After The Fox Left,

a few magpies called by,

 to pick up any peanuts the fox had missed,

which attracted the attention of one of the young foxes, but he did not chase them away, he took a few steps towards then and then returned to the hedge,

Diana was at home as it was her day off, for myself a walk into town, 

past the fair on Beckenham Green, to the post box and back,

to join the queue at Waitrose, we had forgotten to buy some onions for our Sunday lunch, also some washing powder,

on the way into town I had noticed that the people living in Foxgrove Lodge had put up some Christmas decorations on their fence,

and on the sign, so I took a few photographs on the way back home,

well it would not be Christmas without Rudolph,

time for lunch and a pre-meal sherry,

naturally Christmas candles lit,

for starters a thick vegetable country soup,

for our main course, roast chicken, with gravy for Diana,

without for myself,

'Cheers!',

and one more from myself,

after a long break, time for a sherry trifle, it was now late in the afternoon, so rather than one from the sci-fi box,

 we chose Citizen Kane, what a stunning movie, we both thoroughly enjoyed watching it, then a change, 

 as Diana was looking though discs she picked Ravenous, we had watched the film before, this is what I wrote then, 'set in the early pioneer days of the west, a stranger who has spent three months lost in the mountains arrives at the fort, the stranger, played superbly well by Robert Carlyle steals the show, which descends into murder and cannibalism, as the fort they are staying and the subsequent march has a viper in it's party, also worth a mention is the great atmospheric music that played in the movie, by Damon Albarn (of British band Blur) and Michael Nyman', 

Diana had settled down for the evening, which we finished with one from Midsomer Murder, then for us we were off to bed.

I Had Thought That We Were Early,

putting up our Christmas tree,

but it seems not,

if this article is anything to go by, apparently some people were putting up their trees in October! at lest we waited until the end of November, so that is Christmas sorted, all the presents except one bought and under the tree, and tomorrow we can start our chocolate advent calendar.

Every Time I Go Out,

like everyone else I end up queueing,

there are always long queues at the bank, post office and building society's, I guess it is the new norm, but here is a light hearted look at queues, the keep 2 meter apart stickers on the pavement in this installation have been replaced by notes in a musical score,

this mural of musical keys recently appeared along the floor leading into the Minato Mirai Hall, a music venue in Yokohama. Titled “Social Harmony” and created by Eisuke Tachikawa, the mural is part social distancing sticker and part interactive musical art installation,

when visitors to the venue line up, the notes act as a social distancing sticker, ensuring that appropriate distance is maintained between guests. But when the notes are stepped on, a sensor is activated and the actual sound of the note is emitted. Together, the notes play French composer and pianist Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie, 

if you are not familiar with the piece, this is it above, the installation creates an exciting anticipation leading up to the venue, but also helps guests stay safe, it will be installed at the venue through the end of 2020, to hear the tune make sure you go on a quiet day and nobody else is socially distancing!

I Would Suggest Making A Cup/Mug Of Tea/Coffee,

for this post,

take a simple tune with little musical merit and let pianist Hayato Sumino, known professionally as Cateen, lose with it, the tune is twinkle, twinkle little star, Sumino’s take on the nursery rhyme starts off as a simple one, then turns into Mozart-like music, then ragtime, and then becomes Lizst and Chopin-like, the music ends in a style similar to Tom & Jerry, this musical masterpiece, is just stunning, I wish I could play like this, but Sumino started playing the piano at age three, so I guess it is a bit late for me to start to learn!

One Of The Crows,

called by for a early morning meal,

for myself I was out early as well as I had a few thigs to do,

first stop to Kingfisheries, I needed to drop off our keys so that Lee could call in to top up our aquarium when we are away to Bournemouth next week,

on the way back to Waitrose I had a look at the flower beds by Beckenham Green,

and nice they looked too, I did not have a look at the stalls as they were the same ones we looked at last week,

next stop Waitrose, I forgot it was Saturday,

so there was a huge queue, and it took an age to get in, worse still they did not sell the washing powder we wanted,

I parked the trolley back in the trolley bay,

by the neat machine that wraps Christmas trees, so I walled back to Marks and Spencer's, queued up there only to find they did not sell the brand we wanted either!

arriving home one of the foxes was on our sunbed,

and was soon waiting for a few peanuts,

something the cows,

noticed as well,

in the evening a read and a sherry,

followed buy a seashell of seafood and some rolled smoked salmon,

'Cheers!',

bangers and mash followed by a few grapes rounded off my meal, 

some water water was dripping down the outside of the building, looking outside it turned out to be condensation, so that was not a problem, then a nice surprise, Xu and his daughter Cece, called by and had a chat, after they left,

Diana called so off to the bus stop and home where it was feet up for some coffee, panettone and our film for the evening,

 Operation Finale, a film about the capture of a war criminal, and with the end of that we were off to bed.

Below Is A Flag We All Know,

the flag of Switzerland,

a white cross in the centre of a square red field. The white cross is known as the Swiss cross. Its arms are equilateral, and their ratio of length to width is 7:6, and now a quick question to start Sunday with, what is the capitol of Switzerland? have a think before you scroll down,

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did you say Bern? if you did you are wrong! it is just the place where federal offices are, why? because they have to go somewhere, Switzerland actually has no capital city, there are no global rules that say nations must have a capitol city,

it is all explained in this video, it is only five minutes long; the rest is an ad, there are a few other countries that do not have a capitol city, Nauru, Monaco, Singapore, and the Vatican City, and most probably a few more!.

This Looks Like A Neat Idea,

unlike solar panels that have to face the sun,

these panels can face in any direction and can be attached to the outside of buildings, so how do they work? this invention, AuREUS, is made from crop waste that is upcycled and is used to absorb stray UV light from sunlight and the surroundings. Unlike solar panels, this system is effective even when not directly facing the sun because it can pick up UV scattering through clouds and by UV light bouncing along walls, pavements and other buildings,

above is the blueprint,

and a comparison between AuREUS versus a typical solar farm, so if successful no more taking up valuable land, just pop the panels on existing buildings, and as a bonus since the panels absorbs UV light that would otherwise be reflected by regular windows, it protects people both indoors and outdoors, what a brilliant idea, image credits: Carvey Ehren Maigue via The James Dyson Award.

They Look Like Paintings,

with elaborate, gilded frames, 

but appearances can be deceiving, photographs Lorena’s Cookies/Instagram,

these are all edibles works of art!

made by Costa Rican confectioner Lorena Rodriguez, founder of Lorena’s Sweets,

Lorena Rodriguez has been baking cookies for over 25 years, but up until a few years ago, she only made them for friends and family. Then, one day, a friend asked her if she could package them nicely in a gift box, and this gave her the business idea for Lorena’s Sweets. If her friend thought her cookies made a nice gift, maybe others would to, so she created her own website, 

in 2016, motivated by her husband, Lorena opened an Instagram account where she started posting her cookie designs, and received very positive feedback. The following year, she was invited to give a class, for which she created the first kit of custom cookie cutters and silicone moulds, which she has since been selling on Amazon ever since,

you know I am going to say it, they look too good to eat!