27 July 2019 (Thursday) - Hemsted Forest

It’s no secret that I work odd hours. What with working this coming weekend, today is my Saturday. I had planned to go fishing, but "My Boy ^TM" was working today. I did think about a road trip to south Wales to find a particular geocache, but I couldn’t find anyone who was free to go on the adventure.

As I scoffed toast I peered into the Internet. It was much the same as it was last night. Not much had changed. There was a new geocache which had gone live a couple of miles from where I was planning on walking the dogs this morning. I *could* have gone running out to chase the First to Find, but I decided not to do so. I got one of those on Tuesday. Someone else can have the opportunity to keep their streak going.

I got the dogs organised and we drove out to Hemsted Forest near Cranbrook. There is a rather large forestry commission wood there which I thought might make for a good dog walk. We followed the well-marked footpaths, and as we went we met a few other dog walkers. One day I will go for a walk and *not* be asked what breed Treacle and Pogo are.

As we walked we met one nice lady who had half a dozen dogs in tow. We exchanged pleasantries and they went their way and we went ours. Two minutes later we encountered a rather harassed looking old battleaxe who was hurrying down the path. “Oh”, she exclaimed while looking at my wolf pack. “She didn’t take your dogs then?”. This old battleaxe then went off on a rant about the last woman we’d met. This one walks round the woods every day and (apparently) all the dogs in the woods leave their own group and follow her. The battleaxe then hurried off down the path screaming “will you b… well stop walking and give me back my dog you silly old….!!!!.”.

Realising I’d had a narrow escape we went off in the other direction.

I took one or two photos as I walked.

Quite a few of our walks are guided by geocaches. Today’s was no exception. There are two geocaches in Hemsted Forest. One has been there for thirteen years, one for a few weeks. The old one is in a bit of a state; the new one was twenty yards from where the GPS would have you think it should be. It struck me as odd that there were so few; if I lived closer I would put out a series of geocaches in those woods. There is probably space for about thirty or more. You would have thought that someone would have put some caches there.

Perhaps I might do so… it isn’t *that* far out of my way when I am working at Pembury. But I have already put out over fifty of the things this year. Is it *that* unreasonable to think that others might like to get involved in shoving film pots under rocks?

We came home; I hung out washing and put more in to scrub. With lunch scoffed I set about the monthly accounts. They are a whole lot better than they were a few short years ago, but still nowhere near what I’d like them to be. Is it *that* unreasonable to want to have far too much money?

As I looked at my accounts my phone rang. It was the local hospital who wanted to arrange my pre-surgical consultation for my nasal re-bore. I remarked to the chap on the phone that I was glad he called as I was about to put in a formal complaint about the matter. I’ve only been waiting for two and a half years for this surgery. He blathered a few platitudes, and I’ve got an appointment for a couple of weeks’ time.

With not much else to do, I spent the afternoon catching up on CPD before going to get the washing in. I then slept through heaven only knows what was on the UK Gold channel until "er indoors ^TM" came home.

Together we applied the monthly flea treatments to the dogs. Fudge isn’t overly bothered by it, but Treacle run in terror, and Pogo hides. You wouldn’t believe how well such a lump can hide himself. I wish I knew why – it doesn’t hurt.

We then had a rather good bit of dinner which we washed down with a bottle of plonk. Back in the day we seemingly lived off of German white wines; it was rather good.

As we scoffed and drank we watched another episode of “Junior Bake Off”. Another show in the “Bake Off” family; I quite like this one…

26 June 2019 (Wednesday) - Bit Tired

As I drove home from the night shift I listened to the news on the radio. I’ve not done this since before my holiday, and quite frankly I’ve missed nothing. I can remember when the latest Brexit delay was announced; at the time one of the leaders of the EU said that Britain should not fritter away the time, but should prepare for Brexit. But frittering of time is all that has happened.

Rather than having a quick transition of power from Mrs May to her successor, the Conservative party are taking an absolute age to do that which could realistically have been done in an afternoon. The blame for the entire Brexit debacle can fairly be laid at the feet of Boris Johnson, and having instigated the mess, he is the obvious person to clear it up.

So why waste over a month holding elections which could be had in an hour or so?

I came home, refereed a fight between Treacle and Pogo, and then took all three dogs round the park. Despite a lapse the other day, Pogo’s training seems to be back on track. As always when we walk, Fudge is the biggest problem. I can deal with Pogo’s episodes as they are usually close at hand. When Fudge blots his copybook he is usually over a hundred yards distant. Like he was this morning when he decided to declare his undying love of OrangeHead’s mate’s hound (as only a dog can)

With walk walked I locked the front door behind us, and we all went to the koi pond where there was a battle between the fish and the dogs as to who cold eat the most fish food.

I took myself off to bed and managed three hours asleep before waking.

Over a late brekkie I watched the last episode of “Celebrity SAS – Who Dares Wins” which was won by someone of whom I had never previously heard, and of whom I doubt I will ever hear again. Apparently the chap was a footballer?

As I watched telly my phone rang. It was the nice lady from the arse clinic. Last week when I had my appointment with them, they’d cut out whatever it was that they had found and had sent it off to the labs. Today they’d got the results back, and I had the all-clear. That was nice. It doesn’t explain the intermittent copious amounts of blood that I get down there from time to time; I asked about that, but the nice lady had her script, and the script said “all clear”.

I then put “Good Girls” on Netflix and did some ironing, then with ironing done I dozed in front of the telly until "er indoors ^TM" came home.

The day after a night shift is always rather dull…

25 June 2019 (Tuesday) - Before the Night Shift

I spent much of the night listening to "er indoors ^TM" telling Fudge off, but I’ve no idea what he did wrong. Perhaps I should have defended my little dog?

As I scoffed my toast I saw that nothing much had happened on Facebook overnight, and I’d not had any emails of note either. Some mornings the Internet can be fun; some mornings it is rather dull.

I got the leads on to the dogs, and with a little time on our hands we drove out to Hemsted Forest near Benenden. It was somewhere that we hadn’t walked before, and I thought it might make for a good stroll. We hadn’t been walking long when my phone pinged. A new series of geocaches had gone live not two miles from where we were. We all hurried back to the car and drove those two miles. We wandered down a little lane to where the dogs could roam free whilst I rummaged in a hedge for one of the new caches. I soon found what I wanted – I had the cache in hand and First to Find too.

There is great kudos in getting a First to Find. There is even greater kudos in having a streak of at least one FTF a month. But to have such a streak you only need one a month. You don’t need all of them. I *could* have cracked on and hunted out more, but the rest of that series will keep for another time when we can walk the route with company. Much as I like hunting out these things, I much prefer doing so with company.

We came home where some of us barked at the koi in the pond. From the way the dogs react at fish feeding time you’d think the pond was only there for their entertainment.

I put a load of washing in and watched last week’s episode of “Gentleman Jack” as I scoffed a sandwich, and then I had a message. Someone else had seen that new series of geocaches that went live this morning and obviously had the hump that they didn’t get all the First to Finds for themselves. That someone else is a person who has made snarky comments about me before. Perhaps I’m over-sensitive, but it seems that no mater what I do in life there is always someone trying to turn it into an argument.

I took myself off to bed for the afternoon; I managed a couple of hours asleep.

"er indoors ^TM" boiled up a rather good bit of dinner.

I really should set off for the night shift; the motorway is closing for the night soon…