They Were Back!

well two of them and a crow as a bonus,

but by the time I had zoomed in,

one of the ducks had flown,

but soon returned,

in the afternoon I walked with Diana to the bus stop,

I called into Lidl whilst Diana continued on the 354 to go to work,

shopping finished and I was on my way home past Foxgrove Lodge,

not such a nice day, and as it happens shortly after retuning home it started to rain,

in the late afternoon I decided to give the aquarium a water change and a clean up, looking much better for it I gave the fish a feed to bring them out of hiding,

 following my evening meal I started to watch Evolution, a German documentary, about as its name suggests evolution, in places the images were as good as Blue Planet both 1 & II, but many were of mediocre quality, also rather annoyingly the narration did not tie up with the images, the natator chatting away about a parrot fish when it was in fact a file fish, and when a few scenes later a parrot fish was center stage no mention was made of it, but enjoyable neither the less, we then watched a New Tricks and Silent Witness before we were off to bed.

Only Yesterday,

I made mention of how much I enjoyed Ricky Gervais stand up show,

apparently the critics did not, but the public loved it! the tweet above came in response to The Atlantic staff writer Conor Friedersdorf sharing a screenshot from Rotten Tomatoes showing that while only 14 percent of seven professional critics approved of Gervais' new stand-up special, 92 percent of those who watched it liked it, 

and then Tesla CEO Elon Musk called out 'virtual signaling' critics who panned a new Ricky Gervais stand-up comedy special, despite audience members rating it highly, Musk wrote: 'The "critics" seek not to critique, but rather to virtue signal, 'They are out of touch with the people, and so lose their credibility with the people.' so nice to hear someone that people listen to have some common sense, and not let the self appointed queer brigade shut Ricky down, and now even more good news, on Sunday, Gervais received a National Comedy Award for Best Stand Up Show for the stand-up special, congratulations Ricky!

 on another note for all queers out there I am sorry to say you have missed the Flesh Queer Festival, it was the UK's first queer camping House & Techno music festival that took place on 28th & 29th May'22 in Springfield Park, AL2 2DY, North London, but you can see photographs at this Instagram page.

As A Kid Back In The Mid 1950s,

I was a phillumenist, yes I admit it, 

I along with many of the other kids on the street collected matchbox labels before we started stamp collecting, all images courtesy Nittosha,

I guess because at the time so many family members smoked and a Ronson gas lighter was something many could not afford, so matches ruled the day, in truth I can not remember if most of the labels came from China or Japan,

 but from now on collecting labels is about to get a lot more difficult. Japan’s largest manufacturer of matchboxes, Nittosha, has announced that they’re shutting down their business line in June after fulfilling all existing orders,

Nittosha was founded almost 100 years ago in 1926 and began as a small match-maker. They offered their own brand of matches but where they really flourished was customized matchbooks for different brands and business, hence why so many different labels were available,

 in 2016 Kanematsu Sustech, a lumber company that had been producing matches since 1938, exited the business, and with Nittosha now following suit, it signals the end of an era, the company has diversified their business and produce things like tissues, hand towels and face masks, which have certainly been good for business lately, and for collectors, the good news is that many of the wonderfully vintage designs are digitized and can be found online. One good place to start is this collection from the 1920s-1940s. If you would like something more tangible, try this book of Japanese matchbook labels, now here is a thought, I wonder how much my mid 1950s matchbox label collection would be worth now?

No Ducks Again,

it seems they are giving the roof next door a clear berth,

it was soon time for Sunday lunch, first a sherry and a read,

followed by lamb kebabs to start,

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

'Cheers!', with for a change a Portuguese rosé,

for dessert a apricot and almond tart,

with ice cream, delicious! 

after listening to music in the afternoon in the evening it was time for our first film, The Eagle, it took a time to realise we had watched it before a couple of years ago, my comments then "it was remarkably good, the story, costumes and especially the locations were all just so good",

 we followed that with Thick as Thieves, a really enjoyable movie about two thieves stealing a couple of Fabergé eggs, a great storyline with a few twists along the way, it took us nicley to midnight, so we were then off to bed.

Yesterday I Made Mention In The Morning,

of a couple of items in our posts,

and then read about them in the newspapers and in a book I am reading, firstly I mention the  the monkey hangers of Hartlepool, UK and asked the question "Should Animals Pay For Their Crimes?" and by a strange coincidence in the afternoon read that animals could execute the criminal that tried to steal them!

this is the page that I read that account, as it happens I was reading about the Halifax gibbet, which was later taken up by Dr. Gullitin and used to great effect in France,

 the second item was how much I enjoyed the comedian Ricky Gravis, I should mention before you watch the above video there are a few adult words in it. apparently the show upset all of the snowflake queers out there, from the article, "Gervais, creator of The Office, angered Twitter's 'woke' brigade following the broadcast of his new Netflix special, SuperNature, which mocks cancel culture with jokes about trans people, Hitler and AIDS, (cripples and religion), my brackets, the show has sparked a backlash from LGBT groups and has seen Gervais accused of hate crimes, how pathetic, do these people not realise that comedians tell jokes that some may find offensive, but to others like myself and the audience find so funny! the good news is that you can watch Ricky on Netflix and make your own mind as to how hilarious the show was, and not have your viewing censored by holier than thou self appointed groups, how strange that two items should both come up on the same day.

Not That I Am Into Gory Movies,

but every so often I watch a scene,

where a knife cuts into some one and the wound appears to bled, not that I am saying this is how it is done, but the video above gives a very good stab at explaining the effect, using a combination of ferrochloride and potassium thiocyanite which makes the blood, then 'magic' water, sodium fluoride makes it all turn transparent again, as the presenter says watch it as soon as you can incase YouTube takes the video off, it has to be said what a neat blood trick, the clip is from The Action Labs, where there are so many neat tricks.

No Ducks Again Today,

I guess we are no longer on their flight path,

Diana did not have to go into work until the afternoon, so we had a lazy morning, after she left it was time for my evening read and sherry,

and for this evening smoked salmon,

eyes down and tuck in,

for my main course a couple of mince beef and onion slices in puff pastry,

'Cheers!',

 after a read I watched the Resistance Banker, a harrowing true story of courage set in the Second World War, then a complete change of mood, I watched the funniest show since I first watched,

 Walter and Jeff Dunham, 

it was Ricky Gervais: SuperNature, in his standup comedy show, absolutely brilliant with no punches pulled when it came to being totally un PC it was comedy at its very best, highly recommended, I then started to watch The Hobbit when Diana arrived home, so it was feet up for a coffee and a chat before we were off to bed.

Should Animals Pay For Their Crimes?

apparently it still goes on today,

I mentioned back in May 2020, the monkey hangers of Hartlepool, UK and the notorious Pakistani spy pigeon,

 the case this time in question is about a ram attacking and killing a woman, photographs Ghana Wish, “The ram attacked by hitting her ribs and the old woman died immediately, in Rumbek East in a place called Akuel Yol,” Major Elijah Mabor told Sudan’s Eye Radio, “The ram was apprehended and currently under custody at a Police Station of Maleng Agok Payam.” 

Mabor added that the ram would spend the next three years in a military camp in Aduel County, while its owner, who was apparently a neighbor and relative of the victim, will have to compensate the deceased’s family by offering them five cows. Furthermore, after the ram serves its time, it will also be offered to the victim’s family to do with it as they see fit, in accordance with local law, “The owner is innocent and the ram is the one who perpetrated the crime so it deserves to be arrested then later on the case shall be forwarded to customary court where the case can be handled amicably,” Major Mabor explained, “The owner is innocent and the ram is the one who perpetrated the crime so it deserves to be arrested then later on the case shall be forwarded to customary court where the case can be handled amicably,” Major Mabor explained, Ghana Wish reports that both families have signed a contract to formalize their agreement, with police and local community leaders acting as witnesses, I have to wonder how will the ram know it is in a military camp as punishment?

It Is A Fact,

that US some Army military bases are named after generals who actually fought against the United States, 

photograph Chris Seward, Associated Press file, apparently this is going to be rectified by a commission, called the Naming Commission, it was tasked with coming up with new names for nine posts: Fort Benning, Fort Gordon, Fort Bragg, Fort Hood, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Pickett, and Fort Lee. The commission is made up of eight retired officers and historians, the new names are taken from war heroes, except for Fort Bragg, which will be renamed Fort Liberty, and for the first time, Army bases would be named after Black soldiers and women, the panel also is considering new names for two Navy ships: the USS Chancellorsville and USNS Maury. Those and the new names for hundreds of streets, buildings and other assets, will be in the final report, a final report is due to Congress by Oct. 1, and will include the costs of removing and changing the names. Under the law, the secretary of defense is expected to implement the commission's plan no later than Jan. 1, 2024, as it happens I did not see any problems with the old names, but there it is.

And Then There Were None,

I looked out of the window as usual,

and for the first time in several days,

not a duck in sight,

Diana did not have to go into work until the afternoon, so we watched some television until she left, for myself it was time for a sherry and a read,

for tonight chilli con carne,

'Cheers!',

after a read I made a move,

it was a nice evening,

as I passed Foxgrove Lodge,

some of the purple peonies had opened,

the white ones still looking nice,

I made my way past the green,

to the 227 bus stop, I was out to meet Steve,

but there was a slight snag, as a number of passengers got ready to leave the bus, it did not stop at Maple Road, the stop was closed due to roadworks, which meant walking back into town, but at least it gave me the chance to take a few photographs of Waterman's Square,

the main building surrounded on three sides by alms houses,

the Free Watermen and Lightermen's Almshouses were built in 1840–1841 to designs by the architect George Porter by the Company of Watermen and Lightermen of the City of London for retired company freemen and their widows,

the entrance has imposing gates,

in 1973, the almspeople were moved to a new site in Hastings, and the original buildings were converted into private homes,

what a nice place to live,

almost opposite, this is why the bus did not stop,

looking along the High Street

I was soon at Southey Street,

with its graffiti,

which looked rather nice as it happens,

at the end of the alley way the micro brewery were we were meeting, the Southey Brewing Company,

the beers on offer this evening, we started at the top and worked our way down trying at least one of each,

a double 'Cheers!' from Steve,

and one from myself, we chatted the evening away, after saying our farewells I was on the bus home, 

and soon walking past the cemetery, Diana was already home as I returned, so it was out with a bag of toffee popcorn and feet up for a nightcap as we watched a Silent Witness before we were off to bed.