This Will Be Our Last Post For Some Time,

cue roars of laughter and cries of shame,

this afternoon we will be away, in my case to Thailand and for Diana the Philippines and Hong Kong as well, back to Saturday, the fox continually gets mugged by the crows, today 5 of them were in the scramble for the peanuts he enjoys, also a couple of magpies put in an occasional appearance, the colours in the photograph are a bit bright, I forgot to turn off the flash on the camera, Diana was at work during the day, I just bimbled around the flat, hoovering, taking out the rubbish, watering the plants, all of the usual things,

which took me up to my evening read and sherry, 

for tonight a butter chicken, which was one of the most spicy butter chicken dishes I have ever eaten, it was nice but a tad unexpected, 'Cheers!', as it was Saturday the usual weekly fly on the wall series were not showing, so a film it was, I decided on a old favorite, 

 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, 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, as it ended Diana arrived home, her last day at work for the next 5 weeks or so finished, we relaxed as we watched a Midsomer Murder, then for us we were off to bed.

A Few Last Minute Things To Do,

so off to town, 

into a bit of a grey day, a crow making its entrance on the right of the photograph, 

I got mugged by the crows as usual, only 2 today, 

it appears they recognize me, 

as I walk through the park and alight nearby me, naturally I give them a few peanuts, 

off of the bus at This 'N' That,

 

a quick look at the display at the florist,

then over the road to the shop, where I received a telephone call,

so on to a bus to Bromley, past The Partridge,

and the side display area of Primark,

and the market square, a few papers signed and I was on my way back to Beckenham, 

off of the bus and past the church, 

in the graveyard a nice display,

of cyclamen, 

a few people on the green, 

a major refurbishment taking place at O'Neil's,  

arriving home I watched some television before my evening read and sherry, which I followed with a huge bowl of beef casserole, after which it was a double helping of Midsomer Murder's, as the first one finished Diana arrived home, so feet up for a coffee and a chat before carrying on with our packing, and also new for this year, all visitors to Thailand up to 3 days before they travel must fill in a online form, a Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) online, if you are travelling to Thailand the form is here, I have to stress the TDAC is free, if you just go onto the Internet there will be many sites offering the form but they will charge for the free form! that done we settled down for the second Midsomer Murder after which Diana was off to bed, for myself a couple of Bangers & Cash before I too was off to bed.

I Did Not Have,

a busy day whilst Diana was at work,

at the end of it this is what I had, my camera bag with cameras, spare batteries, memory cards, and chargers for them and my book tablet thingy, plus all of my medication and a few actual books, it is not long now, the taxi to the airport is booked picking up Kai on the way, all set for Sunday afternoon, after my evening meal it was feet up for a film, just for a change, so, 

 The Meg, it was, I had watched it before, this is what I wrote then:

'oh dear, I cannot think of a word more dire than dire to describe it, it was so wrong on so many fronts, here just one, the crew are exploring the sea bed that is millions of year old, is in pristine condition and never been touch by humans, so the first thing the crew do is to drop a rover that weighs goodness knows how much onto it, with caterpillar tracks, that then crushes it's way over the animals living there, and these are scientists, the ones with the brains! so fast forward to the Oscars, 

'And The Oscar for the best actor goes to..... The Meg, 

and the Oscar for the best supporting actor goes to..... The Water' 

and I was so looking forward to the film but what a weak storyline and lack luster performance by all concerned, except the Meg, and the people that do the CGI',

I thought it might have matured with age, but I was wrong, on a happier note as it ended a Midsomer Murder was just about to start, so I watched that, and as it happens a second one was showing back to back at the start of which Diana arrived home, so we watched the rest of that, as it finished as Diana has a 05.00 start tomorrow, we were off to bed.

I Had A Quiet Day,

in the early afternoon I dropped Diana off at work,

and went back to fine tuning a few photographs, today the latest copy of Private Eye arrived, so a read of that with my evening meal of a delicious beef casserole that Diana had left for me, 

'Cheers!', with a glass of milk, this evening I am taking the car to photography club, when it finishes about 10.00 in the evening I will pick Diana up from work, 

after my meal I was off to the Beckenham Photographic Society, I had entered 2 prints in the standard class, the competition as always was pretty stiff, the print above unplaced, 

the 2 butterflies faired slightly better with a 4th place awarded, next off to pick up Diana from work, arriving home we caught the last half of a Midsomer Murder we had not watched for a long time, after which Diana was off to bed, for myself as it was showing, 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, before I too was off to bed.

I Accompanied Diana To The Bus Stop,

so past the snail mail box, 

into a grey day,

 

my bus arrived first, a quick look at the green as the bus stopped there, 

alighting at the florists, 

I had a look at the autumn display in one of its windows, 

then over the road to Boots the chemists, I was not out of my prescription, but I would be a couple of weeks into our holiday, not long now!

prescription picked up and over the road at The George, I was so quick picking up my tablets as I waited for the number 54 bus a 354 arrived with Diana aboard, a quick wave and she was on her way, a few minutes later another 54 arrived so off to the shop,

alighting at This 'N' That, which was closed today, 

a few winter plants outside of the florists here, 

over the road to the shop, a few letters to pick up, a few companies still use the shop address, I do not mind as it gives me a reason to pop in every now and then, back on to a number 54 bus, 

and I was soon walking past Foxgrove Lodge and into the park,

but first a quick look at the side garden of the lodge, 

and back past the snail mail box, the weather had not improved at all, arriving home I played a bit more with the photograph I was playing with yesterday, 

the dolphin and trainer were not quite central, also I wanted to crop the photograph a tad more, 

and here they are nicely centered, which brought me on to my evening meal, after the usual Outback Opal Hunters and a Deadliest Catch it was a Midsomer Murder, just as it finished at 10.00 in the evening Diana called so off to pick her up from work, arriving home the second Midsomer has started so we watched that together after which Diana was off to bed, for myself a blast from the past staring Vincent Price, 

in The Fly, the 1958 version, at the time a real horror, I have included a couple of other cinema posters advertising the film,

considering the lack of computers to help with special effects,

it really was a successful film, leading to a year later Return of the Fly, and of course the 2 later creations of it, the first staring Jeff Goldblum, the 'fly' was also mentioned in of all things Absolutely Fabulous, after which I too was off to bed.

The Day Started With A Nice Email,

regular readers will know, 

that I dropped off a mounted photograph of the blue eyed dinosaur, and here he is, I had noticed the last time there was a meeting of the photography club, (Beckenham Photographic Society), that I belong to at our meeting at the local school, there was a dinosaur table with models and paintings on it, so I printed off a A3 size print of him, 

and also 30 or so A3 sized matte cards for the kids to colour in with trees, volcanoes, other dinosaurs, anything they fancy, any way I received the following yesterday morning:

Hi Stanley,

Thank you so much for the wonderful dinosaur artwork. We’ve put the image up by our Science display (see attached), and our younger children are excited to draw backdrops around the paper versions. We really appreciate such a thoughtful gift.

Best regards,

Max Ellington

Principal

Harris Primary Academy Beckenham Green.

which I thought was nice of them,

and here is the blue eyed dinosaur on display, I then carried on with recharging the batteries for our cameras as well as removing all of the photographs on them to my computer,

which left me time to play with this photograph that I took way back in 2017 when we visited Ocean Adventure in the Philippines, I am still not quite happy with it, so more playing with it tomorrow, Diana prepared a crab fried rice for our evening meal after which a real treat, a double helping of Midsomer Murder so it was feet a up with a few coffees as we watched them before we were off to bed.

Sunday Has Raced Around Again,

it is amazing to think our holiday that always seemed so far away, starts next Sunday!

back to yesterday, first a read and a sherry, 

twice as Diana picked up the camera,

for today a avocado crab meat salad, 

drizzled with lemon, 

it must be Christmas, Brussels sprouts! as well as new potatoes to accompany a 28 day aged steak each, 

'Cheers!',

and for dessert a apple pie, with cream, ice cream and custard,

 as I always say, 'diet starts tomorrow!', after our lunch it was a afternoon with Columbo, until a snack in the evening, for our film, 

 Ex-Machina, we had in fact watched the film before, this is what I wrote then, 'the plot basics, a young programmer is invited to the house of his boss to evaluate a robot, but as the evaluation continues the robot becomes more human than he or his boss imagines, with unforeseen results, the film will not be to everyone's taste, but for me it was a good insight as to how the robot/human interface could work and the unsettling consequences of what could happen in the future', after which Diana was off to bed a 05.00 start tomorrow for her, for myself a couple from Bangers & Cash before I too was off to bed.