After Dropping Diana Off At Work,

I started sorting the photographs of our holiday,

I had no idea we had taken so many! by mid day I could finally see an end in sight, as an aside, this is one of them, 

but then as I already knew the pest control firm would called round, which they did, they have been calling round every month for the past 3 or 4 months, anyway if no signs of infestation were found today the roof spaces would be given a clean bill of health, and the good news was that no traces were found, so no more visits unless one of the long haired tree rats with good PR finds their way in, shortly after they left Diana returned home from work, so I left working on the blog, at this stage I should say I am only making one post today, and as soon as I have done that and posted it I will be leaving to visit Duncan in the nursing home where he stays, back to Tuesday, after our evening meal a Antiques Road Trip followed by a BattleBots, which conveniently finished just in time for a Midsomer Murder before we were off to bed.

Monday Morning,

and back to the usual routine, 

Diana was already at work, a early shift for her, for myself off to town to pick up my prescription, the leaves really falling now, 

did I mention it was cold? after 28 to 34 degrees for the last 4 weeks it was decidedly chilly this morning, 

past the snail mail box,

I passed the florists in town,

with a nice show of cyclamen, roses and succulents and a few others, 

no I was not going to The George, 

I was going to Boots to pick up my prescription,

then on to the bus to Cromwell Road, alighting at This 'N' That, I popped into to say Hi to Donna, but she was not in today, 

next door the florist advertising Christmas trees, I must get our one downstairs soon,

over the road to Kingfisheries, Graham in my absence had ordered in a new shaft, bearings and impellor for our Eheim 2213 filter, now known as the Classic 250, it was a tad noisy so they needed replacing, well the filter has worked 24/7 for just over 5 years, I also picked up a few plants for the aquarium, we had striped it down as we were away for 4 weeks holiday, back onto the bus and home,

past Foxgrove Lodge, 

these potted plants brightening up a otherwise dull day, 

in the back garden, 

whilst we were away, 

a huge number of mushrooms have appeared, 

one group almost a perfect circle,

I popped in the gravel I had washed and added water, it looks a bit murky, but by tomorrow it will be clear, also I added a dechlorinator and a bacterial starter for the 'good' bacteria that aquariums require,  

I bought 3 pots of Cryptocorynes, or crypts as they are known, medium, small and very small, they all are in pots, but I split them up into individual plants, 

all done, then off to pick up Diana from work,

next bring in the Venus fly traps from the hall,

where Maggie has been looking after them, 

and nice they look too,

they do actually die back in the winter time, 

tomorrow I will nip off the few black leaves as they go into their winter die back, after our evening meal it was the usual fare, a couple of Antique Road Trips followed by a Midsomer Murder, as Diana had another early start tomorrow, we were then off to bed.

We Are Back!

we arrived back in Blighty late last night, 

so on with Sunday, but first let me say we both had a blast of a good time, the days just flew past, the downside is I have a huge number of posts to make, from 4 sources, the big camera Diana took to the Philippines, and her mobile telephone, I had my pocket camera which I normally use but that went mustang, so I then had to use my mobile telephone, it will all take a lot of sorting, but hopefully in a few days I will be able to post the trip, a read and a sherry, the start of a normal Sunday for us, 

chicken liver pate,

with toast for our starter, 

roast pork with all of the trimmings for our main course, 

sans gravy for myself, 'Cheers!', in the afternoon we watched a few from Columbo, in the evening after a small snack it was time for,

 Dracula Untold, we had watched it before but decided to watch it again, a great twist on the normal Dracula story, after which we both decided we were a tad tired, so a early night as we were off to bed.

Happy Halloween!

I am not sure if this will work, so here goes,

I was out in Waking Street celebrating Halloween and noticed the sign above, it must have cost a fortune, it was huge as can be seen by the size of the people in the lower part of the video, naturally I was in Halloween mode,

 

all made up for the night, the lady above wanted to be photographed with me, strangely enough quite a few people did, I have no idea why, meanwhile in the Philippines Diana and her family were having a great time,

visiting a zoo amongst other places and shopping, lots of shopping! I will stop now as I am not sure how well this will appear, I am using my mobile telephone and it has taken an age just because I am not used to using it, but when we both return to the UK I will spend a few days playing catch up, I hope you all call back sometime in mid November.

I Am Not Sure If This Will Work

but I am trying this on my  mobile telephone,

we have arrived safely and are having a great time in Bangkok, I believe Diana has a thing called Facebook which she updates, so to see our progress please have a look there.

I Will Only Be Making One Short Post Today,

and it will be the last one for just over 4 weeks!

today we are flying to Bangkok to meet up with Diana's family who have flown in from the Philippines when we arrive tomorrow, we will spend a few days in Bangkok and then Diana and her family will fly back to the Philippines, I will pop down to Pattaya for 3 weeks and then go back to Bangkok and meet up with Diana when she returns from her family, we will then have a few days in Bangkok before flying back to the UK. 

for myself I watched The Black Death, a 2 hour special presented by Dan Snow, a little more about the documentary here, what a horror of a time to live, a absolutely fascinating look at UK and indeed European history, the Black Death or bubonic plague was one of mankind's worst pandemics, killing more than 25 million people or at least one third of Europe's population during the fourteenth century, after which Diana arrived home, so time for our evening meal,

first a read and a sherry, 

followed by a selection of Indian dishes, 

'Cheers!', 

after which we settled back for Men in Black: International, we had watched the film before a long time ago so it was nice to see it again, having said that I did most of the watching, Diana did all of the packing, we are so looking forward to this, Diana has not seen her family in 6 years or so after, so you can imagine how excited we are, when we arrive back I will update the blog, as my laptop went to computer heaven, or hell a few years ago, and I just can not get on with editing and posting the blog on my telephone, so please call back mid to the end of November, packing finished and we were off to bed.

I Started Getting Things Ready For Our Holiday,

starting tomorrow, 

Maggie kindly said she would water our Venus fly traps, so to save her watering lots of pots I put them all in one tray in the hall, I also left her plenty of RO water, 

as tap water kills fly traps, 

and here they are, 

a couple of close ups, 

with only one exception they have all grown remarkably well, next the fire alarm company called by and tested the building's fire alarm for its 6 monthly check, all was well, 

after that out of the park, 

and onto a number 54 bus to the shop, I had a empty water container that needed filling,

arriving home time for a read, 

Diana had left me a chicken biryani, 

which was delicious, 'Cheers!',

onto a number 354 bus to meet Steve, in a stroke of good luck I noticed a 227 bus about to join the main road, so I alighted at Big Catch, Beckenham's fish and chip restaurant, and caught the bus to Penge where I meet up with Steve in the Moon & Stars for a few pints, we chatted the night away until it was time to say farewell for a few weeks as we made a move to our homes, 

I was lucky again with the bus, a 227 arriving just minuets after we did at the bus stop, off of the bus in Beckenham and past the church, 

in the graveyard the cyclamen still looking nice, I just beat Diana home who was soon off to bed as she has a early start at her last day at work tomorrow before our holiday, for myself one from It Ain't Half Hot Mum, before I too was off to bed.