It Was Diana's Day Off,

so out for a drive, 

first stop, 

here at Coolings, 

where we were greeting by a lovely display of dahlias I think they are, 

inside, 

a tropical display,

of indoor plants, 

Diana was taken by these,

 

a autumn display of artificial dried flowers, and nice they looked too,

we made our way through the store, 

looking at some of the garden ornaments, 

like this tin elf, 

and wood elves as they are called, 

and here she is, Tinkerbell, 

we passed many more, 

tin ornaments, 

before entering the outdoor plant section, 

Diana's favorite flower, dahlias, 

and here she is,

again these large blooms, 

also nestled amongst them,

some tin pheasants,

these looked just so nice, as usual my normal refrain, if only we had a garden!

Sir Reynard was here too,

we passed the winter pansies,

and repurposed GPO box, 

into the restaurant for our breakfast, 

melted cheese and ham toastie plus a cake for Diana, 

gammon ham sandwich for myself, with 2 latte coffees £33.00, 

we went into one of the huge greenhouses, 

where spring blubs were being offered for sale, 

lots of daffodils, we had already said we would buy some to put into the verge by the car park, 

so Diana grabbed a armful, plus a few more, 

we made our way back, past a few tin hot air balloons, 

and a barrow display of plants,

inside decision made, dried flowers it was, 

into the boot of the car, 

and we were off, 

and soon entering Sevenoaks, 

and the entrance to Polhill Garden Centre, 

we were greeted with a waterfall, 

we had a look around, at the cactus, 

gaily coloured pots, 

and planters, 

the cyclamen looking so nice, 

Christmas must be near, so many Christmas cherry plants, (Solanum pseudocapsicum) for sale, well it is only 118 days to Christmas! apart from looking around and buying some Kent grown fruit, 

this is why we visited here, some fresh seafood, 

next stop Tatsfield Aquatics, 

we wanted to look around at some of the reptiles, 

like this chameleon, 

and a type of gecko I am guessing, 

hello cheeky!

gecko food, 

arriving home Diana played with flowers for our table decoration, after which a Tipping Point and The Chase before we had our evening meal, next a double episode of the series,

 Catherine the Great, starring Helen Mirren as Catherine, the sets, costumes, storyline, everything was just so good, we are looking forward to episodes 3 & 4, from the blurb:

"Amidst scandal, intrigue and immense conflict, Russian Czarina Catherine the Great (Dame Helen Mirren) develops a unique and devoted relationship with Grigory Potemkin (Jason Clarke) as they overcome their adversaries and serve as the architects of modern-day Russia".

next Diana saw that we had,

 We're No Angels, (I did not mention I had watched it the night before), a delightful comedy, a really nice Christmas story, with a bit of a edge to it, shortly before Christmas in 1895, unapologetic convicts Joseph (Bogart), Albert (Ray), and Jules (Ustinov) escape — along with Albert's pet viper, Adolfe — from the infamous Devil's Island prison in French Guiana. After dodging search parties, they seek refuge in the shop of Felix Ducotel (Leo G. Carroll), who is struggling to make ends meet under the overbearing supervision of his cousin Andre (Basil Rathbone). Given the spirit of the Christmas season, the trio decide to assist Ducotel, his wife Amelie (Joan Bennett), and their daughter Isabelle (Gloria Talbott) the only way they know how, with the unseen star of the movie, Adolfe, before it ended Mr. Sleep paid Diana a visit, so she was off to bed, also a 05.00 AM start tomorrow, for myself a Lewis before I too was off to bed.