Another Real Treat Today,

Kai drove to our flat,

and then Steve picked us up, we were soon driving past the Crystal Palace tower,

going to Lal Baag Indian restaurant at 8, Knights Hill, Norwood, London SE27 0HY. Telephone 0203 7704878, it was Steve's treat, 

inside bubbly opened, 'Cheers!', from Steve and myself,

and of course we were joined by Bob and Debbie,

'Cheers!',

Diana and Kai,

there was a full buffet, plus we ordered from the extensive menu, 

Bob, 

and Debbie, you may remember previously I mentioned that Steve was at one time a chef, keeping his skills honed, 

he had brought along a huge strawberry trifle that he had made, 

 loaded with sherry! it was such an enjoyable meal, and so nice to see Bob, Debbie and Kai again, many, many thanks indeed to Steve for treating us all and making such a delicious dessert, we said our goodbyes to Bob and Debbie, arriving home Kai left but we had a coffee and a chat with Steve before he left, for us it was feet up for a double helping of Midsomer Murder, then as Diana had a 04.00AM start today and tomorrow a 05.00AM start, we were off to bed.

I Had A Quiet Day,

whilst Diana was at work, 

having said that I started looking for a soft sided suitcase, because of the packing arrangements in Namibia whilst in the 4 x 4, everyone was asked not to bring a normal hard shell suitcase, as it is difficult to pack them every few days as we up camp and move on, I also decided to have a look at just one group we might encounter, cats, just in case we should bump into a cheetah, serval or leopard, here is a handy identification guide, 

not that we are likely to bump into a Jaguar, but you never know.... all of the posters can be found here, as for the cats of Africa, 

here are the ten of them, as it happens there are seven cats found in Namibia, and here they are:

Lion (Panthera leo): Found mainly in Etosha National Park and the north-western skeleton coast/Kunene region, famously adapted to desert conditions.

Leopard (Panthera pardus): A secretive and adaptable nocturnal hunter found across rocky outcrops and woodland areas. 

Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus): Namibia holds the world's largest free-ranging cheetah population, representing roughly a quarter of the global total.

Caracal (Caracal caracal): A medium-sized, muscular cat recognized by its long, tufted ears and incredible jumping ability. 

Serval (Leptailurus serval): A slender, long-legged cat restricted mostly to the wetter, well-vegetated north-eastern parts of the country.

African Wildcat (Felis lybica): A small, widespread generalist and the ancestor of the domestic cat.

Black-footed Cat (Felis nigripes): Africa's smallest wild cat and one of its rarest, living mostly in dry, arid regions like the Kalahari, and in case you are having trouble with spots, here is a guide,

as mentioned links to the poster can be found here, 

all of that brought me up nicely to my read and sherry, 

which I followed with a chilli con carne, 'Cheers!', it was then time for a film for tonight,

Never Say Never Again, thank goodness for Bond, another world saving event by the master spy, which I followed with, 

 Murder on the Orient Express, the 2017 version, I have to say I preferred the original 1974 version, but there it is, fun to watch, as it ended Diana arrived home, so a coffee and a chat, as we watched a Lewis, although tomorrow is a Sunday, Diana has a 04.00AM start, so we were then off to bed.

I Had Two Things To Do Today,

well three actually, 

firstly pick up a hand trowel and fork for next week when we start planting the blubs, secondly whilst in Bell Green Retail Park,

pick up a 13" laptop, the laptop I have at the moment is just too big to fit into the backpack I am taking on my next trip, 

and the third thing, getting it working, I am hopeless at this sort of thing, I just somehow can not seem to make sense of what to do, 

but after much trial by error, 

I managed to import all of the address from my main computer onto this one,

and there is yesterdays post on it, after which Diana arrived home, with some sunflowers,

so time for a read and a sherry, 

followed by saveloys and curly chips, 'Cheers!', after a Outback Opal Hunters it was time for our evening film,

Con Air, a prisoner soon to be released finds himself along for the ride when other inmates stage a breakout in a plane, great fun and a great cast, after which we finished,

We're No Angels, 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, we rounded off the evening with the third episode of, 

 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".

after which we were off to bed.

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.