I looked at the clock when I woke to see it was half past seven. Being on a late shift I thought I’d have a little longer in bed. I went back to sleep and woke an age later to see it was only quarter to seven. What was that all about?
I made toast and scoffed it as another negative COVD test incubated and as I peered into the Internet. There wasn’t an awful lot happening on Facebook - it was heaving with people who were formally signing off for the holiday. Holiday? What – the one that doesn’t start until the weekend? Every year we have this. Loads of people make a big song and dance about turning off the Internet connection for the festive period… and then carry on clicking “like” and commenting all over social media much the same as ever.
I sent out a birthday wish, and had a wish of my own. The colleague whose birthday it is today has a mother who is a rather good cook. Would there be cakes later? And then I had a little ponder. My childhood mate “Nobby” had his birthday today. Whatever happened to him? He’s not on social media and neither I nor any other of our contemporaries have heard from him in nearly forty years.
I spent a few minutes watching English Heritage’s live feed from Stonehenge in which several hundred hippies had been given carte blanche to swarm all over the stones. After a few minutes it got rather dull and I turned it off. I suppose it was rather atmospheric if you were there, but it didn’t quite seem the same from arial footage from someone’s drone. Mind you Stonehenge has always been something of a disappointment for me. I visited the place on 1 October 2011 when I wrote “Stonehenge was something of a disappointment” and I came relatively close to the place on 21 August last year when I was equally unimpressed,
The trouble with Stonehenge is that it is so famous and iconic that it can never live up to its reputation.
I got the leads on to the dogs and we went out. Not fancying scraping all the ice from the car we just walked to the park. As we walked we met a rather delightful (!) family of four children and a mother, The children all shrieked at the dogs as mother puffed away on a cannabis-laden spliff.
We also met a few other dogs as we went round the park. All of them barked at my two, and each time my two came back to me when called. I was rather impressed about that. It has to be said that walking the dogs in Viccie Park can be hard work, but it is local and mud-free (for the most part).
We came home and I wrote up six CPD exercises as the washing machine and dishwasher did their things. As I’ve said before I do think I go rather overkill on my CPD efforts, but rather too much than too little. I then spent a few minutes pondering over today’s instalment of the Lego Advent Calendar. I have to say that I think that my efforts this year haven’t been as good as some of those in the past. I’ve made a little archive of Advent adventures. Hopefully some people might like it.
I had planned to watch a little telly this morning but what with one thing and another time had run away from me. Seeing both dogs were snoring I got ready for work and leaving both dogs snoring I set off. In daylight.
I drove to Sainsburys in Aylesford. I thought I'd get my prescription for my operation (the paperwork came through the post the other day) but I made the schoolboy error of forgetting that there are only three shopping days before Christmas. I queued to get into the car park and found half a dozen supermarket staff there... not so much directing traffic as just watching it get more and more gridlocked. Once I'd finally parked my car I braved the Armageddon that was the supermarket. Loads of people with trolleys piled high all gossiping with each other, all getting in everyone else's way. I eventually got my antibiotics and steroids, and some Ibuprofen for my iffy hip. I don't like taking pain killers, but they do have the beneficial effect of killing the pain. I also got a sandwich for lunch, and went to pay...
I'd arrived at Sainsburys to find the place heaving. Whilst I'd waited twenty minutes for my prescription the place had pretty much emptied out. There were no queues at the checkouts, and the queues in the car park were just a memory.
Strange.
Perhaps everyone had gone for lunch?
I went in to work and did my bit. There *was* cake! As I worked I was chatting with a colleague who had booked a couple of days off work and was going straight from work to make the journey to see his parents in Scotland. He was taking the train from Maidstone to London from where he had the choice of train or coach to get up north. The train would have cost him over two hundred pounds; booking a seat on the overnight coach had set him back twelve quid. It is an eight-hour journey but he bought a travel pillow and intended to sleep all the way. Twelve quid, eh? Ashford to London costs over thirty quid on the train.
I might take a holiday to Scotland myself at that price.
I came home to find “er indoors TM” fighting with the new fire. It took some fighting to get together. I suspect it will be far more decorative than functional…
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