The Great Blogger Badger Hunt

Time to catch up with a bit of blogging.

A couple of weeks ago (Friday February 23rd to be precise) Aliemalie, who lives roughly on the other side of the world, somehow managed to be passing through my neck of the woods. While that may sound like a serious wrong turn Aliemalie is currently touring Europe and made some time to meet up with myself and Korova.

Once Korova and I had escaped from work and Aliemalie had found a hotel to stay at we headed off in to the wilds of Kent. Even though the pub we went to was in the middle of nowhere we found our way there easily enough... thanks mainly to Aliemalie. Yes, that's right- the one in our group that was from another country entirely was the one to spot most of the road signs we needed for our 'route' (damn, that joke doesn't work when you type it. Sorry Korova). Let that be a lesson to you- Never trust me for directions. Ever.

Ever.

Anyway, in spite of being in a fairly rural locale we failed to see any badgers, much to our disappointment. They may have gone in to hiding knowing that Korova was coming.
It was great to have the chance to meet up with a blogger all the way from America- someone who ordinarily I would never have met. Unsurprisingly the conversation centred mainly around the three B's- Bees, Badger and Bush (in the political sense I hasten to add), as well as insulting each others taste in music.

While we were driving down the dark country lanes we joked about stumbling across a weirdo walking the roads with a spade slung over one shoulder (as you do). Strangely, once we got back to town and were all stood outside the car Aliemalie and myself turned to Korova to see that just walking up behind him was a weird looking guy carrying what just might possibly have been a spade. Spooky.

It was a very cool night and who knows, maybe next time we could go somewhere the 'locals' know how to get to better than the out of towner. And somewhere with more badgers, obviously.

In other news I had a fantastic drive in to work last week. On Wednesday it took me nearly three hours to get in. There had been an accident on the motorway which when it happens, often backs up the traffic all the way to the town so everyone ends up being late, rushing and then causing more accidents. The 'route' (no, it still doesn't work) I take ground to a complete halt for an hour of the journey, so I just got out a notebook and did some writing while happily listening to my MP3 player. I had the engine of my car turned off so when the traffic started to edge forward again I just took off the handbrake to roll forward a little each time.
Unfortunately my MP3 was having a bit of a mellow day, playing Sarah Mclachlan, Tori Amos and Beth Orton, which meant that by the time the traffic actually started to move forward with all the drivers finally able to use their accelerator pedal, I was so chilled out I had completely forgotten how to drive. I had to carry out a quick mental checklist of what I needed to do to get moving again.
I was probably the most relaxed driver in a traffic jam ever.