3 May 2020 (Sunday) - Poorly Dog

After a restless night I got up rather early. Fudge snored on the sofa as I scoffed Tesco granola and watched an episode of “After Life” then sparked up my lap-top.

I told the world about my fifth choice of movie (Dammit Janet!) and sent a birthday video to a nephew. If asked I would have said he was sixteen or seventeen… He’s twenty-nine today. Twenty-nine (!) Where do the years go?

With nothing seeming to have happened overnight I spent a little while working on my Coursera course “Finding Purpose and Meaning In Life”. This morning I was presented with seven questions:

•     What matters most?
•     Who relies on you?
•     Who inspires you?
•     What causes do you care about?
•     What are you grateful for?
•     What gets you out of bed in the morning?
•     How do you want to be remembered?

 I set off to work, and as I drove and as I did my bit at work I found myself thinking about those seven questions my Coursera professor had asked this morning. What is my purpose? What do I want from life? All rather "big" questions, aren’t they?.

What matters most? – I really don’t know.

Who relies on me – the dogs maybe?

Who inspires you – local community leaders mainly. The chap who ran our Boys Brigade when I was a lad for one.

What causes do I care about? I don’t really know – it changes quite often.

What am I grateful for? I have a lot to be grateful for… but I’m not when I should be.

What gets me out of bed? – The backache if I stay in there too long.

How do I want to be remembered? – I really don’t know.

I *think* the idea of the course is that if I know what I want out of life I’ll end up a whole lot happier. Personally I just want everyone around me to be happy, because generally when everyone else is happy, then so am I.

Mind you I can't pretend to have been very happy today. I kept thinking about Fudge. When I came downstairs this morning he'd been fast asleep on the sofa. He must have moved awkwardly in his sleep as he suddenly sat bolt upright squealing in pain. Within seconds Pogo had flown down the stairs and was licking him in an obvious display of concern.

"er indoors ^TM" took him to the vets this morning. After having been given a once-over the vet couldn't find anything obviously amiss. He did have a minor set-to with another dog yesterday. I can't help but think he jolted his back somehow, and that is playing him up again. He's been prescribed tramadol and rest; he's not keen on either.

I also spent a little time peering out of the window at work today. I do that a lot when working at the weekends; often sulking about what I might be missing. But with the world in lock-down I was missing nothing today. I had been peering out of the window watching a pair of goldfinches bathing in a puddle on the flat roof outside. They were having a whale of a time right up until the point at which I tried to take a photo. That scared them off a few times before I finally got a (blurred) photo.

With work done as I walked back to my car I had a look at one of the Munzees I'd stuck on a road sign there a month or so ago. It had faded to the point of being unreadable, so I replaced it with a new one. Having put out over fifty Munzees near work I suspect they have all now faded. I shall replace the lot eventually when I can.

Once I got home "er indoors ^TM" took the terrible twins out, and I sat with Fudge. He was very upset that he wasn’t going for a walk, and he was hurting himself more by getting stressed. I eventually settled him.

"er indoors ^TM" boiled up a rather good bit of dinner. With that scoffed we had another Zoom video-meet-up. It was good to catch up. But there’s no denying that an early night might be in order…

Fudge is sulking... the pain killers seem to have helped but he’s not happy. And consequently neither am I…

2 May 2020 (Saturday) - After the Night Shift

Apart from a rather unusual D-group in the small hours (it’s a blood banking thing) the night shift passed off rather peacefully. I commented about the obscure blood group on Facebook, and all sorts of people commented (which was fun).

As I drove home I kept looking at the “range” thingy on my car’s dashboard. Having got a full tank of petrol before work yesterday, my car’s estimated range (until more petrol was needed) was about fifty miles higher than usual on a full tank. Travelling cross-country to Pembury has been far more fuel-efficient than going up the motorway to Maidstone.

As I drove home I listened to the pundits on the radio who were drivelling on about coronageddon. Despite a daily death rate still over seven hundred (and anyone with any sense realising the need to continue lock-down for quite a while yet) the politicians were all talking about easing restrictions. You might think that this a rather stupid thing to do, but the politicians realise that although lock-down is very necessary, it is very unpopular, and the one who makes the most noise about ending it will be the one who gets the most votes at the next election.

I got home, had a shower and went straight to bed where I managed to sleep for just under three hours. I came down to find "er indoors ^TM" (still in pyjamas) had stripped the kitchen and was having a major spring clean.

I made myself some toast, and scoffed it whilst telling the world about my fourth choice of film (for the ten films Facebook thingy) and then sent out some birthday wishes. I then wasted some time doing some of my latest Coursera course. “Finding Purpose and Meaning in Life” seems a bit “tree-hugging” but it might be interesting. If nothing else I got a free app out of it.

With the spring cleaning still in full flow I took myself out into the garden where I sat for a couple of hours reading Alexie Sayle on the Kindle whilst having a pint or two. Once "er indoors ^TM" was ready we took the pups round the park for a walk. We’d had reports that our Munzees had faded (it comes to us all!) so we did a little Munzee maintenance as we walked. There were a couple of “dog episodes”, but as another regular dog walker said to me, the problem really does lie with those who don’t walk their dogs from one month to the next and don’t know how dogs brains work. It spoke volumes that one half-wit we met in the co-op field didn’t know how to undo his dog’s lead.

We came home; I did more Coursera whilst "er indoors ^TM" tried to find her locking nuts. I expect they are in the car somewhere. Failing that, there’s always eBay.

"er indoors ^TM" boiled up a very good bit of dinner. We devoured it then tuned in (via Zoom) to what is becoming a regular feature of lock-down – the weekly on-line quiz. Some easy questions, some not so easy. I rather amazed myself by coming second. These quizzes are really good fun, and a good way to catch up with friends.

It was a shame that I was rather distracted this evening. Fudge seems to have hurt his front right leg. I’ve given it a good going over and can’t find any source of pain. I think he’s strained something. I shall keep an eye on him…

Did I even mention that I never wanted a dog? This worry is *exactly* why…

1 May 2020 (Friday) - Before the Night Shift

Being the first of the month I got myself a new razor blade from out of the cupboard. That made for a much more comfortable morning’s scrape. I made toast then peered into the depths of the Internet.

Yesterday I posted a little rant onto Facebook about the Thursday evening clapping. If people want to clap, that is up to them. I was a little concerned that if people don’t want to clap or are unable to do so (for a myriad reasons) then that is no longer up to them. It is now seemingly up to a growing self-appointed jury who judges them and advertises their non-participation in social media. This morning I was amazed to find that over eighty people had agreed with me.

I posted up my third choice of film… today’s was a particularly obscure one.

I then had a message from the local Munzee group. April’s clan war was over and I’d been elevated to clan leader. Whilst geocaching is currently dead in the water, what with Munzing being something that can be done whilst walking the dogs or going shopping it seems to be having something of a resurgence.

We settled the dogs and I drove "er indoors ^TM" up to Gillingham. Regular readers of this drivel may recall that the "er indoors ^TM"-mobile went belly-up on March 22. The car has had a good innings, but it had reached the point where replacement was cheaper than repair, and what with her firm talking of opening up their office very soon, a replacement car was very much needed.

She’d spent quite a bit of time looking on-line to find what she wanted (to me all cars are the same), and the car of choice was in Gillingham.

We got there, we had a test drive. She bought the thing. I must admit I was amazed at how quick it all went.

I was also amazed by the salesman’s face mask. I stopped myself from rolling my eyes when I saw that he was wearing a rather ill-fitting one. For much of the time he had the thing under his nose so that he could breathe, and he took it off several times so as to use his phone. So many people are wasting these face masks in this way. These things would all be far better off in hospital wards and in care homes where they would be used properly.

Having driven up in one car, we came home in two. There’s no denying that I nearly came back in a different car. I’d liked the look of one of the cars that I’d seen there, but I thought better of getting it right now. My car has been recently serviced and MOT-ed, and with a re-sale value of (about) only five hundred quid I’m realistically better off driving it until it dies.

Once home I walked the dogs round the block. I would have gone further but the rain was against us. I scoffed some cheese on toast and took myself off to bed for the afternoon where I slept for a couple of hours.

I woke to see I had a message on Facebook. A month ago I gave my Geocaching Adventure Lab a bit of an overhaul. Some cowardly anonymous person from Australia had published all the answers on-line together with instructions on how to blag the thing. I changed the questions and answers so that they couldn’t be found out from Google Street View, and whoever it was who gives out all the spoilers didn’t like it. There was quite a nasty little rant about me on the geo-spoilers page.

I’ve not replied; it just encourages him…

Hopefully "er indoors ^TM" will boil up some dinner soon, and then I’m off to the night shift…