OMG: Fantastic Mr Fox Strikes Again

The tail of Mr Fox and his work shoes

Fantastic Mr Fox
Fantastic Mr Fox

Today I spent over an hour searching the house from bottom to top for my missing work shoe (I work from home on Tuesdays so didn’t notice it missing till Michelle pointed it out). Michelle and I were 80% certain Isabelle had nabbed it and hidden it somewhere, but blimey! my shoes aren’t small. I looked in every cupboard, draw, under the sofas, beds to no avail. Daniel spoke a couple of times about the fox at the gate that we see outside the house frequently and was even spotted with a little shoe a few weeks ago. Eventually I realised that Isabelle must have got my shoe into the rubbish bin before I took the bin out this morning, and so my shoe is lost. I don’t have any backups so I’ll be hopping to work tomorrow.

I took the bin out this morning.

Daniel came with me to put the bin out. But he didn’t go to the end of the drive, and I saw him facing the other way. When I got back to the house, which took all of 2 minutes, I turned and there was the cat sat on top of the outside cupboard. And the fox between me and the cat checking me out. As I walked towards the fox he dashed off under the bushes next to the house. I followed him and we exchanged stares briefly before he escaped under the fence to the fallow land next door.

Is it possible my shoe disappeared while I was out? Michelle had an inkling. Did the fox come and steal my shoe while the door was open and I was taking the bin to the top of the drive? So out I go into the wet bushes next to the outside cupboard with the spiders where I saw the fox take the last shoe to see if there’s any evidence. It’s quite interesting behind the bushes – there’s a lot of space and some holes under the fence leading to the neighbour’s garden; but no shoe.

Until I look under the bushes next to the house and there’s my shoe shining in the damp torchlight.

Should listen to Daniel more often. Need a shower now to wash off all these spiderwebs and bush bugs. At least I once again have 2 shoes for work tomorrow.

R

Cap’n Sarich part I

On the 8th and 9th of February, I completed the RYA power boating Helmsman course. I am now capable of taking charge of a motor cruiser as a skipper within a defined area (allegedly).

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An interesting, and very experienced group (forgiving one).

The weather was against us with gale force 6-8 occassionally approaching 10 not too distant.

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John (trainee instructor); Gren (instructor); Ron (co-Helmsman); Jamie (trainee yachtmaster).

On the Saturday, we remained within the (relatively) safe confines of Chatham marina and practiced some close quarters maneuvering (mind the yachts!); power boats – especially twin 310bhp engined power boats with bow thrusters – rock… and pirouette pretty well too.

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The less wet-and-windy helm.

Sunday found us whizzing up and down the River Medway. Check out the video to see how windy it was.

Good fun. I’m looking forward to the subsequent courses.

R

Sustaining my employ

Many individual investors lose consistently by trading, an achievement that a dart-throwing chimp could not match.

– Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow p.213 (2011).

Despite the lacklustre performance of all my efforts (don’t take my investment advice!), I take comfort in distinguishing myself from our simian relations.

R

Something Fishy

I have decided to set up an aquarium. This is still only a plan. There seems to be a lot of sometimes conflicting information in the public domain about the best approach. The initial motivation for this site was to collate some of this information, and to document decisions and progress.

I intend to use a Juwel Rio 400 to create a Nature Aquarium.

JuwelRio400

What’s a nature aquarium? Check out these stunning vistas. I particularly like number 6, which is copied below.

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What’s the chance I could create something like that?

R

Welcome

Oooh, the excitement of starting a new blog.

I’m planning to set up a tropical fish aquarium, and the initial purpose of this site is to track its progress. That topic is covered in the fish category.

Whilst commissioning the site, it asked for a little information about me, so I’ve put some tidbits on The Author page should you be interested. This also motivated my first diary entry about a very special event.

Please feel free to post comments at the bottom of any page, or use the contact form to get in touch.

R