As I scoffed brekkie I peered into the Internet. I saw I
had an e-invitation to sign a petition to get the Eurostar to stop at Ashford (like
it used to). I didn’t sign it. The Eurostar not stopping in Ashford is just
like all these pubs closing; if something don’t get used (and therefore don’t
make money) it gets the chop.
If enough people had got on the Eurostar at Ashford it
would have kept going. It wasn’t making enough money to pay for the border
force people and ticket offices and so it closed. For all that I liked the idea
of being able to walk up the road and get a train to France, I actually did it
once, and that was when work was paying for it.
There was also an email about a new geocache not very far
from where we were going this morning. But by the time we’d done dog breakfast
and got dressed and farted about it would have been found by someone else… in
any case the local king of the First to Find was probably already on the way by
the time I’d seen it (or so I thought).
So I put that new cache out of my mind, and once the dogs
were all ready I took them for their morning constitutional. As we drove to the
woods the pundits on the radio were talking about why so many local councils are
going bankrupt. They were interviewing some Conservative
politician or other; I don’t know who he was but he made a good point.
If you aren’t feeling well you go to a doctor who has been
to medical school and who has then acquired many years of experience. If you
need work doing on your house you have a look on review websites and pick the
best person for the job. But when it comes to running a local council we all
vote for whoever stands up and says “vote for me; I’m not as crap as all the
others”. Even though they probably have absolutely no experience of running
anything at all. And then we all act surprised when they can’t do the job to
which we all appointed them even though they were utterly unqualified.
When you think about it, this is no way to run a council,
is it? And we run the country that way too.
We got to the woods, and had a good time. We played with
other dogs. We rolled in a dead blackbird. We did some filming for the movie
I’m planning to make for this year’s “Geocaching International Film Festival”.
After four miles we got back to the car. I had
a look at the listing for that geocache which had gone live earlier… still no
finds and it was only a mile away… The call of the FTF was strong.
It wasn’t long before
we were very suspiciously rummaging in someone’s front garden. As we rummaged
so a voice called out: “You’re the first”. I’ve been first to find a
geocache two hundred and seventy-eight times before, but there is nothing like
that smug satisfaction I had this morning when I realised I was first one to
find it for the two hundred and seventy-ninth time. Mind you I logged it at
10.25am; two and a quarter hours after publication. Round here, that’s an
eternity.
We
came home for a bath, then leaving the dogs under the supervision of “er
indoors TM” I drove down to Folkestone. “Stormageddon –
Bringer of Destruction TM” had gone to school, but “Darcie
Waa Waa TM” had had “Daddy’s Little Angel TM”
up quite literally all night. We went for McDinner to calm their nerves. “Darcie
Waa Waa TM” likes pressing the buttons on the food ordering
machine at McDonalds and letting her do so gives you the added excitement of
not quite knowing what you going to end up getting.
I had a Big Mac with extra pickles. Littlun
doesn’t like pickles; she threw hers at random passers-by. You can get away
with doing that when you are two years old.
We went back to theirs
for a cuppa and to fuss Pogo. “Darcie Waa Waa TM” was
impressed that I could catch a ball, and I spent far too long throwing a ball
into the air and catching it to her frank amazement.
After a rather busy
morning I returned home, and seeing the forecast rain hadn’t appeared I went
into the garden and painted more fence panels. In the past I’ve averaged one
panel every hour and a quarter; today I got three panels done in two and a half
hours. I was impressed but ached somewhat afterwards.
I came in just as the
doorbell work. The bathroom man was bringing samples of wall and floor tiles. It
looks like this new bathroom is going to happen. I pootled on the lap-top for a
little while, then tried to move… and couldn’t.
I think I might have overdone it today. But
this is silly. A walk round the woods, McDinner, and painting three fence
panels. I can’t really do much less in a day, can I?
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