games” and now “Madagascar” is on the telly. I shall do a little more geo-planning and then have another early night…
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