28 July 2020 (Tuesday) - Bit Dull

I slept better than last night – the duvet-sucking dog (I think it was Pogo this time) didn’t start noisily slurping until nearly getting-up time.

I made toast and peered into the internet.to see what had happened overnight. The new series of geocaches that went live yesterday evening had all been found. Some of them in the dark. Personally I like a pleasant walk in the countryside enjoying the views. Others like to dash from one film pot under a rock to the next at breakneck speed, actually risking breaking their necks in the dark. Each to their own, I suppose.

I saw that some of my geocaches that I archived last October had been found yesterday – a nice trick if you can do it(!) I sent out some birthday wishes, then "er indoors ^TM" and I took the dogs down to Ham Street to put the final touches to the last bit of the planning for the ongoing Greensand Way geo-project.

As we crossed the footbridge at Ham Street railway station some people who looked incredibly familiar waved to me from the opposite platform. There were two people there; both smiled. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I hope they don’t think I was being rude. I’m sure I know them, but I didn’t recognise them at all.

We had a good walk through the woods. The dogs didn’t disappear for that long really. Pogo did start shouting at a passing dog (I think that was a “lead” thing) and Fudge did try to play “dog piggy back” with a Labrador ten times his size, but other than that, the walk went well.

Once home I popped to the corner shop for a sandwich for later and croissants for brekkie. This was the first time out for my now-legally-compulsory face covering.

What a shambles.

I had mine on. The other people in the shop had theirs hanging from their ears and covering all sorts of parts of their anatomies except those through which they breathe. And the woman behind the counter didn’t have one on at all.

We had coffee and croissants, and I carried on geo-jigsaw-puzzling. I spent an hour and a half on it last night, and another two hours this morning. I hope the film pot I shall find under a rock will be worth it.

And that was it for today really. I went to work, did my bit and came home again…

Today was rather dull…

27 July 2020 (Monday) - Back to Work

After something of a restless night I came downstairs and nearly trod in a pile of sicked-up swede. One of the dogs had scoffed far too much of the stuff last night.

Over a bowl of granola I watched the first episode of the new series of “The Young Offenders” (which was rather good) then had a quick look at the Internet. Yesterday I’d identified an issue with my GPS unit. I’d asked a question on one of the Facebook groups, and this morning I had one or two suggestions as to how I might sort it out.

I saw I had over seventy “Found it” logs on geocaches that I’d hidden. People seem to be enjoying the walks I’ve set. And with nothing else of note happening on-line I got ready for work.

As I drove to work the pundits on the radio were spouting their usual drivel. Today they were interviewing one of the Hairy Bikers about the government's initiative to combat obesity. As a porker myself I take offence at this sort of initiative.  Anyone following this blog will know how much I walk. I don't sit on my arse 24/7 like some people half my size. I don't choose to be fat. I have tried every diet known to science, and I've found that the only way for me to lose weight is to be constantly hungry.

Perhaps it will come to that?

There was also some talk of the Mars 2020 mission, and talk of plans to return some Martian rocks to Earth. They could have done with more talk of that and less talk of victimising the overweight.

The "Thought For The Day" bit made me wonder what goes through some people's heads. Some bishop was talking about how a youth had been murdered with an ice-pick. Apparently the mother of this youth saw this as strengthening her faith in God. Can you believe it? Having your child murdered makes you more sure in your belief?  This woman apparently claimed that "God is all I have left". Personally I'd rather not have a God that allowed a child to be killed with an ice-pick, but what do I know?

The roads were rather busy this morning; far more so than they have been for months. Finding myself snarled up on the slip road coming off of the motorway I suddenly remembered why I usually get to work so early.

I got to work, and despite going back after a week off, I had a good day. A few short years ago I used to feel sick at the thought of going to work, but those days are long past.

Perhaps the day was helped by being rather rainy; when it is pouring down outside I don't feel I am missing anything.

Once home I saw I had a pressie. Jose had got me the micro-blocks grand piano. Micro-blocks is like Lego, but each piece is about a quarter of the size of it’s corresponding Lego piece. Making it was fun, but it was a serious challenge. I had to have the zoom function on my phone’s camera at x4 magnification so I could see what was going on.

I would like to get the Lego grand piano. With over three thousand pieces the thing works, and you can program it to play music using an app on your mobile phone. It is released this weekend and only costs three hundred quid….

26 July 2020 (Sunday) - The Grrensand Way (Kingsnorth)

I got up, fed laundry to the washing machine, made toast and had a look at the Internet. I had an email from the nice lady at Natural England. She had refused permission for me to hide geocaches in Orlestone Woods because it is a site of special scientific interest (SSSI). I asked her what an SSSI is all about, but she seemed utterly unable to answer. She couldn’t deny that it is demonstrably quite acceptable for the scouts to ransack the place to build camps and shelters, or that there is no problem with the local chavs zooming round on their motorbikes destroying the undergrowth. Similarly the Forestry England people fly round the tracks in their vehicles doing untold damage to the place. Commercial companies come along and chop down the trees indiscriminately.

But I can’t stick a film pot under a rock there?

I did see that Gordon had created a series of puzzle geocaches not too far away. As I scoffed toast I puzzled over them. Within an hour I had either solved them or figured out how to solve them; those unsolved will keep me out of mischief over the next few days.

We got the leads onto the wolf-pack and took them out.  "er indoors ^TM" was keen to finish getting the geocaches along her stretch of the Greensand Way sorted. Being a linear route makes things particularly tricky, but having walked up from Ham Street to a randomly selected half-way point (and back again) on Friday, we walked from down from Kingsnorth to that randomly selected point (and back again) today. It was as well we did go there and back again on both instances; the Greensand Way as marked on Ordnance Survey maps is at odds with reality. It would seem to have been diverted following the building of the A2070 thirty years ago, but the maps don’t seem to have been updated. We felt it better to follow the Greensand Way as it is signposted rather than as it appears on Ordnance Survey maps. Not everyone uses Ordnance Survey maps, and once the geocache series goes live (in a little while) there will be those who will be only too quick to find fault.

We had a good walk; but whilst the route was very well marked and clear to follow, for a formally recognised national long-distance path the stretch we’ve been working on doesn’t seem to be walked that often. There was one bit where the path goes past someone’s house where we might have issues – there was a home-made sign about the dangers of coronavirus and a warning of naturists. I was looking forward to the photos to come until we met the chap who’d posted them. We commented on what a pretty garden he had; he didn’t actually say “f… off fatso” but that was his sentiment.

I took a few photos as we walked. Once home we had a rather pleasant little afternoon sitting in the garden. Reading my Kindle, drinking Lithuanian lager, eating Spanish crisps, occasionally barking at the neighbours, having a little doze. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

I solved a geo-word-search, then "er indoors ^TM" boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching an episode of “Taskmaster”. I set the washing machine loose on my smalls, then started on geo-jigsaws.

I wonder if my undercrackers will be scrubbed by bed time…