After Diana And Kai Had Left This Morning,

I decided to play with a few more photographs that I had taken over the years,

all of the ones I chose were colour photographs that I wanted to change to black & white, the first the Walkie-Talkie building, I started with a infrared photograph and played with it,

and ended up with this, 

a grave from Brompton Cemetery, 

again given the treatment,

then across the world to Hong Kong, 

looking down onto some high rise housing, 

next a barge going under a bridge in Vietnam,

turned into a black & white, 

and lastly a sailor sails out of the harbour at the Ocean Marina in Jomtien, Thailand,

great fun for myself, the day just flew past! it was past my meal time, for tonight a curry with rice, but I was so hungry I just tucked in and then remembered I had not taken any photographs!, later Kai arrived in time for a film that I had seen before,

 Waterloo, the 1970 release, it had everything, 20,000 soldiers, a full brigade of Soviet cavalry, and vast numbers of engineers and laborers to prepare locations and facilities for 48 days of shooting in the Ukraine, to recreate the battlefield, the Soviets bulldozed 2 hills, deepened a valley, laid miles of roads, transplanted 5,000 trees, sowed fields of rye, barley, and wildflowers, and reconstructed 4 historic buildings. The production included Italian and Russian technicians, English and French advisors, Yugoslav stuntmen, and actors from America, Canada, England, Ireland, Italy, France, and Russia and a International cast, which includes Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Virginia McKenna, Jack Hawkins, Dan O'Herlihy and Orson Welles, what a great film, after which Kai was off to bed, shortly after Diana arrived home, so feet up for a coffee and a spiced rum before a Ain't Half Hot Mum, and we were then both off to bed.

Kai Left Early To Go To Work,

although Diana had to go to work as well, she did not have to start until the afternoon,

so we decided to go to Bromley in the morning,

a nice, warm blue sky day, we were soon on to the number 354 bus to Bromley,

and walking past The Partridge public house,

and Primark, 

Diana was off to do some window shopping, 

I also had a few things to buy, past some of the stalls, 

this one fruit and vegetables, 

handbags, 

and one I will be stopping at later, the fresh sea food stall,

into Lidl, stocks of spiced rum were critically low, 3 bottles later and some other unimportant stuff like food, and I was on my way, 

to buy some crayfish tails, whelks and a large pot of cockles, 

into The Greyhound to wait for Diana,

when she arrived time for a late breakfast/early lunch, for Diana, a sticky Korean fried chicken bowl, chicken strips, chicken breast bites, chips tossed in a Korean-style sauce, coriander and sliced chili, and a pint of coke,

for myself Whitby breaded scampi with chips and peas, the price has stayed the same, but instead of 11, then 9 there are now 7 scampi, plus a large red wine, 'Cheers!',

the bill for the 2 of us came to £22.00, which we thought was very reasonable, 

back on to the 354 bus, Diana stayed on it to go to work, I alighted at Copers Cope Road and walked through the park,

to the snail mail box then home, 

I played with a few photographs in the afternoon, then time for a read and a sherry, I had the latest edition of Private Eye, I have mentioned before I do like the 'Number Crunching' that appears in most issues, in the UK we have water companies and one of the worst is the one we are in Thames Water, it has a terrible reputation for polluting our rivers ands the sea, it was their turn this fortnight to be number crunched, from the Eye: 

Number Crunching

52% Increase in the number of hours raw sewage was pumped into rivers by Thames Water from 2023 to 2024

69% Increase in bonus payments for Thames Water executives from 2022/23 to 2023/24

disgusting but true,

for my evening meal, as I had a large lunch, just a cockle sandwich, it was then time for a couple of Bangers & Cash before a Midsomer Murder, during which Kai arrived home, after a tea and a spiced rum Kai was off to bed, just before the end of the programme Diana arrived so we watched a Have I Got More News For You, followed by a Ain't Half Hot Mum, before we too we off to bed.

First Thing,

 I was out for a walk along the edge of the park,

a bright sunny day,

I turned into Westgate Road, 

looking back towards the entrance to the park at the bottom of Crab Hill,

I made my way past Westgate Lodge, 

to the Chancery, 

where opposite a queue was already forming, I had a booking for my covid jab, does it work? I have no idea, but amongst us elders it seems to be popular,

jab completed in record time, I was soon over the road and queueing for the 227 bus to take me to Kai's home, it was going to be a busy day, firstly a Man with a Van arrived, he took away all of the furniture that St. Christopher's Hospice would not take, because of a lack of a fire certificate for the soft furnishings, or they did not want it, during which Robbie arrived, firstly to move a radiator and top up the system with a anti corrosion liquid, meanwhile the painters were continuing with completing the repainting of the ground floor, at about 7.00 in the evening all was completed, so Kai and myself made a move for our home, where later in the evening Diana arrived home form work, so feet up for some television, for tonight,

 Braveheart, I had watched the movie before, this is what I wrote then: 'it was a great, almost all action movie, great to watch, but to be fair it was one of the least historically accurate movies that have ever been made, but still enjoyable, trouble was I kept rooting for Longshanks', after which we were all off to bed.

First Thing I Was Out,

to visit Duncan,

but from now on I will be driving, much as I dislike it, the constant cancelled trains and buses has finally got to me, last week I was still sitting outside Duncan's nursing home for 2 hours, the 1.20, 1.50, 2.20 buses were all cancelled, the 2.50 finally arriving, and I was not even at Gravesend station! the week before was even worse, just before Dartford the train stopped, as the driver walked from the front of the train to the rear he announced due to a points failure the train was going back to Gravesend, all trains to London were cancelled, after 3 hours of standing, with many others on the platform, it was announced that within the hour the points would be working again, it is not just these two incidents, but almost every week  public transport cancels a train or a bus, so that is it, the tree hugging greenies and net zero zealots have had their chance, from now on the diesel Jag it is, the good news was that Duncan was in fine sprits, as it happens Kai found some old photographs that Steve had of us taken 30 or 40 years ago, I left them with Duncan for Melina to look at when she next visits, arriving home I played with a few photographs, after my evening meal I was off to the photographic club, I took along 2 photographs I had printed both of the Shard, 

both I printed as a black & white, but on one I used the colour setting on the printer, the other using the dedicated black & white setting on the printer, opinion was split on which gave the better blacks and whites, after the club I returned home just beating Diana as she was on a late shift tonight, Kai was already asleep, Diana and myself watched a Yes, Prime Minister and a Ain't Half Hot Mum before we were off to bed.

I Had A Few Things To Do Today,

I spent some of the day at Kai's home,

firstly the painters arrived and continued painting the downstairs of Kai's house, then back home to play with a few photographs and our new printer, in the early evening back to Kai's as Mr. Sander was calling round to give Kai a quote on having all of the downstairs floors sanded and varnished, after he left I returned to our home with Kai, where after our evening meal it was feet up for a film,

12 Monkeys, which was quite enjoyable, after which Kai was off to bed, for Diana and myself it was a Yes Prime Minister followed by a It Ain't Half Hot Mum, before we too were off to bed.

It Was Diana's Day Off,

so the girls were out to London for the day,

 

starting out at Blackheath and then down to Greenwich, 

for the Uber taxi boat ride to London Bridge, meanwhile I had a few things to do at Kai's house, I beat the painters there as they did not start until 08.00 in the morning, when it warmed up as I waited for Robbie to service Kai's boiler, I popped outside in the sun, 

and was soon joined by Buddy, 

who made himself comfortable on my lap for a snooze, then Robbie arrived and it was time for Robbie to service the boiler which he did and replace a washer in a leaky tap, unfortunately he did not have one of the many different sized ones in his kit of spares, so he will return on Thursday to replace the washers in both taps and reposition a radiator that kai wants moved, just as he was going the Man with a Van arrived, after showing him what needed to be dumped he gave me a price to give to Kai and he was on his way, it was now late afternoon, so before I left for home,

it was time to feed Buddy, who ate al fresco, as there was still too much happening with the painters inside, on another note I mentioned I had joined a photographic club, the Beckenham Photographic Society, on my fourth week there another competition was held, for black & white prints, or 1 black and 1 other colour, so I entered a couple of my prints, 

Urquhart castle,

and this one of the lake at the front of the Palm House that I called Ice on the Water, and much to my surprise Urquhart Castle received a 'highly recommended', I should also mention that with all of this printing our 6 year old printer, finally had a terminal hissy fit, we are now the proud owners of a Eco tank Epson ET - 8550, which rather nicely prints up to the paper size A3 and A3+ and so far the results are excellent, in the evening the girls arrived home so a Midsomer Murder it was before the girls left for Kai's house, for myself a helping of a Have I Got A Bit More News For You, followed by a Ain't Half Hot Mum before I was off to bed.

I Have Moved Back To Our Home,

although Diana will continue to stay with Kai in the evenings,

so the good news is that I will start making posts on the blog again, back to Sunday, Kai went to her home to feed Buddy and do a few things about the house, for us a walk to the mansion, naturally I had to stop by one of the cherry trees,

through the gates and up the hill,

on our left the wild area that was planted 5 or 6 years ago, starting to really grow now, 

the plant stall was here as usual, 

with everything from succulents, 

to daffodils, 

as it was Mothers Day, not many bunches of flowers left,

it was the first day of spring, the clocks going forward this morning, it was also a sunny day, so lots of visitors to the park,

and lots of cheese, 

looking back from the front of the mansion, at the stalls along the roadway,

a quick pose as we walked around the rear of the mansion,

families out enjoying the park in the sun,

we found a bench to sit on, a coke for Diana,

well I just had to!

a selfie on Diana's telephone,

I had some peanuts in my pocket, that the local robin appreciated, 

we then looked at the stalls on the road, 

lots of people queueing, but nothing took our fancy, 

as we walked home this magnolia was putting on a good show,

as were the cherry trees, 

a quick pose under the flowers,

and a walk,

towards the camera,

then time for our Sunday lunch, 'Cheers!',

for our starters duck spring rolls, with prawns on toast sprinkled with sesame seeds,

our main course, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, with all of the extras, with gravy for Diana, 

sans gravy for myself, another 'Cheers!', after which it was a afternoon and early evening with Columbo, when Kai joined us,

 it was Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, great fun, after which a Midsomer Murder was being shown so we watched that before a It Ain't Half Hot Mum, after which we were all off to bed.