7 May 2024 (Tuesday) - A Day at Work

I didn’t sleep well, and was awake far too early. I watched the first episode of something that I discovered on the Sky-Q box. “Missions”; a very strange TV show in which a French crew were supposedly the first to go to Mars. The show didn’t help itself in that it had clearly been written by someone who didn’t have the faintest idea about how space works, and the translation from the original French into English was rather iffy at best. There are those who would say that on the plus side one of the lady astronauts flopped them out, but sadly getting the jubblies out is often a cheap trick to beef up a weak TV show.

 

Having Munzed on the sofa for a bit I took a rather circuitous route to work Munzing twenty Points of Interest as I went. As I drove I listened to the radio. I've not heard the news for a while... not much had changed. One side in the conflict in Gaza wants a cease fire; the other doesn't. Am I being cynical in wondering that had the other side agreed to a cease-fire, how long would it have lasted.

There was talk about the new Scottish First Minister. The average Scot is (apparently) up in arms as the chap wasn't voted in by a general election. I sighed. This happens every time that a governing party in British politics selects a new leader. It isn't a new development. It's how Boris Johnson got in. So why don't the masses realise this.

And there was an interview with one of the leading lights in the Labour party who seemed to be unable to answer any question put to him. Like most politicians.

 

I got to work. Not having been there for a week I got my priorities right and booked some holiday. As I worked I had an email from B&Q: would I rate them on Trustpilot? Seriously? Interestingly sixty-eight per cent of their reviews are only one star. I’m not the only one who thinks they are crap.

Work was work… perhaps a tad dull. There was certainly a lot less physical effort than a lot of my day have had recently.

 

With work done we watched more “Race Across the World”. In the second season the contestants are charging across South America. There’s a lot less jungle and a lot more desert than I thought there was.

Today was a tad dull.

6 May 2024 (Monday) - Wet Bank Holiday

I slept well, but was rather disappointed to see rain when I got up. Rain had been forecast so it wasn’t unexpected; just a shame that it was raining. Just as well I’d got the bits of the poggered garden store into my car ready for a tip run yesterday; I wouldn’t have wanted that int the car dripping wet.

I made toast and had a look at the Internet. Squabbles abounded as they usually do; but no more so than on the garden pond websites. The same people who were so vocal about not having tap water in their ponds were advocating chucking in pretty much every chemical known to science. And barley straw… if your pond isn’t clear there were those who were very vocal about chucking in barley straw. I’ve tried it in the past; it didn’t work. As others have found. But anyone who claimed barley straw wasn’t the best thing in the entire universe were being decried as liars. And as for fake herons…

 

With the weather looking a tad iffy and heavy rain forecast for later I loaded up the car for Wednesday’s tip run, then we got the dogs on to their leads and went for a little walk round Saltwood, munzing as we went.

Our walk ended just as the rain started.

We came home via Bybrook Barn garden centre. I needed a few odds and sods. The car park was full. That was not “rather busy”, that was “full”. Not a single space. “er indoors ^TM” dropped me off and I popped in to get what I needed.

What I really needed was a hooter on the trolley.

Maybe one person in fifty was aware of their surroundings. Most were utterly oblivious to the fact that there was anyone else other than themselves in the world. So many of them were just blankly standing around staring into space. And the narrower the passage or doorway, the more there were idly standing around staring into space.

I eventually negotiated my way through the swarms and got what I wanted. And then we drove home past the outlet centre. Traffic was queuing for hundreds of yards in all directions to get into that place. What is the attraction? They don’t sell anything you can’t get cheaper on-line. A chap at work is regularly cursing the place as the queues are horrendous, and when he comes out he has spent hundreds of pounds on stuff he doesn’t want. He, like so many others, goes shopping because he really does have nothing else to do.

 

We came home for a cuppa and a hot cross bun. The rain had got rather heavy, so I went out and had a look at the gutters which I’d scraped out yesterday. They weren’t overflowing today, which was something of a result. Pulling out that plant and that fag packet had done the trick…

I wonder for how long.

I put a photo of the old kite buggy on-line. The thing was old when we got it, and that was over twenty years ago. The thing hasn’t been used since 2015, and that was only riding down the hill at Stanmer Park. One of the steering struts is wedged in place, the tyres’ inner tubes have had it, I doubt the material would take my weight any more, and sadly it is just in the way.

If any of my loyal readers want it…

 

During a lull in the rain I got into the garden and did what I wanted to do today. As you step out of the back door so there used to be a couple of wooden boxes with the spare shingle and compost and stuff. It all looked a bit of a mess, so I scrubbed out the area where the poggered garden store used to be and moved the spare shingle and compost and stuff back to there. I might put a little roof over them in a bit. Or I might move it all again and swap over the spare shingle and the remaining garden store. I’m not sure.

But whatever I do, as you step out of the back door it looks a tad empty now… sorting that will be a project for the future.

 

“er indoors ^TM” went to the opticians. I read a book for a bit and woke up underneath Treacle.

I wonder what’s for dinner?

5 May 2024 (Sunday) - Having a Tidy-Up

With “er indoors ^TM”, “Darcie Waa Waa ^TM” and the dogs all up in the attic room I had a rather good night’s sleep. I didn’t hear a peep out of them all night.

I woke feeling surprisingly chipper bearing in mind the ale, port and benedictine that had gone down my neck yesterday. I made toast in a toaster which was working perfectly for a change; presumably it doesn’t like the prospect of having me fixing it. I had a look at the internet. It was rather dull at half past seven on a Sunday morning. Mind you one article caught my eye. Martin Freeman (the actor) has given up being a vegetarian and feels much better for having done so. I was reminded of a little episode many years ago when I was a cub scout leader. We were doing some badge or other in which healthy eating was brought up, and some vegetarian who had been wheeled on was utterly unable to answer an eight year old little girl who asked if we were supposed to be vegetarian, why did God make animals out of meat.

Apropos of nothing I checked the weather forecast in Samarkand, had a quick Munzee session and made an early start in the garden before it all kicked off. Perhaps a tad early, but I probably wouldn’t have been a nuisance as not-so-nice-next-door goes to church every Sunday morning.

Ironically many not-so-nice people do.

 

My plan was to empty out the garden storage boxes by the kitchen window so’s we could move them about. I opened the lid of the first, and several pints of rainwater gushed out of the lid soaking what was inside the box. Fortunately the other box seemed OK. But with one poggerd box I needed to first dry out was had been drenched, and then look to scaring up more storage space elsewhere and getting rid of rubbish.

The shed was the obvious place to store stuff, so I emptied out the big stuff and had a bit of a shift about. I started making a pile of stuff to go to the tip. Rather than agonizing over whether or not I should keep something I’ve not used in years I took the line that if it had been chewed by mice or was covered in mould, then it was going.

There’s no denying that I could have got on a lot faster without dogs and granddaughter running underfoot, but there it is.

 

Just when I was at the point of maximum chaos so I heard voices. Brother-in-law had arrived. Over the last few weeks I’ve noticed that the gutters at the back of the house had been overflowing. Brother-in-law brought ladders over today, and mother-in-law too.

We soon got the ladders up, and up I went. The gutter had been overflowing at two places. One where a plant had taken root, and another where an old pouch of tobacco had got wedged. I hoiked both out, and had a little scrape-out of the gutters as best I could. And we got the poggered garden storage box apart too. That took some doing.

We then sat at the new garden bench and had a cuppa. It was good to catch up. Lilttlun spent the time alternately wreaking havoc and snogging the dogs.

 

All too soon it was time for everyone to go. Some back to Hastings, others to Folkestone. I tidied up the mess I’d made earlier. The shed was tidy… until I filled it with stuff to go to the tip. Sadly the tip is closed tomorrow.

 

“er indoors ^TM” returned and we took the dogs round the block for a walk. Bailey was getting rather quarrelsome (she gets fractious if she doesn’t go out) so we walked up the road to the new geocache that went live a week or so ago. We soon found what we were looking for, and came home via one or two Munzees.

When I went to do the on-line geo-stuff I got told I had been given an electronic souvenir for logging a geocache this weekend. Apparently this weekend is the twenty-fourth anniversary of GPS technology being made available to the general public. I didn’t know that. I didn’t know that there were e-souvenirs to be had either. Back in the day the on-line geocaching talk would have been full of that news. Back in the day geocaching wasn’t dying on its arse.

 

Over a rather good bit of dinner we watched the last episode of the first season of “Race Across The World”. A rather good show; just a shame who won. I took an instant dislike to them.

 

I ache – I must stop doing so much physical lugging stuff about and climbing ladders. Not that I intend to climb ladders for a while.

4 May 2024 (Saturday) - Dog Club and Badlesmere

I had a little fight with the toaster this morning before I was able to get anything out of it. As I settled down to scoff it so’s “er indoors ^TM” also had a fight with it. I think she lost. She’s given me orders to repair the thing. If any of my loyal readers know anything about toaster fixing…

I looked at geocaching and Munzee maps of the Tashkent – Samarkand area. I’m rather keen on the idea of a holiday there. “er indoors ^TM”’s firm does an eleven days tour from Tashkent to Samarkand. They pick you up from home and drive you home afterwards. It’s not a bad price, and if I don’t do this sort of touring holiday soon I will be too old. And if I don’t spend my pension money on it I will either fritter it away on Lego or croak and leave it to the dogs. The government says the place is safe (provided we stay away from the Afghan border)

All we need to do is sort out a dog-sitter.

 

We got ourselves organized and set off to Repton. As we drove Steve was doing the guess the lyrics contest on the radio. I had absolutely no idea.

We got to Repton and Dog Club, and it wasn’t long before dog mayhem ensued. We had a few new dogs along today, and as always new dogs go the same way. They turn up, get mobbed by the membership, spend about two minutes looking terrified, and then are in the thick of it all.

Dog club was great, as it usually is. And as we drove off I (eventually) got the mystery year contest on the radio right. When did Star Trek: The Next Generation first appear on BBC2? 1990.

 

We drove up to Badlesmere where we met Karl, Tracey and Charlotte, and we had a rather good walk around the local fields. The footpaths round Badlesmere make for a good walk. And with walk walked we had a very good dinner in the Red Lion. The food was excellent, the drink was not too shabby at all. But after an elegant sufficiency of ale and too much port, there’s no denying that the benedictine was arguably a tad too keen.

I took a few photos whilst we were out.

 

We came home… we must have done. I woke up in front of the telly underneath a pile of dogs to the sound of the door opening. “er indoors ^TM” had gone to collect “Darcie Waa Waa ^TM” who is having a little sleepover. Having marched me up and down the garden and had a bag of “pink Christmas” (prawn cocktail crisps) she’s currently upstairs in the attic bedroom with her grandmother and the dogs.

I wish she’d keep the noise down.

 

3 May 2024 (Friday) - Lazy Day

I spent much of yesterday evening thinking about pets. We take on these animals and worry so much about them. “Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM”’s cat once went walkabout overnight; not returning until dawn. Dog walkers in Kings Wood have told me of their dogs heading off in hot pursuit of deer and not being seen for days.

Steve and Sarah’s puss wouldn’t come in when called last night. He turned up at half past three this morning.

I get twitchy when the dogs disappear in the woods; they are rarely gone for more than thirty seconds at a time.

 

I put more washing in to scrub, made toast and had a look at the Internet. It was much the same as ever. I did snigger at one of the Facebook groups I follow in which people were quite clear that it is perfectly acceptable to laugh at others for their religious beliefs, but we should all be accepting if someone identifies as some made-up gender.

And it was all kicking off on a pond related group. Someone’s pond had suffered from a heron taking fish. This someone got a plastic heron and the real heron stopped taking fish. Some people said they’d had the same experience; others claimed they were lying.

 

Ideally I would have taken the dogs up to the woods after brekkie, but the rain was quite heavy this morning, so what with today being the start of the Munzee Clan War I sat on the sofa and deployed all sorts of Munzee things. Hopefully that should chivvy our clan along a bit.

And then it was time to go to the vet to get the tick collars I’d ordered yesterday. I went via a couple of QrewZees (it’s another Munzee thing), and got to the vet to find the collars weren’t ready. I was told that I should have phoned in advance to order them. I told them that I had… It didn’t take then *that* long to sort them out.

 

Seeing the rain had eased off I came home, leaded up the dogs and took them to the woods for a late walk. We went for four miles and had a good, if muddy, walk. As we walked I replaced one broken geocache and added more log paper to two more. Geo-maintenance is much easier for me these days now that most of the caches I’ve hidden are in Kings Wood, but it still boils my piss that people who’ve found tens of thousands of the things and hidden hardly any (if any) will post logs saying that pots are broken or paper needs replacing. After all, Boots gives film pots for free, you can print your own paper log sheets, and do the required maintenance quicker than you can actually write a “Needs Maintenance” log.

 

I wrote up some CPD, then made a cuppa and sat by the pond reading a book for a bit.

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching episodes of “Race Across the World”. I quite liked the look of Samarkand… Maybe a holiday at some point?

2 May 2024 (Thursday) - Laundry, Telly

The kebab didn’t sit well at all last night; I lay awake with stomach ache for hour after hour. I eventually got up hoping that some toast night settle it. As I scoffed toast I peered into the Internet.

I had yet another dubious friend request on Facebook. After so many of the “wipe-clean” and “chest-brandishing” variety, this one was from a rather demure-looking young lady. At first sight she looked like the sort that your mother would be pleased to see you bringing home.

Sadly, in her Facebook profile she tells the world that she is a “free sexo prostitutes”, and she has a web site. I considered clicking on the link, but my anti-virus suggested I shouldn’t.

There wasn’t a lot else going on on-line.

 

I took the dogs up to the woods for our morning constitutional. We did our usual circuit of the woods. As we walked I noticed something – a tick was crawling over Treacle’s head. A horrible great big thing. I flicked it off before it had time to latch on.

I collect their tick collars from the vet tomorrow.

Yesterday we met loads of people as we walked; today it was off-road cyclists. All friendly and civil… just loads of them. We got back to the car park to find loads of people gathering. Clearly an organized group was getting together. I asked who they were – apparently the Leeds Valley Walkers. It struck me that the most noticeable thing about them was that with over thirty people along, not one had a dog.

 

We came home. Bellies were washed, and Bailey had a more substantial scrub as she’d been rolling in something disgusting. And then I had something of a (relatively) lazy day. With “er indoors ^TM” at the office today I put washing in to scrub, did the ironing, hung out washing, put more in to scrub… all in between watching “The English Game” on Netflix; a rather good drama about football in the late nineteenth century.

 

As I watched telly and ironed the doorbell rang. My long service award from work had arrived. A Lego train set which may well form the centerpiece of a re-vamped Lego layout in the attic room, and the Lego piano. That will keep me busy.

 

Despite a relatively lazy day I’ve still cleared nearly twelve thousand steps today. Mind you one thing I didn’t do today was to vote. Today was the election for Kent’s police commissioner. There’s no denying that I have absolutely no confidence in the local police. During the current incumbent’s term I’ve been told by a serving policeman that it is perfectly acceptable for members of the public to whip my dogs with brambles (after an episode in Orlestone), and the police flatly refused to get involved when “Stormageddon – Bringer of Destruction ^TM”’s father was knocked off his bike and run over; despite the whole thing recorded on dashcam.

However what is the alternative? The Liberal Democrat candidate says a lot of words without actually saying anything, and the Labour candidate is sticking to Labour’s standard party line of “vote for us – we aren’t as bad as the others”. I considered going up to the voting office and drawing a great big knob on the ballot paper (I’ve done that before!) but thought better of it.

 

I’m hoping for a better night tonight…

1 May 2024 (Wednesday) - Gardening

I slept rather well. Not having an alarm set helps, as does having settled dogs. I shaved with a new razor blade (what with it being the first of the month) once I’d opened the packet. I wasted an inordinately long time this morning trying to open a packet of razor blades. How hard could it be? – You’d be surprised.

The only thing of note on Facebook this morning was the news that the new version of the geogaching app I use had gone live.

 

I got the dogs organized and we went up to the woods for a walk. So did loads of other people too. Usually once we are away from the car park, seeing more than two other groups is a lot. We met nine today. About three quarters of a mile from the car park we met some normal people with their dog on a lead. They glared at me in a rather pointed way. I wish people would let their dogs run. It doesn’t take *that* much effort to instill a reasonable recall into them.

As we walked we met the children from the local special school. We’ve met them before. Some of the kids stroked Morgan and Bailey, and one went utterly hysterical at the prospect of the dogs running into the camp fire they had made. As if any dog is going to be stupid enough to run into a fire.

 

We came home for a cuppa, then I popped to Bybrook Barn garden centre to get some fish for the new pond. There was a sign saying that they had to ask questions about pond keeping for the animal’s welfare. I felt rather sorry for “junior spotty” who was trying to give me the third degree on fish keeping. He insisted that I started off with five fish, and seemed rather surprised that I only wanted five. He started going on about how many fish you can have in a pond… I suggested about one twentieth of the number they had in theirs, and wondered if things were different for shops rather than for customers. But what do I know – I’ve only been keeping fish (on and off) since 1975.

 

Once home again I popped the bag containing the fish into the new pond. “Junior spotty” had said to leave it for five minutes to equilibrate… I left it half an hour. Long enough to mow the lawn and clean out the big pond’s pressure filter and watch the sparrows on the bird feeder.

The little fish immediately swam under the waterfall and hid. I left them to it whilst I pootled about the garden for a bit before sitting down for a lunch of smoky bacon flavoured crisps and a tin of Doctor Pepper. As I scoffed I kept looking at the water feature at the top of the garden. It has never worked as a water feature in that you couldn’t actually see the water doing much. So I took it all apart, demoted the rabbit water feature to “garden ornament” and had a rummage in the shed. I came up with a water feature head that looked OK, so I had an experiment with it to find the right pump setting to make it work. I maintain it was “an experiment with it to find the right pump setting” and not “spraying water everywhere”.

The upgraded water feature looks far better than it used to.

I then tried the new fish on a little fish food. They all scoffed some; that’s a good sign. And with them fed the dogs went berserk as we did the “Feed the Fish” ritual. I think we’ll keep that to the big pond.

 

By the time “er indoors ^TM” set off to visit “Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM” I was knackered. I didn’t go; I stayed home with the dogs. It can become a bit like hard work with all the dogs mobbing Pogo whilst Pogo mobs anyone he can. As the dogs snored I downloaded the new version of my geocaching app. I was rather dreading doing so as I’ve got used to the old one, but this new one is excellent. It took me five minutes to get it going, and it plays Wherigos too… on ordnance survey maps. A serious result… if you like playing Wherigo.

 

“er indoors ^TM” returned with kebab which we scoffed whilst watching the extended Christmas episode of “Bottom”. I think I’ve eaten too much kebab…