Another Day Of Only One Post,

as it is Wednesday I will be out first thing to visit Duncan,

back to Tuesday, 07.00 and we were on the tram to Croydon, to hand in Diana's papers to apply for her UK citizenship, 

out of the tram at Croydon, 

it was just starting to get light, 

why so early? costs! the citizenship visa is £1,850.00 plus to hand in her papers at 07.30 to 08.00 £139.00, but after 08.00 the cost to hand them in rises to £299.00! also regardless of what time they are handed in there is a further charge of £56.00 for document scanning, all a nice little earner for the UK government, I am not allowed to enter the building with Diana, 

so a coffee in Costa it was, as I have to buy next months train tickets to visit Duncan I thought I would buy them here at East Croydon station, but you know my luck, 

the entrances were shuttered shut, 

another strike only announced a day ago, it was surprising the number of commuters arriving to find no trains, as I sat supping my coffee, from the article:

"Rail minister Huw Merriman told The Independent: “Strikes just hold the railway back. We believe a fair and reasonable offer is there on the table for Aslef if they put it to their members, “These are train drivers that paid an average £60,000 for a 35-hour, four-day week, That pay deal would take them up to £65,000", 

so that was that, after handing her papers in Diana joined me, we caught a tram back to Beckenham, where of course the station there was closed also, it was time for breakfast,

we walked to a café near the station, passing the green,

it was by now 08.45, 

so into Em’s Kitchen, for breakfast, a peruse of the menu,

and a look inside, this is the first time we have eaten here,

umbrellas hanging from the ceiling,

Diana ordered a latte, 

and nice it was too,

for myself a pot of tea,

Diana went with the full English fry up,

there was lots of it!

for myself a bacon sandwich, our breakfast came to £21.50, out of the café and across the road, 

in the graveyard,

the first signs of spring, 

snowdrops, and nice they looked too,

passing the green, 

some cyclamen were also starting to flower, 

as we entered the park the council had put a new road sign in place for our road, arriving home I made Diana a coffee, she was going to grab a few ZZZZZZ's before going to work, but than a telephone call, could she come in now? well as Diana was still up it was work clothes on and off to work, tonight she will be closing up, 

in the afternoon I made another video of our visit to the Bangkok live fish market at Chatuchak, video number 12, in this one we visit a shop called All Fish, as it happens they sell plants as well as food and accessories for fish keeping, in one of the aquariums there is a new strain of angelfish, the so called ‘Blue Angelfish’ well they sort of looked blue under the aquarium lights, with a little bit of poetic licence!, also there were a number of albino X-Ray fish as they are called, you could see through them, if you keep fish in the UK you will be familiar with the Hikari brand of fish food, a large cichlid was next to show off in front of us as we looked at another shop, this one with lake Malawi and Tanganyika cichlids in so many colours, in the last aquarium real treat for fish keepers, some Altum angelfish, difficult to keep and almost impossible to breed, after a few quiz shows and my evening meal, I watched Battlebots, this evening featuring a walking robot, normally robots are limited to 250 pounds in weight, but as this one walks it is allowed to weigh in at 500 pounds,

 it is huge! named Chomp, I will not spoil the out come in case you have not watched it perform, after which I fancied a epic,

 so Kingdom of Heaven, it was, I made this comment when we watched it before, 'it is the time of the Crusades during the Middle Ages - the world shaping 200-year collision between Europe and the East, a blacksmith named Balian has lost his family and nearly his faith, the religious wars raging in the far-off Holy Land seem remote to him, yet he is pulled into that immense drama, a great epic film, we had watched it before and I know I will watch it again, one of the great lines in the film,

Balian of Ibelin, 'what is Jerusalem worth?'

Saladin, 'nothing, everything,'

 if you have not watched it you have a treat in store for you, after which Diana returned home, just in time for a Outback Gold Hunters, we had a coffee and a chat before we were off to bed.

I am Only Making One Post Today,

as first thing we will be handing in Diana's paperwork,

back to Monday, I had some time today, so I thought I would complete video number 11 of our trip to the live fish market at Chatuchak in Bangkok, we called into Discus for Leisure, at the front of the shop we were amazed to see a breeding pair of fish with young so close to passers-by, some maintenance was going on, in this shop there were a few deformed fish, that command high prices here, back to maintenance, in one aquarium the adults can be seen with their young as the aquarium is cleaned, next we visit one of the shops selling aquatic plants,

 in the afternoon I took the cushions and covers, now dry, downstairs and put them onto our sunbed, and please no more storms, at least until next winter, hopefully the sunbed will be to be put to good use in a few months! Diana returned home so we had a coffee and relaxed as we watched a couple of Outback Opal Hunters, after our evening meal it was time for,

 Stephen King's The Langoliers, a bit off track in places and a tad long, I believe it was originally shown as three 1 hour episodes, but it was nice to watch as we had the movie on a disc, after which Diana was off to bed, for myself one from Have I Got news For You, before I too was off to bed.

Our Sunday Started As Usual,

a walk in the park,

we wrapped up, but it was unseasonably warm, 

on the way a local cat was looking for attention,

it was well looked after and I guess it was a tracking collar it was wearing around its neck,

past the snail mail box,

we were not sure if there would be runners in the park today, but apparently it was yesterday the race was on, 

although it does not look it, there were quite a number of people in the park,

evidence of yesterdays race still here, 

the weather must have brought out the crowds, 

at the farmers market the flower truck was not here,

so we had a look around, 

at the end of the green a row of food stalls,

the mansion house itself, 

normally there are lots of fold up chairs and table here, but not today, 

all of the tables and benches occupied, 

as was the one the last time we came here, 

but we managed to snag a bench in the sun, 

I had brought a few beers with me, 

unfortunately for Diana the queue for a hot drink was so long, that she bought a cold drink instead, 

we made our way back,

through the formal part of the garden,

up the hill and past the food stalls at the edge of the green,

then down the hill, 

to the gates which stop cars from entering the park,

back past the snail mail box and then home,

where it was time for a sherry and a read, I am still reading this bi-weekly copy of Private Eye, the editor, Ian Hislop, is one of the permanent team leaders in our favourite satirical TV shows, Have I Got News For You, 

for our starter, 

a hot roll and butter with cockles and mussels,

followed by roast pork, with gravy for Diana,

sans gravy for myself,

'Cheers!', 

we took a break before our sherry trifle dessert, Diana then started on the paperwork for her application for citizenship in the UK, yes more reams of paper and expense! after which we watched a couple of Columbo's back to back, one we had not watched before the second from such a long time ago, which we followed with a Outback Opal Hunters and a Have I Got News For You, as Diana had another early start tomorrow we were off to bed.