After Diana Left For Work,

I started looking through some of my photographs, 

to arraign them into groups, this group I call 'At Work' people from our travels that I photographed, above fairly obvious, some of the force at work near Parliament Square in London, 

these not quite so obvious, they are painters of course, but they are 4 or 5 floors above ground level suspended by just a rope!, the good news is that they are wearing Health & Safety flip-flop or trainers, I watched these guys from our upstairs room at our home in Thailand, incase you are wondering what the rope going down is for I have no idea,

this is the view from our home before I zoomed in, all of this brought me nicely to the time,

when I have a read and sherry before my evening meal, 

for tonight the other half of the packet of smoked salmon,

followed by a beef hot pot, 'Cheers!', I then decided in a change of pace on a film, 

Robocop 2, great fun as the franchise starts its run, after which I watched another 2 episodes of Marco Polo until Diana returned home from work, then feet up for a coffee and chat as we watched a double helping from the It Ain't Half Hot Mum box before we were off to bed.

First Thing I Was Out,

into a wet, grey, miserable day,

I say miserable because it has not rained for so long, and now it was making up for it, standing water everywhere as the footpaths were flooded in the park, I was up early as I had a appointment at the doctors surgery, 

I walked past the green,

and the newly cut graveyard, 

the bank conversion continuing, 

down the steps to the Manor Way and the surgery, for many years I have had a small wart on my right side between armpit and waist, well it had grown a tad larger, and a second one had appeared near it, Diana said I should have it checked out, just incase, as it happens all was well, it was a old person wart, totally harmless, although I was told if it started to bled or grew significantly bigger it could be removed, so that is a relief, I was given a long scientific name for it, but I forget it, apparently it is a type of wart that only affects white people, if you are colored you will never get one of these, how strange, 

next stop the bus stop in the High Street, the heavy rain had turned to a slight drizzle,

the entrance to Travelodge now finished, 

a bus to the Market Square in Bromley as it was a Friday lots of stalls here, 

but overnight it was raining so hard it put a lot of stall holders off, like the greengrocer, 

there were a few stalls here though, 

and this is the one I wanted to see, the fishmongers, 

but first into Lidl, spiced rum stocks were running low, 

back to the fish mongers, 

a large cockles, small whelks, mussels and a pot of crayfish tails which only come in one size, £20.50 and I was on my way, 

into the bank to pick up some holiday funds and I was on my way back home, Diana had not left for work yet so we had a coffee and a chat, she was on a late shift today so Diana did not leave until late in the afternoon, for myself it was a snack on a pot of whelks as I watched The Chase, 

before my evening read and sherry, 

followed by a smoked salmon starter, 

for my main meal a Chinese chicken curry with egg fried rice with peas, delicious! I settled down to watch a Outback Opal Hunters, then in a change of pace I decided on watching,

a Netflix television series Marco Polo, I should say 4 or 5 years ago for the second time I read a wonderful book about Marco Polo, 

 The Journeyer by Gary Jennings, and what a fabulous read it is, so I was a bit apprehensive about how Netflix would cover the huge range of travels that he did, I was well impressed, so much so I watched the second in the 20 episode series! after that Diana arrived home so feet up for a coffee and a chat whist we watched another from the It Ain't Half Hot Mum boxset, after which we were off to bed.

After Diana Left For Work In The Afternoon,

I played with a few more photographs, 

from the Funfair folder, 

I have to say looking at them on the blog, they look just sort of average, but when I print them out on a piece of A3 paper, they take on a different look altogether, playing over, time for a Outback Opal Hunters, I did not watch a Deadliest Catch, I went straight on to watch, 

the second half of Birdsong, which is a TV mini series, I watched the first part yesterday evening, it is a drama set before and during WWI. It was as good as the first, but this one even more melancholy than the first, brutal, sweet and sad, after which a film we had both watched and enjoyed,

Fargo, we had watched the film before, this is what I wrote then,

 

 'although the titles say it is based on a true movie it is not, but two similar events depicted in the movie did take place, an urban legend even says that people have gone to search Minnesota for the briefcase of money, but what did happen was that the plot has elements of two well-known Minnesota crimes, in 1962, a St. Paul attorney named Eugene Thompson hired someone to kill his wife, Carol, the sloppiness and brutality of the crime attracted great attention, then in 1972, Virginia Piper, the wife of a wealthy Orono banker, was kidnapped, a million-dollar ransom was paid, one of the largest in U.S. history, Mrs. Piper was found tied to a tree in a state park, two men were convicted of the crime, but were acquitted after a re-trial, only $4,000 of the money was ever recovered, so that, supposedly is why people are still looking for the other $996,000!'

if you have not yet watched the movie, give it a try, it was remarkably entertaining, after the film finished I picked up Diana, then feet up for a coffee, chat and some strawberries as we watched part 4 of King & Conqueror, after which we were off to bed.

First Thing Blog Posted,

and I was out, 

into a grey, wet rainy day, because of that every visitor had brought their cars, so the space I had was as far away from the entrance to the nursing home as was possible, inside Duncan was in fine spirts which made the journey worthwhile, we chatted away, I mentioned that in just 2 months time I would not be visiting as we will be in Thailand and Diana in the Philippines, we chatted about our stay in the Philippines way back in the mid 1980s when we stayed in Puerto Galera, great fun reminiscing, as Duncan's lunch arrived we said our farewells, 

back across the car park and a drive home where I played with a few photographs, all from a folder I call Funfair, these are two of them,

the funfair at the end of the pier in Bournemouth, 

and a close up of one of the rides when we visited a steam fair, next,

 time for my evening read and sherry, 

for tonight a prawn cocktail, 

and a cottage pie, 'Cheers!', after the usual Outback Opal Hunters,

 I decided to watch Birdsong, which is a TV mini series, a drama set before and during WWI which was quite enjoyable, I watched episode one and will watch episode two tomorrow evening as Diana has another late shift, next,

The Day the Earth Stood Still, I had watched it before, great special effects but take those away and the 1951 original I thought was better, after which Diana arrived home, so it was feet up for a coffee and a chat, as we watched one from It Ain't Half Hot Mum, before we were off to bed.

After Diana Left For Work,

I played with a few more photographs including these,

from the Sanctuary of Truth, 

it is at Laem Ratchawet, Na Kluea Subdistrict, Chonburi Province, Thailand, This huge building is notably constructed entirely out of wood, yes not a metal nail or a screw in its construction, it contains only wood-carved idols and sculptures. Construction first began in 1981 and is still in construction, though visitors are permitted inside with hard hats. Located on 13 hectares of land, the temple houses an internal space of 2,115 m2, with the tallest spire reaching 105 m (344 ft). The sanctuary is truly huge, it is difficult to comprehend its size, but looking at the left of the building where the structure meets the sand you will see a construction worker with his yellow hard hat on, it really is a big building! after playing with a few more it was time for my evening meal, followed by a Outback Opal Hunters and Deadliest Catch, for my film this evening I decided on,

 Bram Stoker's Dracula, getting the evening off to a scary start, we all know the story of Dracula, but for me this was one of the better telling's, almost as soon as it finished Diana called, so out to pick her up, arriving home it was on with BBCi Player for episode 3 of King & Conqueror, which was entertaining as were the previous two, next for us, we were off to bed.

It Was Diana's Day Off,

and as it was a bank holiday we decided not to drive or take a train anywhere, 

but instead took a walk to the mansion, 

where there was a So Last Century fair going on, 

at the back of the mansion it was crowded, 

instead of the de rigueur Citroen van converted to a food stall, this time it was a VW, 

lots of stalls here in front of the mansion,

and it was crowded, 

food stalls here as well,

time to start looking in earnest, 

I looked but there were no bargains, all the cheap jewellery that was really worth a fortune already snapped up!

so back to kitchen bits & pieces, 

and there was lots of it, 

I have a feeling, 

a lot of this stock originated in France, 

more wares for sale on the green at the front of the mansion,

you must have heard of the 3 piggies, 

well here they are!

thankfully I took a hat, it was a glorious bright sunny day, if not my head would have been burnt to a crisp!

so many stalls featured glassware, with the attrition of glasses in our flat when I do the washing up it is handy to know where we can buy some more out of the normal glassware, 

I guess that phrase, 

'if you need it for your home, it is here!' applied, 

popular as always 'G' Plan furniture, 

it was so popular in the 1950s - 60's and onwards a tad, 

I continued walking,

and came across, 

more 'G' Plan,

so much at the end of that era was just thrown into a skip, nowadays it seems to be making a comeback,

back to household products and glasses, 

did I mention lots of glasses?

we walked to the courtyard, which was packed, no band today though, 

under the mirrored ball,

and through to the walled garden, 

we had brought a chair for myself, 

but Diana said she wanted to sit on a towel, 

first things first, a cooling larger, it was so hot!

then our lunch for the day, a huge selection of sandwiches, with gala pie, coleslaw and a potato salad,

what a treat! we also had grapes and Victoria plums to snack on for dessert, 

later we made a move for a look at the stalls at the back of the mansion, 

the garden looking so nice,

well I just had too!

walking from the garden, the huge trees giving shade to so many out to enjoy the day,

at the rear of the mansion about 10 or so stalls, 

glassware, of course, 

this stall holder seems to have cornered the market on three legged stools, 

we started our walk home, 

towards the gate that keeps cars out and home, where it was feet up, for a Tipping Point and a The Chase, the three contestants today trying for £90,000 between the them, it almost seemed like a Sunday, so we decided on a black & white film,

Albert, R.N. a WWII film set in a German POW camp, the problem with any escape was the 'headcount' if some one escaped the count would be one short, what to do? make a dummy! and that is exactly what John Worsley (1919-2000) in Marlag O, the prisoner of war camp in northern Germany for naval officers did, it was used for nearly a week to give the escapee a chance the leave the area, the dummy was then disassembled so the Germans did not know that the escape took place a week earlier, it, the dummy, was so good in a months time it was used again! keeping to a military theme, a place or I should say a event we would both like to go to, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the trouble being the cost of hotels over the few days we would like to go there, but you never know, one year! this brought us nicely up to tonight's,

 King & Conqueror, which was enjoyable, but as I mentioned yesterday, whist some of the main facts were correct, the storyline was not, as it happens in today's papers, (Tuesday) it appears I was not alone, it was described as "as 'nonsensical' and 'utterly unrealistic'" but all in all we are looking forward to the next episode, after this one we were off to bed.