Diana Was At Work,

so more playing with old photographs during the day, 

here are a couple, I thought the eye of the horse a bit dark, 

so change that and took out the background, 

and here he is, 

next a heron, 

remove the background,

and here he is, not to everyone's taste, but I like the black background, 

I picked up Diana from work, as it happens she was weighed down with a huge fresh turkey and gammon ham, as well as other goodies for Christmas, as it was late we decided on a fish & chip supper, from Tom Bell, the local fish & chip shop, this is a photograph I took during the day,

the portions were huge, 

Diana's fish even bigger than mine, and there was still another full bag of chips in the kitchen!

'Cheers!', the bill came to £30.00, after our meal we watched one from Bangers & Cash before Diana was off to bed, she has a early start tomorrow, for myself a show I had not seen for years, The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club, 

the menu read by Colin Crompton, will give you an idea of a social club back in the day, the club was shown on television every week from 1974 to 1977 and featured as acts such as this, 

the Vintage Syncopators who played the club on 5th April 1975, great fun, after which I too was off to bed.

Only Last Week,

I mentioned how amazed I was at a drone show video I watched, 

the show is here, 

and this week, not the largest number of drones, but the longest running show, Sky Elements brought Christmas magic to the skies with an original story in its record-breaking 30-minute drone show! Using 2,500 drones, they attempted to set a Guinness World Record for the longest animation ever performed by UAVs, and it all went swimmingly well I am happy to say, not like this unfortunate show, 

where a number of the drones went mustang, multiple drones fell on the crowd during holiday drone show over Lake Eloa in Orlando, the fail was put down to "technical difficulties" during Saturday night's drone show which sent one person to the hospital, according to officials, but back to the idea of a drone show, could these take the place of traditional firework displays?

I have just read a update on the above here, it is so sad to read of this poor youngsters injury, hopefully he will make a full recovery and continue to enjoy light shows, we wish him all the best for a safe and speedy recovery.

10 Days Or So Ago,

I made a post about this, 

the world’s largest building, the Surat Diamond Bourse is a massive diamond-cutting and trading hub, that exceeds the Pentagon’s area of 66,73,624 sqft by almost 55,000 sqft. the post is here, well apparently all is not well, from the article:

'Despite the building being sold out, diamond businesses are taking time to shift there from the diamond markets of Mumbai and the traditional markets in the city. The global slowdown in the diamond business is said to be the key reason for the missing enthusiasm, of the 4,200 offices, almost all have been sold, but just 150 are being used', 

the article is here, it seems amazing that so many units have been sold, but the owners are so reluctant to move in, even customs officials at Surat Diamond Bourse have complained they're bored and have nothing to do, at the moment just one or two parcels of diamonds being sent through customs, I wonder why the uptake is so slow?

 

Whilst Diana Was At Work,

I had a quiet day, 

continuing sorting into themes the photographs we had taken over the years, after more than a few hours it was time for a film, I choose Margrete - Queen of the North, and what a treat it was, the film is a fictionalised account of the 'False Oluf', an impostor who in 1402 claimed to be the deceased King Olaf II/Olav IV of Denmark-Norway, son of the title character Margrete I of Denmark, the locations, sets, storyline could not have been better, 

in the evening a read of the latest Private Eye, and a sherry,

then eyes down and tuck into a couple of vegetable samosas, 

followed by a Goan chicken curry, which was a tad more spicy than I remember when I stayed in Goa a couple of times in the 1980s, 'Cheers!',

I then watched the last episode of a great series, Wolf Hall, at the end of which Diana arrived home, so it was a coffee and a chat as well as feet up for some more of the excellent series,

 Vikings: Valhalla, before we were both off to bed.

With Christmas Almost Here,

High Street Christmas lights around the country are being switched on, 

photography by Poppy McKenzie Smith @GTOpoppy, but in the small town of Newburgh in southern Scotland, instead of a designer team taking months to design and produce the lights, the residents and council have taken a novel approach to the lights design, 

 school children were asked to produce designs for the lights, 

once a winner is chosen, the artwork is sent to Blachere Illumination to be translated into LED before it’s unveiled at a ceremony held at Lamppost 15, where the new work is hung each year,

the winning artist gets the honour of turning on the light, illuminating the 2,000-plus residents to enjoy, and in a neat move the runner-up’s art is featured on the town’s Christmas card, all by the people for the people, the full story is here, Merry Christmas!

When People Mention Wedgwood,

most people think of the blue and white Jasperware the company is famous for, 

all images courtesy of the V&A Wedgwood Collection, but this colour just did not happen, above Jasperware trials, mounted on a wooden tray, Wedgwood created around 5,000 trial pieces in the process of perfecting creamware, and nearly 3,000 individual trials were required to innovate jasperware. Numerous trays of the samples are preserved by the V&A,

 tray of clay and Jasper Trials, ceramic, Etruria (1773), “Each piece features a number that corresponds to an entry in an experiment book, housed in the V&A Wedgwood Collection archive,” the V&A says. “Josiah wrote his experiments in secret code because of the risk of industrial espionage.”

 tray of clay and Jasper Trials, ceramic, Etruria (1773), Many trial trays were found in Wedgwood’s Etruria factory and are now on display at the V&A as part of World of Wedgwood in Stoke-on-Trent, where Wedgwood brand pottery is still produced,

trial tray, underglaze blue and green enamels on ceramic, Etruria (1760-1765), Visitors can check out the creative studios, factory, a tea room, and shops, but if you can’t get there in person, you can always explore thousands of objects online,

tray of coloured glazes on coloured clay bodies trials, Etruria (1760-1765), also worthy of note is that the Victoria and Albert Museum, which stewards more than 175,000 works of art, ceramics, manuscripts, and photographs in the V&A Wedgwood Collection.

I Am Only Making One Post Today,

it was Diana's day off, 

and as usual took way too many photographs! Christmas jumper on, 

and we were out, 

into a grey chilly day, we meet Steve and Kai at New Beckenham station, and soon found our way to London Bridge, 

where Christmas was in full swing, 

these Santa's from the local fire station collecting for charity, 

crossing the road we arrived at the church, 

now just a short walk downstairs, 

and the market stalls began,

we were at Borough Market, we had visited there many times before,

but is is always nice to visit again, 

looking at various produce, 

I was tempted with a huge pork pie, 

but we stopped here for three slices of cake,

on a different note, fresh fruit, 

and from the sea, 

a huge selection,

and there they were, tubs of cockles and mussels, 

I was hoping the stall would still be here as I had not eaten breakfast, 

so a tub of cockles it was, 

but for Diana, 

it was paella, 

both Steve and Diana went for the seafood one,

for myself a bubbly, 

at the usual stall,

'Cheers!',

as Steve and Diana tucked in, 

and then I saw them, 

chestnuts, 

a bag full selected and paid for, 

we carried on looking at produce, 

it must take an age, 

setting all of this up in the morning, 

this was the stall we bought the chestnuts from, Hickson & Daughter,

next one of the many cheese stalls, Steve bought 3 different cheeses, 

all that was lacking was John Cleese! (click the blue link for the sketch),

we continued our walk, 

where I noticed these gourds, 

and these unusual sweet corns, 

apparently from Thailand, well we were in the Thailand stall,

which explains, 

the insect lollipops, 

I gave them a miss, 

more sweetcorn, 

and freshly squeezed sugar cane on offer, 

as well as insects by the gram, 

we wanted to walk along the Embankment, so past the Shard, 

and into Hayes Galleria, 

Kai, 

and Diana,

posing by the huge Christmas tree,

we decided on a coffee, 

which was a tad bigger, 

than we expected, 

'Cheers!', with a coffee, 

and here is the video of my jumpers flashing lights, 

back out, 

for a couple of me, 

by HMS Belfast, which we explored in September 2010,

time to look at the stalls along the Embankment, 

this looked intriguing, 

we had not seen this one before, 

making these, 

we had some of these a few visits ago, 

wax covered cheeses, 

in all manner of flavours, 

time for a pose, 

and then back to the Christmas stalls, 

lots of sweets, 

hair bands, 

Christmas action novelties, 

and candles, 

a quick look at Tower Bridge, 

then back to the stalls, 

this one a florists, 

we had walked to the end of the Belfast, 

the Walkie-Talkie in the background, 

almost opposite the Tower of London,

a pose by the Christmas tree, 

then the girls, 

well Steve and myself just had to!

tea lights in cup and saucer, 

we walked across Tower Bridge, 

looking back to the Shard and Belfast, 

and made our way under the underpass, 

passing some of the early remains of the Tower building,

as you might expect, lots of tourist shops in the area, 

past a florist which seems to have had a good day, 

and into the street that runs alongside Charing Cross station,

past one of Diana's favorite shops,

yummy!

past the cross, 

and the station, 

we made our way to Leicester Square, 

where Diana, Kai and Steve joined the queue to go inside the M & M store, 

I waited outside, 

looking around, 

at the different sights, 

looking inside the store, which has three floors of M & M's!

so many people inside, 

purchase made, and they were on the way out, 

and here we are, 

at the start of Chinatown,

a quick pose from Steve, 

as usual, 

this is where we are eating, the Golden Dragon, 

our order arrived, 

'Cheers!',

Peking duck with pancakes, 

sliced crispy pork,

shredded chicken, 

chicken feet, 

dim sum and bean sprouts, along with 4 portions of egg fried rice, the meal including a house red was £140.00, 

we were so full, next shopping, 

in some of the many oriental food shops, 

on the street, 

like this one, 

how about these, 

for sale in here,

we did not stop at Mamasons, 

but I did stop at the shop, 

that had so many brightly coloured goods on sale, as well as a army of waving cats!

we looked into a few pubs, but they were all so crowded, 

past St. Martins in the Field, 

and Charing Cross station, we finally settled on Gordon's Wine Bar, 

where they had a rather novel Christmas tree, 

tables either side of the central walk way, 

and here we are, 

wine ordered, 

Steve did the honours, 

'Cheers!',

we ordered a cheeseboard for 4, 

we had the choice of some 40 or more cheeses,

orange juice for the girls, 

although we were outside, it was warm as a heater above us was on, the bill including a nice bottle of wine, (not the house red), came to £85.00 which considering where we were seemed reasonable,

a pose by the steps down to the seating area of Gordon's, we caught the train back from Charing Cross, to New Beckenham where we said our farewells to Steve and Kai, 

a walk home and past the Christmas tree in Foxgrove Lodge, what a great day we all had, arriving home it was feet up for a Deadliest Catch, followed by a couple of Bangers & Cash before we were off to bed.