2 January 2018 (Tuesday) - Late Shift

I woke early; later than I often do, but still too early. I lay awake feeling somewhat morose (I wonder why). Over brekkie I sparked up my lap-top.

Facebook was full of tirades from people complaining about going back to work. Many people have had a ten-day break and were complaining about the holidays having ended. I haven’t had a massive break (not that I’m complaining).

Treacle nibbled at her breakfast; Fudge turned his nose up at his. I took the dogs out hoping to increase their appetites with a walk.

We did our usual walk. I know Bowens Field Wetland Park is a “wetland” park, but more and more it is becoming little more than a swamp.

We walked on to Viccie Park where several other dog walkers wished us all a happy new year. That was kind of them. One group wanted to chat; they were pleased that I’d given a stray dog a home(!) It turned out that they’d seen Fudge in the park several times in the past but because he straggles so far behind they had no idea he was with me. They’d always thought it was just me and Treacle going for the walk, and Fudge was just a random stray doing his own thing.

We came home and the dogs yummed up their breakfasts. I made myself a cuppa and cut myself a lump of Christmas cake then watched an episode of “Still Game” before setting off to work.

I set off to work through the drizzle. Over brekkie I'd had an email telling me of two new geocaches vaguely on the way to to work. I wondered if I might get a cheeky First to Find. I had been beaten to the first one by some people of whom I'd never previously heard. They'd got there half an hour before I had. Oh, well, etiquette dictated that if they'd got the First to Find on that one, then they would not have gone for the other. It turned out that etiquette was wrong; they'd had both.

I drove on to Aylesford. I went to Sainsburys; I needed a new razor and some blades. I got some, and nearly had a fit at the price. Thirty-two quid. Can you believe it?

And to add insult to injury, having paid for the things in the self-service check-out, when I asked the one of the staff to remove the security tags, she looked at me like I was the shit on her shoe and (rather sarcastically) asked if I could prove I'd paid for them.

I then went on to the cheapo-bargain shop for some extra strong mints where I had a little chuckle. The delightfully pikey woman in front of me in the queue at the till was buying a large storage box. She'd filled the storage box with all sorts of stuff which she hoped wouldn't be noticed by the till staff. When the till staff tried to open the storage box, the delightfully pikey woman nearly had a fit, insisting that the storage box didn't need to be opened. There was nearly a fist fight over the matter. When the box was opened and all the stuff stashed in the box came to light, the delightfully pikey woman pretended to know nothing about it. "So you don't want this lot?" asked the woman on the till. "Yes I do" snarled pikey-woman. With the most sickly smile you ever did see, the woman on the till told pikey that she had to pay for them (in the tone you would use with a particularly stupid four-year old).

I didn't quite laugh out loud.

The rest of the day was rather dull in comparison…

1 January 2018 (Monday) - New Year's Day

As it was New Year’s Day, over brekkie I had a little retrospective. In many ways one year is often rather like another, but here’s a flavour of 2017 (in my world).

·         My father-in-law died (as did some friends).

·         I left my employer of more than thirty years and now work somewhere where I don’t feel physically sick (every day) at the thought of what epic mountains the boss will make out of trivial molehills.

·         I went on my first foreign holiday. I liked it.

·         I’ve helped "My Boy ^TM" build me a pergola.

·         Whilst fishing I broke my personal best fish record four times.

·         We staged a few dinner parties. (Must do more).

·         We had a road trip to the Isle of Wight.

·         Having spent ten years building up the astro club and pretending all was peachy with it, I finally walked away from it. (I’m told this is for the best as ultimately I was very bad for the club!)

·         I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve fixed the fence.

·         I’ve been on day trips to Bruges and Cite Europe

·         I’ve discovered afternoon tea.

·         There has been a new series of Star Trek

·         I’ve been to the theatre (twice)

·         "My Boy ^TM" turned thirty.

·         "er indoors ^TM" had a big birthday too

·         There was a new album from Sparks which did surprisingly well in the album charts.

·         I met some childhood friends I’ve not seen in years.

All things considered, my year wasn’t uneventful. It was certainly better than some have been. As for this new year?… Who knows – that’s what makes this life such an adventure. It is traditional to have New Year resolutions; I haven’t made any this year. Realistically I need to lose weight. I can do this. But having done so, the weight will just come back. Will I diet? Maybe.

With "er indoors ^TM" still snoring I did a little geo-puzzling and solved another of the fiendishly tricky puzzles that hopefully a gaggle of us will hunt out during a trip to the wicked city in a month or so. I then wasted an hour trying to solve an RSA encryption. I didn’t solve it.

As I puzzled the rain outside got worse and worse. The plan for today had been to join the geo-gang for a walk, but I’d heard that the walk went across ploughed fields, and I’d also heard that the pub in which people were meeting afterwards wasn’t overly dog-friendly. Turning up at a posh country pub with two mud-encrusted hounds wouldn’t go down that well.

"er indoors ^TM" eventually got up, and after watching a documentary about Laurel and Hardy we walked the dogs round the block. We came home after twenty minutes; all wet through.

I then spent a little longer working on the RSA decryption; I ended up with a negative mod function which is mathematically impossible. I’ve since been told that Excel isn’t up to mod 403 decryptions. If it isn’t, I shudder to think what is.

We took the dogs round the block; twenty minutes walk had us all soaked. We then settled the dogs and drove out to High Halden. There was a formal geo-meet after the walk (that we’d blown out of). The meet-up was rather good. I do like meeting up at these geo-events. Some people have been going for years; for others they have only been to one or two. It is always good to meet old and new friends.

We stayed chatting for two pints, then came home as it was getting dark.

"er indoors ^TM" boiled up a rather good pasta bake. We scoffed it whilst watching the second episode of the Festive Bake-off. Not a bad show really.

31 December 2017 (Sunday) - New Year's Eve

Apart from one coughing fit at two o’clock I had a good night’s sleep. Mind you I wasn’t pleased to wake to rain at eight o’clock.

Over brekkie I sparked up my lap-top. For some inexplicable reason it has taken to presenting me with a blank Word document every time it starts. I wish it wouldn’t do that. As I scoffed toast I had a look at the Internet. One of the geocaching pages I follow was up in arms. When hunting Tupperware you have an alias for yourself. There is a chap in Hastings who has made his geo-identity to be based on serial killers. Having had this for a couple of years, this has only now given offence.

We got ourselves and the dogs together and were just about to set off to the morning’s geo-meet when the phone pinged with news of a new geocache not one mile away. It would be rude not to go for this, so we took a minor diversion and came out with a cheeky First to Find.

The geo-meet was in Dobbies. After a little mucking about (and tiddling up shop displays) we were soon in the thick of the morning’s meet-up. It was good to catch up with friends. We chatted for half an hour or so, then went for a little wander. As luck would have it the morning’s meet was almost on top of a little geo-series that "er indoors ^TM" had hidden a while ago. Nine of us (and two small dogs) wandered round the outside of the golf course (and right across it) hunting out a dozen geocaches as we went.

It was a matter of conjecture as to whether the timing of our walk was either a work of genius or pot luck, but either way we started just as the rain had subsided, and we finished just as the torrential rain hit. Either way we got round dry.

We got back to the cars, pulled off wellies, and went for lunch. It didn’t take long to get to the Windmill. We’d had an excellent meal there a few weeks ago, and again we had a rather good bit of dinner washed down with some rather good ales.

We came home, and I woke a couple of hours later.

We put on our red pants, collected "Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM" and "Stormageddon - Bringer of Destruction ^TM"  and went down to Folkestone for the traditional Spanish New Year. There was a rather good buffet, and a rather tricky quiz in which our team NABOR (Not A Bunch Of Retards) came second. Did you know that another country uses the tune of the British National Anthem for their National Anthem?

Eleven o’ clock came; we did the grapes (it’s a Spanish thing) and at midnight we watched the fireworks in London on the comfort of a telly. In years gone by we would then have watched “Mamma Mia” or something along those lines, but we’re getting old….

We got to bed just before two o’clock…