Oh Dear,

another day of only one post, it was Diana's day off,

so I took way too many photographs, also on Friday I have to pop down to the shop first thing, and also meet Steph for the monthly test of the fire alarm boxes, back to Thursday, whilst Diana was still asleep I was out for a early morning visit to the doctors surgery, 

past the green,

and the mile marker to London Bridge, 

and down into town, every year the HHS (National Health Service) contacts people with diabetes and asks them to have a diabetic check up, this involves making sure that you can still feel your feet and toes, height, weight and blood pressure taken and recorded, as well as three small tubes of blood to be sent to the laboratory, also an appointment made with the doctor to discuss the results in a couple of weeks time, two pieces of good news, firstly I still have full feeling in all toes, lack of feeling is a sign that everything is not as it should be, secondly it is all free!, well having said that, since I started work along with everybody else that works a percentage of your salary is stopped and paid into the NHS for care like this, as well as any surgery you may need in your lifetime,

back up the hill to home, 

but first calling into Domino's dry cleaners to pick up my waistcoat, 

past the shoe repair and key cutting shop,

and past Foxgrove Lodge, arriving home Diana said she wanted a lazy day, but in the afternoon as it was her day off and we wanted to celebrate the success of her visa to permanently stay in the UK, we were out,

Diana in the hall just outside our front door, 

a quick pose, 

as we made our way past the snail mail box,

and the entrance,

to The Pearl restaurant,

back past the green,

and the snowdrops in the graveyard,

Diana had a quick look into one of the many nail shops that almost seem to be taking over the High Street,

and here is the High Street, with road works as usual,

and this is where we were going, a walk around Kelsey Park,

the flower beds planted for the spring, 

they look like daisy type of flower,

the River Beck seemed to have a tad more than normal flow today,

I can imagine this tree features in everybody's photographs on a visit to the park,

well it does in ours!

the river, 

nearly all the way across the waterfall,

a few photographs of Diana, this one I took on Diana's telephone, 

back to my camera,

not many ducks in the part of the park,

there in the distance,

a heron,

and a nice visitor, a Mandarin duck, (Aix galericulata), bearing in mind it is a water bird, a duck, it actually nests in holes in trees, sometimes high up and a long way from the water, shortly after the ducklings hatch, the female flies down and tries to coax the young to jump from the nest, and then to leads them to water where they learn how to swim!

naturally there were some squirrels here, 

that Diana fed,

some peanuts to,

the flower bed planted,

with winter flowering pansy's,

we were now by the main lake,

no ice cream van today!

in the distance heron island,

with several of them in the branches,

a quick pose from Diana,

the cygnet getting bigger, 

it will not be long before the parents chase it away from their territory,

the bridge still closed, the council really dragging its heels on this, 

in the distance,

a huge number of waterfowl,

especially Mandarin ducks,

it is strange, apparently dog owners once they buy one of them, totally lose the ability to read, there is a area in the park where dogs are not welcome, but dog owners just can not read it, or perhaps it is that the owners lose their sight and the letters should be larger?, also the sign on the gate,

we walked around the end of the lake and started back towards the entrance,

a quick selfie,

and I just had to!

this was where we saw so many ducks, a couple here were feeding them,

all manner of waterfowl here,

back past the other side of the bridge,

for some reason in this area,

there were so many coots, (Fulica atra),

you may have heard of the saying 'bald as a coot' it actually refers to the white patch, or 'frontal shield', just above the bird's bill, rather than lack of feathers, coots are also known as 'bald coots' and 'white-faced divers',

we passed the rear of Heron Island,

the herons settling for the night,

the sun was going down,

quickly, 

we do not normally see the ground here,

usually when we visit it is covered with this plant, now dormant for the winter, the Chilean giant rhubarb, (Gunnera manicata),

we made our way out of the park,

we had decided to eat here, Miso,

for a change a bottle of white, 'Cheers!',

our starters arrived, tempura prawns and vegetables,

sesame seed and prawns on toast,

and spicy spare ribs,

all of which were delicious, 

on to our main course, for Diana noodles, chicken, beef, Cantonese roast pork, duck and prawn,

for myself a Malaysian curry, which was stir fried chicken breast with Chinese mushrooms, peas, onions, coconut milk and spices in a curry sauce served and with steamed rice,

all so nice, 

another 'Cheers!, we reflected on the 5 years it had taken to satisfy the UK government that Diana could stay with me here in the UK, I will not dwell on the cost, but all in all well over £10,000, and we still have her citizenship and if granted her passport to go! the meal came to £66.30, after leaving we had a short walk,

into the take away next door, 

Diana fancied some bubble tea to take home,

a few minutes later, 

and we were walking past the church, 

Diana popped into Marks & Spencer's, 

to pick up a package that had been left there for her, arriving home it was feet up for a Endeavour, followed by a Deadliest Catch and a Outback Gold Hunters, before we were off to bed.