Naturism and the 9-5 grind

I got the start date for the new job today. Form Monday I have to put on a tie and go to an office for the first time in over a month. I'm looking forward to it, but I can't pretend that it isn't going to be an effort. The first week I work in Oxford, then I have a day in london as an induction. All terribly exciting.

This all means that I only have a couple of days left to enjoy before I get back into the 9-5 grind. I'm going to try and make the most of it. Today the dragon and I took the little guy to Malmesbury. It's a very old town, only about 25 miles from here, with a ruined Abbey...



and some nice gardens...



It may sound boring, but we had a great day. We packed a picnic lunch and spent hours in the gardens.

The gardens are tended by some naturist gardeners. Generally they work clothed, but occasionally they have a clothes optional day it seems. It was not a clothes optional day today, though the two gardeners we saw were wearing only swimming costumes.





It was a great day anyway. Even the car park ticket machine went wrong. It took 50p and and gave me back £1.50. I gave it to the Abbey colelction box when we went to visit.

The next clothing optional day is apparently 18 Aug. The dragon wants to go and see if anyone actually shows up naked. I was thinking I might like to go too. I was thinking I could get the dragon to take some pictures of me covorting naked through the undergrowth and publish them here.

In case anyone else is interested, here is the website.

Since I have been without work for the last few weeks I took the opportunity to visit the dentist for the the first time in about ten years this week. Apparently one of my wisdom teeth requires filling. I suppose I can't complain about one filling in ten years. I have made an appointment on 24 Aug.

Friend Eugenie from Taiwan (currently studying in Wales) is here for the weekend. This is good, we like her and it gives the dragon a chance to chat in Chinese.

I can't let this entry go by without mentioning today's airport disruption. I am torn between having a rant about the senseless pricks who try and blow up aircraft, and merely specualating that in a few hours we are likely to hear that all the 18 people arrested toady will have been released without charge and will be suing the Met Police force.

I'm in a good mood, so I'm not going to give the Met a rough ride. Let's wait and see what happens. I stillt hink people that blow up aircraft are pricks. I wouldn't mind so much if I understood what they actually wanted to achieve. But that's the 21st century for you.

Tomorrow we have kite flying scheduled for White Horse Hill. If there's enough wind I'm going to get out the 2m Flexifoil. Look for pictures of me being dragged over Britain's oldest chalk monument tomorrow.