Retirement Visa All Sorted,

now all I have to do is to buy the multiple exit visas, these require that the passports are kept overnight so back again tomorrow to pick them up, whilst there we called Alex who joined us for ice coffee,

then trying to beat the rain along to Friendship, the skies getting darker and more rain cloud full by the moment,

but we made it home safe and dry, so for me it was upstairs and on with the railway, last time I used a weak glue to hold the rock fall in place, this time I am using a more concentrated solution, if I used this first as it pours it would just push the rockfall out of the way,

it is as time consuming as it looks,

but it is not as if I have a lot else to do!

gently does it!

the trick is to do the furthest bits first, that way when I finish I do not have lots of undergrowth stuck to my shirt,

tomorrow if the glue has anchored everything in place I will start to stain the rockfall,

once the rockfall was finished I then continued with placing undergrowth,

again time consuming, but aren't all hobbies?

I use 5 different shades of undergrowth, just glue the area to be 'planted' and apply the material, it looks like dyed sponge, just break small pieces off as required,

nearly one third of the hillside covered,

by now it was nearly time for our evening meal, so another dash outside trying to dodge the rain,

Diana wanted some dried fish,

lots of food on sticks,

and sweets, keep Diana away from these!

some spicy sauce for the fish was next on the list,

a few novel ways of packaging foods,

and some broccoli,

then home to eat, Diana had her fish, mini pork pie and ham salad for me, plus the medicinal red wine, followed by a fresh mango, then feet up to watch some television,

first of the evening Reign of Fire, reign of total disbelief would be a bit closer, fire breathing dragons attempt to take over the world, massive special effects but for me something was just not quite right about it, shame really it could have been so good, then a couple of Midsomer Murders, Dead in the Water, during a regatta, the body of Rowing Club, chairman Guy Sweetman is found bludgeoned and drowned, followed by Orchis Fatalis, Barnaby and Scott follow a trail of dead people involved in the collecting of rare orchids, I liked the orchid plot, if you are into orchids and enjoy a good read there are two books I have that are excellent,

The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean,

and in a similar vein Orchid Fever, by Eric Hansen, as the blurb says, A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust, and Lunacy, could not have put it better myself, for me both books once started were impossible to put down, but I have made myself one promise, I am no longer going to try to guess who done it in the Midsomer Murder series, I am absolutely hopeless at working it out, next we watched two episodes of Kavanagh QC, Heartland, now this was more like it, in Sunderland a young former car thief is run over by a local vigilante, leaving him brain damaged each plot easy to follow, but each with a disturbing twist at the end of the tale, next A Family Affair, Michael Duggan has received an eight month sentence for kidnapping his own son, then from prison accuses the new stepfather of an improper relationship with the young boy, powerful stuff, and then to bed.