1 June 2026 (Monday) - Work, Ironing

I woke after an hour’s sleep, and then saw every hour of the night. I finally gave up trying to sleep at five o’clock, got up and watched an episode of “The Handmaild’s Tale”. It’s a rather thought-provoking show. How do these totalitarian states run by religious crackpots actually work when the entire thing is based on a system of religious crackpottery in which no one actually believes.

I had my usual look at Facebook… perhaps I shouldn’t. The Reform UK councillor for one of the wards on the Romney Marsh was ranting about the proposed solar farm which might or might not be built on the Romney Marsh. His position was that he was for it and against it and would go with whatever opinion would seem to get him the most votes. I suppose that’s as good a position as we can expect from any politician?

I got ready for work.

 

As I drove up the motorway the pundits on the radio were talking about how parliament was going to be discussing the "Single Patient Record"; a plan to combine GP, hospital and social care data records so patients don't have to keep repeating their medical history time and again at appointments, and so that clinicians can access anyone's medical history. Needless to say the conspiracy theory crackpots are up in arms about it, but from my personal perspective it would be invaluable for me to know someone's blood transfusion history if they didn't live locally and didn't feature on our works IT system.

I was rather amazed to hear that parliament was going to be discussing it for the first time; this was first tried nearly twenty years ago. The project dragged on and on, and wasn't the glowing success everyone had been hoping for.

My diaries of the time mentioned the DCW which was rather fundamental to the project. Perhaps if we had ever found out what DCW stood for, things might have turned out differently.

And there was talk about a load of midwives in a hospital in Nottingham. Supposedly having been guilty of everything possible bad thing under the sun, it was suggested that they were actually massively overworked, with administrators seemingly unaware of what staffing levels actually were supposed to be. Rather ironic when you think that NHS Trusts are trying to get staff to go, isn't it?

 

As I drove I managed not to crash into the van of "Orchard 2 Office" ; a company which specialises in delivering fruit to workplaces. As I have said so many times, if you are going to drive like a mania, it is best done in a vehicle that doesn't have your company's name and logo emblazoned all over it.

I stopped off at Sainsburys to get lunch, then went in to work. Today was supposedly a non-working day, but what with having had a minor hiccup over the weekend I'd been asked to go in for an extra day. I was happy to do so. As I said only two days ago, bearing in mind how I was treated where I used to work, it is rather good to be asked to help. 

 

With my bit done I came home. We had pizza and “er indoors ^TM” went bowling as she does on Mondays. I put more episodes of “The Handmaid’s Tale” on the telly and got on with the ironing as the dogs slept.

 

Somehow or other I’ve managed to trap a nerve in my leg today. It really hurts….

31 May 2026 (Sunday) - Lazy Day

Being wide awake at half past five I put the washing machine on, and having got up and done something I then went back to sleep for a couple more hours. When I got up I had a rather bad backache; I wonder what set that off?

I hung out the washing, made toast and looked at the Internet. Yesterday when I was at work “er indoors ^TM” hid a geocache in Boughton Aluph. This morning I got an email telling me that it (and others locally) had gone live at seven o’clock this morning. There’s a chap who lives up the road who seems obsessed with being the first one to get to any new geocache. He found “er indoors ^TM”’s one within an hour of it being published. Having found that one five miles away in Boughton Aluph whilst I was asleep, he took a couple of minutes to get back to the car, had a twenty minute drive down some incredibly narrow country lanes where he found another new one at Charing. And then got the hat trick by driving on to Pluckley where he found his third one. For an encore he got two more in Tenterden and was on his way home before ten o’clock on a Sunday morning…

Each to their own I suppose…

There was an interesting squabble on one of the pond-related Facebook pages that I follow. It was claimed that your water bill is only payable on water that then goes back down the drains and sewers, and consequently any water that goes into a garden pond is free. It was claimed that you could set up a water meter on your garden hose to measure how much water goes into your garden ponds and claim a refund.

Can You? I don’t know. I’m not even on a water meter so it’s no skin off my nose, but you should have seen the bickering this suggestion provoked.

 

I Munzed, Wordled from “water” to “etude”. “Etude” !!! After “teeth” and “elite” I knew I had et—e and looked up what five letter words might fit. There was only one. Apparently it is a short piece of music. One lives and learns.

 

“er indoors ^TM” went to brekkie with friends. I stayed home and pootled. I sorted undercrackers, pulled weeds from flower pots, cleaned out the fish tank filter, cleaned out the small pond filter, swept round, gathered dog turds (four times!). By the time “er indoors ^TM” came hone I was worn out.

 

“My Boy ^TM” and ”Auntie Chel ^TM” popped in. They’d been tree shopping at B&Q and looking at materials for making a pergola for their garden. We had a rather good bit of dinner and put the world to rights.

When they went I then ran the hose out to top up the big pond, and whilst I was at it I cleaned out the pond’s filter. It is *so* much easier to clean the pressure filter than the old box filter that we used to have,

I had a little kip. I’d far rather sleep during the night than during the afternoon, but there it is.

 

I’ve had a rather lazy day today… not a bad thing occasionally.

 

30 May 2026 (Saturday) - Dog Club then Work

I went back to normality last night by waking far too early, Five o’clock, which was rather good compared to some nights, but still two hours too early. I dozed fitfully before finally getting up at seven o’clock. I made toast and peered into the Internet. There was a squabble on Hastings Old Town’s Facebook page. Some chap who seemingly has never travelled more than half an hour’s drive from the place has set himself up as “The Good Food Hunter UK” and has taken to reviewing local cafes. As is always the case, these reviews are only ever welcomed when they are glowing.

There was also a cryptic post which seemed to imply that the Peacock pub in Cranbrook was to re-open. It would be good if it could… but having only ever visited the place twice myself I’m hardly in any position to help them with my custom.

And Robert Jenrick was trying to stir the sh*t. Apparently the First Lady of Sierra Leone had rented a flat from Southward Council when she had no right to. Obviously with no end of people on waiting lists, this should never have happened. But who was the Secretary of State for Housing a year after this woman took the lease? Oh… it was Robert Jenrick.

One thing about which we need to be acutely aware is that much of that with which the Reform UK party politicians are finding fault are issues that they themselves allowed and/or caused when they were Conservative party politicians. They are for the most part the very same people.

 

Steve was on the radio doing the “Guess the Lyrics” competition. “Lifeboat lies lost at sea, I’ve been trying to reach your shore”. No – I had no idea either. It was Level 42 – Lessons in Love.

I Wordled from “early” to “smile” in four goes. I Munzed. We got ready for Dog Club.

 

Dog Club was rather good. We had a dozen (or more) dogs along and the usual mayhem ensued. It’s a shame that Treacle is so grumpy, but there it is.

From Dog Club I went to work. As I drove Steve was doing the Mystery Year competition. “Terry and June” first aired, as did “Minder”. E.L.O.’s “Shine a Little Love” and Abba’s "Does Your Mother Know" … 1979. For all that people rave about the music of the eighties, the late seventies weren’t too shabby. Even if they seemed rather hard work at the time.

As I drove up the motorway the radio signal was iffy. I realized I’d had the radio on the DAB band all week. Last week I was whinging about DAB radio; it had been fine all week. For some odd reason it definitely plays up at the weekends. I wonder why?

 

I got to work. As I have said many times I wouldn’t recommend working anywhere that never puts up a “closed” sign, but we had something of a minor hiccup. Bearing in mind how I was treated where I used to work, it is rather good to be asked to help. I got stuck in and did my bit.

The DAB signal was fine on Radio Four as I drove home…

 

“er indoors ^TM” sorted dinner which we scoffed whilst playing a few games of “Ticket to Ride” which (amazingly) I won by four games to three… 

29 May 2026 (Friday) - Before Another Late Shift

Again I managed to sleep through until after seven o’clock. Maybe laying on the bed rather than under the duvet is the trick?

I got up, made toast and peered into a calm Internet. No one was arguing. There were photos from people on holiday in Canada and Alaska, there were photos of people’s garden ponds. I sent birthday wishes to my cousin, then went and woke “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs.

 

As they had brekkie I Wordled from “games” to “clang” in three goes, then took the dogs out. As I drove I listened to the pundits on the radio interviewing the Minister for Something-Or-Other. Yesterday I whinged about the quality of interviewee. Today I shall whinge about the quality of interviewer. The interviewer would ask a question and before the poor Minister for Something-Or-Other could say more than two words so another question would be thrown at him. He never actually got to say anything, and he did whinge about it a couple of times. All in all, it was rather a waste of air-time.

 

We went to Orlestone for our walk today. On Wednesday the car park was heaving; today there were only three other cars. We walked a couple of miles and didn’t see anyone. As we walked we found a dead mouse, and once the dogs had all rolled in it there was a minor squabble about who got to eat it. Bailey ran amok and came back covered in fox poo. Treacle found a surprisingly rancid and still wet swamp.

 

We came home for a bath. And with dogs scrubbed I made a cuppa for “er indoors ^TM” and me. I looked at booking a slot at the newly-opened tip to get rid of a load of rotten timbers, but there were no slots available. I suppose I could have tried the tip in Allington (as it’s not *that* much of a detour on the way to work) but I couldn’t be bothered.

 

I went to work via Sainsbury’s where my piss boiled. As I stood in the queue for the till there was an elderly couple in front of me. They’d got about a third of their shopping then joined the queue. Whilst the old dear stood, the old bloke was shuffling round the shop, periodically coming back with bits and bobs he would add to their trolley. But he kept going here and there collecting more shopping even when their stuff was going through the till, and had the right hump when his wife told him that he was being unreasonable to expect me and others to wait for him when we’d gone and got all our shopping *before* joining the queue.

Is it just me who attracts these idiots.

 

Work was work, but the evening was rather hard work. It can be sometimes…

28 May 2026 (Thursday) - A Day Off (!)

I slept well. As I scoffed toast my Facebook feed had a few mentions of The Peacock; the pub I mentioned the other day.  It has now closed. I drove past it on the way home last night and saw no lights on. I also drove past the Bull in Bethersden last night and saw that was in darkness too. It closed at the end of last month. Both pubs had been going for (literally) hundreds of years but both have closed for want of anyone who feels they can make a living from running the place. As I’ve said so many times, sadly the day of the pub is over…

 

I got the dogs onto their leads and we went out with this plan to beat the heat. As we drove the pundits on the radio were interviewing a couple of people about the junior doctors ongoing pay strikes. One of them had me confused… she was incensed that there are more applicants for junior doctor posts then there are actual posts, and so not every junior doctor gets a job.

But isn’t this how the job market works? There’s more applicants than posts so that the ones who aren’t any good at the job don’t get appointed and so have to try a different line of work to which they might be more suited? Not everyone qualifying as a doctor is going to necessarily be any good at it, are they? I can remember helping with a bone marrow aspiration in one of the wards at the (now bulldozed) St Helen’s hospital in Hastings when another patient died (nothing to do with what I was doing!). The junior doctor looking after the patient (who’d been in post only a few days) went hysterical, said she couldn’t cope with that sort of thing, and resigned on the spot. A chap with whom I went to school qualified as a doctor… and went straight into medical sales. And what about Harry Hill and Graeme Garden?

The other chap being interviewed shouldn’t have even been on the radio. He would say half a sentence and then stop and start again, and then stop and start again. He never actually said anything. As I’ve said before, the producers of Radio Four need to vet their interviewees a bit more closely.

 

We go to the woods and parked in the shade. As we walked we met some woman with a couple of dogs on epically long leads. She said she was a dog walker and didn’t trust the dogs to come back when called. Her dogs joined in with Morgan and Bailey playing a lovely game of chase… oh, you’ve never seen a tangle like it.

We walked mostly our usual route, but took a bit of a diversion at the end so we could stay in the shade; it was warm and Treacle seemed to be struggling with the heat. A couple of times I wondered if we should have stayed at home, and then Treacle was off at top speed chasing squirrels.

 

We came home for a cuppa and a bit of Swiss roll. I Munzed and opened a qrate. I Wordled from “slept” to “divot” in four goes, then went up to town. I’d had an email from the bank saying they’d sent me a message. I eventually found a pdf file about their having archived a bank account of mine, and said I could go into the branch to talk to them about it…

I went into the bank, and the nice man was very helpful. He’s suggested I might talk to a financial advisor. I might just do that.

 

Being under orders to bring some lunch home I had a look at the artisanal bakery stall in the town centre. And then I had a look in Tesco. Tesco had stuff a third bigger and a third cheaper, and which hadn’t been out in the sunshine for several hours. I got a pecan plait and a croissant from Tesco and saved myself a quid or so.

I came home having had a little look round the town as I walked. I rarely go into town these days, and when I do so much has changed. And there’s a definite theme to the change. The sort of shops that sell stuff that which you can buy on-line are going. Stuff which sells perishables (like little groceries do), hairdressers, and nail bars seem to be a growth industry. I must have seen a dozen new nail bars today; all of which were full. I’m told that getting your nails done costs the thick end of thirty quid.

 

We had our pastries with a cuppa, then I spent a little while tidying up in the garden. Pulling the green weed out of the little pond, kicking the shingle back into place, gathering dog dung, trimming back the dead leaves… an hour’s fiddling about at the end of which the garden looked just the same as it had when I started and I was a bit hot.

We came in and I marked more trainee’s work, and wrote up some CPD, and watched another episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

 

Seeing how by then it had cooled down a little I did “FEED THE FISH”, then fiddled about with the aerator pump to get the water coming out of fish thingy to come with a bit more wallop, then watered all round. I had a look down the drain… it’s running better than it has been, but not as well as it might. Ideally I’d get the nice water board man out, but we don’t need the smell of turds stirring up in this heat.

I then got the shears out to give myself a haircut… and saw the cable of the trimmer had broken. I got this one four and a half years ago… I rather thought it might have lasted longer. I’ve ordered another one from Amazon which should arrive tomorrow. Bearing in mind how much the local barber charges for a short back and slap, after the second time I use it I will be in profit. And whilst I was at it, I got a pair of slippers too…

 

The postie arrived with some solar powered phone chargers that “er indoors ^TM” had ordered. In a novel break with tradition I read the instructions and was rather amazed to see that I should ideally charge the thing from the mains as much as possible; despite the name, the solar panel is just an emergency back-up. And I shouldn’t charge it anywhere near anything flammable in case it blows up.

Oh well… I expect it will go the way of every other phone charger in that I will lose it within a week.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up chicken and chips which we scoffed whilst watching an episode of “The Orville”. Both were rather good. And then there was a bowl of strawberries and cream for afters…

Yesterday was dull. Today was seemingly non-stop (I walked three times more steps than I did yesterday).

I’m going to work for another rest tomorrow.

27 May 2026 (Wednesday) - Late Shift

As I scoffed my toast I saw photos of a friend having a beach holiday, and another friend travelling across the Canadian Rockies. There were a few fun posts like that today. There were photos of cats, there were photos of people geocaching… That’s what I want to see on my morning Facebook feed as I am a very nosy person.

And then there was an advert on Facebook from Oxfam reminding the word that the conflict in Gaza is still ongoing. I don’t want to appear cynical, but the public’s attention span for any given war is rather short, isn’t it? The media were all over the war in Ukraine until it all kicked off (this time) in Gaza. And then that was headline news until President Trump went and picked a fight with the Iranians. And that will be forgotten about when the next one starts. Type “how many wars are going on right now” into Google. It reckons there are over a hundred. People just want to argue, don’t they? And as is always the case it is rarely those with the argument who actually suffer.

And people were up in arms about the hospice near work which is in financial difficulties. Here’s a thought. Don’t buy their hospice lottery tickets. Don’t donate to them. Don’t go in teir charity shop. If the public stops supporting them then the government (of whatever party) would have to fund the place properly. Look at the state some schools are in with them being dependent on charity hand-outs to pay for text books.

 

I Munzed; our Guild has reached the last of our monthly targets. And then I went and kicked “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs out of bed. We drove to Orlestone for a shorter walk in the shade. We got there and saw about a dozen cars in the car park, and as always there were people sitting in the cars. Just sitting there. You’d think they’d get out and go for a bit of a walk, wouldn’t you?

We walked our usual walk. We saw a dog running about on his own about a quarter of the way round, but other than that we didn’t meet anyone else until we were twenty yards from the car park. As we walked Morgan tried to roll in some muck, but it was bone-dry muck. About two minutes from the end of the walk Treacle jumped in a huge puddle. I wish she wouldn’t. The trouble with that puddle is that we have a choice with our circular walk. It can either end with going past that big puddle or we go past the puddle first and end up with going up a steep hill.

It was good to get out; what with the ongoing heatwave it has been four days since our last walk. When we left home the car’s thermometer said it was nineteen degrees. We walked in the shade and I took water for the dogs, but Treacle did seem to struggle a bit.

It was twenty-two degrees when we got back to the car.

 

We drove home listening to the pundits on the radio talking about how the government is lowering VAT on tickets to theme parks over the summer. At first sight this seemed like a good thing, reducing the price of a ticket by about a tenner, but these theme parks are already operating at capacity. You might get a cheaper ticket, but you will have a longer wait. And (it was claimed) that there was no guarantee that you would get a cheaper ticket. When VAT on e-books was scrapped the price of e-books stayed the same; the publishers just pocketed the profit.

 

I made us both a cuppa, wrote up some CPD, tidied up in the garden, and got ready for work. And again when on the late shift the day was effectively over before noon.

26 May 2026 (Tuesday) - Still Too Hot

It was rather hot last night. Again being wide awake far too early I could either lay there awake, or get up. I got up and watched an episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale” which had had me thinking quite a bit. Have you seen the show? It portrays a rather dystopian future in which effectively most people in society are slaves living in subservience to a small minority. They do as they are told and are looked after.

Is this a bad thing?

Seriously… look at today’s society as exemplified by my morning’s Facebook feed.  Climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers, people who phoning 999 because of problems with their drain… Basing their life choices on their misunderstandings of a factually incorrect You-Tube video presented by someone who was making things up as he went along…

So many people are clearly incredibly stupid. Is allowing them a say in the running of society *really* a sensible thing to do?

 

I set off to work. As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about “financial irregularities” at the Scottish Nationalist Party where an ex-chief executive was caught with his hand in the till. Everyone else who was in any position of authority at the time was very publicly trying to distance themselves from the matter.

Well they would, wouldn’t they.

And there was a lot of talk about the organised shooting of pheasants and other game birds. Apparently organisers of these events are legally allowed to shoot any crows and magpies that might be in the area. They aren’t allowed to shoot, trap or poison birds of prey, but it would seem they are doing so anyway. Amazingly anyone can set themselves up organising game bird shooting; there’s precious little legislation or control of the activity. And presumably a lot of profit to be made; hence all the birds that might affect the business getting blown away.

 

I got to work and had a rather busy day. I’d parked where the car would be in the shade all day, but it was still thirty-four degrees as I set off homewards. Apparently today beat yesterday’s record and was the hottest day of the year so far with temperatures a degree higher than the works car park reported at Kew and Heathrow.

 

I came home with a vague plan to take the dogs out, but it was still five degrees hotter than the warmest that I like to take them out in. Instead I watered the garden and fed the fish.

 

We had a rather good bit of dinner which we devoured whilst watching another episode of “The Orville”. It’s not a bad show but I would enjoy is so much more if the ship wasn’t captained by the dog from “Family Guy”.

I’ve another day at work tomorrow….

25 May 2026 (Monday) - Hot Bank Holiday

It was a very hot night last night. I was dozing listening to Treacle’s panting at half past six when she jumped up and was sick. By the time I’d sorted that I was wide awake.

I got up and put a load of washing in to scrub. I could get it dry on the line before the strange fellow two doors down would have sparked up his barby. He’s an odd fellow; he’s often in the back garden making strange squeaking squawking noises, and has a barbecue going several times a week all year long.

 

I made toast and peered into the Internet. Even though it was a Bank Holiday people were still squabbling. There was a vicious argument raging about Brexit. Personally I never understood why so many people felt it was utterly unacceptable to live under the edicts of one committee the members of which they would never meet, and that it was far preferable to live under the edicts of another committee the members of which they would also never meet. The only difference between the two committees being that all of the members of one of them lived on the same island. I *really* have as much in common with people from Manchester and Sunderland as I do with people from Milan and Barcelona. But what do I know? Two world cups and one world war, eh? Ing-Ur-Lund!!!  But ten years have passed and it is all done and dusted with the whole Brexit thing. It’s now history, Why is Brexit still an issue for many?

And there was a rather bitter quarrel about which was the oldest active geocache in Virginia. Does it really matter?

 

I Munzed, Wordled from “night” to “visit” in four goes, the went to the garden. I had planned to take the dogs to Orlestone Woods and then on to Hamstreet garden centre, but it was too hot. Instead I set a table up in the shade, and as “er indoors ^TM” washed the carpets so I carried on painting garden ornaments.

I read my Kindle, I had a little sleep. We had a very good ploughman’s lunch, and Chris and Martin joined us for the afternoon. We put the world to rights, and got out the 3-D Blokus. Blokus is challenging enough when it is flat and on a board. But with three-dimensional shapes making geometrical figures, my poor brain was seriously strained. 

 

We had quiche and chips for dinner which we scoffed whilst watching an episode of “The Orville”…

Today was the hottest day of the year so far, and te hottest May Bank Holiday on record. It’s supposed to be even hotter tomorrow…

24 May 2026 (Sunday) - The Heatwave Continues

It’s a bit hot at the moment, and as is always the case when it is hot, those who haven’t got dogs and who know nothing about dogs are banging the canine welfare drum. Their latest idea is that dogs should be walked before eight o’clock in the morning… I was up for a mission to Kings Wood at five o’clock this morning, but no one else was. I tried to get back to sleep, but again I had limited space in which to try to sleep.

I got up and made toast. There was some half-witted anti-vaxxer posting drivel on Brian Cox’s Facebook page. It amazes me that these idiots don’t think it is at all possible that people who’ve studied something at post-graduate level for many years might (just possibly) know a little more than someone who has misunderstood a factually incorrect You-Tube video presented by someone who is making it up as they are going along.

These ones are allowed to vote, you know.

 

I looked at the monthly accounts. Bearing in mind in the last couple of days I’d suddenly had to re-tyre my car and shell out for bodywork on the “er indoors ^TM” – mobile I could have been a whole lot worse off. But as always I did the monthly accounts with a sense of “I want more”.

 

I Munzed. Our guild has reached Level Two, which was a result. I Wordled from “about” to “niece” in five goes. I got dressed. I did have a vague plan to go up to the county show at the Detling showground… but I’ve been there before. It is incredibly easy to end up buying a whole load of stuff that you neither need nor want, and which you can get cheaper on Amazon anyway. And the weather forecast was for a hotter day than yesterday… apparently the temperature went over thirty degrees in Frittenden yesterday and that’s only half an hour’s drive away.

So as “er indoors ^TM” went shopping I went into the garden…

 

It occurred to me that when I built the boxes in which I store spare decorative stones I’d built them off of the floor so that the bottom wouldn’t get wet. But that made a little hidey-hole for rats and mice. So I took that all apart and re-built it all flat to the floor.

I then lifted some of the rockery and seemingly a ton of shingle so that I could bury the cable powering the new aerator pump thingy. I put up another garden ornament and then “er indoors ^TM” came home from shopping and made us a cuppa. I took her into the garden to see what I’d done… and this is why I hate gardening. After two hours struggling in the heat it really did look just the same as it did when I’d started.

 

We then went back into the garden. “er indoors ^TM” craft club has had her setting things in resin and so that’s what she did. I got out those of the ceramic paints that hadn’t dried out and painted up some of the garden ornaments. It kept us both occupied.

 

“er indoors ^TM” sorted a rather good ploughman’s for lunch, and then I read my Kindle for a bit whilst listening to the antics of the neighbours. Nice-next-door had set up a large paddling pool, and together with some mates she was having something of a cocktail afternoon. She’s a good ’un… from what I remember she’s the seventeenth neighbour in that house since we moved in (in Autumn 1991), has been there the longest, and is far and away the best neighbour we’ve ever had.

The other side was getting her roof fixed. It has had a tarpaulin covering it for some months. Whilst she made a point of ignoring me, the chap doing the work seemed civil enough. But I did find myself wondering just who would come out to do roof repairs at a bank holiday weekend (especially as she is continually pleading poverty).

 

I had a vague idea to take the dogs to Orlestone in the early evening, but the temperature was still in the mid-twenties. Instead I ran the hose pipe out and gave the plants a dousing.

We had pulled pork burgers, and another evening on the Infinity Table – I lost four games, but won one. Go me…

23 May 2026 (Saturday) - Dog Club, Badlesmere, Pub, Hot

I spent much of the night hanging off the edge of the bed; if only the dogs would give me some space.

I got up and let the dogs out for a tiddle. Morgan has taken to peeing up my pile of tyres; I wish he wouldn’t. I made toast and had a look at the Internet. There was a passive-aggressive post on the Dog Club Facebook page. It’s going to be too hot for the bigger dogs today (apparently) so could we (I) rearrange the meeting times to the evenings. I sighed. No, I can’t. Meeting at nine o’clock suits me personally. It might be a tad warm right now, but there is plenty of shade, and if we bring some water along the dogs would be fine.

So many people in so many walks of life suggest “why don’t we…” when what they quite openly mean is “why don’t you…”

As I scoffed toast so Bailey sat on the sofa next to me scoffing her brekkie. She is getting fussier and fussier about eating. And Steve was on the radio doing the “Guess the Lyrics” competition:. “I hear your name whispered on the wind. It’s a sound that makes me cry”. I had no idea. It was Boy Meets Girl - Waiting For A Star To Fall from 1988.

I Munzed, Wordled from “night” to “chuck” in three goes, and we got ready for the day.

 

We drove round to Repton and Dog Club. For all the talk about how hot it was going to be we had fourteen dogs along. We stood in the shade, there was plenty of water for the dogs, and far more got splashed than ever got drunk.

As we drove off so Steve was doing the Mystery Year on the radio. I got it with the first record I heard. 10cc – Good Morning Judge. I can remember that being played at the Miller’s Arms just down the road from where I used to live during the celebration party for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977.

 

We drove up to Badlesmere where we met Karl and Tracey. They’d had reports of issues on their geocaches in the area so we joined them for a little walk. Some of the geocaches had issues, some didn’t. None had issues that those reporting them couldn’t have put right in less time than it took to report the issue.

And with walk walked we adjourned to the pub. Usually we would have gone to the Red Lion in Badlesmere, but that place has more and more specialised in being gluten-free. Which is all very well if you want a gluten-free meal, but it can be rather restrictive, and leave you with a menu of only half a dozen meals.

Instead we drove a mile or so down the road to the Wagon and Horses  where we sat in the garden and had a few beers and a rather good bit of dinner. A starter of olives with bread and oils and vinegar. A cheese ploughman’s. Three pints of ale and a couple of gin and tonics. It was rather good to catch up and have an afternoon in the pub garden. And the dogs were rather well behaved too.

 

We came home. The plan was to sit in the garden, but I was a tad heavy-handed with one of the chairs. After a while I gave up trying to mend it nicely, and brute force put the thing back together again.

I woke up a couple of hours later.

 

We got out the Infinity Table and played a few rounds of “Ticket to Ride”. I got my highest ever score (three hundred and twenty-five) and my lowest (twenty-one).

22 May 2026 (Friday) - Another Day Off

I ached a little this morning. What with one thing and another I covered seventeen thousand steps yesterday.

I made toast and had a look at the Internet and rolled my eyes. The county council has decreed that council meetings will now include saying the lord’s prayer and singing the national anthem. After a year of their being in power, despite what they assured me that they would do, Operation Brock is still in place, there’s more pot holes (and they are deeper), the boats full of immigrants are still coming, and the underpass down the road keeps flooding. But rather than sorting out that which needs sorting they’ve found a way to further divide the country.

Again the party which demands patriotism is the party that makes me ashamed of my country.

Interestingly our local councillor who was elected under the Reform UK ticket and went to the Restore Britain party was remarkably silent on the matter.

And I saw that Michael Keating (who played “Vila” in Blake’s Seven) died yesterday.

I Munzed, and Wordled from “ached” to “vocal” on the last go.

 

I took the dogs up to the woods. As we drove I saw her down the road who is always walking. I’ve seen her out before six in the morning and after eight at night. She just walks and walks.

We got to the woods and walked a shorter route than yesterday. I thought it would be about three miles; it was four and a bit. As we walked we met four other groups of dogs. And as is always the case, the way the meeting went was entirely down to the people and not the dogs. Three meetings were amiable and friendly. The fourth involved some stupid woman trying to wrestle two boxer dogs into a hedge whilst muttering curses. I didn’t actually tell her to get stuffed, but it was close. We’ve met her before; in the past she’s demanded that we turn round and go back as the path isn’t wide enough for her to get past with loads of space. Other dog walkers have told me that they’ve reported her to the dog warden… not that I imagine the dog warden would want to get involved.

On the plus side Bailey didn’t smother herself in fox muck.

 

I came home, made up both a cuppa then went shopping. On Wednesday when I saw Karl he spotted that one of my car tyres was past its best. I drove round to Kwik-Fit who couldn’t even look at my car until late afternoon. I drove on down the road to Elite Garages where the nice man had a look at the iffy tyre. He agreed that it was iffy, and he pointed out that two other tyres were also iffy (to say the least). He said that he’d got some work on, but that he could sort it all in half an hour’s time. I sat and waited…

After an hour I saw my car driving off. That was a tad worrying, but it was the test drive.

The nice man came back. New tyres all round, wheel alignments and a bill for three hundred quid. Bearing in mind that Kwik-Fit’s website had quoted me two hundred quid per tyre I saw that as a result. It certainly pays to shop around.

Whilst I was there I inadvertently caused a minor squabble amongst the staff. I asked what was going to happen to the old tyres, and if they were just going to be thrown away, could I have three of them for a little garden project. One of the mechanics announced that he regularly uses old tyres for projects in his garden, and the other mechanics seemed to be rather miffed that no one had told them about recycling used tyres as garden ornaments.

From there I drove round to Bybrook Barn garden centre for the hose for my aerator water feature thingy. Three metres of hose at one pound forty-nine pence per metre and a joining attachment costing one pound fifty shouldn’t cost just over nineteen quid, should it? (Have I ever mentioned that I’ve got a degree in mathematics?) Eventually I persuaded them that the bill should be just under six quid.

 

I came home. Eventually. Seeing the roads through the town were gridlocked I tried to come home through Chart road only to find it was equally bunged up.

By the time I got home and had unloaded my hose and used tyres I was rather worn out, and it was rather warm outside. I came inside and had a little look on-line at plans for making a little (well, not so little) wishing well. I then wrote up some CPD then announced that I was going to “FEED THE FISH”.

 

And whilst I was at the pond I rigged the hose I’d bought to the new water feature, then set the thing up and tested it. It all worked fine, which was something of a relief. I’ve now got to lift rocks and slabs and move shingle to bury the cable… but that is a job in itself. I’ll do that at some point over the weekend. And while I’m at it I shall have a think about the base of the fish ornament. The wooden base doesn’t look quite right.

 

“er indoors ^TM” went off to collect her car. She’d had some bodywork done on her car today. And once she was home she boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching another episode of “The Orville” and “Race Across the World – The Reunion”.

For all that it would be hard work, I’m rather tempted to apply for the next series of the show. All I need is a team-mate to do all the brainwork as we race.

 

I still ache… compared to yesterday today was rather lazy – I haven’t cleared fourteen thousand steps.

Oh – and today is World Goth Day…

21 May 2026 (Thursday) - Not On Any Shift

I rolled my eyes as I read Facebook this morning. Someone I know had posted about how Earth would "lose gravity" for seven seconds on Aug. 12, 2026 — leading to "40 million deaths from falls" among other cataclysmic outcomes. It was claimed that NASA knew all about this and was working on "Project Anchor" organising special preparations for this cosmic event.

However simply typing "Project Anchor" shows you that it is all a load of bollox. Why are people so quick to spread this drivel? Are they so stupid that they believe the conspiracy theories, or too lazy to take two seconds to do some fact checking?

And I was amazed to see that my MP had written to the Transport Secretary to complain about Operation Brock. Up till now he has been constantly kissing the government’s arse… clearly the Prime Minister’s shaky position has given him some courage.

 

I took the dogs out. As we drove the pundits on the radio were interviewing some idiot from OFCOM. Apparently kids are still accessing all sorts of things on the internet that they shouldn’t (including hard-core smut). The idiot being interviewed was adamant that the internet providers had been severely sanctioned… but when pushed she admitted that “severely sanctioned” was effectively a telling-off, and being asked not to do it again. The obvious answer would be to shut down the offending companies but that would go against the companies right to allow kids to access that which they shouldn’t.

I found myself reminded of some of my old schoolteachers. We actually liked and respected those who wielded the slipper (when they had to) and laughed at those who tried to reason with us.

 

We got to the woods. The other day I mentioned that I try to walk different routes… It occurred to me that no matter what route we walk, the last mile is always the same. So today we walked a very different route. As well as the usual shenanigans we chased a rabbit (it might have been a hare) and chewed a deer’s backbone.

As we walked I had my Map My Walk app running. I’ve mentioned how the thing disagrees with my watch about the distances we cover. Today it thought we’d walked half a mile less than what my watch said, and it thought we’d taken five minutes longer to do so.

It also has issues with its own timings. As I complete each mile it tells me how long I’ve been walking for, and how long it took me to cover the most recent walked mile. So in theory when I complete the first mile, the two times it announces should be identical. In practice they are *always* different. How does that work?.

Today we walked somewhere between five and a half and six miles. In that time we saw three other people, and all of those were within a couple of hundred yards of the car park.

 

With walk walked we came home where Bailey had a wash (with soap!). “er indoors ^TM” was having an office day so I just made myself a cuppa. I had an Aldi kit-kat with it. I like those – imagine a kit-kat but with good chocolate.

I Munzed, Wordled from “earth” to “agree” in three goes, then set the dishwasher going and had a look in the garden.

I mowed the lawn. I bionically burned the weeds. I had a little look at the new water feature thingy. I *think* I know how I might attach a water hose to it. I shall have a trip to the pond shops tomorrow. I marked some more trainee work, and then feeling rather worn out I made myself another cuppa and watched more of “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

 

I had a little kip, then “er indoors ^TM” returned. As we scoffed dinner we watched the final of “Race Across the World”. Italy to Mongolia… it was quite a trip. I wouldn’t mind a guided tour round Mongolia if only I could be sure the dogs were looked after…

20 May 2026 (Wednesday) - Before the Late Shift

Back in January I mentioned that Forestry England were charging to park a car in Battle Great Wood. Last night Steve told me that Forestry England are going to start charging for parking in Kings Wood. Bearing in mind our average walk, and bearing in mind the cost of parking at Battle Great Wood that would set me back about thirty quid a month.

So I joined Forestry England which costs eight quid a month and gives me free parking. This morning as I scoffed my toast I saw that the tree huggers are contacting Forestry England to find out what the new parking charges will mean for them. I wonder if they are hoping for a discount. And quite a lot of locals were oh-so-happily showing off their ignorance about how the world works. Kings Wood is run by Forestry England. It is utterly and totally nothing at all to do with either the local council, the county council or any of the privately owned local building companies. But still those with single-digit IQs were ranting about how some vague “they” were planning to chase everyone out of the woods so that “they” could build more houses.

Building in those woods is an argument that was done to death twenty years ago.

I Wordled from “great” to “wreck” in three goes. I Munzed, opening two qrates and getting two more.

I went upstairs and got dressed maybe not as quietly as I might have done. I wanted to get a move on and everyone else needed to get up anyway.

 

With time shorter than usual I took the dogs to Orlestone. As we drove the pundits on the radio were saying that what with the Strait of Hormuz closed, Russian oil can now be bought… *if* it is first processed in another country. What’s that all about?

We got to the woods and walked a couple of miles. The dogs were well behaved; it was a shame that Bailey had to roll in fox poo, but there it is.

As we walked I ran the “Map My Walk” app. In January I accepted the challenge to walk one thousand kilometers over the year. I’m over half-way.

 

We came home where Bailey had a bath. With soap (!) I got changed and leaving “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs I set off to work a bit earlier than I might have done.  I'd looked at Google Maps and saw that to get to Whelans (in Sheerness) the quickest way was to go up the motorway. It was a shame that no-one had told Google that the Operation Brock stupidity was back in place. I drove the sixteen miles at seemingly a snail's pace stuck behind a rather wide static caravan which was taking up both lanes.

I can remember at last year's elections the Reform UK candidate was quite clear that under a Reform UK led county council, Operation Brock would be a thing of the past. Mind you they said the same about stopping the illegal immigration and sorting out the flooding at the Asda underpass, didn't they? You don't suppose that they just said that black was white and made all sorts of claims about which they would be utterly powerless to implement purely in order to get elected, do you?

I got to Whelan's. Yesterday I phoned the garden centre that I couldn't get to (because of the traffic) and found that the water feature fountain ornament that I wanted was far too expensive. I had this idea that Whelan's might have something at a much better price.

They did.

 

Whilst I was there I saw a rather nice little bird water bath thingy. I thought that I might get that as a little pressie for Karl and Tracy. I'd be driving past their house on the way to work so I thought that I could park up and using my ninja-like stealth I could sneak it into their garden, and then disappear like a shadow, leaving them scratching their heads in wonderment about where the new ornament had come from.

It was a good idea which was sadly thwarted by their motion-sensitive camera.

I need to work on my ninja-like stealth.

 

From there I went on to Aylesford Aquatics. Three years ago I slated the place on Google reviews and it hasn't got any better in the meantime. I had an idea I might get the hoses I need for my new water feature... Let's just say that I sighed and walked out, and leave it at that.

I then drove on to the petrol station at the nearby Sainsbury's where I got petrol and lunch. Getting lunch took some doing. I can't help but wonder if I was being thick... It turned out that despite every single food item being labelled as "meal deal", only certain items were actually in the meal deal. The woman behind the till felt that it was rather obvious what was and what wasn't in the deal, and seemed to think that the labelling was some sort of advertising or artwork. It certainly wasn't in any way intended to let people know what was and wasn't in the meal deal.

I sighed again.

 

I then went on to the late shift which was busier than I'd hoped. 

I’m not a fan of the late shifts…

19 May 2026 (Tuesday) - Early Shift

I was fast asleep when “er indoors ^TM” decided to have an argument with Bailey last night. Personally I can't see why Bailey can't go out into the garden every twenty minutes all through the night if she wants to... as long as I'm not disturbed about it.  I eventually nodded off again but woke in a sweat following a rather vivid nightmare in which an old friend had devised a money-making scheme. The idea was that by replacing lockers at swimming pools and sports centres with fridges, people's clothing would stay fresher for longer. I'm not sure how come I got the job of replacing the nation's lockers...

 

Finding myself wide awake at four o'clock I tried to get back to sleep, but it wasn't happening. I got up and as I made toast there was quite the procession of dogs wanting to go into the garden.

I scoffed toast whilst watching another episode of "The Handmaid's Tale" in which again not a lot seemed to happen. As I watched so that noisy dog came up the road... It was odd. The moment I heard its barking I charged outside to tell the owner to keep the noise down... and there was no one to be seen in the street. 

 

I got dressed and set off for work. This morning the DAB radio worked fine all the way from home to work. As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about how the Scottish First Minister is planning to put a cap on the price of groceries. In theory it's a rather good idea. In practice if shopkeepers are forced to sell food without being able to make a profit then they aren't going to sell food, are they? It’s called market forces...

And there was talk about the Ebola epidemic in Africa. It was claimed that much of the problem was down to the locals not trusting proper medicine and preferring to use crackpot faith healers. You have to wonder why, when proper medicine works and crackpot faith healing doesn't.

 

I popped into Sainsburys to get lunch. I counted all my coins into the machine. As I did so the rather angry assistant glared at me. I don't see why it was such a big deal to her, but clearly it was.

And then I went in to work where a colleague had made fudge in honour of her birthday. It was rather good, and I'm reliably informed that it is quite easy to make. I might have a go.

 

The plan was that after work I would go to Bybrook Barn garden centre to have a look at a water feature I could hook up to the new aerator pump. I drove to the garden centre… and joined the queue of traffic at Sainsburys. After twenty minutes I’d travelled maybe twenty yards so I gave up and came home.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up sausages and we scoffed them whilst watching more of “The Orville”. I might have an early night… I’m worn out. Even if being at work my step count for today is only a third of what it was yesterday.

18 May 2026 (Monday) - A Walk, Ironing, Stuff...

I slept rather well last night. Over brekkie I had my usual root around the internet and my piss boiled on one of the supposedly work-related Facebook pages in which people were talking about an incident on a cruise ship when a call went out for someone who knew their blood group so they could give a unit of blood to a fellow passenger.

Blood transfusions simply don’t work that way… unless it is your intention to kill someone. I was reminded of my days in scouting when a local group were going to Africa and the leader wanted to know everyone’s blood group so that he could know whose blood could go into who… He was serious. He’d done his research by reading up on Wikipedia (!) and I had to involve the Chief Scout and the British Blood Transfusion Society to dissuade him.

Here’s a tip… if you ever meet anyone using the phrase “universal donor” or “universal recipient” then you know for a fact that the person you’ve met knows absolutely nothing about blood transfusions.

And I saw that the Rother Valley brewery has closed down. They brewed “Level Best”, “Blues” and “Smild”; three of my favourite beers. It turns out the chap who ran the brewery is in his eighties and he’s had enough. I’m twenty years younger and I know the feeling.

I Munzed, and Wordled from “about” to “loath” in four goes.

 

I took the dogs out. I tuned the radio to Radio Four’s DAB channel, and again as I went past the Matalan roundabout and up Chart Road so Radio Ashford came over the top of it. Perhaps it’s an interference thing as it only happens in that location?

As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about the new head honcho at the BBC. Last week he was a big cheese at Google. I can’t see what transferrable skills a search engine company would have for a broadcaster, but this would seem to be how senior managers operate. Perhaps I might jack it all in and become a coastguard or a driving instructor?

 

We got to the woods where we met Nala. Nala was a rather lovable staffie who clearly wanted to join in with our group and come with us. She showed no inclination to go back to the rather angry looking thug who was screaming at her from across the field, and I can’t say I blamed her for that.

We walked a variation on our usual walk. I’m keen that we don’t do the same walk every time. Back in the day we got into a vicious circle with Fudge who got so used to the route we took that he wouldn’t walk any other route. And the route we took had to be the anticlockwise way round as well. He simply refused to walk anything different; I had to put his lead on him and drag him if we wanted a change.

As we walked so Bailey rolled in fox poo. Treacle thought the sink hole had dried out. It hadn’t; the stinking mud was belly deep. Morgan chased squirrels.

 

We went out having seen the weather forecast had been for showers. We walked about four and a half miles over an hour and a half and it was only when we got home that the rain hit.

The girls both had a bath. With soap. I then made us both a cuppa and looked at the rain. I did have a plan to sort the pond aerator pump I’d bought on Friday, but that could keep until the rain stopped. And with the lawn wet, mowing it would have been silly.

I put shirts in to wash, wrote up some CPD, and marked some trainee’s portfolio work. For all that the trainees put in a lot of effort I do think they miss out by not going on a day release and meeting up with other trainees and getting lectures from senior workplace staff in a university environment. Like I did.

I suppose that was rather expensive though.

 

After a couple of scones for lunch I did the ironing. A dull task, bit one that needed doing. As I ironed I watched a couple of episodes of “The Handmaid’s Tale” which featured her who was rather lesbidaceous in “Orange is the New Black”. And then with the rain having subsided I ran the hair trimmers over my head and did “FEED THE FISH”. I then topped up the new bird feeder. Sadly when the advert said “doesn’t scatter seed” what it actually meant was “scatters seed like a thing possessed”. We’ve ordered some seed trays, but having re-organised the area around the feeder last week it is now much easier to sweep up with a yard brush.

As I topped up the feeder so I could see the sparrows getting rather impatient, and the robin was on the feeder by the time I’d put the bulk supply of bird seed into the shed.

And then a blue tit came for some food. That was a result.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up fish and chips which we scoffed whilst watching “Richard Osman’s House of Games”. Have you ever watched it? It’s one of the better TV quiz shows which is sadly marred by the so-called celebrities who star in the show who are always oh-so-quick to proudly show off their ignorance.

 

“er indoors ^TM” then went bowling as she does went bowling as she does most Mondays. I made myself comfortable on the sofa and watched a couple more episodes of “The Handmaid’s Tale”. The story doesn’t seem to be going anywhere…