I Decided To Cut Off,

the flower spikes that had appeared on a couple of the Venus fly traps,

two on each trap as it happens,

the thought being that to produce flower heads drains a lot of the plants energy, I had already let one spike grow on each of 2 plants, 

I had also read that if you are lucky a new plant can be grown from the cut off spike, 

so into the propagator they went, who knows? I just might be able to grow another couple of plants, 

in the afternoon Diana returned home from work so we watched a couple of quiz shows before a delicious evening meal, kebab skewers of tikka flavoured pork, with coleslaw, mixed pepper salad and curly chips, after which we watched a Deadliest Catch, we then decided to watch a series which featured this headline, 

and I quote: "One of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history where hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft", it was a true story that gripped the nation, the series also drove more than 1 million people to sign a petition, (and I was one of them), demanding that former Post Office boss Paula Vennells hand back her CBE – which she did in January amid the mounting calls, the story is of a mighty giant refusing to face facts, and just go after the "little people", the behaviour of the senior management of Post Office workers involved was nothing short of disgusting, it is a shame that even today, 20 or more years since the scandal started the compensation claims are still not being settled, the failure of the computer system which saw over 700 post office shop workers accused of theft is still rumbling on, it wouldn't be until November 2018 that the subpostmasters would get their day in court against the Post Office, which ultimately reached a settlement with the group of 555 individuals at a cost of £57.75 million, however, due to enormous legal fees, only around £12 million of that could be shared among the claimants – equating to as little as £20,000 compensation for people who had lost their money, homes, reputation and priceless time,

image ITV Studios/ITV. Mr Bates vs The Post Office, as of September 2023, only 86 of more than 700 subpostmasters had seen their convictions overturned, with dozens dying in the time it has taken for the public inquiry to be completed (via The Times), we watched three of the four parts, every so often Diana asked, "how can they do that?" as subpostmasters, were fined, jailed stripped of everything they own and even in some cases committed suicide, this is a real life 'must watch' series if for no other reason to see the 'little people' of Britain fight a giant, after which we were off to bed.

I Missed It For 2 Reasons,

firstly I have only just heard about it, 

photography by Revival Cycles, secondly I was not in America! but if I was this would be the motorcycle show for me, it is the Handbuilt Motorcycle show in Austen, Texas, the bikes builder is named in the bottom right-hand side of each photograph,

the show as you might expect was well attended, and my favorite in the show?

it has got to be this Triumph café racer from Robbie Dalley, would I like it? you bet! for more photographs have a look here.

Patented In 1903 By The Lumière Brothers In France And First Marketed In 1907,

Autochrome was an additive colour "mosaic screen plate" process, 

photographs found here at Société française de photographie, so what is a Autochrome? it was not only the first colour process to be commercial produced, but also probably to many the most beautiful photographic process ever invented, a little more is space is needed to explain exactly what the Autochrome process consisted of, the best thing I would suggest is to go to this link, which explains the history and process better than I ever could, for myself the photographs have such a dreamy, timeless quality about them, 

I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did, there is a guide to making your own Autochrome here, for more Autochrome photographs have a look here.

Blog Posted And We Were On Our Way,

to visit Duncan, as it was Diana's day off she wanted to accompany me, 

cold weather clothes on, 

we made our way past the snail mail box, 

and were soon on a number 54 bus, as usual they travel in packs, two here coming towards us, and a third about to turn to follow the other two,

we passed Peter Pan's Pool,

in the distance the sky clearing, 

the plants on top of this bus shelter in the bee garden starting to change to red, 

we were making good time, 

until a driver change, 

the sky clearing now as we approached Catford, 

the wisteria on this building just starting to flower,

the Catford street market just starting to open,

along the route the chestnut trees in flower, 

as a school boy I would look at trees like this on my way to school, thinking about the conker season in the school playground, 

Lewisham market up and running,

in Blackheath Village the florists open,

the aroma of stocks filling the air, 

lots of cut flowers,

as well as a few potted plants,

including a few dwarf sunflowers,

Diana stocking up on croissants and coffee for the train journey,

we made our way along the platform, 

changing trains at Dartford, 

arriving in Gravesend the sky had started to cloud over, 

on to and off of the 483 and we were walking up the hill towards the nursing home where Duncan stays,

the silver birches now with all of their foliage, inside Duncan was in fine sprits and pleased to see Diana, we chatted away about some of the times we had all meet up for meals and at weekends, as Duncan's lunch arrived we said our farewells and left for the bus stop, 

the roses at the entrance still not quite in flower, 

off of the bus and onto platform 0, and here is our train arriving, thankfully we did not have to change trains at Dartford, 

onto the bus at Blackheath village and we were soon head towards Catford, 

past the Catford cat, when we arrived at Catford bus garage it was not a change of driver, it was a change of bus! everybody off and onto another number 54, 

we were soon on our way again, passing a failed bee garden, now all weeds, still I do not suppose the bees will mind as long as the flowers have nectar, 

we were soon hurtling past the Homebase at Peter Pan's Pool,

and walking past Foxgrove Lodge into the park,

arriving home it was soon time for our evening meal, also waiting for us was the new edition of Private Eye, 

for our starter chicken soup with onion and sweetcorn,

for our main course I thought it was baked salmon until I tasted it, it was in fact Scottish loch trout, delicious,

'Cheers!',

we ended the meal with a Eton mess, 

I just had to have another 'Cheers!', after our meal it was time for a Midsomer Murder, which we followed with a Have I Got News For You, after which we were off to bed.