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24 November 2023 (Friday) - This n That

I woke far too early following a rather vivid nightmare in which I and a load of my old muckers from the Boys Brigade (from the late 1970s) had been seconded into the Merchant Navy in order to make up the numbers for the posh dinners they were planning. We could do whatever we liked during the day time, but all of us had to be in Portsmouth Harbour every evening for a sit-down meal. Sitting down on the quayside whatever the weather.
What was that all about?
I hobbled downstairs. Overnight I'd developed a seriously painful right hip; it felt as though I'd been kicked. How did that happen?
 
Over toast I watched an animated episode of "Dad's Army"; someone or other has taken the old radio broadcasts of the TV episodes that were lost and has animated them in much the same way that the missing episodes of "Doctor Who" have been animated. Having seen the missing "Dad's Army" episodes recreated with new actors, the animations are far better for the simple reason that you can see which characters are which. In the re-created episodes I couldn't tell who any of the new actors were supposed to be playing.
 
I tried not to make too much noise as I got ready for work, but I suspect I could have been heard miles away. Now that the back room is sorted maybe I might squirt my armpits in there in the mornings. If I did that I could switch the light on rather than crash about in the darkness trying to find which tin has got some deodorant left in it, and which is one of the half-dozen empty ones I've not got round to throwing away.
 
I set off for work and was immediately confused by the bin lorry coming down the road. For over thirty years the bin lorry has come up the road; why has it changed its direction?
As I drove there was a lot to worry about in the news. With migration into the UK hitting an all-time high, right wing groups are calling for a stop to all immigration. The racist politician (from the "Reclaim" party) being interviewed this morning made the tired old comments that as a nation we shouldn't be reliant on immigrant workers, and that UK citizens should be doing care home and hospital work. The fact that this has all been said before (time and again) and UK citizens clearly aren't interested didn't deter him in the least. Mind you this chap was adamant that immigration should stop; better to have no one doing the work than to have immigrant workers was the implication.
I wonder who this bloke was; I wouldn't vote for him.
Meanwhile elections in the Netherlands have come up with a new leader for their country. One of his election pledges was a ban on the building of any new mosques. I wonder how he will get on with that.
 
With a few minutes spare I went to the petrol station to re-fuel; I was getting a tad low on the stuff. Petrol in Aylesford was eight pence per litre cheaper than in Ashford. Or would have been had the petrol station been open.
Sadly it wasn't.
I went into Sainsburys to get lunch, and to ask if anyone knew of a petrol station that might be open. No one did, but luckily for my back (which was saved from pushing my car), whilst I'd bought a sandwich Sainsburys had re-opened their petrol station.
 
I got to work and did my bit. I spent quite a bit of time today emailing more stuff to various people about my (hopefully) upcoming retirement. Just three months to go until I take semi-retirement. I don't dislike my job, but as the pension date approaches I find myself getting progressively more and more tired. I find myself taking longer and longer to recover from the night shifts, the late shifts are hard work, and given a choice it would be early shifts all the way since they finish two hours earlier than the core ones.
 
Being on an early today was a result. Mind you a few months ago I would have come home and taken the dogs to the woods. Today I raced the dusk home, and it was dark by the time I got home.
I stuck the dishwasher cleaning jollop into the dishwasher, set it going, and tried to have a look at the monthly accounts. Tried and failed; the excitement of today’s Black Friday was too much for the bank, and their app and website had crashed.
After a few hours it came back and I could get to my statements and have a look at the accounts. Could be better, could be worse…
 
My hip still hurts.

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