19 June 2015 (Friday) - News, Ultrasound, Walk

After a restless night I watched the second episode of the current documentary about the life of Bob Monkhouse. "er indoors TM" had put it on the telly on Wednesday night and I'd slept through it.
Sometimes I wish I'd been a TV celebrity. With no disrespect to the epically famous there's no denying that they've all been incredibly lucky in their careers.
I then checked out social media. Not much had happened overnight really.

And so to work. The radio fizzled a bit but the news worried me. The Prime Minister is being seen to be very brave in asking (telling?) the Muslim community to take the lead in sorting out the problems which are being laid at their door. Has anyone else noticed that decent hard-working people of that persuasion are described as "Muslims" but the loony-terrorists are now referred to as "Islamists"? I suppose the media has to make the distinction before the rest of society decides to take matters in their own hands and tar anyone of non-white-caucasian heritage with the same brush.

Eurozone leaders are apparently laying eggs over the Greek debt crisis. With only a week to go till the Greek government formally refuses to pay back billions the rest of the Eurozone are looking at seeing Greece leave the union.
It's no secret that he average Brit is stupid enough to vote for Brexit and I worry for the future. As I was bouncing my grandson about yesterday I told his mum that he's got about a one in two to one in three chance of living to be a hundred years old. What kind of future will he see?
It won't be high-tech like Star Trek. Desperately hoping the religious crackpots don't blast us back to the stone age it will be at best much the same as today with internecine petty international squabbling preventing any real social advancement. As a child I had expected so much more.

I got to work, I did the bare minimum (as I am told is usual for me). I spent a little while looking up the finer details of ultrasound guided aspirations. I've got an appointment to have my lump ultrasonically aspirated next Wednesday; the boss has given me the day as sick leave.
I spoke with one of the radiology nurses who assured me that I can just eat and drink before the appointment like I would on any other day, that I shall get a local anaesthetic and that I will be fit to drive home immediately after the procedure.
Wikipedia says I should fast from the night before and I should prepare for major surgery; also I will get valium and will be as high as a kite for the rest of the day.
I wonder how it will turn out. Either way it will be something of an adventure.

Over lunch I checked my emails. I had a few this morning since I'd left home. Another invitation to work on the island of Saint Helena; this time for only three months. If I didn't have a neck lump I'd be tempted.
The first newsletter came from the GPS training school; unfortunately it seemed to be little more than trying to sell me stuff.
And an interesting email... Yesterday I went out on a geo-mission before work and found a cache which the owner thought had been personally inspected by the geo-feds. Yesterday I blogged my thought that the reviewer hadn't been within fifty miles of the thing. Today I got a little message from the cache owner telling me she really thinks he did go have a look-see. So I sent a little message back; I also invited her to join the Kent geo-Facebook brigade and to come to the geo-meet I'm staging in August.
I hope she takes it in the spirit in which it was intended....

Talking of things geo we went for a little walk this evening. Four target geocaches; we found three of them. Despite risking life and limb on barbed wire we didn't find one of them.
Again I used "Hannah" (my GPS unit) and... I think it is fair to say I've given the thing a fair trial. I've come to the conclusion that I don't like it. With the sole exception of haiving Ordnance Survey maps it really is inferior to my phone in every single respect. I am now *utterly* convinced there is some big secret about hand-held GPS units that the rest of the tupperware-hunters aren't telling me. Why am I the only one who can see how rubbish they are?

I shall phone the Ordnance Survey company on Monday and see if I can get some sort of a subscription for their maps and see if I can sell this GPS unit. It might pay for a new lap-top...


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