29 December 2012 (Saturday) - 1000...

Another disturbed night. When "er indoors TM" is having a late night watching drivel on the TV till all hours, she often doesn't notice Furry Face sneaking upstairs. He likes to sleep at the foot of our bed, and he woke me as he jumped up shortly after midnight last night. I wish that pup would stay downstairs where he belongs. Having successfully barged the dog-proof gate open and crept up undetected once or twice a couple of weeks ago, he now thinks he can doss down on my pit whenever he feels like it.

I got up shortly before 6am this morning and set about yesterday's pile of washing up. It's amazing how much washing up is left over following a visit from the most recent fruit of my loins. I then watched most of another episode of "Smallville". I'm getting quite into that show; even if I have no idea of what's going on.

As I drove to work the radio was abuzz with news of who has received recognition in the New Year's Honours List. This morning's news featured an interview with a lady who had raised thousands of pounds to give dying children some good times. No one can deny that she richly deserved an award. But awards for so many athletes? I suppose I can understand why Olympians get honours; or am I being cynical in feeling that it keeps the masses happy about having an Honours system? For all that most of humanity enjoy watching sport and games, I can't see the attraction myself, and never have. I really enjoy flying a power kite, playing poker, going fishing, riding my bike. However watching someone else doing that is (for me) incredibly dull. But I am in the minority; it would seem to be what the public wants. As would watching that someone else get a medal for doing so.

Mind you it is odd that athletes who had performed in last summer's Olympic Games had received honours for what they had done at the same time that a ninety-two year old chap had only just received an honour for what he had done in the Government's centre in Bletchley Park during the second world war. And Kate Bush has just received an honour (for her charity work) several years after she was most famous. And the illustrator Quentin Blake has finally been given a gong.

Again countless civil servants received honours for doing the jobs for which they are richly paid, and that annoys me. In the past I was particularly incensed by one such award, and wrote to the Home Office asking (under the Freedom of Information Act) why a certain Honour had been given. They told me that it had been well deserved, and that I should mind my own business. Which put me in my place. Even if it didn't stop me ranting. The country's Honours system is something I've ranted about in the past, the first time being on January 4, 2007 (!).

I'd left for work a few minutes earlier than I might have done today. Yesterday whilst out geocaching my tally of caches that I'd found had reached nine hundred and ninety nine. There are those who set great store by their tally count and some can be quite competitive about it. You can even get badges for numbers of caches found (akin to the distance swimming badges I had as a child). I'm not really that fussed about the number found. But I was told (in no uncertain terms) that my thousandth cache was to be something special. I suppose I can see the logic.
There is a geocache in the general area of Crundale named "Anno Domine MM" (The Year 2000).I felt that the name of that cache wouldn't be entirely inappropriate for the occasion, and it wouldn't be more than ten minutes out of my way as I drove to work. So I went to find it.

It was in a beautiful area, with a really pretty view. It turned out that the name of the cache related to an inscription on a bench overlooking a rather spectacular valley. The cache was just behind this bench. The last person to find it had mentioned something about hoping that a passing dog hadn't disturbed it too much. I can't help but feel that that person should have gone back after the passing dog had done its thing. I found the cache sitting out in the open; in plain view. Still, it made for an easy find, and once I'd done the top-secret geocachers ritual with it (known only to us "special people") I hid the cache under a pile of stones, enjoyed the view once more, and then took the scenic route to work. There were one or two more geocaches in the general area, but I've left those for when I'm next working on a Saturday. They will break up the day nicely. Hopefully.

It's amazing how much this looking for plastic boxes has become part of my life. There are people who are very active in the Kent geocaching community who have been playing this game for years who have only found a few hundred caches. I've now been doing it for just under five months and have found a thousand of them in that time.

And so to work . There's no denying that I would rather not have been working this weekend. Or would I? As I had a crafty cache on the way in to work it was a lovely morning. but as the day wore on so the wind picked up and the rain got heavier. I must admit that it wasn't long before I was looking at the rain and feeling glad that the bad weather wasn't spoiling a day off.

I did my bit at work, and came home again. This time via the more direct route. Home to find that "er indoors TM" had got me a metal 1000 geocaches badge and trackable coin. They are quite nice, actually. And, you know, I might just get myself a sew-on "1000 geocaches" badge as well. Unless any of my loyal readers might like to get me one as a late Christmas present. (You can get them on eBay you know) After all, I still have that hole in a fleece that I need to cover up...


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