I slept better last night than I did the night before.
However I again had to contend with what I can only describe as "The
Treacle Issue". Treacle has figured out there is more room at the
bottom of the bed than at the top, so she sleeps there. However where my feet
warm the bed, so she oh-so-slowly gently pushes my feet over so she can
get to the warm spot. And then as my feet warm up the next area of bed so she oh-so-slowly
moves over a bit more, pushing my feet again. Eventually I wake as my feet fall
off of the bed, when I shift her a yard or so to the left, and we start again.
I got up, had a shave and (armed with a Slimfast shake)
sparked up the telly. Being silly-early there was nothing but hour-long adverts
on. I found myself entranced by one such advert
(I dare not mention the brand name in case the manufacturer gets the
arse with me). Have you ever watched these "infomercials"?
I find the things captivating. This morning there was some very enthusiastic
bloke banging on about how good his food blender was; he was ably assisted by a
grinning bimbo (who used to advertise car finance). I was fascinated...
until the pair of them went into raptures about the health giving properties of
kale (which they took pains to point out was a cruciferous vegetable). I
suddenly realised (with something of a shock) that I'd been suckered in
to their world, and took that as my cue to put on something less dire.
I turned to Netflix and watched an episode of "Shameless"
instead. It was rather good, but... the plot hinged on someone or other getting
from Manchester to Calais and back in one night. Thirty seconds on Google Maps
shows us that such a journey is just a tad ambitious.
Driving through the rain I set off up the motorway
listening to the pundits on the radio. There was a lot of talk about threatened
shake-ups in the Metropolitan Police Force, and getting rid of coppers who
aren't quite up to the required standard. It would seem that as well as loads
of serving officers facing all sorts of allegations of sexism and racism,
hundreds of serving coppers have got criminal records (serious driving
offences and violent crimes were mentioned). No one (least of all the
new Police Commissioner for the Met) seems to be sure how anyone with a
criminal record got through the recruitment process, and thousands of
appointments are to be reviewed, with "bad apples" getting the
heave-ho. Mind you another report shows the Met is short of a thousand coppers
as it has something
of a recruitment crisis. It has been claimed that no one wants to be a
rozzer, and (needs must) they appear to have been taking what few applicants
they get. Perhaps if the Met paid more, then there would be more competition
for jobs and there might be some decent candidates to choose from. Isn't this
exactly the issue currently facing teachers and the NHS staff (all of whom
are currently staging strike action for this reason!)?
Meanwhile my opinion of Michael Gove MP has gone up as he admitted to having made
mistakes in government over housing policies. The exact details of what he got
wrong are immaterial; we all make mistakes. As I tell the trainees at work,
this is how we learn. Hopefully Mr Gove has learned something.
Sadly almost no air-time at all was devoted to the
announcement that our old friend Science thinks it might have found
aliens again. With coherent radio signals being detected only twelve light
years away at planet YZ Ceti b, it is close enough to go visit... It would
probably take quite a bit of time and money, but going to say "hello"
isn't beyond the realms of possibility (is it?).
I got to work, and made myself comfortable at the
microscope and made a phone call. I've got this theory that I might take
semi-retirement. If I take my pension and continue to work two or three
days a week I would be on pretty much the same money I am currently on for half
the effort. But there are a couple of details on which I want clarification so
I phoned the pension people.
Have you ever phoned any office recently. They all have the
same answerphone message. Is there any telephone in the country that isn't
"experiencing high call volume at the moment"?
I got through and asked my questions... I was promised a reply
by email within four working days. I wonder if I will get the answer I want.
With work worked I came home. I supervised dog dinner, then
“er indoors TM” and we drove round to the Swan and Dog where
we met up with Heather and Andy and had a rather good meal in celebration of
their wedding anniversary… Twenty-one years, eh? I remember that wedding
vividly…
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