24 November 2017 (Friday) - Early Shift

Last night I saw something on Facebook that wound me up. Apparently ten out of twelve UK water companies employ dousing. Obviously dousing for water is nonsense. It has no scientific grounding whatsoever… but what winds my up is that those who rip the piss out of dousing have never actually tried it.
I have.
I can douse.
It works.
And the fact that it works when science says it is patently nonsense winds me up *so* much I posted about it on Facebook, and this morning I saw I wasn’t alone in knowing that dousing works when it shouldn’t.
I also posted a teaser for my upcoming Lego advent calendar album; that will be something to look forward to. Mind you there were comments posted on that from people who clearly had no idea about me and Lego advent calendars.

I set off to work on a very dark morning. As I drove the pundits on the radio were saying that the Black Friday shopping madness has crashed the websites of the retailers John Lewis and Debenhams. This idea of a Black Friday is certainly becoming a "UK thing".
There was also talk about the new President of Zimbabwe. Following all the jubilation about getting rid of Robert Mugabwe (who was billed as being pretty damn bad) he's been replaced by the chap who was his right hand man for decades. The pundits on the radio this morning were giving a list of the atrocities with which the new President was denying any involvement.
So much for change...

I got to work; I think I was lucky to do so. A friend of mine is a lorry driver; he is often posting on Facebook about what a rotten time lorry drives have, and how under-appreciated they are. I think I would sympathise with him if fewer lorry drivers drove like cocks.
Take this morning as a typical morning on the M20. I was fortunate to find a gap in the stream of lorries through which I could get on to the motorway. Before now I've had to stop on the slip road and wait for a break in the lorries to get on. Once on the M20 I found there was a pretty much solid line of lorries all the way to Maidstone, all moving at much the same speed.  However about half of them were trying to overtake the other half; effectively bunging up two lanes of a three lane motorway. When these lorries start to overtake, they just pull out with no indication (right in front of whoever is in the middle lane!), and the act of one lorry overtaking another goes on for a mile or so as the one who is overtaking is only travelling about one mile an hour faster than the one being overtaken. And having been overtaken, most lorries then try to overtake the one who's just come past them.
The motorways would be far safer if lorries all went at the same pace and didn't keep playing silly beggars overtaking each other.

Once at work I did some mandatory training; a refresher on the need for confidentiality and security on the data I use every day. Working where I do, I do deal with rather confidential information. A refresher about the need to keep quiet about the stuff I find out is always good.
I wonder if other hospitals might have their staff review the stuff I read today... I can vividly remember a little episode shortly after having had my vasectomy when the porter who had wheeled me into the operating theatre bellowed down a crowded corridor "Oi Dave, how's your bollox?". In retrospect I should have sued that hospital for thousands of pounds.

At tea break I saw some geocaches had gone live; several among the outlying villages around Ashford. One would be on my way home. It involved some puzzle solving, so over tea break I puzzled and solved. I had a hope to go for First to Find after work; being on an early meant I might get there before dark. It was a tad optimistic. At lunch I saw that those who specialise in hunting First to Finds had been out on a little road trip and found the lot. Had I been in a position to chase FTFs today would I have gone for the lot?

With work done I came home, got the dogs organised and we went for our walk. Because it is dark when we walk in the evenings the dogs have light-up collars. Blue for the boy, pink for the girl. As we walked we met a spaniel with a green light-up collar. Green? – We didn’t ask.
Several people commented on the collars including one young lad dressed all in black on an un-lit bicycle. I suggested he might benefit from having lights. He said he had some, but the batteries weren’t very good. I suggested he got new ones; he stared at me as though I was talking in a foreign language.

I’ve worked five consecutive days this week… I’m worn out.

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