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8 September 2021 (Wednesday) - Bit Dull Really

Despite having turned off my phone’s internet connection last night, the thing spent much of the night beeping with messages it was receiving through that turned-off connection. I gave up trying to sleep, turned off the phone’s alarm, and shortly afterwards that alarm went off anyway. That phone seems to have a mind of its own.

I made toast and scoffed it whilst watching an episode of “Drifters” before sparking up my lap-top. It too had a funny five minutes; having updated its web browsers overnight the things weren’t working. Eventually they got going, and I tried not to laugh at a post on one of the work-based Facebook groups in which various people were quarrelling about various features in a photo of a blood film. I find it best to keep quiet on those work-based Facebook groups. As is so often the way, the more vocal the people posting, the less they actually knew.

With not a lot else going on in cyber space and bearing in mind how busy the motorway was yesterday I set off for work rather early.

 

As I got into my car I watched not-so-nice-next-door going off on her morning constitutional. Every morning at half past six she goes up the road in a rather odd way. Slower than running, faster than walking. You really would think she'd crapped herself judging by the gait, only she was heading away from her house rather than toward it.

Pausing only briefly to post a nephew's birthday card I was very soon being tail-ended by a lorry of the Southern Fencing Company. Having been dangerously close to me going up the motorway's slip road they overtook like a maniac, then drove all the way to Maidstone never more than a hundred yards in front of me. What was the urgency to get in front of me all about?

 

As I drove, the pundits on the radio were talking about the announcement of the new government in Afghanistan. A lot of concern has been expressed internationally how no minorities or women are part of the new Afghan administration and how people that western governments have wanted to question are now in positions of authority. I didn't quite laugh out loud, but what did the international community expect. Having spent twenty years using military force to keep the religious extremists out, the west has walked away leaving the door open to those they were keeping out. How can anyone spend twenty years forcing an extremist organisation into hiding, then walk away and act surprised that this extremist group stops hiding?

 

There was also a lot of talk about the government's new tax to pay for the NHS and for social care. As far as I am concerned the only surprising thing about it is that people are surprised by it. The world is slowly recovering from a pandemic, we've had to use the NHS and social care like never before. Of course it costs money. But the politicians are being rather stupid about it. Of course the Prime Minister has broken manifesto pledges... when he wrote them he had no idea there was going to be a pandemic. And why are the Labour party having a go at the Conservative party for raising taxes? How would the Labour party pay for the costs of the pandemic? With shirt buttons? Speaking as a life-long-leftie, the current Labour party are something of an embarrassment.

 

Work was work, but being in an early start meant for another early finish. And again I came home to find it far too hot to be taking the dogs out. So instead I pondered the geo-map and have worked out a route through London starting at Tower Bridge and taking a convoluted route to the British Museum hopefully finding about fifty geocaches as we go.

  

“er indoors TM” is boiling up dinner; I’ve got my eye on a bottle of plonk…

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