22 October 2014 (Wednesday) - Boobs, Brushes, FTF

I slept for six or so hours last night; not bad at all. But I woke with a sense of foreboding; I was sure bad news was in the offing. I wonder what that was all about.

I came downstairs and opened the gate to the dog cage. "Furry Face ^TM" didn't stir. I wonder if keeping the dog cage after he's completely better might be a good idea; when he sleeps in his basket (or on my lap) the slightest noise would have him leaping up. When he is sleeping his cage he is utterly sparko and would sleep though anything.

Over brekkie I watched an episode of "Jeeves and Wooster" that I'd recorded onto the SkyPlus box. It was the one with "Ask Dad" and Cyril Bassington Bassington; but it was never revealed whether Cyril was a Shropshire, Hampshire or Kent Bassington Bassington. As Bertie says, the world is adequately stocked with Bassington Bassingtons. Mind you I've lived in Kent for over thirty years and have yet to encounter one.

I do like "Jeeves and Wooster" but there is no denying that I have seen every episode too many times.

Yesterday I mentioned I'd bought the makings of some Christmas beer; with a little time on my hands this morning I thought I might make a start on getting the stuff going before work. I emptied the old sterilising jollop out of my beer bucket and replaced it with fresh stuff ready for later use; but then disaster struck. I hadn't cleaned out the beer barrel since I last used it. It was a bit rank (!) so I swilled it out, put some water in it to soak, and spent my spare time in search of a bottle brush with which to scrub it.

Bybrook Barn didn't have one, but they did have an unfound (by me) geocache nearby. I then drove into Canterbury to see what I could find. As I drove I realised that I was going past one of the geocaches that went live on Monday. With the First to Find still waiting to be had on that particular one I couldn't just drive past and leave it unclaimed. So I stopped... FTF - happy dance.

I got some sugar for my beer from Morrisons, but they didn't have a bottle brush. The spotty assistant had never even heard of the concept of a brush. Bless (!) Neither Argos nor Boots had bottle brushes. The cheapo-bargains shop also let me down too, but I did have a wry smile in there. "Daddies Little Angel ^TM" has been struggling to maintain her modesty whilst feeding littlun recently. In the cheapo-bargains shop was a new mother who had no truck with modesty. Her left boob was openly flopped out for all to behold, and a baby was being brandished in the general vicinity of said boob. The baby would have a nibble from time to time; otherwise it just stared into space whilst the boob flopped around. As boobs are (sometimes) wont to do.

I would have taken a photo, but I had a vague feeling that it wasn't really the polite thing to do.

Fortunately I eventually found a traditional hardware shop in Wincheap. Real old-school; it actually smelled like a hardware shop should smell. They had the brush I needed.

When I commented on the matter to a colleague she said that this was typical; the thing you for which you are searching is always in the last place to which you go. That expression boils my piss. Of course things you look for are always in the last place you look. Who keeps searching for something once they've found it? (Dur!)

Work was much the same as work usually is; at lunchtime I had an interesting interlude during sax practice. I was at the far end of the works car park giving "Greensleves" a tootle when a little old lady came marching across and wanted to know if I was the bloke who usually plays his instrument in the car park at lunch times. I toyed with asking if she'd seen any others, but instead I decided to smile sweetly. This little old lady had a complaint. My heart sank. But it wasn't bad news; her complaint was that I was playing too far away from the hospital. It turned out that this little old lady was something to do with the head injury rehabilitation unit and apparently her patients had been asking to listen to live music. They'd asked if I would give a recital.

I must admit I'm not keen on the idea, but I suppose I must be improving for her to come and ask...

21 October 2014 (Tuesday) - 4000

What with working at nights and at weekends, new babies being born, trips to Birmingham and dogs with slipped discs it's all been a bit much recently. So today I took a day off work; I needed a rest. As always I woke far too early and by the time "er indoors ^TM" got up three hours later I was bored senseless.

I surfed the net in boredom. I discovered this. This Saturday there's a bus trip round some of the better pubs in the Dover and Deal area. I'm rather tempted to join in; the organiser has said that everyone is welcome. If any of my loyal readers fancy a pint or two this weekend why not come along...

With "er indoors ^TM" ready we set off on the mission of the day. One of my geo-goals is to find more Wherigo geocaches than I've hidden. Wherigos take quite a bit of setting up, and they aren't at all common. I've hidden five of the things, and today we set off in pursuit of my fourth one to be found. We very nearly fell at the first hurdle as the software would not work on Samsung Android phones (neither mine nor that of "er indoors ^TM") but in a novel break with tradition the iPhone came to the rescue. We Wheri-wandered around Faversham for just over an hour discovering all sorts of places that I've never before been to, and finding out all sorts of things about the place that I never knew. We even got a couple of Munzees along the way. But eventually we came to our goal; something of a milestone geocache for me; my four thousandth find.

Whilst in Faversham we visted the home-brew shop and got the makings of some beer for Christmas, and then having spectacularly failed to find two more geocaches we set off for home. We stopped of in Badlesmere to see what the pub there was like.

I've heard bad things about the Red Lion in the past, but I was very impressed with what we experienced today. Good ale, good food... we may well just organise a mass trip out there at some point.

We came home via Eastwell church and Lidls, and then had coffee and cake as we watched an episode of "Doctor Who" that we'd recorded onto the SkyPlus box a couple of weeks ago. It was rather good.

Then, being Tuesday, the clans gathered. We drove round to Arden Drive; usually we would walk, but today we'd seen the weather go from being completely clear to torrential and back to clear in moments, and we didn't want to get caught in a downpour.

As is often the case insults were bandied, spell checkers were blamed, and it would all have been a lot easier had some of us more respect for algebra (!) I actually stayed awake for an episode of "The 100", and there was a discussion about in which film(s) Stacey (of "Gavin and Stacey") flopped them out.

And in closing today I'd like to thank my loyal readers for all the messages of support I've received recently. Over the last week or so I've been really touched by all the kind words people have sent me about my little dog.

"Furry Face ^TM" would seem to be on the mend now. After a tiddle-trip to the garden this evening he jumped over the back door step when coming in; he leaped onto my lap earlier, and he's even tackled the stairs for the first time in two weeks. We're still enforcing rest by caging him when he's unsupervised (much to his disgust) but I'm hoping that surgery is looking less and less likely.

Mind you both me and him are missing his walks...

20 October 2014 (Monday) - One Hundred FTFs

Having been gloating about how well I was sleeping last week I was again wide awake far too early this morning. The insides of my sinuses had swollen beyond belief; this promised surgical re-boring of my snout can't come quickly enough.

I came down and opened the gate of "Furry Face ^TM" 's cage; he carried on snoring. I did my morning routine, and over a spot of brekkie I saw a series of twenty-four geocaches had gone live quite near to work.

With my dog still on the resting list I had no morning dog walk to do. I did have a geo-plan already for the morning, but I scrapped that plan and thought I'd go chase some First to Finds. (The sadder ones among the geocaching community do that!)

As I drove the pundits on the radio were crucifying some twit from the Home Office. Anti-social behaviour orders (ASBSOs) are to be replaced with Criminal Behaviour Orders (CRIMBOs)

The experts being interviewed had very little confidence in the new CRIMBOs; they will be the same old piss in a different shaped bottle (apparently) and held in contempt by the majority of scratters and scumbags who fell foul of the old system and who currently feel it's actually clever to have an ASBO.

The radio show then featured an interview with Professor Brian Cox. Supposedly giving his views on the likelihood of meeting aliens, foxy-Coxy wittered on in a rather banal way without actually saying anything at all. He seems to be rather good at that.

Eventually I arrived in Harbledown. I popped on my wellies and set off on a little stroll. For various geo-reasons I needed to find seven geocaches today; having First to Finds was a rather nice bonus. The first one I found was about twenty-five yards away from where the GPS would have me believe, and the third one was especially tricky, but I got the seven caches that I needed. As luck would have it the last one was actually my one hundredth First to Find. Happy dance indeed.

I didn't really have enough time to do the entire series; and it's only fair to give others the chance of an FTF or two, so having gone entirely the wrong direction for half a mile or so I retraced my steps back to the car. I'll go find the rest another time.

Once de-booted I then set off to McDonalds for a celebratory McBrekkie, and then on to a surprisingly busy day at work.

Lunchtime sax practice went reasonably well. I'm quietly (noisily) confident with "Greensleeves", feel I can do something with "The Drunken Sailor" (oo-er!), and have all but given up with "Goose on the Razzle"...

I suspect most people give up with geese on the razzle.

19 October 2014 (Sunday) - Hucking

What with all the excitement of working yesterday it was gone 9pm before I got home last night. By the time I'd scoffed tea and fussed "Furry Face ^TM" it was getting on for midnight. I did snigger when "Furry Face ^TM" started chasing flies round the kitchen. A week ago he literally couldn't move; now he's a lot more sprightly.

Allowing for a quick nocturnal loo-trip I slept in until 9am, and was just the teensiest bit disappointed to wake up to rain. But by the time I'd got dressed the rain had stopped. I voomed up to the corner shop to get a loaf (we'd run out) and I saw something unusual. One of the normal people was walking his dog. Said dog had "dropped its load" and the normal person was clearing up the mess. Just lately I see so many people letting their dogs crap everywhere; it was good to see someone not leaving bombs behind.

We had brekkie, and then settled "Furry Face ^TM" into his cage. He's getting better but we're going to enforce his resting. We then rallied the troops and set off to Hucking for a short stroll. There was a minor hiccup when some of the troops announced they were already at the start point; I'd been rather vague about times; in retrospect I could have been rather more clear about the time we were leaving Ashford as opposed to the time we were starting walking.

But eventually we were all together for a little geo-stroll. Compared to some of the extravaganzas we've done over the summer, today's walk was rather tame. But it's been a little while since we've been out, and it never hurts to break ourselves in slowly. We set off with eleven geo-targets and hoped we might get one or two extras along the way. We ended up with seventeen finds and no DNFs ("Did Not Find" - it's a geo-thing).

The Hucking estate is a great place for a little stroll; leaving aside the wonderful name (it hucking well is called "Hucking"!) there were some wonderful views to be had. As we walked we found some rather good arty wood carvings including a living log, a shepherd, and a herd of pigs.

We also met some other geocachers too; Kim and Andy had mentioned that they thought they'd spotted a likely looking pair, and as we went round we met up (several times) with the "Otford Strollers". When you sign a geo-log you sign with your geo-pseudonym. There are so many wonderful names I've read over the years; it was good to finally put faces to one of the names today. Interestingly they recognised me immediately. Everyone always does; I wonder why?

We'd been advised to wear wellies today; it was as well that we did. The ground was *very* muddy. I was glad for the chance to test out my boots. The last time I wore my wellies I ended up pouring a pint of water out of them after that walk; today they didn't leak at all.

I took some photos whilst we were out. It's been a little while since I put up a Facebook album.

After a rather good bit of tea I settled down with my dog and we watched the League of Gentlemen film. In all honesty I was disappointed with it...

18 October 2014 (Saturday) - Bit Dull

Having been gloating about how well I've been sleeoping I was wide awake from 3am this morning. Probably worrying about "Daddies Little Angel ^TM" who's been poorly again.

I got up at 6am and let "Furry Face ^TM" out for his morning tiddle which today was performed with a cocked leg (rather than as a squat). I am seeing that as a very good sign.

I then set off to work before dawn, and as I drove a very red sky became rather evident as the sun rose. Remembering the old adage "Red sky in morning, shepherd's warning" I can only imagine that the red sky warns shepherds of coming good weather; I spent much of the morning looking out of teh window at a lovely day.

As I drove the pundits on the radio were being mean about UKIP's latest (only) MP. Having left the conservative party he was being lambasted about all the things he once said as a tory that now he seems to have gone back on. I must admit that I can't help but agree with the chap when he said that changing circumstances made him change his mind. If only more people would admit when they think they've made a mistake then the world might be a better place.

I stopped off at Morrisons for lunch. I paid for my stuff in the self service tills. I didn't want to, buut I was turned away from the attended tills; today they were being used by Morrison's staff who were getting their shopping. I can't helpp but wonder if using an attended till is a perk of the job, or a sign that management doesn't trust its workers?

And so to work. Usually I don't mind working at weekends, but my heart wasn't in it today. Possibly because I was missing the annual spectacle of Hastings bonfire parade. I came home to find the fmaily were all out at the bonfire. Mind you my little dog was pleased to see me. He's been to the vet's today. He had his booster shot and a quick once-over. The feeling is that a canine chiropracter wouldn't be much help in his particular case. Rest remains to be the order of the day.

I let him out for his tiddle, and he rushed off down the garden barking like a thing possessed. What a difference a week makes...

17 October 2014 (Friday) - Goose on the Razzle

Again I slept until 6am. I like this; for me this really is a lie-in. I got up and my little dog was still asleep. He woke when he saw me and I tried to shush him, but he would insist on leaping up. With his bad back he should really be like me and get up slowly, but there is no reasoning with him. I took him out to the garden where he did his thing; fortunately (unlike last night) didn't try to chase any cats this time.

It's been suggested that "Furry Face ^TM" might benefit from seeing a canine chiropracter.... It's not that long since I would have ranted here about the entire concept of a "canine chiropracter". But he has an appointment with the vet tomorrow. We'll see what they say on the subject.

As I drove to work I noticed that petrol prices are nearly two pence per litre cheaper than I paid on Monday. A shame; I could have squandered that eighty pence I might have saved on vet bills. It's unusual for Morrisons to be beaten on petrol prices.

Talking of which, supermarkets were very much in the news today: a blind woman was ordered to get her guide dog out of a branch of Tescos, whilst two amorous young ladies have caused consternation (and complaints) by their snogging (each other) in Sainsbury's

Personally I wouldn't have a problem with either, but given the choice I know which I would rather have in my supermarket.

I got to work for the early shift, did my bit, and then at lunchtime I had a go at the new tunes I've been given to learn for this weeks saxophone homework. I can do a fair rendition of "The Drunken Sailor" but it could be faster. "Greensleeves" comes unstuck on the sharps in several places. But the tune which is new to me - "Goose on the Razzle" - really does sound like a goose which has been on the razzle. I can't honestly say I'm entirely sure what the tune of "Goose on the Razzle" should be, but I'm pretty sure I've not quite mastered it yet.

And finding myself home along (yet) again I spent the evening firstly ironing shirts and then fussing a small pup. Sometimes he seems to be perking up; other times he seems rather under the weather. I'm wondering what six weeks enforced rest will do...

16 October 2014 (Thursday) - In A Dress

"Furry Face ^TM" seemed marginally more sprightly when I let him out of his cage this morning. He pootled round the garden but didn't seem to do much in the way of things that little dogs are supposed to do when they are taken outside.

Over brekkie I watched the latest South Park episode; in order to get better lavatorial facilities today's episode featured Eric Cartman announcing that he was becoming transgender.

Interestingly the morning's radio news also featured an interview with a transgender person who had become a lawyer. This person was discussing the allegations about a radio presenter having left his job after announcing that he was changing from one flavour to another.

Personally I can't really say it bothers me one way or another what someone is or what they want to be. But it does bother me that the pro-transgender brigade really can't understand why the general public cannot help but be surprised when confronted with such a person. I can remember when the first fruit of my loin met a transgender person for the first time. He was five years old. What he encountered really did look like a twenty-stone navvie wearing a dress.

Whilst I fully support anyone's right to appear as whatever gender they want; that person must also understand that what they are doing isn't "usual" and will initially attract stares.

The radio also featured the news that the green lobby are up in arms. Following the sacking of the ex-environment minister, said ex-environment minister has now become an advocate against the climate change lobbyists. He was on the radio rallying against what he called the "wicked green blob" and was hankering after a majority Conservative government which would see the sense in putting personal financial gain ahead of decency and common sense.

If nothing else, having the Dribbling Democraps in a coalition government has curbed the excesses of personal greed that have historically characterised "another political party".

I got to work, did my bit on a rather busy day, blew my sax at lunch time, and came home via the music school for sax lesson. Sax lesson went well; I've got a couple of traditional tunes for this week's homework in addition to one I've never heard before.

I came home to find that "er indoors ^TM" had let "Furry Face ^TM" out of his cage. When he saw me he started to run toward me, managed two steps and then yelped in pain. I wish I could explain to him that he needs to take things easy...