I slept rather well, but woke feeling rather morose. I
do that more and more these days. But I could either lay there sulking or get
up and get on, so I got up and got on.
I made toast and scoffed it as I peered into the
Internet as I do every morning. The first thing I saw on Facebook today had me
wondering. A friend of mine supports a mission in Africa which has been
devastated by a cyclone, and was asking for prayers. Seriously? Seriously? As
an ex-happy-clappy-god-botherer myself I really don’t understand how religion
works.
And there was talk about how the UK should apologize for the slave trade. My piss
boiled. What a load of bollox. Those who had slaves back in the day bought them
from slave traders in Africa who were selling their neighbours. The Europeans
didn’t go catching slaves themselves – it was the Africans who did all that
bit. And in 1833 the UK banned slavery, spent forty per cent of its wealth
paying for this and then spent until 2014 paying off that cost. (It’s all a matter of public record) I’m in no way
responsible for the slave trade and I’ve already personally paid off part of
the cost of sorting it all out.
I Munzed, and tried to Wordle. My phone wasn’t having
any of it this morning. Eventually it got going and I started with “slave”.
I struggled this morning; eventually getting it right with “motor” on
the last go.
I got the dogs organised and we went out. We went to
the garage as there’s an issue with my car. Whenever I turn on the lights it
says to check the rear tail light… but there’s nothing wrong with it. I spoke
to the garage about it on Monday. We agreed it was probably a sensor issue and
they said to bring it in this morning. So we drove over. As we waited to be
seen so some rather simple-minded idiot in the waiting room shrieked “doggies!!!”
and started to maul the dogs about. I smiled sweetly; what else can you do
without giving offence?
The nice garage man came out with me to the car. I
showed him the problem and he said he’d need to book the car in for a
diagnostic. I rather thought that was what I had done, but apparently not. I’m
taking it back next Monday.
So rather than walking home (as I’d planned) we
drove up to the lower car park at Kings Wood and had a little walk around the
woods. The place was heaving with squirrels and pheasants which made for a
rather difficult walk what with the dogs having the red mist pretty much all of
the way. There was a rather funny near-miss episode when Morgan chased a
squirrel up a tree and the thing fell out and (quite literally) bounced
off of Bailey’s head. But apart from that no one came close to catching
anything.
There were a few normal people walking their dogs… and
I realised just how good my pups are. When I want them close I whistle and they
(mostly) come when called. We saw several people hysterically bellowing
at dogs which were pointedly ignoring them.
After four miles we came back to the car. We came home
for a cuppa, then with the dogs snoring I went into the garden. The lawn was
wet, but it needed to be mowed. Having grass long enough to hide dog turds is
always a recipe for disaster.
And with the lawn mown I scooped up a load of dead
leaves from the gravelled areas, voomed round with the garden vacuum then
pulled some weeds. I planted those lavender plants I bought last week… and
deliberately stopped there. I did think about carrying on doing more, but I was
beginning to ache, so I called a halt and came inside.
I had a look at writing up some CPD… I started off by updating my LinkedIn account. I added Dog
Club to my volunteering section, told it I wasn’t actively seeking a job and
removed my pronouns. Some time ago I’d put “fusebox” and “hatstand”
as my pronouns. I removed those.
And then I had a conversation with Microsoft CoPilot
about a work issue. I copied the entire lot into a CPD entry, closed my eyes and
woke an hour later.
We did “FEED THE FISH” then I saw I had an
email. I’d had a repayment from lendwithcare – this time Karen (a
pig farmer in Ecuador) had paid me back
something. Not that I really need or want the small amount involved… but what
is a small amount to me was life-changing to Karen in Ecuador.
What Karen had repaid me I then lent
to Nguyet who lives in
Vietnam where she is trying to set herself up as a fishmonger. She might make a
go of it. Hopefully I can do something to help her.
Why not lend someone a bit yourself if you can spare
it? Fifteen quid is what they ask for, and fifteen quid is (about) the
price of a couple of drinks, a couple of bags of crisps and some pork
scratchings for the dogs.
“er indoors TM” boiled
up fish and chips which we scoffed whilst watching “Celebrity Traitors”
in which James Acaster did something that no one had been expecting.
And Sir Patrick Stewart has died.
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