28 May 2019 (Tuesday) - This n That

Over brekkie I watched the second episode of “Bonding” which featured the actress who played “Janet” in “The Good Place”. It was a rather good episode. Netflix is certainly worth eight quid a month. And now that “Game of Thrones” has finished I find myself asking what I get from Sky for forty quid a month that I wouldn’t get from a Freeview box.

I’m also hearing good things about “Now TV”. I shall wait for the upcoming family wedding to pass, then I will seriously review my telly provision.

I then sparked up my lap-top to have a quick look-see at the Internet. Someone with whom I used to work had been in Edinburgh over the weekend taking part in the marathon there. Since he’s taken up running he’s lost weight to the point of appearing quite gaunt. Bearing in mind I probably cover more distances on my walks than he does on his runs… perhaps I might walk a tad faster?

I sent out a birthday wish to a friend.

And with no emails at all I got ready for work.

I finally found where I'd left my car. It had rained overnight, so that went some way to washing the smears off of the windscreen.  Sooner or later I was going to have to do something about that.

Navigating the (hopefully) temporary traffic lights at the bottom of the road I was soon on my way to Pembury. As I drove there was all sorts of drivel on the radio about last week's elections for the European Parliament and their implications for the upcoming Brexit negotiations. It was something of a shame that no one having anything new to say on the matter didn't stop people wittering on ad-nauseum about it. They even wheeled on some religious-type who tried to claim that Brexit was God's will; likening the European Union to the Tower of Babel.

 The pundits on the radio also interviewed Diane Abbott who (again) came over as a very good reason *not* to vote for the Labour party, and with the announcement that there are now a dozen people itching to take over as Prime Minister I was glad to get to work and turn the radio off.

I did what I couldn't avoid at work. At a tea break I saw the news that one of our favourite pubs to visit when walking has had the thumbs-down from the health inspectors. And somewhere we visited (and I felt was one of the most pretentious pubs ever)  has been billed as the best pub in Kent.

I also saw that there's going to be a "Gavin and Stacey" Christmas special. I hope that doesn't turn out to be a disappointment...

Having made rather good time coming home I thought I might spend a few minutes getting petrol. I got to the petrol station, put the nozzle into the hole, squeezed the trigger… and nothing happened. Looking round the forecourt nothing was happening for anyone else. Then I saw all the people in the kiosk banging on the door.

One of the Sainsbury’s staff arrived. There had been a power cut. We couldn’t get petrol; those that had just got petrol couldn’t pay for it, and couldn’t get out of the kiosk either.

I came home.

"er indoors ^TM" boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we washed down with a bottle of white wine. It has to be said that the wine was “a tad bleugh”, but wine so often is. As we guzzled we watched this evening’s episode of “Bake Off”. I didn’t guess the winners, but I certainly predicted the loser.

I do hope those dogs let me sleep tonight…

27 May 2019 (Monday) - Bank Holiday Early Shift

Despite a rather strenuous day yesterday I didn't sleep that well last night.  With all three dogs on the bed, space was at something of a premium. I finally managed to roll Fudge into a position so that I too could have some space, only to see that the alarm was about to go off. I got up and as I staggered to the bathroom I saw the freezer door was ajar. I thumped it closed hoping "er indoors ^TM" wouldn't notice. I hadn't left it open, but as this was something for which the dogs weren't responsible, I would get the blame.

I made some brekkie, and scoffed it whilst watching the latest thing on Netflilx. Bonding is about an American psychiatry student who makes money as a dominatrix, and who has dragooned her gay friend in to being her (unwilling) associate. The first episode seemed entertaining enough.

As I drove to work the pundits on the radio were discussing the results of last week's elections to the European parliament (which had been announced overnight).

For all that it is being seen as gauging the nation's opinion on Brexit, there was no clear message from the result. Nigel Farage's Brexit party would seem to have won most of the seats that were available for the United Kingdom in the European Parliament. But they only won because of the "first past the post" way in which the election was run. With UKIP dead on its arse, the Nigel Farage show was effectively the only pro-Brexit party. There were four different parties which were actively pro-remain. Together they polled more votes, but the votes were spread between them, and so no individual party could beat the Nigel Farage show. (Both the Conservative and Labour votes had collapsed into insignificance).

Mind you the (so-called) winning pro-Brexit party only got thirty-five percent of the vote. And the (so-called) losing pro-remain parties together only raked in forty per cent. So there is no really clear majority for or against Brexit. Especially when you bear in mind that less than forty per cent of the electorate could be bothered to get off their arses and waddle up to the polling stations anyway.

Those presenting the morning news wheeled on Nigel Farage for an interview. He came over as magnanimous in victory. He seemed quite reasonable in what he was saying. Mind you he did evade any mention of any policies other than sending them all back on the next banana boat. Mainly because sending them all back on the next banana boat really is his only policy. He hasn't got any others. And (clearly) for a large part of the electorate, he doesn't need any others.

Personally I feel that the public should watch him very closely, and should read more history. The Brexit Party *isn't* a political party. It is a cult woven around one person. Look at all the *really bad* leaders that have plagued human history. They all seemed to be rather charismatic and appealing when they first rose to power.

I got to work and did my bit as one does. And after a surprisingly strenuous early shift I came home to find "er indoors ^TM" wasn’t happy. She couldn’t find the peg bag. She’d spent hours looking for it. In retrospect I did myself no favours by finding it in less than a minute.

"er indoors ^TM" then vanished off on a mission to Margate to do "Daddy’s Little Angel ^TM"’s bidding. As the dogs snored I looked at the household accounts. As I’ve said a few times over the last couple of years, I’m far better off than I have been, but I would like to have *lots* more money.

I then watched Friday’s episode of “Jamestown” in which Jocelyn’s bosom was something of a disappointment.

"er indoors ^TM" returned, and shortly after "My Boy ^TM" came to visit. He’s got a new hat. I’m reliably informed that he paid a fiver for this hat. I think he was over-charged. One day I will be old enough to wear a hat like that…

26 May 2019 (Sunday) - Ardingly

I think I slept well. I had a vague recollection of one dog standing on my head overnight. Mind you I did wake to find that "er indoors ^TM", Treacle and Pogo had all decamped to the attic bedroom. Something must have kicked off overnight.

As I looked at Facebook over brekkie I couldn’t believe my eyes. Some bloke in Ashford was having a new kitchen fitted. He was offering the handles from the old units up for sale. For ten quid. Ten quid?!  I would have chucked them straight into the bin. If anyone *really* wanted them I would have given them away. Mind you I suppose he’s lost nothing by advertising the stuff, and stands to gain a tenner.

I also saw I’d missed quite a few events yesterday. If I’d realised that yesterday wasn’t going to be quite so dull I could have re-arranged my working schedule. “Access All Areas” had been playing at Lyminge yesterday. There had been mutterings about this some months ago, but I’d forgotten all about it.

There had also been what looked like a rather fun duck race organised by the Sussex geocachers yesterday. I’d completely missed that. Perhaps I’m being paranoid, but it seems to me that more and more these days the social side of geocaching is becoming a rather closely-guarded secret. Yesterday’s duck race. Two giga-events in Germany recently… I’m feeling rather left out.

"er indoors ^TM" and I got the dogs together, and we set off to Ardingly. I would have gone via the motorway, but "er indoors ^TM" said to take the direct route. Fifteen minutes longer, but fifteen miles shorter. We got to Ardingly to find that Karl and Tracey were already in the car park. But no Charlotte. She was feeling under the weather. It was a shame she wasn’t along – she has a way with the dogs. Dog-wrangling is always a large part of our weekend walks.

Talking of the dogs – they were rather well behaved today (if we gloss over whichever one had the stinky bum). Treacle had her trademark huge stick, and Pogo only barked at one other dog. He was really good with the sheep and horses. Mind you there was a bit of an episode by Ardingly reservoir. One of the normal people was trying to keep their dog away from ours as it had just had a fight with another dog. Having come off worst in the tussle, Fudge then porked him. That can’t have done much for the poor mutt’s self-esteem.

As we walked we saw pigs and buzzards, and the largest herd of wild deer I think I’ve ever seen. There must have been over fifty of them. We also saw *loads* of scarecrows in Ardingly. I think they were having some sort of scarecrow festival?

As usual our route was dictated by the local geocaches. We did three separate loops of caches and picked up a few odd ones that were on our way. We found all but one of our targets; the one we didn’t find mentioned about being hidden in ivy. We didn’t find an ivy-covered tree. We found a freshly-cut stump.

But those we did find were all in good repair. Mind you… we found thirty-eight and they were rather spaced out. There was probably space for ninety. But I’m not complaining; we had a rather good walk of fourteen miles today. I took quite a few photos.

It was only a shame that Pogo was sick on the way home…