As The Shoe Shopping Expedition,

was unsuccessful yesterday,

 today we were off to Bromley, so a number 227 bus form the stop opposite the town hall, 

 which is next to what was once Beckenham fire station, 

 for the trip to market square, I made my way past The Partridge,

 where I will be meeting Diana, after her shopping fest,

 I walked past Church Road, leading to the church,

 opposite the road, this imposing building, many years ago this was a restaurant and public house, now boarded up and going into disrepair,

 the Tudor style market square itself,

 but here was something new, a temporary food stall, with other empty stalls, 

 this one selling cosmetics,

 then more stalls waiting to be occupied,

 here a very adventurous triple stall selling material and curtains,

 rounding the corner the stalls went as far as my eye could see, then it dawn upon me what Bromley Council was dong, getting rents from the stall holders, as well as the excessive rates it was getting from legitimate shops, the stall holders do not have to pay anything but the fee to rent a pitch, meanwhile the poor saps that rent a shop presumably on a long lease have to pay enormous rates as well as rents, they also have to pay, gas, electric, telephone, water and sewerage charges, and naturally provide toilets for their customers, the stalls pay just a rent, and provide none of services, just think how much it costs to keep a store warm in the winter, as well as maintaining male and female toilets, and shortly I guess 'for others' all year round, what a great way to stop new shops opening in the High Street,

 lets face it if you were a businesses man and wanted to open say a green grocers or any shop for that matter, would you commit your business plan to a Council that the very next day you opened, would then let your competition with no overheads to open outside your shop? what a great way to stop new businesses from renting shops that are closing down and unvitilise the High Street! 

no wonder High Streets around the country are closing down with councils pulling the rug from under retail shopkeepers feet,

 felling sorry for the shop owners that have invested so much in the High Street, I made my way to the pub,

 through the rather nice hall way,  

 when Diana arrived it was time to eat, 

 for Diana an applewood smoked Cheddar cheese beef burger, with triple cooked chips,

for myself a three bird roast, a confit of goose, pheasant and duck, braised in whisky, with apricot and five spiced gravy, with vegetables and mash, as an aside if you go for this dish be warned it may contain shot, 

 luckily mine did not, it was delicious, 'Cheers!',

 we made our way home on the 354 bus, stopping off and walking through the park from about midway along Foxgrove Road, we passed a small cottage I have always liked,

 it looks so different from the other homes around it,

 the road we are walking on leading to our home is unmade up,

 so if you have a car and live on this section of it, be prepared to have a permanently dirty car in the winter time, or any time it rains for that matter,

 the mud road eventually gives way to tarmac,

not much further and we will be home,

after our evening meal it was a few games of cribbage, which for some reason I manged to win the set, many years ago I showed Diana the fundamentals of cribbage, she learnt from there and now regularly beats me, I guess today she was not paying attention! after our evening meal and a couple from Tipping Point and The Chase it was feet up for The Physician, what an enjoyable film, we must have missed it's release in 2013, the film is set in the 11th. century and follows the fate of a London barber apprentice who wishes to further his knowledge of healing, and embarks on a perilous journey to the Middle East, to track down the greatest doctor/healer/physician in the world, great costumes and effects, the story line could not have been better as it was based on a best-selling novel by Noah Gordon's "The Physician", the book was recorded in 1999 at the Book Fair in Madrid, in the list of the ten most popular books of all time, the film ran for nearly two and a half hours, but the time just flew past, by now it was late so, for us we were off to bed.