30 April 2025 (Wednesday) - More Bluebells

I made toast and watched another episode of “Back” as I scoffed it before tuning in to the Internet. It was rather dull this morning, but one thing caught my eye. Hastings council were selling (leasing) some beach huts. Have you seen these beach huts? Many years ago we got to borrow one on Mersea Island. They are just little sheds on the beach. No running water, no electricity. Nothing but a shed. The ones in Hastings are up for sale at forty thousand pounds each… and that’s rather cheap as beach huts go.
I won’t be buying one, but there are plenty of people who will be keen.
 
I set off to find my car.  Last night when I came home I drove round and round before finally finding a parking space three streets away.
I drove round to the co-op to get a sandwich, then headed off up the motorway to work on a rather foggy morning. As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about how President Trump had staged a rally for himself last night in which he told anyone who would listen what a big man he was. When I listen to him speak, he really does sound just like the more simple-minded cub scouts used to sound. Utterly self-centred and with no understanding or awareness of the world around him. You'd think he'd take some lessons and coaching in the art of public speaking, wouldn't you? Unless what he is spouting (and how he spouts it) is intended to impress the sort of person who would be impressed by the boasting of a more simple-minded eight year old. 
Either way is rather worrying.
Mind you he did talk some sense when he said that America needs to stop sending its troops to sort out everyone else's troubles, and how American troops need to stop dying for things that are nothing to do with them. He's got a point there.
This was followed by the sports news and my attention wavered. The commentators really might as well have just said "blah-blah-sport" for ten minutes for all that it interested me.
 
I got to work and did my bit on a surprisingly busy day. As I worked I had an email. The Tree-Huggers (aka "The Friends of Kings Wood") had been told by Forestry England that the main car park at Kings Wood will be closed all day tomorrow. That will be a pain in the glass. I shall have to organise another place to walk the dogs (and myself) for tomorrow.
 
Co-incidentally as I drove home so “er indoors TM sent a message. Did I want to meet her and the dog in Kings Wood for an evening walk?
I’ve never seen the car park at Kings Wood so busy, or the woods so full of people. We walked for two miles and met so many people. So unlike when we go in the weekday mornings and have the woods pretty much to ourselves. But we had a good walk.
 
We came home and over a bit of dinner we watched more “Tempting Fortune” in which the most shallow and weak-willed are given temptations they won’t be able to resist, and are then given guilt-trips by the more macho contestants.
Sadly whoever made the show has rather badly miscalculated. The idea is that the contestants all start off with a massive prize fund, and the cost of each temptation is deducted from that total. However we’re now half-way through and the total cost of the temptations is only about three per cent of the prize fund. At that rate I’d go for all the temptations… especially when you consider that someone else is paying for it.

29 April 2025 (Tuesday) - At Work

I was awake far too early again. I get rather fed up with falling asleep at the most stupid times and being wide awake at four o’clock in the morning.
I stayed in bed until six o'clock, then got up. Once I’d watched an episode of “Back” I had a look at the Internet to see what was going on.
Our Munzee clan had finally reached our monthly target with one day to go. For us all to get our rewards we all have to achieve certain things. I’d done my requirements two weeks ago; some people seem to drag it out. But we got there in the end, which was the main thing.
And I had a couple of emails; the Philippine goat farm I sponsored would seem to be in profit. And the hospice where my mother died sent an email asking for donations. This is entirely what is wrong with the entire hospice system. All the time people are fundraising for them, no government of any political party will ever fund them properly.
 
As I walked out to my car I was rather miffed to see loads of parking outside the house. So often I can never park anywhere near home when I come home, but by the time I'm about to shove off out so everyone else has driven away.
I went round to the co-op for a chicken salad sandwich, carrots & houmous dip and a bottle of water, then set off up the motorway to work. As I drove, the pundits on the radio were broadcasting from a beauty parlour in Ukraine. Apparently only a couple of miles from the front line, this place is doing a roaring trade in haircuts and botox injections. Apparently even though there's a war raging, people still want to look their best, or so it was claimed.
And there was an interview with Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats.  It would seem that they are looking set to get annihilated in Thursday's elections. With only two days to go we've only had any election stuff through the door from the Greens and Reform UK. Sir Ed was blaming it all on Brexit. Part of me thought that it's too late to whinge, Brexit happened, suck it up. And part of me thought he had a point. As I drove up the motorway there were far more European cars and lorries on the road than British ones, and as Sir Ed said, Brexit wasn't thought out at all, and we are still making it up as we go along.
 
I got to the works car park, and with a little time to spare I went on a little mission to find a place to hide a little geocache. As I wandered about the local streets so some chap in a wheelchair trundled up and asked if he could help me. I told him I was fine. He didn't believe me,  and started following me. All the way into work and up to the swipe-card controlled door. I went in, and this chap peered in through the glass panel for a few minutes before finally clearing off.
 
Work was work; it usually is. As I worked a colleague was having a grumble about her neighbours. Where she lives has a communal grassed area. Like all communal grassed areas the place was a tad bare and neglected, and one of her neighbours has taken to planting flowers and making a feature of the place. She's got her solicitor to write to him to tell him to remove the flowers. I couldn't work out why. 
 
The roads how were rather busy this evening; I was rather late getting home. “er indoors TM boiled up a rather good dinner which we scoffed whilst watching the second episode of “Tempting Fortune” in which the decent people got shafted by the self-centred.
As Oliver hardy once remarked, “twas ever thus”.
Today was a tad dull. And being at work I walked about ten thousand steps less than I did yesterday when not at work.

28 April 2025 (Monday) - Bluebells


  • I stayed in bed until half past seven this morning. Maybe not as asleep as I might have been, but in bed. I stepped on the scales this morning and saw I’d lost two more pounds over the last week. That’s two stone shifted since I started this current diet in January. The trouble is that losing weight is easy. Keeping it off – that’s the tricky bit.
I had a look at Facebook. Someone with whom I worked for many years had run the London Marathon yesterday. He’s got into running over the last few years and that has made him lose a lot of weight. Arguably too much. These days he looks gaunt, if not actually ill.
I sent out birthday wishes as well. Four people on my Facebook friends list had birthdays today. A fellow munzer, a cousin, someone to whom we dropped off a card yesterday, and someone who was a major part of my life for many years. We’d fly kites together and go on pub crawls and weekend camping trips… then one day about five years ago there was a post on Facebook from him saying how pretty the Highlands were. Without telling anyone he’d just upped sticks and moved to Scotland.
I munzed, got wordle on the fifth attempt (“dummy”), and took the dogs out.
 
As we drove the pundits on the radio were talking about how dogs are still used in testing pharmaceuticals and drugs. About forty years ago I did a rather epic project on the ethics and science of animal experiments. Back then most of the animal experiments were being performed as a legal requirement. Sadly the laws that had to be obeyed had little (if any) basis in science. Take LD50 levels for example. An LD50 level is the amount of a given chemical that will kill half of a given population of animals. Who cares how much of a given medication will kill half of the cats that mistakenly eat it? But for years knowing that amount was a legal requirement.
 
We got to the woods and had a good walk. We started off by looking at a couple of my geocaches which had been reported as broken. They were; I replaced them. We then walked into the depths of the woods and back again. As we went I took a few photos of the bluebells which were rather impressive. The woods have passed deer season and are now into bluebell season. And the woods were heaving with loads of people; all taking photos of the bluebells.
 
We came home; I made us both a cuppa with a couple of biccies each. At a hundred and forty calories those biccies constituted eight per cent of my daily calorie allowance. It was just as well that our walk had given me an extra seven hundred calories. Mind you that seven hundred calories is less than three pints of beer. Calorie counting – that’s the trick to weight loss.
 
And then… gardening. I strimmed the lawn edges, mowed the lawn, cleaned the pond filters and painted two fence panels. And then I stopped and came inside. I think I got too much sun yesterday and didn’t want the same again today.
 
I spent a little while re-writing Wherigos. I’d been asked if I could provide something for the “London Calling” geo-event. Bearing in mind that’s happening this Saturday, it’s all been left a little late but if I can help I’m only too happy to chip in.
I’ve emailed them two Wherigos; I wonder if that’s the sort of thing they are after.
I wrote up some CPD, then went and watered those plants that didn’t get the outpourings of the fish pond filter. On reflection I might have missed a trick. Rather than sticking the hose from the pond filter at the base of the Monkey Puzzle tree, I wonder if I might empty the water into a watering can and share out the fishy goodness. Similarly the filter medium from the little pond – next time I might wring that out over some of the plants before I rinse it out.
 
“er indoors TM went off bowling and I watched a film. “Atlas” was a rather good sci-fi film in which a household robot goes totally psycho. I rather liked it despite it having rather bad reviews.
 
Today’s been rather busy…

27 April 2025 (Sunday) - Kingsdown

As I scoffed toast I saw a new puzzle cache had gone live on the Romney Marsh. I had a look at it… I could solve that I thought. Once I’d worked out what an exonym was (!) and realized that nine minus six wasn’t six I had the location of the thing. It was at that point that Gordon messaged me about the cache.
I had a look on the map… it wasn’t very close to the road, but I had a little time spare so I thought I might chase after the FTF.
Leaving “er indoors TM with instructions to get herself and the dogs ready I drove off to the marsh. I parked up and looked at the geo-app. I was right. The geocache I was hunting was half a mile from the closest parking point, but it was a rather good morning for a walk. Joggers and cyclists abounded, and there were a few people wanting me to tell them who had the rights to fish the nearby canal. They weren’t at all happy that I had no idea.
 
I came home to find “er indoors TM and the dogs raring to go. Pausing only briefly to deliver a birthday card we made our way to Kingsdown where the April geo-meet was taking place. This month we had a litter picking session on the beach. It was rather good walking along the beach chatting with friends. We gathered loads of rubbish. Treacle gathered a dead dogfish and carried it for over a mile up and down the beach. We were quite happy for her to carry the thing, but I drew the line when she started chewing on it and tried to eat it.
 
After an hour we went back to the meeting point which (as luck would have it) was at a pub. A pint of Whitstable Bay pale ale slipped down very nicely on a warm day. And after a while it was either time to make a move, or to settle in to the pub for the afternoon.
We made a move; I’ve settled in to pubs for the afternoon before. It can get messy.
As we’d been gathering rubbish on the beach we’d found two stages of a series of Adventure Lab caches. We took a little walk to find the last three stages, and whilst we were at it we got a couple of nearby geocaches too.
I took a few photos as we walked. I do that.
 
We came home, and had a late lunch of a ham roll, some crisps and another pint, then I nodded off in the sun for an hour or so. I woke with a rather bad neckache.
 
I munzed and wordled much later than I usually do. “er indoors TM boiled up a rater good roast dinner which we scoffed whilst watching episodes of “Dogs Behaving Very Badly”. I can thoroughly recommend that show – after an episode of that anyone would think my little wolf-pack are angels.
 
I might have had too much sun this weekend – I’m not feeling on top form.

26 April 2025 (Saturday) - Dog Club and Rolvenden

Facebook was rather quiet this morning as I scoffed my morning toast, but I saw I had a message via geocaching dot com. Someone had been out hunting for my geocaches in Kings Wood, found some issues and put them right. Was that OK? I wish more people would do that; trouble is a strict interpretation of the rules means that it isn’t really, and there are those who loudly advocate a blind adherence to the rules. I wish they wouldn’t.
I munzed and wordled, and wrote up some CPD, put a load of washing in to scrub, then got ready for Dog Club.
 
As we drove to Dog Club so Steve wasn’t on the radio. Perhaps I’m being a tad unfair, his stand-in wasn’t quite up to the job.
Dog Club was fun; probably about twenty dogs along and all had a great time. Mind you there was a fair bit of dog un-morality going on today. I wish the boy dogs wouldn’t all try to hump each other. Sadly there was one minor hiccup. Not only had no one cleared the dog dung bag from last week, people had stuck their coffee cups and water bottles into the bag as well. We have an issue with the later groups in that few of the people there are prepared to put themselves out. This morning at our early group two people brought along large amounts of water for the dogs without being prompted. At the later groups there is one person who is prepared to chip in. And if she can’t make it, no one sorts out the dog poo bag.
The reason that I bring home the money after the first of three sessions is that no one at a later session is prepared to sort it. Sorting it takes maybe five minutes once every two weeks.
 
“er indoors TM went to craft club. I brought the dogs home, hung out the washing, ironed the shirts, made myself a cuppa and spent just over three minutes (I timed it) counting the Dog Club money and paying it into the bank.
I wasted a little time playing chess against on-line bots, then went into the garden and started painting the fence. It’s a tedious job which takes an age, but is probably worthwhile. After an hour or so I had two smaller panels painted. I sat in the sunshine and read my Kindle until “er indoors TM returned.
 
After a quick ham roll we drove round to the Repton estate to make sure the dog dung bad had gone. It had.
We then drove on to Rolvenden. Last week we had a rather good little walk around there; we had another one this week. It was a shame we lost the smaller dogs in a thicket, but that’s the sort of dogs they are.
After ten thousand steps we were back at the car. We came home, Treacle had a bath, and once we’d done the “Feed The Fish” ceremony it was time for Doctor Who with pie and chips.
 
Doctor Who was rather good… better than it has been recently. I think where the show is going wrong is having complete stories in one hour-long episodes. Back in the day there were shorter episodes with cliff-hanger endings. I think that format worked better…
We’re now watching “Scooby Doo  - The Sword and the Scoob”. So far it’s on the crap side… I’m also pulling small thorns out of Bailey. I suspect Morgan will need a going-over too. They will run into the bramble thickets…

25 April 2025 (Friday) - This n That

I slept through till five o’clock this morning which was something of a result, but I was aching when I woke. My leg was rather tender from where I’d bashed it on Wednesday, and I ached from the gravelling I’d done yesterday.
I watched an episode of Back” on Netflix, then had my usual look at the Internet. This morning it was especially dull; pretty much nothing at all had happened overnight. But when I sparked up my Munzee app I had a message. I’d been asked to beta-test their new blast facility. That was nice.
 
As I walked out to my car I was rather surprised to see signs up saying that the road was closed. What was that all about? There was some cones up by the dentist, but the road was passable.
I took a circuitous route to work via the Ashford Sainsburys. Partly to see what their petrol prices were, and partly to set off my Munzee blast. And once blasted I drove up the motorway to work.
 
As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about the Pope's funeral which is happening tomorrow. I must admit to being a tad miffed. When both my parents died there was a delay of a month before a funeral could be arranged. But when Muslims and Catholics die the funeral is almost immediate. What's that all about?
And there was an interview with one of the head honchos in the water industry who was talking about how bosses of water companies now face up to two years in prison if their companies are found to be polluting.
Part of me thinks this is right and proper; part of me thinks this total about-face will be tricky for them. For years they've been charged with making a profit above all else. Suddenly they are supposed to be providing a public service. Mind you I suppose it is no different to civil servants whose instructions change completely every so often depending on the whim of which politician is calling the shots at any given time.
 
I got to Aylesford and went to the Sainsbury's there. Their petrol is usually cheaper than the stuff in Ashford and by filling up there (rather than in Ashford) I saved one pound and four pence. It pays to shop about (if you are mean). Mind you the filling station in Aylesford never has sandwiches before mid-morning so I drove over to their main supermarket to get lunch. Unlike the co-op they had coronation chicken sandwiches.  But their meal deal was twenty-five pence more expensive than the co-op.
So in future I shall get lunch at the co-op and petrol at Aylesford Sainsburys thereby saving one pound twenty-nine pence each time, and will forego coronation chicken.
 
As I drove into work I suddenly realised that the car wasn't making bashing noises every time I drove over a speed bump. That three hundred quid I blew on the suspension yesterday was money well spent. The car has sounded as though its bottom was about to drop off for months; the quiet was unnerving. In retrospect I think the suspension must have been damaged when I hit a pot-hole last September.
It seems odd that nothing was picked up when the tyre was replaced that day or at the MOT even though I mentioned the noise both times.
 
I went into work and had a cuppa and had a go at Wordle before I started. My first three attempts drew total blanks. And then I cracked on with my day. For all that I grumble about the place, I am happy in my work. I work with a decent bunch of people and very good bosses and am trusted to do the job. Having spent several years where I could only claim one of those three, I really can't complain.
And that coronation chicken sandwich was rather good too.
 
Eventually my time was up, and as I went homewards I really noticed the car's having been fixed. There's a *lot* more speed bumps on the way out of the car park compared to the way in.
 
“er indoors TM boiled up cheeseburgers and chips and we scoffed them whilst watching the first episode of the new season of “Race Across the Worldin which five teams made varying successes and stuff-ups of getting from Beijing to Shanghai.
It looks so easy when you are watching from the comfort of your own sofa.

 

24 April 2025 (Thursday) - Another Day Off (!)

There was quite the argument about the use of solar power for running garden pond pumps on the Facebook garden pond pages this morning. There were those who blithely announced that solar power was crap, and there were those who felt it was wonderful. Those who felt it was crap had bought the biggest pumps and the smallest panels. Those who thought it wonderful had relatively small ponds and big panels. The argument was akin to asking how long is a piece of string.
I can remember back in the kite festival days when friends used to run fridges from solar panels. I’d like to set up a solar power arrangement for a pond in my front garden, but the things aren’t cheap and would probably get nicked.
 
I spent a little while pondering an upcoming mega-geo-event. London Calling 2025” ‘s website says a lot without saying very much. What actually is happening there? There’s a GPS Maze there which is only the second time one will happen in the UK, but when you look closely it’s eight miles from the event and getting from one to the other involves trains and buses.
I’ve been to seven of these mega-geo-events in the past. They seem to be the culmination of a weekend or week of geo-events. The first ones we went to were rather fun, but if you’ve not been for all the events leading up to it, then they can seem to fall a bit flat. The last one we went to (last August) was a round trip of a hundred miles. Admittedly we did get to say hello to quite a few friends, but pretty much the entire time was spent sitting in a barn with over a hundred other people all fiddling with their phones playing rather tedious adventure labs. One or two ad-labs are fun; over fifty got rather monotonous.
 
The dogs had their brekkie and I got them onto their leads… eventually. Bailey is always keen for a morning walk, but Morgan doesn’t do mornings. He’d always rather go back to bed. He loves it when we get going, but he takes a while to get going.
As we drove the pundits on the radio were doing the “Thought for the Day” in which some religious woman was saying how it is fine to have religious doubts, and that her god seems to spend an awful lot of time deliberately hiding away. Somehow a complete absence of any form of proof in her god was clinching proof for its existence.
I’ve always maintained that everyone switches off when religious types start spouting, and so they can present any old nonsense secure in the knowledge that pretty much no one will actually listen to what they are saying.
 
We drove over to the Skoda garage. The car has been making knocking sounds whenever I go over the speed bumps at work. There was an issue with the suspension and we left the car to get sorted. The nice man asked if we wanted to wait. I asked how long we’d have to wait for; he said about three hours.
We walked home.
 
Once home I made us both a cuppa, then had a look at the monthly accounts. They weren’t as bad as they have been in the past, but they’ve been better. And then I wrote up some CPD. Dull, but I have to do CPD. It doesn’t take long to do it as I go along. I’d rather take a few minutes a few times a week rather than take the chance that I won’t be randomly selected for a CPD audit and then panic.
And then the phone rang. The car was ready for collection. So I got the dog leads out. Being a couple of hours later in the day Morgan was up for it, so we walked the two miles back across to the Skoda garage. The car was sitting outside waiting for us, and the nice man charged over a hundred quid less than what he said it would cost when we had the service last week. I’m not complaining.
 
After I’d scoffed a hot cross bun for lunch I went into the front garden. All sorts of things had been growing through the weed-proof membranes under the gravel so I scraped up all the gravel. Knowing that I’d probably need more I drove to the garden centre to get more, and I got a few more alpines whilst I was at it.
I came home, laid a triple thickness of weed-proof membrane on top of the old, and toshed the old gravel back. I had plenty; I didn’t need the new stuff. Oh well, it will keep for the next project.
 
I sat by the pond for a few minutes… until the dogs came up. Treacle started whinging and was so obviously the spokesman (spokesdog?) for them all. She was demanding that I fed the fish because she always gets some fish food. And the other two were along for whatever pickings were to be had. And once she’d had her share of fish food Treacle tried to whip the fish’s food too.
And then I slobbed about some more playing various bots at chess. I might have overdone the gravelling earlier, and I clouted my leg on a table edge yesterday and the four miles from the garage and back earlier didn’t help that very much.
 
“er indoors TM boiled up tacos which we scoffed whilst watching another episode of McDonald and Dobbs”. The fast-forward button is wonderful. Something which played for over two hours took less than an hour and a half to watch when you fast-forward through the adverts.
Another day off and I’m worn out. I’m going to work for a rest tomorrow.

23 April 2025 (Wednesday) - Geo-Meet

Yet another restless night. I actually had a bit of an early night last night bit was awake at two o’clock. I dozed and fidgeted before finally giving up and getting up at five o’clock. I made toast and then watched a bit of Netflix as I sorted undercrackers, then had my usual morning’s rummage round the Internet.
I was immediately faced with an advert for a roofing company in Texas. These people have paid good money for me to see that advert… personally if that were me paying the money I wouldn’t be impressed.
I munzed, and got ready for work.
 
Rain was hossing down as I left home - I was rather glad I'd been able to park outside the house yesterday. I drove round to the co-op to get lunch where I met with disaster. They had no coronation chicken sandwiches, and the nice co-op lady said they'd been discontinued. That was a pain in the glass - I like a coronation chicken sandwich. I made do with a mango chicken tikka one instead, and in a fit of pique filled their self-service machine with all the small change in my pocket.
 
I set off to work up the motorway. I was rather pleased to see that the Operation Brock stupidity had been taken away. I've heard it said that the only reason that the barrier is ever brought into play is to try to justify the massive waste of money spent on it in the first place. Does the thing actually ease congestion at the ports? Bearing in mind there's rarely anything held in the Operation Brock bit, I somehow doubt it.
 
As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about the latest peace talks about the situation in Ukraine.  This lot of talks seem to be doomed to failure as the American's head negotiator hasn't shown up. Apparently they have something else in mind; allegedly a peace deal in which the Russians get given Crimea and quite a bit of the territory they've now captured, and the Ukrainians get squat. Understandably the Ukrainians aren't at all keen on this idea... perhaps they should have told Mr. Trump what a big man he was when they had the chance? As Russell (from Sparks) once sang "Might makes right when you are wrong".
Apparently the side coming out on top will be those prepared to make the best trade deal with the USA. Or so it was claimed.
And there was also a lot of talk about Elon Musk stepping back from his involvement with the US government. He wants to concentrate on his car business which is going down the pan. You'd think it rather obvious that if you go round pissing people off, they aren't going to buy your cars any more, wouldn't you?
 
Being on an early start meant for an early finish. I’d deliberately swapped into the early shift today as there was a met-up of hunters of Tupperware in Viccie Park. The rain had stopped so “er indoors TM and I took the dogs along, and we met up with old friends and stood about chatting. Some visiting geocachers showed up – it was a shame that they were terrified of the dogs.
An added bonus was that when I came to log my attendance on-line I was awarded with a virtual cake and a virtual souvenir.
 
We came home to a rather good curry and a bottle of Liebfraumilch which we devoured whilst watching the Christmas episode of “Bake Off”. Sadly all the contestants were soap stars, and consequently I had no idea who anyone was.
 
And in closing, today isn't St George's day. It turns out that church law says that you can't have any saint's days in the week after Easter. One lives and learns.
Waving the flags and shouting "Ing-Ur-Lund!" has been postponed until next Monday. Or so I’m told.

22 April 2025 (Tuesday) - A Day Off (?)

I had a restless night. Better than some I suppose, but could have been better. Part of the trouble is waking at three o’clock desperate for the loo and knowing full well that if I get up I will have a full-blown battle to reclaim any bed space when I come back. I should take the line that it would hurt less if I went for a tiddle, but I rarely do.
I eventually got up at half past seven and made toast. That’s not so easy at the moment. A week or so ago I bought butter rather than margarine. It’s not at all easy to spread when cold (i.e. impossible) so we put it on a butter dish. Have you ever tried to use one of those things? They are crap. The knife just chases the butter all over the dish without actually taking anything prisoner.
 
I eventually settled down for my morning’s rummage round the Internet. This morning’s petty squabble on Facebook was on one of the pond groups. You can chuck a bag of salad watercress in your pond and it will grow impressively. I’ve done that. Someone was advocating against it because you don’t know what dangerous chemicals might be in the watercress… this coming from a Facebook page advocating chucking every chemical known to science into your pond in order to correct the levels of chemicals that you don’t understand.
 
I got the dogs onto their leads and took four of them (Pogo had been for a sleepover) to the woods. As we drove the pundits on the radio were talking about how lots of people are now putting what might have been TV shows onto YouTube. Apparently production costs are far cheaper and there’s no farting about with scheduling; the punters just watch it when they like.
That’s where you’ll find the latest episodes of “Time Team.
 
We got to the woods and walked what is becoming our new standard walk of four and a quarter miles. In the week since we were last there the bluebells have blossomed and the leaves have all appeared on the trees. Spring has definitely sprung.
We walked for over an hour and as usual hardly saw anyone. We had a minor episode when Morgan sniffed another dog’s bum, and the woman with the dog had a full-blown panic attack. What was that all about?
 
We came home. I hung out the washing I’d put in earlier, then loaded the car with a job lot of rubbish for the tip, then harvested dog dung. Then I went round with the strimmer and lawn mower, before bionically burning the weeds on the patio.
“er indoors TM went off for lunch with her mates. I got out the garden scissors and trimmed round the stepping stones. How I never took Pogo’s nose off is a mystery; he wouldn’t leave me alone and wanted to know what I was doing with every chop I took.
 
“Daddies’ Little Angel TM arrived to collect Pogo. She needed a lift home, but wasn’t happy about going via the tip. Eventually I told her that the car was going to the tip, and if she wasn’t in it, she could walk to Folkestone. She came to the tip.
As we drove down the motorway she was interested in a track on my MP3 player. “Thank God Its Not Christmas” by Sergent Thunderhoof is a rather good cover of an old Sparks song. I was rather amazed she liked it.
 
Once I’d dropped her off the plan was to get a replacement light bulb for the one in the lobby that popped, and to get a couple of small planters and some more alpine plants to put in them. I completely forgot about that, and only remembered as I scoffed my lunch of a lemon curd bun (two hundred and fifty calories) and a cuppa before spending a couple of hours sorting out the ironing.
 
The undercrackers have all been washed and are currently in the tumble-drier. I’m going to work tomorrow for a rest…

21 April 2025 (Easter Monday) - Early Shift

I was out like a light when “er indoors TM and the dogs bounded through the bedroom door at ten to two. That certainly woke me up. I then dozed fitfully, finally giving up trying to sleep at half past five.
I had a go on the bathroom scales; another three pounds lighter than last week. That’s a result.
I made toast and watched an episode of Netflix then had a look at the Internet as I do every morning. It was rather dull today, but I suppose that at six o’clock on a Bank Holiday morning it wasn’t going to be much.
 
As I drove to work it was rather foggy. As I do I Iistened to the morning news. This morning there was all sorts of talk about the war in Ukraine which has recently had some sort of a cease-fire. Apparently it was called by the Russians who then didn't actually cease their firing. Or so the Ukrainians claimed. 
President Trump was on the radio saying both sides should jack in the war and go into business with him; claiming that everyone would make a fortune.
Love him or loathe him, the fellow never fails to amaze.
 
There was also talk about a government initiative to get children to go out and play. Apparently kids hardly ever leave the house these days.  When I was a lad, me and my mates would roam for miles. Quite literally miles. We'd be all over the local woods, and over the Firehills having a great time climbing the cliffs at the beach and the sand quarry, and playing on the railway tracks. We were never quite brave enough to walk the three quarters of a mile length of the railway tunnel from Coghurst Woods to Broomgrove, but we knew of those (some now on my Facebook friends list) who claimed they had. Me - I once got fifty yards into the tunnel before chickening out.  The trick was to be prepared and bring a torch with you. It was (and still is) a long tunnel.
There was some government type who was wheeled on to the radio saying that part of the trouble is that a lot of playground stuff is permanently broken. We rarely played on playgrounds. When we did it was to see who could jump the furthest from the swings. Admittedly Paul Phillips did break his arm falling off the slide, but he was the exception that proved the rule. He wasn't in our gang anyway, so he didn't count.
But the biggest part of the problem would seem to be that parents are scared of what might happen to their children if they are left to their own devices. And quite rightly so if what I got up to was anything to go by. Still, as I once told my mother, what she never knew never hurt her.
 
And being a religious holiday, the Pope had died. He was eighty-eight. President Trump is only ten years younger. 
Why do these people never take it easy in old age.
 
I did my bit at work. As I never tire of saying, I don't mind working at weekends and Bank Holidays if the weather is grotty. Sadly the early fog soon lifted and I spent much of the time looking out of the blood bank window and sulking at a bright day.
 
It was still bright when I got home, so we took the dogs out. Some of “er indoors TM geocaches near Kingsnorth had wet log sheets in them and needed sorting. Personally when we go geocaching we message the hider of the caches before we go out asking if they would want any wet log sheets replacing as we go. You can get ten log sheets from a sheet of A4 paper, and you can get the stuff from Amazon for less than a penny a sheet. However most people seem to prefer to whinge that log sheets are wet. By no means everyone, but enough. And the less that anyone has contributed to the hobby, the more they whinge.
Ho hum…
Whilst we were in the area we went and found a cache which was sort-of fairly close to where we were. And when I came to log it I was awarded a Treasure – a noise maker. That was a result… I suppose.
 
We came home. I put a load of washing in. When “er indoors TM returned from Aldi she boiled up some rather good wagyu burgers which we scoffed whilst watching “Celebrity Bake Off”.
I’m worn out – this Easter weekend has been rather full-on.

20 April 2025 (Sunday) - Morning Shift, Badlesmere

I slept well for a change, but was still awake earlier than I might have been. As always I made toast and watched a little Netflix then had a quick look at the Internet. It was still there, and rather dull. I sent out birthday wishes, Munzed and got ready for work. I wasn’t originally planning on working today, but someone had been taken poorly… If I had my time again I wouldn’t work in a hospital. I’d work somewhere that puts up a “closed” sign from time to time.
 
As I drove to work it was raining. I don't mind working at weekends and Bank Holidays quite so much when the weather is iffy. As I drove the radio was thinking about religious things. There was an article about the old Channel 4 Program "Father Ted", and everyone was having a good old laugh at the way that Catholic bishops were portrayed. This was followed by a live interview from a church in the war zone in Gaza... One minute we were laughing, the next crying. Was this deliberate, or just incredibly bad and thoughtless planning by the producers?
 
I got to work and did that which I couldn't avoid. As I looked out of the window at a cold wet Easter Sunday I found myself thinking back over forty years to my religious days when our church used to organise a sunrise service at the highest point in Hastings every Easter Sunday. We'd all be up at North Seat at six o'clock in the morning singing hymns. We used to invite all the other churches along too. The Baptists and the CofE would join in with us. The Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses would send a delegation who would stand and watch with suspicion from a safe distance of fifty yards or more. And when the service was done we'd all go back to our church hall for a bit of brekkie. The Baptists and the CofE would come along too, but the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses never did.
I wonder if those services still happen? Our old church was sold to the happy-clappy brigade years ago, but the congregation still meet in the local community centre.
During a tea break I scoffed a mini Malteser Easter bunny (fifty calories) and saw on Facebook that friends were off to the 02 Arena to see the War of the Worlds show. Part of me was rather jealous. I wouldn't mind seeing that show. But all I would want would be to see the show. Getting there, putting up with all the normal people swarming about, and coming home again would try my patience. I can remember taking a gaggle of cubs to the 02 arena years ago and it being serious arse-ache. Mind you that was probably ninety per cent the cubs making it arse-ache.
 
Fortunately I was only asked to cover the morning and so was soon back home. The weather had chirped up a bit, so we loaded the dogs into the car and drove up to Badlesmere. “er indoors TM had reports of some issues on some of her geocaches in the area, so we took a little walk round and sorted the issues as we went.
Finding ourselves walking past the Red Lion it would have been rude not to have popped in. A half of cider, a pint of Sussex Pale and some pork scratchings covered all the bases.
I took a few photos while we were out.
 
“er indoors TM went off to feed her mate’s cat. He’s having a little holiday and the cat is having a little peace and quiet. Whilst she was out I wrote up some CPD.
She came home, boiled up some taod in the hole, and we watched last night’s episode of “Doctor Who”. Last week I was rather disparaging about the show – this one was the best episode for years. Let’s hope this continues.

19 April 2025 (Saturday) - Dog Club and Rolvenden

I can remember saying goodbye to Karl and Tracey yesterday evening, but from then on it was all something of a blur. I woke with a rotten headache at about four o'clock this morning and lay awake suffering for an hour or so before giving up and getting up.
I made toast and peered into a very dull Internet. You would have thought that what with yesterday being a Bank Holiday people would have been out and about and doing things. People probably were, but just didn’t do what I do and post it all over Facebook. I wish people would; I’m very nosey and like seeing what people are getting up to. Mind you I had over a hundred and fifty emails about people having found some of my geocaches in Kings Wood. Apparently a group of four went out yesterday to see if they could find over a hundred in a day. I’ve done that eight times in the past – it takes some doing. Thirty-seven yesterday was hard going.
 
Being Saturday we drove round to Repton and Dog Club. As we drove Steve wasn’t on the radio. His stand-in was better than the previous one, but it wasn’t the same.
Dog Club was fun. Attendance seemed to be noticeably down, but we still counted (about) eighteen dogs. Mayhem ensued, as it does.
 
From Dog Club we popped to the garden centre. During the week I’d been given a packet of random seeds, and so we got a planter and some compost and some buns.
We came home for a cuppa and those buns, and I then spent a few minutes putting the compost into the planter and toshing out the seeds.
 
“er indoors TM boiled up the pizza slices that were left over from yesterday. That made for a quick lunch, then we took the dogs to Rolvenden. Many years ago (five) “er indoors TM hid a series of geocaches in the area. They’ve run their course, and a route of eight miles was a tad long anyway. So we went on a little recce to see if we (she) couldn’t come up with a shorter route. We (she) now have a provisional route of three and a half miles planned out.
After a couple of hours we were back at the car. We came home and had a cuppa, and the dogs were soon snoring.
 
“er indoors TM sorted chicken wings for dinner which we scoffed whilst watching a film.Yesterdaywas rather good. And then we watched some documentary about a chap living in a canal boat. Looks a bit like needless hard work and farting about to me.
Oh – I took a few photos of today. Yesterday I walked more than twenty-one thousand steps. Today was only half that amount.

 

18 April 2025 (Friday) - Romney Marsh

The dogs were rather restless last night, and when they are restless so is everyone. They eventually settled, but I didn’t really. I got up at half past six, made toast and had my usual rummage round the Internet as I do every day. I suppose back in the day I used to read the newspaper which was equally drivel-esque.
There was a photo of the old Sainsburys supermarket in Hastings on one of the old photo memory pages. I remember that place – I always used to work the night before Christmas eve so that I would follow the family to Hastings on the train on Christmas Eve morning. My brother would meet the train and we would have a pint or two then go to that Sainsburys where mayhem ensued. As the shop was going to be closed for a day, the panic-buying was ridiculous. Some bargain would be announced on the Tannoy and there would be a stampede for that which you’d never normally buy in a million years. People would whip things from your trolley in desperation and so my brother would sit in the trolley, guarding the stuff we would buy and we’d take home to mum a whole load of stuff she neither needed nor wanted, and would throw out in the New Year. Happy days.
I also had a look at the Hematology” Facebook page. Some work-related Facebook pages are good. Some are interesting. Some are quite educational and I learn a lot. This “Hematology” one is worrying in that someone will post a photo of something or other and ask what it is, and no matter what it is the answers will range through every medical condition from “perfectly healthy” to “three weeks dead”. And the more obviously wrong any given person is, the more aggressively arrogant they are that they are correct.
 
I Munzed and Wordled, and got ready for the day. We drove down to Old Romney where we met Karl and Tracey, and we then went on a little wander across the marsh. It was a shame Morgan had to roll in fox muck quite so early in the day, and Treacle didn’t help by paddling in the stagnant puddles. In a novel break with tradition it was Bailey who ended up the cleanest. Our walk was on flat ground which was just as well. Usually when up the woods we cover just over four miles; we walked over nine today.
As is so often the way our route was mapped out for us by a series of geocaches; thirty-seven of them along lanes and tracks and up trees. Most of them were found relatively easily; one was missing so we replaced it. From the hint and previous descriptions it would seem that if it was there it would have been an easy find. There are those who demand that replacing missing ones is up to the chap who hid it; personally if one of mine has gone I’d rather someone replaced it for me. I can pop out a new pot in less time than it takes me to whinge that it needs to be sorted.
 
After nine (and a bit) miles and five and a half hours we were back at the cars. We took a short drive home and had pizza and crisps in the garden. And beer. I opened a bottle of port to find it had gone off. Rather than being a ruby-red colour it had gone brown and lumpy.
I didn’t know it did that.
 
I took a few photos today. As I do. It’s been a while since we went on a decent day’s walk. We used to do it all the time – must get back in the habit of doing so again.

17 April 2025 (Thursday) - Not At Work

I slept reasonably well, and over some toast I watched another episode of “Back” on Netflix. In many ways it is very like “Peep Show” by the same people.
I then had a look at the Internet. One of today’s arguments on Facebook was on a pension-related group about National Insurance contributions. Do payments made before your eighteenth birthday count. I don’t see why they wouldn’t, but there were those that seemed to think there was an issue. I should really check that the government has made a note of my payments over the years really, shouldn’t I?
The other argument was about how you keep rainwater out of garden ponds as rainwater is supposedly dangerously acidic. Supposedly. You would think that it rained neat sulphuric acid from what some people were posting.
 
I munzed, and went to wake the dogs. Rather than going to the woods, we had a dull walk today. We drove over to the Skoda garage, left the car for its service and walked home. Usually when in the woods the dogs get to run about as much as they like. On the way home from the garage there wasn’t much scope for running riot.
As we walked we came past the bit near Asda which often floods. It wasn’t flooded today. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing I’ve eventually been told by the county council’s corporate director for growth, environment and transport that the river floods at the Asda underpass as that is the footpath’s lowest point (as if that wasn’t glaringly obvious) and it floods because of blockages downstream (as if that wasn’t glaringly obvious either). I’ve also been told that all the county councilors have jacked it all in pending the upcoming elections.
I shall see who gets elected in a couple of weeks’ time and see whose arse we kick to get some dredging done.
 
Once home I gathered dog dung and then mowed the lawn. And with lawn mowed I got out my paints and painted up more garden statues. A duck, a frog, a couple of badgers and three birds. I then pulled weeds, and had a look at the little pond. We’ve a second baby fish in there. A couple of weeks ago I saw a goldfish less than an inch long; there’s another one of about the same size but dark in colour.
We had a spot of lunch and then the phone rang. My car was nearly ready.
I finished painting, tidied up, and went to get it.
 
In the past I’ve dropped the car off and had this silly idea of walking the dogs until the car is ready. But there is only so much of an on-lead dog walk that you can do. Today there was a delay of over four hours between dropping the car off and being told it was ready.
I took the dogs over to get the car. A service, change of brake fluid, air-con re-gassing and a fancy video cost me the thick end of five hundred quid. To say nothing of three hundred quid’s worth of advisories that we’ll worry about next week.
Who’d have a car?
 
We came home where I made a cuppa, and put a load of shirts in to scrub. And then once they’d been scrubbed I ironed them whilst they were still damp – that’s the best way to iron shirts.
 
“er indoors TM boiled up sausages and we scoffed them whilst watching more “McDonald & Doddsin which Uncle Bryn did it.
 
I really hurt right now – I wish I knew why. I’ve walked less than I walk on an average walk round the woods, mowed the lawn, painted some garden ornaments and done some ironing.
I really should program “Hannah” for tomorrow…

16 April 2025 (Wednesday) - Another Day At Work

After a reasonable night’s sleep I started watching “Back” on Netflix. It is amusing enough and has the advantage that the episodes are short. Why does so much on Netflix these days have to be an hour long?
I then had a little look at the Internet as I do.
Someone was selling a Zeroid. Back in the day (over fifty years ago) there was a range of robot toys called “Zeroids. There’s a Facebook page about them that I started following a little while ago with a vague plan to see if I might get a Zeroid or two of my own. After all, I’ve sneaked Lego into the living room – how hard could it be to get a couple of small robots? And then I had a look at the prices of the things on eBay. Broken ones are changing hands for about a hundred quid. One in decent condition sold last night for three hundred dollars.
 
As I drove to work I found myself becoming rather sick of hearing about the antics of American politics from the pundits on the radio. When the UK found itself saddled with a Prime Minister who had clearly and demonstrably ballsed it all up there were processes in place to get shot of her. Doesn't the American constitution have such safeguards?
Mind you for all that Liz Truss was gone in a month, it did take a while to hoik that idiot Boris Johnson out. I suppose in many ways he was like Donald Trump in that many people will overlook what he's doing as he's rather entertaining to watch.
There was probably a lot more on the radio, but my attention drifted when the sports news came on. So often rather than reporting any actual news, the pundits just wheel on someone who was something or other to do with a recent sporting event with no regard to how eloquent they may be. And so rather than giving a good interview, the so-called expert just mumbles and continually repeats "um - yeah - you know". This has been going on for years; you'd think that peak-time national radio would have higher standards, wouldn't you?
 
I stopped off at the little shop in Sissinghurst to get a sandwich and to get some supplies for the weekend. Once I'd bought my stuff, just as I got back to my car some idiot woman driving the other way down the road pulled across the road and stopped her car blocking me in. She had a full-blown battle with the child in the passenger seat then forcibly dragged the child out and marched into the shop... leaving my car stuck.  I managed to reverse and get past her car, and I drove off - leaving her car in the middle of the road pointing the wrong way and effectively blocking the traffic. I could have said something; I couldn't be arsed. Not my circus, not my monkeys.
 
Work was work. I did my bit, and came home again. I really shouldn’t complain about my job, but it is seriously getting in the way of my doing whatever I would rather be doing.
 
Pausing only briefly for geocachical reasons “er indoors TM boiled up fish and chips which we scoffed whilst watching the last episode of Martin Clunes and Neil Morrissey’s trip across France. That was rather good. We followed it with some utter tripe in which Bradley Walsh tried to pretend that the pyramids were built by aliens.  I never had him down as being so thick as to assign everything he doesn’t understand to aliens.