I Am Only Making One Post Today,

as there are a lot of photographs,

and Diana has a couple of days off, so we will be out early on Friday, back to Thursday, Diana had already left for work as I made my way out of the park,

it was a bit overcast, as it happened I took a umbrella with me, I was going to visit Duncan,

luckily I did not have to wait long for a number 54 bus, I was at the front on the top deck as I went past the park entrance and Foxgrove Lodge,

instead of taking a photograph of Peter Pan's pool, this is Peter Pan's play area on the other side of the road,

the entrance on the corner,

mind the ducks!

as I went through Catford the weather looked more than a bit overcast,

in Lewisham the unfinished building,

still boarded up,

past the daily market,

rain awnings up, 

continuing past St. Margaret's church towards Blackheath,

off the bus in the village, just a few steps to the florists,

where lupins seem to be the flower of the week,

along with bedding plants,

here is the reason I have to buy my tickets at Beckenham, never once in all of the visits to Duncan has this ticket office been open, the rail company charges me and many others £30 a year for a Senior Railcard which gives a discount on rail tickets, the company then put ticket machines in the station that does not accept the cards and closes the ticket office where they can be used! I did raise this point at the office in Beckenham and was told that it is a fact that none on the ticket machines in any of the ticket offices will accept a Senior Railcard, what a con,

a bit of a wait,

as I had time I made my way along the station,

looking into the distance there it was,

the 09.48,

a short wait for the 10.28 to Gravesend,

whilst waiting at Dartford I noticed one of these, many years ago you could see these in many towns, often 3 or 4 of them, 

they were used to store gas in, back when we produced all of our own gas, town gas as it was called, those were the days when we had more gas than we could burn and stored it,

in Gravesend I made my way to the bus stand opposite the Somerset Arms, arriving at the nursing home Duncan was in good sprits, we chatted away and looked at some YouTube videos that someone had posted of where we sometimes went on holidays together way back in the 1980s, after saying good bye back to the bus stop,

where I was glad I brought the umbrella, in all of the trip there and back the only time it rained was when I was waiting for the bus, at a stop that did not have a bus shelter!

out of the station at Blackheath, across the road the bus stop,

I was soon passing the unfinished building,

and some of the bus shelters,

that had bee gardens growing on them,

I was soon walking into the park past he home that has lavender growing in front of it,

after a coffee and a chat we were out, so glad rags on,

we made our way to Kathmandu Masala,

we ordered poppadums, 

and a bottle of rose bubbly,

and then a surprise for Diana, 

I had ordered a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to the restaurant in the afternoon as the flower shop did not do evening deliveries, 

and then asked the restaurant to give them to Diana,

as we ordered our drinks,

talk about all smiles!

it was not without a little drama, before we left Diana suggested another restaurant, my cunning plan was nearly derailed!

'Cheers!',

back to the sherry,

and poppadoms,

for our starters Diana ordered lamb samosas,

for myself a prawn puri,

'Cheers!',

from both of us,

our main courses started to arrive,

Diana ordered three main dishes,

one chicken, one lamb,

and sizzling hot plate that we shared,

plus rice and a nan bread, what a feast!

I had noticed this on the table when we arrived,

a new beer that the restaurant stocked, called Gurkha, my father when he mention his time in WWII spoke very highly of them, “If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or he is a Gurkha.” Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, Former Chief of Staff of the Indian Army, 

so I just had to try the beer,

with just a touch of lime,

easy does it,

a pour,

and here it is, 'Cheers!',

a sample taste,

it was really nice, I have a new favorite beer!

Diana tried the beer, but was not impressed,

we ordered a taxi home,

the restaurant is next door to the antiques shop I often look in,

which in turn,

is next door to Alexanders,

where I ordered the flowers from, all almost oposit Kingfisheries,

there were so many of them,

we had to use the champagne bucket to put them in,

they with the roses that were putting on a good show looked so nice, and what a wonderful meal, a belated Happy Birthday! to Diana, on the morning of Diana's birthday there was a box on the table, in it,

a birthday card, that is now on the mantle piece next to our Valentine photograph of when we were at Land's End, after arriving home it was feet up for a nightcap and a Silent Witness before we were off to bed.