1 - Woke earlier then up around 7:40am. . . walked and found a penny. . .sat around . . PCd a bit of this . . ate spam sandwiches and crisps . . . napped . . walked in the COLD wind . . BB called . .TVd and drank a little wine. . ate microwaved stewed steak and four pieces of bread and butter followed by some Christmas cake. . . TVd until bed before midnight. d
2 - Up 'late' around 8am . . .walked . .sat around . .briefly popped up the store for some bread and milk . .sat around waiting for the fridge service guy to turn up. Actually 'nothing to do with me', but Mum is the same as me when it comes to waiting for someone to turn up as they'd said they would - unable to get on with doing anything, horribly up tight, and knowing full well they WON'T turn up when they said they would, (if at all!). Mum seems to vent her frustration with the vacuum cleaner!! . He said he'd turn up at midday. Currently (as I type this) 1am and no show. .the fridge guy finally turned up around 2pm. He thinks it is just the thermostat, and it'll take him a 'couple' of days to get one. Oh yeah - I just bet! . . ate corned beef sandwiches with crisps . . . napped . . . walked. Weird spontaneous downshift in mood as the evening wore on. Darkly desperate down. :o( . . ate a handful of Mum cooked chips and a bit of a mushroom pie before feeling sick and eventually giving the rest to Sally. . . BB called - but frankly I really don't know why any more . . .TVd until bed after 11pm.
3 - Woken by Sally earlier, snoozed on then up around 7am. . walked . sat around . balanced my accounts, which have actually become oh so much simpler without all the direct debits and bills . . drove in the rain to the local store to buy some sausage rolls, a pastry slice and some crisps for lunch. . .ate . . TVd . . napped for less than an hour until woken by BB calling to say she wouldn't be calling. Yeah - I don't blame her. . drove Sally to walk in the gale. It'd been absolutely torrential rain just before I left, but somehow I managed to do the majority of the walk without getting wet? Sat under the roof of the covered seats, one sudden gust of wind was SO strong as it whipped around us, both Sally and I got a bit fearfull!! Weird. That one rotating gust, thankfully relatively short in duration, must have been a good 60mph or more . . ate sausage rolls and crisps . . .joined Mum and Sis2 in the living room and watched a DVD Sis2 had rented from the library. . PCd briefly before bed around 12:45am.
4 - Woken by Sally earlier, snoozed on then up around 8am. . walked. . the mail arrived just as I got back, and there was a flyer from one of the estate agents for a new house on the market in my 'desired neighbourhood'. Straight back out with Sally for the quick walk to have a look at where it was. No, I don't think so. . .rang the solicitor wanting to know what progress had been made. The answer was absolutely none! They'd been closed from the 22nd to the 2nd! . Jeeze. All the agony of being 'non existant' and just 'waiting' for the last four weeks - for nothing. The process is no further forward than the day we agreed the sale! B******s! For chrisakes why does everything always have to be so, SO utterly s*** when other 'people' are involved. So what am I realistically looking at now? Completion (if it goes through at all) in April? :o( And what happens if it DOESN'T happen - with the news telling of property prices going up by around £1200 per month!!! ARRGGGHHHH. This powerless-to-do-ANYTHING-waiting is just bloody agony. :o( . . ate corned beef, onion, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, two miniature sausage rolls and some chocolate covered raisins for lunch . . . napped. . . walked and found 20p. . emptied the last from the open bottle of red wine. . BB called . . ate Mum made beans on toast with grated cheese and chocolate biscuits. . .TVd . . .PCd this/TVd until bed around 1:30am. ds
5 - Up around 7:20am . . walked and got caught out in the drizzle and soaked . . .walked down to the solicitors office and dropped off the survey and clarified I didn't want things to be held up over the couple of what 'I' consider to be silly recommendations (which are 'normal' party wall type things) . . ate ham, lettuce, mayo and onion sandwiches with crisps . . . napped . . . walked. Lots of loud mouthed 'youths' about, all apparantly heading for a drinking session in the gun emplacements and thereabouts! . .TVd . . ate a pastie and crisps . . . TVd until bed around midnight.
6 - Trouble sleeping, up in the night and then up around 8:15am . . walked . . .sat around . . ate a pastie and crisps and then a bunch of biscuits . . napped . . walked. Crystal clear, star filled sky. Rowdy drinking youths in the gun emplacements again, although at least one of them had a guitar showing a little bit more than the usual brain dead that I'm more used to seeing. . . ate Mum made spam, peas and chips . . BB called . . .TVd/PCd/TVd until early.
7 - Up around 7:45am . . .walked in the drizzle. . . sat around/TVd . . . ate a chicken and mushroom pastry slice and Mum made spam sandwiches with crisps . . . TVd. . napped . . . drove to walk in the rain . .ate Mum made beans, toast and grated cheese followed by some fruit cake with cofee . . BB called . .TVd until bed around 1am.
8 - Up around 8am. . . walked in what turned into rain and got cold and soaked again. .TVd . .called the estate agent asking them what the hell was going on with the house purchase, given that four weeks has now passed and I've heard absolutely nothing from anyone. They acted pretty evasive and pretty much said it was up to the solicitors, but they'd call me back later if they could get any news . . .ate spam sandwiches with crisps . .the fridge guy turned up before 2pm and fixed the fridge. Yay! . . napped . . . drove to walk. Drove down and sat in the car by the harbor for a bit before heading back. . . TVd . . BB called briefly . . .ate bowls of cornflakes . . TVd until bed around 1am. Magnus Magnusson died this day. s
9 - Up around 7:15am. . . walked the woods. . . yayyy - at LAST! Received a letter in the mail from the solicitor with the fixtures and fittings and property information forms. So - at least things have started to move at LAST! Having said that, the seller had NOT completed AT ALL, the part of the form that details the included kitchen fixtures and fittings. (This had been picked up by the solicitor who was pursuing it with them) What they HAD done was add at the end of the form, a bracketed list of 'Washing machine, tumble dryer, fridge freezer' and a note saying 'if required by buyer - negotiable'. Bloody penny pinchers! . phoned the solicitor with my response to the paperwork and asked them to convey my answer - 'because I am coming into the property with almost nothing, I would be most grateful for ANYTHING they may wish to leave, however I am not prepared to negotiate further payment for anything'. Dunno if the solicitor will ACTUALLY convey what I said, but I don't really care. I AM gonna be financially cleaned out by all this, but I HAD factored in, spending the last of my money on some new furniture - sofa, bed, fridge, washing machine etc. Something that 'I' actually want, rather than second hand, hand me downs for a change! . . Over the last few days Sally has begun to act somewhat differently to normal. A bit slower getting around and perhaps less energetic. She seems ok when we are out and about, especially if there is something furry to chase, but kinda slow and stiff after she's been laying down for any time. Her gradual deterioration has kinda snuck up on me!! She seems to be increasingly in a bad way!!! She wined with pain, just getting up off her duvet in the garage to go into the house!!!!!!!!! :o( . . .looked up vets in the local Thompon directory and made a note of the adresses and phone numbers of the two in the area. I'm gonna have to hold off (££) for a little while just to see if things will be improved by keeping her in the warmth of the bedroom all the time, instead of the 'outside-temperature', damp-cold of the garage where we've been spending most of our time! Got me a bit tearful. Difficult to see how things can get much worse - but it seems like they surely will. I haven't been particularly verbose about how I feel about everything that has happened these last few months - but, suffice it to say, this really is the absolute worst time of my utterly pathetic little life, and I really damn near have had enough of this f**ing endless misery . . ate sandwiches. . . napped and apparantly missed the estate agent calling the ansaphone . . .drove Sally to walk . . . ate a pastie with crisps and some cake . . TVd until bed at midnight.
10 - Up around 7:15am. . .drove to walk . . . returned the estate agent's ansaphone call from yesterday. They had little to say other than confirm things HAD now started to crawl into motion. . balanced my accounts and then did the paperwork to cash in almost all of my premium bonds. :o( Popped up the post box and got it in the mail . .sat around/TVd . . .ate a couple of sausage rolls and salami sandwiches with crisps . . . napped . .drove to walk and then got Sally straight back into the warmth of the bedroom . . ate a tin of soup, a couple of small sausage rolls and a small (old!) stick of garlic bread . .BB called . . TVd until around 11pm and then left Sally in the warm and drove with Mum to drop Sis2 off at the bus station, the first step of her long haul back to Canada. .a bit of sitting in the car before a brief hang around in the bus station and then the coach arrived and she was away at just before midnight. . . eventually to bed in the early hours only to toss and turn in poor sleep much of the night as the forecast storm rolled in.
11 - Woken just before 7am by the sounds of Mum moving around and an absolute gale blowing outside. Turned out Mum had been outside battling with the recycle wheelie bin!!! The terrible wind had blown the bin over and had turfed all the contents out and strewn them all down the road! She was really upset and feeling kinda 'guilty' about it! . . drove to walk. Plenty of other bins all blown over and much of the recycling contents littering the whole area. Did a very quick once round with Sally being blown around by the terrible strong gusts. She seemed as happy to get straight back to the car as I was. . . PCd this . . Sally's condition seems to be no better and maybe even a little worse. Climbing into the car seems to be a major effort for her now and all she does is just lay around hardly moving - and is that a bit of congestion/runnier nose than normal? No - I can't hold off any longer!!! . . drove in the rain with Sally and Mum just to find out where the local vet practices actually were (intending to go in and see about registering with one of them and getting Sally in for an early examination) but both of them were closed, and both seem to be only open on a part-time basis! Bugger! . .returned and had a go at ringing one of them up. (The phone was answered from somewhere else, so I think the local one is a satellite of a larger practice.) Gave all my details and succeeded in getting an apointment with one of them for 2:50pm. (Such is my anxiety - as I'm typing this, I keep having to look around to make sure Sally, layed flat on her side and unmoving, is still breathing!!!!) Christ, she really is unwell!!!! :o( . . Couldn't upload my journal!? Stupid hassle I am absolutely NOT in the mood for. Grrr. Turned out to be I'd run out of webspace again, so I just deleted one of the videos. . ate salami sandwiches and a couple of small sausage rolls. . headed off for the vet appointment early, just after 2pm. . sat around in the car outside before giving Sally a quick wander around on some nearby grass and then in to the vets. Ended up having to sit around waiting for quite a while before eventually in to see the vet around 3:15pm or after. Told the young girl as best I could, about what was going on with Sally. Peculier bad breath - lacking in energy/listless/laying around unmoving - stiff and suffering pain when getting up - drippier nose/more snoring than usual - eating ok, etc, etc, etc. The vet seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time listening to Sally's chest with her stethoscope, which got me really worried and almost overcome with tearful! A slightly erratic heartbeat was the reason, but she suggested that was perhaps just the stress of being at the vet - although Sally was oh SO good and put up with the examination without complaint, even when she had to suffer the indignity of having her temperature taken 'in the time honoured way' for animals!! Eeww. .'I' was convinced that Sally had some sort of infection that would need anti biotics, but the vet's diagnosis was that it was some sort of rheumatic type deal. She suggested Sally be given a week long course of 'Metacam 1.5mg/ml oral suspension for dogs' to see what affect it had and we should return in a week. Popped Sally on the scales to check her weight before having brief instructions about how to dose her with the appropriate amount of medication for her weight. Booked up an appointment for next Thursday, paid the £31.09 bill and headed home. If Sally has to keep on taking that medication, I'm in big trouble £!!!!!! . napped for around an hour . . . drove to walk before getting back to give Sally her food together with the medication. In the box was a small plastic bottle of the potion together with a small measuring syringe. The syringe fitted onto the top of the upturned bottle, and the solution had to be drawn down into the syringe up to the 40kg measuring mark. The tricky bit then was twisting off the upturned bottle and righting it without the remaining contents spilling out. It IS actually easier than it sounds, but this first time I managed to somehow unnoticed get a little onto my hands. Mixed in with her food, Sally didn't notice her medicine at all. It was only after I'd rolled a cigarette and started smoking it that I realised I'd splashed my hands - and transferred the contamination to the cigarette paper and thereby to my lips!!!!! Nasty taste!!!! Ewwww!!!!! Much emergency spitting on the garage floor before rushing inside to wash my hands and face!!! :o/ . . ate Mum made bacon, egg and beans with two pieces of bread and butter followed by some 'battenburg' cake and coffee . . BB called . . TVd until bed after midnight. s
12 - Woke earlier, snoozed on then up around 7:30am . . . drove to walk. Oooh - dare I hope - Sally seems a 'bit' happier and more energetic this morning. Fingers crossed! . . .ate sausage rolls and crisps . . TVd . . napped . . drove to walk. Lots of youths heading for the gun emplacements again with carrier bags of booze! :o( Seems to be what the kids do down here for their entertainment on a weekend (although their accents sounded as though they were not born and bred locals, to me). Go get pissed up in a 'pill box' and then do their damnedest to trash the place!! . . . ate Mum made bacon, egg and beans with four pieces of bread and butter . . . BB called . . TVd until early. s
13 - Up after 7:30am . . drove to walk in a bit of drizzle. HUGE amount of litter, bottles, beer cans, etc were littering the whole area. Collected up a couple of carrier bags full. Found a couple of lighters (one ironically decorated with the England flag motif and the words 'Englands Finest'), a pair of gloves, a nice 3.5mm stereo patch lead, and then a weird garden ornament sun-dial type thing laying in the hedge. The sun dial still had the mounting screws and wall plugs attached, and had clearly recently been wrenched from wherever it belonged by a drunken yob and then just dumped there! :o( Blimey - like 'home from home'!! :o( On closer inspection, it looked as though the dull, thickly painted garden ornament was actually made of brass underneath and would probably have cost quite a little bit when new.
If it was
possible, of course I would have returned it to it's rightful
home, but since there was no way of knowing where it had come
from, I figured I may as well take it home, rather than just
leave it on a seat for some other passer-by to decide to have. .
had a go in the garage at removing some of the paint from the
brass sun-dial type thing. It'll take hours if I can be bothered,
but it IS do-able. . . ate a pastie with crisps. . TVd . . napped
. . drove to walk. Drunken, rowdy, foul mouthed 'youths' were
once again assembled in one of the gun emplacements and ruined my
peaceful walk. Just the sight and sound of such 'people'
('Englands Finest'?!!), in an instant, makes me awfuly uptight,
nauseas and totally despairing. :o( . . drank a little red wine
(not enough!). . ate Mum cooked spam, peas and chips . . BB
called . . TVd with coffee, some battenburg cake and some
Maltesers. . TVd until bed around 1:30am. d14 - Up around 8am . . . drove to walk and then, with Sally appearing to be slightly better these last couple of days, took the risk of doing a slightly longer walk with her through the woods. . Collected up a small carrier bag of some of the bottles and beer cans from near the gun emplacement. Huge mess all around again. Found a couple of small torch like things amongst the debris - one appeared to be one of those electric key fob type things for a car alarm, so I left that laying in view on top of the refuse bin - the other was some silly plastic toy in the shape of a whale, with the torch-light operated by pressing down on the dorsal fin! Left that in the custody of a little girl who accompanied one of the dog walkers . . . back to the garage for coffee, cigarettes and just a little more emery-clothing of some of the brass sun dial parts . . PCd a bit of this . .cut my hair . . ate Mum made spam and corned beef and salad sandwiches with crisps, a banana and a bunch of chocolate biscuits . .TVd . . napped . . walked. Nice calm clear night - haven't seen many of those since I've been down here. Feels like it's been mostly raining or at least drizzle, and almost always windy. Sally although still very slow and wobbly getting to her feet, seems to be not as bad as she has been, and even had a damn good go at chasing a rabbit tonight. . BB called . .watched Big Brother on TV again. Utter piffle, but for some reason I have become intrigued by the nonsense goings on. How sad am I!! Makes me feel like I'm an alien from another dimension watching the behavior of the 'inmates', unable to fathom why they act in the way they all do, and even less able to work out why it is that society seems to delight in celebrating unpleasant/uncouth/unintelligent/two faced/trashy people! For the record, I think the Indian girl, the 'Jackson' guy and 'Dirk' seem like more inteligent rather nicer people. It must say something that none of them are English! And what is all that about them hugging each other incessantly? Reminds me of the behaviour of groups of monkeys on the wildlife shows. It's all very disturbing to me, and I am ashamed to find it fascinating to watch as their deeper (shallow?) personalities and monstrous egos are laid bare - or is it because I haven't got a life of my own at the moment, and will watch any old crap as long as it gets me through another hour? I really don't exist at the moment. . ate beans, grated cheese and bread and butter . . . TVd until bed after 1am.
15 - Up around 8am again, headachey . . .walked the woods and back . .sat around sucking an annadin tablet. More really nasty weather forecast for the coming week. :o( . popped up the store for cigarette papers and a couple of pastry slices for lunch . .ate two pastry slices with crisps, popcorn and chocolate biscuits for lunch. . . napped. . . drove to walk in the rain. It would appear that part of the remit for the local council workmen is that they should clear up all the yobs rubbish from the gun emplacements on a regular basis. The pill box I 'usually' sit in to have a cigarette when it is raining (the one in which the youths were partying the other night - outside which I found the sun dial) had obviously been swept and cleared of most of the debris. There were however several pieces of thin plastic tubes left behind (about the diameter of a drinking straw) and strewn around here and there. These tubes contained some form of fluorescent chemical (toxic?), and despite how long they'd been there since use and how broken the pieces were, they still gave off the faintest glow in the pitch black as I sat for my cigarette. Weird. . TVd and watched the 'Tonight' show titled 'Anne Widdecombe V The Hoodies'. Nothing to write home about - been there, seen that, done that, lived through that - and then some! . . ate baked beans, grated cheese and two pieces of bread and butter . . BB called . . TVd until bed around 2am. I think I may have to stop watching that Big Brother show. Some of those people are just plain nasty and it's leaving me with a really unpleasant feeling after having witnessed their 'base' behavior. :o/ s
16 - Up around 8am again. . walked the woods. Misjudged the weather and the forecast and got caught out in a prolonged downpour without my raincoat and leggings. Sat for two cigarettes under cover of one of the old lime kilns down in the woods, but the rain just kept on pouring, so there was nothing for it but to just get drenched! :o(. Sally remains stiff and slow, still isn't her old self and I fear never again will be. :o( . . received a letter in the mail from the solicitor with the results of a residential Drainage and Water search together with a couple of other bits and pieces. The covering letter included "The seller's conveyancers have advised that the Sellers will be leaving at no extra cost, the fridge freezer, washing machine and tumble drier". Cool. That'll save me having to rush out and buy new stuff before I can move in. :o) We're apparantly awaiting a 'local authority search' before any further progress . . PCd this . . .ate Mum made chicken sandwiches and crisps. . . BB called . . . napped. . . drove to walk . . .TVd . . . ate a bowl of muesli and a banana. . TVd until bed around 1:30am. s
17 - Up around 7:45am . .drove to walk in the rain . . .received two £50 premium bond wins in the mail. Now I've withdrawn almost all of them, that'll probably be the last for the forseeable future. :o( . . . walked with Sally down to the building society to bank the premium bond wins. . ate Mum made chicken sandwiches with crisps . . TVd . . napped . . walked. Actually not a bad evening. Definitely the calm before the storm. Lucky timing as the rain began to fall only minutes after arriving back. . BB called . . TVd and watched the latest nauseating and utterly shameful behaviour from the white-trash guttersnipes in the Celebrity Big Brother program. I think I may have even turned Mum on to following a bit of it, what with all the furor in the press and questions in parliament!!! In a weird way I guess in some small part I identify a little with the program, because of what has happened to my life and how I've been torn from everything I knew and how I've had to live under extreme psychological pressure these last few months with a minimal amount of self determiniation. Impossible to fully explain. . ate a steak and kidney pie with a bag of crisps and two bananas. . TVd. . couldn't sleep and ended up TV/PCing until around 2am as the forecast storm began to roll in.
18 - Up around 7:45am again. . drove to walk in the horrendous wind and rain. Plenty of tree branches down in BGdns. Found 5p. .TVd . . received a letter from the solicitor saying the local authority search was done and I should now arrange an appointment to sign the contract. Rang them up only to find he couldn't fit me in until Monday!? I presume there is more to it than just signing something then is there? Bloody annoying having to wait another four days just for that! :o( Sums up the whole unpleasant process - the smallest little thing adding weeks of delay for apparantly no reason at all! Arrrgggghhh! . . ate Mum made Spam sandwiches with crisps . .TVd the time away until it was time to drive with Sally to the vets. Just up the road from the vet on an area of community green space, one of the large trees had been snapped in half and was down! Left the car parked under trees!! . explained to the vet how Sally HAD immediately improved somewhat on the Metacam, but her improvement was only partial and had NOT continued on to a full recovery. She is still slow and stiff getting up; her nasal drips have increased; her increased snoring is sometimes more 'bubbly'; she has developed an occasional cough! I expressed my laymans opinion that it was as if she had a cold and maybe needed antibiotics rather than a pain reliever. To my relief, the vet seemed to agree and prescribed a week long course (two twice daily) of antibiotics (Synulox), and come back if there was no improvement. The bad news back out at reception was the cost! £42.41!!! Ouch. . napped. Woke around 5pm feeling kinda headachey and REALLY unwell . . walked and found 5p. Misjudged the weather and got drenched without a coat on the way back - again! :o( . decided to give Sally this evenings dose of Metacam and then start the antibiotics tomorrow. . ate Mum made bacon egg and chips . . BB called briefly . . TVd and watched CBBrother with Mum. Yep - she's hooked (like I am). . bizarre - turned over and watched part of 'Mock The Week' and they did a whole hillariously amusing section on CBBrother - turned over again and they were discussing it on Question Time!!!! Madness. . TVd until bed around midnight.
19 - Up at 5:30am for some reason and then just couldn't get back to sleep no matter how I tried . .walked the woods as daylight crept into the drizzley sky. Several trees had been blown down in the woods, with three blocking different parts of the paths. I just can't get the idea of having a wood burning stove out of my mind, EVERY time I walk down there. It'd be a lot of hassle having to try and lug bits of timber all the way back to the house (assuming it all goes through), but there really is a huge amount of fallen fuel/heating just laying around rotting down there, ripe for the picking. If I just picked up a small Sally sized stick every day, that'd surely be enough to keep me from freezing in the cold months, 'for nothing' (although of course removing the living room gas fire, buying a stove, altering the fireplace and having to pay a builder to sleeve the chimney/alter the chimney pots etc would probably cost a good couple of thousand - which makes it seem like much less sense). .bought a couple of packs of sliced corned beef on the way back and used a couple of pieces to mold around Sally's first two anti biotic tablets. She woofed them down without much hassle. . TVd / PCd a bit of this. . Mum returned from the local store with a daily paper, so we could read some of the press furor over the Big Brother nonsense lolol Wow - they sure are 'gunning' for the 'ignorants' . . . ate Mum made spam sandwiches and crisps watching the ITV news. The CBBrother controversy was the headline story - undermanned/under-resourced British army units fighting for their lives in Afganistan (or was it Iraq? Actually - both, based on what I've seen in remarkable documentaries!), was the second story!! . Oh god I need to get me a life!! Ended up watching CBBrother LIVE on E4 for a while. So - everyone is happy families again, like it never happened huh? That Shilpa woman is just SO dignified and strong. I could NEVER forgive being treated like she was. . . walked. Passed by a blue light flashing police car on the way. A short while later while crossing a junction, I was almost hit by a 'dodgy' looking car as the youth occupants reversed straight out into the adjoining road without looking!? Never mind me and Sally, it didn't seem to matter to them either that cars were coming from both directions and both had to stop while they proceeded to perform a 'u' turn in the junction! Nutters! . the lower pill box in BGdns was again the venue for a drunken, rowdy, foul mouthed gathering of all the local youths/kids. I counted in excess of twenty five. I found it VERY nerve wracking and intimidating to say the least, having to walk past them all in the dark. As I headed back up the path in the pitch black, another half a dozen were on their way down and passed me. After they'd passed, one of the little girls remarked in a loud voice to her friends 'He scared the f***ing c**p out of me!' (referring to my sudden appearance in their torch lights on the dark path) . On the way home I passed another dozen or so kids all swilling beer and lager from cans, heading in the direction of the rest! Think I need to find an alternative place to walk on Friday nights!! :o( . . .Mum was so caught up in the CBBrother furor, she even rang in and voted for a Jade eviction! lol She was going to ring in again and log a vote again on my behalf, but I stopped her. Hard to explain, but I just didn't want to actually be sucked in to being a part of it all. I somehow felt, no matter what happened and how it all panned out, it would leave me feeling 'unpleasant' if I'd actually had a hand in it. NOT fence sitting - I just didn't want to be a part of the funding that made it all happen. . . TVd and watched CBBrother. Well - Jade was evicted as she most definitely should be, but it wasn't a pleasant thing to watch at all. Ended up feeling compassion for even her in her suffering. Reality meets reality TV, and people really suffer as a result. (I can identify uncomfortable parallels with me doing my journal!) Can't understand why there is such outrage at the alleged racist aspect of it all (which I confess I don't think I see). I'm not sure I understand why racism is singled out as a special, particularly awful behavior? Surely suffering is suffering. ANY behavior which causes suffering, particularly when deliberate, is to be equally condemned. Is racism worse than bullying? Is animal torture a lesser wrong? How so if the outcome is broadly the same - that of causing suffering? I'm not sure I get it. I certainly don't understand why people are so ready to act in such an appalling manner, partiicularly when they know their every move is watched, recorded and replayed. You'd have thought they'd all be really really nice and boring to each other all the time? Blah blah blah. Anyway - hopefully all that nonsense is over and done with, although just this once I may continue to watch it, just to see who is deemed to be the winner, however it is that is done. . BB called . . .ate a pastie with crisps and then some pastry tarts with coffee. . . TVd until bed around midnight.
20 - Up around 7am. . . walked and couldn't resist having a good look around near where the kids had been last night. Huge mess everywhere. Amongst the mess were a few carrier bags, and given it was still early enough to be pretty quiet out, I just couldn't resist clearing some of it up. I filled FIVE carrier bags FULL of mostly beer cans and wine bottles etc. (two cans of Guiness unopened but I binned them too). A couple of 'roaches' here and there indicated they had predictably been 'smoking'. My 'payment' for the clear up was to find a penny, three lighters, a 'Failsworth' checked-wool hat, and a rather nice rubber Halfords torch!! . . on the way back to Mums a dog walker hailed me from the other side of the road and mentioned the sun dial I'd found. (I don't recall, but I must have spoken to her the day I found it.) She'd been thinking about it and had come to the conclusion that she thought she'd seen something like it down by the nearby Heritage Museum (which I pass whenever I walk the woods, and where for the last few weeks a new 'garage sized with a tower at one end' building has been undergoing construction). Hmmm - I wonder? That would make sense, being so close, and on reflection it is possible the paint which covered it does seem a 'similar' if weathered colour to much around that museum. . Walked straight back down to the museum to have a look around, just in case I could spot something with a couple of empty mounting holes. Predictably no one was around, and the barriers erected around the building site stopped me from having a closer look. Guess I'll have to wait to ask someone, whenever it is next open (although that may be seasonal and some time off). . . received another letter from my solicitor in the mail, which included a copy of a letter from the vendors solicitor. Included in the letter was "Please note that my clients need to arrange rented accomodation and are not in a position to do this until such time as the buyers are ready to exchange and a completion date agreed. In this respect it is hoped that your clients will be flexible with regard to the completion date." Huh? That's a catch 22 isn't it? What does that mean? I have to just sit and wait on them while they take their time finding a nice place to rent? That could go on forever!!???? That put me in a down mood. . . ate liver pate sandwiches with crisps and then some toffee popcorn . . napped . . walked and test drove my new torch. Yep - quite a nice one. Strangely not quite so good at illuminating the 'near', but oh SO much better at distance stuff. Good beam for such a little thing. . hints of distant lightning in the air somewhere and then it began to rain - LOTS!! Damn! No rain coat! Luckily reached the cover of the rooved seats before it got too bad. Watched as the distant lights across the bay, completely disappeared in the thick of the storm. Rivers of rain rushed down the paths as sudden strong winds lashed around me. The weather down here is 'different' to what I'm used to. You can sit for a short period of time and watch it change around you. I call it 'dynamic'. . Stuck it out for a couple of cigarettes and was overjoyed to see the heavy rain drift off out to sea, and I eventually managed to walk back without getting wet at all. Made a nice change. :o) . . . touched base with BB. . .ate Mum cooked sausages, eggs and chips. . TVd/PCd this
21 - Up around 7:30am. .walked the woods. Had a go at one of the fallen trees, which has completely blocked the lower path through the woods. Hacked away with my pocket knife for ages, and eventually succeeded in removing enough of the branches to make it a little easier to get by without having to detour and climb through the brambles as had been the case. Hot hard work, but suprisingly successful with such a little knife. . sat in BGdns for another cigarette, I became aware of the sound of someone shaking an aerosol can of spray paint in the top (main) pill box!? Surely someone wouldn't be SO brazen as to do (yet more) graffitti at this time of day, with all the dog walkers around?!! I kept watch out of the corner of my eye. Turned out to be a quite elderly man - he did have a can of spray paint - I saw him do a test spray (white paint) on one of the vertical walls - he was trying unsuccessfully to spray the roof (the near empty can wouldn't spray inverted like that)! All very weird!????? After he'd given up trying to do whatever he was doing, and had returned to his nearby car and driven off, I couldn't resist descending the flight of steps and having a look in the pill box. Aha. I rather suspect, on the spur of the moment, outraged by what he'd found in the pill box, he'd been attempting to cover it up.
All over the light colour, painted ceiling of
the pill box, some degenerate yob had done black graffitti
(possibly even burned-in with a candle or lighter). The whole
ceiling was covered in VERY offensive swear words ( most notably
a very large, clear, impossible to overlook 'C' word) together
with several nazi swastikas!!! Although perhaps understandable
and commendable, attempting to spray over it all with a white
aerosol was a rather silly thing to do. Just made the whole thing
an even bigger mess, with occassional splatters of white paint
here and there! If someone was to supply the correct paint, I
would willingly do the necessary. Foul abuse and particularly the
nazi swastikas, in a World War II pill box, with all THAT
represents - by this 'I' am much offended. :o( What sort of
impression is that gonna give the tourists when the season
starts? What shame it is, to be British in this age. . . ate
sandwiches and crisps . . . napped . . .walked . . BB called . .
ate Mum cooked pizza with extra cheese and onion . . . TV/PCd
until bed around 2am.22 - Up around 7:30am. .walked. Much colder this morning. Dare I think those anti biotics have had an effect, and Sally is slightly more her normal self (although remains stiff and slow getting up after having been lead down for a bit)? . briefly TVd until it was time to leave Sally and head down to the solicitor for my eleven o'clock 'signature' appointment. Turns out it WAS more than just get a signature from me. We had to go through all the papers and search results and question answers to make sure I knew what I was getting into and was happy with everything, before proceeding with signing the buyer contract. Everything was pretty much as expected with the exception of the rights of access details concerning the property's rear access lane. The search they'd done had come back confirming I would have a legal right of pedestrian and vehicular access over the area highlighted on the provided plan. The trouble with that was, on the plan only half of the access lane was highlighted, and NOT the bit that was most important which would provide vehicular access to the garage!! The bit that WAS highlighted was apparantly nothing more than a small pedestrian lane coming round from the other end! After having had a good look down that lane, I wasn't even aware that it continued on through for pedestrians! The solicitor said he would have to go back and confirm that aspect again. Uggh - so how long is THAT gonna take!! :o( I also asked him to seek details from the vendor of the utility companies currently used (to make a transfer easier for me if/when I move in), and user instructions for the heating system. (The vendor has apparantly been there since 1994. A safety inspection was done on the heating system and gas fires in 2005. Other than that, there were no certificates or guarantees.) . Signed the contract and then wrote out a cheque for a 10% deposit as required for when the contracts are eventually exchanged (made a fool of myself by having an anxiety induced mental blank and not being able to spell the name of the solicitor on the cheque!!). The solicitor confirmed he would contact the vendors solicitor, with a view to establishing what sort of a timescale they now had in mind. He actually rang their solicitor while I was sat there, to inform him I had actually just written out the deposit cheque. The whole process took around one and a half hours! My solicitor refused to be drawn over how long things 'could' now take. Nevertheless, I did exit feeling as though maybe, just maybe, things were actually starting to happen and it may actually occur. BIG nasty stress headache. briefly had a quick look in a couple of charity shops before heading back to Mums, past 'the house' so I could have a look at the pedestrian access to the rear. Turned out there was a small wooden gate just down the road, with a 'private' sign on it, which lead into a narrow, overgrown footpath that wound around the rank of houses and then opened up into the wider vehicular access lane at the back. No worries - obviously little used and not a shortcut anywhere for anyone. Just need to make sure I do have a legal right to get a car down there to the garage! . . .transferred some money over out of my higher interest savings account to cover the deposit cheque . . . ate corned beef sandwiches, crisps and some cheese . . napped . . walked in the freezing gale. Really VERY cold with the oh SO strong wind coming in from a much less usual direction for down here - something like a North Easterly I think, although I'm still not 'too' accurately aware of which direction is which yet, when walking aroundabout. . sat in the sheltered dark of a pill box for my usual cigarette and was amazed to be able to make out in the distance, waves and spray being blown over the top of the breakwater, all along its length, and even over the lighthouse!! Wow - never seen THAT down here before! . called Mum on the mobile on the way home and told her to get ready to go for a quick drive if she was up for it . . . drove with Sally and Mum to see the weather. Drove round to the breakwater beach car park, and pulled up next to another car who'd already parked up with it's headlights pointing out towards the breakwater to illuminate the waves. Wow. WOW!! BIG weather. Actually a little worrying despite being in the car. Even Mum had never seen the seas that rough down here. Drove to a couple more less impressive vantage points before eventually calling it quits and returning . . TVd. On the 'Tonight' show there was an 'update' to the 'Anne Widdecombe V The Hoodies' documentary they'd aired last week. Apparantly, the decent people Anne Widdecombe had stayed with on the scum-ridden estate had subsequently suffered an arson attack. After the publicity she generated for them, someone had attempted to put burning stuff through their letter box - and the council were now having to re-house them, elsewhere. No suprises there then. Surely everyone concerned MUST have known that was probably going to happen? Why didn't the TV people rig up some CCTV cameras and leave them with them??. . BB called . . TVd . . ate sausages, bacon, egg, beans and bread and butter . . TVd until bed around 1am. aa
23 - Up around 7:30am. .walked in the cold wind with the camcorder in one pocket and a tripod inside my coat - just in case. The sea was still looking fairly rough (not 'quite' as bad as last night) and was still breaking over the breakwater now and then, here and there. I'm sure they probably were out, but I didn't see any fishing boats go by this morning.
Had a go at videoing what I think was the
pilot boat, as it left the harbor and headed out into the waves
past the end of the breakwater. Looked like a real rough ride,
and not one I would ever willingly do, with waves and spray
breaking right over the top of the vessel. Small boat / big
engine. . sat around in the low sun watching the view for a while
before finding myself unable to resist walking all the way around
the harbor and over to the breakwater in the distance (where we'd
parked up last night). . on a slipway in the outer harbor, a
marker buoy was strangely just sat on the sloping concrete, with
rough waves washing up to it. There appeared to be nothing
actually holding it there other than it's own weight, and it
really did look suspiciously as though it had broken from its
mooring and had simply been beached there by the waves of what I
think was the now slowly retreating tide! The whole metal
structure at the top of the buoy, where the light would have been
was all bent and buckled by some great force. A rather nice
looking solar panel (£££) was still intact on the side.
(Didn't realise they were powered by solar!). . 
a little
further on and almost round to the inner harbor, near the
unpleasantly 'industrial' fishdock slipway, I found myself
unexpectedly looking at a seal - as it looked back at Sally and
I!! Rushed to get my camcorder out of my pocket and fired up, but
only managed a few seconds of footage before it calmly dipped its
head under the waves and didn't reappear. Owwww. I don't think it
is a 'particularly' rare sight to see a seal thereabouts, but I
thought it was pretty neat. Very 'doggy' sort of face - 'dog of
the sea', and of course I like dogs. :o) . carried on walking
around the inner harbor and then out past the marina. Someones
small 'tender' rowing boat was drifting loose, full of water and
on the verge of sinking amongst a lot of other floating debris. 
Eventually battled through the freezing wind
and reached the Breakwater beach, near where we'd parked up last
night. Good grief - some guy all dressed in soaked waterproofs
was just returning from having apparantly walked out along the
breakwater! Nutter!!! A big warning sign at the end of the
breakwater announced that it was closed due to the bad
(dangerous) weather conditions. . Disappointing it was nowhere
near as rough as last night, but it was still rough enough to be
quite impressive, and with the sunshine in a clear sky, WAS worth
a bit of videoing. . as I messed around filming the scene, all
the while keeping a worried eye (Sally too) on the waves a short
distance from me (and the beach side restaraunt - today a little
too close to the waves for comfort!), I became aware of a bird on
the beach which appeared to be getting a bit of a battering from
the surf!? Zoomed in with the camcorder and confirmed my fears.
It was covered in oil and was desperately attempting to groom
itself!!! :o( 
That surely
HAS to be a casualty of that 'Napoli' shipwreck off the
Brandscombe Beach which has been on the news these last couple of
days - mostly because of the mass looting of all the containers
washed up on the beach, as the inept authorities faff around
trying to figure out what the law is! Human nature on full
display at its worst, as people came from far and wide trying to
grab something for nothing. Yuck! (But I'm human too - I was more
than a little jealous watching the news footage of people walking
away with brand new BMW motorbikes!!!!Sheesh! I'm sure if the
beach just down the road was covered in 'stuff' I'd be down there
to have a rummage. :o( Nauseating!). I guess despite the
distances involved, if the wind, tides and currents were right,
it IS conceivable that some of that wreckage 'could' maybe find
it's way round here - but no BMWs of course!!! . . Poor little
bird. Awful to stand and watch its suffering and inevitable slow
death. Very painful. :o( God HOW I HATE mankind! :o( Eventually
gave up playing with the camcorder and started back across the
small stretch of beach with Sally, only feet from the unmoving
bird. Dare I have a go at catching it? What a load of hassle
that'll be if I actually get it. It'd be a good hours walk to get
back to Mums. It'd die of fright if I was carrying it so far
wouldn't it? And then what to do with it/where to take it?
Arrrgggghhh. Damn, damn, damn! Tied Sally to a metal post at the
top of the beach and left her there next to my camcorder tripod
and made my way back down towards the bird, trying to figure out
how to give it a go. The waves had made a deep ledge in the
pebbles of the beach, and the bird had managed to struggle with
the help of the gale up to the top of it, away from all but the
biggest of the incoming waves. In danger of getting wet (or
washed away if there was one of those big 'freak' waves that you
always hear about on the news when some wreckless fool has gone
missing) , I dropped down off the shelf and attempted to make my
way between the waves and the bird, in the hope that it would be
encourged higher up the beach as I slowly approached. I got
within three feet of it and, keeping a worried eye on the
incoming breakers, was building myself up to lunging at it - and
just then it made a break for it and caught the wind and
fluttered awkwardly headlong straight into the surf and was gone.
Sad, sad, sad - but, I admit, a bit of a relief as well. Oh well
- I gave it my best shot. :o( . . headed back on the long walk
back to Mums, feeling really rather upset. I hate to witness the
suffering of ANYTHING! :o( . . TVd with a coffee before setting
off with Sally and Mum to the local(ish) Morrisons store to do
some shopping, but mostly to get dog food supplies (only one tin
left!). 24xWinalot @ £9.98 and 6xMorrisons Mydog Premium to try
@ £1.88. Mum as ever absolutely INSISTED on paying for
absolutely everything!! I owe her much. :o/ . . .ate a couple of
meat and stuffing pastry slices with two bags of crisps and a
couple of doughnuts . . PCd this morning's video footage. . .
napped . . .walked. Cold! Hmm - I'm not sure, but I think that
beached and damaged buoy I saw earlier is the green light marker
buoy from the entrance of the outer harbor. The red light is
still there, but I think there WAS a green one too - and it ain't
there now. . BB called. Temperature down to zero in the garage
tonight. Didn't spend much time out there today. . TVd . .ate
belly of pork and stuffing slice sandwiches (yucky) and some
pastry apple tarts. . .TVd/PCd a bit of this. Seem to be having
great trouble putting in the work required to keep this going at
the moment. Soon gave up and TVd until bed around 1am.24 - Woken by Sally making a loud licking noise around 7:15am . . .headline news this morning is that all the prisons in the country are full - so the courts are being instructed not to sentence any more offenders to a prison sentence, and existing prisoners are going to be released early. Errrr - doesn't that pretty much mean that this country has now reached an advanced stage of a seemingly unstoppable march toward anarchy?!!??? Despair! . . walked the woods. Exchanged a word with a dog walker who was taking photos of 'things'. Turns out she was a teacher in Plymouth until recently but has chucked it all in because she can't handle the increasing antisocial, bad behavior nonsense from the yobs(/parents) she was teaching. NOT an unusual story these days it appears. How long until no one is prepared to be a teacher I wonder, and what happens then?! . used my pocket knife to chop off a few more of the branches from the downed tree, still partially blocking the path. . stopped off at the BGdns Heritage 'Museum' and asked one of the workmen working there if they'd recently lost a sundial. He was adamant they hadn't, but recognised my description of it and was sure he'd seen one like it on someones house somewhere - but he couldn't remember where. . TVd . PCd this, determined to try and catch up on the last several days - or is it almost a week now?!! Hassle! Gives me a real back (and much else) ache trying to type all this sitting on a low footstool . . .ate chicken and stuffing slice sandwiches, cheese, crackers and a little chocolate . . PCd this more. Naww - I've had enough for today. This'll have to do. . napped . . walked. . . BB called . . TVd. . ate a steak and kidney pie, banana and biscuits . . TVd until bed around 1am. s
25 - Woken by Sally's snoring before 6:30am! . . . walked the woods. Word on the bench is that there ARE thankfully people trawling the local coast, armed with RSPCA boxes, rescuing oil covered birds . . . received a letter from the solicitor containing a copy of his letter to the sellers solicitor seeking answers to the points raised at our meeting on Monday. So - that'll put everything back another week or two just to get a reply! Agonising! :o( God how I want them to get their finger out and exchange contracts. Until that is done, I'm nowhere, got nothing, and it could all still fall through SO easly!! :o( . .ate pate sandwiches, crisps and most of a packet of toffee popcorn. . napped . . walked. Very cold this evening. All this out doing walks twice a day (whatever the weather), interspersed with sitting around for hours smoking out in the garage, chills me to the bone, and even going in to sit by Mums piping hot radiator can't seem to warm me up (especially my feet). Just seem to feel deep down cold all the time and have done for months now. :o( Tonight was the last two tablets of Sally's course of anti biotics. I think she'll miss those little treats of squished up corned beef hiding the tablets. On the plus side, she really seems to like that Morrisons own 'Mydog Premium' dog food I bought to try. It has the same solid consistancy of Winalot (cheaper ones are often little more than a tin of liquid!), but is quite a bit cheaper. May have to buy some more of those when I next need supplies. . BB called . . ate mum heated chicken and mushroom pastry slice, peas and chips. . Sis2 called to touch base . . PCd a bit of this . . -1C in the garage - didn't stay out there smoking too much this evening. . TVd (and finished eating the packet of toffee popcorn) until bed around 1am.
26 - Up around 7am . . walked the woods . .TVd in the garage most of the morning (with Sally on her doubled-over duvet and covered in a sleeping bag) before succumbing to the cold and retreating into the warm to balance my accounts (my house deposit has left my account - so the solicitor is presumably making a nice little bit of interest on it now! Humph.) and PC this. . .ate Mum made pate sandwiches and crisps followed by chocolate biscuits . . .napped . . walked. Slightly warmer and not too much wind, made for a pleasant walk - until that is, the hords of (20+) foul mouthed, rowdy kids turned up to party and get drunk in the pill boxes again. :o( Come on Sally - time to go!. . BB called . . ate Mum cooked pizza while watching CBBrother on TV. . TV/PCd until bed around 2am. s
27 - Up around 7:20am . . walked. I guess I have to confess that there is something of the 'Branscombe Beach Looters' about me on a Saturday morning these days, given the activities that seem to go on in BGdns every Friday night! Can't help a certain amount of - um - 'expectation' about what I 'may' find amongst the litter the partying kids leave strewn around everywhere. This morning they had at least left several empty plastic carrier bags just blowing around on the breeze, so I had little excuse not to fill them and clear most of it up before anyone else was about to be offended by the mess. Filled up three carrier bags of beer cans, broken glass and plastic glow in the dark 'straws'! My 'payment' for the task today? I found a £10 note amongst the debris in the pill boxes. :o) That's good payment for the effort. . still not 'too' cold with little breeze, and cheered up by my find, I figured it would be a good day to do the long walk around the harbor and out along the breakwater. I was only half way to the harbor when I spotted another oiled Gillamot. It was just sat all dejected on the concrete of a slipway. Sally did as I bid (she is SO good - but then we've had lots of practice) and sat and waited on the pathway while I walked down the slipway towards the bird. It really was NOT well, and continued to just sit there as I approached and walked round to the waters edge behind it. With the slightest attempt at a flutter from the bird, I simply walked up behind it, stooped and picked it up! It had a good go at giving me a pecking as I rushed to start heading back to Mums with it firmly held in both hands against my chest. Briefly stopped at a nearby waste bin and thankfully found a plastic carrier bag in the bottom. With some difficulty I managed to get the struggling bird into the carrier bag with its beak poking out of a hole. That made it much easier to keep it all wrapped up so it couldn't keep trying to flap its wings, for the long hurried walk back to Mums. I could feel the poor bird's keel bone as I cluched it, with almost no meat on it at all! . .
got Mum to
help, and retrieved an empty cardboard box from the garage and
got the bird out of the bag and into the quiet safety of the box
. . Mum found the number of the not 'too' distant wildlife rescue
place and gave them a call, only to get the ansphone, although it
did suggest another mobile number for oiled birds. I gave them a
call and remarkably the guy who answered said he would come and
pick it up in around an hour because he would be out this way
while checking for more oiled birds on the local beaches. Cool. .
. true to his word, he soon turned up in a VERY noticeable van,
together with all his young children! He remarked how his arrival
had seen all the neighbours straining to see what was going on.
lol Very nice guy. Had a bit of a chat and he expressed his
outrage at the recent news reports which suggested 70% of such
rescued birds would NOT survive. His experience, when
the birds are treated correctly, is that at least
70% WILL survive. Apparantly he'll take it back to their centre,
let it join a group of others in his care (only nine at the
moment after a batch sent to West Hatch) , give it a feed, and
then just give it time to recover I think he said. Very nice guy.
. . ate chicken and stuffing slice sandwiches with some cheese
and crisps followed by a doughnut . . . napped . . .walked. Nice
quiet calm evening. . on the way back, a mixed group of half a
dozen or so youths were all sat chatting on someone's low garden
wall. As I passed one of them remarked to his friends how Sally
looked 'like Sky - with a tail.' (Reference I presumed, to a
German Shepherd I've met while walking, which only had a stump of
a tail because it was run over by its owners car when it was a
puppy!) I carried on walking and passed the member of their group
they were waiting for, who had been in the local store and bought
a large cardboard box of bottles of alcohol (weird Gin or Vodka
based stuff - kinda vivid blue in colour). Off they all went in
the direction of BGdns. .BB called . . ate Mum cooked bacon,
eggs, beans and bread and butter followed by a doughnut . .TVd
until bed. 28 - Up around 7:20am . . walked. I don't believe it!! BGdns looked as though it'd been the scene of a riot! Large branches of trees were laying around and stuck in the ground all over the place where they'd been thrown. The charred remains of a small fire were evident on top of the gun emplacement. A wooden slat from one of the seats had been torn off and snapped into firewood. A brass, riveted on, 'In Rememberance Of' plaque had been prised from the back of another of the seats and cast aside (I attempted to bash it back in place - with due apologies to the named dearly departed, his dog and surviving wife)("IN MEMORY OF MY HUSBAND NORMAN KENNETH READ. ALSO HEIDI OUR FAITHFUL FRIEND. I SHALL MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU ALWAYS. SILVIA").
All the first row of roof tiles from the roof
over the seats had been torn off and smashed and thrown all
around. It perhaps goes without saying that litter cans and glass
bottles were strewn all around - but what was perhaps worthy of
note was the cardboard box and unfinished bottle of
vivid-blue-in-colour drink which was amongst it. So - that group
I passed last night may well have had a hand in the destruction
of the roof! . collected up many of the bottles and placed them
back in the cardboard container, and just left it all sat on top
of the nearby refuse bin. Collected up a bunch of the broken roof
tiles and put them in a neat pile near the seats under the
remainder of the roof - but I'm not sure why. :o/ Felt
overwhelmed with that all too familiar sickening feeling of anger
and powerless despair I have experienced so much of, this last
year and more. I don't believe it! The very insanity I had hoped
to have escaped (for a while at least) is already down here in
abundance! What the hell was the point of going through these
months of torture, just to end up in a similar situation?! My
mood crashed in a heartbeat. Have I made a horrible mistake
thinking that there is anything left for me in this country?. had
to get away from the devastation, and decided to walk around the
harbor and out along the breakwater to the lighthouse and back. .
the lighthouse was graffittied! Exchanged a word with a dog
walker riding a bike alongside his dog. He didn't used to have a
dog - until he decided to get one for 'guard dog' purposes! He
described the increasing amount of bad behaviour he had
experienced, how he'd beefed up the locks on his home, how he had
a CCTV system, etc, etc! :o( Almost seemed pointless bothering to
walk back. Could have just thrown myself off the end of the
breakwater and into the abyss there and then couldn't I! . . I
was suprised but relieved not to see any more distressed oil
covered birds. All the more suprising when, as I passed the
innermost part of the outer harbor, I became aware of a choking
acrid smell of petrol!? A huge rainbow coloured oil slick was
floating on the water, right where the lifeboat moors up (it had
only recently left the harbor heading off out to sea!). Blimey -
I trust that wasn't discharged there by the lifeboat!! Birds were
bobbing around not far off, just ready to be covered! :o( . .
.eventually returned feeling oh so very, VERY DOWN!!! . . . ate
chocolate biscuits and then a chicken and mushroom pastry slice
with crisps . . .napped . . .walked. . .touched base with BB . .
TVd and watched the final of CBBrother. Mum rang up and voted
appropriately. Thankfully it seems, so did most of the viewers,
and the 'good' (all non British - Shilpa
being the rightful winner under the circumstances ) triumphed
over the 'bad' . I really really DO think the awful behaviour
displayed on that show (and perhaps the shows very existance)
absolutely IS a perfect example of how this country has gone to
the dogs. How loutishness and anti social behaviour IS now very
much the norm and is actively celebrated in so very much of the
dumbed down media, thereby increasing and perpetuating it. Blah
blah blah. Anyway - thank god all that nonsense is over with. Who
knows, maybe there'll occasionaly be something intelligent to
watch now?(Unlikely!) . . TVd until bed just after midnight. s29 - Up around 7:15am . . walked the woods . . .sat around really f***ing fed up! :o( . . ate pate sandwiches and crisps. . . napped . . . walked . . BB called . . ate spam, peas and chips. . . TVd until bed after 1:30am.
30 - Up around 7:30am . . walked . . . TVd . .phoned the solicitor intending to find out what was going on, only to be told he was in a meeting with clients and would call me back. Uhuh. So how come he was so willing to answer his phone when I was in with him? . . ate pate sandwiches, cheese and crisps . . . napped. So the solicitor didn't bother to call me back then. I'm not sure how much more of this I can take. Foul down mood . . walked. . . BB called but I had nothing to say . . ate two turkey and stuffing pastry slices and some buttered hot cross buns . . . TVd until bed around midnight. 'Tough' few days. Suffice it to say, I CAN confirm for the record, that a hoselock fitting on the end of a hosepipe, does fit quite snugly in the downward curve of my car exhaust! I just needed to know!
31 - Up around 7:30am . . walked. Really low tide and spotted a couple of seal foraging around the bay and occasionaly stopping to look back at me as I peered at them through my binoculars. .wow - spotted what appears to be a wreck under the low tide shallow water at the foot of the small cliff at the bottom of BGdns. Not much left of whatever it was, but there IS a whole bunch of shiny stainless steel fitments visible, and well within reach for a brief period of time at low tide if you precariously climbed over the rocks and waded in amongst the submerged ropes and cables. How weird no one has had that away. A grappling hook on the end of a strong rope would probably be the easiest way. .wow - whoever was throwing those roof tiles around the other night was lucky not to have killed someone. I noticed broken remnants of them, thrown down from on high like a frisby, near the bottom footpath!! :o( . . .Detoured on the way back after spotting another new for-sale sign on a nearby house. Turned out to be two new ones in the same street!! One was fully detached and obviously out of my price range, but the other was probably well within! Hmmm!? . received a letter in the mail from the solicitor