3 March 2018 (Saturday) - Late Shift

I slept like a log last night. I did wake to hoik Treacle out of the bed in the small hours but if she had been still I wouldn’t have noticed her. (Note that’s “wouldn’t have” and not “wouldn’t of” – that annoys me!).

I would have had a rather good lie-in had Treacle not had a woofing fit at eight o’clock. That puppy barks at anything, and when there is nothing to bark at, she barks at that as well. When she barks, Fudge joins in, and when he joins in Treacle then thinks there is something to bark about, and the two of them wind each other up more and more. I got up if only to physically close my dog’s mouths.

I got up, my stomach was still tender. Over brekkie I peered into the Internet. Nothing much had happened on Facebook. Facebook is odd. I know that people are tuning in to it; when I post something it gets “likes”; but so often from people who do nothing but click “like” or just re-post stuff that is supposed to be witty or funny but isn’t. I wish people would post more original stuff. The whole point of Facebook is that I can be nosey.

I had a look at my emails. I had notifications of two jobs for which I would never dream of applying. Two more of the world’s top one per cent of geocachers had been announced. One deserving, one probably not. Amazon were trying to sell me that which I’d already bought from them, and I had an email from the power company. Now that (according to the forecasts) the worst of the weather has been and gone, they’ve sent out details of what to do in an emergency (!)

I put the leads on the dogs (no coats this morning) and we went round the park. I had hoped the Park Run people had cancelled today, and they had. We had a good walk, not slipping in the ice *too* much. Now that (hopefully) the worst of the snow had passed we now have the bit where there is ice and slush everywhere for a week or so.

The walk passed off relatively well, but Fudge did his usual trick of walking off with another group of dog-walkers just as we were about to leave the park. He *always* does that.

We got home just as "er indoors ^TM" was going out.  I had a little time to spare. I would have watched “The Crown” on Netflix but I watched the last episode of that last night. It was a rather good series. Rather than starting something new I had a go at a few geo-puzzles. I solved some; I failed with others.

I settled the dogs and set off to work. As I drove to work the pundits on the radio were interviewing the politician Jacob Reese-Mogg. Billed as being a potential Prime Minister he came over as something of a fatuous windbag in taking great pride in knowing just how much import duty there was on a pair of Nike Air-Max, whilst at the same time taking great pride in not knowing what a pair of Nike Air-Max actually was.

Windbag and friends were being interviewed on the tired old subject of Brexit. We all know that the country voted for it without knowing what it would actually entail. Not one person in a thousand knows what a customs union actually is... Can't we just accept we've made a monumental balls-up in having no idea what we were actually voting for and just get on with dealing with the consequences of that decision rather than just re-hashing the tired old arguments?

As I drove to work I was tailgated from Great Chart to Biddenden by a van of the UK Mail company. He finally flew past me at breakneck speed (in a 30mph zone) and overtook the car in front on a blind corner before flying off into the distance. As the Three Chimneys pub came into view I could see cars swerving to avoid this van. I thought about complaining to UK Mail, but I've complained about dangerous drivers in the past to no avail. Perhaps he was in a hurry?

I stopped off at Tesco to get some supplies; the place was heaving. So many people, not one looking where they were going, everyone oblivious to everyone else. Much like the driver of the UK Mail van, I expect.

Once at work I went to the canteen where I had a rather good bit of dinner. And from there I went on to have a rather busy afternoon. Busy but... I wouldn't say "enjoyable" but for the last year or so I've felt far more trusted to do my job than I had been for the previous five years. I knew that when I went home the person taking over from me wouldn't be double-checking everything I'd done looking to find fault.

I came home, a quick bit of scoff, and now it’s bed time. I’ve got to be at work before eight o’clock tomorrow morning…

2 March 2018 (Friday) - Rostered Day Off

I slept rather well; I was woken shortly after seven o’clock by Fudge’s whimpering. He’d got upstairs and wanted to be lifted onto the bed. I picked him up, but Treacle appeared and wanted to start a fight.

Over brekkie I had a look at Facebook as I do. There were a lot of these memes thanking NHS staff for their efforts in getting to work through the snow this week. A *lot* of us had done like me and stayed overnight. However I took exception to one post which said we should he grateful to the nurses. Whist the nurses do a good job, hospitals cannot run without the contributions of pharmacists, physiotherapists, cleaners, cooks, biomedical scientists, podiatrists, speech therapists, cardiographers, electricians, dieticians, porters, secretaries, med lab assistants, biochemists, plumbers… many of whom also work round the clock. There are *far* more people that doctors and nurses who work in hospitals.

I also saw that Facebook was no longer running an advert for a pornographic game entitled “C*nt Wars”. Last night I saw a featured advert on Facebook for a fun new game. I clicked on the link and was immediately presented with cartoon depictions of rather saucy naked young ladies engaged in rather serious filth. Yet another triumph for Facebook’s community standards?

I also had several emails for jobs in Essex. I’d never apply for them as they would be utterly impractical even though the hospital in which they are based is closer to home than where I am currently working. It is easy to forget that the Thames estuary is in the way. A thirty-mile distance involves a seventy-mile drive.

I put the coats and the leads on to the dogs. Fudge sulked, but I ignored him. He doesn’t like wearing a coat but with temperatures four degrees below zero, I wasn’t going to give him a choice today. We went for our standard circuit of the park. When we walked on Tuesday it was rather pretty with the fresh snow. Today there was just ice everywhere. It was rather dangerous.

As we walked we met OrangeHead who was again surrounded by a posse. As usual Fudge wanted to go off with them; as usual the only way to retrieve him was to put his lead on him and drag.

We came back across the co-op field for the first time this year. Up till now it has been waterlogged; today the mud was frozen so we could get through relatively easily. Fudge rolled in fox poo, but frozen fox poo is but a shadow of its defrosted counterpart.

Once home I hung out the laundry that I’d put on before we went out and put more in. I emptied the dishwasher and looked at my accounts.

Oh dear…

To be honest had I not spent nine hundred quid on new brakes for the car and a serious servicing I would be rather better off. But what is money for if not to squander foolishly?

I also made a start on emptying my letter rack. There was a letter from my dentist saying he was jacking it all in. He told me that in person a month or so ago. Why waste money on a letter? I wonder how many others he’s sent out.

There was the annual mortgage review. It has just over four years to run; there is a shade over five thousand pounds still to pay. We pay monthly (as everyone does) but one of these monthly payments isn’t enough to cover the annual interest. Borrowing money is expensive. I’ll feel a lot happier in four years’ time when it is all paid off.

I had a letter from my professional body. They’ve put their bill up. They sent a leaflet about all the money-off deals they offer. However it was all money off of stuff I’d never spend money on in the first place.

The warranty on the SkyPlus box had been renewed. It’s gone up by a quid a month, but they sent me a new bit without quibbling when it went west a few weeks ago.

There were two letters from the vets. Treacle was due booster injections. I phoned the vets and they seemed to have no record of the appointment she had with them in January. Our vets are really good with the dogs, but their record-keeping leaves much to be desired.

It was at this point that I put all the remaining letters back in the rack. I’ll look at the rest another time.

I then spent a couple of hours doing the ironing whilst watching episodes of “The Crown” on Netflix. It is a rather good series, but I can’t warm to the Princess Margaret character at all. With ironing done I wasted a little while doing some CPD whilst sorting my undercrackers.

It don’t do itself, you know.

I thought about taking the dogs out, but they were both snoring, and the snow was falling again. I asked if they wanted to go out; they both leapt up. We had a good little walk round the block in the snow and got home just as "er indoors ^TM" got home… What excellent timing…

1 March 2018 (Thursday) - Guts Ache

I slept like a log last night; it was so good to be back home after the barracks of hospital accommodation. Mind you I was still wide awake shortly after five o’clock.

I got up and had a shave. I liked that. Having forgotten my razor yesterday I’d not shaved for a couple of days. I can never understand how people grow beards; I hate the feeling of not having had a morning scrape.

After a bit of telly (watched with my dog) I then had a look at the Internet via my lap-top. It is somehow better that way than doing it with my phone. I had notifications about jobs at Kings College Hospital in London and in Redhill. Bearing in mind the fun I’d had with snow this week I decided not to follow them up.

There was also some convoluted email from Geo-HQ about their latest nonsense about electronic souvenirs. A couple of weeks ago I was all set to chuck the whole geo-thing in what with the squabbles that were abounding, but I’ve decided to rise above the pettiness. I looked at the convoluted email… I’ve said before that Geo-HQ needs to sack all their staff and start again. I’ll say it again: Geo-HQ needs to sack all their staff and start again. You basically can’ do their hobby without using third-party software. They can’t do their business without the generosity of third-party providers. But still they fart about. This time they’ve come up with a rather complicated way of obtaining meaningless e- souvenirs when they could have improved their app, sorted out the clunky web site, devised some consistency in the way the so-called rules are applied…

I packed an overnight bag (just in case) and set off to work. As I drove the pundits on the radio were interviewing ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair who was spouting about… I don’t know what he was spouting about. I’d set the radio to call up the traffic updates. Every time something interesting happened on the morning news program it was interrupted with updates of the road conditions in Rochester, central London and Brighton. However at no time was there any mention of the stretch of Kent between Ashford and Tunbridge Wells.

I’ve turned off the traffic updates.

I had an odd day today; doing more work in the last hour than in all of the rest of the day. There was some sausaging, but no gassing (it’s a blood transfusion thing).

With work done I came home. The forecast snow hadn’t come today, and the journey home was nowhere near as bad as I had suspected it might be.

"er indoors ^TM" boiled up a rather good plate of scran, and we scoffed it whilst watching the first episode of the new series of “Benidorm”. It was rather good. I just wish my stomach would stop hurting; it has been giving me gip all week. I’m not sure why; I *might* have pulled something when I took a tumble last Sunday…