Blog Posted,

and I was out,

into a chilly day,

grey skies, but thankfully not raining,

onto the number 54 bus and past Peter Pan's Pool,

grey skies looking like they were not going to improve, and it had started raining,

then disaster! a change of driver, who did not appear until eventually a worker from the garage told everyone to change buses, 

I guess the driver did not want to walk to the bus everyone was on, 

and then we waited, and waited, as other buses pulled out of the bus station, normally not a problem, it means that I miss the train to Dartford, and following that the next train to Gravesend and of course the bus to Duncan's home! this all means I am a little late in arriving at Duncan's, but this time Rainham Steve was meeting me at Gravesend station, as he wanted to visit Duncan before Christmas, and I hate it when I keep people waiting, but there it is, 

the bus eventually moved off to Blackheath Village, but soon steamed up, I guess it had been left out overnight, so the glass was cold, 

the florists next to the station open,

lots of cut flowers,

and potted plants for sale,

as I waited for the train I noticed in the car park the same company as in Beckenham selling Christmas trees,

arriving in Dartford,

the fountain was working in the pond next to the station, in Gravesend Steve was waiting,

and had bought Duncan so many treats, 

amongst them a 'special' bottle of Liebfraumilch, which was rather nice as it happens, he also kindly bought a couple more bottles for us to share with Steve and Kai on Boxing Day, we chatted the morning away until Duncan's lunch arrived when we then said our goodbyes,

 

Steve kindly dropped me off in Gravesend where I went shopping for a everyday pair of brogues, and success! I had a uneventful ride home on busses and trains, it rained all of the way,

and continued as I walked home, where Diana had already arrived, in the late afternoon we watched a couple of quiz shows, 

in the evening a read and a sherry, followed by a huge beef stew, 

'Cheers!', we then watched a BattleBots and a Midsomer Murder, followed by,

Planet Earth III Heroes, I have to say we both found it disappointing that this was the last in the series, in this episode it highlighted the efforts of conservationists, and I have to say I watched the most amazing interaction between humans and wildlife I have ever seen in my life, the efforts to reintroduce the the Northern Bald Ibis, (Geronticus eremita), from the blurb:

"The Northern Bald Ibis have been a part of my life for more than twenty-five years. Since the late 1990s I have been at the centre of the project to bring these incredibly rare birds back to the wild after they went extinct in Europe 400 years ago. As you see in the Planet Earth III: Heroes, we take newborn chicks from zoos and then ‘imprint’ them onto our foster mother. The chicks believe that these humans are their real mothers and want to follow them everywhere. We then teach them to migrate over the Alps as the young birds even follow their foster mothers when they are in microlights"

what an amazing interaction to witness, Diana then went to bed, another early start today, for myself I watched then GATTACA, a film set in the future, to travel to the stars you have to be 100% fit, but a menial worker assumes the identity of a fit person to travel, a good film, well worth watching, but I could not help thinking the futuristic cars were in fact 1960's Rover 2000 models with the chrome and badges taken off, after which I too was off to bed.