We Were Popping Out To See Some Friends,

but as we left we noticed that some more,

 of Diana's stinky cactus had flowered,

 two bunches of them in fact,

and nice they looked too,

 we made our way to Mick, Mocky and Jimmy's estate,

where they all welcomed us to their home,

 one of Mick's passions in life is birds,

 like this a type of mynah bird,

 and these singing birds,

 he has lots of them,

 hanging from trees and his home, he has in fact entered a few local shows with some of them,

 he also makes his own cages using wood, bamboo and then painting and finally lacquering them, this one a work in progress,

there was nothing in the form of a garden here when he and his family moved in, now there are so many orchids and plants,

 inside a nice large three bed roomed house,

 well we had not meet up for a long time,

 so we set out for a few beers,

 in some of the local bars,

 for a chat and catch up,

on all of the news and gossip,

 on our way back we passed this restored ox cart, by now I was awash with soda,

 but was for some reason hungry,

 so it was a nice surprise to find Mocky preparing a meal,

 steaks,

 what could be better?

 Diana took over for a time,

 then it was eyes down,

 and tuck in with a selection of vegetables,

 'Ah!',

 then even more food arrived, we were full to bursting,

 as evening arrived it was time to put the birds to bed, after saying our thanks and farewells,

we made a move for home as the sun was setting,

in the evening we watched some from Judge Judy, a couple from Death in Paradise, as good as ever, a couple from The Chase and finished the evening off with a Time Team special about the Bedlam Hospital, a harrowing story, the later part of which seems to being erased from the public psyche, as a kid I used to spend hours in the Imperial War Museum and got to know some of the people there as I was there many times, in the main foyer there was a huge commemorative plaque on the wall, stating that in the Second World War the mental hospital had been struck by 3 bombs at different times in air raids, the wardens used to joke that schoolboys could never find all three sites, around the museum where a bomb had hit there was a yellow circle painted on the floor with the date of the raid, it was true, try as I might I could only find two circles, but here's the thing, the plaque has now been removed, the circles painted over and all traces of the building's former mental hospital history erased, I have no idea why, with that finishing at midnight we were then off to bed.