I Had Another Quiet Day,

which was more than could be said about the tooth that was taken out,

it was still giving me gyp, hopefully it will be less painful tomorrow, I watched a few documentaries during the day until Diana arrived home, after a coffee and a chat it was time for our evening meal, 'Cheers!',

Diana had made a delicious chicken curry,

eyes down and tuck in,

as it was Friday it was out to the bus stop to catch the 227 to Penge,

this week I was meeting Steve at the Moon & Stars, where we chatted the night away,

after saying our farewells, a 227 home and a walk across the green,

past the Pearl on the bridge,

whilst at the pub there was a charity evening going on, so I bought a few tit bits for Diana, 

star themed cakes,

this one with planets on a chocolate cake, as Diana had already gone to bed it will be a nice surprise for her when she wakes up in the morning, I will have already left for work, I watched a Have I Got More News For You, after which I was off to bed.

I Have Never, Ever, Been Even Remotely Connived,

that all electric cars are the way forward,

photograph Reuters, from the inhuman way materials for the batteries are sourced, to all of the hype about how cheap they are to run, and just yesterday I read this, and I quote from the article:

·                    Reuters says EVs are written off for having just scratches on battery packs

                     It warned damaged battery packs are 'piling up in scrapyards in some countries'

                     A US manufacturing expert said a Tesla Model Y's battery has 'zero reparability'

experts are saying batteries in expensive Tesla Y SUVs have 'zero reparability' because they are a structural part of the car, and yet people still say that all battery cars are the way forward, as batteries make up a significate part of the cost of the car, replacing them is prohibitively expensive, as insurance companies are finding out! Sandy Munro, head of Michigan-based Munro & Associates, a business that advised how car makers on how to improve their vehicles, said the battery pack in the Model Y has 'zero reparability' because of its make-up of the car's structure, 'A Tesla structural battery pack is going straight to the grinder,' he explained,

Andy Keane, UK commercial motor product manager at insurer AXA, said the high cost of batteries 'may sometimes make replacing a battery unfeasible', He added: 'An insurance company is not going to take that risk [of putting an EV back on the road] because they're facing a lawsuit later on if something happens with that vehicle and they did not total it.' and here is the amazing thing, what do people who have had their car written off do? you guessed it, buy another all electric car! you just could not make it up! for the full article have a look here.

If You Want To Buy A Out Of This World Fashion Gift,

this has got to be it,

all photographs Coperni, French luxury accessory brand Coperni recently unveiled a limited-edition “meteorite’ handbag that is hand-carved from a meteorite that fell on Earth thousands of years ago,

as part of its Autumn/Winter 23 fashion collection, Coperni has created a unique handbag that ‘combines archaeology, design, as well as classical and primitive art’, 

the piece of meteorite estimated to have fallen on Earth 55,000 years ago, but because each purse is unique, the shape and colour may vary slightly, the Coperni Meteorite bag measures 9 x 12 x 23 centimetres, and weighs around 2 kilograms, which thinking about could be an advantage if you want to hit a mugger around the back of the head with it! here is the company's online web site, naturally a exclusive one off bag like this is not cheap, and at €40.000,00, at todays rate £35,274.39 or $43,130.00, the bag reflects the rarity of meteorites, here are the shipping costs for many places in the world, and the good news? in the UK all duties are included in the price, so order quickly, before the company runs out of meteorites!

The Day stated Out With A Telephone Call,

from my doctor as arranged,

every 6 months or so I pop into the surgery to leave a blood sample, after which the doctor calls at an arranged time to discuss the results and change any medication that might need changing, good news, my blood pressure and all of the other things tested for, cholesterol etc were all fine, just keep on doing what I am doing and all should be well, so that was a relief, what I did not have relief from was my tooth extraction on Tuesday, it was still so painful, so much so that for the first time in years I took a couple of painkillers, after the extraction I was told not to use my dentures until Thursday, as it happens there was no way I was going to try them today! my top gum and lip were just so painful I could not even blow my nose, hopefully tomorrow things will have calmed down a tad, after posting the blog, my exercises, breakfast and a shower I started a few things for the shop, printing out a few invoices and fishkeeping guides,

this time for coldwater fishkeeping, these are kept in the coldwater fish section, for customers to help them self to, or give out to anyone that shows interest in coldwater fishkeeping, there are also guides for topical freshwater and marine fish, during the day I had a few messages regarding Monday and Tuesday next week, on Monday the fire alarm company are calling by to fit all of the communal areas with sensors and other bits of electric that are needed, as I have the keys to these areas I will be letting them in, next on Tuesday assuming all goes well, fitting the alarm will mean access to all of the halls in each flat, so I have the keys for anyone that can not or does not want to be there on Tuesday, at the end of the day we will have the entire house alarmed for warnings of any fire, so that will be a relief, during the day I watched a few documentaries until Diana returned from work, after our meal a Outback Opal Hunters and a Deadliest Catch,

 then our film for the evening The Spy Who loved Me, a great 1977 romp from 007, and of course Jaws, we followed that with one from A Touch of Frost before we were off to bed.

Started In 2020 By The Senckenberg Society For Nature Research,

LOEWE TBG and The International Society For Mollusc Research,

photograph by Cristian Sepulveda, this years winner of the 2023 International Mollusc of the Year contest has just been announced, it is the Chilean abalone,(Concholepas concholepas), the edible mollusc, known commonly as the "loco" gained 42 percent of the global votes, despite being up against some formidable opponents, contenders included the psychedelic attractions of the Wavy BubbleSnail, (Micromelo undatus), and the giant Methuselah oyster, (Neopycnodontezibrowii), which can live for 500 years, but I have a sneaking suspicion people voted with their stomachs! the aquatic South American snail made its slow slide to victory a long list of 85,000 contenders was whittled down to five finalists that slugged it out in a public vote that ended on Sunday, because of its victory, the Chilean abalone, the “loco,” will have its genome sequenced by LOEWE BTG and the Baeza lab. Baeza said sequencing the genome of this marine snail could help scientists understand how marine invertebrates deal with heavy fishing and tolerate polluted environments at the molecular level, for the full story have a look here, so if you have a nominee for next year’s International Mollusc of the Year contest organisers say they are already accepting nominations for 2024, where to look? I will start with the back garden, well you never know!

I Have Lost Count,

of the number of times, we have featured LEGO on our blog,

photographs David Levene/The Guardian, but if you click here you can see them, and here is another masterpiece made of them, Ai Weiwei has completed his largest LEGO piece to date in a recreation of “Water Lilies,” one of French Impressionist artist Claude Monet’s most iconic artworks, Monet’s Water Lilies series was inspired by the artist’s garden in Giverny, France, featuring a foot bridge over a pond teeming with wildlife. This idyllic setting was the design and creation of Monet himself, who at the turn of the 20th century had the nearby River Epte partially diverted in order to bring his vision to life,

Monet’s brushstrokes in his water and reflection landscapes are replaced by about 650,000 studs of Lego bricks, in 22 vivid colours, in the 15-metre-long work at the centre of Weiwei’s biggest UK show in eight years, opening next month, entitled Water Lilies #1, it is the largest Lego artwork by the celebrated global artist since he first adopted the medium in 2014 to produce portraits of political prisoners, and will span the entire length of one of the walls of the Design Museum gallery in Kensington, west London, where his first design-focused exhibition opens on Friday 7 April to July 30 in London, you can follow more updates on Instagram, and read the original story here at The Guardian, is there anything that can not be built of LEGO?

As Soon As I Posted The Blog,

I was out to visit Duncan,

into a cold day, 

my normal bus stop was closed due to the road works, so a walk to the one by Marks & Spencer's it was then,

I was soon speeding past the road works, the same as yesterday afternoon, not a single worker in sight,

past Peter Pan's Pool,

the plants on top of some of the bus shelters starting to grow, spring must soon be here, well summer time starts this Sunday as the clocks go back an hour,

a change of bus drivers at the garage,

 it took so long that the bus,15 or 20 minutes behind this one that did not need a driver change, passed the bus I was on!

no heavy traffic at the market in Lewisham, but the change of drivers meant I will miss my connection at Dartford, 

in the florists next to the station,

the daffodils were putting on a good show,

with plenty of potted plants as well,

the sky was lightening up a tad at the station, down to Dartford when thankfully I was out of one train and on to another,

arriving at Gravesend the skies had taken a turn for the worse with now slight drizzle, 

off of the bus and up the hill,

where things lightened up as I neared the nursing home Duncan stays in, it was still so windy, but at least the drizzle had not turned into rain, Duncan was in fine sprits, we chatted away, as it happens we reminisced about our first trip to Bangkok together, what memories between us! having driven past the same hotel we stayed in then some 35 years later, it had hardly changed at all, but I was told that the one we stayed in that was in Pattaya, since the covid outbreak has been closed, as his lunch arrived we said our farewells,

and I made a move for the station, the clock in the tower long stopped, at the home which was once a school,

I had a smooth ride on the buses and train back, passing the Taco Bell in Lewisham, it now at last appears to be open for business, tables and lights inside,

the front of the building that never seems to be finished still looking tatty to say the least, 

the Catford cat in his usual pose,

one of the many huge magnolia trees that I pass on the bus, many home owners have these in their front gardens, the photograph does not do the blooms justice,

another bus shelter bee hotel looking nice for the spring,

again the bus stop closed that I normally use, so a walk back from Marks & Spencer's stop,

the same as this morning, no workers, but at least the traffic lights are doing their bit in keeping the chaos to a minimum, 

it had turned grey again, the wind worse if anything,

I stopped again to admire this magnolia,

the flowers really starting to open now, 

my tooth was still remarkably painful, or at least I should say the place where it was, with that in mind Diana made me a summer vegetable country soup,

'Cheers!', notice no smiles, with both of my front teeth and more than a few others missing, a smile from myself would look more like a spin chilling leer! I was told at the dentist not to put my dentures in until a few days had passed after the extraction, after our meal it was feet up for a Midsomer Murder, followed by a couple from A Touch of Frost, I have to say we are not looking forward to when this series ends, they are for us so enjoyable, and with the end of the second episode tonight we were off to bed.