Diana Started The Day At 05.00AM

for myself I was a tad later,

today was the day I was meeting Paul and Andrew to take down the photographs in the Park Langley Deli, so I decided to add a few hours in Kelsey Park taking a few photographs before meeting at 2.30 in the afternoon, so out into a grey, rainy day, 

walking past the green, only one person braving the weather in hi-vis clothing,

past the graveyard, it defiantly needs a haircut! a short back & sides needed, 

and one at the front as well,

past Gail's

looking across the street, the rain not stopping, 

down the steps past the old police station,

over the road what was a public convenance, now a cafe, 

and into Kelsey Park, the primroses at the entrance, now well past their best, 

crossing the bridge, not much water flowing under it, it has to be said, the park and indeed all gardens desperately needed this rain, just a shame it should happen when I wanted to take some photographs, 

the river a lot lower than normal,

of course there was an advantage to it raining, I had the park to myself, 

as I passed the waterfall, I realized that there were 2 distinct disadvantages to the rain, one, it was not a bright day, so photography would be challenging, two, I was getting wet,

not a soul insight, 

all I could hear was the song on the birds, 

nobody running around or making any type of noise, I then discovered a third disadvantage of photography in the rain, 

I did not bring anything to sit on, so every tissue that I had was hopefully going to keep my trousers dry, 

I said I had the place to myself, looking behind me, 

one of the park keepers in his hi-vis gear working away, after quite some time I decided to make a move to meet Andrew and Paul, 

looking back to where I was sitting opposite the heronry, 

and where I will be walking to,

on the other side of the lake, 

not a soul in sight, 

I carried on walking, happily the rain had stopped,

over the bridge at the far end of the lake taking a final look at the heronry, the island in the far distance, 

the children's playground, now deserted, 

normally if anyone was here I would not dare bring out a camera,

a sign of the times we now live in, back in the 50s, 60s and 70s it would be a photographers delight in taking photographs of innocent children enjoying their childhood, how times and attitudes have changed, I soon arrived at the deli, but a bit of a problem, 

the deli was closed, the sign inside read open all day, but the shutters were down, so that was that, Andrew very kindly gave me a lift into Beckenham,

so into the park

in the side garden of Foxgrove Lodge, 

a bright red rhododendron was starting to flower,

a little further along, the chestnut was putting on a good show of flowers, 

not so many in the top half of the tree, 

but the lower branches were packed with flowers,

it is going to be a bumper year for conkers, 

if kids in today's health & safety rules and regulations are still allowed to play them,  

past the snail mail box and back home for tea & medals! and then a play with a couple of photographs,

a Canadian goose with 2 of her offspring, 

as it was raining I spent my time looking at the herons, who were hardly moving, as they were wet and bedraggled to say the least,

and starred back at me, meanwhile Diana had finished work and had meet up with Kai, they were going to town,

so on to the train, soon passing the Shard,

and when I said going to town, I meant Chinatown, 

Diana is at work so I can not ask her where they ended up, 

soup I guess, the rest of the photographs are self explanatory, 

having said that, I have to comment that they ordered lots of food, 

crickey! did they eat all of that? I guess so, when they arrived at Kai's home Diana called so I picked her up, I had already eaten as it was late, so a film as tonight we had recently watched the Midsomer Murder that was showing tonight, Diana choose,

In the Heat of the Night, a milestone breaking film in many respects, for instance this was the first major Hollywood film in colour that was lit with proper consideration for an actor with dark skin, Haskell Wexler recognized that standard lighting used in filming produced too much glare on most black actors and others of dark complexion, he toned down the lighting to feature Sidney Poitier with better results, a great film, if you have not seen it although a bit dated, it was released in 1967, it is still well worth tracking down, as Diana has another 05.00 AM start tomorrow she was then off to bed, for myself this week's Have I Got News For You, after which I too was off to bed.