7 October 2014 (Tuesday) - After the Night Shift

I've not done a night shift for a while; I quite liked doing the night shift last night. The only real disadvantage was that I was coming home through the rush hour traffic. I might just have to look at planning a different route home for next time.

Once home I wasn't quite sure about how to organise my day, so faced with a rather enthusiastic dog I put the collar and lead onto "Furry Face ^TM" and took him for a little walk. We went down to Park Farm where I had a little look-see to check that my "Park Farm Pootle" series of geocaches were all OK.

They were.

Fortunately for my nerves today's walk was relatively uneventful. Fudge tried to "do his lipstick" to a boy dog ten times his size, we met a pug puppy, all very quiet really. Mind you I did have a wry smile as we came through Park Farm. As we walked along a pavement we heard a frantic shrieking. "Look out, look out" screamed a woman being dragged along the path at a gallop by a dog which was the size of the average Polar Bear. Why do people have dogs which are so large that they cannot control them.

As we walked along the new path from Park Farm to Asda we saw a familiar face, and I geo-chatted with Simon for a few minutes. We then came home via the pet shop, and after a little brekkie spent watching "The New Avengers" I took myself off to bed. I slept for three hours. I would have slept longer but, like yesterday, I was woken by someone asking about my alledgedly under-performing pension.

I got up; there's no denying I wasn't feeling especially lively. So I watched a film about the family life of a lesbian couple. It was billed as a comedy-drama. For all that it was entertaining enough there was precious little comedy about it. One of the actors looked incredibly familiar and I spent much of the film wondering what I'd seen him in. Having looked him up on the Internet I can only think I'm confusing him with someone else.

Martin called round, and we walked round to Romney Road where, once the clans had gathered, I stayed awake through another episode of "The 100". With only about seventy still surviving I have absolutely no idea what's going on. But an evening spent with old muckers is always good.

Our walk home brought us past the chip shop (by some odd coincidence). I was rather miffed to find it was closed...

6 October 2014 (Monday) - Chairs, Surveys

Surprisingly on a day with no burning need for me to be up early I managed to stay asleep until 7am. I may well have slept longer had I not woken myself by getting tangled in the hose of my CPAP device.

Having watched all of “Revolution”, over brekkie I watched “Extras” then took “Furry Face ^TM “ for a walk. As we walked through the park we found a few dining chairs arranged al-fresco. They were broken and fit for the bin, but rather than putting them out for the dustmen, someone had taken the trouble to carry them round to the park to leave them there.

We met Hannah from the astro club as we walked by the lake; I reminded her that I was closing the astro club’s members’ survey this morning; she said she’d better get on with offering an opinion and she pulled out her mobile. Five minutes later my mobile pinged to tell me I’d received another survey response. Presumably hers.

I never fail to be amazed by the power of these little mobile phones.

As we reached the part of our walk furthest from home so the rain started. We strolled across the Singleton Environment Centre and it was there that we met another small dog. Fudge expressed his friendship by brandishing his lipstick as only a small boy-dog can. I wish he wouldn’t do that. We paid the vet good money to surgically stop that nonsense.

We came home through the top end of Stanhope where a rather delightful gentleman (who *could* have been mistaken for a scratter) was sitting on his doorstep having a fag. This fellow was actually sitting on the doorstep in a very loose dressing gown, with his “flowers and frolics” hanging out for all to see. How charming.

Once home “Furry Face ^TM “ took himself to his basket and went to sleep. I turned on the PC and activated SurveyMonkey. In late July I set up a survey to get people’s opinions about how the astro club is going, and how we might improve. Our survey said…. Well, I won’t publish the results here. I will say that in seventy days we had fifty responses; most (pretty much all) of which were positive and encouraging. Those who were less than gushing in their praise were those who had only ever attended occasionally; which is what you might expect.

I then took myself off to bed for the afternoon, and slept like a log until I was woken by a phone call from some twat whose records told him that I had a frozen pension. I told him that my records told me that he should stick his records up his arse. I found it very odd that I had to repeat this several times before he got the message.

Now being awake I got up (taking care to let a certain sleeping dog lie) and I went downstairs. I got out my sax; thinking that I might get a quick toot in. Unfortunately “Furry Face ^TM “ was also feeling musical and he came and sang along. Having seen the video I posted yesterday I’m not sure which of the two of us is worst.

I’m off to work now. Night shift….

5 October 2014 (Sunday) - A Walk, Sax Practice

After a bit of a late night last night I slept right through until aafter 6am this morning. "Furry Face ^TM" was fast asleep as I watched the last episode of "Revolution". I say "last episode"; it was the last episode on the SkyPlus box. There's a whole second season to be watched somewhere. There's also a fourth season of "Game of Thrones" somewhere that I'd like to see as well.

With a little time on my hands I solved a geo-puzzle. This one is in the general vicinity of where I plan to be walking in a few days time (weather permitting). I also failed to solve half a dozen other geo-puzzles from the same area too. Maybe we might see them as we walk by; it wouldn't be the first time I've found geocaches by pot luck.

I then fiddled about with AVG's PC tune-up to see if I could get my lap-top to work a little better; the poor thing wasn't top of the range when I got it, and it is struggling more and more these days, with various windows freezing and not responding with annoying regularity. AVG's PC tune-up found several thousand problems which it offered to fix for me; and in a fit of foolish bravado I let it do its thing. Let's hope for the best here.

WIth laundry put on the line I spent an entertaining few minutes listening to the neighbours arguing. I say "arguing"; she was shrieking and he was shouting "I hate you". They do that a lot.

Mind you, for all that I sometimes wonder about the chap's state of mind and don't really like the way she publically blanks me, the two of them are a distinct improvement on the fundamentally evil pair who lived there before.

We then put the lead onto "Furry Face ^TM" and went for a little walk. Parking the car in the general vicinity of Bobbing (near Sittingbourne) we walked for about five miles round the "Fruitcake's Follies" series of geocaches. Some were easy to find, some tricky. One in particular was in an "unusual container" ; from the previous finder it was obvious what that container was. Interestingly the person writing the spoiler in his log hadn't actually signed to say he'd actually found the thing. As we walked "er indoors ^TM" scoffed chestnuts; in fact she was so intent on scoffing chestnuts she didn't realised she'd left her handbag at one of our stops.

It was a good little walk. I say "little"; at five miles it's probably more than many people would consider little; realistically me included at the moment. It's been several weeks since I last did what I would call a "decent" walk.

As always I took one or two photos of our walk.

We came home and had a cuppa. "My Boy ^TM" visited with a present for his old Dad. He brought me three French sticks. He'd found a bargain somewhere and remembered how much I like the stuff. He's a good lad.

I then had a little sax practice. My dog didn't like it very much.

And with a rather good bit of tea scoffed and "er indoors ^TM" off to lob bowling balls at unsuspecting pins I ironed shirts whilst watching "Jeeves and Wooster"...

4 October 2014 (Saturday) - Wedding Anniversary

I was up with the lark this morning. As usual. But for all that I seem to be in a routine of walking shortly after 5am these days, it's a great improvement on 3am which once it was, so I'm not complaining. I fussed my lttle dog and fed him my toast crusts as I watched "Revolution".

I had an email from Cotton Traders. Bearing in mind teh fiasco I had with their piss-poor walking shoes I'm rather loathe to get anything from their mail order service again. And looking at the email of bargaains I have to admit that I can get pretty much the same stuff (without the Cotton Traders logo) cheaper from Matalan.

I checked out social media. Facebook had wished me well for my wedding anniversary today. That was nice of them. I also saw that several people of my acquaintance were off to a "fun run" today at Hever Castle. I say "fun run" because that is the widely used phrase. But I have to question that phrase. Why do people go running for sport or for a hobby. Have you ever looked at any of these runners. They either look miserable, knackered or in pain. I have *never* seen one who actually appears to enjoy what they are doing.

This was particularly brought home to me when I took "Furry Face ^TM" for a walk round the park this morning. There were dozens of joggers; all with faces like smacked arses. Not a single one looked as though they were in any way remotely happy.

My mummy and daddy called, and we drove down to Folkestone where the tribe gathered to spend the day looking at the baby. The baby seemed pretty much oblivious of all the attention he was getting; alternately feeding and sleeping. I suppose it's a sign of the times that littlun had four great-grandparents present. I only met one of mine.

A few of us went for a quick walk to the harbour seafood stall; but it was raining and we got soaked.

With baby looked at we came home and had a rather good bit of dinner as we caught up with stuff on the SkyPlus box. And we had that bottle of plonk I'd got from Morrisons yesterday. Not too shabby...

3 October 2014 (Friday) - Forgetting the Late Shift

With all the excitement of the last day it's hardly surprising I slept well last night. Over brekkie I watched "Revolution". I've been somewhat disparaging about the show recently, but it's not bad really.

Off to work. It was a particularly foggy day today. As I drove I listened to the radio. The burning issue of the day would seem to be the Government's hopes to abolish the Human Rights Act.

Something which seriously boils my piss is the fact that more and more these days I seem to be in agreement with the Government. Whilst in theory the Human Rights Act is a vital and essential part of a decent society, in practice it is being abused and is nothing more than a shield for the despicable. There is something seriously wrong when murdering terrorists cannot be brought to just ice because doing so contravenes their "human rights".

And one of the bosses of the John Lewis firm has made a rather savage attack on the French; advising other businessmen not to invest in a country where "nothing works"

I'm no fan of the French, but even I though that was rather harsh.

I stopped off at Morrisons for some supplies. I bought their cheapo-jam which tastes exactly the same as their normal jam but is half the price. I suppose some prefer the snob value of not being seen to buy the cheapo-stuff. Me - I'm not proud.

I also got a half-price bottle of Merlot; usually a tenner, this was a fiver. I shall give it my sage opinion later.

Whilst there I saw that Morrisons have reduced their petrol prices since I got a tank-full yesterday. Mind you they are still more expensive than Ashford.

I got to work, and prepared to do my bit. But before I could do so I was met with amazement by my colleague. What was I doing at work so early?

I'd completely overlooked the fact I was on the late shift today. What with the excitement of getting away promptly yesterday to see the baby I'd not checked my shift. Woops.

So with three hours spare I went off round Canterbury on a geo-mission. There were three geocaches round Canterbury that I've looked for before and have been unable to find. With little else to do and nothing planned I thought I might try for these ones again.

The first one was one I'd been given a little (great big) hint about, and it wasn't where I was told it was supposed to be. I think it might well have gone missing. They do that.

The second was supposedly "inside a tree stump" but there was only one tree stump in the vicinity and I couldn't find anything inside that stump; nor could several previous searchers. Perhaps that one has gone walkabout too.

The third was one I'd twice before tried for; and this time it was glaringly obvious. How could I have missed that? I was sure it wasn't there last time.

On opening the thing and reading the log inside it was clear I hadn't missed it previously. With only one previous finder this cache had been placed two weeks ago either by the C.O. or by the only other person to have signed the log. But either way I've claimed it as a find.

Flushed with success I then went to look for a fourth cache. I'd been told this one was missing, and I would agree with that. I couldn't find it.

So with a couple of hours productively wasted I set off to work where I had a little sax practice before finally getting on with stuff rather later than I'd intended. I did my bit, saxed some more at lunch time, bit a bit more work, and came home some three hours later than planned. Consequently I had no time at all for visiting baby. I wasn't very pleased about that; but I have no one but myself to blame.

Once home I put the lead onto "Furry Face ^TM" and took him for a bit of a walk. As I walked I started to Ingress. Ingress was (for a couple of months) a silly bit of fun. I would periodically have a pop at what a local blue player was doing, and from time to time a local blue player would have a pop back. There was balance, and it was fun.

Not any more.

I looked at the play-map this evening as we walked. What was once green was now blue. Lots of blue. In fact hardly any green left at all. And the ubiquitous blue was of such high level that I wouldn't have a hope trying to play against it.

I met a blue Ingresser kicking the last dying breaths out of what I'd done over the last few weeks. Apparently there is an organised bunch of higher level blue players who delight in regularly meeting up and travelling to someone else's town to smash up (in the game) and take over.

Having ruined the fun of Ashfordians tonight they are apparently off to Ramsgate and Maidstone en-masse over the next week or so. It would seem that it's not enough that they should win. Everyone else has to lose, and be seen to lose.

I can remember teaching the cubs (aged eight) about good sportsmanship... I've deleted the game from my phone.

2 October 2014 (Thursday) - New Family Member

My phone beeped wih a message to wake me shortly after 3.30am; the littlun was born at 3.12am. I phoned my mother right away; I was under orders to do so as soon as I had news, and I did so. She was wide awake and had been sitting up all night waiting to hear. I messaged my brother and he replied right away; I guess he was awake too.

I did't get back to sleep after that, even though I tried. I gave up trying to sleep and watched telly until the first photos came through at 6am.

As I drove to work I listened to the radio. . The Prime Minister has recently announced that in the near future the general public will have access to GP surgeries until 8pm every night and at weekends too.

There was an interview with one of the leading lights in the Royal College of General Practitioners who explained that what with the preponderance of GPs coming up to retirement and an inability to recruit, surgeries will be closing due to lack of doctors rather than staying open later and longer. You'd think the Prime Minister would talk to people before committing them to the impossible, wouldn't you?

There was also talk of the latest battles in the Middle East, and about how the western world should negotioate rather than fight. I must admit I didn't pay attention. My mind wandered somewhat. Is it wrong of me to dismiss this news purely because it's not news and there is *always* fighting in the Middle East?

I got to work, parked up, and as I parked some prat wanted me to park elsewhere so he could do some obscure horticultural thing on the grounds nearby. I moved my car ten yards, and said prat wouldn't leave me alone; he kept bothering me with explanations about what he was doing, and he followed me for a couple of hundred yards making those explanations.

On the morning of the birth of a grandchild I had several phone calls to make. The last thing I needed was to be harangued by a gardener. After smiling sweetly, making excuses, and finally flatly telling him to piss off I just ignored him and made quite a few phone calls with this prat drivelling on in the background.

From work I went to the hospital to meet my new grandson....

1 October 2014 (Wednesday) - Waiting

My mobile rang at 5.30am this morning. "Daddies Little Angel ^TM"'s waters had broken. I thought this was all rather exciting, but with a "been there, done that" shrug "er indoors ^TM" went back to kip for another hour or so.

I got up, fed toast crusts to my dog and watched the next episode of "Revolution". The series started well, but as time goes on I find myself questioning the show's plausibility. Like any sci-fi show one can go along with the patently unlikely scenarios if the characters are beleivable. But the leading protagonists have no consistency. One moment they have a firm moral compass; the next they are carboard cut-outs doing whatever makes for a simplistic plot. Having travelled miles to do right wrongs and stand up for the little guys, today our main hero is trying to create anthrax-bombs to unleash on an innocent public. Really?

But with only four episodes to go I shall see it out till the end.

Off to work... as I drove I tried to listen to the radio, but there was hardly anything of note. I got petrol this morning; working on the principle that with the littlun on the way I might be better off with a full fuel tank rather than an empty one.

I got to work, and did my bit. About mid morning I got the message that "Team Maternity" had decamped to the hospital. Not the one I was in; which was probably for the best.

At lunchtime I got the message that the entire labour process was on hold, and that "Team Maternity" was going home until things started happening again. I didn't get much saxing done at lunch time; I spent much of the time messaging here, there and thither

This evening's walk with "Furry Face ^TM" was interesting. We took his ball; and this time he wanted me to throw it for him (a few times). Every time he chased it he got the ball fine when it was still moving. When it stopped before he could get close he seemed to have trouble finding it; even though it has an internal light and it glows. I've often wondered if he has bad eyesight.

And then I got a message from "er indoors ^TM". Labour pains have started again, and she is back off to the hospital with "Daddies Little Angel ^TM".

I am reliably informed there are sausages in the freezer...