14 June 2026 (Sunday) - Frittenden

I was awake far too early this morning, and so put a load of washing in. I went back to bed and dozed on and off, and was hanging the washing out at eight o’clock. I put another load in, made toast and had a look at the Internet. Apparently yesterday was supposed to be a day of showing pride in our country as various far right groups had planned marches and rallies, but from what I could work out they were all incredibly poorly supported and were all trounced by the anti-racist brigade. Am I alone in feeling that those who are trying to make me proud of our country are actually making me shamed of it?
And there was talk about the first games in the football world cup which is taking place. A friend in Australia was telling his pal that “we” were going to get through to the next stage and “you” might not. Almost as though they themselves were playing in the games. People take football so seriously and so personally. I really can’t see the attraction. I don’t know if being immune to it is a good or bad thing?
I Munzed, Wordled from “early” to “sepia” in four goes, got dressed and went into the garden again.
 
I set the aerator in the pond going as today looked to be another hot one. Whilst we were away the lawn had gone mad. I strimmed the edges and mowed the lawn. By the time I hung out the second wash load I was worn out and it was only ten o’clock.
I had a little look-see round the garden. The lawn wasn’t the only thing to have gone mad. The strange plant that I got last year which had gone a bit iffy was doing well. Before we went away I gave it a “kill or cure” pruning which seems to have cured it. And my poggered cordyline seems to have come back from beyond the grave… which is a minor inconvenience. I was going to use its pot to home the lilac that Karl gave me. However I’m told that the lilac wants to sit in its existing pot for a few months, so there’s no immediate rush to sort anything out just yet.
 
We took the dogs out. There was talk of a food and craft festival in Elham, but when I looked it up  there was nothing that really interested me. So instead we took the dogs out to Frittenden where we walked a rather good little series of adventure lab caches finding several of the village’s purple plaques celebrating places of local historical note, and then on to a final geocache. It was an ideal short walk for a warm day; just enough for the dogs.
As we headed home we found a load of plants up for sale in someone’s front garden. We got enough to fill our empty boxes in the garden, and got some rockery plants too.
 
Once home I got the laundry in from the line. That took some doing. We had a cuppa and a bun that we’d bought when out. I couldn’t find a link to “Granny’s Doughnuts”; they looked awful but were nowhere near as bad as I thought. Far better than the offerings of the family-owned bakery down the road.
Bearing in mind it had been a couple of weeks since I’d done it last I ran out the hoses and cleaned the big pond’s filter. And with that cleaned and the waste hose away I left the other hose running for a few minutes to top off the pond as I cleaned out the little pond’s filter.
I hosed round the plants, and felt rather worn out. I never used to feel so knackered after doing so little.
 
I had another cuppa with a slice of Battenburg cake (or bat and bird cake as I’ve heard it called) whilst I struggled with a cryptic crossword. I didn’t have a clue what the cryptic clues meant, but I had a stroke of genius. I copied them into Google and pressed the AI button which came up trumps. There’s a particularly fiendish cryptic crossword in every edition of Viz magazine (or a “craptic” crossword as they call it). I might have a go at the next one if only for the bragging rights of getting my name published for having solved it.
And flushed with success I then had a go at another geo-puzzle and spent a couple of hours trying all sorts of ideas and getting them wrong. In desperation I sent out a message to a pal who’d solved it some time ago… it turned out my first idea was the right one, but my basic arithmetic was at fault. Twenty-one minus three isn’t fifteen. Have I ever mentioned that I’ve got a degree in maths?
And I found the chicken’s feet that we took on holiday. The dogs never got round to eating them.
 
“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a very good curry which we scoffed whilst watching the last episode of “The Orville”. When I first saw the show I wasn’t impressed, but as it went on it got much better.
 
I always say I’m going to have an early night. I really should have one… bet I don’t.

13 June 2026 (Saturday) - Dog Club, Bat & Trap

It was good to have a holiday. I really enjoyed our time away, but you can’t beat your own bed and your own chodbin.

And somehow I’ve managed to knack my elbow…

I got up in the small hours. For all that you can’t beat your own chodbin, mine is quite a hike from the bed. Whilst I was at it I put a load into the washing machine.

 

I made toast and peered int Facebook. I was immediately presented with the claim that “Ashford MP Sojan Joseph & Labour tried to make KENT taxpayers pay for daily school transport from Crawley, Sussex — for illegal asylum seekers”. The claim was from some Reform UK councilor. Did Ashford MP Sojan Joseph & Labour *really* try to make KENT taxpayers pay for daily school transport from Crawley, Sussex — for illegal asylum seekers?

I really don’t know. They may well have done. Is there any evidence for this? That’s what we need to see. I did a little research and all I could find was name-calling on Facebook. Sadly however this is what I’m seeing more and more from politicians of all shades. No one is saying what they’ve actually done; they are just making claims about the failings of the opposition whilst rarely providing any evidence to back up their claims. I’m reminded of the bickering of children that I had to referee when I was a cub scout leader.

There’s no denying that the people of Ashford have made a mistake by voting for the current MP, but what is the alternative? Just shouting “VOTE REFORM” doesn’t tell us precisely what we would be voting for, and “vote for us because we aren’t as bad as the alternative” is hardly a defensible political position.

 

Steve was on the radio doing the “Guess the Lyrics” competition. “The reason for living the reason for leaving” was from ABC, but it wasn’t “Poison Arrow”; it was “The Look of Love”. Even with the initial mistake I still got it within a minute. I felt rather smug about that. I Munzed. I Worded from “lyric” to “quell” in five goes then we took the dogs to Dog Club.

 

There were quite a few new dogs along today, and Morgan took a few minutes to settle, but in the end a great time was had by everyone. I tried to count the dogs; we had somewhere in the high teens of dogs along. It was difficult to be sure; they don’t sit still.

From Dog Club we drove to the petrol station while Steve was doing the Mystery Year competition on the radio. “Stand By Your Man” and the first appearance of Davros on Doctor Who? 1975.

 

We headed out to Staple. Being a few minutes early we took the dogs for a little walk and as we walked we met a coupe of friends who were also early for the geo-meet and thought that they too might have a little walk. It was good to catch up.

And then it was on to the Black Pig for the annual Bat-And-Trap-othon. Bearing in mind the rain of the last week we had a really good afternoon in the sunshine drinking beer and playing Bat & Trap. I scored two, which was something of a result. I do like the geo-meets, and today’s was so like how they used to be.

 

As the afternoon wore on things became progressively more vague. I counted five pints of ale, and I’ve a photo of gin & tonic. I slept much of the way home.

 

“er indoors ^TM” went off to the local Am-Dram’s production, and I settled in front of the telly and watched three episodes of “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

 

I took quite a few photos today. And I think I’ve caught the sun…. And my elbow still hurts.

12 June 2026 (Friday) - Coming Home

I was up twice in the night. I shall miss having a chodbin in the next room. I got up at seven o’clock and made a noise shaving so that “er indoors ^TM” might wake.

She didn’t.

So I clattered about a bit, and that didn’t work. In the end I piled the dogs onto her, put my suitcase on the bed and stared noisily filling it. That did the trick.

 

I then took the dogs out to do what dogs do. I can only assume they’d taken to dumping in the thicket near the Sanctuary because they’ve been scoffing like things possessed but dumping nowhere near as much as the do at home. I hope they haven’t been dumping in the thicket near the Sanctuary; the Sanctuary is a little shed in an unkempt corner of the garden where you go to say your prayers, and the last thing anyone wants when saying their prayers is a bonanza of dog dung.

I had a good look round, but didn’t find anything.

 

We seemed to get packed up rather quickly, and we were soon on our way to Hutton Country Park; a little park near Brentwood. A walk round there would break up our drive home, and there were ten geocaches there which was an added bonus. They were rather well crafted geocaches too. We had a good wander round; it was only a shame that Treacle was willful. With minutes to go she made a bee-line for the swamp. I called her back; she ignored me. I shouted at her, and she glared at me in a most indignant way. And then carried on heading to the swamp. After a second bellow she eventually took some notice of me.

 

We said our goodbyes, and headed home listening to Radio Two as we drove. Have you ever listened to Radio Two? It was dire when my gran used to listen to it (she died in 1984) and it hasn’t got any better in the meantime.

We got home. It didn’t take that long to unpack. I spent a little while straining my brain at geo-puzzles. There’s one outside the pub we are going to tomorrow.

 

Feeling rather tired we had a cheeky KFC for dinner. We scoffed it, and as the dogs slept we watched an episode of “The Orville”.

I’ve put some polish on my walking boots. It might waterproof them a bit; it might not.

 

I’m going to have an early night. I’m absolutely worn out.

11 June 2026 (Thursday) - Lawshall

As the week has gone on I’ve slept better. Either it’s all a bit much for me or the beer is taking its toll. The dogs are finding it a bit much too. Earlier in the week when I got up they would all leap up ready to go bothering everyone else, but today they were all-in and frankly sparko at seven o’clock this morning.

We spent a few minutes watching the birds in the garden. There’s certainly more than we’ve got back home.

 

Karl and Tracey were soon up, and we had brekkie, then went for a little walk. The weather forecast was against up, but no matter what happened the weather couldn’t be any worse than it had been yesterday, could it? (at the risk of giving spoilers, the answer was “yes”)

 

We drove out to nearby Lawshall where we walked a wonderful series of geocaches. A lovely walk, really well-thought-out caches. Tricky puzzles to solve in the field. Finding the thing was easy enough, but getting the log out to sign it wasn’t easy. It would have been one of the best geo-days ever if not for the rain.

But unlike yesterday my pants stayed dry, so that was a result.

 

We came back to base for a sausage roll and a scotch egg and a pint (three), and then it was declared that this was just the starter.

We then drove out for a late lunch. Having had a rather good dinner there a couple of days ago we went to the Rushbrooke Arms again. I see one or two people have been critical of the place on Google and Tripadvisor. All I can say was that we had a very good bit of dinner again. More Bang Bang Cauliflower, and this time I went for the steak and ale pie. The dogs all got scraps… perhaps they’ve been getting too much this week? Bailey wouldn’t take a chip, but would lick the gravy off of it.

 

We retreated back to base, where we perused the geo-map, then had even more scoff and even more beer whilst playing “Trouble”.

The house seems a lot quieter without Jess and Charlotte.

I took a few photos today.

 

10 June 2026 (Wednesday) - The Kings Forest

 

I rather ached when I woke, which was odd bearing in mind that we’ve not really exerted ourselves massively. I got up and had a shave, and then took the dogs round the garden (again) gathering dung and again I looked at a glorious morning.

 

As brekkie was being prepared I went and sat with little Bailey who has claimed one of the sofas as her own. She seems to be struggling this week. Normally spending about eighteen hours a day asleep, being constantly awake is taking its toll on her. I sat with her… and woke an hour later with all three dogs asleep on me.

We had a particularly good bit of brekkie, then looked at the geo map. Admittedly the weather forecast was a tad iffy, but we had this plan that if we went for a little walk just north of Bury St Edmunds we might drop Jess and Charlotte off at the train station on the way back to the cottage.

It was a good plan. In theory…

 

We got to the designated parking spot and the heavens opened. We waited for fifteen minutes for the rain to abate, then went for a little walk. After a few hundred yards it hossed down rather epically. Only for a few minutes but enough to soak us. My lightweight raincoat needs to be either replaced or binned.

But the sun came out. Rather brightly. We were all dry in two minutes so we carried on. We had a good walk though rather pretty woodlands. We saw deer. We found a dead deer, and some of us rolled in it (as you do). We even found geocaches.

And then it rained. Seriously rained. Whatever rain you’ve seen before was just a light sprinkle compared to this. Within minutes my pants were ringing wet.

We abandoned and came back to the cottage where the dogs got a bath. With soap. As we scrubbed the dogs so Karl and Tracey ran Jess and Charlotte back to the train station at Bury St Edmonds, and we had a lazy cuppa. A cup of coffee as opposed to a pint.

 

We had a rather lazy evening with scampi and chips and the Infinity table playing Blokus (2-D) and Sorry…

 

I took a few photos today.

9 June 2026 (Tuesday) - Rushbrooke

The dogs were asleep, but the sun was rather bright through the curtains. Being wide awake I got up and did the geo-admin for the last two days until the cottage’s wi-fi died unexpectedly at seven o’clock. Hurrah for my mobile and its mobile hotspot facility, eh?

As I logged our thirty-odd geo-finds I looked out at a glorious morning which sadly wasn’t forecast to last much past brekkie time

 

After brekkie we looked at the weather forecast for the ten thousandth time and decided to take a chance. We drove up to the Rushbrooke Arms where I banged on the door and had a word with the nice man. He said that my plan of using their car park, going for a walk and coming back to his pub for lunch was a good one, so that’s what we did.

As always our walk was laid out for us by a series of geocaches. Perhaps spread out a little too much for my liking, and perhaps a little too much on roads, but all things considered it was a very good walk. Geocaching-wise far better than the frankly impossible hides we’d struggled with earlier in the week.

And apart from a minor shower the weather held for us too.

 

After four miles we were back at the pub where we had a very good bit of dinner. Bang Bang Cauliflower – no, I’d never heard of it before either, but I would certainly have it again.

 

We drove back to base where we jigsaw-ed. I say “we”; I had a kip. As the afternoon wore on the weather alternated between glorious sunshine and thunderstorms and hailstorms.

We had a few pints, and a very good dinner of bread and oils and halloumi and olives, and the 3-D Blokus came out too.

 

I took a few photos today. And I had a bit of an early night… A rather lazy day had been rather tiring…

8 June 2026 (Monday) - Long Melford

The dogs stayed asleep until half past seven this morning which was something of a result. When at home they spend so much of the day asleep; they are constantly on the go here. Little Bailey is particularly showing the strain of it all.

 

We got up and played silly beggars charging round a damp garden, and as brekkie was prepared so the rain stopped and started. Brekkie was particularly good, and with that scoffed we thought about going out. But the rain had come back. We (I) had a little doze in the conservatory, and eventually the rain held off long enough for us to decide to take a chance.

 

We drove down to nearby Long Melford where we had a little walk along a very long village. There were two geocaching adventure lab series there which gave us a good walk. The first one took us to the top end of the village . We then tried a puzzle geocache at the church. It was a huge church; almost cathedral sized, but with a very strong smell of cannabis. What was that all about? The puzzle geocache was rather rubbish; we had to find five bits of information from the church and the graves. We found two, Googled two, and guessed one.

But we found what we were looking for, and had an ice cream to celebrate.

 

From there we walked the bottom end of the village; it was rather pretty. And with walk walked it was only a five minute drive to the Nethergate brewery where we went on Friday. We needed supplies, and while we were there we had a little drinkie. A pint of mild, and a pint of lager-coloured stout. It was odd!!

 

We then came back to base for a bit of a rest and a very good late dinner. And a couple of games of 3-D blokus…

 

I took a few photos as we went round today

7 June 2026 (Sunday) - Shimpling

 

I had somewhat naively hoped that the dogs would have slept better last night. This early morning’s bout of silly beggars took place at five o’clock; half an hour earlier than it did yesterday. Having given the impression that they needed a widdle I opened the bedroom door… and then had to chase all three round the cottage to herd them into the garden. I saw two raking out, and can only hope the third did too.

We got back to bed eventually…

 

After a bit of brekkie we got going. We went down to nearby Shimpling where we had a bit of a walk following a series of geocaches as we do. There was a minor incident as the dogs chased off after a huge rabbit… it might have been a hare: I really should find out what the difference is.

We found an archaeology site. No one was digging though which was probably for the best as we could have made serious nuisances of ourselves. We had a picnic in the graveyard…

Geocaching-wise I can’t recommend the route. When you hide a geocache you rate the difficulty, state the size of the thing, and give a little clue. The difficulties were all left at the default setting, the sizes given (when given at all) were misleading, and the clues were meaningless at best. Sadly many of the caches had been seemingly just drop-kicked into the hedge. Which was very strange as the chap had clearly put a lot of effort into creating quite a few very well made hand-crafted caches.

one.

 

After six and a half miles we were back at the car. We came home for a little drinkie. And another. And another. And the evening got progressively more and more vague.

I took a few photos (until I fell asleep).

6 June 2026 (Saturday) - Whelnetham

 

I meant to bring a clock… I always feel rather confused and disorientated if I don’t know what the time is… it turned out that it was five o’clock when the dogs wanted to go for a tiddle this morning. Mind you when I say “go for a tiddle” I actually mean “go play silly beggars in the great new garden we’ve got”. But they’ve learned their lesson and stayed away from the swamp which was masquerading as a pond.

After five minutes the novelty of “silly beggars” wore off. I dried their bellies and we all went back to bed. But I was wide awake.

I plumbed the lap-top into the cottage wi-fi and posted up yesterday’s photos. It’s the sort of thing I want to see when others post them.

 

We tuned in to Radio Ashford for Steve’s “Guess The Lyrics” competition. “I thought i could have my cake and eat it too”… no? I had no idea either. It was The Four Seasons.

Karl boiled up a particularly good full English brekkie. Oh, it was good. I contributed by loading the dishwasher afterwards. The plan was to go for a walk, but it was raining, so we sat in the conservatory and I fell asleep…

 

I woke to excitement. The rain had stopped and we were forecast four hours of dry. We hurried off to nearby Whelnetham and had a little walk guided as ever by a series of geocaches. A rather good series of geocaches as it happened. I’ve never found one magnetised to a road drain before. As we walked we saw a rather spectacular red kite. The dogs chased rabbits and came back incredibly quickly (for them). The walk was only marred by some local thug getting incredibly aggressive because Morgan and Bailey dared to run within fifteen yards of his dog. For someone who never wanted dogs I do tend to get rather protective of them… but to be fair the dogs just ran in his general direction, and came back when called. The local by-laws said that dogs had to be under control which mine were. For all that Thugbert was ranting about dogs being on leads, those who insist on dogs being on leads generally know very little about dogs.

 

We came back to base. We had a pint and sat in the garden with it… for about five minutes until the rain hit. Then we adjourned to the conservatory for crisps and another pint. And a game of chess. Not all of the bits were there, but they rarely are.

 

It was soon tea time. Karl boiled up a rather good pasta and chicken sausages and I offered sage advice, and Jess and Charlotte soon arrived.

The dogs got very excited again…

 

I took a few photos today.

5 June 2026 (Friday) - Off On Holiday

I couldn’t sleep last night. I gave up and got up at three o’clock and watched an episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale” before going and waking “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs.

They weren’t keen on it.

 

We got on our way shortly after half past six and made really good time right up to junction twenty-eight of the motorway where Google told us we’d found a one-hour tailback. That was an inconvenience. But good old Google told us of a diversion we might take along Wiggly Bottom Lane and pausing only briefly to tiddle in a lay-by we arrived at Duxford McDonalds about thirty seconds before Kark and Tracey.

 

We chuckled at the row the staff were having; we scoffed sausage and egg McMuffins, and drove down to Rede where we went for a little walk. As always our walk was guided by several geocaches…

We started with a puzzle at the church and couldn’t find the information we needed.

We couldn’t find the second one…

Once we’d found the third one we realised what was going on… geocaches all have difficulty ratings scoring them from one to five. These had all been rated at one and a half (really easy to find) They should really all have been rated at three and a half or higher… But we eventually found twelve out of fourteen, and the dogs were rather good off the leads which was a result.

 

From there we went to dinner at the White Horse in Rede. The people were friendly, the food excellent. The dogs all got a treat of biccies and cream. But it was odd that they had no ale on hand pumps. They were getting some in a couple of weeks’ time. Presumably no demand for the stuff?

 

We then divided our forces. Some went to get food shopping. We went to the Nethergate brewery to get beer and cider. An interesting place – it’s got its own bar. Might go back there in a day or so…

 

And then on to the holiday cottage. There’s a pin for the place on Google maps. You’d think the pin would correspond with the actual location, wouldn’t you? But we found it, and once unpacked we had a little look around.

The place has three ponds. As a pond-keeper I rather thought that the smaller two might need a little maintenance. The third looked to be in a very sorry state. Behind a gate and with very thick weed and much all over its surface. So thick that you might mistake it for solid ground if you were as silly as Morgan and Bailey who went charging up… There was a look of total horror on their faces as the ground on which they were running just collapsed underneath them.

They aren’t keen on swimming at the best of times.

Fortunately there was a hose in the cottage garden. They weren’t keen on the hose either but there it was. It was as well we’d brought a lot of dog shampoo along, and it didn’t take *that* long to scrub them.

 

We had some rather good pizzas for tea which we scoffed in a conservatory. Have you ever scoffed in a conservatory? I’d not convinced about them.

The beer gave way to port, and it all got rather vague…

 

I took a few photos of the day… sadly nowhere near as many as I usually do.

4 June 2026 (Thursday) - Rain, Puzzles, Packing

I slept for nine hours last night; that was a result. Mind you I did spend all of yesterday feeling like death warmed up. That’s night shifts…

I got up and made toast. I scoffed it peering into a dull Internet. Not a lot was kicking off really. Some left wing crackpots were posting to Facebook ranting about people canvassing for the Restore UK party who were wearing some sort of uniform. Some were saying it was a good thing, some were saying it was illegal, some were likening it to the Brownies… I’ll just say that nothing has divided the country quite as much as the recent rise of the nationalists.

As I stared into the Internet so not-so-nice-next-door came and took our garden waste bin. I popped out to see what was going on. The bin men had swapped our bins over. We swapped them back; I remarked about how the bin men never put the bins back properly and she smiled. That’s a step in the right direction.

 

Despite the weather forecast I took the dogs out. We delivered cards then went up to Kings Wood. We got about a quarter of a mile when the heavens opened. We got about a couple of hundred yards more and I was soaked to the skin, and the dogs all looked miserable.

We gave up and came home for a warming shower. I made a cuppa for “er indoors ^TM” and myself, and the sun came out.

I spent an hour trying to solve a series of geo-puzzles that were published this morning. I didn’t solve any.

I amazed myself by Munzing from “rainy” straight to “alloy” … I couldn’t think of any other word ending in “y” that had an “a” in it..

 

I had a look at packing for our holiday… You wouldn’t believe the amount of pairs of trousers that I found. I was rather twitchy about getting today’s trousers ready after their earlier soaking, but I’ve got three pairs packed that I didn’t know I had, and will be wearing a fourth pair that I had no idea that I had either. How is it possible to be so blissfully aware of how many pairs of trousers you’ve got

I ordered up some beer for tomorrow, and had another look at the geo-puzzles. I solved all of them. Well, Gordon told me the answer to one.

 

Seeing the rain had stopped I went into the garden. We did “FEED THE FISH” and I re-potted one of the pond plants which had got too big for the floating basket and was threatening to topple it.

And then it started raining again.

 

Once the rain stopped we got most of our luggage loaded into the car ready for tomorrow, and the holiday started with a KFC dinner which we scoffed whilst watching an episode of “The Orville”

I’ve (hopefully) figured out where we are going tomorrow…

I should have an early night as we’ve got an early start tomorrow. 

3 June 2026 (Wednesday) - Rather Tired

Last night was a typical night shift really (I suppose), but I did find myself reflecting on how night shifts have changed. The first one I ever did was some time in August 1985 when we were called in from home as needed. I did maybe half a dozen blood counts that night and was finished by half past midnight.

Last night I spent the entire shift in the department (when I wasn't on the loo). I cleared up the work that the day shifts couldn't complete and then had over sixty blood counts, a couple of dozen coagulation screens and was going (quite literally) all night long.

Some days I don't get to my daily step target of six thousand steps; I'd cleared that by half past six this morning.

 

The pain in my back eased a little overnight which was a result. I did something to my back over the weekend. On Monday  I thought I'd got a trapped nerve as the pain had moved to my right arse cheek, and yesterday it slowly moved its way down my thigh. I Googled my symptoms (which is never a good thing to do) and ended up wishing that I hadn't.

However the Bombay Bad Bot pot noodle I had for lunch yesterday had worked its way through, and I spent the last half of the night wishing I'd had toast and jam for lunch instead.

I was glad to see the early shift roll in, and I was even gladder to drive off homewards.

 

As I drove home the pundits on the radio were talking about the riots sparked by the death of Henry Nowak. Having been stabbed to death by some maniac, the chap’s family called for his death not to be made a political issue, and so no end of people have deliberately made it just that.

As I came up Brookfield Road I saw that petrol was five pence per litre more expensive than what I'd paid in Maidstone to top up last night, so that was something of a result. Mind you the pundits on the radio had said that petrol in America was four dollars per gallon... that's  two pounds and ninety six pence per gallon which is about sixty-two pence a litre as opposed to the one pound fifty-six pence per litre I paid last night. You have to wonder why the Americans get their petrol so cheaply, don't you?

 

I got home, went to bed and woke up five hours later feeling like death warmed up. I had a vague idea to take the dogs to Orlestone woods for a walk, but it was hossing down.

Whilst Morgan ate “er indoors ^TM” ‘s sock I phoned Sainsburys helpline to whinge. I went into the petrol station at Aylesford last night to get exactly the same experience that I had a couple of weeks ago when I wrote: “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”. 

I got through to someone whose first language obviously wasn’t English. I outlined the problem and he’s going to investigate it for me. That will be nice. I’ve whinged in the past… there’s a simple issue in that they simply need to make their signage clearer, but they seem to want to blow it out of all proportion.

 

I then spent quite a while making today’s blog piccie, doing CPD, and downloading geocaches for next week’s excursions. I downloaded about ten thousand – hopefully that should be enough. As I downloaded I watched the first episode of the third season of “The Handmaid’s Tale”. I can’t help but wonder if the writers have run out of steam; the characters have completely changed from what they were in the previous season. But I suppose it makes for dramatic telly all the time you don’t think too hard about it.

We did “FEED THE FISH” and I gave my new hair trimmers a first trial run. I might have been a bit vigorous with them.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a rather good bit of scoff which we washed down with a bottle of plonk. But not just any old bottle of plonk; the cheapest one I could find in Sainsburys last night.

It wasn’t too shabby at all… And with it scoffed the dogs amazed me. Rather than going over to the other sofa with “er indoors ^TM”, they all looked at me expectantly. It took me a minute to realise that they’ve realized that after our having a bottle of plonk I usually share a packet of cheesy biccies with them.

They are rather clever…

2 June 2026 (Tuesday) - Before The Night Shift

I woke in the small hours to the sound of Treacle squeaking. She’d got off the bed and couldn’t get back on… until I got up to help her when she jumped up easily enough. As I was up anyway I went to the loo, and then dozed on and off listening to the sound of the rain. The heatwave has finally given in to rain. Ho hum…

I got up and made toast. As I scoffed I had my usual rummage round the Internet. I was presented with quite a few adverts for an upcoming psychic fair. It will be run by someone claiming to be “a renowned Tarot practitioner and intuitive healer who empowers others by illuminating their path with deep insight and spiritual clarity”. 

She’s also a “Usui Reiki Master and Teacher, who practices on a intuitive & spiritual level”.

Am I being unfair trying not to laugh out loud? Fifteen years ago when times were hard I used to try to sell oil paintings at these psychic fairs. The same old people would come to them, and hand over not inconsiderable amounts of money. One chap would rub their heads another would have them lie under a blanket and wave what he claimed was an eagle’s wing over them…  and they would all turn up a month later at the next psychic fair with the same ongoing maladies.

I’ll just make the observation that *if” this stuff actually worked, why do its proponents go to doctors and hospitals when they are ill?

And there was whinging from Hastings. The old building that used to house the printing works of the local newspaper has opened a rooftop bar with spectacular views… and spectacular prices. One gin & tonic and a tin (tin!) of cider was eighteen quid.

 

The weather forecast said the rain would ease so we went to the woods for a walk. Either the rain or the threat of parking prices had put people off of going to Kings Wood – there was only one other car in the car park when we arrived.

We walked a different walk to our usual one. With reports that one of my geocaches had gone missing we arranged our route to go past it and have a look. The thing was exactly where it was supposed to be. I always thought that one was rather easy to find, but people have struggled with it. I’ve amended the hint.

From there we meandered our way back to the car. It was a shame that Morgan had to rill in fox poo, but there it is.

 

Once home I hosed muddy paws and muddy bellies (and fox poo), did monthly flea treatments, put a load of washing in to scrub and made myself a cuppa. I Munzed. I Wordled from “toast” to “basis” via “scram” and “ashen”. I wrote up some CPD, and went to bed for a few hours.

It was too hot to sleep properly.

I got up and watched a few episodes of “The Handmaid’s Tale”. At an hour long the episodes are loo long, and the characters aren’t really believable; seemingly changing their attitudes and natures every two minutes depending on the twists of the plot.

 

I’m off to the night shift in a minute… 

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.