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21 August 2024 (Wednesday) - Late Shift

Last night, as always, I went to bed first. I settled myself in the middle of the bed and went to kip. A couple of hours later I woke to find myself hanging off the edge with an alliance of “er indoors TM and several dogs having captured pretty much all the available space.
I made toast and had my usual root around the Internet; this morning it was dull. I sent out birthday wishes, had a quick Munz and got Wordle on the fourth attempt.
 
Not having quite so much time on my hands this morning I thought I’d take a chance. I leaded up the dogs and in a novel break with tradition we set off south.
As we drove the pundits on the radio were talking about the consternation caused by the recent cancellation of a cycling/running double marathon event. The event has been cancelled following cyclists practicing for the event running down and killing an old woman. The woman’s son was being interviewed; he complained about how the cyclist practice in London’s parks and challenged listeners to go watch how single-minded they are. He claimed that the attention of most of them is on their cycling apps and they expect pedestrians to be the ones responsible for avoiding collisions. He also made the observation that speed limits on UK roads and routes only apply to motor vehicles. Apparently speed limits don’t apply to bikes.
 
I thought we might try Orlestone Woods for our walk today. Kings Wood and Longbeech Wood are a bit further away and are bigger. Our average walk round those woods is at least three and a bit miles and by the time we’ve driven there and driven home we’ve taken over two hours. I’ve always said that from home to Orlestone woods car park is a drive of nine minutes, and our two mile walk round there takes us thirty-five minutes. I used to go there all the time with my Fudge, but I’d been put off of the place after a couple of episodes with Morgan. However just recently I’ve been telling everyone how his recall has improved, so I thought I’d take a chance. I let them all off the leads before they got out of the car, and we walked and ran for two miles. We had a minor episode with some silly woman in the depths of the woods… but she had her dog on the lead and that *always* causes issues. Having spoken to so many people over so many years about dogs on leads in woods, the general consensus is that dogs can be off lead in woods a mile from the car park. And if a dog can’t be trusted off lead so far into the woods then don’t take it into what is seen by most as lead-free territory.
We waked for two miles, and were home just over an hour after we left. I was very pleased with how the walk went. All dogs came back when called… even when having a contretemps with passing normal people. Maybe it is still early days, and maybe the dogs still have time to piss on their chips, but with Orlestone being a viable place for a walk again, walks before late shifts and after early shifts has become a possibility again.
 
We came home to see another geocache had gone live in Longbeech Woods. Oh well – we wouldn’t have had time to go there today. I solved the puzzle and found the thing was very deep in the woods; we certainly wouldn’t have had time this morning.
But there’s tomorrow’s walk planned.
I did a little CPD and got it wrong. In theory the blood compatibility simulator is a brilliant idea. In practice it is a work in progress which sadly still has a lot more progress to be made.
 
Leaving “er indoors TM working and the dogs snoring I set off to work. As I drove up the motorway I counted thirty-two cars in the "HGVs only" section of the motorway. Needing petrol I stopped off at the Aylesford branch of Sainsbury's. There weren't that many cars waiting compared to how is sometimes gets there, but the queue to pay was out of the door; there were a couple of idiots at the counter who'd clearly come for a chat rather than to pay for their petrol.
I eventually got away, and as I drove up Hermitage Lane I realised my car was making an odd noise. I opened and closed the windows and thumped the dashboard. The nose went away. That'll do me.
And then I spent five minutes emptying all the rubbish out of my car. There was a surprising amount of rubbish to empty. Hopefully that will improve the fuel economy.
 
Work was the same as ever. I came home to find the dollars I ordered from the bank yesterday had arrived… in hundred dollar bills. Absolutely no use to me whatsoever. I shall go up the bank tomorrow and ask how they intend to resolve their balls up. If I don’t like what I hear I will change banks. I’ve had enough of the current one.

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