15 July 2014 (Tuesday) - Burwash

I usually take the Tuesday after the Brighton Kite festival off work just iin case. If we come home with wet tents I will need the time to dry them. Today I needed a day to do stuff - I had a myriad of things to do. I needed to chase the garage about my iffy air conditioning in the car. I had astro club cheques to pay into the bank. I had a weekend's worth of grungy laundry to do. The lawn needed mowing. I needed to chase the hospital about the planned surgical re-bore of my nose.

I decided that all of that lot could get stuffed and I went geocaching instead.

Steve called round shortly after 7.30am and we went for a fry-up. Steve said everyone else seems to go for fry-ups these days and he was feeling left out. e had a good plateful of sausages, bacon, eggs, beans, mushrooms. And with those scoffed we popped home to collect "Furry Face ^TM" and we set off to deepest Sussex. Pausing only briefly to dispatch parcels to Cornwall we were soon in Burwash where we had a little stroll. We saw sheep, horses and cows. We found a minature village in the middle of nowhere. We found a beautiful gate leading to the middle of nowhere. We found random doors in the middle of fields. We even found someone's laundry on a rotary drier in a corn field half a mile from the nearest house. Fudge sniffed at (and was very good with) a very small calf, a donkey and a hedgehog.

We were hoping to see a TV celebrity; when "er indoors ^TM" did this walk last October she told me she'd met "you know - him of fthe telly. He's been in all sorts". We didn't see the celebrity,

It was a very hot day. Steve ran out of water; I took two litres for me and "Furry Face ^TM" to share; it wasn't quite enough. And despite the eminently superior mapping abilities of the Neon Geo app there's no denying we went adrift a couple of times. It's only when you go to foreign parts (like Sussex) that you appreciate just how good the signing of footpaths is in Kent.

Billed as a walk of twelve miles we walked up hill and down dale, and I think that the advertised twelve miles was probably about right. We went with fifty geocaches in our sights; we found forty-nine. We were both pretty sure the elusive fiftieth had disappeared. Probably trampled by cows.

I took a few photos whilst we wallked. I think you need to be on my Facebook list to see them though..

I did ache when I got home, but after a quick shower and a bite to eat we set out to the Tuesday gathering of the clans; this time in Arden Road. After a general natter we watched the latest episonde of "The 100". Following on from my concerns of last week that there seemed to be a high attrition rate among the protagonists, the writers would seem to have employed the old trick of bringing the dead back from the grave. I wish they wouldn't; it doesn't make anyone inclined to stick with hte show if such cheap tricks are to be employed...

14 July 2014 (Monday) - Home Again

The Red Cross people had stayed on for the extra night last night. they hadn't come up to be sociable last night; and their screaming shreiking children were especially anti-social from 5.45 am this morning.

I suppose that an early morning alarm call has its advantages when there is work to be done, and we soon had our tents down. In complete contrast to yesterday today was glorious. I always worry about going home with wet tents; there was no problem on that score today.

An al-fresco fry-up, some Jim'Ard with our brekkie and soon everything was packed (including the washing up - life's too short) and having said our goodbyes we set off for home. An hour or so was spent putting gear away, and then we did a tip run before collecting "Furry Face ^TM" from his holiday. Word is he was well behaved.

I then spent a little while sorting out my photos - I took a few photos of the weekend. You might not be able to see them as I've recently tweaked my Facebook account's settings. If you can't see them... sorry.

It's now back to my CPAP machine. Much as I dislike the thing, I'm looking forward to a decent night's sleep.

13 July 2014 (Sunday) - Still in Brighton

After many years reflection I have come to the conclusion that (for me) the most depressing sound is that of rain on a tent. I woke several times during the night to hear rain. Mind you I wasn't woken by the wild children of the Red Cross Campsite. I was reliably informed that "words had been had". It was just as well they were quiet - Feiglong had taken its toll.

We breakfasted in the rain; the rain was a good test for the event shelter. The thing seemed to leak a little along the seams; I shall squander some of the astro club's money on getting it proofed. But the rain didn't last much after mid morning, and soon the sky was again full of kites. And having made a point of staying awake for the morning I was at the kiddies kite making workshop with plenty of time to take up my regular position of second bridler.

The kiddies were much the same as ever; forty five per cent are so painfully shy they will not say a word. Another forty five percent are vacant; seriously vacant. So much so that you could poke them with a needle and get no reaction. But ten per cent of the kiddies appreciated what we were doing and made it all worth while. Before long we could see loads of our home-made workshop kites in the sky.

I was rather shocked to hear that Birghton Kite Fliers have been unable to find a sponsor to keep the kiddies kite workshop going. If any of my loyal readers know of any potentian sponsors, let me know - I'll have a word with the right people.

Aftere a minor altercation with a dalek I went back to camp. Quite a few people go home when the festival ends on the Sunday afternoon. We said our goodbyes; and then after a rather good bit of bit of spag bol for tea quite a few of those who who were staying joined us for a rather good evening. It all got rather vague (for the third night running) and we even had rice pudding...

12 July 2014 (Saturday) - Brighton Kite Festival

I got to bed shortly after 1am, and since I hadn't brought my CPAP machine camping I woke several times during the night. Eveyone woke with me at 5.30am when the "delightful" children associated with the British Red Cross encampment decided to start running around the camping field whilst screaming and shreiking.

Brekkie was rather good; a fry-up when camping is always popular, and once I'd washed up I dozed off. I woke too late to take my regular spot making bridles in the kiddies' kite making workshop. Instead I helped out on crowd control for the workshop. If anything kicked off I was all set to steam in and knock heads together. Provided that they were under five years old...

Having done my bit I made my way back to our camp where we sat and watched the normal people flying kites. I say "flying kites"; like any hobby, skill or activity there is a knack to be mastered. Several of the normal people looked as though they had taken up semaphore rather than kite flying. But we offered sage advice. Sage advice which was even welcomed in a couple of instances. One lady even came and had a beer with us once we'd got her kite out of a knot and into the air.

Batty arrived with some Feigling. For those of my loyal readers who have never tried the stuff... it's not unlike vodka, comes in small bottles, it *has* to be drunk in a special way, and you end up with a sore (if not broken) nose.

Fajitas made for a rather good evening meal, and beer flowed as it does on these occassions.

11 July 2014 (Friday) - Off to Brighton

I had a rather restless night, finally dropping off only to be woken at 6am by my alarm. Woken by the alarm - that never happens. I woke to a very wet and murky morning. But the weather outside didn't matter. The weather sixty miles away was what counted today. I checked the forecast for West Sussex; dry until an hour after we would be setting up camp. We'd better get a move on...

The Rear Admiral was only a little late, and after a quick trip to pick up Tony, an even quicker trip was made to Tesco for last minute supplies and following an altercation with a red traffic light we were in Stanmer Park where the weather bore no relation to the forecast. Andrew came over and helped us set up; he's always been a good 'un like that. After half an hour we had our communal tent "brown and smelly" up, and also the Coleman's event shelter which I had blagged from the astro club. The thing needed airing anyway (!) and if it worked out for us I will probably get one for myself, but at two hundred quid it seemed a rather expensive experiment.

Rather than putting up our own tents we reversed my car under the event shelter and unloaded whilst the rain had a particularly heavy downpour.

We soon had campsite set up, and during a lull in the rain we went for a little geo-stroll. Two First to Finds... two happy dances. We came back to camp to find that some normal people had set up camp relatively close to our tents. We smiled sweetly at the old couple, and as the in-laws arrived we suggested they might camp between the oldsters and us.

They oldsters and the in-laws argued all weekend long...

The rest of our number soon arrived, and we had a beer or two, a rather wonderful curry, and then I fell asleep for a couple of hours. I *hate* that. But being woken for a drop of port and some cheese is never a bad thing...

10 July 2014 (Thursday) - A Day Off

Last night's bottle of red wine was washed down by a bottle of "Bishop's Finger". I slept well. As did "Furry Face ^TM" who managed a whole night without a woofing fit.

I had a rather quick brekkie today and got on with the business of loading all the camping gear into the car. We seemed to be missing half of a kettle (got the lid!) and the entire turdis.

With most of the stuff I need to worry about loaded I got much of the stuff that "er indoors ^TM" looks after into the living room. I hope I have it all; I had this theory that she might give it all the once-over later. As I was loading up so my dog was getting progressively more and more over-excited. He knows that if I don't vanish off to work at sparrow-fart then he is up for a walk.

So we went on our walk. Down through the park. With the fun fair in residence the place has something of an air of a gypsy encampment during the day time. As we walked we met up with our old mates (!) "OrangeHead and her Chunky Little Friend". Fudge had a minor battle with the dog of one of their associates much to OrangeHead's dismay. I would have thought that an Alsation the size of a cart horse would have been able to stand up to a rather small Patagonian Tripe-Hound, but what do I know.

Pausing only briefly to steal the tennis ball of a passing cocker spaniel we carried on to Singleton and into Great Chart. A geocache I'd hidden over there in February had been reported as having gone missing, so I put a replacement one out there.

As we walked I posted a photo of "Furry Face ^TM" spuddling in the river onto Facebook, mentioning we'd seen "OrangeHead and her Chunky Little Friend". We came home to a message from a friend who knows both "OrangeHead and her Chunky Little Friend" of old. Apparently these two are single handedly responsible for the demise of the kingfishers from along the river Stour. I am reliably informed that "Chunky Little Friend" once fell in the river. Having phoned the Fire Brigade to get her chunky little friend rescued, "OrangeHead" then made an official complaint to the local council who re-landscaped that bit of bank. Consequently the kingfishers nests were disturbed and not one has been seen since.

It speaks volumes that these two need the Fire Brigade to get them out of a river which is three feet deep (at most).

I then spent an hour or so reviewing Earthcaches, and when "er indoors ^TM" got home we set off to the farm where we found the errant lavatory. As we were already half way to Maidstone we carried on; there was a geo-meet taking place there in honour of a chap who was over from South Africa on holiday. Geo-meets are always good; it's always good to get really nerdy with other people who understand why you are getting really nerdy. Normal people don't understand hunting tupperware.

We came home via McDonalds at the M20 junction eight services where some foreign-looking fellow wearing what I can only describe as his mother's pyjamas narrowly avoided having seven shades of sh*t punched out of him by a "delightful young lady". I have no idea what the squabble was about, but it was certainly entertaining.

Once home I showered, caught up with what had happened on-line, and patiently waited for "er indoors ^TM" to finish her packing before I could go to kip. In the meantime my dog played nicely with his new ball.

9 July 2014 (Wednesday) - This n That

Another decent night's sleep. It might have been a tad better had my guts not been quite so rumbly. I'm not quite sure what I've eaten, but somethhing hasn't been sitting well since yesterday. I farted like a fruitbat as my dog ate most of my toast at brekkie time this morning. Having eaten his fill of toast he curled up on my lap and went to sleep. For all that most people see a hyperactive bundlle of excitement, he's actually quite a soppy dog when he thinks no one is watching.

And so to work. As always I listened to the radio; there is little else to do on a twenty mile drive. The Palestinians and Israilis continue fighting; they seem to like doing so. They must, as they are showing no incllination to stop. The newly appointed European president looks set to hand power from Brussels back to Westminster. Scottish Independence is becoming less and less likely.

Nothing of note seems to have happened in the wider world.

Mind you it would seem that JK Rowling has written another Harry Potter story; nothing major, but a few paragraphs. It could be amusing; I suspect that these few paragraphs will make it into print and be sold to those who like spending their money.

Work was entertaining - "Thumbs" was back from her Italian holiday. Whilst swimming in the Mediterranean she was stung by a jellyfish. Her brother wasted no time in tiddling on the swollen and painful area, and would you beleive it? That old addage about tiddling on a jellyfish sting is actually true. Apparently the pain releif was instant. One lives and learns.

After that revelation the rest of the day was something of an anticlimax.

I popped round to Farm Foods to help with getting the first batch of supplies for the upcoming kite festival, and then went round to see Denver to collect the astro club's event shelter. Once home (an hour later than usual) we took "Furry Face ^TM" for a walk. Our usual route was not going to happen tonight; a fun fair had set up in the park. Instead we played our strange version of "fetch".

We're having a bottle of plonk with tea tonightt and I've no work tomorrow...