In The Morning,

the locksmith called by,

the part needed to complete the job had arrived, in no time we had a working lock, 

in the afternoon a walk to the bank,

it was a grey day,

 but as it happens I was quite warm walking past the skating rink, I had so many layers of warm clothes on as I though it was going to be cold,

I called into a cashpoint, that was nearly opposite the church,

then into the locksmith's,

bill paid,

and I was on my way home past Foxgrove Lodge, about 20 minutes later Diana arrived home, so it was a coffee and a chat as we watched,

The Mummy, not the newer version, but the one released in 1959, great if rather dated fun,

in the evening a read and a sherry,

I just had a quick snack of a sandwich before I was out to meet Steve, 'Cheers!',

still a good number of people at the rink,

almost as soon as I arrived at the Italian restaurant by the bus stop the 227 arrived,

in no time I arrived at the Moon & Stars,

and snagged a booth with a real flame fire blazing away, we chatted the night away, we talked about the past year, so many changes for everyone, we both hope that 2023 will be better,  

after saying our farewells it was a 227 home and a walk past the churchyard,

and skating rink,

that was just about to close for the night, 

arriving home we decided on a Bond, Spectre, which had it all, after which we were off to bed.

Unless I Am In The Tropics,

I seem to always feel the cold worst than most people, 

photograph Rod Long/Unsplash, for some reason whilst everyone else in a room is comfortable, it seems cold to me, and thinking of cold, I have found the coldest place in the world, according to NASA Earth Observatory satellites, the coldest place on Earth is a mountain ridge on the East Antarctic Plateau where temperatures can drop to -135.8 degrees Fahrenheit (-93.2 degrees Celsius), but how cold is that? As an example, exposure to  -95 degrees Fahrenheit can cause frostbite in under two minutes, 

according to National Weather Service data, it was in 2013, when NASA satellites first recorded temperatures there, but it’s steadily been getting colder, in 2013, the lowest recorded temperature was -133.6 degrees Fahrenheit, but now it seems to have dropped to -135.8 Fahrenheit, global warming I guess, as it happens on Earth there are much lower than temperatures than in some areas of Mars, a planet much farther from the Sun than Earth, the red planet averages temperatures of – 81 degrees Fahrenheit, but towards the poles, they drop to a freezing -220 degrees, during winter months, back to the East Antarctic Plateau, do I want to go there? No thank you! Give me a sun kissed tropical beach any day of the week!

"Are You Sitting Comfortably? Then I'll Begin",

is a famous quote from a BBC program,

photographs factory-M/Twitter, the program was called Listen With Mother, it was the 'are you sitting comfortably' bit that I remember when I looked at this chair,

Koichi Hasegawa, the founder and owner of factory-M, a Saitama-based store specializing in semiprecious natural stones, told reporters that he came up with the idea for the unusual-looking office chair while on a trip to the United States, whilst looking for natural stones to bring home to Japan, he found this large L-shaped piece of amethyst for sale, he immediately pictured it processed into a chair, and decided to go ahead with the idea,

the amethyst had to have its pointy shards ground down to make sitting on the stone safe, and as you can imagine it is not the lightest of office chairs, the amethyst alone weighs in at 88 kilograms, and with the metal frame included, the weight of the chair goes up to 99 kilograms, Koichi Hasegawa claims that dozens of individuals and companies have expressed interest in acquiring it, and how much is perhaps the most uncomfortable looking gem chair in the world? Yours for just 450,000 yen, at today's rate £2,837.00 or $3,432.10, if only it came with a cushion!

As Soon As I Posted The Blog,

I was out into a nice bright day,

the sunlight streaming through the trees,

not a cloud in the sky, 

passing Peter Pan's Pool on the number 54 bus on the way to the station, today it will be a easy trip, for two reasons, firstly I no longer have to change trains at Dartford, the new service runs from my starting point at Blackheath Village and continues through Dartford to Gravesend, I hope they keep the new schedule for the future, the last part of the journey will also not be a problem, instead of waiting for the 483 bus at Gravesend to take me to Duncan's nursing home, Alan who wants to visit Duncan, will pick me up at the station, so a easy trip today,

past the bus garage, 

so many buses outside today,

the gayly painted public house in Catford,

and of course the Catford cat,

the building that is never seems to be finished being refurbished in Lewisham,

looking along the side of it I can only think it must be some kind of warehouse, 

the skyline of Lewisham looking busy with new buildings,

the Lewisham Christmas tree looking a bit bare, I guess someone has already started taking down the decorations,

as I passed St. Margaret's church it will only be a couple of stops to the village,

in the village next to the station,

the florists had a really nice show,

of flowers,

both cut,

and in pots,

like these, 

then disaster! due to work on the tracks there will be no trains leaving here until January 3rd. just my luck, as soon as the new service is in place I can not use it! so on to the rail replacement bus, 

over Blackheath,

and past the boating pool,

where Dad and myself would bring along our putt-putt boat, as it happens very similar to this one, and admire the huge pond yachts that were there,

the bus took over an hour calling in at the stations where the trains were not running, and of course had to navigate so many road works,

so instead of the normal 20 minutes or so on the train, 

I arrived at Dartford where even on the old service I would have been in Gravesend!

thankfully Alan drove from his home to Dartford and picked me up there, instead of at Gravesend,

and here we are at the nursing home where Duncan is staying,

we had both brought a few chocolates and biscuits that Duncan likes, we chatted away, righting the wrongs of the world! and remembering when we all used to go out to pubs and restaurants in Rainham and Rochester, after saying our goodbyes,

we made a move over the road to the car park, Alan dropped me off at Gravesend station, many thanks indeed for Alan going so much out of his way to pick me up and drop me off, the train to Dartford where the bus link was also continued to Woolwich, so instead of the bus from Dartford to Blackheath and then me catching a number 54 bus home, I could stay on the train and pick up the number 54 in Woolwich,

which I did,

so I sailed past Charlton House, 

over Blackheath,

and into the village, 

and to the stop I would have arrived at opposite the station if I had taken the rail replacement bus,

just past Lewisham, the Taco Bell still not yet open,

I noticed this last week, a buildings roof completely covered in plants for summer time bees to visit,

I was soon walking past Foxgrove Lodge and home, Diana arrived shortly after myself, so a coffee and a chat, after our evening meal we decided to watch a couple of films, 

starting with I. Frankenstein, which had so many special effects, I have to admit we had watched the film before, but it was still great fun to watch again,

we rounded off the evening with Medieval, the film is about the life of Jan Žižka, a Bohemian military commander who never lost a battle, the film is set prior to the Hussite Wars (1419–1434), when Žižka was young, telling the story of how Žižka became a famous military commander and leader of the peasants uprising against the next ruler, a very enjoyable film and at 2 hours long it was just long enough for us, before we were off to bed.