18 November 2015 (Wednesday) - Calendars

I was rather tired this morning; perhaps an early shift after yesterday's exertions wasn't such a good idea? As I scoffed my toast I watched this week's episode of "The Last Man on Earth" on my own. "Furry Face ^TM" didn't stir at all. He was still worn out.

Bearing in mind I'd been the driver of a car full yesterday, the car felt noticably lighter as I drove to work this morning. As I drove the pundits on the radio were again sticking the knife into Jeremy Corbyn. Perhaps the bloke is just well-meaning but a little misguided. Perhaps he's the best leader the Labour party has ever had but somehow made an enemy of the press. Perhaps he really is a clueless imbecile. I don't know; all I know is what I hear about him through the media. And (in all honesty) I'm yet to hear anything positive about the bloke.

I can't help but wonder if it might be better for the Labour party for him to resign in favour of a leader against whom the press haven't obviously taken a grudge.

I stopped off at Morrisons who had no bananas. Not one. Can you beleive it? And then I took a five minute diversion to Harbledown for geo-purposes. One of the things that "real" geocachers are supposed to do is to have found at least one cache on every day of the year. I'd managed three hundred and thirteen out of a possible three hundred and sixty six days. Now I've done three hundred and fourteen thanks to a young lad who started filling Canterbury with caches a few months ago. It is a shame that he seems to have given up; he was actually contributing to the hobby.

I got to work for the early shift, did my thing, and at lunch time I stayed awake through a commercial presentation. To be honest it was really only fair that I did so; the nice people presenting had brought in posh sandwiches for us.

An early start made for an early finish. I went home via the petrol station at Morrisons, and once home I took "Furry Face ^TM" for a little walk. We might have gone further, but it was dark and raining. So we came home and after a rather good bit of tea "er indoors ^TM" went off to flog candles to Charlotte and her mates.

I stayed home and in between fussing my dog I polished boots, de-mudded wellies and sorted laundry. What an exciting life I lead...

17 November 2015 (Tuesday) - Back to Essex

A few weeks ago (in the company of some gallant souls) I set off to walk the first part of the Essex Way. Today, depite the weather forecast, we decided we'd go back and walk some more of it. Bearing in mind the winter days are shorter we knew we'd need an early start.

Fudge's expression had to be seen to be beleived at 4.30am.

We had a quick brekkie of coffee and Belgian buns and set off. Firstly to Singleton to collect Fudge's pal (and her associate!) and then on to Teynham; Matt's car was in the garage. As we drove we had competing sat-navs shouting instructions. "er indoors ^TM" was sticking with the tried and trusted Google whilst the back seat driver was using an app called Waze. Initially my money was on Waze because it was confidently predicting a shorter journey time. However my confidence was shaken when it transpired that Waze was aimed at where we starting walking (which was ten miles closer than Google's target of where we were actually meeting).

Despite Waze's machinations we made our way through the hamlet of Margaret Roding and along Wiggly Bush Lane to the Church at Good Easter. Once assembled everyone piled into my car and we drove ten miles away to Chipping Ongar.

Seven of us (and two small dogs) then walked back to where we'd left the cars. A simple enough proposition...

It was a really good walk. We started walking at 8.30am and finished just over seven hours later having tracked down over seventy elusive geocaches over a distance of about eleven miles. As we walked I fell over (with a heavy thud) in the mud, and Suzy-pup ran off for half an hour. And we had our picnic lunch in the porch of one of the churches in Willingdale whilst overlooking the other. The village has two chuches which share the same churchyard. How weird is that?

We set off expecting a wet afternoon, and within minutes of finishing lunch so the rain started. It was heavy, and we did get wet. But on the positive side it didn't rain for *that* long really and we were soon at the chosen end-point.

I must admit I was expecting the walk to have taken a lot longer than it did. We were all planning to be finishing the walk in the dark; as it was we could (probably) have gone on to have found another dozen caches in the remaining daylight.

But instead we piled into the two cars we'd left at Good Easter and drove back to find my car in Chipping Ongar. Just as we got there so the really heavy rain started.

As we drove home I realised just how much I prefer not driving. What with the logistics of getting from A to B we needed my seven-seater. There's no denying that I was rather wilting from the driving by the time we'd got home.

Once home we washed the mud from the dog then washed the mud from our boots. And with a rather good pasta bake we had a rather disappointing bottle of porter.

I took a few photos whilst we were out. Mostly when it was dry but a few in the rain I put those on line then thought about an early night. I'm on the early shift tomorrow...

16 November 2015 (Monday) - A Day's Holiday

As well as having rostered days off I also have annual leave. Today I thought I'd use up a day's leave. If nothing else I needed the opportunity to take the car to the garage; the parking brake warning light keeps coming on ever since the people in the garage serviced the car a few weeks ago. The plan was to drive over and walk back with my dog. It was a plan I carried out; it was a shame about the rain. We got rather soaked on the way home. Once home the garage phoned to ask what the problem was...

I then had a crack at the ironing; that's what I do an an actual leave day. Whilst I ironed I waatched a film. I've been meaning to watch "Bend It Like Beckham" for years. I must admit I found it somewhat predictable, and when the garage phoned to say the car was ready (about two thirds of the way through) I gave up watching.

Me and "Furry Face ^TM" walked back to South Willesborough to get the car. The garage had fixed the problem and didn't charge us anything. Basically the manual release switch for the parking brake is on the blink; using it causes an alarm when it shouldn't. I can either have the thing replaced (for about £170) or not use it. I don't need to use it as the brake releases automatically and I've never actually used it for years. I only fiddled with it because I could. I shan't do so again.

By now the rain had stopped and the day was chirping up so I took Fudge over to Great Chart to finalise arrangements for the New Year walk. I acheived what I had planned to do, but despite the fact that the day had brightened up it was still *very* muddy. A little dog had to have a bath when we got home.

Pausing only briefly to watch an installment of "Upstairs Downstairs" I spent much of the afternoon updating twenty web pages for this New Year walk. Or that was what I told "er indoors ^TM" when she woke me up when she came home.

We had a bit of tea; she's gone bowling. An evening in front of the telly beckons...

15 November 2015 (Sunday) - Cranbrook

Last night as I was waiting for "er indoors ^TM" to finish her tiddle I was channel-hopping on the telly and I found a wonderful program on the Discovery Channel. You can watch the show on You-Tube if you want. It is worth watching if only to see how the program-makers go from "vaguely possible" to "stark nonsense" in a matter of seconds but in such a way that you don't actually notice the transition.

The basic premise of the show was that aliens have established one or more bases on our Moon to mine the helium-3; and that the Apollo missions stopped because the aliens told NASA to clear off. Several obviously falsified photos were offered up in support of these claims, and Buzz Aldrin's denial of having ever met an alien was offered as conclusive proof that there was an alien base on the Moon. If there wasn't why would he deny it?

Over brekkie a quick Google search on the matter revealed a difference of opinion on the on the part of those who beleive in such stark staring nonsense. Some theories hold that the mining is still going on, other theories suggest that this mining was something that happened a long time ago and NASA has since nuked the mining sites to hide the evidence. Also only about half the nutcases beleived every word of the alien mining/bombing conspiracy; the other half maintained the Moon landings were all faked.

These people are allowed to vote you know. Have I ever mentioned that I don't beleive in democracy?

We collected Fudge's friend Suzy (and her entourage) and after a quick diversion to a church near Smarden (for geo-reasons) we made our way to Cranbrook where we met up with friends. Eleven of us (and two small dogs) then spent the morning wandering the countryside to the south of Cranbrook in search of elusive sandwich boxes. We came into Cranbrook itself for lunch; we found a rather nice beer garden and washed our sandwiches down with a pint of ale. And then we walked northwards to see what the geo-hunting was like round there.

We didn't hang around; time spent talking in a field was time spent wasting VDT (valuable drinking time), and I learned the difference between "ground" and "floor". For those of my loyal readers who've never realised the distinction, one is indoors and one isnt. We also found "Quaker Lane" and had a minor difference of opinion as to how it was pronounced. All I shall say on the matter is to ask if any of my loyal readers have ever experienced an earth-quack.

As we walked we were passing some puzzle caches that I'd solved previously; there was one that has taken me about two years to solve; I was rather disappointed it find it wasn't there. However it was the only one we didn't find. We did find thirty other caches as we walked.

The vague plan had us going west (after north) if time allowed. Unfortunately it didn't. The light was failing by the time we'd completed the northern circuit so we made our way back to the cars, said our goodbyes and set off on our various ways home.

I'd taken a few photos whilst we walked. Once home and my dog (and me) was bathed I put the photos on-line. As I did so "er indoors ^TM" voomed round with the new Hoover. Apparently the cable isn't as long as the one on the old one was. I formed the distinct impression this was somehow my fault. And the thing fills up quicker with much finer dust than the old one ever did. Again something which would seem to be my fault. I apologised for both failings which seemed to go some way to placate her. There was a minor hiccup when after taking it all apart to empty the thing when it wouldn't go back together again. But after half an hour's struggling (and reading the instructions) she finally sorted it out. I hope.

With "er indoors ^TM" off bowling I set the washing machine loose on some towels and my undercrackers and looked at my calendar for the next few weekends. It seems there's rarely a dull moment in my life.

I then checked emails; the geo-feds have given my the thumbs-up for my plans around Great Chart. So now I can now go ahead and start putting in some proper work on the planned geo-series. I thought about doing so, but instead I sat with my dog and watched fan-made episodes of Star Trek whilst my dog slept.

He seems worn out after today's walk. As "Furry Face ^TM" snored I dobbed his monthly flea treatment onto his neck. He didn't even notice...

14 November 2015 (Saturday) - Raining

Overnight the radio was full of talk about yesterday's terror attack in France. Details seemed somewhat vague, but.... what can I say? Why?

I also found myself asking "why" when I saw all the postings on social media saying we should pray for the victims? How does that work? Do we pray that something worse doesn't happen? And to what are we supposed to pray? To a God which could have prevented it all in the first place? I'm not sure I want anything to do with a supposed God which clearly *could* make this such a better world but obviously chooses not to.

This is the twenty-first century. We can take the heart of one person and tranplant it into another. We can put people onto the Moon and bring them back safely. And still we act like a bunch of superstitious savages. Sometimes I wonder about what sort of a world we are leaving for our children.

With the night shift done I popped out to get a crafty geocache; today was a blank day on my geo-calendar. I then drove round to the Foundry for a bit of brekkie. Yesterday I only ate toast, and with "er indoors ^TM" off flogging candles to the masses at a school bazaar (or a bizarre school) today I really felt I should have more than just toast again.

I then took "Furry Face ^TM" round to the park. I again forgot it was Saturday and therefore jogger day. Skin-tight lycra and bouncy boobies was clearly in vogue today. Result!!

As we were walking home so the rain started. We were rather soggy when we got home. I then spent a little while in bed. But not as long as I would have liked. After a couple of hours my mother phoned with some news. She was rather excited. Her and my dad have made their wills and have paid for their funerals and wanted to tell me where all the documents were. I'm actually rather glad they've done that; it makes a lot of sense to have all these details sorted in advance. But I didn't get back to sleep again after that. Instead I spent much of the afternoon in front of rubbish on the telly with a sleeping dog at my side.

"er indoors ^TM" came home from selling candles to the masses and brought cake with her. She was just a little sodden. The rain had got worse during the day so we abandoned plans to go to Rye bonfire parade. Instead we had a rather good afternoon and evening in front of the telly sinking beer and wine whilst catching up watching stuff recorded onto the SkyPlus box.

I think I might have an early night....

13 November 2015 (Friday) - Sandhurst

I slept well. Over brekkie I checked out social media. Nothing much had changed in the world overnight. I finally made a decision and spent a few minutes pruning the list of people I follow on that social media. I seem to get endless notifications about the antics of people I once met (for an hour) five years ago and absolutely nothing about people from whom I'd actually like to hear.

I popped the lead onto "Furry Face ^TM" and we set off on today's mission. Earlier in the week we'd seen a posting on the Sussex geocacher's page from our good friend Gordon asking if anyone fancied a walk round Sandhurst. That is only forty minutes away (traffic allowing) so I thought that might be something to do for the morning before an afternoon asleep.

As I drove the pundits on the radio were interviewing prominent policemen. There are calls for the police force to become a graduate-only profession. There were arguments on both sides... all I can say is that I've seen this happen to my own profession and it has not been an unqualified success.

"Desert Island Discs" came next - Lord Indarjit Singh was the castaway; he was rather interesting.

We soon arrived at Sandhurst church and it wasn't long before everyone arrived. I'd not met several of the people on today's walk. There are those who would think twice about teaming up with total strangers in this way, but I love it. What had (up till now) been random odd names on a geo-log sheet are now new friends.

We had a good walk; there's no denying that the weather was against us today. The remnants of a tropical storm soaked us on three occassions. The mud was slippery; one of our number was on his bum at one point, and I certainly needed a helping hand to be pulled out of a stream and up the bank. But a walk in the countryside with good company is always worthwhile.

I took a few photos whilst we walked too.

Mind you I feel I must be honest. As a geo-walk I cannot recommend the one round Sandhurst. One of the caches was missing; with a C.O. who's not logged in for nearly a year I doubt it will be replaced. The walk was billed as being one of four miles. Admittedly we did start at the church, but that can't have added much to the final distance walked; I measured it on "Hannah" as being a shade over six miles. And we started at the church as the recommended parking wasn't really the sort of place any of us wanted to leave a car.

Once home both "Furry Face ^TM" and I had a shower. I then took myself off to bed. Sometimes I can get some sleep before the night shift; other times I can't. Today I couldn't. After two hours I gave up laying there and came downstairs and watched an episode of "Upstairs Downstairs". Thomas (the chauffeur) had had his wicked way with Sarah (the nurserymaid). His Lordship was rather shocked.

As I watched the telly so my dog was snuggled up on the sofa next to me. He seemed to be shivering. Perhaps walking in the tropical storm this morning didn't agree with him. If he is still iffy in the morning I shall take him to the vet.

I'm off to the night shift now...

12 November 2015 (Thursday) - C.V. Writing

i seem to be somewhat obsessed with the possibility of a promotion to the Maidstone Hospital. I lay awake for much of the night speculating on the "what if"s of the matter. Do I *really* want to go back to a managerial position? Despite the "unfortunate episode" that led to me being in my current position I actually do like my job at the moment. I feel it rather suits me, and I've not once in the last four years felt physically sick at the thought of going into work (a welcome change from how things used to be).

However... These days I do wander in to work on the dot of starting time, spend much of the day spouting purile banter, and am gone like a shot the moment the clock gets to home time. I make no secret that at the moment I am just coasting to my retirement in (about) eight to ten years' time. I particularly like my current shift system (which gives me days off like today). And I don't miss the problems and difficulties of command at all. Nowadays no one phones me to tell me they are going sick just an hour before their shift starts. When equipment has little hiccups I can pass the problem over to someone else with a clear conscience.

But I do feel I could contribute so much more.I've been "the boss" before; whilst I'm not a natural manager I don't think I was *that* bad at it. I particularly miss the formal training and mentoring of the trainee staff. I would like the opportunity to feel that I'd actually done something positive from time to time.

And a couple of hundred more quid each month wouldn't go amiss.

Do I want to go back to being a boss? I don't know. At the moment it is not a decision I have to make. I shall wait for the job in Maidstone to be advertised and see exactly what is on offer and then think about applying.

And (you never know) - they might not even want me.

One off the advantages of my current job is that what with the vagaries of the shift system I do have quite a few days off mid-week. I used one of those days (Monday) to get the washing machine fixed. Tuesday was another such day when I got my New Year walk (provisionally and hopefully) sorted. Today was another day off and so I'd arranged to get the boiler serviced. In a possible New World Order I might have to use annual leave for that sort of thing.

The nice boiler man soon arrived and was pleasantly surprised at how clean our boiler was. It didn't take him long to do his thing and he was soon on his way. And so "Furry Face ^TM" and I were soon on our way too; a walk round to Frog's Island and back.

As we walked Fudge did his fudge (as we all do). I was just bagging it up when a passing looney stopped and announced that it was making him feel really hungry. I did wonder if I should hand the bag of poo over to him; instead I just smiled sweetly and got away as quickly as we could.

We carried on into South Willesborough where I did a little geo-maintenance and we came home past the outlet centre where a certain dog rolled in a dead sparrow. (What a delightful dog I have). It was shortly after this that we again encountered the passing looney we'd met earlier. He was now munching on a Cornish pasty and on seeing us he beamed and loudly announced that he's told us that he was hungry.

Over lunch I watched last night's episode of "You, Me and the Apocalypse"; the series started well and has had some interesting plot twists but it seems now to be in danger of not actually going anywhere. And with lunch scoffed I had a little look at my C.V. Once I seemed to do nothing but constantly re-write it to no avail.

I then re-vamped my LinkedIn profile. I can't help but wonder if anyone actually looks at those things but I suppose it can't help to have the thing up to date. If anyone would care to give it the once-over I'd be grateful for any comments or suggestions.

Over a rather late dinner we watched last Saturday's episode of Doctor Who. It was rather good...