Yet
another restless night. I woke to see two missed calls from my brother on my
phone. I phoned him (expecting the worst) but there was little news of
Dad really. His temperature spiked overnight and he has been put on
antibiotics, but that goes with a chest infection. Apparently his sisters are
visiting today and once they’ve been and gone my brother is going in to see him.
I
decided against going down; he will be worn out after all that lot.
I
had a look at the pond as the puppies tiddled… I wasn’t entirely happy with
what I did yesterday as the cascade/slide isn’t long enough. But the thing
didn’t seem to have leaked in the day since I set it up yesterday, which is a “proof
of concept” if nothing else.
As
I scoffed toast I had a look at the Internet. My cousin was bemoaning the state
of her local cinema. It isn’t what it used to be. Back in the day things were
different. My aunts used to go to “The Classic” in Hastings every
Tuesday evening as there were only three TV channels in those days and no VCRs
or streaming. No matter what film was showing, it was better than the telly.
And cheap too. But these days I've got a thousand channels of stuff on the Sky
box which I can watch in peace and quiet and press the "pause"
button whenever I like.
I
can’t help but think that cinemas have had their day. It costs over a tenner to
sit through a film with the smelly burping farting great unwashed; many of whom
are messing about on their mobile phones. I can't remember when I last went to
a cinema... certainly I’m in no rush to go to one any time soon...
And
the proprietor of “The Red Pig” was having a rant on
Facebook. The Red Pig is a little roadside café at Pett Level which has been
giving tea and cake to refugees (who arrive in a boat) whilst they wait
for the authorities to arrive. This little act of humanity has sparked quite a
bit of outrage from the haters. I’ll just make the observation that (in my
experience) many of those who object to the refugees do so as they see
refugees as competition for their dole handouts, and it is those who were once
refugees who now do many of the jobs in the UK that those jealously guarding
their dole handouts won’t do.
We didn’t make plans
for today… we had one or two options but what with Dad being a tad poorly (to
say the least!) I wanted to be available and relatively local just in case.
But the dogs needed a walk, so we walked over to Singleton and walked up part
of the Greensand Way. I’d had reports that some of the geocaches I’d hidden
there were missing. Some were, some weren’t. I replaced the ones that were
missing, and “er indoors TM” got to log finds on the ones
that were there (and on the two I replaced).
The walk up the
Greensand Way is rather pretty, and when you almost (but not quite) get
to Hothfield there is a lovely little path down past Ripper’s Wood and back to the
river where the dogs like to swim. It is only a shame that there are so many
sheep along that way; the dogs were on the leads far more than I would have
liked.
We
got home at mid-day and had a Belgian bun and a cuppa for lunch, then I went to
B&Q. As we’d been walking I’d had a (frankly genius) idea of rather
than hunting around to find the exact child’s slide that I want, I might make a
wooden frame and cover it with the spare pond liner that I’ve got to make a
cascade of the size that I want.
I
got to B&Q… and after ten minutes demanded to see the manager. I pointed
out to her (and she had to agree) that at most only one out of twenty of
their customers were watching where they were going. I’d had a dozen crash over
the timber beams I was pushing on my trolly, and as I ranted at the poor
boss-lady so the normal people were continually bouncing off of each other. I
suggested that she might put a sign on the door saying: “open your eyes and
look where you are going”. She admitted the need for one, but felt that
people might take offence. I made the observation that when the idiot public
sue for damages, she might change her mind. But it was obvious she was more
worried about getting rid of me than about people falling over each other.
I
went to load my shopping into the car… and had a minor disaster. The timbers
didn’t fit; they were too long. I phoned “er indoors TM” who
was brilliant and hurried round to help me carry them home.
And
with shopping shopped “er indoors TM” went off to visit her
mother. I decided against going; all her family would mean well, but they would
all be asking after my Dad, and tutting and shaking their heads. He wouldn’t
want any of that. Instead I cut the timers to length and shape, and built the
wooden frame that I need for cascade MkII. After three hours I had the thing
made but was aching somewhat. I’ll put it in place another day, eh?
I
really ache now…
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