Just Before I Left,

Diana returned home from work,

so a coffee and a chat it was, I had three things to do in town, but before that I watched a couple squirrels,

as I was making my way out, the three things I wanted to do was to have a spare set of keys cut, pick up the railway tickets to visit Duncan for the next few weeks, and take a few photographs of coldwater indoor fish at the shop and at the same time drop off some printing,

it was a glorious day, I had put a fleece on but soon regretted it, it was so warm compared to yesterday,

my plan fell at the first hurdle,

I now know that the locksmith closes at 12.30 on a Thursday afternoon!

the good news was that the ticket office was open, so tickets purchased for the next few weeks,

I made my way to the bus stop by the green,

and had a look in This 'N' That as the shop was open,

then across the road to Kingfisheries,

and into the indoor coldwater fish room,

it has a bank of aquariums on each side of it,

the fish here,

are all different varieties of goldfish,

meaning they do not require a heater/thermostat,

and are quiet happy at room temperature, but because they have been inbred to produce so many different varieties,

the winters would be too cold for them outside,  

I made my way back past Foxgrove Lodge,

at the front of the garden a dahlia,

was putting on a good show,

what a glorious day, I had been reading that temperature would plunge due to us receiving the tail end of Hurricane Ian, but so far all is well, arriving home I updated the shops coldwater page, for Diana and myself we watched a couple of quiz shows before our evening meal, after which I noticed an old favourite was being shown that first aired in 1973,

titled Till Death Do Us Part, it was one of a television series, so popular it ran for 10 years, from 1965 to 1973, so funny on so many levels, I was surprised that it was shown in these PC times, but at the beginning of the program this appeared,

as the show started after a few minutes I realised the warning should also have said, "Some Viewers May Find The Constant Buzzing Out Of Words Offensive" it was so pathetic how the censor of this program buzzed out so many words that might have upset the snowflakes,

we followed that with another goldie-oldie, The Goodies, which ran for even longer from 1970 to 1982, again with the censors warning, words fail me as to how protected modern society must be kept, after which it was a Midsomer Murder followed by a New Tricks before we were of to bed.

It Is A Fact,

that in the last 48 years the worlds population has doubled,

and at some point later this year mankind will reach a milestone, the eight billionth human will be born, and thanks to Visual Capitalist it is easy to see the breakdown of the worlds population, the illustration above is on this page, the above is also then broken down into areas, 

like this one for Europe, it seems almost unreal that in less than my lifetime there are twice as many of us as there were before, in case you are wondering this data come from, the source is the United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division via Worldometer’s live tracker (as of Sept 27, 2022), shown in the context that the UN has estimated that November 15th, 2022, will be the date that the world population officially hits 8 billion, amazing!

When We Lived In Thailand,

like many families we had one air conditioner in every room, except the kitchen and bathroom,

photograph Ashkan Forouzani/Unsplash, but for one man in Singapore that was not enough, “There are five air-conditioners in the living room, two in the master bedroom, and one each in the remaining two rooms”, Huang admitted, saying that he paid 10,300 Singapore dollars, at today's rate £6,456.90 or $7,196.04, just to have the nine units installed, a 63-year-old retiree who rented the four-room flat in Sengkang, told journalists that setting the temperature as low as 18 degrees Celsius helped him live comfortably in Singapore’s hot climate, the man, surnamed Huang, added that he had been diagnosed with liver cancer, and the cool temperature helped strengthen his immunity, the downside is that the temperature in the man’s home apparently dropped to a chilly 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 Fahrenheit), which reportedly caused condensation and black mould to form on the walls of neighbouring apartments,

photograph Shin Min Daily, "We have to mop the floor three times a day. It’s a headache,” Liu, the man’s upstairs neighbour told Shin Min Daily News, He and his wife said that they had also been struggling with mould on their walls because of their humidity, as well as floor tiles cracking due to the difference in temperature, authorities tried to bring everyone together to reach a compromise, but that apparently didn’t turn out very well, it was reported that Huang decided to move out of the apartment, "My neighbours ganged up against me. They also went to the authorities and the press,” Huang told Shin Min Daily News, adding that he had now left the apartment, but he will not be giving up on his comfort, saying that he took eight of the air conditioners with him, so if you live in Singapore and you start to get mould and condensation in your apartment, say hello to Huang, your new neighbour!

As Soon As I Published The Post,

I was out,

into a cold day,

hardly a cloud in the sky,

the bus was on time,

and I was on my way to visit Duncan,

the bus was quite crowded, so I sat near the rear upstairs, in Catford one of the buildings there slowly being over taken by climbing plants,

Lewisham market in full swing,

lots of fruit and veg to be had here

in Blackheath next to the station the florist had a nice display outside,

Chinese lanterns, (Physalis alkekengi), for sale again this week,

plus a lot more,

like these celosia, which look so unusual,

arriving at the station, the bus may have been on time but the trains were not! every one of them was running at least 10 minuets late,

which meant I would miss the connecting train at Dartford to go to Gravesend, 

but I was in luck, all of the trains to Gravesend were also delayed, 

arriving at the bus hub in Gravesend it was turning into a warm day after the cold start,

after the bus ride a walk up the hill,

to the nursing home where Duncan stays, we chatted away remembering our times in Singapore and Thailand where we meet up with Harry Baxter amongst others for the annual oil and gas conference and exhibition, by the way Harry if you are reading this Hi,

just before Duncan's lunch was served we said our farewells, next week due to a rail strike I will be travelling down on Tuesday,

whilst waiting for the bus at Blackheath I took a photograph of The Railway opposite the number 54 bus stop,

past the never ending refurb building,

the newly revamped Fox & Firkin taking delivery of CO2 for its lagers,

the bee hotels on top of some of the bus shelters really looking nice after the rains of late,

in fact it has been so wet mushrooms are growing on this one!

passing Peter Pan's Pool, on the island,

Peter and his girlfriend,

past the park entrance at Beckenham Hill,

and into Lidl for some shopping, at the entrance some nice pots of plants,

mini chrysanthemums, 

as well as a selection of cut flowers, after arriving home we were out, 

Diana had decided to treat us both to a meal,

so into the park and a number 54 bus,

a quick selfie before the bus arrived,

which took us to Kathmandu Masala, 

we started with a coke for Diana, sherry and a wine for myself,

we started with poppadum's,

'Cheers!,

along with the poppadum's a selection of relishes,

which in the above video Diana gives a demonstration of how to eat,

Diana choose a chicken chat for her starter,

a prawn puri for myself, after a long break,

our main courses arrived, one each of chicken, lamb and prawn,

as well as aloo gobi, peas and mushroom rice and some nan bread, 

Diana made a short video of our meal I have to say I have forgotten what we ordered as we wanted to order dishes from the restaurants new menu, looking at the video if you like mint the green one is for you!

for our dessert Diana choose a pistachio ice cream,

in it's own little pot,

a quick pose,

for myself a Caribbean coffee, many thanks to Diana for a lovely meal, the bill came to £112.00 including service charge, up a tad since our last visit here, but there it is, the food and service was excellent, back to the number 54 bus stop and home, where it was feet up for a nightcap, one from New Tricks and we were off to bed.