7 July 2025 (Monday) - Anses Wood and Dinner

I’ve been sleeping a little longer than I have been lately, but I’m still wide awake a couple of hours before everyone else. It don’t help that the bed in the cottage screams in pain whenever there’s any movement on it.

I got up and had a little look at the Internet as I do. The geo-feds have given a tentative thumbs-up for the idea of a geo-rally so that’s something I might sort out when we get home. Or might not sort out. In the few days since I had the idea I’ve rather gone off of it.

My heart sunk when the weather forecast said heavy rain… and then I realised the weather forecast was for back home, Not where we are at the moment.

I munzed, got Wordle on the last attempt (stilt – stupid word) and went back to bed.

 

After an hour or so I got up as the dogs wanted to go outside. Again they were far more interested in hunting than in doing that which they were supposed to go outside for, but that’s dogs for you.

I then spent a little while perusing the bird book, and then spent a little while peering at the bird feeder deciding what bird was what. It takes some doing when they all look pretty much the same.

We then had a full English brekkie. That was rather good…

 

With brekkie scoffed we set off to Fritham. We parked up near the pub and walked three quarters of a mile down to Anses Wood where we hunted out a series of geocaches.

They took some hunting.

It didn’t help that the paths round the wood weren’t as clearly marked as they might have been. Or in any way marked at all. And it really didn’t help that the geocaches were seemingly deliberately placed as far away from any paths as was possible. There’s some “right to roam” thing in the New Forest which apparently means that you can just stomp wherever you like. Personally I prefer the rules that are applied back home where you hide geocaches in relatively sensible positions only a step or two away from the paths, but what do I know?

 

With walk walked we wandered back to where we’d parked the cars, and having unloaded what we didn’t need with us we went over the road to the Royal Oak… only to find the place didn’t open on Mondays. As we stood outside and pondered what to do so three other groups came and went. They are losing so much money by not opening…

We decided to try the Royal Oak in North Gorley. This one was open and welcoming. We had a pint and some nuts and another pint and some olives and another pint and fish and chips. The food there was rather good. I’d certainly go back there.

 

We came back to base. The ladies went shopping, we had a gin and tonic and lost Bailey. I say “lost” – she didn’t go that far away really(!) And with dog recovered we had a game of “Sorry” and some profiteroles and another game of something or other which I completely slept through.

It’s hard work being on holiday…

I took a few photos today…

6 July 2025 (Sunday) - Still On Holiday

My watch told me I had another good night’s sleep. My watch lied again.

I woke at seven o’clock and spent an hour or so fiddling about lo-line. I munzed and wordled and kept quiet as everyone else was fast asleep. As I peered into the Internet I saw that apparently there were issues at Dog Club yesterday. Not only were there complaints about the noise, there was a minor squabble at the second session which takes place after we leave. The later group was summed up entirely in the words of the woman who took the complaint: ”I don’t know who runs the group”. The woman who used to run that group walked away because everything was getting “too political”, but was utterly unable to explain what she meant by that. And since then no one has taken any responsibility for the group.

After a few messages this morning we’ve now got a couple of people who will hopefully step up should the need arise.

 

It got to eight o’clock and with no signs of movement I went back to bed. Eventually we all got up. The dogs went outside and once they’d done their hunting I went round gathering dung.

We had brekkie, and spent a little while watching the birds on the bird feeder. Back home I’ve been using my birdsong app to detect the birds I can’t see. Here the birds aren’t that noisy, but you can see loads. All sords of tits (!) and finches, nuthatches, jays woodpeckers… and seven a few squirrels having a go at the squirrel-proof bird feeder.

 

Eventually the rain stopped and we drove out for a little walk. As we drove be were constantly slowing to drive round the horses and ponies and donkeys which were just randomly wandering wherever they wanted to go.

We got to where we were going and set off on a little walk. Today’s walk was more on open heathland and despite the recent heat the ground was quite soft in places, and Treacle found some stagnant water to wallow in as she does.

Where we walked had been a bombing range during the second world war; I’d hoped to see some impressive craters but in the meantime they’ve all rather overgrown.

As always geocaches gave us targets for our walk, sadly they weren’t in what I’d consider to be perhaps the best locations. Despite there being loads of space to hide the things, they had been carried into the woods and seemingly drop-kicked into the densest thickets. The trouble we had today was that pretty much each one we searched for had been hidden by someone who’d marched off from the car park with the geocache in his hand wondering where he might hide that one, but had no regard for any others in the area and with no plan for making a little guided walk out of them all. And with few (if any) paths marked on the maps consequently our walk was about double the length it might have been.

 

We got back to the car and after a quick snack drove on to the sixpenny brewery. We’d got a box of beer on order, and we sat and had a few drinks in their garden. It was a rather good place to be.

 

We came home, and sat in the garden again. The bird feeders had been pretty much emptied, and despite the cottage’s instructions asking us to top up the bird feeders, there was no bird food.

There was human and dog food though. Once the hounds were fed we had some rather good burgers, and then sat and watched the night sky get darker over a gin and tonic…

I took a few photos today…

5 July 2025 (Saturday) - On Holiday

 

In a novel break with tradition I left my watch on last night, and this morning it told me that I’d had a good night’s sleep. One lives and learns. I thought I’d had a terrible night. The bed and floor creaked every time I moved, and I was amazed at how many times during the night I looked for a clock that wasn’t there. But my watch told me that I slept well, so it must be true. Mind you I’d been up and on the toilet for ten minutes before it realized I was up.

 

Morgan and Treacle got up, and Bailey appeared from wherever it was that she’d spent the night. I took the dogs out. The biggest two tiddled and came back in, Bailey charged into the hedges and carried on the hunting she’d been doing yesterday. She spent pretty much all of yesterday afternoon and evening hunting round the garden. I have no idea what she was after, but whatever it was, she wasn’t going to give up on it.

I told her to tiddle; she stopped hunting , looked at me with obvious contempt and did that which she’s been told to do.

We all went back inside and back to bed where we woke “er indoors ^TM”. Being Saturday we tuned in to Steve and Ashford Radio over the Internet. It seemed odd listening to him and not getting ready for Dog Club. We (I) got the “Guess the Lyrics” competition: “I’m hoping it’s going to come true” – Breakfast in America by Supertramp.

 

We spent a little while watching te birds and squirrels on the bird feeder, then had a rather good full English breakfast the seeing that the forecast rain had come a lot earlier than expected we got out the Infinity table and played scrabble. I say “scrabble”; it was a word-based game that was different enough from scrabble to avoid litigation, but close enough to make no difference.

 

Eventually the rain dried up, and we went for a little walk in the nearby woods. Our route was laid out by three geocaches over five and a bit miles. We had a good walk. The dogs got to run for the most part but they went back on leads when we saw the horses. Somehow the walk involved far more uphill than there ever was downhill – how did that work?

Geocaching-wise the walk wasn’t the best, With an entire forest to hide things it did we really have to stomp quite so deep into the undergrowth?

 

We came back to base where we sat in the garden watching the world go by. And drinking beer. Dinner was rather good, and as the evening went on we got the infinity table out again and it all got rather vague…

I took a few photos today…

4 July 2025 (Friday) - Off On Holiday

With an alarm set I didn’t sleep well. Treacle was restless too; falling off the bed twice during the night.
I got up at half past four hoping for a quiet bit of toast only to have “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” and Pogo coming to say goodbye. Then “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs came down. Bailey saw this as an opportunity for an extra hunting session in the garden. Treacle followed “er indoors ^TM” about like a lost lamb, and Morgan staggered about with a WTF is going on expression.
 
We eventually set sail at half past five and after a couple of delays (!) were at the McDonalds at Picket Post at almost exactly the same time as Karl, Tracey, Jess and Charlotte. Bearing in mind that diets are for people who aren’t on holiday I tucked in to a double sausage and egg McMuffin and washed it down with a toffee latte.
 
With scoff scoffed we drove a short way down the road and went for a little walk. And it can come as no surprise that any walk in my world is directed by geocaches. The first was a straightforward find. The second was a tad trickier in that we had to go to an information board to get some information. It was a shame that the information board was missing. It was a greater shame that it took us quite so long to realise that whoever it was that had set that puzzle geocache had already given us the information that we needed.
But we had a very good walk.
 
From our walk we drove down to the Elm Tree Inn in Ringwood where we had a rather good lunch washed down with arguably too much beer.
From there we all went shopping. Some went to the supermarket for vital supplies. Me – I went to the sixpenny brewery for vital supplies.
And with everyone in possession of victuals we made our way to our base of operations for the next week
 
Unpacking didn’t take that long, and we were soon sitting in the garden setting about various drinks watching the birds… and as it got dark watching the bats.
I’ve ordered more beer to be collected tomorrow… what we’ve got will hopefully last till then.
 
I took a few photos today…

3 July 2025 (Thursday) - What You Don't See

With  the heatwave passed (for now) I slept much better last night. I made toast and had my usual rummage round the Internet. I was presented with a memory… nine years ago we had the geo-rally. We all met up at the motorway services near the Medway towns, and at one o’clock in the afternoon we all set off in our various directions. We had twenty-four hours to go geocaching, and there were points for types of geocaches found, and for counties and countries visited. We travelled three hundred and twenty eight miles through nine counties and came fourth out of nine teams.

I wonder if we might have another rally… The only problem is that at the time the local geo-fed wasn’t keen on the idea even though he was happy with a similar event that happened every year in Sussex. I’ve emailed him to sound him out. Here’s hoping.

 

As I drove the dogs to the woods the pundits on the radio were talking about how the Chancellor of the Exchequer was seen crying in public. The poor woman’s probably finding the job a tad more stressful tat she thought…

 

We got to the woods and had a good walk. The dogs charged about as dogs do. They chased shadows and completely missed squirrels and slow worms and deer. Fortunately they completely missed any fox poo as well.

 

After four and a bit miles we were back at the car and heading home. I hung out washing and packed in readiness for next week.

Is it just me who packs undercrackers as though I’m expecting terminal dire rear?

I programmed “Hannah” for the New Forest, did some CPD, and had a little kip

I woke up over an hour later.

 

Now to load up the “er indoors ^TM” -mobile, collect the house-sitter (“Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” and Pogo) and have an early night…

2 July 2025 (Wednesday) - Making Plans

Another restless hot night. Treacle particularly suffered. At two o’clock I arranged her so that the fan was blowing on her, and I listened to her panting for much of the night.

I got up at half past five, made toast and had a little look at the Internet. It was rather dull this morning, which was probably for the best. I sent out birthday wishes to two Facebook friends. Someone I know through fishing, and an ex-trainee who was thirty-nine today. Thirty-nine?

There wasn’t a lot else going on, so taking care not to disturb the sleepers I got ready for work.

 

I had quite a walk to find where I'd left my car. Fortunately the rain which was coming down as I'd scoffed toast had stopped. I drove round to the co-op where some new lad was filling the fridges with the sandwiches. I asked if they had coronation chicken. He (oh-so-politely) explained that you only ever get coronation chicken at Christmas time. I smiled politely, and thought better of saying that Sainsburys and Tesco have the stuff all year long.

 

As I drove up the motorway the pundits on the radio were talking about the government's performance in Parliament yesterday. They'd won the vote for their proposed welfare bill, but had to make so many concessions they might as well have lost.

The chap being interviewed made an interesting point. The chap said that incoming governments rarely get into office by actually winning an election. They usually get in as the outgoing government has lost an election having pissed off the electorate. A subtle point maybe, but probably true. The governments we get aren't so much the most popular choice as the least unpopular one. The point was also made that Labour's massive landslide victory meant quite a few surprise candidates got in who normally probably wouldn't. And knowing that they are in by a fluke and will be out at the next election they don't see themselves as having a long-term political career and so will act as their conscience dictates rather than how their party tells them. Which is why the government has had to make so many concessions on its welfare bill. Personally I see this as a good thing...

 

I got to work where there was a minor flap going on. Nothing major really. Absolutely every workplace the world over has minor flaps from time to time.  Back in the day when I was a manager I would have been in the thick of the flap with all the other managers... These days I see myself as being well out of it, and minor flaps being somebody else’s problems.

And with flap flapped I did my bit and did some e-learning. Ironically bearing in mind this morning's excitement today I learned about Business Continuity Planning.

Back in the day if things went west we'd make up a work-round as we went along. And then the world changed. I can remember talking with an ex-friend (many years ago) who had moved into "disaster planning". The place where he worked had once had a minor crisis about which the local newspaper found out, and vilified them as they had no written procedure for dealing with that specific crisis. This chap told me he spent all day thinking up utterly implausible scenarios and devising plans for coping with them. I can remember him telling me what fun it was; and the more implausible and outlandish the disaster for which they were planning, the better. What if the Martians invaded? What if the Martians invaded on a Bank Holiday? What if the Martians invaded on a Bank Holiday and the police and army were all off on holiday themselves?

These days not only are there comprehensive disaster plans for everything, there's even a formally recognised  international standard for them.

 

Whilst I did my e-learning I waited for the forecast thunderstorm. I'd heard rumbles of thunder as I scoffed brekkie, but there were major storms forecast for today. None of which happened in Maidstone, though I’m reliably assured we had several downpours at home.

 

With work worked I came home. Bearing in mind we’d had some rain (and also that the dogs were asleep) I decided against a walk. Instead I geo-puzzled. Yesterday geo-HQ announced the criteria for the next set of geocaching Treasures… ones with a relatively high difficulty level and ones with the “special tool required” attribute. There’s not that many that fit the bill, and most of those that do involve going up trees. For the most part this evening’s puzzling involved finding ones that didn’t risk my neck.

 

I’m so happy that heatwave has passed…

1 July 2025 (Tuesday) - Too Hot...

I was fast asleep when Bailey woke me by trampling up and down on my chest, obviously anxious to go outside. So not wanting any little accidents I took her out only to have her playing silly beggars hunting round the garden looking for frogs (again).

I gave her a couple of minutes then went back to bed, but once I’m woken I struggle to get back to sleep, and that was before one o’clock.

I dozed on and off during a very warm night, finally getting up shortly before half past five.

 

I made toast and had a look at the Internet. There was quite a bit of consternation on one of the local Facebook pages this morning. Yesterday it had been claimed that some woman was taking photos of children on Folkestone beach, and a full-blown witch-hunt had been stirred up. Had this woman actually been taking photos, or has she had some petty squabble and someone who felt slighted was getting petty revenge? Who knows?

And I saw something which worried me somewhat, As a child I took a friend along to Boys Brigade with me. Boys Brigade really should be banned; it is all about brainwashing children into believing crackpot religious nonsense. My friend was taken in by all the religion and he’s now a Baptist minister in the West Country. Every week his church put out a video of their prayer ceremony, and I often find myself watching it in stark amazement. This morning my old mucker was on the webcast saying “Whatever troubles we find ourselves faced with today let us pray so that God might be glorified”.

Think it through – his idea of a supreme being is one that needs to be continually reassured about just how wonderful it is. Would any supreme being really be that insecure? It bothers me that my old mucker has devoted his life to this crackpot nonsense, but what can I say?

 

I got into my car and the thermometer told me that it was already twenty-three degrees, and that was at half past six in the morning. With a few minutes spare I drove round the road to where I hid a geocache a while ago. Not only had someone logged that they couldn't find it, they were so confident in their ability that they had logged that it needed maintenance; writing in their log "we searched well enough at the object described". The object described was a sign on a lamp post; I even gave a photo of that sign. The cache was magnetically stuck to the lamp post behind that sign. I got out of the car, saw the thing right away, sighed, and drove off. 

There are two schools of thought about not finding a geocache. Some people think "I can't find it.. Oh dear” and that's it. Others think "I can't find it because it is not there" and log "Needs Maintenance" which alerts the geo-feds. I wish they wouldn't.

 

I drove off to work., As I went up the motorway there was an interview with the head honcho at Portsmouth harbour who had the hump. Apparently the harbour authorities across the UK all chipped in to the cost of the inland border facility at Sevington, and because of changes to various laws the place is now redundant and will be sold off at a loss. The bloke from Portsmouth says he wants his share of the cost back from the government, and rightly so.

 The whole idea of an inland border facility at Sevington was a stupid one, wasn't it? The idea was that lorries would come ashore at Dover and then drive twenty miles to Sevington where they would then be inspected... giving them twenty miles along which they could drop off any illegal stuff they were carrying. Surely whoever came up with that idea should be sacked for incompetence along with whoever gave them that job in the first place.

 

I went to Sainsburys to get a sandwich and some supplies for our upcoming holiday. Needless to say not a single manned till was open, so I went to the self-service tills. The machine went berserk because I was trying to buy a bottle of gin. Some assistant with a face like a slapped arse walked over, glared at me, and pressed the button to say I looked old enough to buy gin. She wasn't at all happy when I asked her to remove the security tag on the bottle, but never once actually spoke a word. As I went out I saw a bit of a fuss. Another customer had kicked off and had one of the manned tills opened for her. I commented that if I'd known that the manned tills were open I would have used one. The chap on the till (also with a face like a smacked arse) commented that he'd only just opened the till... well, his words were that he'd only just opened the till. His tone clearly said "f... off fatso".

Supermarkets boil my piss. Back in the day we had corner shops, and lots of them. The chap behind the till wanted your custom as the shop was his personal livelihood and he knew that you had many other places where you could spend your money. These days the corner shops can't compete with the supermarkets.

And supermarkets are relatively few and far between; on my twenty-five mile journey to work there's only two that don't involve a major diversion.

And supermarkets are staffed by people who for the most part couldn't care less.

 

When I got to the work's car park it was quarter past seven and twenty-six degrees.

I went in to work where it was a colleague's last day. Apparently last week she found that her son hadn't got in to the local school she wanted for him and the alternative wasn't very good. So she approached one of those "we buy your house" companies who gave her cash there and then. She's packing tomorrow and moving to Sheffield later this week.

I got myself a cheese scone at tea break. Some people say sod it and move to Sheffield. Me - I have a scone.

 

Work was work. When I came out the thermometer in the car said it was thirty-seven and a half degrees. I suspect that was an over-estimate as the temperature is always high when I get into the car. But by the time I’d reached the traffic lights a couple of miles down the road it had only dropped to thirty-four and a half degrees.

 

I came home to find Treacle had just been sick. We’re blaming the heat. Being on an early I did have a naïve plan to take the dogs to the woods, but I don’t like to take them out of the temperature is over twenty-three degrees (at most) and according to the BBC that’s not going to happen until ten o’clock tonight.