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1 April 2010 (Thursday) - April Fool's Day
Bearing
in mind the date, over a bit of brekkie I changed
my Facebook status to read “Manky Badger can't believe he's going to be a
grandfather”. I left this bit of bait up for an hour or so, but was
disappointed at the lack of response – I was hoping for more. However at
least one relative would seem to have been taken in. I’m wondering how long
it will be before my mother is on the warpath. I then
took the opportunity to empty out my letters rack. I really should do that
more often. I found all sorts of offers and money off vouchers which expired
yesterday. And so to
work , where I spent much of the day in a reflective mood. Last night I went
to what I fully expected to be a very boring talk at the arky-ologee
club. I was wrong. The subject was dull enough – a computer program to index
all the sites of historical interest in the county. But the chap giving the
talk brought the topic to life. He was keen, enthusiastic, and had a very
good PowerPoint presentation to illustrate his lecture. I couldn’t help but
compare his talk to the one on the Knights Templar a year or so ago – a
fascinating subject killed stone-dead by the world’s most boring speaker who
refused to use any kind of visual aid because it would distract the audience from
what he was saying. Some of
the talks at the club have been good – Joey on her Roman excavations, the
love lives of King William and Admiral Nelson spring to mind. But they are
more than outweighed by the dull talks. I slept though the drone on the River
Wantsum, the origin of village signs was anathema,
and I still scream whenever anyone mentions Bethersden
Marble. I’ve been
thinking about the arky-ologee club all day, and on
reflection I think it’s fair to say that I’ve come to expect that all the talks
are going to be boring. But there will be the occasional one that is good.
And it is the chance of getting an interesting talk that makes it worth the
expectation of getting something dull. Perhaps
if the meetings started with a snappy introduction rather than with a
confused rambling, and perhaps if we had one or two minor speakers giving
five minute presentations on topics of current interest to supplement the
main talk, and perhaps if the speakers used PowerPoint rather than being
boring then maybe the club might take off. But at the moment I find myself
comparing it with the astronomy club. There are so many details I could pick
up on, but I suppose the bottom line is that I would recommend people join
the astro club. In all honesty I can’t say the same
for the arky-ologee club. Which is a shame. |
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2 April 2010 (Good Friday) - On
the Beer
It has
become something of a tradition to go to the Chambers bar beer festival on
Good Friday, and this year was no exception. I can remember there being
fourteen in our party at one stage, and I see from my tasting notes that I
had some of all the beers that were on offer, and that "Spring
Cottage Biscuit Ale" tasted of cat's tiddle.
I see from my photos that rabbit ears were the order of the day, and that we
were in at least two pubs that I don’t remember. I can
only assume we had a good time – it’s all incredibly vague. |
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3 April 2010 (Saturday) - New
Doctor Who
I have
felt better than when I woke up this morning. But I wasn’t as bad as “My
Boy TM ”, who was staggering round the house, asking
if anyone knew what time he got home last night because he couldn’t remember.
So I took the opportunity to claim the moral high ground, and got away with
lecturing him on the demon drink. After
wasting a bit of time in NeverWinter we set off to town where we met Martin
for lunch. Martin’s been singing the praises of The Gorge for some time, and
today we went there. I had the all day breakfast, and struggled to eat it
all. Definitely somewhere to go back to. And then
to the Pound Shop – our solar powered garden lights have finally given up. At
99p each, they’d lasted for over a year, so I can’t really complain. And then
home to mow the lawn and install the new lights. Whilst pottering about in
the garden I finally rigged up a water feature that I bought last year. It
works fine, and looks good with my other seven water features. I then fed the
Koi – they are now really tame. Not only do they take food from my hand, but
they let me stroke them too. At one point “My Boy TM ”
felt he had to point out to me that they are fish, and not dogs. We had
curry for tea – left over from last night. I am reliably informed we went for
a curry last night, and seeing as I didn’t eat all of mine, I brought it home
in a bag for later. It’s amazing what one misses when one doesn’t pay
attention. And as we scoffed we watched Doctor Who. I must
admit I’ve been getting very fed up with hearing from so many people that
it’s not going to be the same without David Tennant, and how people aren’t
going to watch it any more because David Tennant’s not going to be in it.
Surely that is the whole point of the program – that the leading actor
changes every so often. The first time the actor playing the Doctor changed
that I can remember was when Jon Pertwee was
replaced by Tom Baker. I wasn’t sure what I’d make of the new chap, but
within minutes I was hooked. This was exactly my reaction a few years later
when Peter Davidson stepped up, and so on. I’ve now seen the leading
character change eight times (I’m not old enough to remember the first two
changes) and it has always been a change for the better. I think
Matt Smith is brilliant. If you’ve not seen the episode yet, do watch it.
You’ll love it. |
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4 April 2010 (Sunday) - Smarden Duck Race
I have a
pair of walking boots which I use maybe half a dozen times each year. I get
more use from the boots whilst looking for them than I ever do from walking
about in them. I spent an hour trying to find the things this morning. They
eventually turned up where I left them last time. “My
Boy TM ” then emerged from his pit and gave me half
a bag of chocolate éclairs. Not because it’s Easter, but because he’s lost a
filling to one of them, and didn’t want the rest. But I’m not proud, and I
set about scoffing the things. Apparently his plan to become self-sufficient
in vegetables is well under way. He’s dug over his friend’s garden, and is
wondering what to plant. I’ve suggested it’s less effort to go to Tescos to buy vegetables, especially seeing how he don’t
eat his veg anyway. But what do I know… And so to
Smarden where fifteen of us met up at the farm, and
walked into the village to join with the crowds massing at the Flying Horse. We
bought our quacking duck beaks and then (following a crafty pint) made
our way to the river to await the start of the duck race. Eight hundred
plastic ducks were chucked into the river, and the first one to reach the
village bridge would be the winner. Whilst my duck wasn’t actually the last
to finish, it was in last place at one point, and certainly was in the last
half-dozen. Pausing only briefly to demand a re-race, we popped back to the
pub for a medicinal half to calm our nerves, then made our way back to the
farm for a barby. Food
scoffed, we then wandered round the lakes, and took a moral stance with some
real live ducks that were getting over-amorous. And then
I wasted an hour trying to get photographs of the day onto Facebook.
Sometimes the photo uploader just doesn’t want to
work. And then we sat down to catch up on “Flash Forward”. We were
three episodes behind – we watched the lot and I stayed awake too…. |
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5 April 2010 (Easter Monday) -
Lazy Day
Up early
to waste some time in NeverWinter before the in-laws visited. It’s years
since they’ve been over – in the meantime one way street systems have been
introduced, to say nothing of the bollards blocking our road to all but
emergency vehicles. We had a phone call to say they were on the wrong side of
the bollards, and it took them twenty minutes to navigate a course round. It
was good to see the relatives, and I spent an hour or so in the garden
supervising nephews playing “kiss chase for fish”; a strange game
which involves running up and down the garden a lot. They left
sooner than expected, and I was tempted to go to the Pheasant’s family fun
afternoon, but knowing what I’m like, I wouldn’t have got out of the pub for
less than thirty quid. Perhaps we should have visited the Kite Weekenders who
were having a long weekend at Brenzett, but it was
quite cold this afternoon. Having had quite an eventful Easter so far, I
decided a peaceful afternoon wouldn’t be such a bad thing. So I dozed in
front of SpongeBob, Tom Baker & Cybermen, and
Fagin and the Artful Dodger. After a bit of tea we then watched Star Trek
and I don’t
often watch the telly. Today I reminded myself why… |
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6 April 2010 (Tuesday) - Problems,
Problems...
As I
checked my emails over a bite of brekkie I saw I
had an invite to join a Facebook group. Specifically the Avon Kite Fliers
group. I fly a kite maybe six times a year, and I live in Given
that you are a member of a club or group, then having your own Facebook group
makes sense. But joining someone else’s group just because somebody you
vaguely know once met someone else who mentioned the thing in passing… I
don’t see that. The same
person who asked me to join Avon Kite Flyers also invited me to a kite flying
event in Derbyshire. Surely one person can’t be actively involved with events
in both I'd
arranged to do a late shift today as the surveyor was coming to look at the
hole in my ceiling. He said he'd arrive at 10am - I suppose 10.45 isn't that
late. He had a poke and a prod, sucked air in noisily as builders do, and
then told me what I probably already knew. The old
flat roof above the bedroom window is knacked - over the years the leading
and the zinc flashings have had it. That's wear and tear & is down to us
to fix. He says that bodging it with a coat of waterproofer
is just bodging, and will last a year at most. Which is what we've found in
the past. It needs
doing properly, we will have to get a builder to sort it out, and it will
cost us about £600. The internal damage is covered by the insurance, and they
will send us a cheque for what they reckon it will cost to fix, but we still
need to find a builder who will do the work. It’s been my experience that for
all the talk of recession and credit crunch, most tradesmen don’t seem to
want work. In the past I’ve struggled to find builders, plumbers and
electricians. They don’t answer phones, they don’t keep appointments, they
even say outright that they don’t want to do jobs around the house. The
surveyor suggested we ask the local builder’s merchants to see who they might
recommend. I might just do that. And then
to add to my worries, on the way to work the car gave a beep, and a message
came up to change the oil. The chodbin is still
problematical, and the PC is whirring like it’s drilling for oil. Who’d be
me…? |
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7 April 2010 (Wednesday) -
Politics
In what I
can only imagine being a fit of jealousy aimed at my car’s oil level, my iffy
chodbin, my leaking roof or my noisy PC (or any
combination of these), the pond filter has joined my list of problems by
blocking up. At least
that is one problem which is easily solved. It might smell a bit, but fish
poo washes off (eventually). I see the
Prime Minister has chosen the date for the general election. I suppose I
should apply for a postal vote. But who would get my postal vote? When I was
coming up to voting age the country was on the brink of collapse through a
Labour government powerless to deal with the unions. We all voted in Margaret
Thatcher who kicked the unions “squarr in
the nuts”, then kicked Johnny Foreigner out of the And so
things turned full circle. Labour in power – this time the Tories were in
disarray, and they adopted Labour policies. And so after eighteen years of
Labour copying Tory and thirteen years of Tory copying Labour we now find
ourselves with the two main parties all but indistinguishable from each
other. Effectively we have the choice of Salt & Vinegar or Cheese &
Onion crisps. Monster Munch or Hula Hoops aren’t an option. Who will
I vote for? I made up my mind when I heard that Brian Blessed was standing
for Parliament. I decided that I’d vote for whichever bunch he was standing
for. But it turns out I was misinformed – Mr B wouldn’t seem to be standing
for election after all. Having
had a look on Wikipedia to see what
choices I’ve got, I’m rather of the opinion that it will make no
difference who I vote for, since the current MP has got half the vote
already. It will take a swing of twenty five per cent to shift him, and I
can’t see that happening. I might
just show my disgust for the whole thing by wasting my vote on the Liberal
Democrats or someone else that frankly hasn’t a hope. It wouldn’t be the
first time I’ve done that… |
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8 April 2010 (Thursday) - More of
the Same
There’s
nothing like a bit of racism to stir up the votes when an election is in the
offing, and the Prime Minister is under fire because apparently during the
tenure of the government, 97%
of all new jobs have gone to immigrant workers. The figure might
be true, it might not. Either way it will cause discontent and swing some
voters one way or the other. All I have to offer on the subject is a question
based on my own experiences. Given that one has a job vacancy (or lots of
them) which has been advertised nationally on several occasions and not a
single Meanwhile
matters of actual importance – animals
that live without oxygen and the discovery of a missing
link in human evolution have gone unnoticed. I came
home to find I’ve had an email from Jesus. That was nice. It had an
attachment which my anti-virus didn’t like, so I suspect it wasn’t the real
Jesus. Su Wu
also emailed me – she was offering “hotter in bed with ease”.However, the way my back’s been
lately, I suspect she’ll be disappointed. I didn’t even bother with the
scamming emails trying to tell me I was entitled to a tax refund. But I did
get the email about my having a postal vote for the election. Despite still
not having the faintest idea who I’m going to vote for, I’ve applied for a
postal vote. If only to see how the thing works. And then
the roofing man came round. He brought some kiddies who helped me feed the
Koi, and then he had a look at the roof and said he’ll be in touch soon to
come and do the job. On the one hand I feel quite relieved that one problem
looks solvable, on the other hand, the Sky Plus box is playing up… |
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9 April 2010 (Friday) - The Wanderer Returns
Whilst pootling in the kitchen last night I heard the sound of
the toilet flushing, I’ve been chucking buckets of water down it for the last
week to get rid of what I’ve put in there. But “My Boy TM ”
has been using the flush. Apparently if you over-rev the cistern, it flushes.
It’s taken me a while to get the knack, but I can do it. Or that is, I could
do it last night. The infernal thing wasn’t having any of it this morning.
Back to flushing with buckets of water. An
eventful day at work – first off Science told me that he has invented the AC/DC
chicken. Surely Science must have better things to do with his time.
And then I entered the work’s Grand National sweepstake. Regular readers of
this drivel may recall that I do this every year, and am usually saddled with
a 100:1 three legged blind rank outsider. But last year my horse (Sad Ken)
came in third place and I won a fiver. This year I have a 14:1 shot – horse
#17 named “Backstage”. Fingers crossed – it might pay for the repairs
to the chodbin. I hope my
loyal readership will forgive me if I appear to get a bit soppy…. In May 1993
I was in a small way associated with the formation of a sci-fi fan club. Over
the years the group has grown and shrunk and changed, and members have
dispersed to the four corners of the world and returned. We’ve laughed and
cried together, got married, had babies, even buried one, and despite the
fact that so many of us now rarely actually see each other these days, thanks
to the wonder that is the Internet we still all (mostly) keep in
touch. Tonight a
wanderer returned. I’ve not seen him for over ten years. Once “Little
Steve”, nowadays he’s in the running for the title of “Big Big Steve”. He’s in the middle on the left hand
photo. We once named a Guinea Pig after him because of the haircut. We
couldn’t do that nowadays (!) And he’s moving back from A shame I
have to work tomorrow – we only had three pints together this evening... |
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10 April 2010 (Saturday) - Busying
About...
I had to
work this morning, so I thought I’d treat myself to a fry-up at the hospital
canteen. When I arrived I was told it was closed. I asked the happy cheerful
soul behind the counter when they opened. It grunted and pointed at an
obscure sign before walking off, leaving the food drying out for a further
ten minutes before deigning to come back to splat some out for me. Many years
ago when I worked in catering, we were told that when preparing a meal, presentation
is all. No one had imparted this information to the works canteen. It was all
thrown on the plate, with baked beans poured over the top like gravy. And they
wonder why the place doesn’t make the money it used to… Work was
dull, and due to a totally predicable I.T. crisis I was over an hour late
getting home. I was rather miffed about this, as ‘er
indoors TM was flogging candles at a psychic fair,
and I wanted to go. I do like the psychic fairs – they are so dreadful they
are hilarious. Let’s be honest – if the psychics were actually any good they
would know in advance that absolutely no one would be going to the things. Instead I
came home, scoffed a quick sandwich, and then I did some bike maintenance. We
bought a bike for a friend in January, and spent three months getting round
to finishing putting the thing together. This afternoon I got it done. Let’s
hope it doesn’t fall apart when it’s put to use next week. Once the lawn was
mowed I spent more time fiddling with the pond. The fountain attachment in
the middle wasn’t pumping as vigorously as it might have been so I took it
apart, gave it a good clean, rebuilt it and then thoroughly soaked myself.
It’s working now, and despite a whole load of commotion going on in the pond,
the fish were still swarming round me trying to get food. I wasted
a few minutes doing something I meant to do some weeks ago. Last year we
cycled to several pubs, and each time I put up a route and map onto a certain
bit of the Internet to which I am very grateful to have access. I finally got
round to indexing the lot and making a mini-web site
of cycle routes. Having dusted off the bikes, I intend to start
gently next weekend with a trip to Shadoxhurst – look it up on the web site.
Having said “start gently”, it won’t be that gently as the route takes
us up Singleton Hill. Whilst
planning for the summer, I discovered there’s all sorts of things planned up
at Kings
Wood. I suspect I may well be going to one or two of these over the
next few months… And then
I spent the evening fishing with “My Boy TM ”.
Must do it more often. I gave up when darkness fell, and left him to it. I
came home to watch Doctor Who on the BBC i-player.
A good episode – I like Matt Smith, but he is very much doing a “David
Tennant” impression, and David Tennant was in retrospect doing a
Christopher Eccleston impression. A shame they
didn’t create a whole new persona for each new incarnation like they did
originally… |
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11 April 2010 (Sunday) - More
Fishing
Despite
not actually catching anything yesterday evening, I really enjoyed the
fishing. Just as I was going to kip last night I had a text from the lake to
say that a fish had been caught, and asking if I’d be back in the morning. So
I made up my patented custard paste bait and put it in the fridge overnight.
I had this plan to get in an hour’s fishing before the rest of the stuff I
had planned for the day and, as always when I have something planned I didn’t
sleep well. At 4.30am I gave up trying to sleep and got up. I was at the pond
for 5.15am only to find everyone fast asleep in their bivvies. I feel a
word of explanation is in order here. A “bivvy”
to the uninitiated looks like a tent, seems like a tent, and to all intents
and purposes is a tent. But in piscatorial circles, to suggest that an angler
would sleep in a tent is fighting talk. Real men have “bivvies”.
There’s a photo of a “bivvy” on yesterday’s
blog entry – I think it looks like a tent. So
finding “My Boy TM ” snoring in his bivvy, I decided to set up quietly without disturbing
anyone. Have you ever tried tying a hook in the dark? It’s not easy, but I
managed it in less than fifteen minutes. And then
excitement – one of the bite alarms screamed. And screamed. It was apparent
that the first fruit of my loin was fast asleep, so I decided I’d deal with
the fish we were catching. I picked the rod up, struck, and immediately got
the biggest tangle of line you ever did see. The mechanisms of fishing reels
have changed since I was a lad. I thought I’d better tidy up the mess before
I got told off for interfering, and despite getting more line all over the
place, after ten minutes I eventually sorted out the knots I’d created. I
hoped that if I reeled the rod in, re-baited and cast out again before I got
caught, he’d never know what I’d done. Whilst
reeling in, the end tackle seemed a bit heavy. And then it seemed to be
pulling away from me a bit. And then the rod bent double – despite my
spending an age mucking about un-knotting the mess I’d made, the fish was
still on. It was at this point that a voice emerged from the sleeping bag
asking what I was doing up so early. “Catching a fish” I replied. The
monster pictured above (photo taken at 6.15am) is a catfish. Weighing
nine and a half pounds, it’s the biggest fish I’ve ever caught. And it is (so
far) the only fish I’ve ever caught to have poo-ed on me. Catfish are
slippery things – trying to get a grip on it was tricky to say the least. It
was like trying to grab hold of a huge wriggling bar of soap. Needless to
say, “himself” then caught one which was just over double the size of
my one. I gave it
until 7.30am, and then came home for breakfast. A couple of rounds of toast
and an hour in Internet-land before getting on with the day’s round. It would
seem that today was Streatham Common’s kite festival. I can vaguely remember
mention of it, but from the kite forums it would seem that everyone else had
emails about the event. Perhaps I should check the kiting forums more often. Having
returned “Daddies Little Angel TM ” to where she
wanted to be for the day, we then went to the Chips for a ploughman’s for
lunch. Chip was having problems with a jubilee clip. I offered to mend it
with a hammer, but my offer of assistance wasn’t accepted, which was a shame. Once fed
we set off to the pond shop for Koi food. I’ve bought the cheap stuff because
it’s a third of the price of the stuff I bought last year. This year they
seem to be scoffing so well I hoped they would take the cheap stuff. They
didn’t seem too keen on it, but they will be when they get hungry enough… |
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12 April 2010 (Monday) - Mondays
are Always Dull... Up with
the lark and on with the laundry. Some things remain constant in an
ever-changing world. Today I specialised in socks. Putting the things into
pairs takes some doing. I am told that this was done over the weekend. It may
well have been; however this morning I found a living room strewn with socks,
and very little in the way of pairing done. I sorted out my own and chucked
the rest into the undercrackers basket; you can get
too much of a good thing. I had
half a plan to go fishing this evening, but “My Boy TM ”
had better things to do with his time. Which was a shame. I may well take up
fishing again – if nothing else it’s rather cheaper than drinking to excess
on a regular basis. And
then ‘er indoors TM went
off out and left me in charge of supervising the baking of the bread pudding.
A mistake, if ever there was one… I don’t
like Mondays – after an eventful weekend, Mondays are so dull… |
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13 April 2010 (Tuesday) Fish and
Chip
As
children at school, we all learn of Brownian motion (named
after the Scottish botanist Robert Brown): the seemingly random movement
of particles suspended in a fluid. The motion of dust seen in sunlight is a
good example of Brownian motion. As is the walking style of most of humanity.
Oh I get so wound up…. The next
time you are out in public, just watch the normal people. Not one is looking
where they are going: they all just blunder along, bouncing off of walls,
parked cars and each other. Every time I’m in a hurry, the world is awash
with these people; pootling along, walking into all
and sundry without a care in the world. If people had to take walking tests
in the same way they do driving tests, I am sure that 99% of the human race
would be grounded. Something
else which wound me up today was an employment tribunal which was called to
rule on a case of unlawful
sexual and racial discrimination. A single mother has successfully
sued the Army. Personally I’m under the impression that soldiers are ready to
defend Queen and country whenever and wherever required. And those with
families are able to leave their families behind to go soldiering. The Army
has gone on record taking the line that they are "unsuitable for a
single mother who couldn't sort out her childcare arrangements".
Personally I tend to agree. I wouldn’t dream of dragging my children into
work in a hospital, much less a battlefield. But as always I am in a
minority. Having
been given the heave-ho , a young mother has gone to an employment tribunal,
and the tribunal has found in favour of this single mother, who cannot fulfil
her military duties because of the need to look after her kiddy.
Said tribunal is now deliberating how much money she should be given in
compensation. How about
“none at all”, and charging her for wasting the Army’s time? And then
the Koi smiled to have their photos taken. But I think it’s probably fair to
say they were more interested in the food than the camera…. |
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14 April 2010 (Wednesday) - Roof
Fixed
I see
that yesterday’s blog piccy went up sideways. I wonder what that was all
about? Let’s hope that the blog software isn’t going west too. I had a look
at the hit tracking software this morning. As well as seeing who’s visited
from where in the world, it tells me what operating systems are being used,
and what browsers. And what key words people use in search engines to find
this blog. I’m reliably informed that one person found my blog by typing the
phrase “christopher eccleston
motorbike” into Google. I tried it myself, to no avail; but what do I
know? I then
spent a few minutes totting up my shopping bills this month. I make a point
of recording all my credit card purchases on an Excel spreadsheet. I know
that there are those who point and laugh ant me for doing this, but I find it
useful – it’s amazing what I find that I’ve forgotten that I’ve bought. Small
things add up. Take the last few days for example – on Sunday I bought a
memory stick from PC World and a tub of fish food. By this morning I’d no
memory of buying them, and they came to over fifty quid. And I’ve spent a
total of over sixty quid in Tesco’s this month in small amounts here and
there. It soon adds up. I need to
stop frittering away cash on little things – especially with various jobs
around the house I need to pay for. “Roof
Man” came today and re-felted the flat bit above the bay window. Whilst
it was cheaper than I was expecting it to be, I can’t help remember a
conversation I had at school (thirty five years ago) with one of the
teachers. I commented that my friends at the local secondary modern were
learning woodwork metalwork and useful stuff like that. We on the other hand
were learning Latin. Which would probably be useful if ever I wished to speak
to a dead Roman. But so far has never proved to have been a useful way to
have spent five years. The teacher at the time, one Mr Hooper, told me that
in years to come, as an An
admirable sentiment I’m sure, if you can afford to subscribe to that school
of thought. Whilst I’d rather pay someone to do the roof than do it myself,
it don’t come cheap. I can only suppose that Mr Hooper was prepared to pay
far more for his dignity than I am. With the outside now done, I’m inclined
to let the inside dry out and have a go at doing it myself…. |
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15 April 2010 (Thursday) - Stuff
Being on
a late start again, I had planned to do all sorts of things this morning,
including…. Well, I don’t know what I had in mind. Last night I had a mental
list of things I needed to do, and I can remember it being a rather long
list. I thought about writing it down, and decided against doing so, because
what I needed to do was so obvious. But this morning my mind was a blank. All
I could remember was that I had a long list of stuff last night. So with
nothing better to do (that I could recall) I decided to watch “V” that
I’d recorded onto the Sky Plus last night, but “Daddies Little Angel TM ”
had things to watch, so I was left to my own devices. We spent a few minutes
wrestling the Sky Anytime into action. I’ve never used it before – I wonder
if it’s free. I hope so. Last week
I commented that the “change oil soon” alarm had come up on my car.
Today I arranged to have the thing serviced and MOT-ed in a couple of week’s
time. Arranging it was painless – I suspect paying for it won’t be. Talking
of paying for things, the insurance cheque (for the damage caused by our
leak) came today. I’d better bank that. Having had a leak, I’m now wondering
if I ought to re-felt the flat roof over the top of the bathroom. It doesn’t
seem to be leaking at the moment, but maybe preventing a problem might be
better than curing it? I
finished work at 8pm, and together with ‘er
indoors TM , I went to Toys R Us in Chatham to get
her a new bike, as the old one would seem to have been co-opted by “Daddies
Little Angel TM ”. We got a new bike, and also a
headache. The too loud in-store music was competing with the din from the
Play Station games to make pure unadulterated noise. I know
someone who works for that firm – I shall have a word, because much as I like
their shops, I certainly will not shop there again with that volume of racket
going on. And as
the weather gets a tad colder, spare a thought for those camping out in Much as
I’m into astronomy, I can’t see the attraction of travelling hundreds of
miles to shiver to get a photograph which (it has to be said) won’t
come close to something you could call up instantly on Google images. I suppose
that, like all hobbies, it’s something inexplicable – you love it or you
don’t. Me – I’ll let the Hubble Space telescope do the photography… |
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16 April 2010 (Friday) - Little
Bit of Politics...
One of
the girls at work collected her cat from the vet’s last night. A week ago the
thing had staggered (literally) home, having broken its leg somehow.
After surgery and a week in cat-hospital, the moggie
was ready for collection. The bill - £1,700. I would suggest that any of my
loyal readers with pets seriously consider pet insurance. Last
Saturday I mentioned that I had the cooked breakfast at work. Today one of my
colleagues was boasting that he’d just had the breakfast. That gave me the
taste for it, and so I had some. And I spent the day wishing I hadn’t. I’ve
had guts ache ever since. Being in a bad mood, I phoned Toys R Us and
complained about the headache that I got from the noise in their store last
night. The girl on the phone listened politely to my rant, but clearly
couldn’t care less. And then
home to assemble the new bike. It seems to be together properly, but in the
absence of any instructions I’m left hoping I did it properly. It all seems
OK, but the acid test will be tomorrow when the thing is ridden in anger for
the first time. I see the
whole world watched the big
political debate last night. I didn’t. Despite having applied
for a postal vote, I am fast coming to the conclusion that there is little
point in my voting at the upcoming general election. For all the hot air the
party leaders spouted last night, we don’t get to vote for them. Having done
a little research, I can’t believe how sucky
the UKelectoral system is. There is
not “a” general election. There are 650 elections for local MPs, and it is
then a count-up of MPs which determines which party forms a government. But it’s
not as simple as that. These 650 mini- elections don’t all have an equal
number of voters. And in each election, all that any MP has to do to win is
to get more votes than anyone else. Which means that given that Party A wins
in one town with a majority of two votes, and Party A also wins in another
town with a majority of three, then they have two MPs. Party B might win
somewhere else and so would have one MP. However the fact that Party B might
have won their one seat with a majority of fifty thousand is irrelevant. It’s
quite possible (and actually happens) that Party B has more votes, but
actually has less MPs than Party A. A “first
past the post system” makes no allowances for the amount of votes cast
for the losing parties, which is why I am seriously considering not
voting. At
the last election my current MP got more votes than all the
other candidates put together. It’s going to need over a quarter of the local
voters to change their minds to unseat the chap, and he’s the only one for
whom I’ve seen any election posters. I’ve
heard it said that by voting for those who are clearly going to lose, I could
send a message to the floating voters, but I don’t see that somehow. How many
people even bother to vote, let alone show an interest in the mathematics of
election? And as a
P.S. to all this, if you feel your vote isn’t quite the wonderful thing you
once thought it was, spare a thought for the voters in Buckingham.Their
current MP is the Speaker of the House of Commons, and it is a tradition that
whoever is Speaker stands
for election unopposed by any candidates from the other main
political parties… |
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17 April 2010 (Saturday) - On Yer Bike !
Despite a
late night last night, I was wide awake at 6.30am because “My Boy TM ”
got up silently, and was delicately loading his fishing gear into his car.
For some inexplicable reason, the phrase “as quiet as a mouse” didn’t
spring to mind. As I was wide awake, I spent a few minutes (an hour)
having an avuncular perusal of one of my student’s post-graduate work. I say “one
of my students” – technically she isn’t. The chap who should have been
doing this mentoring doesn’t do it. He does what the hell he likes, when he
likes, and if he doesn’t like, he just doesn’t do it. If any manager dares
question him, he just rants about various random employment laws and
legislations and everyone kow-tows to him on the assumption that he knows
what he’s talking about. Over the years he’s lodged so many formal grievances
and complaints that nobody dares upset him because of all the paperwork he
generates. I can’t say I like the fellow, but I have to admire his stance. He
always gets his own way. In the
meantime I’m spending my Saturday morning doing what he should be doing.
Who’s the daft one? But his students (more than one) have asked me for
my help and advice. And have (on several occasions) asked me for
tutorials in their own time. I can’t really say no to them, can I? Yesterday
I ranted about failings in the And then
on with the business of the day. Last year we started cycling early. In the snow
in January. This year we left it somewhat later, and an entertaining few
minutes were spent tightening nuts, loosening screws, adjusting brakes and
attaching trailers (!) before seven of us cycled off to Shadoxhurst. There
was a minor hiccup when the blossom-tandem capsized, but that was nothing
that couldn’t be put right. And I’m sure that Singleton Hill has gotten
steeper over the winter. But despite two chains coming off, we eventually
made our destination where the motoring contingent met up with us. The Kings
Head in Shadoxhurst is (usually) too close to home for a weekend cycling
destination. It’s somewhere that we call in for a crafty half on the way back
from another pub, or somewhere that me and ‘er
indoorsTM visit on a mild
summer’s evening. The place is unusual for a Shepherd Neame pub in that it
always has a good selection of ales, and we’d heard reports that it had won
awards for the food. We weren’t disappointed – the food was excellent, and a
couple of pints of “Dragonfire” (brewed
for The plan
was to come home via Great Chart for a crafty pint, but somehow we missed
that one. So on the spur of the moment we got the barby
out and cooked up some burgers and sossies. A
wonderful way to spend the evening. And then
we sat down to watch Doctor Who. A week ago I commented that Matt Smith was
too similar to David Tennant. I stand corrected – he’s great. Tonight’s
episode was good; I liked daleks being relegated to just one mid-season
episode. But weren’t the daleks great? If you’ve not seen the episode,
activate the BBC i-player. Now!!! And then
having said goodbye to everyone, I went to work for two hours to deal with a
totally predictable problem. Work owes me three hours for today. I wonder
when I will get my time back…… |
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18 April 2010 (Sunday) - This n
That
Whilst
having a spot of brekky I noticed that Gary Mark
had commented on something I’d put on Facebook. I have
Facebook set so’s that only people on my friends
list can comment on what I post. I had a look at my friends list today –
there are thirteen people on it that I don’t know. Who are these people? How
do they get on my list? The plan
for the day was kite flying with the Friends of Kings Wood. We arrived to
find very little (if any) wind, but we thought we’d give it a go
anyway. Until we saw the flying area. The kite flying was to take place on an
area of heathland which has obviously only recently
been cleared of brambles. I say “cleared” – had it actually been
cleared of brambles I might have been inclined to have persevered despite the
low wind. In fact the brambles had been hacked back, and then left lying
about on the ground. Any kite landing anywhere in the designated flying area
would have been ripped to ribbons. The Kent Kite Fliers were there, and after
exchanging pleasantries, we left them to it. There is nothing more
frustrating than trying to fly a kite when it is patently obvious that there
isn’t enough wind to do so, and knowing there is nowhere safe to land the
kite if you do get it airborne. We gave
up, and went for a mooch round Ashford instead, and then came home. I mowed
the lawn and then had this idea to paint the front of the house. I spent half
an hour looking for my wire brush, but couldn’t find it. I made do with a
plastic one instead. Having scraped down the paintwork I opened the tin of
masonry paint. A few months ago I had naively assumed it would not be a
problem to leave the paint tin outside over the winter. I was wrong. Somehow
the tin had filled to the brim with rain water, leaving the paint useless. So I fed
the fish. They are slowly getting used to the new brand of fish food. Which
is probably for the best – I’m not getting them the expensive stuff again.
Whilst feeding them I noticed that the clean water wasn’t gushing out of the
filter with its usual vigour. That was because water was leaking out of the
top – the thing had blocked up again. There’s no denying that with the finer
filter mesh the pond is certainly clearer than it has been in previous years.
However, it’s only eleven days since I last cleaned the thing out. Pausing
only to put ‘er indoors TM best
coat in the washing machine (I have no idea how it got covered in fish poo)
I then spent the rest of the afternoon asleep in front of the computer. After tea
with the house to myself I sat down to watch the re-make of the sc-fi classic – “V” which is currently airing in the SyFy channel. One has to totally ignore the premise on
which the entire program is based: namely that the aliens are reptiles
disguised as humans for no adequately explained reason. After all, given the
level of technology the aliens have in the show, why do they need to gain
humanity’s confidence in any way? Clearly they could just ride roughshod over
any objections and do what they want, but if you forget about this minor plot
hole, it’s not bad. I’ve seen the first two episodes and despite
having “ |
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19 April 2010 (Monday) - Sheep?
Pig !!!!
When not
on a late shift I always wake early, and so I watch DVD boxed sets. (It’s
either that or lie wide awake waiting for the alarm). Today whilst
ironing my work shirts I finished watching “Space: Above and Beyond” –
it’s “Top Gun in Outer Space”, but was watchable.
A shame it only ran for one season: I liked it, and it was far better than
that drivel “Caprica” which is being touted
on Sky at the moment. Talking
of which, is it just me, or is there something seedy about the cover for the
“Caprica” DVD which has recently been
released, featuring a nudey girl? And then,
having checked two different weather forecasts, for the first time this year
I pegged the washing out on the line. And as I drove to work, the radio
predicted showers. Oh how I laughed. I then
remembered something I hadn’t done from the weekend. During our cycle ride on
Saturday, “Daddies Little Angel TM ” had staked
out a chap doing his gardening, and eventually got a photo of his bum. I put
it up on
Facebook as I said I would – only two days late. Yesterday
I mentioned about washing a coat that somehow got smothered in fish poo. I
think I got away with the fishy element, but the thing is (apparently)
noticeably creased from a vigorous spin drying. I’ve ironed the thing – let’s
hope that’s done the trick. And in
closing, does anyone fancy a trip to the Tropical
Wings Zoo in Posted
by Manky Badger at 8:31 PM 4
comments |
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20 April 2010 (Tuesday) -
Painting, Ranting
Whilst
going to my car this morning I saw signs had gone up in our road. Apparently
the council were coming to scrub the gutters, and would like people not to
park up the road during the day. I would have thought they might have given
us more notice, but what do I know? On Sunday
I mentioned my masonry paint was broken, so being on an early finish today I
popped into B&Q to get some more. And seeing how lovely the evening was,
I made a start on painting my wall. The paint tin says it comes with a
fifteen year guarantee. Fifteen years? I painted the wall last September, and
it’s flaking already. I make that seven months. But the wall looked better
once I’d finished, and as the evening was still so lovely, I then carried on
and painted the front of the house. Painting the house was originally
supposed to be the plan for tomorrow, but I expect I’ll find something else
to do. Finding somewhere to park the car might be something I could do
instead….. Regular
readers of this blog might remember a rant I published on 15 October 2006
when I attended the Annual General Meeting of the British Kite Flying
Association. At the time it looked like there were going to be all sorts of
restrictions on the flying of kites in the Today
they emailed me “News Update #13”. They have put a lot of effort into
developing a child protection policy (why?) and into developing an
incident reporting scheme (reporting what to who?). They are still
trying to undermine local kiting clubs by offering cheap insurance, and they
are now attempting to form a gallery of other people’s kiting photographs for
which they can take the credit. In fact the only thing they’ve done which is
in any way related to what I thought they were formed for was to organise an
Edwardian Kite Competition which will take place in three weeks time. There’s
nothing like being given enough notice of these things, is there? Interestingly
neither “News Update #13” nor any of its predecessors have ever
carried news of bans on kite flying having been lifted. The phrase “Still
fiddling whilst Still
bitter? – Me?...... |
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21 April 2010 (Wednesday) - A Day
Off Work
‘er indoors TM has been abducted by aliens
and has been replaced by a replica. This replica isn’t very good, and hasn’t
fooled me for a minute. Not only did it let take stuff to the tip, it even
gave me stuff to take to the tip. I hope ‘er
indoors TM is all right, wherever she is. After the
tip I went to Tesco for more petrol (that’s expensive stuff now) and
then to B&Q for small tins of masonry paint. For some time I’ve had this
plan to paint the front of the house like a liquorice allsort,
and now it’s done I’m not sure I like it. Some of my paintwork isn’t as
straight as it might be – once it’s dry I’ll go over it with a fine brush. Or
that is I will when I can find one. I want a kiddies painting brush – the
sort of thing I used to use with watercolours all those years ago. I can’t
find one anywhere. Whilst
doing the painting someone parked his car outside my house. Right in front of
the “please don’t park here” sign. He asked me if he could park there,
and I told him that it was a matter of the utmost indifference to me where he
parked, but I did point out the sign. The nice man then got a bit cross and
asked me where he was supposed to park. I replied that I’d got up early and
parked my car three streets away, but it was entirely up to him where he
parked – neither his parking nor the no parking sign were anything to do with
me. As the nice man reached the beetroot red stage, and the vein on the side
of his head started to throb, I suggested he spoke to the council, and I got
on with my painting. I then
spent a few minutes chatting with the bloke next door. Relations have been
strained in the past, and it’s good that we are chatting again. He was
telling me that at the weekends there are a lot of low flying aeroplanes
coming over – apparently our area is being used by trainee pilots. He’s
written to our local MP about the matter – apparently no one owns the air
rights to Ashford, and anyone can fly overhead. I didn’t know that. I then
got an email – my latest eBay purchase has been delayed by volcanic eruptions
in And
having slept in front of the telly for the afternoon I brought offspring home
from college and then I set off to Wadhurst. As
part of a co-operative venture between local astronomical societies an
exchange of speakers has been arranged. The people at Wadhurst
were given a list of the talks we’d had at our astro
club over the last year, and they asked for me to talk about the ice giants. I’ve not
been to any other astro clubs, and wasn’t sure what
to expect, and as the evening started it was rather odd. At the Ashford astro club there’s over seventy people, with ages ranging
from seven to seventy, and we have a very wide cross section of the public.
Tonight at Wadhurst there were twenty two people (including
me & Jason who’d come for the evening). With an average age of (about)
mid-fifties, there was no one aged under forty there, and everyone was rather
well to do. Having said that, they were very friendly and welcoming, but all
were just a little bit normal. What would they make of me? Having
prepared my presentation it was too late to change it. I had two chances –
they would laugh, or they wouldn’t ask me back again. I needn’t have worried
- I had them all in stitches several times, and afterwards several people
commented how no one’s ever been brave enough to admit they think that
Ur-anus is a brilliant name for a planet. And several more said they agreed
that Herschel should have gone the whole hog and called the thing “planet
bum hole”. After the meeting I went over the pub with a dozen or so of the members of the club, and I had a half of Finchcocks whist we waited for (and saw) aniridium flare . The people there were so welcoming. I’ve offered to do more talks for them, and I’d go to more meetings; if only it wasn’t such an awkward place to get to. |
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22 April 2010 (Thursday) –
Paperwork
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23 April
2010 (Friday) -
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24 April
2010 (Saturday) - Buying Blue Things
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25 April
2010 (Sunday) - Cycling to Aldington
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26 April
2010 (Monday) – Stuff
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27 April
2010 (Tuesday) - An Afternoon Off
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28 April
2010 (Wednesday) -Arky-ologee Club
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29 April
2010 (Thursday) - This and That
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30 April
2010 (Friday) - New Car, Astro Club
And then
home. I really should do my packing for next week’s holiday…… |
