Wednesday 14 June 2023

I Am Only Making One Post Today,

as first thing tomorrow I will be out to visit Duncan,


 and I took lots of photographs today, back to Tuesday, what is it with me, cooking and kitchens? I thought I would hard boil 6 eggs, some for breakfast tomorrow and some for sandwiches, I put 6 eggs in a saucepan of water, add salt, well that is what my mother would do, to stop the eggs splitting and make the water boil hotter, boil for 3 minutes and leave, 

and I ended up with 6 of the most horrible hard boiled eggs I have ever seen, I peeled them and ended up with 5, one I just had to put out of its misery and committed it to the bin, boiled eggs and toast for breakfast tomorrow, note to self, let Diana boil the eggs in future,

then great fun, the first of 2 lorry's arrived with scaffolding and planks,

how to get scaffolding from the lorry to the compound? use a crane on the lorry,

just please mind my car!

as if! what a great bunch of guys,

Diana called from work she was just leaving so we arranged to meet in town, off I went,

as the second lorry arrived,

Diana was on early's so we meet just after midday, and what a glorious day it was too,

off of the bus opposite the church,

as we waited for a number 54 to Blackheath Village,

we were soon upstairs,

and passing Foxgrove Lodge,

I did not take any photographs of the journey as I will be doing the same journey tomorrow,

we walked across the heath towards a ice cream van,

sadly soon to be no more, 

two 99's to go please,

any second now,

Ta-Dah!

one each,

delicious as Diana takes a selfie, 

well I just had too!

we both did! but why will the ice cream vans be no more?

the Royal Borough of Greenwich has published a list of streets across its town centres where ice cream sellers would be prohibited from trading, it includes the popular tourist destination King William Walk beside Greenwich Park, where we just were, and there was me thinking that the council wanted what the people that elected them want, but after just one alleged complaint the council swung all of its might into action, with a council of killjoys like that we are so lucky not to live there! the full story is here

we started our walk in the park,

the daffodils and cherry blossoms of previous months now long gone,

not many here today, 

but then it is a weekday,

we decided to walk past the pond, and this is why it is so nice walking through these gates, no dogs, it is a fact that some owners do not clean up after their animals, and even worse when you have spread your picnic, a dog off of its lead will rush in and try to eat your food, all the time the pathetic cry from the owner, "it has never done that before!" it has happened to us in Beckenham Place Park when we had a picnic there,

also it means that wildlife and plants can be grown with out being disturbed, like these,

fox gloves or digitalis as they are known,

dead now but what an age this elderly tree must have be when alive,

one of the many beauties of Greenwich Park,

is the number of mature trees in it,

we arrived at the lake,

signs nearby mention that the lake had been cleaned, and the green water stage was a part of the pond maturing,

Diana noticed this before I did, up the tree, at first I thought a birds nest, like a tit box

but on reflection perhaps a home for bees?

we continued our walk,

when we noticed something that we had seen in this tree on our last visit to the pond, the branches,

just leaden down with pigeons, what is it about this tree that encourages them? I have no idea,

a last look at the pond,

as we head towards some planted areas,

the marigolds here looking nice in the sunlight,

as we passed the bed, 

because of its similar colour I almost missed this beauty, a bird of paradise, (Strelitzia), in flower,

but it was the colour of these that attracted us, peonies,

with white,

red and pink, 

the double red ones here,

looking stunning,

the single pinks putting on a good display as well,

in this bed a lonely iris still in flower,

it had seen better days but the copper look of its flower was so pleasing,

through the gate,

and walk to the bandstand, for a list of concerts have a look here

we passed the dry water fountain,

before reaching The Pavilion Café,

I snagged a table with an umbrella,

whilst Diana bought the coffees and cake,

but we had a change of plan,

and sat under one of the trees that gave us a nice dappled shade,

our coffees and Diana's cake,

all set,

'Cheers!',

we started walking towards the viewing point,

the 4 chimneys of the now disused power station in the distance,

we just had to take a couple of photographs,

one a close up,

Canary Wharf in the distance,

as I have said a few times before ancient and modern just separated by the Thames,

I just had to!

the most photographed view in the park,

the red Greenwich Time Ball at the bottom of its post,

the power station, O2 behind it,

we started the walk down the hill as others puffed and sweated their way up,

we made the mistake of starting at the bottom of the hill, once, and vowed never to do it again!

at weekends this place would have so many sunbathers and picnickers with the weather this nice, but today so much space for everyone,

we went through the bottom gate,

and into town,

the Cutty Sark in the distance,

Diana's favourite shop, Oliver Bonas,

but this is where we were headed,


I had a look at some of the shops at the sides instead of the stalls at first,

we tend to walk by them just looking at the stalls,

so a close up view of a few of them,

humbugs anyone?

just what the lady and gentleman wanted,

the shops had goods from near and far,

one even with succulents for sale,

then back to the stalls,

although it has to be said there were not as many as there normally is at weekends,

but I did like this teapot, a art deco design by Clarice Cliff, at £28.00 a snip, £70 or so would be about right, as I type this I am asking myself why on earth did I not buy it!

I looked at some of the other stall offerings,

all manner of toys,

on this one, 

we were soon in the food area,

so many cuisines to choose from, 

and as usual the Citroen food vans were here,

this style of van is so popular at this type of event,

Diana popped into the bank,

as I made by way through town,

and past Jack the Chipper, what a great name for a fish and chip shop! but naturally the local snowflakes objected to the name and décor,

I was going here where Diana will meet me, the vinyl CD, DVD and Blu-ray shop,

a last look at the square as we made our way to the bus stop,

which was by the plant stall,

with a selection of hydrangeas for sale, onto a 199 to Lewisham then change onto a number 54,

and home past Foxgrove Lodge,

what a glorious day, so hot,

whilst we had been out the boys had been busy,

so many planks, 

and scaffolding, all brand new,

lots of it!

everywhere,

and the crew had not been hanging about,

what a difference a afternoon makes!

walk ways at 2 levels already,

with more ready for tomorrow, indoors it was time for our evening meal after which we watched a Midsomer Murder that happened to be showing, as you might expect with Diana having a early shift this morning, she was tired out, so she had a early night, I made a start on the blog as there were so many photographs, after which I watched a Have I Got More News For You, before I too was off to bed.


2 comments:

jpo5626 said...

Dear Stanley and Diana
1. My, would agree you should stay away from doing eggs, Any Style!
2. Your shutter finger sure did get some exercise, wow, many, many snaps!!
3. Did not realize what a massive undertaking the construction project on your home was. Looks pretty serious and extensive….nice you can get this all done and updated.
Let’s hope they don’t run into any surprises, as we know, 95% of surprises are bad…
We hope it goes smoothly!
Stanley—stay out of the kitchen!!!
Regards
John and Alley

PattayaStan said...

Dear John and Alley,
I agree with all of your points, over the years repeatedly I have proven beyond any shadow of doubt that the kitchen is an infernal machine, that has one purpose in life, to cut, burn, scald and make a mockery of anything I do in it, I spend as little time in it as I possibly can, and even then it still catches me unawares, as I start the washing up and run my fingers along the cutting edge of every knife I pick up as I start to wash it in the bowl, and as for the forks why does everyone of them make a beeline for the delicate piece of skin between each finger?
The building work is enormous, the lowest quote was just under a quarter of a million pounds, luckily it is split between 8 flat owners and there was already some money in the repair funds that we all pay into every year, but we had to go to the bank and take out a huge loan, no spare cash for us for the next 5 years! to add to our worries we have to pay the last part of three for Diana's permission to stay here at Christmas, the paperwork goes in next July for hopefully the final 'yes she can stay' but we have to pay the £6,000 fee at Christmas, yes that was correct £6,000! but we are doing everything legally, not arriving on a boat as a is happening everyday, and then asking for free everything, (which they all get), the good news is that later today we will be joining Steve and Kai for a bar-b-q at their home as it is Kai's birthday, so no kitchens and cooking for me! best regards, Stan and Diana.