Blog Posted,

and I was on my way out to visit Duncan, 

into a cold but frost free day, 

onto the number 54 bus and passing Peter Pans Pool, I wonder what the building that housed Homebase will now be used for, 

looking towards Catford bluish but hazy skies,

round the one way system in Lewisham, 

at Blackheath station, not many commuters on the upline, I guess many taking a couple of extra days holiday, I was in luck a train that went through to Gravesend, so no stopping and changing trains at Dartford, also as I arrived at Gravesend a 483 bus was waiting at the bus stand with its door open, so straight in and off several stops later,  

and I was walking up the hill towards the nursing home where Duncan stays, 

in past the now naked silver birch tree, 

over the home a clear blue sky, thankfully Duncan was in fine sprits, we chatted away about Christmas, 

one of his daughters Jade had called in and left a photograph on the wall of all three of his daughters, one a doctor in Australia, the other two at universities in the UK. I mentioned that today was Thursday and I would be visiting next Thursday instead of Wednesday, as on Sunday we will be gong to Vienna for a few days, when his lunch arrived we said our farewells and I was out, 

walking past what once was the school clock, before it became a nursing home, 

the apple tree waiting for spring, hopefully a better crop this year than last, I wanted to call into Lidl in Bromley, stocks of spiced rum were perilously low, so I stayed on the train until Lewisham, 

where I walked into the one way system and caught a number 208 bus, I stayed on the lower deck until it was in market square Bromley, 

then a walk past Primark, 

the sausage stall, 

and Christmas tree, 

to Lidl, I was going to buy some cockles at the fish mongers stall, but today apart from the sausage stall not another trader was in sight, two bags of spiced rum later and I was on my way home, 

off of the 354 bus a walk and I was nearly home, after my evening meal, a Poirot had just started, 

 Death on the Nile, while on their honeymoon in Egypt, newlyweds Simon Doyle and Linett Ridgeway are constantly harassed by Simon's ex-fiancée Jackie De Bellefort who feels her ex-best friend has stolen the love of her life, a holidaying Hercules Poirot counsels Jackie to put an end to her antics, fearing that all of this can only end in tragedy, and of course it does, as that finished Diana arrived home, 

as Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, started, in April 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars, the H.M.S. Surprise, a British frigate, is under the command of Captain Jack Aubrey. Aubrey and the Surprise's current orders are to track and capture or destroy a French privateer named Acheron, a lifelike depiction of life on board ship in those days, after which Diana was off to bed, I watched a Have I Got More News For You, before I too was off to bed.

If You Like Illustrations From Old Botanical and Animal Books,

this will be good news for you, 

the world’s largest open access digital archive dedicated to life on Earth, the Biodiversity Heritage Library is comprised of animal sketches, historical diagrams, botanical studies, and various scientific research collected from hundreds of thousands of journals and libraries around the globe, the site boasts a collection of more than 55 million pages of literature, some of which dates back to the 15th century. At least 150,000 illustrations are available for free download in high-resolution files, above from Horticultural Belgium,

Among the collections is a digital copy of Joseph Wolf’s The Zoological Sketches, two volumes containing about 100 lithographs depicting wild animals housed in London’s Regent’s Park. Wolf originally sketched and painted the vignettes in the mid-19th century. Other diverse works range from a watercolor project detailing flowers indigenous to the Hawaiian islands, to a guide for do-it-yourself taxidermy compleate with illustrated instructions published in 1833, above from Selected articulate animals

from The naturalist’s miscellany, or Coloured figures of natural objects

also from The naturalist’s miscellany, or Coloured figures of natural objects

from Horticultural Belgium

from Brasilische Pilzblumen and so many more! absolutely fascinating, well it is is for me!

How To Improve Sales Of The Popcorn You Make 101,

use it as a edible cushion!

I kid you not! the idea was the brain child of Shihoko Wada, of Azechi Foods, a online store where people mainly bought delicacies, she was inspired by a laptop repair technician at a management seminar. The man used Umaibo sticks (cylindrical puffed corn snacks) as a cushioning material, for Wada it was a revelation, not only could the popcorn be used as an actual snack after use, but it was also an incredible opportunity to attract attention,

and it did! “If Umaibo can be used as a cushioning material, then I thought the popcorn that our company makes could also be used as a cushioning material,” Shihoko Wada told Gendai Magazine. “Once it’s finished serving its purpose as a cushioning material, it can be eaten, so it doesn’t become useless garbage. Above all, I thought that the customers who received it would be happy with the surprise, they would get a sense of value, and it would also help improve the company’s image.”

Wada’s idea was to package the popcorn in a transparent plastic bag that had “not edible” printed on it, only with the ‘not’ crossed out, and then use the bags as cushioning material in the packages they sent all over the country, Azechi Foods filed for a trademark registration and soon started receiving orders from all sorts of businesses, like a company that sells used video games, a greengrocer, a wine seller. etc. As photos of its unique cushioning material went viral online, the number of orders increased and they even got requests for coverage from national TV outlets, and here is the good bit, they can be eaten, and thus eliminate the risk of waste, which can’t really be said about other cushioning or filler materials, most of which end up in the trash after a few uses, thinking outside of the box I think it is called!

We Had A Quiet New Years Day,

thoughts of a walk in the park were quickly dispelled by the rain outside, 

 as it was a bank holiday this week on Wednesday, I did not visit Duncan, but I will be popping down today, Thursday, so there will only be one post today and as soon as I post that I will be out, back to Wednesday, in the afternoon a bank holiday film was on, Lawrence of Arabia, a classic, the story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks, the film Lawrence of Arabia, a film that I could never tire of watching, even though it is over 3 hours long, great film, as an aside, on his first location scouting trip in Jordan, director Sir David Lean discovered the remains of the Turkish locomotives and railroad tracks T. E. Lawrence had destroyed during the Arab Revolution, after forty years in the sun, they hadn't even rusted,

if you are into reading this period is covered in Seven Pillars of Wisdom  by T. E. Lawrence, and a good read it was too, 

almost as good is a book I have, written by a friend of mine Victor Winstone as I knew him, titled Captain Shakespear, as one reviewer wrote, 'This wonderful book details just how great our influence in modern Saudi Arabia would have been if it had not been for the incompetence of the British Government', incompetence, British Government? who would have thought that? for a brief look at the life of Captain Shakespear have a look here, it was then time for our evening meal, 

but first a read and a sherry, 

for tonight a soup, spring vegetables with, you guessed it added turkey, 'Cheers!',

Diana decided on a noodle dish, it was then time for a couple of Antiques Road Trips before a bit of a treat, a Midsomer Murder, one we had not watched for some time after which Diana was off to bed, for myself a Have I Got A Bit More News For You before I too was off to bed.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

lets hope that it will be less confrontational than last year, 

and world wide disputes will be peacefully solved, as it is New Years Day I will only be making one post today, back to New Year's Eve, during the day I continued sorting out paper work that we no longer need, now that Diana is a UK citizen, I picked Diana up from work and it was soon time for our evening meal, 

first a read and a sherry, 

gravlax trout on avocado for our starters, 

eyes down and tuck in, 

a fillet steak each for our main course, Diana's with a cream sauce, 

sans sauce for myself,

'Cheers!',

we still had a couple of crackers left over from Christmas, Diana got both of the bits with the goodies in, 

a cake and cream for dessert, the cake had the rather grand title of caramelised biscuit crown, and nice it was too,

in the evening we watched a couple of Kindig Customs, followed by a film titled just Sherlock Holmes, made in 2009, which we both really enjoyed, 

then the countdown begun, as usual we saw the New Year in with Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, in his Annual Hootenanny,

just before the midnight hour the 1st Battalion Scots Guards Pipes, gave a sterling performance to pipe in the New Year, I was ready with the bubbly, 

any second now,

and here we are in 2025,

a glass for Diana, 

and one for myself, 'Cheers!', for 2025,

then the fireworks began, 

one of our nearby neighbours had a remarkable firework display,

considering it was in their back garden, back to Jools, one of his guests, as well as favorite Ruby Turner, 

was Paul Carrack, who he performed with when they were both in the group Squeeze, 

and here they are performing together again after all of those years, the show finished at 02.00 in the morning, and after it, we were off to bed.