9 December 2019 (Monday) - Bit Dull Really

I had a rather restless night… When Treacle and Pogo don’t sleep, nor does anyone else.

I set the washing machine going and made some toast. As I scoffed it I watched an episode of “Big School” whilst Sid sucked my pyjama bottoms. Fudge came downstairs, humped Sid, and went back to bed.

With telly watched I had a look at the Internet.

I saw on Facebook that Rene Auberjonois had died overnight. He played “Odo” in Star Trek… over twenty years ago. A *lot* of people had picked up on this. Far fewer had realised that Robert Walker Jr had also died; he played “Charlie X” in Star Trek about thirty yeas before Rene Auberjonois was cast as “Odo”. Steve Coogan had been in my favourite pub in Hastings, and quite a few people had put up their Christmas trees.

I had one or two emails this morning. Amazon was offering me cut-price Terry Pratchett e-books. I might get some. I’ve already got a dozen or so; I must admit that I was put off of Pratchett’s stuff by people raving about how good it was and the books didn’t live up to the hype.

I hung out the washing, put on one of the new shirts I bought in Matalan yesterday and set off to work.

As I drove to work on a very wet and dark morning the pundits on the radio were interviewing the leader of the Liberal Democrats. They were giving Ms Swinson a very hard time about the place of trans people in today's society (for no reason that I could fathom). She seemed to be getting very angry about an issue which, whilst important, isn't perhaps what the nation is focussing on right now. I can't help but wonder if someone at the BBC was playing silly beggars by deliberately wasting her air-time in that way?

This was followed by a squabble between John McDonell (Labour's Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer) and John Caudwell (the billionaire who pays the most tax in the UK). Apparently the Labour people had said that there shouldn't be any billionaires in the world, Mr Caudwell had disagreed, and in the subsequent bickering neither side convinced the other of anything. 

Mind you, as Mr Caudwell said, all of the Labour party's plans hinge on their being able to tax the billionaires. If Labour wins the upcoming election and all the billionaires go and live abroad (like many have threatened to do) then the Labour party will be left high and dry. You'd think it would make sense *not* to piss on your chips, wouldn't you?

I got to work and wasted ten minutes trying to photograph a squirrel in the car park. It looked particularly photogenic all the time I was pointing my phone's camera the other way, but managed to avoid me quite well.

I did my bit. At tea break I saw quite the bargain appear on one of the Facebook Lego-related groups. I've handed over my money... here's hoping the bargain arrives.

Having driven to work in the dark I drove home in the dark too. Mind you the Christmas decorations in the houses in the villages were rather pretty.

I arrived home just as "er indoors ^TM" was taking the wolf pack out for a walk. We went round the block, then came home for a rather good bit of dinner. "er indoors ^TM" then went bowling. I did the ironing.

I think I got the worse end of that deal…

8 December 2019 (Sunday) - An Afternoon with Daddies Little Angel

The first thing I did today was to test the telly. The Sky HDMI thingy is still poggered. I can watch Sky TV via the scart cable though. Realistically I don’t give a stuff what goes on in the background as long as I can still watch my telly.

Over brekkie I had a look at Facebook. Someone who told me off at the last election for what he felt was my extreme views was today advocating the political party that I was advocating last time. Funny old world…

This chap was making the point that here in Ashford if you want to get rid of the Conservatives you would be better off casting a tactical vote for Labour. Realistically there are only two choices for our next Prime Minister; one is a proven liar, the other a well-intentioned idiot. It speaks volumes about the state of our political system in that we aren’t voting for who we want; we are voting against who we don’t want.

There were quite a few photos from last night’s works Christmas bashes. Both places that I work had their Christmas parties last night. Bearing in mind that I couldn’t go to both I felt it better not to go to either. Mind you it looked as though I’d missed a couple of good sessions.

The plan for this morning had been to take the dogs to Orlstone Woods, but "er indoors ^TM" had a better offer for the afternoon and time was against us. So we took the hounds round the park. The walk passed off rather well. There were no fights, we played nicely with the other dogs, and with no pheasants near the dogs walked nicely and didn’t pull at all.

With walk walked I popped up the shop. Almond croissants went nicely with a cup of coffee.

"er indoors ^TM" cleared off out. I gathered up some rubbish and stuck it in the car and I went out too. First of all to Curry’s where I got a new Blu-Ray - DVD player. Eventually. With half a dozen store assistants ignoring me I was on the point of walking out when finally someone wanted to talk to me. Whilst I was there I had a look at the new tellys. Ultra-HD, 4K, 8K… they all looked the same to me. The only difference I could see was the price.

From there I went to Matalan where not one person in ten was paying attention to what was going on. Pretty much everyone was walking around with their noses in their phones; bouncing off of each other as they walked.

It was much the same at the tip; loads of people trying to unload their cars. Everyone seeming to think they were the only person at the tip.

I drove on to Chilham for a quick geo-adventure (and a few munzees too), then on to Morrisons in Canterbury. That place has had a serious make-over since I was last there. I got one or two bits ("Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM" had given me a shopping list) before spending the afternoon with "Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM".

I came home and plugged in the new Blu-Ray - DVD player… it didn’t work. I have a theory that yesterday’s little episode has poggered the HDMI input on the telly. I might get a new one in the sales.

As I wrestled with the telly the dogs were getting rather fractious. I gave hem their tea… or to be more precise I put down four bowls of dog food and stood guard so that there was no squabbling. Some wolf their food down, some savour every mouthful. Feeding time is hard work.

"er indoors ^TM" has said she’ll be late home. I’ve made toast for dinner…

7 December 2019 (saturday) - Technology

After working for six days continuously I was looking forward to a lie-in. It was such a shame that Treacle had to tread on my goolies quite so early this morning. I didn’t really sleep much after that.

I got up and had a shave. And then took the dogs out for their ablutions. Such a shame they wanted to go one at a time. Still, it is better than their usual charging into the garden all together just to run round shouting. I’ve been trying to stop that, but not with much success.

I made toast, and had a look at Facebook to see what had happened overnight. There was mild consternation on the dog-related Facebook pages at Peter Purves having been dropped from Channel Four’s annual coverage of Crufts. I don’t watch it myself; I must admit I thought that Peter Purves died year ago.

Another friend was banging on about “the true meaning of Christmas”. This is something which has been banged on about for years. What is “the true meaning of Christmas”? Muslim friends of mine have been telling me about their preparations for Christmas. For them (as for millions in the UK) Christmas isn’t a religious thing. It really is one big party for all.

I then programmed “Hannah” for a little mission to hunt some film pots. The GSAK software I use was particularly problematical today. I finally got it to work on the fifth attempt.

Despite the dogs shouting and whining the whole way we drove out to the back of beyond where there is a series of geocaches (would you believe it?). We originally walked them four years ago but in the meantime ten of them have been replaced. Personally I would have replaced the lot rather than just replacing ten, but that’s just me.

We had a good walk… well… it was rather pretty, but the dogs were “difficult”. There were pheasants absolutely everywhere. Fudge was pulling like a train trying to get them, and Pogo and Treacle played up for "er indoors ^TM" and dragged her about. She got to see what I have to contend with. And it was rather muddy too. I took a few photos as we walked, and once home the dogs all had a bath.

With baths done I took Sid (who is staying with us for a little holiday) to get his claws clipped. You’d think they were trying to murder him judging by the noises he was making. Whilst the nice ladies in the pet salon fought with him I slipped next door to Curry’s to get an HDMI cable.

I wish I hadn’t.

Between the ChromeCast, the Amazon Firestick, the Sky box and the DVD player we’ve got one more HDMI device than the telly has HDMI slots. "er indoors ^TM" had obtained a second-hand gadget that we could plug the devices into, then plug the gadget into the telly. What a simple and straightforward idea…

Our house is so hopelessly cluttered that I demolished the entire mantlepiece just trying to get to the back of the telly.

I wired it all up, and absolutely nothing worked. The second-hand gadget wasn’t working. But then when I plugged it all back together as it was originally, I had something of a disaster. The ChromeCast and the Amazon Firestick worked, but the SkyPlus box simply said “this display does not support HDCP”.

Oh, how I laughed…

After about three hours of fighting with the thing I have established that (somehow or other) the HDMI output form the SkyPlus box has been poggered. I’ve bodged it all so that we can watch Sky via the scart cable, and over the next few days I shall have to decide if we are happy with this, or do we go SkyQ.

"er indoors ^TM" boiled up a rather good bit of scran which we devoured whilst watching (via scart) the final of “Junior Bake Off”. A rather good show – if you’ve not seen it, it might be on the catch-up thingy…