For Today,

a change of plan,

thanks to the train strike I am visiting Duncan today, as tomorrow there will be no trains, Stan and Duncan 0, train strikers 1, so as soon as I post this I will be off to the bus stop, back to Monday, I was asked if I could label the stopcocks in the cellar, the paper labels that were there have disappeared when one of the stopcocks leaked, luckily I had some plastic labels and a waterproof ink pen, but then another discovery, another of the stopcocks was leaking,

so bucket in place to catch the drips, 

I also labled the stopcocks in the floor cupboard at the front of the building,

all done, so upstairs to call the buildings management company to arrange a plumber to stop the stopcock from leaking, it is only a drip every 10 seconds or so, but as always these things can only get worse, it is great living in an old building with lots of character and being in a park, but the downside is the maintenance of a old building, 

in the afternoon I decided to watch Jurassic World: Dominion, great fun to see the original cast all back and beating those pesky dinosaurs! after that a couple of quiz shows before Diana arrived home from work and our evening meal, next a Simpsons, followed by a Antiques Road Trip, before switching to ITVX, what a great free channel this really is, a couple from Lewis saw us up until nearly midnight, before we were off to bed.

Sunday Has Raced Around Again,

so time for our Sunday lunch,

starting with a sherry and a read, now up to page 250, as it happens I have ordered another couple of books, but more of them when they arrive and I have finished this one,

for our starters, spring rolls,

excuse fingers!

for our main course 30 day aged beef, which tasty and not tough at all, with gravy for Diana,

sans gravy for myself,

eyes down and tuck in, 

for dessert, 

tiramisu with ice cream, after our meal we listened to music, then decided on a afternoon/evening of horror, we opened The Ultimate Hammer Collection housed in its own box, 

we started with Plague of the Zombies, frights aplenty, and it has aged quite well considering it was released in 1966, as I happens I actually went to the cinema and watched this and all of the following films on the big screen,

we followed that with Rasputin: The Mad Monk, again released in 1966, apart from a few things, like Rasputin was murdered, this is not a historical film, but what fun it was to watch it again, if you want to read what really happened have a look here, 

for the last film of the evening, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, it was again released in 1966, a bumper years for Hammer, as it happens some of the sets were the same in a couple of the films, the iced over pond and the courtyard the same in both this film and Rasputin, but us happy cinema goers forgave Hammer for that! what a horror fest tonight was! we rounded off the evening with one from New Tricks before we were of to bed.

Many Of Us Have A Favourite Person Or Image,

in Argentina Over 20 Farmers decided to give their football idol a legend,

his own portrait in a field of corn, their idol was footballer Lionel Messi, apparently Messi recently led the Argentinian national team to win the 2022 World Cup, the farmers used a farming engineer’s planting algorithm to create giant portraits of Messi in their corn fields, “I had the idea to make a code that goes in the seeders with Messi’s face as a tribute,” farming engineer Carlos Faricelli told Reuters, adding that he then freely made it available to any farmer brave enough to use it. In the end, more than 20 farmers in different provinces of Argentina joined him,

“We all risked it, because we ‘tattooed’ Messi’s portrait in the middle of the drought,” Faricelli told TN Argentina, with the special algorithm, the machinery knows how much seed per square meter it has to plant in certain places to create the contrast for various parts of Messi’s face,

“So when this corn grows and an aerial shot is taken, where the plants are closer together and the ground is less visible, a more intense green contrasts with where there are fewer plants and then this kind of agriculture art is created,” Faricelli said, planted before last year’s World Cup, the “agricultural tattoos” of Messi recently started taking shape, and photos and videos of different fields from all over Argentina have been making their way online, as it happens we have featured ‘crop art’ many times before, specifically at Inakadate, in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, the post are here, and here is the question, given the same circumstances, who would you celebrate this way?

With Valentines Day,

just a few weeks away, 

here is a new take on the traditional bouquet, instead of saying it with flowers, say it with pizza! I have tried to find the credit for the photographs but with no luck,

 

for this and other ideas for a slightly way out way to say "I love you" have a look here, my favourite?

this one created by carniflorist Andrew Summers of Say It With Beef, a beef jerky bouquet, just looking at it is making me hungry, I have not eaten breakfast yet!

Diana Was On Late Shift Today,

so we had breakfast together,

a Thai dish for Diana, smoked haddock warmed in milk for myself, in the afternoon after Diana left for work, I should mention that the daffodils have really opened up overnight,

I decided to remove the 7mm draught excluder and replace it with 3mm, that was easier said than done, the glue on the 7mm excluder just refused to give up with out a struggle, 

I placed a small length of the 3mm on the door fame, with a bit of a push the door latched closed, so I stuck the 3mm in place, and? you guessed it, with no amount of pushing the door did not close properly, but I have a cunning plan,

the part of the door that holds it closed locates in this bit,

so I hope that if I remove a little part of the metal from the oblong hole where the part that holds the door is, that is making the hole a tad larger, it will then lock, all I have to do now is buy a file, after my unsuccessful attempt to make the door draught proof it was feet up for a afternoon film,

a almost all action film from South Korea, Jung_E, massive special effects and fight scenes when they happen that have to be seen to be believed, I sort of followed the plot, but I became a bit bogged down, but it whiled away the afternoon, after a couple of quiz shows,

my evening sherry and read, which is just getting better and better, the book is about the life of one of my favourite non-fiction writers, 

the Reverend J. G. Wood, written by his son, Theodore Wood, titled The Rev. J. G. Wood: His Life And Work, it is a real treat, if you are lost for something to read I can highly recommend this work, 

for my evening meal Diana had made me a sausage casserole, which was delicious,

'Cheers!', 

after which I watched the fourth episode of Wolf Hall, which is on the second disc of episodes 4 - 6, a really enjoyable period drama, after which Diana arrived home so a coffee a chat and one more from ITVX, a episode of Lewis before we were off to bed.

If You Like KFC,

this is the post for you!

photographs KFC. Just before Chinese New Year Pak Wansiri, CCO of marketing company Wunderman Thompson Thailand wanted to bring the aroma of KFC to everyone’s home, the goal of this unique project was to get the KFC brand into the public’s attention for the Chinese New Year by taking advantage of a centuries-old tradition – the lighting of incense sticks to pay homage to the gods,

trying to replicate the KFC flavour is notoriously hard to replicate in the kitchen, never mind trying to replicate it on a incense stick, but that is what he wanted to do, not only did they have to replicate KFC’s 11 herbs and spices recipe, but they had to rely on food flavourings to achieve their goal, to do this KFC Scent teamed up with Sense Laboratory Co.,Ltd. and Klinkasem Incense,

they were successful and now you can fill your home thanks to these incense sticks with the aroma of KFC, now the bad news, they are not for sale, but a part of a raffle, to own a pack of these unique incense sticks you have to comment on the Facebook page of KFC Thailand for the chance to win one of 100 prizes of 32.000 baht, at today's rate £787.20 or $976.09, and a box of fried chicken incense sticks, or the other alternative is to buy a KFC meal, leave the package open and breath in the aroma!

I Have Not Featured A Tattoo Artist For Some Time,

but seeing these I just had to, 

they are the work of Ruben Jordan Langsted who took the photographs, he is a talented tattoo artist who specializes in photo-realistic black & grey tattoos with high contrast and soft shadows, born in Norway but currently working out of the Dropout Collective tattoo shop in Copenhagen, Denmark,

asked what his favourite artistic creation, Ruben Jordan Langsted chose an impressive back piece he did for a fellow tattooer, featuring a statue of the Pope, with cemetery crosses and statues in the foreground and a large, detailed dome in the background,

“I think I put around 40 hours total in it making it the most time I spent on a back piece ever,” the artist said about his masterpiece,

I have to admit the tattoos are very effective, I would like to see some of them on paper as works of art, a tattoo for me? they are not quite me, but these are far superior to many I have seen.

I Had Just Finished My Exercises,

when I had a call from Graham at the shop,

who needed a bit of help, the lid of one of the filters in the marine system had sprung a leak and could I find a replacement,

 so I rang Pool Filtration Ltd in Wallington, telephone 020 8669 0657, it seems like they had one in stock, so as a precaution I called into the shop first and picked up the broken one, I was really well looked after by the gentleman in the shop whose name I regret to say I forgot to ask, as an aside if you need any pool maintenance give Andy McBlane a call on 07831 469 216, then the bad news, it was not the same as the one that I had brought with me, near but not the same, arriving back at the shop the good news was that Graham had managed to temporally solve the problem, also he had found one at another shop but was too far away to travel to, so he ordered it and they will post it, hopefully next week all should be back to normal,

shortly after arriving home so did Diana, who had brought some daffodils home with her,

as I was meeting Steve this evening we had a meal sans starters, 'Cheers!',

Diana made herself a Thai meal, 

for myself good 'ole bangers and mash, almost as soon as I had finished I was out, on to a number 54 bus and then a 227 to Penge,

our venue for this evening, past the street art,

and building work that was going on the last time I was here,

to Southey Brewing Co. 

it was a tad chilly for anyone to be sitting outside,

the menu for the evening,

'Cheers!', from Steve,

and myself, we chatted the night away, James as usual taking very good care of us, after saying our farewells I caught a 227 home, but as luck would have it, as the bus passed the war memorial I spotted a number 54 in the distance, so I caught that and saved myself a walk past the graveyard, arriving home it was time for a nightcap, one from Lewis and we were off to bed.