3 December 2019 (Tuesday) - Another Late Shift

As I sat to scoff brekkie I couldn’t help but look at the shelves above the telly. The top two shelves have loads of souvenir beer glasses from various beer festivals I’ve been to over the years. There’s probably about forty pint glasses there. They’ve been on those shelves for years; only ever moving when I put them through the dishwasher when they get dusty.

I could use those shelves for Lego.

If any of my loyal readers want a souvenir pint glass, let me know. I’ve advertised them on various selling sites on Facebook, but if there’s no interest I shall be chucking the lot at some stage.

As I looked at Facebook there was a lot of postings about the BBC’s recent dramatization of “War of the Worlds”. We were talking about this at work yesterday too. No one seems to like the show. I’ve recorded all of it with the intention of binge-watching at some point, but seeing all the negative comments I might just delete the lot unwatched. There are plenty of other terrible shows that I can find for myself without watching stuff that I’ve already been told isn’t worth watching.

Other people were posting about their upcoming court cases. Some were pleading poverty (clearly having forgotten about the two-month tour of Europe they had only a few short months ago).

I had an email from Leica this morning. They’ve got a vacancy. They are looking for someone to demonstrate their laboratory instruments, troubleshoot and fix problems… All the sorts of things that I would really have wanted to do a few year ago. I looked at the advert and decided against it.

I’m content where I am.

I also had an email about a supposedly missing geocache of mine. But on closer inspection this report was dated from last July and the thing has since been found many times. As I’ve whinged before, why not log an issue or a problem right away?

I took the dogs round the park for a walk. Flushed with the success of yesterday’s walk I had high hopes for today’s outing. I wouldn’t say I was disappointed… the dogs didn’t pull much really, and they did play nicely with other dogs. There was only one “episode” and that was when Treacle ran in terror from a bigger dog (for no reason whatsoever) and Pogo stuck up for her. But the other dog’s owner could see what was happening and laughed it off.

As we walked on a rather misty morning so my phone beeped. Ironically just as I was admiring the pretty mists the Met Office had cancelled the yellow alert fog warning.

With walk walked I put washing in to scrub and set the dishwasher loose on the crockery and opened the third window of my Advent Calendar.

Just as I was walking to my car so my phone beeped. A new geocache had appeared not that far away. It wasn’t really in the right direction for work, but I had hoped to have a little adventure before work this morning. So I postponed that adventure in favour of another. For once I managed to get to be the First to Find. That was something of a result.

So few people put caches out these days. I have automatic notifications of all new geocaches within thirty miles of home. Back in the day I would (on average) get notifications on five days out of seven. Nowadays I’d say I get one or two a week.

As I headed to Tunbridge Wells through all the "-hursts" and the "-dens" and the other villages there was a program on the radio about how difficult it is for the political pollsters to get their polls right. Realistically an opinion poll comes with a rather large margin of error, and (try as they might) opinion polling is never going to be an exact science. You just can't predict the future; that's what makes the future such fun. Ask any weather forecaster or gambler.

As I listened to the so-called experts trying to second guess what might be, I was reminded of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series of novels. Have you read them? They are set in a society in which opinion polling is an exact science, and in which the future could be predicted and planned. The books are rather thought-provoking.

We could seriously do with a Second Foundation right now.

I got to work. During a lull in the proceedings I slipped out to get a flu jab. It only took a few minutes, it didn't hurt. And because I didn't cry (much) I was rewarded with a free jelly and a free pot noodle.

There are those who would turn up their noses at free jelly and free pot noodles; me - I see it as one of life's little victories.

And just as I was about to go home the Met office reinstated their yellow alert fog warning. It was rather foggy as I drove home.

2 December 2019 (Monday) - Dog Whispering

I found a damp patch on the end of the bed this morning where Treacle had been sucking the sheet overnight. Oh well… if she’s sucking the sheet she’s not stomping all over my head. And sheets are easily washed.

Last night I put my Lego advent calendar album up on Facebook albums. This morning as I scoffed toast I saw that over forty people had clicked the “like” button. I was rather amazed, and a little bit humbled. That put on the pressure for today’s instalment.

I had planned what I was going to say on today’s piccie. In previous years there is a Lego minifigure behind the second window. I’d got it all worked out, and was rather shocked to find that today’s window didn’t have a little Lego person. That’s all the fun of the Lego advent calendar. The thing sits on my shelf unopened for months; I really do open each window on the correct day, and then put no end of pressure on myself to come up with something.

As I had my morning root around Facebook my piss boiled somewhat. A friend from way back when was posting about how Muslim people don’t have to pay council tax if their house is designated as a place of worship. I can understand why this would be annoying to many if it was true. But it isn’t. About twenty seconds on Google showed it was wrong. Why do people re-post such crap? So many people believe any old rubbish that they read on-line. And these people are allowed to vote.

I went to put the leads on the dogs, and then stopped. Last night (and for the last few weeks) we’ve been watching “The Dog Whisperer” on the telly. The format of the show is that it starts with a ravening hell-hound, and ends with a meek, mild, submissive family pet. Last night Cesar (the “Dog Whisperer”) was banging on about how dogs pick up on positive and negative energy. It sounded like a load of old tosh to me but, looking back, every walk is the same. Putting the leads on is always something of a fight. And having got worked up before we leave the house things just go from bad to worse. So today I was deliberately quiet and calm. We all sat and waited patiently to have our leads put on. There was no shouting and hollering from me either t the start or during the walk (like there usually is) and the dogs really did respond to this. We had a very good walk. The dogs played nicely with each other and with the other dogs we met. There was no barking at passers-by or other dogs. There was no pulling and straining at the leads when we were on leads.

There were small issues in getting them to come back when we needed the leads back on, but for a first attempt at “dog whispering” it was an unqualified success. The chap on the telly always maintains that when dogs seem to be a problem it is usually people that are at fault. He might have a point.

Once home I posted up today’s instalment of the advent calendar as I sat on the sofa with a cup of coffee.  As the dogs snored I then wrote up some CPD. A necessary evil.

I wandered out to find my car. It was with something of a sense of releif that I saw my sandwich box on the passenger seat. I must have left it there yesterday; I'd spent ages this morning hunting for it.

As I drove to work the pundits on the radio were interviewing the good people of Hastings (where I was born) about the upcoming general election. Hastings is one of the very few constituencies which could go any way in the election, and not only is there an amazing amount of people who don't vote, there's a *lot* of people who deliberately have not registered to vote. Many have chosen not to do so because then the bailiffs can't use the electoral register to tract them down about their unpaid debts. Debts incurred because of the unfair welfare system. There's apparently somewhere between five and ten million people in the UK who have chosen not to have a vote in this way.

The very people with a vested interest in voting are choosing not to do so. So much for democracy, eh.

I got to work (at Tunbridge Wells) in an hour. The best time I've ever done that run in. I had a rather busy late shift, fighting with the intricacies of the Kidd blood group system. Don't ever let anyone tell you that blood group O Negative is a universal donor!!

I was glad when the relief arrived.

As I drove home I was very aware that there was no fog. My weather app on my phone had told me that the Met Office had issued a yellow warning of fog. I wonder why…

1 December 2019 (Sunday) Apostrophe's (!)

Treacle was again restless last night. Is it *so* much to ask that she doesn’t spent the night stomping all over me?

I got up at silly o’clock and opened the first window of my Lego advent calendar, saw what I’d got, and spent much of the day then trying to think of what to say about it for Facebook. For the last ten Decembers I’ve been doing my little Advent calendar stories; they seem to have developed a life of their own. I finally came up with an idea… you can see it by clicking here.

I sparked up my lap-top to see what was going on in the world. Friends were on holiday in Alicante; I wasn’t *that* jealous. Other friends had been to Christmas fayres in the West country, or Winter Wonderlands in London.

It was good to see what had been going on.

I had an email. A new geocache only a mile from work… that is “work when in Maidstone”. A shame I was on the early shift in Tunbridge Wells this morning.

It was very dark as I drove to work. It felt colder than it has done recently, even though the care wasn't iced up. Perhaps it was because it was so dark? Going cross-country through all the lanes and getting to work before dawn (for the early shift) was rather different to going up the motorway just as it is getting light.

As I drove the pundits on the radio were interviewing the tenants of the most southerly farm in the UK. This place was on the utmost part of the Lizard peninsular, and as the interview progressed you could hear a foghorn going off every few seconds. This foghorn can (apparently) be heard for miles around. It would drive me mad!! Mind you, the farmers being interviewed made me think. Being tenant farmers, they seem to move from farm to farm every couple of years. I thought farming was something of a more long-term project?

There was then talk of the demise of the British Apostrophe Protection Society  - there really was one; set up to combat the misuse of the apostrophe in the written word. But it would seem that the pedants running this organisation have given up fighting a loosing battle. 

Personally I find that people saying "would of" rather than "would have" annoys me, but I'm not going to start a club about it.

I got to work where I had a rather busy early shift. I didn't really want to work today as I being at work meant that I missed the family Christmas party. Every year my brother stages a little get-together for family and friends. I would have liked to have got along to it, but I've already swapped quite a few shifts recently. There's only so much good will I can use up before people get fed up with me.

With my bit done I came home. I’d arrived at work when it was still dark; it was beginning to get dark as I left. And it was raining too. Hearing there was some obscure play on the radio I put my music on and sang along as I drove home. Much as I far prefer working at Maidstone and at Tunbridge Wells compared to where I used to work, there’s no denying that the journey can be trying. Especially the country lanes in the ran at twilight.

I got home, and walked the dogs round the block. We had a rather short walk because the rain was getting worse.

"er indoors ^TM" is boiling up some dinner. We shall watch “Junior Bake-Off” as we devour it. I do hope the dogs settle tonight…