19 October 2023 (Thursday) - Late Shift

I slept through until nearly eight o’clock this morning which was a major result. I had a shave and bearing in mind the weather wasn’t good and forecast to get worse I thought I’d get our walk in as quickly as possible. I took the dogs up to the park and back through the drizzle. Morgan pulled a bit, but nowhere near as much as he has done in the past, and we didn’t bark at anyone or anything despite some provocation. I understand that not everyone likes dogs, but when walking past dogs just walk past them. If you don’t like them, don’t shy away in terror as this scares them. I think my three were rather good in not reacting like so many passers-by did this morning.
 
We came home and I had a quick voom round the garden despite the rain. I harvested a bumper crop of dog dung, and had a little fiddle with the pond’s bog filter. Having filled what was once a splash pool with pond plants, the outlet seems to be bunging up somewhat. I think I’ve fixed it for now…
 
We came inside, set the washing machine going, made toast and scoffed it whilst watching the last episode of “Alice in Borderland”. Like the last episode of all Netflix series it was much longer than most episodes, but sadly could all have been done in twenty minutes. There’s a third season being made. Will I watch it? Possibly. It was a good show but probably lost quite a bit in translation.

I was rather late looking at Facebook this morning. It told me that as a paid-up Munzer I’d been given a little prezzie. I’d got a bung of one hundred and twenty five Zeds. That’s ninety-four pence. And I saw something which made me think… One day in 1975 I asked a friend to come to Boys Brigade with me. The Boys Brigade is a very religious organisation and makes no secret it is all about getting children into church. That friend and I stayed in the Boys Brigade for years… eventually I saw through the brainwashing but my old mate lapped it up and a few years ago packed up a very well paid job and is now a Baptist minister down in the West Country. Every morning someone from his church does a webinar “Prayers at Ten”. Today it was my old mucker. The chap who for many years was my best mate was on my lap-top screen so earnestly preaching utterly stark staring nonsense which didn’t stand up to any reasoning or thought whatsoever. I can’t help but feel responsible that the chap is clearly living in a fantasy world.
“er indoors ^TM” says he’s clearly happy enough. He probably is… but he seems utterly mad. I suppose that’s religion for you. I’m told that those who escape religion become very anti-religious… perhaps I am.

Bearing in mind we’d gone out for our walk earlier because the rain was supposed to be getting worse as the day went on, I was rather miffed to see sunshine as I set off west-wards to the late shift. As I drove, the "From Our Own Correspondent" show on the radio was talking about how religious leaders in Senegal adopt no end of children and then send them out on the streets as professional beggars. The government won't do anything about this as professional begging is too lucrative and those adopting/employing the children have become too powerful a pressure group. I suppose I should be grateful that my old mate hasn't jumped on this bandwagon.
This was followed by a book program about Sir Ernest Shackleton's biography. "South: The Endurance Expedition" is a first-hand account of Sir Ernest's abortive attempt to cross Antarctica. I quite liked the program as I've read the book and could relate to what they were talking about. I've got it at home somewhere.
 
As I drove I only went through three sets of traffic light for temporary road works. In a novel break with tradition, two of them had people working on them. As I drove the sunshine at home gave way to rain in Betherseden, more sun at Biddenden, gloom at Sissinghurst and more rain in Goudhurst.
There was also a rather humungous lorry bunging up the tight corner by the church in Goudhurst; there often is.
 
Work was work; During the afternoon I had a formal meeting with the boss about my upcoming retirement. Both the boss and the nice admin lady were jealous of me retiring. In all honesty I was jealous that they didn't make "old man in pain" noises when they sat down, but I didn't say anything. I outlined my plan that after my birthday next year I take my pension and carry on doing pretty much the same as I am now work-wise, but only do half the hours I'm currently doing. The boss seemed quite happy with this, and the nice admin lady commented on how easy and straightforward my plan was.
We filled in all the forms and now we just have to wait to see what the first obstacle to semi-retirement will be. I'm sure there will be some problem or other cropping up. I would be very surprised if there wasn't.
I can't pretend I don't like my job, but I'm rather excited at the thought of having quite a bit more spare time next year... It has to be said that working five days a week is a tad dull.
 
Anyone who’s been following this drivel over the last week or so will know I’ve been whinging about the speed at which people have been flying along the A262 recently. As I drove home this evening I found two cars wedged in a hedge at a right-angle to the road just outside Sissinghurst with a swarm of stopped cars around them...