14 September 2014 (Sunday) - Alkham

I woke feeling rather rough this morning, and as I shared my toast with "Furry Face ^TM" I watched "Toddlers and Tiaras". That program is such an eye-opener; in many ways it's got to be a form of child abuse. So many of the kiddies don't want to do the pageant thing; they make no secret that they feel they are being forced into it by their parents.

We rounded up most of the usual suspects and set off on our Sunday Geo-walk. We didn't go very far today; just down to the Alkham Valley which is just outside Folkestone. We did a short walk of about three miles, then relocated for lunch and another short stroll

As we walked the weather wasn't too hot; in fact we had a few drops of rain over lunchtime. As we walked we had some good views, but surprisingly not as many as you might think. Even the top of the Alkham valley is lower than other nearby hills. There was a particularly unsettling bit when we searched for one cache in a church graveyard.... it *was* a church graveyard, but the church itself has been turned into a private house. I didn't feel especially comfortable in what might have been a graveyard or might equally have been someone's garden.

And talking of churches, one of the caches was at Alkham church, so we popped in to be nosy. There was a little notice inside claiming that the running costs of the church were fifty quid per day. Per day!!! How can it possibly cost that much too run a church?

But it all added to the experience of the day; and we saw a buzzard and "Furry Face ^TM" tracked a pheasant.

As for the geo-bit; we found most of the caches we went for; we couldn't find two. We were pretty sure both of them had gone. I've since found that one of them was there all along and we actually missed it. Still, that's what this silly game is all about.

We were somewhat misled by the D/T settings on some of the hides; a cache at the top of a hill which has you gasping for air is more than a 2/5 terrain. And on others the given cache sizes were confusing; something labeled "small" should still be large enough to fit more than just the paper log into. But that is just being picky; we had a good walk. And that is what the Sunday walk is all about.

And (as I do) I took a few photos whilst we were out.

Once home I did the geo-admin work, and found that one of today's caches had been a minor milestone for me; my three thousand nine hundredth cache. I really should give some thought to doing something special for a four thousandth cache. And after a really good bit of dinner "er indoors ^TM" set off to bowling.

I phoned the mobile phone company and had a whinge. "Everything Everywhere" is actually "Nothing in most places". After a minor kerfuffle I got through to someone who spoke English who explained to me that it wasn't possible to get a mobile broadband signal outside of a built-up area. I asked him how Vodafone seems to achieve this; he then changed his tack and said I had no agreement with EE; my agreement was with the shop who sold me the phone. I shall have to find five minutes to get to the shop and complain to them.

In the meantime I would suggest that any of my loyal readers who want to have a mobile phone that gets an Internet signal might bear my experiences in mind.

I then sorted out more laundry (my undercrackers) and watched "Starship Troopers 2". I'd not seen that film before; it's arguably the worst film 'Ive ever seen.

13 September 2014 (Saturday) - Rather Tired

I was told off for daring to insinuate that the most recent fruit of my loin had wind last night. "er indoors ^TM" took her off to hospital shortly before midnight and I tried (and failed) to sleep only to find it really was wind; baby is still safely ensconced where 36-week gestation babies should be.

Despite the trauma of the night, or perhaps because of it, I was wide awake at silly o’clock, and having watched Ricky Gervais on the telly I took "Furry Face ^TM" round to the park to test out the software of my latest Wherigo project. It all works fine; however the place where I hoped to install the final part is currently fenced off with building works going on. Those of my loyal readers who enjoy a Wherigo (or even know what one is) will have to wait a little longer I’m afraid.

As I walked round the park I was amazed at how many nutters were about at silly o’clock. There were a fair few Gurkhas doing their morning aerobics. And I found myself being followed by a pair which I can only describe as the village idiot’s grandparents.

(A little description might help the non-geocachers here… A Wherigo is a GPS based game played on your SmartPhone. So when playing one (or testing one) any onlooker will wonder why you are wandering around seemingly at random. Especially so when you are trying to get out of a virtual maze which you can only see on your phone)

The village idiot’s grandparents watched me for a bit. I gave them a sickly smile and hoped they would piss off. They asked if they could help me. I thanked them for their offer and politely declined. They insisted that they could help me. I insisted that they could not. They demanded to help me. I told them that they didn’t want to help me at all; they just wanted to know what I was doing. They went red and hurried away.

I came home and mowed the lawn. It was rather damp and rather long; it hadn’t been mowed for two months. It took some mowing. And then having mowed and raked I mowed and raked again. I then put the washing on the line; I felt exhausted. I hadn’t stopped.

It wasn’t even 9am by then.

I wasted the morning pootling about on the Internet; buying geo-supplies on eBay and archiving old geocache whilst "er indoors ^TM" had a tidy-up. And having scoffed a cream cake for lunch I set off out on a little mission. Two of my geocaches had been reported as needing maintenance. Both allegedly needed new log books. I'll concede that one of them did. The other... I would have said that with seventy five per cent of the paper still available to be written on, there was no immediate need to log a "Needs Maintenance".

I struggled to find the one that didn't need the log changing; someone had moved it about ten metres from where I'd hidden it. But they'd found a better hiding place; we'll run with that one.

I then went on to my sax lesson. Teacher made the observation that no matter what I play, I play it at the same speed; rather too slowly. I think she has a point.

Bearing in mind "Daddies Little Angel ^TM"'s exploits at the hospital overnight we went down to visit. And bearing in mind my early start I spent most of the visit fast asleep on the sofa whilst Charlie watched "Uncle Grandpa" on the Cartoon Netwoork.

And with "er indoors ^TM" off to the film night I ironed my shirts, watched "Starship Troopers" and had an early night...

12 September 2014 (Friday) - Bit Dull

Over brekkie I watched more of the period drama about the life and times of Lillie Langtry. In today's episode she was nearly podgered by the King of Belgium, and had to fend off unwanted advances from Oscar Wilde. I always thought that it was a matter of historical record that Oscar Wilde "baked a moist sponge and bowled from the pavilion end"; perhaps the writers were using artistic licence. Or would a TV drama not be brave enough to tackle "that sort of thing".

I checked out the Internet; nothing much of note had happened overnight. And on my morning drive to work there was very little of interest on the radio, The squabble about Scottish independence goes on. And what a daft squabble it is. Apparently the vast majority of common sense is so against the idea that even the Royal Bank of Scotland is making plans to move to England should the vote go in favour of independence.

As I drove I was amazed at the piss-poor standard of driving shown by some of my fellow road users. I can understand how some drivers get a little stressed at some of the idiots on the road, but if you are determined to drive like a cock, it's always best to do so in a vehicle that *doesn't* have your company's name emblazoned all over it. I would suggest that employees of both Watling Tyres and CannonHygiene.com might like to ‎bear this in mind. Because those people I watched getting mowed off of the road today know to whom to address their complaints.

I got to work, did my bit, and came home again. I took “Furry Face ^TM “ round the park where we met a Gurkha family. And (as usual) they were terrified of my dog. The adults were shying away from him and trying to pull the children away too. One of the littluns knelt down and, to his mother’s horror, stroked my dog. He made quite a fuss of the little pup and told his mother “it’s only a dog”.

Mother remained unconvinced.

I spent much of the rest of the evening working on my latest Wherigo. Rather a dull day really. And then the phone rang. “Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM ” thinks her contractions have started. Bearing in mind she’s not due for three weeks I think it’s wind…

11 September 2014 (Thursday) - A Walk before Work

In the past I've been quite happy to drink Morrison's "two bottles of plonk for a fiver" stuff. Many have told me that this is not something about which I should boast, and so over the last few weeks I've mentioned my attempts to develop a better appreciation of wine.

Last night I went to an off licence in Canterbury and bought a bottle that wasn't cheap. It tasted no better than the cheap stuff, and gave both me and EI a headache this morning.

Most of my morning's toast went down the neck of a little dog who is looking decidedly porky, and with toast scoffed we went for a little walk round Newtown. As we walked I realised that an observation that MB made was correct; namely that FF doesn't like wheels on anything other than cars. He is fine with cars, but barks at any other wheeled object.

Whilst he woofed at cars I played Ingress. Both of us were content for an hour while we walked off the toast. And with the walk done we came home and I spent an hour working on my latest geo-project. Hopefully I should have another Wherigo (my fifth) ready to go live by the middle of next week. The basic programming has been done by the nice man in America; I've tweaked the storyline to make it how I want it to be; now I just need to add some piccies and re-program the GPS co ordinates to a different continent. A few hours work; if nothing else it will stop me playing Ingress.

As I drove to work there was talk on the radio about the Gilgamesh project in which scientists are investigating the possibility of making immortal people. Whilst rather interesting, I think they've missed the obvious; quite frankly an immortal person would need to be an indestructible person; history tells us that anyone left long enough will start a fight with someone else.

Being on a late start I had a few minutes to go play silly beggars, so I thought I'd do a little geocaching. I went for two caches; I found both. One was in memory of an airman who'd crashed his plane just south of Canterbury during the second world war. that cache hadn't been found since March, but was in surprisingly good condition, clean and dry.

The second was typical of so many caches in East Kent. Having had a "Needs Maintenance" log first posted some months ago it has had several more posted since. The last time was a month or so ago when the finder mentioned the state of the thing. Today I found it wrapped in a dog-dung bag to protect it; the cache itself was broken and the contents sodden. Should I put up a "Needs Archiving" log? After all it's scratty caches like that which give the hobby a bad name.

I got to work and realised I hadn't brought a shirt. When on a late I start off in an old T-shirt and change later. Today I spent the day in that old t-shirt. I might wear t-shirts more often; they are easier to iron than my usual shirts.

And, as is so often the case on my late shifts, all of note on my day had happened before 11am...

10 September 2014 (Wednesday) - More Stuff

I slept right through until my alarm went off this morning. That's happened a few times lately. I'm quite pleased about that. I got up, had brekkie whilst watching "Saxondale" and then checked my emails.

One of them was from the leccie company. They have reviewed my power usage and have reduced my combined leecie and gas bill by twenty quid per month. I wish they'd stop messing about like this; they do the same thing every six months. I use more power in heating and lighting over the winter so they see that and increase the direct debit in March. And then over the summer I use less (because it is summer) and so they put the bill down again in September. You would think they'd take summer and winter usage into account when they work out the bills; after all we get summers and winters every year.

And there were more emailed replies to the survey I've sent out. Using SurveyMonkey I've circulated a survey on behalf of the astro club committee to see what the punters make of what goes on at astro club. I've had twenty-odd replies so far... and one whinge from the obligatory plum who can't get the thing to work.

I get almost identical gripes from people who can't solve some of the geo-puzzles that I've set; what do you say to people like this. Everyone else can make the thing work. Clearly it's not what I've done that is at fault....

I set off to work listening to the radio as usual; there was little of note. The Scottish independence vote still commands the headlines even though most people are now getting bored of hearing about it. Shares in Scottish businesses fell at the weekend when the "Yes" vote got a boost in the polls. All three major British political parties are against the idea. The Queen would seem to be pro-unionist and now even the Welsh premier says he's against Scottish independence too. There are a million and one reasons why it's a silly idea (for Scotland), and only misplaced national pride in favour of it (for Scotland). The sooner the idea gets thrown out the better.

Arky-ologists have discovered another Stonehenge just two miles from the first. This one's underground. Perhaps that's why they've missed it for so long.

And I had a wry smile when I heard that the power companies are being forced to pay money back to customers they overcharged. Perhaps this is why my leccie company is forever fiddling with my bill; they are terrified of being accused of profiteeering.

Once at work I did what I could. A colleague had brought in cake; that went down very nicely. And lunchtime's sax practice was OK too. As I was walking out to do sax practice I heard my name being called. It was someone I used to work with; someone I'd not seen since the fruits of my lion were in nappies. And she's been working just down the corridor from me for these last three years. It's amazing what you miss when you don't pay attention.

Once home I took "Furry Face ^TM" for a walk. I repaired some of the damage that the blue menace ("er indoors ^TM") had done to South Ashford. And my mummy phoned. Someone ("My Boy ^TM") had told her that I have already had my surgical nasal re-bore, and she wouldn't believe that I hadn't until I reminded her that I would be sure to let her know because I would expect a "going in to hospital" present. (hint! hint!)

9 September 2014 (Tuesday) - Stuff

Over brekkie I turned on the telly and saw that whilst I was sleeping my SkyPlus box had a software update. Not only does it tell me what new programmes are on, but based on what I watch it now makes recommendations for what I might like. Bearing in mind that these days I seem to watch little else but puerile swearing cartoons and period dramas, I wonder what the thing will come up with for me.

We also had a little episode with "er indoors ^TM" 's new laptop. She got it yesterday and it's broke already.

I took my pup for a walk round through the park. As we went he met several other dogs onto which he climbed and attempted to have his wicked way. Interestingly we met up with a bible basher by the fountain who was lecturing the world on the evils of sin. I wonder if he had my dog specifically in mind.

Whilst I walked I had my Ingress app open. I saw that "er indoors ^TM" had been out Ingress-ing last night and had taken quite a lot of South Ashford for the blue scum.

I shall have to do something to redress the balance.

Being on a late start gave me some time before work; I started working on a new Wherigo cache to go around Viccie Park. Hopefully it should be ready in a week or so. I hope.

I then set off to work. The radio was full of talk of next week's Scottish vote. The pundits were rather concerned about some recent research which has shown that opinion polls bias voters; apparently given an opinion poll that says that "A" is more likely to get more votes than "B", people will then tend to vote for "A" because to vote for the loser is to waste a vote. It really does seem that many people would rather vote for a winner rather than vote for that in which they believe. It's actually quite possible that people will vote for an independent Scotland not because they feel that it would be for the best, but because thy feel everyone else will vote that way.

And people wonder why I don't agree with the democratic process.

I stopped off on my way to work to beef up a portal in Godmersham. Whilst I'd been on holiday the blues had captured it. It's back with the right colour now.

I also made a point of getting a geocache as well; this one has (vaguely) been in my sights for a year or so; today I found it.

I must admit I went to this one expecting the worst. It was hidden by someone who has given up the hobby and moved away a couple of years ago. All their other caches have fallen into disrepair. This one was in perfect condition; even if it was laying on the floor rather than in the obvious hole in the tree above it.

Mind you the last finder (who found it in May) left a note to say they'd done some serious maintenance on the thing. I can't help but wonder if that is a good thing. Unless that well-intentioned cacher is prepared to keep up their good work all they have done is to delay the inevitable.

From there I came to work past the cricket ground where I found a branch of Sainsbury's not five minutes walk from work. It's not as convenient to get to as Morrisons, but I may well pop in from time to time. Especially bearing in mind that there are two portals nearby.

Once at work I did my bit, and at lunchtime had a reasonably successful saxophone session. "John Brown's Body" and "The Teddy Bear's Picnic" are coming along nicely. Mind you I think that "Oh I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside" leaves a lot to be desired. It doesn't help that the music for that tune goes across two pages.

This evening the clans gathered in Arden Drive and after I'd slept through "The 100" I introduced the assembled throng to the televisual feast that is "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo". I stayed awake for that...

8 September 2014 (Monday) - Back to Reality

Being back in my own bed gave me a relatively good night's sleep. I had a lonely brekkie and set off to work a little earlier than I might have done. As I drove the talk on the radio was all about next week's referendum on Scottish independence. The pundits today were drawing parallels with similar referenda in Quebec where certain elements of the Quebecois have been contemplating leaving the rest of Canada for some time.

When I was in Canada with the scouts fourteen years ago I got talking with the locals about the referendum of five years previously in which the Quebecois had voted to remain with Canada, but by a narrow margin.

What I remember most about the matter was the attitude the average Canadians had formed about the Quebecois following these moves for separation. The average Canadian felt offended by those wanting to go their own way. The separatists were hated and despised and there was even talk of the rest of Canada having a referendum to get shot of Quebec.

And this was coming from the kind of kind-hearted public-spirited people who run scout groups. I wonder if the Scots will be as popular with the rest of the UK after their little referendum?

I needed some shopping from Morrisons. And how my piss boiled when I got there. I arrived at that supermarket about five minutes before they opened and found that there was a gaggle of shoppers waiting to get in. One chap in particular was rather vociferous about being kept waiting. When the staff finally opened the door, this prat made a point of standing in the doorway and making a speech. He only shut up when another shopper physically shoved him out of the way. This noisy prat then ran to the baskets and made a point of blocking the next set of doors. The chap who'd shoved him earlier asked him if he was looking for trouble.

I could have stayed and watched; instead I got my apples and bananas and left them squaring up for a fight. I was on a mission.

Yesterday on our drive home from Dorset I had an email to say that a new geocache had gone live not five minutes walk from work. We were the other side of Southampton when I got the email; this morning that cache was still waiting a First to Find. So I thought I'd see if I could get the FTF; I chased it, and at quarter past seven I got it. Happy dance.

I did my bit at work, and at lunch time had a blow down my saxophone. I've been neglecting that whilst we were on holiday. Whilst tootling at the far end of the car park some normal people drove up to me, glared at me, and drove off again. I wonder what that was about?

After work I went round to see "My Boy ^TM" and collected my dog, who had been having a little holiday of his own.

We've had a letter from the neighbours. On one side people have come and gone; on the other side is a family who have been there for nearly twenty years. The last few years have been somewhat fraught. After a load of problems about ten years ago (culminating in letters to and from solicitors) we've not really been on speaking terms.

Today we've had a letter saying that he would like to put t he past behind us and reach "some sort of understanding".

What can I say... Whilst I don't like the unpleasantness, I can't see that we would ever be best buddies. And we've had this sort of overture before which has never amounted to anything.

I wonder what will happen this time...