2 January 2019 (Wednesday) - Margarine

I would have slept better had I been allowed any of the duvet, but waking shivering every half-hour wasn't conducive to a good night. I got up ten minutes before the alarm was due to go off, and over a bowl of granola (no margarine for toast!) I watched an episode of "Bottom" (Skullcrusher Henderson - nursey jugfest) before setting off to work. For all that the cars weren't iced up it was a very cold morning.

As I drove I listened to the radio. They would seem to have dropped the "guest editor" idea and gone back to stories which don't seem to have someone's vested interests in mind. There was a rather worrying article about how the Foreign Office has been getting involved in stopping forced arranged marriages of British citizens who have been tricked into going abroad. Whilst what they have done is very laudable, it is something of a scandal for the Foreign Office to then send a bill to the poor people they've rescued.

To add insult to injury the Foreign Office claim told the people on the radio that you can pay the bill in instalments at a better rate of interest than that charged by many store credit cards.

It was announced that some lucky person had won over a hundred million pounds on the Euro-lottery. Whilst I don't need over a hundred million pounds, I certainly want it. I spent much of today pondering what I would buy with a hundred million quid. A large house with a fishery would be high on the list.

Meanwhile China has announced plans to annex Taiwan. That should be good for a fight...

The roads were noticeably busier than they have been for a week or so, but I made good time to Maidstone. With a few minutes spare I went to get petrol. Petrol is four pence per litre cheaper in Maidstone than Ashford. And when you factor in the Nectar points, I made a saving of about the price of half a pint of beer. That's better than a poke up the bum. It was only a shame that my credit card didn't work. The chip was playing up so I had to swipe it and sign the scrap of paper. How ten-years-ago!

Work was work; but an early start made for an early finish. I came home, walked the dogs round the road and put the kettle on. I fancied a cup of coffee and some malt loaf… until I remembered there was no margarine. Instead I had the last mince pie and looked at geo-puzzles until "er indoors ^TM" came home. She was a few minutes late having gone to get margarine. Apparently Treacle ate it all last night.

Over a rather good bit of dinner we watched the Christmas episode of “Bake Off”; I’ve missed that show…

1 January 2019 (Tuesday) - Burham

I slept reasonably well I suppose. I’ve had worse nights. As I scoffed toast I watched Fudge sleeping. He didn’t seem to have that many cares. I looked at Facebook; it was surprisingly quiet. I suspect a lot of people who post on social media were still asleep. Mind you a good friend had posted up what I can only describe as “motivational bollox” – the sort of thing that managers are told to spout at management classes, and which fools no one except the person posting it. Mind you it made me think about the whole “New Year’s Resolutions” thing. I’m going to start the New Year diet in a week or so (once all the Christmas food is devoured), but other than that… I expect it will be business as usual.

(Mind you I have decided to be a lot less tolerant of the hateful racist rubbish I read every day on social media)

We got ourselves organised and set off to Burham where we met loads of friends. Every New Year’s Day there is a big meet-up of geocachers. We went on our first in 2014 when we walked from Kennington to Wye and back in torrential rain. In 2015 we had a rather good walk up and down Bluebell Hill. I ran the event myself in 2016 when I led a group of thirty-six people on a walk round Great Chart. We missed the last two years as rain stopped play. I say “rain stopped play”; the walks went ahead, we stayed at home because we didn’t fancy getting soaked.

I must admit I did wonder about the weather today. New Year isn’t famous for the wonderful weather it brings, but today was a rather bright morning. Ideal for a little walk up and down the North Downs. We got to Burham easily enough, and soon met up with friends. Over twenty of us got together and had a little walk along the local bye-ways. And then had a pint or two of lunch afterwards.

I took a few photos as we walked and afterwards.

Today was something of a milestone; Pogo was driven all the way there and all the way back without being sick. Good dog.

The original plan had been to have dinner with "My Boy ^TM" and his branch of the tribe, but with Cheryl being poorly we came home and dozed a little, then spent an hour or two solving geo-puzzles.

"er indoors ^TM" boiled up a rather good bit of dinner and we scoffed it whist watching the New Year’s Day special episode of Doctor Who. I say “special” episode… I won’t give any spoilers but I will say that in many ways it was a re-make of a Doctor Who story which featured Christopher Ecclestone, and this re-make was nowhere near as good as the original.

I’ve been watching the show for as long as I can remember. I was *so* pleased when it came back to the telly in 2005 after a sixteen-year break. But most of the episodes since 2005 have been somewhat lacklustre. Maybe the BBC should get some writers who’ve actually seen the original. I could lend them some DVDs if it would help…

31 December 2018 (Monday) - New Year's Eve

Treacle was rather restless last night, and when she is restless, so is everyone else. I managed to put up with her fidgeting, and got up shortly before the alarm was due to go off.

Over a bowl of rather yukky muesli I watched an episode of “Bottom” (in which our heroes had spent four thousand pounds on a weekend trip to Doncaster), then I sparked up the lap-top to see what I’d missed on-line overnight. I hadn’t missed much.

It seemed darker than usual as I walked to my car and drove off to work. The roads were certainly quieter than they have been. As I drove the pundits on the radio were running article after article about Winston Churchill. Today's guest editor would seem to be fixated on the chap. Whilst it was all rather interesting, I prefer it when there is a variety of topics on the radio. After a while you soon get bored with the same old drivel (I certainly do).

Having a few minutes spare I took a ten-minute diversion for geo-purposes. Usually there is a meet-up on New Year's Eve. This year there wasn't for the simple reason that no one had organised one. So I got my New Year's Eve geo-souvenir for acting suspiciously round a village sign in Sandling. As I took my little geo-diversion it became apparent that my phone had upgraded itself overnight. The driving directions were given in a different voice to what it has used in the past, and the distances were given in metric units rather than imperial. I wonder how I turn it back? Personally I'd like it to use metres and miles, but I don't think that's an option.

With a few minutes spare I stopped off at Aldi for a look-see. I got some of their granola. I didn't get any of their muesli. I don't like their muesli; it is like sawdust. I do like Alpen. Trouble is, it ain't cheap. Aldi didn’t have any Alpen, so it was all academic anyway.

Whilst I was in Aldi I got a combination ice-scraper/snow-sweeper for the car as it was in the cheapo-bargain section. It only cost three quid. I suspect it may well collapse on its first usage. We shall see.

Work was work; as the day went on I felt more and more tired and washed out. I seriously considered giving the evening’s party a miss; I was glad I didn’t. Maria put on a wonderful spread, we watched “Mama Mia II”, we did the New Year grapes. We had a really good evening.

We came home rather late and found Fudge was stuck on the window sill. He’d got on there to look for us and couldn’t get back.

And that’s it for another year. I see a lot of people have been posting on Facebook saying what a crappy year it was…

One of my many cringeworthy talents is that I never let the fact that I am incredibly bad at karaoke stop me from having a go. One of my more memorable numbers is my rendition of Belinda Carlisle’s “Total Eclipse of the Fart” which I’ve been howling it since it was first released. One of the lines in the song struck a chord when I first howled it some thirty-five years ago: “every now and then I get a little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by”. In my blacker moments I do worry that the best of all the years have gone by. But for all thirty-four of those years I had no cause for concern. Despite losing father-in-law Frank, this year has certainly been one of the better ones. 

 

• We revived the traditions that is Dover Beer Festival and our summer garden party.
• I organised a boat trip out to the wartime sea-forts in the Thames estuary.
• We had some incredibly good walks including a twenty-mile one across the Sussex Downs.
• I had a very good weekend on a European road trip visiting all sorts of place including the French geo-mega.
• We had a wonderful holiday in the New Forest.
• The Snow Dogs came to Ashford.
• We had afternoon tea with my mum and dad (they’d never done it before)
• I caught my biggest fish ever (so far)
• We had a really good pre-Christmas dinner with friends in Brenchley, and an incredible Boxing Day tribal get-together.
• My little girl has opened a corner shop in Margate.
• And all-new “Star Trek” came back to the telly.

I wonder what next year has in store?