Blog Posted,

and then out to visit Duncan, 

it was a warm sunny day for the drive down, but for some reason the traffic was particularly heavy, but there it is, arriving Duncan was in the day room, which he dislikes, some of the other guests tend to be rather loud, we chatted away, I mentioned that Alan and Rainham Steve sends their best wishes, as Duncan's lunch arrived we said our farewells,

outside still blue skies for the journey home, unfortunately the traffic situation had not improved, road works everywhere, I could not return on my usual route, yet another road closure, 

arriving home I decided to pay with another couple of photographs, this one straight out of the camera when we visited Hall Place,

I played with it a tad, next week in might be up on our wall,

one from our trip to Venice, 

slightly changed,

it was then time for my sherry and read, the latest copy of Private Eye had arrived this morning, 

in this issue a couple of Number Crunching that I like, 

both related to water companies in the UK we sold them all off many years ago when they were a thriving concern, and this is a copied and pasted fact about the water company that I have to pay our bills to:

"When Thames was privatised in 1989, it had no debt. But over the years it borrowed heavily and now has debts of about £19bn. Its debt pile increased sharply when Macquarie, an Australian infrastructure bank, owned Thames Water, with debts reaching more than £10bn by the time the company was sold in 2017"

why did I not become a shareholder in 1989, so I could have my snout in the trough?

but there it is, a 'Cheers!' as I tuck into a shepherds pie, after which the usual, a Outback Opal Hunters followed by a Deadliest Catch, I looked at a few channels but there was not a film on that I fancied, 

so Exodus Gods and Kings it was, a great movie with great special effects, but one slight point we both commented on when we watched the film before, the Sphinx shown in the movie was totally wrecked and weather beaten, we both thought at the time it would have looked, well brand new, it looked worse in the movie than it does now, still I have to say I would have thought it would have got a higher score than 6.1, just before it ended Diana returned from work, so feet up for a coffee and a chat, we are both looking forward to our trip to Ramsgate on Sunday and chatted about that, of course it will not go smoothly, the rail companies have already announced that the line will be closed from here to Swanley, so instead of a speedy train journey the first few hours will be by bus calling in at all of the stations the train normally stops at, what was the saying by the train companies? "Let the train take the strain" I think not! after a Have I Got A Bit More News For You we were off to bed.

Regular Readers Will Know,

I treat our kitchen as if it is a personal death trap,

I go in there as infrequently as possible, and when I do I normally end up burnt, cut, scalded, scratched or skinned, today was no different, I decided as I was up early I would do the washing up, to save Diana doing it later, I was washing a couple of knives we had bought from IKEA when it happened, I slipped, and cut my finger between the top joint and finger nail, luckily the bone stopped the knife, it was that deep, 4 hours and so many tissues later Diana persuaded me to go to the A & E, as the blood was showing no signs of stopping, after a bloody bus ride, I did not know as I was standing up in the crowded bus I was dripping on the floor, and I was in A & E ten minutes later I was seen and a dressing place on the cut, after 3 hours I was seen again, 4 stiches later I was on my way home, the cost? a big zero, the pleasures' of a free National Health Service, (NHS), one of the many reasons the UK is so popular with illegals' crossing the channel everyday, 

arriving home Diana had already left for work, also in my inbox some photographs from a reader who was travelling through the Kent countryside, he noticed this Reliant Regal 3/25 three wheeled van, 

in need of some TLC

the van was made popular,

 as Del Boy's transport in Only Fools and Horses, a British comedy show, 

although Del's was yellow, photograph The Sun, 

he also he bumped into a few locals, many thanks for the photographs, 

as Diana was at work I played with the bigger frames we had bought in IKEA we had bought 6 to see how they looked,

they replaced the waterlily photographs we had that were small, from right to left, a Thai temple, a lady selling goods in the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, just outside of Bangkok, the third a huge ruin in Cambodia, 

sky scarpers in Hong Kong, cranes on the River Thames and a dragonfly in Beckenham Place Park, as they look so nice we will call back to IKEA next week and buy 6 more for the lower row, next my evening meal, after which the usual Outback Opal Hunters and a Deadliest Catch, then my movie for the evening,

Runaway Jury saw me into the late evening, a semi court room drama as a jury appears to be swayed by a insider, the case itself revolves around the sale of guns, should the gun maker be made responsible for the end use of its product, I guess the same way if a drunk in a car deliberately runs down a queue of people waiting for a bus do the relatives of the dead sue the drink manufacturer, the car maker, or the bus company for the bus running late? as it finished Diana called so out to pick her up, a coffee and a chat before she was off to bed, shortly followed by me.

Diana Was On A Early Shift,

so I decided to paly with a photograph I took yesterday, 

it is of a dragonfly, a broad-bodied chaser, (Libellula depressa), above as it came out of the camera, 

I cropped and tweaked it a tad, as it happens the colors looking more like it did yesterday than they were out of the camera, then Diana called, 

so I was out into a warm day, past the snail mail box, to the Beckenham Junction tram stop, Diana joined me a few stops further along, 

and this was where we were headed, 

IKEA, 

and not just for meatballs!

we made our way past both of the huge chimneys that are here, 

we were both hungry, 

so first stop the restaurant, 

meatballs for Diana,

bangers and mash for myself,

and of course a cake for Diana, a coffee and 2 orange juice's, the bill came to a very reasonable £18.00, next shopping, you may remember in the photograph of myself above, I am carrying a print carry case, I had brought a few prints with us, 

we decided to increase the size of the photographs on our living room wall from A4 to A3, twice as large, we decided on 6, to try the look on the top row, if they looked pleasing we will call back next week for the other 6 for the bottom row, 

and here they are, £7.00 each which we both thought was reasonable, especially when looking at similar frames in the multi chain photographic shops that seem to be in every town, the next time Diana is at work I will select 6 prints and put them in their new frames and hang them on the wall, arriving home, it was time for our evening meal, after which a Outback Opal Hunter followed by a Deadliest Catch, next a Midsomer Murder, one we had not watched for a long time, it still took us an age to work out who 'done it', after which Diana was off to bed, the early start catching up with her, for myself, a very interesting documentary, about how in WWII the German Kriegsmarine, (Navy), developed a counter weapon for the anti submarine ASDIC, later known as sonar, they covered their submarines with rubber, to absorb the sonar rays, making them a little more 'invisible', than uncoated U Boats, the coating was known as Alberich, 

above Alberich tiles showing holes that absorbed the sound. Credit: U.S. Navy, in the documentary a message was decoded from U-480 sating that 'Alberich was doing well' after sinking 4 vessels, the wreck of the boat is about 12 miles south-west of the Isle of Wight at the coordinates 50.22N, 01.44W, laying some 55 meters below the surface, unfortunately I did not make a note of the program, but it was on the American Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), after which I too was off to bed.

It Was Such A Nice Day,

we decided on a walk in the park,

glad rags on, 

and we were off, 

Diana just loves, 

blowing the dandelion seeds, 

which I try to catch on camera, 

but Diana's telephone did better, I also made a movie on it,

and one more,

for luck,

we continued our walk,

past Westgate Road, 

and on to one of the pathways, 

at last work was starting on the old Foxgrove club house, it had fallen into disrepair since it closed some 20 years ago, 

the mansion in the distance, 

the grass already drying out, so little rain lately, 

a small pond has formed where the stream used to flow,

in a second smaller one, 

small though it was wild life was already taking advantage of the water,

we walked up the hill to the mansion, 

and snagged a bench and table, 

Diana playing with her food, 

I had more important things to do!

after a break and relax in the sun we started looking at some of the stalls,

and there were more than usual here, 

taking advantage of the warm weather crowds,

 

my favorite stall,

the plant stall,

this week with many succulents, 

these huge, 

as well as cactus,

and insectivorous plants, 

they were doing a brisk trade, 

we made our way past the wildlife area, which was growing well, some nice yellow dandelions growing in front of it, 

Diana suddenly changed direction and was waiving, 

she had spotted Kai,

who was waiting for us, Kai was joining us for Sunday lunch,

we made our way towards the gate that stops cars from entering the park,

when ever I take a photograph of us leaving the park there is always a house in the distance, well this is it, 

and here is the snail mail box, 

arriving home Kai had brought us a nice bottle of wine,

and some flowers, many thanks indeed,

time for our starters, 

lobster bisque soup for Diana and myself, 

a crayfish tail salad for Kai,

a photograph of the girls, which unfortunately was totally out of focus, 

for today a roast chicken, sans gravy for myself, 

'Cheers!' after lunch what better for a afternoon of movies than 2 from the 1950s-60s? firstly,

The Day of the Triffids, the 1963 version, great fun despite is age, we followed that with,

the 1959 version of Journey to the Center of the Earth, Prof. Lindenbrook leads his intrepid party on an expedition to the center of the earth, via a volcano in Iceland, the Victorian setting just right for this movie inspired by another book from the pen of Jules Verne, as good as 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, but this time with a monster dinosaur rather than a giant squid, after which Kai said her farewells, for us it was another film, 

we decided on Darkest Hour, great film of a great man, a must see movie in my book, after which Diana was off to bed, another early start tomorrow, for myself 2 from Bangers & Cash before I too was off to bed.