Wednesday 20 March 2019

We Had Heard,

there was a new girl in town,


 so we had to go and have a look,

 on to the number 54 bus,


 or pool as it was known,

 many years ago as kids you could hire a small boat and you could paddle around the lake, it was such great fun, but the boating finished years ago, as did the miniature steam train rides

 back to the journey, into Catford

 and the cat over the sign, 

 not a flattering view of it I am afraid!

 we arrived in Blackheath village,

 and made our way past the flower shop,

 and up the hill,

 to the heath,

 where Diana spied this, 

 an ice cream van, 

 what a better way to start a cold day,

 we both decided there was one way better,

 two ice creams each!  

 ice creams finished we were now in the center of the heath,

 and then into the park,

 where the daffodils were putting on a good show,

 showing the many varieties that are now available,

 no leaves on the trees yet,

 but the show under them made up for it,

 we walked to the view point,

 and made our way downhill, 

 if you look carefully you can see the masts of the Cutty Sark, but it was not this lady we had come to see,


 in the distance,

 we arrived at the bottom of the hill,

 and made ourway to the square,

 and into the market,

which was not so crowded today,


 but there were still,

 plenty of stalls to look at,

 with all manner of goods on sale,

 but first things first,

 Diana was hungry as she did not have breakfast, so whilst she queued for a snack,

 I had another look at some of the stalls,

 it seems today,

 that jewelry was the theme,

 as there were several stalls selling necklaces and brooches,

 by now Diana was being served her snack,

 in previous visits the place has been packed, but I guess Tuesdays are just slow days for the market,

 we made our way past the Reddoor cafe where we had tea and cakes last time we visited, 

 and there she was,

 the Cutty Sark,

 next to the dome which houses the staircase down to the pedestrian tunnel,

 that goes under the Thames,

 as we approached the bank, 

 we could see the lady we had come to see, 

 in the distance,

 we past the Japanese shop on the waterside path,

 looking back to the Cutty Sark and tunnel entrance, 

 and looking back again, 

 Diana was catching me up, 

 well here she is, the new girl in town for just three days,  

 she is the Dar Młodzieży, and is a Polish sail training ship designed by Zygmunt Choreń, a prototype of a class of six, the following five slightly-differing units were built subsequently by the same shipyard for the merchant fleet of the former Soviet Union, Her sister ships are Mir, Druzhba, Pallada, Khersones and Nadezhda, Dar Mlodziezy has been owned by the Gdynia Maritime Academy since she was built in 1981, Her name means “the gift of youth” and she replaced the beautiful frigate Dar Pormoza which had trained future officers of merchant and fishing fleets for over fifty years, for the technical Dar Mlodziezy was launched in November 1981 and put into service in 1982, she is a full-rigged ship, with a sail area of 3,015 m2(32,450 sq ft), and has a length 08.8 m (357 ft),

 and yes I had to get into the picture!

 well we both did,

 isn't she lovely! we would have loved to go aboard, but it appears the event was a sell out before she even docked, so there it is, 

 next stop tea and cakes, but this time at the Monsoon cafe

 cherry cake for Diana,

a current scone cream and jam for myself, delicious,

arriving home it was feet up for a few quiz and antiques shows, and after our evening meal and a couple more from the Celebrity Antiques Road Trip 

it was then another mystery from Poirot, The Big Four, another that we had not watched from the box set before, and great fun and mystery it was too, we are only making one post today as the moment I finish this we will be getting ready for another day out, so with that we were off to bed.


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