22 March 2025 (Saturday) - Darcie, Dog Club, Backache

I spent much of the night listening for sounds of littlun, but I didn’t hear a thing from her. What little sleep I did have was rather restless. I woke in a cold sweat shortly after midnight following a nightmare in which littlun had decided that she wanted to play “Squid Game”. As she’s only three we played a non-lethal version in which every time she stuffed up, grandad got an electric shock. And after waking up at half past five following another nightmare in which the theme tune to her favourite You-Tube video had been re-written to “It’s Steve and Maggie – squawking like a bast”, and somehow I’d got the blame.

 

I gave up trying to sleep and made toast. As I peered into the Internet I saw two friends had birthdays today. One was a colleague who was forty today. Forty? I would have guessed late twenties. And another was a chap with whom I went to school so I know how old he is… even though he has always seemed about twenty years older than me.

I munzed and wordled, and then woke the girls and the dogs.

 

It took a little longer than usual to get ready this morning, Darcie doesn’t go as quick as she might, but we were soon all on our way to Repton. Dog Club was rather busy this morning; loads of dogs; loads of mayhem. Littlun loved it and spent quite a bit of time playing ball with Roo (one of the larger dogs). Roo loved it; as did littlun. It was only a shame that some of the bigger dogs crashed into me during their chase game which rather put my back out.

 

We came home via the bakery down the road. We usually have a bun with our coffee on a Saturday morning but we’d forgotten to get any today. So I popped into the local bakery. This place is usually a disappointment, but I thought we might give it another chance, and sadly it will be a while before we go back.

It is places like this that give me absolutely no confidence in on-line reviews. Scoring very well on TripAdvisor the reviews seem to be describing a different place. The cream slices we had today were stale with rather foul chemicals in place of cream, and were exactly what we’ve had before from there, but people on-line can’t speak highly enough about them. I’m reminded of an author friend of mine who has been given five-star reviews for some of his books by people who openly admit they’ve not read them.

 

With yukky buns scoffed littlun ran riot. The dogs all sat with me, and I fell asleep in front of “Toobs” (as littlun called You-Tube). I was fast asleep for over an hour. I woke in time to say goodbye to “er indoors ^TM” and “Darcie WaaWaa ^TM” who were off to a lambing event at the school farm in Tenterden.

I tried to do a little tidying-up but my back wasn’t having any of it, so I sat on my bum and watched more “Squid Game 2” on Netflix. I could remember the first season being a tad slow to get going; the second season has effectively wasted the first two episodes, but it eventually perked up.

 

The girls returned and wreaked havoc before littlun was returned to her home. I watched more “Squid Game 2” then fell asleep again.

It wasn’t long before “er indoors ^TM” returned, and hot on her heels came Chris, Sarah and Steve. We had a rather good evening on the infinity table. A game of “Game of Life”, a game of “Sorry”, a game of “Ticket to Ride”… a rather good evening.

 

Today’s step count has come in at about ten thousand steps less than the average for the last week…

My back hurt when I got up this morning and it has been giving me gyp all day.

21 March 2025 (Friday) - Another Cancelled Appointment

Treacle had rather spread out last night; I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to reclaim any bed space; finally giving up and getting up at half past six. I had a look in the garden; something had again been splashing in the little pond.

 

I made toast and had a look at the Internet. I had an email from geocaching HQ. There’s to be a geo-picnic in June in Lydd. I put that in the diary. I’d missed a geo-meet-up last night; there has been a little get-together in Frittenden. Geocaching HQ openly admit that their messaging and notification system doesn’t work with complete reliability which is why whenever I organise a meet-up I advertise it far and wide so no one misses out. Sadly in this respect (as in many others) I am in a minority.

And I saw that a friend was having a birthday today. Fifty years ago me and Dougal were best of mates. I last saw him in the flesh twenty years ago…

 

I munzed and wordled and then popped round to B&Q. Usually I avoid that place like the plague, but I needed a cover for the small pond. A trellis would be ideal but it wouldn’t easily fit in the car so I went to B&Q, got one and carried it home. Compared to previous visits this was rather good.

 

I then took the dogs up to the woods. As I drove the pundits on the radio were interviewing the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. If you listened to what he said, he sounded rather impressive… until you realised that what he was saying bore little (if any) relation to reality. He was adamant that at the end of this government’s term the average household will be paying three hundred quid a year less for leccie and gas. However when presented with the fact that the average household is currently paying a hundred and fifty quid a year more than this time last year, he all but stuck his fingers in his ears and shouted “la-la-la-I’m-not-listening”.

We got to the woods. Again there were only three other cars in the car park. We had a good walk. Despite an empty car park there were quite a few young ladies jogging round in tight spandex. Some of them might as well have run round in the nip for all that they were keeping secret.

As we walked I had a phone call from the dentist cancelling today’s appointment.

 

We came home. I made us a cuppa then went down to the dentist to reschedule. I made an appointment for next week, and I made a point of telling them that this appointment is set in stone. They asked what I meant by that. I told them that over the years they have cancelled more appointments than they have kept, and I don’t want this one cancelling.

As I walked out I heard the receptionist telling her mate that they are receptionists, not punchbags. I shall find another dentist; I’ve not been happy with this one for years.

 

I drove round to Bybrook Barn to get water lilies, comets, compost and rockery plants. They had compost and rockery plants, but no lilies and the fish weren’t for sale. Apparently it is too early in the season for anything pond-related…

I went round to Dobbies where there was an incredibly helpful chap. They had a range of lilies; which colour would I like? And whilst they didn’t have any comets they had a lot of small goldfish. The chap said he’d scoop up a large net-full and hand pick the ones I liked. Dobbies aren’t cheap, but they are helpful.

 

I got the water lily and goldfish into the small pond, then sawed the trellis to shape. When the saw went through my thumb there wasn’t *that* much blood really. And then I painted the trellis. I hate painting trellis; it takes an absolute age. I then shifted some of the old garden ornaments to the end of the garden; I had this sudden stroke of genius (I have those from time to time) that they might add to the rockery.

I did plan to pot the last of the violas I bought on Wednesday and the alpines I bought today, but by the time I was in a position to do that my back was playing up and it was four o’clock. I tidied up and made up both a cuppa. I shall pot the plants over the weekend.

 

“er indoors ^TM” set off to fetch “Darcie WaaWaa ^TM” who was coming up for a little sleepover. We had a game of “doll kiss chase” then littlun and Treacle had a great game chasing around the living room. We all scoffed far too much pizza, and littlun went to bed amazingly early.

I suspect she will be up before midnight, but we shall see…

 

20 March 2025 (Thursday) - Holiday Day Four

I woke feeling full of energy and raring to go – at three o’clock. I dozed on and off for the rest of the night and finally nodded off just as “er indoors ^TM”’s alarm went off at seven.

I voomed straight into the garden and had a look at the ponds. The big one is clearing; something has been splashing in the little one. Three fish vanished from that pond last year. I shall have to think about building some sort of cover for it.

 

I made toast and had my usual rummage round the Internet. Much of Kent was seemingly up in arms about the closure of one of the county’s oldest pubs. I did wonder just how many of those crying crocodile tears had ever been into the place; let alone spent any money in there.

 

I took the dogs to the woods. As we drove the Defence Minister was being interviewed on the radio, and he made a point of not answering a single question that was put to him.

We got to Kings Wood; the car park was all but empty with only three other cars there. We started our walk and saw a herd of deer within minutes. Not ten seconds behind them came a jogger and his dog. I commented on the deer; the jogger wasn’t having any of it. He was adamant that I was mistaken. There had been no deer – if there had been his dog would have been after them like a shot. I smiled sweetly.

We saw more deer later in our walk as well…

At about the half-way point (the furthest point at which a car or van can get into the woods) we met a group of half a dozen people in Forestry England clothing with three Forestry England pick-up trucks. One of them had a trailer attached to it inside which about a dozen dead deer were hanging. The Forestry England people fussed the dogs and we got talking. I commented how we’d seen deer today, and this year we’d seen deer more often than we didn’t. “And that’s the problem” one of the Forestry England people commented. Apparently the rate at which we saw deer in previous years was about right; maybe once every two months. It would seem that last year and this year they’ve been breeding like things possessed and are having to be culled. I was reminded of Bob from the snake club who was a gamekeeper in the Challock area twenty years ago. He said that he was under orders to shoot one deer a day every day to keep the numbers in check.

 

With walk walked we came home. Yesterday we saw loads of people in the woods. There was hardly anyone there today. With “er indoors ^TM” having an office day I made myself a cuppa, munzed and wordled, and had a look in the garden.

The plan for today was to sort the larger of the gravelled areas, and that’s what I did. I painted up the old jug part of the water feature, then painted the wood bits I’d sanded yesterday. I varnished the jug, heaved out the old garden ornaments and heaved in the new. Put the old planter into place, filled it with compost and planted those violas I’d bought yesterday. There was a minor hiccup in that I thought I’d bought nine violas; I’d actually got twenty. Did I ever mention I’ve got a degree in maths?

I had a spot of lunch (yesterday’s leftovers) then spent an hour or so painting gnomes before running round with the watering can and then doing the “feeding the fish” ritual.

I took a few photos of today’s efforts. Far from being a week off work; I’m working harder than ever. And I’ve a list of things as long as my arm to do tomorrow.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up pork chops which we scoffed whilst watching more “Throw Down”. Painting gnomes isn’t entirely unlike what the potters do in that show.

I’m supposedly having a week’s holiday from work this week. I’ve not stopped.

19 March 2025 (Wednesday) - Gardening

I ached again this morning when I got up. This really sucks. Yesterday all I did was walk the dogs, mow the lawn, an hour’s light gardening and took Bailey to the dentist and I’m all in the next day.

I made toast and had a look at Facebook as I do. Friends were complaining about the government’s cuts to the welfare system. I’m not saying that the system was perfect; it probably needed an overhaul. But as a life-long leftie it bothers me that the Labour party only seem to stand up for their values when they are not in a position to do anything about that for which they claim to stand.

And I saw an advert for cable ties. You can buy them for pennies from a hardware shop to tie things with. Or you can buy them as a fashion accessory for hundreds of pounds. Your choice.

 

I munzed and wordled, then loaded the dogs into the car and we went up to the woods for a walk. We’d had reports of one of my geocaches being missing; it was. We replaced it as we went round the woods on our walk. There were quite a few people about today. As we went so the dogs ran up to another dog which immediately kicked off. I whistled and my three ran straight back to me. As we walked off I could hear that dog’s owners having a heated argument about why their dog can’t come when called like my dogs did. When my hounds come when called it is rather impressive.

 

We came home. The two smallest dogs had a bath. They’d both rolled in different disgusting things. And once bathed I sorted us both a cuppa then got on with my plans for the day. I hung out the washing.. and had to pause that to gather up an epic crop of dog turds. I then disassembled the pond’s pressure filter for the annual replacement of the ultra-violet light bulb. I eventually got it all apart (it took some doing), and got the old bulb out (that took some doing too). It was at that point that I found that the new replacement bulb was broken. Ho hum…

I phoned the aquatic shops to see if they had the right model of replacement bulb. In a perfect world they would make these filters with one-size-sits-all light bulbs, but they come in a range of shapes and sizes and wattages. No one at Bybrook Barn would answer the phone, but the nice people at Dobbies said they had a bulb that would fit.

I went to Dobbies. It’s never my first choice of places to go. They ain’t cheap, and there’s not one customer in a hundred in there looking where they are going, and the place has an amazingly laxative effect on the dogs. But I wasn’t taking the dogs. It was the only place with the bulb I wanted… and I could just shove the blundering customers out of the way.

Whilst I was at it I got a job lot of violas; six for a fiver in Bybrook Barn, in an amazing display of competitive pricing Dobbies were knocking them out as seven quid for nine. I never got round to using them today, but (in theory) I will use them tomorrow.

 

By then it was lunch time. I had a cold cross bun and a cuppa then cracked on in the garden again. I got that new bulb into the pressure filter, and whilst I was at it I replaced the input nozzle that had sprung a leak late last year. I ran out the pressure filter hose, and once it was connected I sparked it up; I didn’t want the muck that had over-wintered in the filter to go back into the pond. Instead that went onto the monkey-puzzle tree. It seems to like fish filter muck.

With the pond woken for the year I ran out the pressure-washer and had a blat at some of the old garden ornaments. They didn’t really clean up any good. Yesterday I said that they wouldn’t, didn’t I? The jug from the water feature didn’t come up too bad though… I shall paint it up and keep an eye out for something to replace it.

I sparked up the little pond; the cascade in that doesn’t really do much other than act as a reservoir for muck, so I removed it. I pruned the plants in both ponds, and made us both a cuppa and skibbits (as “Darcie WaaWaa ^TM” refers to biscuits) and then there was a knock on the door.

The sander I’d ordered from Amazon had arrived. I had been thinking of replacing the water feature and the planter I built last year, but that would be expense and effort. I had this stroke of genius (I have those from time to time) that I might sand them both down and give them a lick of paint and see if they might perk up.

I sprayed varnish onto the gnomes I’ve been painting. Hopefully this will have them last a tad longer than the last ones… Having said that, the last ones were painted for the first time on 17 June 2007 so if they do last longer they will probably see me out.

 

I got the sander out and read the instructions. The instructions had clearly been written in some obscure language and converted (not translated!) to English by Google translate. The instructions seemed to put an inordinate amount of importance on a nozzle which was “design to collect dust task”, but notwithstanding tasks (collect dust or otherwise) it managed to sand down that which I wanted sanding.

I shall see if anything has perked up after tomorrow’s painting. I was too tired to get the paint out today.

 

By that time I’d spent five hours working in the garden, and (in all honesty) it looked much the same as when I’d started. I voomed round with the watering can, then performed a test of canine memory.

Last year whenever I mentioned “I’m going to feed the fish” the dogs would fly to the pond in the hopes of getting some fish food. With the pumps in the pond running the fish were moving about, so I made my announcement. Despite it being five months or more since I last said it, the dogs flew to the pond.

They remembered.

And they still like fish food.

The fish had some too.

 

“er indoors ^TM”  boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching more “Throw Down”. We had a bottle of plonk too… and some port.

18 March 2025 (Tuesday) - At The Dog Dentist

I ached again when I got up this morning. I’ve been overdoing it a bit lately with all this garden nonsense.

I made toast and had a look at the Internet. It was still there, and much the same as ever. No one was really doing very much on Facebook, which was a shame. A new geocache had appeared on the map – this one in Biddenden. It involved solving a puzzle, and I’d soon solved it. I thought about chasing after a First to Find, but someone else had already found it two minutes before I saw the thing. Ho hum…

 

I munzed and wordled, and sparked up my chess app. Overnight “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” had been attempting to advance her rook, so I countered with a horsey, and then took the dogs out.

As we drove to the woods so the pundits on the radio were interviewing Adrian Edmonson about his radio play “Waiting for Waiting for Godot”. He didn’t really sell it very well.

 

We got to the woods and had a rather good walk. We saw the Dalmatian we saw the other day; the woman with the dog was as strange as ever; again marching deep into a thicket to avoid us, and then coming out once we’d passed. All the dogs ate horse poo, and we saw a herd of deer. As we walked so we saw a rather morose looking pair, and their dog ran up to us. Said dog had a dead squirrel in its mouth and looked very pleased about it. Needless to say my three all wanted a go with the dead squirrel, and weren’t happy that the other dog wouldn’t share.

We came home via the Sainsbury’s petrol station where the usually miserable old bat was quite chirpy. She’s usually got a face like a smacked bum at six o’clock, but was a different person at eleven.

Perhaps she’s not a morning person?

 

I made a cuppa, then cracked on in the garden. I mowed the lawn and had a tidy-up of the smaller gravelled area. It does look a bit better, but was hard work. I’ve hoiked out several little garden ornaments; I shall get the big pressure-washer out later in the week and see if they scrub up any good. Somehow I doubt they will, but I need to get the big pressure-washer out anyway.

 

I had a hot cross bun for lunch, then took Bailey out. First of all we went to the garden centre where I had a look at the water features. They were offering last year’s models at rock-bottom prices… Rock-bottom prices being about double what Amazon were charging. From there I took Bailey to the Doggy Dentist. I took Treacle the other day and we had a really good session. Today’s didn’t go quite as well. If Treacle’s behaviour had been nine out of ten, I think it’s fair to say that Bailey scored minus three. She wriggled and struggled. The doggy dentist did a good job, but there’s still quite a bit of cleaning to be done on the inside surfaces of her teeth. We’ve got another appointment in three months’ time. I’m taking the fact that she’s allowed back as something of a result. In the meantime we’ve got homework – we’ve got to get her used to having her mouth mauled about.

 

We came home for a cuppa. I got more paint onto the gnomes, and then I had a video call. On Sunday when I was in the garden centre some chap was offering cheap rate leccie and gas. I’m up for cheap rate anything so I made an appointment. He wanted me to have the figures together of what I was currently paying…

I won’t say he was selling a scam, but he was pushing a strange arrangement where I would get leccie, gas, broadband, mobile, credit card, house and contents insurance all through the one company. The savings he promised would all come through cashbacks on the credit card. Personally I’m not keen on having everything through the one company; if I have the arse with one (like the buildings insurance!!!) I don’t want to have to cancel everything.

 

As “er indoors ^TM” boiled up dinner I watched “Ancient Aliens: The Ultimate Evidence” on the history channel. Have you ever watched the show? There was absolutely no evidence whatsoever; ultimate or otherwise. Instead, several feeble-minded simpletons attributed everything they don’t understand to aliens.

Give it a go – it is hilarious… up to the moment when you realise that there really are people who believe this rubbish and these people are allowed to vote and do jury service.

17 March 2025 (Monday) - Walk, Whelan's

I didn’t sleep very well last night. When I finally got warm so the dogs started fidgeting, and when they finally settled so the aching started. I must have overdone the gardening yesterday.

I got up, made toast and watched an episode of “The Other One” then sparked up my lap-top. There wasn’t a lot going on this morning really, but there were a few photos of the Maison Dieu in Dover. The place has been closed for two years (that’s why there’s been no beer festivals there), and from what I could see it looks just the same as when they started.

“Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” had made her move in our chess game. She’d had my prawn with her horsey, which I thought was fighting talk. I threatened her horsey with the bishop’s prawn on E3 and hoped for the best. Amazingly she made a bit of a bad move and I huffed her horsey with the bish. She wasn’t impressed.

I munzed, and got a butterfly and a qrate too, and I got Wordle on the third attempt.

And then I spent an age fighting with the Met Office app on my phone. It was “having an issue” as it was unable to load data. It finally started working in the early evening..

 

I went down the road to the dentist as I had an appointment with the dentist and the hygienist. As I stood outside with everyone else waiting for someone to open the door so my phone rang. It was one of the dentist’s receptionists telling me that the appointment with the hygienist had been cancelled.

Eventually someone opened the door. Everyone who had been queuing outside all went to the counter where three receptionists were sitting, only to be rudely told that reception was self-service and we were directed to some pad-devices by the door.

I got in to see the dentist ten minutes after my scheduled appointment was due to start. Bearing in mind I was due to be first one of the day, that wasn’t a good start for them. The dentist rummaged in my gob and muttered something incomprehensible. After a few minutes rummaging his assistant said that all was done, and the reception people made an appointment with the hygienist for Friday and with the dentist for six months’ time.

I really should change dentist; I’ve not been happy with the lot down the road for years.

 

I came home, collected the dogs, and drove them up to Kings Wood where we walked a different walk to usual. Over the weekend someone had gone geocaching at the top end of the woods and had lost their glasses. I thought we might try to find them; we didn’t, but we did find some socks. And we met Amie and Willow too. We walked with them for a bit. It was good to catch up.

 

With walk walked I took the dogs home, then drove up to Sheerness and Whelan’s. Some of our garden ornaments were looking rather tired, so I spent a small fortune replacing them. Whelan’s stuff is heavy; by the time I’d lugged it round their yard and into the car, and then from the car to the back garden I was knackered.

 

I spent an hour fighting with my phone and lap-top to check my state pension forecast. It wasn’t easy. I finally established that taking semi-retirement hasn’t affected my state pension.

I then went into the garden and hung up the garden clock that “My Boy ^TM” and ”Auntie Chel ^TM” got me for Christmas. I’d deliberately not put it up earlier, but wanted to wait until I started on the garden. And then I got out the paints and started painting up the gnomes I’d bought earlier. I’ve got the red, yellow, blue and white done. Green and black and pink will come later. Painting gnomes is like potting plants and sorting shingle and any other garden job; it takes far longer than you’d think it should take.

 

“er indoors ^TM” has gone bowling. I’ve done the ironing. I’ve watched the last two episodes of “The Other One”. I think I might paint some more gnomes…

16 March 2025 (Sunday) - Gardening

I slept like a log last night right up until the nightmare in which I was at the bar in a crowded pub where the queue at the bar was getting longer and longer because the King (who was standing next to me) couldn’t decide what he wanted to drink and no one could be served before him.

What was that all about?

 

I got up, made toast and peered into the Internet. I sent out birthday wishes to the two Facebook friends having a birthday today. There wasn’t much else happening in the Internet, so I munzed, got wordle on the last attempt, and sparked up my chess app. Overnight it had updated, and was working again, so I did something racy with a prawn to see what “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” would make of it. Some might say I advanced the Queen’s pawn, but we don’t encourage the normal people, do we?

 

I put a load of washing in, and having completely forgotten the mental notes I’d made yesterday I had a little look in the garden to see what I needed from the garden centre. I needed white stones, brindle chippings, lawn food, a bag of compost, two biggish shrubs and a small plant. I harvested the dog dung (again) and then set off to get garden stuff.

Bearing in mind that Ham Street garden centre opens half an hour earlier than Bybrook Barn I went there only to find they didn’t have any brindle chippings or white stones. Ho hum… I got the compost and the lawn food and the plants and went to Bybrook Barn. I arrived there at the same time as a rather irritating chap whose wife was constantly apologizing for him as he was continually getting in everyone’s way. He really was utterly oblivious to the fact that he wasn’t the only person on the planet.

I went there to get two bags of stones; I came out with five. One bag of white wouldn’t have been enough, and it was buy two get one free. And the red ones were at a bargain price if you bought two.

 

I came home and heaved everything into the back garden. I got the laundry hung out, some white stones round the cordyline and one buddleia potted before “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs came home from their walk. We had a cuppa and a lunch of hot cross bun, then I went back into the garden.

I got the other buddleia into its pot, then re-potted the triffid that “er indoors ^TM” wanted me to save. And I put the new polyanthus into the pot that the triffid came out of.

By the time I’d swept up, tidied up and made good six hours had passed. I took a few photos of what I’d done in the garden since Thursday. Over the last three days there’s probably over ten hours’ effort and close on ninety quid’s worth of squander spent on the garden. You really wouldn’t think it, would you?

I ran round with the watering can, got the laundry in off the line and put another load in to scrub, and reviewed the situation. The lawn needs a mow. The ponds need turning on. The wooden planter I made last year needs sanding and painting. The yard needs a tidy. A lot of the garden ornaments look tired and need scrubbing or replacing…

I left that all for later and made myself a cuppa. I felt I deserved it. There’s only so much garden I can do and still be able to move the next day.

 

“er indoors ^TM” sorted a gammon joint which we scoffed whilst watching episodes of “The Great Pottery Throw Down”. I was left wondering - how do you get into pottery? Everyone’s got a kitchen so baking is easy enough to have a crack at. But just the basic set-up in pottery would cost an arm and a leg.

 

And in closing, today is March 16^th. Back in the day it was the start of the close season. Every year there would be no fishing from March 16^th till June 16^th so that the fish might breed in peace. Nowadays it doesn’t seem to happen. The law states that it still applies to rivers and canals, but it doesn’t seem to be enforced.

I’ve not been fishing for years. Five and a half to be precise. The last time I went was when I caught my biggest fish ever.

15 March 2025 (Saturday) - Late Shift

I slept rather well last night despite a rather vivid dream in which everyone at work (except me) went down with a plague of zits. What was that all about?

As I scoffed toast I peered into the Internet and saw an update from Hazel O’Connor. Famous in the eighties she eventually moved to France where three years ago she had a stroke, and is now dependent on Go Fund Me to pay for ongoing care. It must be awful to have to beg like that, but long term care after a stroke doesn’t come cheap. I remember when my Dad had a stroke I fully expected to sell his house to pay for nursing home costs.

I had several emails. We met a couple of people geocaching in Kings Wood yesterday; it turns out that quite a few people had been up there searching for Tupperware.

I had an email from Uswitch – I’ve signed up with them and it would seem that despite what everyone claims, EDF really are far cheaper than Octopus.

I tried to Munz but my phone wasn’t having any of it. I re-started it and was able to Munz and Wordle, but the chess app wasn’t working. Probably for the best as “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” was about to hand me my arse on a plate (again).

 

Being Saturday we all went round to Repton for Dog Club which was fun (as usual). Morgan rather disgraced himself by getting over-excited, but it was nothing that a little time-out didn’t solve. Dog club is always fun; there’s usually three things going on: Games of chase, hoping for treats, and games of dog-piggy-backs.

As we drove home we listened to Steve on the radio and I was three years out on the Mystery Year competition. Total Eclipse of the Heart? I thought 1986. I thought wrong.

 

It was good not to have to bath the dogs when we got home. We had a cuppa with a hot cross bun, and I counted up the contents of the Dog Club collection pot, pocketed the cash and transferred that amount (plus nine quid for my three) to the Repton people’s account.

I had a quick look in the garden to plan a shopping list from the garden centre for tomorrow, then set off to work. I soon lost reception on Radio Ashford, so as Steve receded into the fizzing and crackling I turned to my rather wonderful MP3 stick and sang along to Sparks, ELO and Ivor Biggun as I drove up the motorway. It was surprisingly nippy as I walked from the car park into work; I couldn't help but think that a week previously we'd been sitting in the sunshine in the beer garden eating an al-fresco dinner. 

 

Work was work. It usually is. Back in the day Saturday afternoon and evenings at work would be nothing but the occasional sample from the A&E department as everywhere else in the NHS was closed. Nowadays there's probably between ten and twenty times the workload. But the staffing numbers remain constant and I won't mention the pay. But I've got a (part-time) job which I actually like which is more than many have. I'm not complaining.

 

I came home. I only drove round the local streets for ten minutes trying to park this evening. As I walked down Beaver Road I found myself peering through the window of The Locomotive. The nearest pub to home; “My Boy ^TM” used to play for their pool team. For years it was a thriving place. This evening at half past nine there were four people in there. I counted them.

It can’t stay open for much longer…

 

Today was really good right up until dog club ended… at ten to ten. It was a tad dull after that.

14 March 2025 (Friday) - Pi Day

Perhaps I overdid the gardening yesterday? I rather ached when I got up this morning. I put a load of washing on, made toast and watched another episode of “The Other One”, then had my usual rummage round the Internet as I do. It was rather dull this morning.

I munzed and wordled until everyone else got up.

 

I hung out the washing and we went to the woods. As we drove Cyndi Lauper was on “Desert Island Discs”. She had a rather strange accent, and chose some rather odd classical music. Seriously?

We got to the woods, and unlike yesterday today wasn’t uneventful. In the depths of the woods we met some normal people with a Dalmatian. On seeing us from a hundred yards away the woman stared screaming “ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod”, got her dog onto a lead, and they all marched into a thicket of brambles shouting apologies at us as we passed. I have no idea what they were apologising for. Morgan looked at the woman with utter contempt, Bailey and Treacle ignored them, and the Dalmatian just looked embarrassed.

We waked a different route to yesterday’s. We saw deer, but I’d forgotten that we would walk past where I buried that deer bone last week. Bailey hadn’t. She disappeared for a few seconds and came running up the path with it in her mouth. As she chomped on it she snarled at the other two dogs when they came close. I eventually got the bone off of her and put it up a tree where they couldn’t get it… forgetting that Treacle is an accomplished tree climber.

Morgan and Bailey then mobbed Treacle trying to get the bone from her. I wasn’t that bothered about Treacle having the bone; she just shows off with something like that. Suddenly I realised that the little two weren’t trying to get the bone anymore. They had found a deer skull and were biting lumps off of that.

Eventually I got the bones off of the dogs and stashed them up a tree that Treacle couldn’t climb. And then Bailey found the dead frog I’d taken off of her last week. She ate most of that.

I took a few photos of dogs eating that which they shouldn’t.

 

As we walked we met a load of schoolkids out with their teacher and I had flashbacks. Back in the day I hated games afternoon at school. One afternoon a week was devoted to sports. The lads in our year were divided into five sets.  Set One had all the kids who were bound to be picked for the various school sports teams and the kids who did athletics at county level. Set Two was the kids with a better than even chance of being picked for school sports teams and would be in the House sports teams. I was in Set Five with the halt and the lame and the other fat kids. But after a while the sports master “Killer” Smith realised there were two distinct groups of children in Set Five. There were those who wanted to do the sports but weren’t any good, and there were those who were utterly disinterested. Those of us who were utterly disinterested were demoted into the newly-formed Set Six and set out for walks in the countryside with the Latin teacher. The theory was that if we went for a walk we would actually move more than if we were forced to be on a football pitch where we just stood and chatted.

As those kids walked with their mates chatting I remembered walking in the countryside with other kids who shared my total disdain for sports. But rather than being the punishment that “Killer” Smith had intended it to be, we all loved our country walks. I think it is those afternoons wandering the footpaths of East Sussex that started my love of walking.

 

As we came toward the end of our walk we met a couple of familiar faces. People were out geocaching on the series we set a month ago. We chatted for a bit, and talking of geocaching, rather than heading home we went off to find one ourselves.

If you log a “Found It” on a puzzle cache this weekend you get a souvenir on account of today being Pi-Day (3-14). It only really works if you write dates the American way, but there it is.

We drove up to Faversham where we failed to find two caches before finally being able to say “found it” on a third. Those two DNFs put us over an hour behind schedule.

 

Once home the two that had rolled in fox poo had a scrub. I made myself some toast, then went into the garden. I potted those pansies and polyanthus that I’d bought the other day. I put weed-proof membrane and chippings onto the plant I’d re-potted yesterday. I dug the dead peony out of its pot and replaced it with the Helleborus.

I had intended to set about the ironing, but by then I was all in. I made myself another cuppa and wrote up some CPD. Dull, but has to be done. A bit like ironing I suppose. I’ll do that next week.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up cheeseburgers. They were rather good. I think the two months past its best brie had a lot to do with it. That brie went well with half a bottle of port.

I suspect I shall be farting like a thing possessed later, but what with deer bones and dead frogs I shall be in good company.

13 March 2025 (Thursday) - A Walk, Re-Potting, Laundry

I woke this morning with something of a backache. Having no alarm set meant I didn’t wake silly early, and a backache is usually a sign I’ve been in bed for too long.

I made toast, and scoffed it as “er indoors ^TM” set off to work. As I scoffed I peered into the Internet. There was unrest on a Facebook page I moderate. This page has pretty much none of the pettiness and squabbling that many other Facebook pages I follow purely because the admin on that page have zero tolerance of pettiness and squabbling. Someone was asking why his mate couldn’t even find the page any more; his mate had been kicked out two weeks ago. His mate had been troublesome in the past, but I decided to let the admin who’d kicked him out make the announcement.

And I saw someone had made a comment on this diary. Specifically on an entry from ten years ago when I borrowed Steve’s pressure washer. Someone named Peter said “Thanks for sharing this amazing informative post with us” which was nice. He then went on to say “I found this helpful for, interior painting, exterior painting, pressure washing services in Yorktown VA. call…” It didn’t take long to see he’d been spamming other blogs too. I deleted his comment.

 

I took the dogs up to the woods where we had a rather uneventful walk. Once away from the car park we walked for over an hour and didn’t see anyone else. The mud and swamps have pretty much all dried up. We didn’t see any deer. It was a shame that the smallest two dogs had to roll in muck, but there it is.

After three and a half miles we were back at the car. I say “three and a half miles” as that was what my watch told me. We often walk the same walk we did today, and the mileage varies from three and a half miles to four miles. These watches aren’t *that* accurate.

 

We came home for a cuppa and biccies. There were none of my rich tea biccies left so I raided some of  “er indoors ^TM” Nice biccies; after all she’s got four more packets in the cupboard. They are half the calories of rich tea. I’m having those from now on.

 

I then went into the garden. Two weeks ago I mentioned that one of the large garden pots had started crumbling. I got the thing four and a half years ago; is that a good lifetime? I see that four and a half years ago that pot had a palm tree in it. That didn’t survive the first winter.

My plan today involved doing quite a few things, the first of which was to empty the crumbling pot. I then wanted to re-pot the plant in it, clear up and make good… and loads of other stuff which never happened. The moment I started scooping out the decorative brindle chippings on the top of the pot, so the rim started falling away. I got the decorative chippings out, but when I started trying to trowel out the soil so half the pot fell away. And then the hailstorm started. Realising I couldn’t leave the job half-way through I persevered. I emptied the soil, cleared away the pot carnage, re-potted the plant, de-weeded four garden planters and put the excess soil from the poggered pot into them. I really wanted to put the weed-proof membrane into the new pot, top up with brindle chippings and then plant out the pansies and polyanthus I’d bought on Tuesday, but I’d carried on through quite enough intermittent hailstorms already. And my back was playing up.

 

I came in, put a load of washing in, and had a spot of lunch. When washing finished I hung it on the airer and ironed the shirts. Shirts iron better when wet. And then I fed my undercrackers to the washing machine.

As I ironed and washed I watched episodes of “Four in a Bed” in which people with slightly imperfect Bed & Breakfast establishments were lambasted by a rather vociferous old battleaxe who felt that because she was too mean to hire staff and wanted to do every job herself to a piss-poor standard, people should give her the leeway that she wouldn’t give others.

 

“er indoors ^TM” returned from work and boiled up pizza and garlic bread. We scoffed it whilst watching more of “The Great Pottery Throw Down”. It looks simple enough; I reckon I could stuff it up given half a chance…

I wonder if I will get those garden jobs done tomorrow?

12 March 2025 (Wednesday) - A Present

I didn’t wake quite as early as I did yesterday, but having laid wide awake in bed for far too long it was half past five when I gave up trying to sleep.

I made toast, watched another episode of “The Other One” and had my usual root around the Internet. It was still there, and rather dull. I did have an email from Octopus Energy though. Everyone raves about how cheap they are and how much of a saving they have made by swapping to them. Yesterday I sent them figures for our energy usage over the last year. This morning they told me they would charge me over four quid a month more than I’m currently paying. So much for making a saving, eh?

 

I munzed, and then set off for work. There was a minor disaster this morning as the co-op had no coronation chicken sandwiches, so I roughed it with ham and cheese. Mind you if that is all I have to whinge about, things can't be that bad.

Yesterday I moaned about a totally incomprehensible speaker on the radio. This morning as I drove, the pundits on the same radio were interviewing someone I can only describe as Ms. Boring. There was talk about banning slushies for under eight-year-olds because of the glycerol in them. Some so-called expert was brought on to explain what glycerol was. Oh, listening to her was so dull. You'd think that people going on live radio would have a trial run beforehand to see if they were up to the job wouldn't you?

 

I got to work, and as I walked in I tried not to laugh out loud. Two elderly people were standing by the entrance to the lift looking at the button (with which you call the lift) as though it were a wild animal. One nervously asked the other if they had ever used a lift before, to which the other one replied that she hadn't.

How do you get to your eighties never having used a lift?

 

Work was work. The lunch of ham and cheese sandwich wasn't at all bad even if it was twenty calories more than the coronation chicken one I'd hoped for. And the meal deal of which it was part was a full one pound fifty cheaper than the meal deal at the works M&S, and the quantities were bigger too.

And we had an emergency. They claim to have them on the telly on "Casualty" - this one was nothing like that. 

As the day went on I had a delivery. A friend from the glory days of geocaching had got in touch. He’d found a load of caching gear and wondered if I wanted it.

Yes please.

 

I came home. “er indoors ^TM” sorted a very good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching “The Great Pottery Throw Down”, and with dinner scoffed I had a look through my box of caching stuff.

I’ve logged the six trackables, and I need to start thinking about what I might do with these caches. I could really have done with them a month ago when I was putting out over a hundred. 

11 March 2025 (Tuesday) - Early Shift

I had something of a restless night. I gave up trying to sleep, made toast and sparked up Netflix which suggested I might like to watch “The Other One”. Starring her from “Alan Partridge” and the horrible one from “Downton Abbey”, so far it is OK.

I then had a quick look at the Internet. It was still there, and was rather dull at six o’clock this morning so I got ready for work.

 

I walked out through a rather clean front garden. For all that the jet wash makes a mess, once all has dried out, the results are quite impressive.

I drove round to the co-op that takes my co-op card (as opposed to the co-op that doesn't) where I got a rather good sandwich, box of carrots and  hummus, and a drink for less than the works M&S wants for just a (rather manky) sandwich. It's cheaper than the Sainsbury's petrol station too, and the co-op gives you service with a smile rather than the Sainsbury's snarl.

 

I set off up the motorway listening to the pundits on the radio interviewing some financial expert who was claiming that at the moment how well companies are doing on the stock market is entirely down to the political stances of the companies rather than their actual products. An interesting prospect; look at how Tesla seems to be going down the pan ever since its owner threw in his lot with Donald Trump.

Another expert was brought in to add his opinion, but sadly they might as well not have bothered. With a ridiculously thick accent no one could understand what the chap was saying. You’d think the radio’s producers would vet who they are having on, wouldn’t you? Or is that being discriminatory?

 

I got to work and spent much of the day teaching a trainee the mysteries of blood grouping, but as always an early start made for an early finish. I came home via Dobbies garden centre where they didn’t have what I wanted, so I went round to Bybrook Barn where I squandered the thick end of forty quid on pansies, polyanthus and a Helleborus.

I got them home, which took some doing. Carting from the shop to the car in a trolley was rather easier than lugging them all individually from the car to the back garden.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a very good chili which we washed down with a bottle of the red stuff whist watching “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat” which I recorded from the Sky Arts channel over Christmas. It is ages since I last watched that, but I still know all the words.

10 March 2025 (Monday) - Rather Busy

I slept well. I stepped on the scales and saw I’d not lost any weight this week. Mind you bearing in mind the epic pig-outs of the weekend I suppose holding steady is something of a result. I made toast… as the toast cooks I usually empty the dishwasher. Someone (me) didn’t set the thing going last night. Woops.

 

As I scoffed my toast I peered into Facebook as I do. Quite a few people had “liked” and commented on what I’d been up to over the weekend. Such a shame that not many people had posted photos of what they had been up to. Either no one had done anything, or no one wanted to show the world their antics. A disappointment; being a very nosey person I love seeing what everyone else has been up to.

I had some emails. My credit score with Credit Karma has gone down. Meanwhile my score with Experian has gone up. How does that work?

 

I took the dogs up to Kings Wood for a walk. We parked in the lower car park as we’d had reports of missing geocaches near there. One was missing; we replaced it. The other was broken. Totally smashed. Someone found it laying on the ground in pieces on Saturday. I sighed and replaced it.

We then carried on with our walk. Unusually we didn’t see any deer; we’ve seen loads this year. The dogs didn’t roll in anything (swamps or poo), we didn’t see any normal people. The walk was rather uneventful.

And we didn’t even need a bath when we got home.

 

I had a quick cuppa then washed the car. As I washed so not-so-nice-next-door came out and started whinging about the nappies and cans of Red Bull which are appearing in her garden. She claims that over the last few months nappies and cans of Red Bul have been appearing in her back garden. She made a point of saying she wasn’t accusing us of flinging things over the fence, but she had no idea where they might be coming from. Quite frankly neither have I. I told her that we don’t drink Red Bull (which we don’t) and that when littlun stays, her nappies go in the bin. She saw the admission that we sometimes have a baby in the house as an admission of guilt, got into her car and went off.

I got the pressure washer out and cleaned up our front garden, and the garden of the next-door that I (allegedly) don’t drop nappies into. Nice-next-door was made up that I jet-washed her garden. It was no trouble; It’s such arse ache setting up the pressure washer that once it is all ready to go I might as well make full use of it. And with the front of the house cleaned I had a little go at jet-washing the stepping stones in the back garden, then topped up the planters with soil. They had settled somewhat over the winter.

 

“er indoors ^TM” called me in for a cheese sandwich, then I went back outside again. Last year “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” got me some rather pretty hummingbird garden ornaments which I put onto one of the garden planters. I potted some of the sweet pea seeds we saved from last year’s sweet peas, and then I reviewed the situation. There’s loads still to do in the garden. One of the stone planters we got from Whelans a few years ago is crumbling. Replacing that and re-potting what is in it needs to be my next project. Then I need to pull the weeds out of the other planters and top up the soil in them. The lawn needs mowing. And give it a week or so and I will need to be getting the pond going again. I’ve long-term plans to totally re-vamp the big garden fountain, the lawn needs feeding and mowing…

I decided to stop. If I do too much garden stuff I can’t move for a day or so. In retrospect I should have done semi-retirement thirty years ago when I was still limber enough to do all these jobs.

 

I made us both another cuppa, wrote up some CPD, and re-vamped the spreadsheet I use to monitor how much money I squander. I’ve had this genius idea that I might allocate a couple of hundred quid a month on petrol rather than starting off thinking I’ve more money than sense (which isn’t difficult) only to find I’ve no money to get to work because I blew all the petrol money on Lego.

As I re-vamped I had a phone call from Jonathan from the Three network. At the risk of appearing racist I would hazard a guess that he was no more a Jonathan than I am a Rashid. I let him waste ten minutes of his time going through his spiel as I looked up his number on Who Called Me. Apparently he number had been looked up over two hundred times and had been reported as a scam, so after I’d wasted more of his time I offered him a one-off deal. He could either get stuffed or piss off. He hung up; I blocked the number.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up fish and chips ten went bowling. I watched the last episode of “Star Trek: Discovery” which rather dragged on a bit and ended not so much on a cliffhanger as a disappointment…

A decent show ending doesn’t have you looking up on-line to find out what it was all about.

9 March 2025 (Sunday) - Munzee Event at Bluewater

I forgot something rather vital yesterday evening. I went to bed pretty much immediately after “My Boy ^TM” and ”Auntie Chel ^TM” left last night. I woke at two o’clock to hear voices downstairs. I completely forgot that Darcie WaaWaa ^TM” was coming for a sleepover. I came downstairs, and she immediately regaled me with a list of complaints and grievances about things her grandmother had told her off about and said she wasn’t allowed to do.

I left them to it and went back to bed. I heard them going to bed about half an hour later.

 

I dozed fitfully for the rest of the night; eventually getting up about eight o’clock. Bailey was with me. Morgan and Treacle had gone with littlun. I made toast, posted up yesterday’s diary, and had my usual look at the Internet. Four Facebook friends were having a birthday today; I sent out wishes. More people were whinging about Donald Trump. Admittedly there’s probably quite a bit to whinge about, but from the British perspective he’s not unlike Zaphod Beeblebrox who in the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was president of the galaxy. Zaphod didn’t so much wield power as draw attention away from those who did, and that’s pretty much what is happening in the UK right now. When did anyone last hear anything about what the Prime Minister has been getting up to?

 

It got to nine o’clock and I went upstairs where I could hear that “er indoors ^TM” and Darcie WaaWaa ^TM” were up and about. They came down and had brekkie. Littlun wanted “crocodile cereals”. Having absolutely no idea what they might be we showed her a box of something with a picture of a frog on it, and she seemed content.

We got dressed and ready and drove up to Bluewater where there was a Munzee event taking place. Geocaching events are good; people meet up and chat and have a good time. Munzee events are different. There’s pretty much no actual meeting up. You just go somewhere and munz like a thing possessed. And because the rules say munzees can be far closer together than geocaches, there’s a lot to Munz.

I must admit that my hopes hadn’t been high for today, but as there are rarely any Munzee events within striking distance of home we wanted to support it. Even if I did have visions of aimlessly wandering the paths round the car park.

 

We parked up and made our way to the Event Pin - a special Munzee put out for the day. And immediately my attitude to the event changed. As we walked we went past a lake where the model boat club were having a mini-regatta. And the Event Pin itself was in a little park. I had no idea the park was there. It was rather pretty and surprisingly large. There was a trail of posters about The Very Hungry Caterpillar. There were ducks. We went round the park twice before littlun had had enough.

I munzed over six hundred Munzees as we went. Cards, jewel shards, cogs, greenies, surprise wheels, gnomes, cakes, and even a rum qrate.  There were Munzees dotted all over the Bluewater shopping centre, car park and surrounding areas; we probably got maybe one twentieth of them.

 

We came home. The dogs slept. Littlun wanted to watch YouTube, or “Toobs” as she calls it. She particularly likes Papa Joel – a chap who makes videos for the under-fives. I find him rather irritating, but Darcie seems captivated with him.

After an hour of so “er indoors ^TM” woke me up to say that she was taking littlun home.

 

I spent a little while clearing the carnage she’d left. She does generate mess. Then I did a little CPD. Dull, but if I do five minutes’ worth a few times a week, when I get called up to show what I’ve done, then I’ve not got to blag anything.

 

“er indoors ^TM” came home with pizza which we scoffed whilst watching the final of “The Traitors US”.

Now that’s over we need to find something else to watch…