30 September 2026 (Wednesday) - World Postcard Day

I went to the loo at half past four and noticed all the lights on next door. She always gets up silly-early. I went back to bed where I fought a minor battle with some small dogs to eventually secure a small strip down the side of the bed. I eventually got back to sleep.

I got up, made toast and had a look at the Internet. Someone was claiming that NASA had inadvertently provided incontrovertible proof of the bible’s account of the crucifixion of Jesus… or that is incontrovertible to those who can’t tell the difference between the sun and the moon. It never fails to amaze me how  truly stupid are so keen to show off their stupidity.

And I saw an old colleague had died. Like me, he too fell foul of a management who did the dirty on him. I can’t pretend I was best of mates with him; I’d not seen him in twenty years, but in later life he became a bailiff for a local fishing club, and when checking “My Boy ^TM”’s fishing licence he remembered me and asked after me.

I Munzed. We reached our Munzee Guild monthly target today… I thought some in our team had left it a tad late, but we got there. I Wordled. Starting with “light” which gave me the “i”. “Minor” helped a bit more, and “wiper” got me closer still. “Cider” had me marking time, and I got it with “river” on the last attempt.

As I Wordled so Bailey sat with me on the sofa, and she ate all of her brekkie, which was a result.

 

I took the dogs up to the woods. Yesterday I finished my audiobook of “Day of the Triffids”. I’ve now started “The Chrysalids” by the same author. I first read this book at school which (along with many others) our English teacher did his level best to kill stone dead by insisting that we tried to pretend that various parts of the storyline were allegorical of things that they weren’t.

 

We got to the woods where the drizzle eased up, and we walked our usual circuit round the woods. The foragers were out in force, but yet again they were scouring the area within sight of the car park which had already been picked clean. There’s loads of mushrooms and chestnuts to be had deeper in the woods, but few people ever go there.

As we walked the dogs wallowed in puddles and rolled (rather impressively) in fox poo.

We came home for baths.

 

I made us both a cuppa, and after I’d had a fight with the software I wrote up some CPD. When I find anything interesting at work I make a few notes in a draft email, then use those notes for when I write things up properly. However every link I tried to open from the draft email went through some security protocol which was probably a wonder of technology in every way but one. That one being that it didn’t actually open the link. Copying and pasting directly into the browser did though.

I then fought with some geo-puzzles in the Cheltenham area. There weren’t many, and those that there were strained my brain somewhat. So I tried my trick of feeding the puzzle into Microsoft CoPilot, and the right answers came out. Eventually. It was interesting that asking the same question gave two different answers.

I got the ironing board out and set about that which I’ve been washing over the last few days. As I ironed I watched a couple of episodes of “Lost in Space” (the recent Netflix remake, not the original).

 

Pausing only briefly to drop Pogo back with “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” we drove on to Kearsney Abbey where a dozen or so fellow geocachers were meeting up in honour of World Postcard Day. After a little while we realised that the constant dripping on our heads was from the trees above; it had actually stopped raining. So we came out from under the trees, stood in the open and began to dry out.

It was rather good to catch up with like-minded friends.

On the way home we stopped off to pick up a geocache in Alkham which qualified for one of the new geocaching Treasures, and seeing we were the first people to have found that one in over a year it was a resuscitation too, which gave us bragging rights.

 

We came home. Having been out for the evening we got KFC for dinner, and we scoffed it whilst watching last night’s episode of “Bake Off”. The irritating one got the heave-ho, which was a result as far as I’m concerned. 

29 September 2026 (Tuesday) - Before the Late Shift

This morning’s ranting on Facebook reached new heights of pathetic. Apparently it is a “thing” amongst those who go on cruises to hide plastic ducks on the cruise ships (a bit like painted rocks). Some of the cruise operators want to put a stop to it. You wouldn’t believe the arguments about plastic ducks…

There was then an interesting posting from the parent of an autistic child. One of the normal people had been trying to video a steam train (yes, I know…) and had the arse because the child had been constantly screaming his head off. The child wasn’t upset or frightened. Apparently he always screams constantly because he likes doing so “because he is autistic”. The parent wondered why the world is so unaccepting of a child which constantly screams because it wants to, and felt he and his child were being bullied by a world which doesn’t want to hear a child constantly screaming…

I was reminded of a friend of “My Boy ^TM” from thirty years ago who was the world’s worst brat and would get away with murder at home “because he had ADHD”. The first time he visited I told him firmly “we don’t have any of your bollox here”. The child looked rather embarrassed, apologised for no reason, and then was as good as gold whenever he visited.

I saw I had a comment on a blog entry from a year ago. Some spammer wanted me to advertise gym equipment. I reported it for the scam that it was.

I Munzed, and Wordled starting with “thing” which gave me nothing. I started again with “ducks” which was a bit better. I got it on the third go with “scuba” which I didn’t think was actually a word.

We did dog breakfast which can be rather fraught at times. Bailey is all too quick to eat fox turds when we are out, but is really fussy over eating proper dog food.

 

I took the dogs out. We went to Orlestone via Shodohurst to avoid the road works. In the past I’ve whinged about the litter along Church Lane. This morning someone was out clearing it. In full hi-vis clothing he must have been either from the council or on community service (we see community service going on in Kings Wood from time to time).

We got to the woods and immediately put the wind up the normal people. Or (to be precise) Pogo did. Much as I love him, he can’t go back to his mummy quickly enough as far as I’m concerned. He’s a lovely dog but when we are out he sometimes feels the need to defend the pack, and he does that by screaming at anyone he considers to be a threat. And there is absolutely no reason or method in his threat detection system.

We put the wind up several normal people today; they were out in force.

As we came up one of the forest tracks we met a very sweet young couple who oh-so-politely asked where the track went to. Personally when I go hiking (which I do quite a bit) I look at a map before I go, take the map with me and check the map as I go to ensure I’m on course. This pair subscribed to the “pot luck” school of navigation and had just blundered off out hoping they wouldn’t get too lost. I suppose they were within a couple of miles of a bus stop and a railway station so things could have been a lot worse for them… it was a shame that they had no idea where the bus stop or railway station were, but I suppose in their world that was just a piddling detail.

 

We came home. I did wonder if we’d need to have a bath, but the dogs were surprisingly clean bearing in mind how wet and muddy the woods had been after the overnight rain. I had a quick Meowdoku then got ready for work.

 

Work was rather troublesome today and it was ten o’clock when I got home…

28 September 2026 (Monday) - Rather Busy

As I scoffed my toast I saw on one of the local Facebook pages that one of the local coffee shops has been bought out, had a refit costing three hundred thousand pounds and re-opened. They clearly aren’t bothered by the coffee shop in Repton going out of business at the weekend. Meanwhile one of the nearby village pubs is launching an incredibly cheap lunchtime menu. With meals starting at a fiver a go, that’s probably the way to stay in business.

Quite a few people were posting photos from various businesses offering price reductions for customers paying in cash. The “Cash is King” brigade was out in force. Personally I see the “Cash is King” brigade as being synonymous with tax dodgers, but what do I know?

And the nation would seem to be facing a hunk shortage with only seven people having signed up for the Mr England competition.

 

I had over a hundred and thirty emails. People had been round Kings Wood yesterday finding the geocaches I’d hidden there. But not finding all of them. One of them had both “Found it” and “Didn’t Find It” logs from yesterday.

I Munzed, and Wordled. Starting with “refit” I then tried “stray” and got it with “trunk” on the third go. Usually we would then go to the woods, but with a dentist appointment at the most awkward time we didn’t. I got the strimmer out instead. I voomed round the garden with that, and followed up with the lawn mower. And with a few minutes spare I then pulled weeds, putting my back out whilst I did. But I carried on regardless.

 

And then it was time for the dentist. I walked down the road and signed myself in to their self-service machine. But then the question – was to be in the upstairs or downstairs waiting room? I went to the counter where there were three surly, miserable and utterly disinterested receptionists all of who pointedly ignored me for as long as they could. I’ve said before I only go to my current dentist as it is very convenient being just down the road. And in all likelihood each of the three surly, miserable and utterly disinterested receptionists will have resigned and be replaced by the next time I am there.

I was told to sit downstairs for the hygienist, and when she was done to go upstairs for the dentist. It wasn’t long before I was in the hygienist’s chair and had her rooting in my gob. The worst part was the pain in my arm; carpal tunnel nonsense didn’t like dentist chairs.

With my gob cleaned I moved to the upstairs waiting room where some idiot (with his arse hanging out of the top of his trousers) was ranting at the world about how it isn’t possible to cook egg and chips in an air fryer. I would bet good money that no one else in the world had ever had to smile politely whilst some idiot (with his arse hanging out of the top of his trousers) ranted about eggs, chips and air fryers. How do I attract these looneys?

I went in to the dentist and he gave my gob a thumbs-up. That was a result.

 

I came home, and took the dogs out. We went to Orlestone. As we walked into the woods so one of the normal people was walking out. He seemed rather scared of Morgan and Bailey, and was absolutely terrified when Treacle and Pogo came bowling round the corner. But once he’d bustled off we walked a couple of miles without seeing anyone else (which was a result).

 

We then drove out to one of the garages where the “er indoors ^TM”-mobile was having its M.O.T. The plan had been to go to Halfords, but they’d blown her out this morning on account of their M.O.T. machine being broken. I didn’t realise there was an M.O.T. machine. One lives and learns.

 

With the “er indoors ^TM”-mobile dropped off we came home again. A cheese and pickle sarnie made for lunch then I went back to the garden. It doesn’t pootle in itself.  I put new liner into the planter I started fixing yesterday, and then put the back onto it. It looks a tad scratty round the base at the back, but you can’t see that.

I filled it with soil. I say “filled”; what I put in will settle in a few days and will need topping up. I trimmed back more of the stuff pouring over the fence from not-so-nice-next-door, I voomed round with a watering can. Hopefully now I’ve trimmed back all the stuff hanging over the fence the potted plants might get some of the rain; they’ve been completely sheltered this last year (and more).

As I trimmed back the overgrowth so I popped it into my garden waste dustbin which I then carried through to the green recycling bin in the front garden… where not-so-nice-next-door’s roses had overgrown the fence so much they were banging against our upstairs window. They got trimmed too.

 

I made us both a cuppa as by then I was all in. As I slurped mine I saw I had an email. In the spring I lent Kanen in Ecuador fifteen quid to help her set up a goat farm. She’s paid back a fiver (not that I want it) so I’ve lent that (and a bit more) to Lucia in the Philippines who’s trying to make a go of farming pigs. What I blew on a couple of drinks and some crisps in the pub yesterday is a big deal to Lucia. She aims to repay me by next April; I don’t want the money back. I shall just lend it to someone else.

I then dozed off.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up pizza and then went bowling. I settled in front of the telly and watched the last episode of “Cranford”. I wonder what I will watch next…

I’ve not stopped today.

27 September 2026 (Sunday) - Bilsington

 

I came back from the loo in the small hours and tripped over a cable that “er indoors ^TM” had left trailing over the floor. Whatever it was came crashing off of her chest of drawers bringing all sorts of clutter with it. Deciding that she could clear it later I went back to bed where I was plagued by vivid dreams in which I’d been seconded to a laboratory which specialised in selling kites to Gilbert and Sullivan enthusiasts.

I’d been asked to work today; I declined the offer and eventually got up about an hour after I would have started.

 

Squabbles abounded on Facebook this morning. As I scoffed my toast one of the “Lads Mags” pages posted a new theory of cosmology which gave an alternate explanation for creation doing away with the big bang. It sounded plausible from what I could understand, but I’ve got several post-graduate qualifications and didn’t really understand it. However several thickos who’d clearly failed the kindergarten entrance exam were pontificating on the matter and loudly dismissing the theories of other who were equally clueless.

And someone else was asking why churches needed to have parking spaces reserved for the disabled. I thought it a valid point (but decided not to comment). Those that disagreed were unable to explain why.

 

I spent an age struggling to glove a geo-puzzle, then Wordled. Starting with “solve” I got it right with “sloop” on the second go. I Munzed, and we got ready for an outing.

We drove out via Shadoxhurst where we paused for geocachical reasons, and then (after a quick DNF at Blilbby as you do) we went on to Bilsington. We wandered round the churchyard getting clues to find a nearby geocache, then walked along the canal to Ruckinge following a geocaching adventure lab series. The ad-lab was rather good; the footpath was a bit awkward to traverse. So once we’d got to the furthest point of our walk we came back over the fields. It was a shame that this took us past the most rancid swamp ever, but the dogs loved it.

Once back at where we started we walked up to the bin to dispose of the dog dung bags and saw the White Horse pub. We deserved a pint. Or two. Late Red and Ruddles best, and the Kicking Goat’s Fresh Berries cider too. Can’t be bad. Mind you, a pint of ale, half a pint of cider, two bags of crisps and two bags of cheddars was fifteen quid. And this was followed by a pint of ale and a bag of crisps for six quid twenty. Am I *really* being mean in thinking this a tad excessive? I know it’s probably about the going rate, but it’s a bit much, isn’t it?

We had hoped to get some of the new geocaching Treasures that came out in the week. There’s seven to be had; we got two. And I took a few photos as we walked (pretty much all were taken on the way back).

 

We came home where we had a serious scrubbing session in the bath. The dogs stank. After an intense wash (with soap!) they weren’t *quite* as rancid as they had been.

We did “FEED THE FISH”, and with that done it wasn’t long before all the dogs were snoring. We had a cuppa and an out-of-date cake.

I then had a pootle in the garden. Yesterday I found some old planks of wood that I could use to bodge the planter the rats had a month or so ago. I sawed them to the right size, and screwed them onto the planter. And then the rain started. I’ll finish that job tomorrow. Possibly.

 

I put some washing and in solved a few more geo-puzzles whilst “er indoors ^TM” boiled up dinner which we scoffed whilst watching “Lego Masters Australia” which I found randomly. The Sky-Q box was sold to me on the understanding that it records stuff I want to see. It totally misses all of the Lego Masters and the Bake-Offs, and records all sorts of other tosh with which I have no interest whatsoever.

Maybe I need a new Sky-Q box which lives up to expectations?

26 September 2026 (Saturday) - Games Night

 

I woke in a cold sweat following a nightmare in which a colleague was had set up a business selling yellow things, and was quite insistent that I buy everything and anything that was yellow in colour from her. She was quite forceful...

I got up, made toast and watched an episode of Cranford in which Mr Holbrook croaked. Having the protagonists peg out seems to be a theme in this show.

As I watched telly so I got my phone to do a major update and restart. The thing keeps locking up. Maybe this will help, maybe it won't.

 

I then took a deep breath and set off to work. I'd rather not work on Saturday mornings as I was missing Dog Club. And being part-time I did wonder if having worked twelve out of the last fourteen weekends was a tad excessive, but there it was.

As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about paid paternity leave. It was never a thing back in the day, and apparently the UK's paid paternity leave is peanuts compared to what the rest of the world gets. But I really can't help but think that if I didn't get it, why should anyone else... which is incredibly selfish of me, isn't it?

This was followed by the Thought for the Day in which some vicar (quite frankly) talked out of his arse.  Today is the European Day of Languages and this vicar was banging on about giving thanks to his god for the variety of languages in the world. He seemed blissfully unaware that according to his bible humans originally all spoke the same language, and that his god smited humanity by giving us all different languages as a punishment for the Tower of Babel debacle. It's there in Genesis chapter 11 verses 1 to nine if you believe that sort of thing. Which a vicar should. So did I once upon a time before I saw the darkness... you've be amazed how few so-called Christians have any idea what is in the bible whilst so may atheists know the thing inside-out.

I turned the radio off and listened to more of my Triffids audiobook instead.

 

I got to work. Sometimes I have the cooked brekkie. I didn't fancy it today, so I went into the works branch of M&S and got a croissant instead. At fifty pence more than the corner shop up the road charges, the thing was smaller and nowhere near as good. Back in the day M&S had a reputation for rather good food. They are living off of past glories; everything I've had from them recently has been something of a disappointment

 

As I scoffed my croissant in the rest room so “er indoors ^TM” sent a text. Steve was doing the "Guess the Lyrics" competition on the radio. "Throw me a line I'm sinking fast. Clutching at Straws Can't make it." No? - Roxy Music - Virginia Plain.

I then went into work and did my bit. I managed to tune in to Radio Ashford and heard the start of Steve's Mystery Year quiz. When was the Sinclair C5 launched? I knew that one.  I can remember watching one nearly going under the front of a bus near Folkestone railway station when we lived near there. That would have put it in the mid-eighties. Add to that "from the very very young to the very very old" and Dogtanian... 1985. I heard my name getting mentioned on the radio saying I was among those with the right answer, but things then got a tad busier so I got on with work. I'd rather not, but there it was.

As I worked I had a bit of a chuckle... Many years ago (about forty) the boss at the time sent a circular round to all of the wards and clinics. On one particular day we'd had six clotting investigations to perform and the boss felt that was a massively excessive and totally unreasonable workload, and told everyone who sent in such blood samples. This morning (just the morning) I had twenty-seven of the things as well as loads of other stuff to do whereas on that day forty years ago the person doing the six clotting investigations did that and that alone, and had all day to do it.

How times have changed.

 

I came home listening to more “Triffids”. Once home I counted up the Dog Club money that “er indoors ^TM” had brought home from this morning’s meeting. I must admit that I was rather loathe to make any changes to how we do the money with Dog Club, but something needs sorting. Some days we get over twenty quid in the pot. Today we had three quid, but with pretty much the usual amount of dogs along.

“er indoors ^TM” went shopping. I made myself some toast. I woke up an hour later, and pootled in the garden.

“er indoors ^TM” returned, and we spent a little while solving geo-puzzles.

 

Steve Sarah and Chris arrived. We sparked up the Infinity table and I came second in “Game of Life” which was frankly amazing and I nearly went bust early on. Glossing over a last place in “Sorry” I then managed a second place in “Ticket to Ride” about which no one was more surprised than me.

I do like our monthly games nights…

25 September 2026 (Friday) - Birthdays

I slept reasonably well. It was a shame that when Bailey relocated in the small hours she chose to trample over me rather than over any of the other dogs, but she’s only small and not that heavy really.

 

I made toast and had a look at the Internet. It was still there, and the squabbles were as pathetic as ever. Someone had posted a tribute to Arthur C Clarke on one of the sci-fi Facebook groups. Someone else claimed that it had been plagiarised from a Doctor Who episode and it had all kicked off. I read some of the bickering, wondering since when had “clown” and “ding-a-ling” been fighting-talk insults.

No one had anything bad to say about last night’s episode of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” but several people had spotted the bods to the 70s animated series (like I had).

I Munzed, Wordled from “clown” to “copse” in three goes then went to wake “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs. It was eight o’clock; how much longer did they want to sleep?

Once they’d had their brekkie we went out. As we drove the BBC wasted a lot of prime radio time. There was an article about how rogue artificial intelligences are not legally accountable for any of their misdemeanours. It was rather interesting, but the expert expert expert being being being interviewed interviewed interviewed was was was incredibly incredibly incredibly nervous and hesitant. And this was followed by something about how the wild gentian plant has quite possibly gone extinct in the UK. However the phone line to the expert went dead for about three quarters of what the chap was saying.

 

We got to the woods where we mostly did our standard walk. We did take a bit of a diversion to avoid a horse, which boiled my piss a little. Horses are allowed on the wide main gravelled tracks which we avoid as far as possible. These rarely have any hoofprints or horse dung. Horses aren’t allowed on the narrower non-gravelled tracks where we go on as far as possible. These always show hoofprints and have horse dung.

We walked four and a bit miles, then came home listening to more “Triffids”. Once home I made us a cuppa and the dogs all settled. Pogo settled on top of Bailey and both seemed content as they both slept.

 

I then had a pootle in the garden. I went round with the Bionic Burner, then trimmed back more of the stuff pouring over the fence from not-so-nice-next-door. I trimmed quite a bit. I then had a look at booking a slot for a tip run. The nice people at the council had been fiddling with the app so that there’s a whole new way of booking. I wonder how much that cost… they bang on about being short of money.

With slot booked I loaded up the car with rubbish then watched another episode of “Cranford”. Starring Mr Carson from Downton Abbey it’s a rather good show. In today’s episode the railway was being built, and the shock of the news made one of the old biddies drop dead.

 

I then went on the tip run I’d booked. For once the staff didn’t watch me like a hawk checking where each scrap of rubbish went.

From there I went on to the Home Bargains shop. I need some sleepers to repair the planter that the rats had, but they didn’t have any of the right size. It was then that my phone beeped. I had orders from “er indoors ^TM” to get some sweet and sour sauce. Home Bargains had some at one pound sixty-nine pence. Is that good or bad? I have no idea, but when I paid, the self-service machine only wanted eighty-nine pence. I saw that as a result. It’s the little victories.

From there I went on to Dobbies. They didn’t have any sleepers at all. Whilst I was there I popped into the aquatic section. I wanted some pots to anchor the plants in the fish tank. They didn’t have any, but they had lengths of metal tape which you wrap round the plants and it weighs them down. I got some of that.

 

I came home and had a go with the metal tape. I used maybe ten centimetres of the stuff, and put the rest into the pond-odds-and-sods drawer in the shed. If any of my loyal readers want to weigh down some fish tank plants, I’ve got close on three metres of the stuff spare.

I’d like to put the weighted plants into some small pots just to make them look pretty; I shall keep my eye out for something suitable.

I then wasted time until Gold Radio made their phone call. One lucky listener was going to win a million quid. I wasn’t expecting to win, and (of course) I didn’t. But it would have been nice. It was with something of a sulk that I put a load of washing in to scrub…

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a decent bit of dinner out of that cheapo sweet and sour sauce which we scoffed whilst watching the first episode of the new series of “Bake Off”. It’s got Nigella Lawson as a judge now.

Woof!!

 

And in closing, today is Pogo and Treacle’s tenth birthday. And it’s “My Boy ^TM”‘s birthday too. He's a bit older.

24 September 2026 (Thursday) - Siphoning

I found myself feeling somewhat prophetic as I peered into the Internet this morning. The other day I whinged about how easy it is to lose touch with people. One of the people on my Facebook list had a birthday today. I first met this chap about thirty years ago. We did so much together, so many pubs and beer festivals. So many weekends away and shared holidays. I’ve seen the chap twice since lockdown…

And  two weeks ago I was in a local coffee shop about which I said “The only negative was having to pay the thick end of eight quid for a rather mediocre cup of coffee and three bite-sized pastry things (which were on the burned side)”. This morning I saw that they are closing down this weekend. It’s not just pubs that can’t attract customers.

I Munzed; opening a qrate then Wordled from “found” to “messy” in five goes..

I spent a little while downloading bank statements. Again the bank has been fiddling with the way the app works. I *really* don’t see why they can’t just leave the thing alone rather than continually messing about with it.

 

I got the dogs onto their leads and we drove up to Kings Wood Despite the charges the car park was heaving. The bit around the car park was full of foragers swarming, and there was an organised group of normal people having a guided tour found the field by the car park too. But once we were away from them we had a good walk. I thought the pups might like a drink from the dew pond. They did, but Pogo charged with so much enthusiasm he couldn’t stop and skidded straight in. I didn’t laugh much. Bailey went rogue about a mile later, and we had a near-miss with some woman who was far too small to have quite such a big dog in a lead. Her dog only wanted to play; I hate to think what would have happened if her dog turned wilful.

 

We came home listening to more “Triffids”. I made us a cuppa, then had another look at the fish tank. On Monday I’d made a serious start on it. I continued today by hoiking out all of the live plants. On Monday I’d dinged out a lot of the stuff that had gone wild and had bunched up the remaining stuff. It seemed I’d missed a *lot* so I sorted that again, then siphoned out muck and topped up the water. I let it settle and siphoned again. And again.

The mucky water went onto the plants. Having been emptying the muck from the pond filter onto the Monkey Puzzle tree for a couple of years it has only just occurred to me that I’ve been chucking fishy goodness down the toilet (literally). Maybe it will do the plants some good; the Monkey Puzzle tree is doing well with the koi poop I’ve been pumping onto it.

As I siphoned I found a surprising number of dead snails. For all that the things have bred impressively they don’t seem to have much of a lifespan.

As the water settled between siphonings I looked at the monthly accounts. They were the same as ever. They could be a whole lot worse. I really shouldn’t grumble, but I can’t help but think that they could be a whole lot better.

With accounts accounted I also did some CPD in between siphoning. It was at that point that I remembered that I’d intended to put a load of shirts in to wash before I started so that they would be ready to iron when I was done with the fish tank. Woops. I put them in, and Meowdoku-ed until the washing machine was done.

 

As I ironed shirts I watched something on Netflix. “Cranford” was rather good. It was not unlike “Pride and Prejudice”; a gentle period drama in which several old biddies blew every trivial incident out of all proportion. I found myself thinking of my old mum…

 

I set about washing and tumble-drying the undercrackers whilst “er indoors ^TM” boiled up burgers. We scoffed them whilst watching this week’s episode of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” which was rather good with several nods to that which had gone before.. not that hose who will be finding fault on the Internet tomorrow would realise that.

23 September 2026 (Wednesday) - Before Another Late Shift

I slept reasonably well… bearing in mind backache from sleeping on my back, carpel tunnel pain, tinnitus ringing in my ears and the CPAP machine blowing up my nose…Perhaps the biggest issue was lack of bed space though. At night some dogs curl up tightly and some sprawl out. During the day Bailey is the smallest dog in the world. At night she is huge.

As I got up I saw that Prime Human had plenty of bed space, it was only Spare Human that was being pushed off the edge…

 

I made toast and had my usual look at the Internet. Someone or other had posted up a link to a work-related text book in e-format. These appear from time to time. These things aren’t cheap so when the opportunity arises I not only have it, but share it on the works WhatsApp group. I probably won’t ever read the thing, but being seen to share this sort of thing gives a good impression with my colleagues. Otherwise they would think my life is an endless round of dog walking and beer drinking. They would be right in thinking that, but I’d rather they had a good impression rather than the right one.

Friends were posting photos from holiday in Greece and Poland, and from a coach trip. Yesterday a friend had organised a coach trip round the churches of the Romney Marsh. Admittedly you got a packed lunch thrown in, but fifty quid to go round the churches of the Romney Marsh? All the seats on the trip sold out. Each to their own …

And there was petty bickering on-line too. There usually is.

I Munzed, Wordled from “slept” to “forth” in five goes, and in doing so double my daily streak.

As I farted about so Pogo shouted at the world. I wish he wouldn’t.

 

I took the dogs out. We had quite a walk to where I’d parked last night. The major issue with the late shifts is the parking when I get home. We walked through the clouds of cannabis smoke. No matter where you go these days, the foul smell of that stuff pervades everywhere. Particularly around allotments, I’ve noticed.

As we drove to Orlestone the pundits on the radio were simply wasting the licence fee. They were talking about an obscure TV show which only features on Apple TV, and consequently no one had heard of. And to make matters worse they were interviewing of the stars who was quite incapable of stringing a coherent sentence together.

We got to the woods. There were some normal people in the car park so Pogo screamed at them. I really wish he wouldn’t. As we walked our usual circuit so we met one other person and her dog; that encounter passed off without incident which was probably for the best. We chased squirrels, rolled in the leaves, paddled in the puddles… A great time was seemingly had by all.

 

We came home and once I got a clean shirt I set off to work listening to more "Triffids". I like John Wyndham's books, but they are things of their time and oh-so-obviously written by someone "posh". 

I stopped off in Sainsburys to get lunch where a pair of half-wits were totally oblivious to the fact that they were inadvertently blockading the door. Some rather dumpy dopey looking woman was shouting "CHICKEN KIEV, CHICKEN KIEV" at a rather stupid looking chap whose jeans were three sizes too big for him and were only kept up by a pair of the sort of braces that my grandfather used to wear.  The more she shouted, the more confused he appeared to be. The poor chap clearly had less sense than teeth, and he didn't have many teeth. After a few minutes I loudly shouted "excuse me" and barged through. The pair of them suddenly realised where they were, and bustled off looking suitably embarrassed.

I wonder what that was all about.

 

I went in to work and did my bit.  Today included an anti-factor Xa assay. I'd not done one of those before; it turned out to be something of a disappointment. I don't know what I had been expecting, but I had been expecting more. 

Rather allegorical of life, really.

22 September 2026 (Tuesday) - Before the Late Shift

 As I scoffed toast I found myself thinking.  Facebook told me that three years ago we were in Bukhara having a feast with twenty-five other people on an expedition round Uzbekistan. For two weeks we had the adventure of a lifetime and (I thought) we all became firm friends. Since we came back we’ve heard from one of them. One.

Facebook also told me that today was a Facebook friend birthday.  Someone from the Southampton area we used to see very regularly through a mutual interest in kite flying. Kite flying was a big part of my life for over ten years. We went to kite festivals (involving weekend camping holidays) several times a year. We went to all sorts of events and activities; even to France and Germany.

We’ve only seen two of our kite-flying friends in the last ten years.

Back in the day we used to have twenty friends round on Tuesday evenings to watch Star Trek episodes. We’re still in touch with some of these people; we’ve seen half a dozen this year.

And then there was the people at the snake club, the Lego club, scouting, six years of college, years of Open University, no end of people with whom I worked (some for over twenty years)… It is *so* easy to lose touch with people.

 

I Munzed, then started another Wordle streak (one day so far) by getting from “feast” to “stoke” in four goes. All these apps have streaks which you maintain by doing them daily. Munzee, Wordle, Kindle, Meowdoku… why do I worry so much about maintaining these streaks?

 

I got four (!) dogs onto their leads, and with time pressing drove down to Orlestone. Bearing in mind the road works on the old A2070 I went cross country, and again Church Lane was awash with litter. There is a mile of that road which really does look as though people just empty bin bags full of rubbish as they drive along. I’d organise a geocaching litter-pick to sort it, but it would involve having people on the side of a road, and cars fly down that lane.

We got to the woods and had a good walk. We saw some woman and a Labrador, but nor before they’d seen us and gone the other way. And about three quarters of the way round we met a “very nice man” mincing through the woods with two bundles of fluff on leads. I loudly ordered “Straight Past” and my lot just went straight past without bothering his dogs. “Straight Past” is a new trick which we are working on. It has varying levels of success, but over time the success rate is getting better. When it works (like today) it does look impressive; especially to those who don’t dare let their own dogs off of the lead.

 

We came home. I didn’t have a cuppa. When I have a cuppa before work I then drive to work desperate for a tiddle. Instead I used some of that amount of energy having Microsoft Copilot cooking up today’s picture. And having Microsoft Copilot make it rather than me, someone else paid for the electricity used. Result !!

And then I spent a few minutes checking my figures… yesterday I said “the whole process of creating an A.I. image … used less electricity than running an electric kettle to make a cuppa”. It turns out that making an A.I. caricature actually takes about one seventh of the leccie needed to boil a kettle, and I can make over fifty such piccies for the energy needed to tumble-dry my undercrackers. And you don’t see any tree-hugging hippies complaining about my undercrackers, do you?

 

I set off to work. I stopped off at the Repton centre. There's a new chap running the show and I've been getting loads of mixed third-hand messages about just what the Repton people want from the Dog Club, so I thought it best to talk to them directly. It turns out they are very happy with the Dog Club, but there's some confusion about how they recognise payments form us. People can pay their subs in three ways. They can pay directly by BACS or they can put cash into the pot which I collect then send a payment by BACS. BACS has a reference on it, and if people put "Dog Club" as the reference then all is heigh ho, pip and dandy.  However the Repton people have set up a system by which you pay them by texting a certain number on your mobile. The trouble with that is that when they get a payment by text they have no idea who has sent it. Table tennis, Karate, Pilates... it could be from anyone. I've suggested that they have a dedicated text number for Dog Club payments. They are looking into it.

 

From there I went up the motorway to work listening to more of  my "Day of the Triffids" audiobook. It's streets ahead of "All Quiet on the Western Front" as the bloke reading it is putting effort and feeling into his narration and doesn't some over as being utterly morose.

 

Work was work. I did my bit and came home listening to more "Triffids". I got home to find the new Hoover has arrived and is sucking like a thing possessed. Which is a result if you like that sort of thing. Personally I'm not averse...

21 September 2026 (Monday) - Busy, Busy...

I slept well… or as well as I could. My carpal tunnel nonsense *really* hurts if I sleep on my side, and my back *really* hurts if I sleep on my back. But the pain kicks in over different timescales. I get an hour on my back before that pain kicks off,  whereas my arm gives me (at most) two minutes on my side.

 

I got up at half past six, made toast and had my usual look at the Internet. Again it was one big squabble with people posting rants based on factually incorrect premises.

I posted a few more A.I. piccies to Facebook last night… and that had caused offence. It is common knowledge that the data centres that house the A.I. systems are massively energy-intensive and are going to cause irreversible environmental damage…

The trouble with “common knowledge” is that for all that everyone knows these things, it is usually factually incorrect. I did a little finding out… the whole process of creating an A.I. image like the ones I posted up last night used less electricity than running an electric kettle to make a cuppa. On the other hand moving data around the internet (like when reading this blog) has a much larger environmental impact than generating a few images. Creating a few caricatures of me and my dogs has a tiny fraction of the carbon footprint of the phone or computer people are viewing them on. But is it about the (totally exaggerated) energy costs? I found myself thinking back to when I used to do oil painting in the style of Bob Ross. At the time there were several people finding fault and criticising. Most of whom were established artists who felt that the entire problem with the Bob Ross style of painting is that with a little practise anyone can make a half-decent painting. A.I. generated pictures are much the same.

And people were banging on about “Saint Princess Diana”… her brother has released a book which is very critical of the King, and everyone was posting fond memories of the “Queen of Hearts” (which bore little relationship to reality)… Anyone who’s familiar with Alice in Wonderland would know that the Queen of Hearts wasn’t a particularly likable character. Personally I don’t know very much about the late Princess Diana but it’s a matter of public record that when she died in a car crash she’d not seen her children in the preceding six weeks.

 

I Munzed. I Wordled. Starting with “could” I didn’t actually get to “pager”. That’s a three-month streak down the toilet.

I then loudly asked who wanted to go to the woods. Bailey was there like a shot. She loves her walks in the woods. As we drove the pundits on the radio were broadcasting from the annual conference of the Liberal Democrat party. The Dribbling Democraps apparently are rather concerned that despite having over seventy MPs, no one seems to know what their policies are, or what they stand for. Historically this was always their position – to be non-committal on everything. Like them or loathe them, the other parties tell you where they stand.

 

We got to the woods. The areas near the car park were thick with foragers all shouting at each other. Once we were past them we had a near miss with the idiot with the boxer dogs. We’ve met them before. The dogs are fine, but the idiot demands on a hundred metres exclusion zone round his dogs and gets arsey when no one gives him that. He shouted at Morgan, then nearly shat himself in terror as I came round the corner asking if there was a problem. I’m told I can do a good impression of a scary tattoo-ed skinhead…

A hundred yards later we met the dogs with bells tied to their collars (poor things), but with them behind us we then had a good walk. Squirrels abounded (which the dogs chased) and the deer were out (which the dogs completely missed).

As we walked I ran my birdsong app. Being up the woods an hour and a half earlier than usual the birds were making a lot more noise than they have recently. My app said it had heard a red-eyed vireo. Had it? Somehow I doubt it.

 

We came home to an empty house. With “er indoors ^TM” having a day in the office we’d been left home alone. I made myself a cuppa, put a load of washing in then cracked on in the garden.

I harvested quite a bit of dog dung. I mowed the lawn. I cleaned out both ponds’ filters. And whilst I was having a filtration session I put the new filter into the fish tank.  

I had a spot of lunch and watched an episode of “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story” whilst looking at the fish tank. A few months ago I put live plants in there. A few days ago I pruned those plants. But that was nowhere near enough pruning; I gave them a serious trimming, and syphoned out a lot of the muck which was across the bottom of the tank. Once I’d topped up the water it didn’t take more than a minute or so for the muck to settle again. So I syphoned another load of muck and topped up again… and did this four more times.

 

And then I wasn’t so much worn out as in serious arm pain, so I made myself a cuppa and had a little sit down. I wrote up some CPD,  watched more “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story” and then it was five o’clock.

 

I loaded the dogs into the car and we drove up to Wye Downs where we joined in with a particularly good meet-up of the local geocaching community. A mini kitchen was set up. Hot chocolate and hot dogs all round (and sausages for the dogs), and we chatted until sunset. As we chatted “er indoors ^TM” and Pogo joined us. Pogey is staying with us whilst “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM”‘s landlord has the mortgage advisors in. (No, I can’t see why Pogo needs to go on a little holiday either).

 

We came home. “er indoors ^TM” fed us all then went bowling. I scoffed second dinner whilst watching the last episodes of “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story”. The show started well, but had clearly been dragged out for about three more episodes than it needed to have been.

 

I’ve had a rather busy day today…

20 September 2026 (Sunday) - Early Shift

There’s no denying that I scoffed far too much of the Chinese take-away we had last night. It would probably have fed four people, but that didn’t stop me getting stuck in. The stuff didn’t sit well overnight.

I got up at five o’clock and wondered if some toast might settle my innards. It didn’t.

 

I watched another episode of “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story” on Netflix which was rather interesting. The practicalities of killing someone with an axe probably isn’t something that many have considered, but if you are going to do for someone with an axe you might want to think it through before going bat-shit-psycho.

 

As I drove off to work I tried listening to the radio. Early Sunday morning radio is usually dire, and today's was dire in the extreme.  I caught the end of some utter drivel about the religious convictions of some amateur poets,  and this was followed by a potted biography of some farmer. After ten minutes I gave up and listened to more "All Quiet on the Western Front" in which our hero had ended up in a rather dire field hospital, got better, and got shot right at the end of the war. I’ve got to the end of that audiobook now. I probably won’t listen to it again. The story is depressing enough, and it was read in the most miserable tone of voice. I’m now on “Day of the Triffids” which (so far) is much better.

 

I got to work. Back in the day I would have started a weekend early shift with the cooked breakfast. Back in the day I was three stones heavier. 

I sent the night shift home and made a start on the day's work.  When I first started this job Sunday was for dire emergencies and in-patients only. Today things are different. 

I did my bit; today contending with the E and the Kidd blood groups and was glad when home time came.

 

I came home to an empty house. Following an epic battle with the Hoover “er indoors ^TM” had claimed a victory and had taken the dogs for a walk. However every epic battle has a loser, and the Hoover has gone the way of the hero of "All Quiet on the Western Front".

I rather thought that washing the innards of the Hoover was a mistake, but nil desperandum (as the dead Romans say). The new Hoover arrives is a few days’ time.

I’m just glad it wasn’t me that poggered it.

 

I put a load of washing in to scrub, then fell asleep on the sofa underneath a pile of dogs. “er indoors ^TM” boiled up dinner which we scoffed whilst watching more “Young Sheldon”.

Today has been dull, and I’m feeling rather worn out… 

19 September 2026 (Saturday) - Dog Club, Litter Picking

I woke far too early, so I got up and turned the telly on. Last night I started watching “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story” on Netflix. I’ve watched two episodes so far, and so far it’s not bad.

I hoofed “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs out of bed, and as they pootled I had a look at the Internet as I do. That carpal tunnel Facebook group featured more recipes. Last night I posted on there asking what all the recipes were about, and quite a few people had echoed the sentiment.

Friends were on holiday in Greece and Estonia.

Friends had been to Dover Castle.

Friends had been to dog agility competitions.

Facebook was showing me that people had been doing things; not the usual tripe it comes up with. That was a result.

 

As I fiddled on-line so Steve was on the radio doing the Guess The Lyrics competition. “One of those nights when you feel the world stop turning”. No? E.L.O. – Last Train to London. I got it right away, and was unbearably smug about it.

We got ourselves organised and went round to Repton and Dog Club where we had a rather good morning. I counted sixteen dogs, and all played and chased and had treats and got “fruity”. One of our number returned after a few months away; she’d had a baby. Littlun was cute, and enjoyed watching the antics of the dogs.

 

From Dog Club we headed westwards.  As we drove Steve was doing the Mystery Year competition on the radio. V.A.T. was introduced and Sweet sang about the Ballroom Blitz. No? 1973.

The radio signal gave out at Bethersden which was odd. In the past it’s been good for another ten miles out as far as Goudhurst, but it wasn’t having it today.

We got to Frittenden where the eastern part of the Kent geocaching community was helping with the village’s litter picking. Me and “er indoors ^TM” were assigned the local playpark. We started gathering litter and found there wasn’t much. And then a local busybody bustled over and told us that we were wasting our time as he picks the litter every day… and then he started a rant about two black sacks of litter which have been laying by the fence for months. We took the black sacks… and the credit too.

We then wandered the local roads seeing what litter we might find. There wasn’t much, but it was good to wander about doing something useful. This was only my twelfth C.I.T.O (geo-speak for litter picking) event. I could and should do more.

We found our way back to the control point which was outside the local pub where we met up with the other geocachers and had quite a good catch-up… right until the pub opened. It would have been nice to have had a pint there, but everyone had places to be and people to see. And (quite frankly) we could (and did) have had two rounds of rather decent beer at home and change out of what one round of rather mediocre stuff would have cost us in the pub.

 

We came home and had a rather good few hours in the garden. Freshly baked bread with decent stout, and “er indoors ^TM” played with her resin modelling. It got cold perhaps a couple of hours earlier than it might have done, but there it is.

 

“er indoors ^TM” popped down the road to the new Chinese take-away and took away the set meal for two. It was rather good. We scoffed it whilst playing “Ticket To Ride”… I won all three games; That’s completely unheard of.

18 September 2026 (Friday) - Another Day Off

I slept well. I got up just after eight o’clock with a sore hand (as well as the carpal tunnel nonsense) and found a rather large splinter in my thumb. It must have been in there snice I did the gardening yesterday afternoon.

I made toast and had a look at the internet. It was still there. This morning’s squabble was about a video of someone rescuing a cuttlefish stranded on a rock and putting it back into the sea. Some (like me) felt it was a kind thing to do. Others were ranting about the thing being generated by A.I. and were being rather nasty about it… as if there wasn’t enough else to bicker about.

And last night’s episode of Star Trek got quite a lot of hate too.

 

In a novel break with tradition Bailey ate all of her brekkie this morning. And with that scoffed we drove up to the woods. The woods was rather busy today. Horses and cars. Normal people with nervous dogs. Treacle had a wallow in a swamp. And the skin-tight lycra-clad young mothers' running club were there too.

We found an injured little bird, but it hopped off into the undergrowth before I could capture it. I expect a fox had it fairly promptly.

We took a bit of a different route today. I took several turns to try to avoid everyone else, and every turn added to our journey. We’d covered over five miles by the time we got back to the car, and once I’d got some petrol on the way back it was after mid-day before I made our cuppa.

 

I sparked up the lap-top and told the geocaching community about tomorrow’s geo-events. There’s a litter pick in nearby Frittenden tomorrow morning, and a meet-up in a pub in Edenbridge at lunchtime. Back in the day I would have showed up for both.

I Munzed, and Wordled. Starting from “eight” (which didn’t help at all) I started again with “found”. This didn’t help as much as I’d like in that the “o” was in the wrong place. Can you think of a five letter word with “o” anywhere but in the second position? Eventually I came up with “brook” which showed me where the “o” was, but didn’t have the “n” which I knew (from my second go) was in there somewhere. In desperation I tried “sloan” (is that even a word?) and that left “snowy” as the only word I could think of.

Wordle strains my poor brain.

I wrote up some CPD, then had a little pootle in the garden. I cut back more of the overgrowth from not-so-nice-next-door’s trees. It comes to something when after torrential rain my flower pots are bone dry as their bushes are that far over the fence. Then I took the back off of the planter I was having issues with a few days ago.

And then I pulled out some of the plants in the living room fish tank. Earlier in the year I was having issues with how mucky the fish tank was. A combination of live plants and snails have worked wonders, but the plants had gone mad. Whilst I was at it I cleaned out the filter… which seems to have had it. I’ve ordered a new one from Amazon. I had various options for delivery. I could have it delivered tomorrow for free, or I could have it delivered tomorrow for one pound ninety-nine.

I used to work with a chap who really would have paid that one pound ninety-nine.

 

By then my carpal tunnel nonsense was too painful to continue. It’s odd – my arm has got incredibly worse ever since I got told that I’ve got carpal tunnel syndrome. Is that some psychological thing?

I sat on the sofa with Bailey and put the finishing touches to the register sheet I’ve drawn up for Dog Club. Personally I’d rather we didn’t bother, but the paddock owners feel we should have one, and they’ve probably got a point. Take the money for example – last week the cash payments were what we would expect for twelve point seven dogs. And at the end of the last session are we completely sure that everyone is out before the gate gets locked? We once got locked in at Old Wardour Castle… I defy anyone to jump over the fence at Dog Club.

And then I looked at joining some carpal tunnel Facebook groups. I found three, and the one with most members seemed to be little more than a repository for baking recipes all posted by the admin, so my hopes aren’t high. Bearing in mind my previous experience I suspect it will be one big argument, but hope springs eternal.

 

“er indoors ^TM” went off out with her mates. I sprked up the telly and watched a film. ”East of Ipswich” was something I can distinctly remember watching some years ago. Written by Michael Palin I can remember it starred Miranda Richardson and it was rather good. I have no idea what I saw all those years ago, but it wasn’t what I watched this evening…

 

17 September 2026 (Thursday) - M.O.T.

I found a position in which I can sleep on my side without the carpal tunnel nonsense kicking off, and I slept till eight o’clock.

I made toast and had a look at the Internet as I do every morning. It was still there, and much the same as ever. One thing on Facebook made me think. Several pages had posts about influencer claiming her holiday had been ruined after paying a Cornish local good money for directions to a secret beach which didn’t exist.

However for all that the world and his wife were queuing up to rip into this idiot, I tried to look a little deeper. All the articles on line said that “Surrey-based content creator Chardonnay Skye, known online as ChardOnTour, had been searching for somewhere to film on Cornwall’s north coast…” so I Googled. All that came up were links to the story on various social media platforms. There was nothing that I could find about “Chardonnay Skye” or “ChardOnTour”. Was it all made-up bollox? Clearly everyone is seeing it and spreading the story without checking anything.

 

It was raining… well, drizzle. We went for our walk anyway. Despite the wet day there were two other cars in the car park at Orlestone, but fortunately the twit who sits in his car giving a running commentary of the world wasn’t there. We went for a little walk, and suddenly there was a commotion. One of the normal people had come out of a path about fifty yards behind us and Morgan and Bailey had gone to shout at him. I whistled and they both came running. Their recall is rather impressive when it works.

I’d told the dogs they weren’t to roll in fox poo. To be fair to them I didn’t say anything about not eating the stuff and so Bailey had a mouthful. And then Morgan had a roll anyway. Treacle didn’t wade into the huge puddle at the top of the woods so I shall be grateful for small mercies.

We came home through Shadoxhurst avoiding the ongoing traffic hold-ups at Magpie Hall Road. I usually forget those, and spend an age sitting at a red light.

 

Once home we had a bath. Fox poo notwithstanding, paws and bellies were grubby. The dogs then had a late brekkie and Bailey ate all of hers; proving the theory that she doesn’t eat when faced with the prospect of going for a walk.

I Munzed, Wordled from “found” to “theta” (stupid word) in five goes, then took the car to Halfords for its MOT.

 

I left the car with the nice people and went for a little walk. I went round all of the garages looking at cars. As I’d driven to the woods earlier so the car’s odometer went over ninety thousand miles. Who’s going to buy a car with that mileage? I will be running this car into the ground, but what will I get when it is time for a replacement? I have one criterion for the next car (and only one); the boot opening must be low enough for the dogs to be able to jump in and out. Sat nav would be nice as would a reversing camera, but they are optional. A low opening boot is a must.

I certainly looked at over a hundred cars. As I looked only one salesman approached me. If I had worn a shirt and tie they would have been all over me. I said as much to the one salesman who spoke to me; he agreed. The chap didn’t actually laugh at what I felt was my priority; he said everyone has what is important to them. But he said that most cars don’t have those low backs any more. From what I saw today he was right. The Skoda dealer had some… the same model as my current car. And the Toyota dealer had two (at twice the price of the Skodas). A trip to Big Motoring World might be in order when the time comes.

As I wandered from one car dealership to another so my watch wobbled and told me that I’d walked four miles going here and there. Four miles just looking at cars – and I’ve no interest in cars(!)

 

I popped into McDonalds for lunch as I was in the area. Back in the day I was always in McDonalds. Back in the day I was three stones heavier. A decent bit of McScran set me back nearly four times the price of a Sainsbury’s meal deal.

 

I collected my car. It had one minor advisory; the light over the number plate needs replacing. That can wait till the car next needs a service. And since I’m a member of the Halfords Motoring Club I got the MOT for free.

This Halfords Motoring Club is something of a result. I joined a few weeks ago when I needed a new car battery. The nice lady said that if I joined there and then (for fifty quid) they would give me sixty quid off of the price of the battery. And then they made all sorts of reductions on the service earlier in the month. What with today’s buckshee MOT, according to my account with them I’ve saved over a hundred and fifty quid so far. I don’t usually give out adverts on here, but you’d be daft not to take up Halfords’ offer.

 

I came home and spent an hour hacking back more of the overgrowth coming over the fence from not-so-nice-next-door. I really gave it some welly… part of me felt guilty, but I’ve asked her to sort it and she’s done nothing. And bearing in mind I was standing two feet away from the fence as I pruned, it certainly needed doing.

 

I made us a cuppa and then sat down. I was worn out from today’s exertions. “er indoors ^TM” boiled up a rather good curry which we scoffed whilst watching this week’s episode of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”.

I won’t give any spoilers (maybe just one that I couldn’t resist…) but again it was a really good episode that the fans who are new to the genre will hate…

 

And I’ve been pondering for much of today. Several people I know have (relatively) recently jacked it all in and emigrated (is that the right word?) to Scotland. The chap who took over from me at work when I came home last night told me that he’s working his notice. He’s been offered a job at the labs at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow where he will get five hundred quid a month more than he gets now for doing exactly the same job.

Have I left it too late to go north of the border?