3 June 2017 (Saturday) - Birthday, Fence, Theatre

Bearing in mind how early I usually wake I had intended to get a good two hours fence painting in before "er indoors ^TM" surfaced from her pit. However I’d not considered the after-effects of a couple of night shifts. Despite being bitten on the arse a couple of times during the night (either by "er indoors ^TM" or the puppy; I’m not sure which) I didn’t wake until gone 8am.

I got up and had a quick look-see on-line over a bit of toast. A few ex-colleagues had commented on the death I mentioned yesterday. I’ve been thinking about the chap who died. He was an odd lad; something of a loner. I can remember making several overtures of friendship to which he never really responded. He didn’t seem to have any close friends in the workplace. I wonder if the management under which he worked had noticed that?

I also read quite a bit of political stuff on Facebook. It would seem that a lot of younger people of my acquaintance have decided to find out for themselves the ins and outs of politics. It is interesting that (without exception) all of them feel that the Labour party is the one with their interests at heart. Perhaps Mr Corbyn’s message is getting over despite the best efforts of the national press. Or perhaps it is because the Labour party are the only ones who are actually being seen to offer anything. All the pro-Conservative stuff I’ve read basically either says “Vote for us because we’re better than Labour” without any details to back the claim whatsoever, or just tries to appeal to people’s natural greed.

On a happier note quite a few people were commenting on "Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM"’s birthday; which was kind of them.

And talking of which we then collected the birthday girl (and her entourage) and drove down to Broccoli Park (as "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction ^TM" calls it) and we had a little walk. I was glad that for once it wasn’t our puppy disgracing herself. For all that she’s not averse to eating poo, at least she picks it off of the ground. This morning her brother Pogo ate it fresh as it emerged from Sid’s bum; so fresh that it didn’t even touch the ground. How feral is that? "Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM" went seriously mental at little Pogo. I did laugh; mainly because it wasn’t my dog.

We walked round the lake and looked at the fish, then had a little birthday picnic. It soon became apparent that not only had Pogo eaten poo, he’d also rolled in it. So we walked back round the lake where he “accidentally” fell in.

Ironically Pogo was sick in the car only two minutes before we got home.

Once home, ably assisted by “nice next door” I set about fixing the fence. I say ably assisted by “nice next door”; in fairness he did all the work. We got the new fence post support in place as well as the new panel, and I was able to salvage enough out of one of the old panels to be able to fix the custom-sized one (which was a relief). And I got the custom-sized panel pretty much fixed. I would have liked to have got it painted but I just had time for a quick shower and scoff before Steve and Sarah arrived.

We settled the dogs, collected Chris and set off to Whitstable where we discovered a new micro-pub. “The Twelve Taps” had twelve taps all dispensing a different ale. I had a rather good pint of stout followed by a citrussy light ale. My Ham Street Lover then arrived with Julie and a littlun, and Matt and his family weren’t far behind.

As luck would have it, “The Twelve Taps” was right next door to the theatre; "er indoors ^TM" had organised for us to go see “Avenue Q”. Tonight was the fourth time I’ve seen it live. But I’ve got the CD; I know all the words to all the songs. It was an absolutely brilliant production. Can’t wait till we go again; I wonder when that will be…

2 June 2017 (Friday) - After the Night Shifts

As I drove home the pundits on the radio were expounding on the news that as the Conservative’s lead in the opinion polls shortens, a hung parliament is looking more and more likely. There was talk of another coalition, and talks of inter-party deals to make a minority government a practical proposition. Key to any such coalition or deal would be the Scottish Nationalist Party, and their leader was interviewed on air this morning.

She spouted an awful lot of drivel without actually saying very much of consequence.

This is the trouble with our parliamentary system. It is all very well all the time one party has a majority in the House of Commons, but when there is no one with a clear lead a disproportionate amount of power is suddenly in the hands of the vanishingly small minorities.

I got home just as "er indoors ^TM" was going to work. I put on some old clothes and had a little while in the garden. I got the lawn mowed, got two loads of washing onto the line to dry, and got more fence painted. But after two hours of painting I started to wilt so I came in and had a late brekkie whilst watching “Detectorists”. I’d forgotten that him who plays the part of Negatus in “Yonderland” was the nemesis of our heroes in “Detectorists”.

I then had a quick look on-line and my piss boiled. Last night during a break I had a look-see on Facebook and saw a posting of a small turtle being killed in a microwave. I won’t post the link; it was horrible. I reported it to Facebook and this morning they said they weren’t going to remove the item as it didn’t breach their community standards (!)

I also saw something which rather amazed me. A chap I vaguely know was again posting all sorts of jingoistic racist “Britain First” rubbish. I’ve often wondered why he does this as his wife is of European extraction. Someone had commented about just how nasty the stuff he’s posted was; his response was that he’d probably stop doing so when his family move to mainland Europe. Following the Brexit he so loudly advocated his entire family are leaving the UK, and he’s going with them. What’s that all about?

I was just about to go to bed when "My Boy ^TM" sent me a text. He’d gone fishing today. I could have gone with him, but having just done two night shifts I decided against it. He said to check out his Facebook page. I did and saw that he’d caught a carp which was about three times bigger than any carp I’d ever had. I wish I had gone with him.

I took myself off to bed for the afternoon with something of a sulk.

I forgot to set the alarm; I slept for much longer than I intended. Night shift does wonders for sorting the insomnia, then I got more fence painted. I’m rather pleased with today’s progress. I’ve now got as far up the garden as the monkey puzzle tree. I thought about heaving it out the way so I could continue, but decided that this might just be God’s way of telling me to stop. So I stopped.

"er indoors ^TM" boiled up some fish and chips and we scoffed them watching old episodes of “Bake Off”. I then had a look at the household accounts. Pay day was last week and I’m already looking iffy.

And then I had a message. One of the lads with whom I worked when at Canterbury has died. He didn’t turn up for the late shift yesterday, and today his mother phoned with the sad news. He couldn’t have been any more than twenty-one or twenty-two.

Makes you think…

1 June 2017 (Thursday) - Between the Night Shifts

As I drove home from the late shift the pundits on the radio were discussing last night’s television. The leaders of all of the UK’s main political parties had featured in a live debate. All but one… The Prime Minister didn’t show.

That surely speaks volumes.

I didn’t come straight home; instead I picked up "My Boy ^TM"; I’d dragooned him into helping me for a few minutes. I needed help carrying a fence panel home from B&Q; he was adamant that it would fit in my car. However he was also of the opinion that fence panels were seriously cheap in B&M Bargains as was fishing bait.

We drove to B&M Bargains to find that not only were the fence panels far too big to fit in my car, but B&M Bargains wouldn’t open for another half an hour.

We went to B&Q, got the fence panel and carried it home. I wasn’t going to pay them twenty quid to drive it round the corner. We walked back to B&Q’s car park to get my car, and I drove "My Boy ^TM" home then came home myself.

Fudge still isn’t right. I fed him his brekkie and slipped a tramidol into it. He then wandered around in a dopey daze; periodically yelping in pain as he walked awkwardly. I settled him in his basket and told him to stay put.

I made myself a spot of brekkie and had a look-see on-line. My piss boiled somewhat. A few years ago I received a formal written warning from my then-employer for bringing the hospital in which I worked into disrepute. My crime was that I posted a photo of myself taken during a night shift with the caption “tired”. Yesterday people working for that same employer posted all sorts of derogatory things in a thread basically saying what a grotty day they’d had. And to add insult to injury, rather than taking a firm line. senior managers had seen it and clicked the “like” button.

I wonder if I really had been singled out?

I took myself off to bed and slept for five hours. Not too shabby at all. I woke and watched an episode of “Archer”; I’d seen adverts for the show. It looked funny but it wasn’t. It was just American rubbish with canned laughter played at random intervals. What a disappointment.

I put on some old clothes, and got another fence panel painted before "er indoors ^TM" boiled up a rather good bit of dinner.

I’m off to another late shift now. Historically the day between two night shifts was always dull, and it seems that nothing has changed…