Saturday, 28 February 2026

I Accompanied Diana To The Bus Stop,

past the snail mail box, 


Diana was going to work, I was going into town, 

I alighted at the stop near the florists, 

a nice show of spring plants, 

the dwarf daffodils looking nice, 

over the road to Boots the chemist, to pick up my bi-monthly prescription,

then a walk to TECSO express, I bought a few bags of our favorite popcorn, Butterkist, then back to the park on a number 54 bus, 

walking into the park, in the side garden of Foxgrove Lodge, the rhodendrens were in flower, 

and nice they looked too,

the walk back home was grey, arriving there I spent some time making a poster for the nature group meeting on the 10th. March, I will pop down to the Bricklayers Arms the week before to ask if I can put it up inside the pub, hopefully they will say yes,

after that, 

time for my evening read and sherry,
 
for tonight a lamb curry, 'Cheers!', then feet up for a couple of films as there was not much I wanted to watch on the normal channels, firstly,

 We Dive at Dawn, a gritty war drama based in a submarine, a thrilling, for it's time, adventure starring Sir John Millsreleased during the war in 1943, as an aside the submarine used the film P615, was sunk in action a few months later, She was torpedoed by the U123 near Sierra Leone on April 18, 1943, all forty-four crew members lost their lives, next a film I had watched before,

 The Pink Panther it is still so funny even though you know exactly what is going to happen next, when the coach of the France soccer team is killed by a poisoned dart in the stadium at the end of a game, his expensive and huge ring with the diamond Pink Panther disappears, the ambitious Chief Insp. Dreyfus assigns the worst police inspector Jacques Clouseau to the case, the rest as they say is history, case solved, after which a Endeavour had just started as Diana arrived home from work, after which we were both off to bed.


Friday, 27 February 2026

Diana Did Not Have To Go To Work,

until the late afternoon, 


so we had a quiet day, after I dropped her off at work I started playing with 2 photographs for a upcoming digital photograph competition, above "Ancient And Modern Meet",

and this one, "A Swan Explores The Pulteney Weir", hopefully they will do well, but who knows? in the evening after my evening meal and the usual Outback Opal Hunters and a Deadliest Catch I decided on a film, 

Free State of Jones, a little slow at times and almost a documentary of one mans fight against the Confederacy, of which he was a member, that went on long past the end of the war, for the fascinating true story of Jones County, have a look here, after which I was off to pick up Diana at the end of her late shift, arriving home it was feet up for a coffee and a chat as we watched a Endeavour that had just started, after which we were off to bed.


Thursday, 26 February 2026

Whilst Diana Was At Work,

I had a busy day,


 
I was going to print up some of my photographs ready to enter them in upcoming competitions, first next week I want to enter 2 into the black & white, or monochrome competition as it is called, once printed I then mounted them on the club standard 40cm x 50cm boards, above, "The Shadow", taken at Edinburgh Castle, 

"High Rise Living" in Hong Kong,

as I had the printer going and all of the mounting bits & pieces out I thought I would also prepare a couple more for the competition the month after, above, "Punting On The River Cam"

and lastly, "Art Week Comes To Folkstone", all great fun which took me nicely up to my evening read, 

but for tonight with a glass of milk, as after the club meeting I will be picking up Diana,

for tonight a quick snack of a gammon ham sandwich before I was off the the Beckenham Photographic Society

tonight it was a panel competition, entrants are asked to bring in a 'panel' 3 to 9 prints that are linked by the subject matter, the sad news is that there were only 3 panels in my class, Standard, so it was a bit of a hollow victory to be given second place for the one above, "Busy Bees",

and first place for "The Peanut Seller" there are normally a lot more entry's for print competitions but there it is, after the meeting I picked Diana up from work, arriving home a Endeavour had just started so we watched that as we chatted away before when it had finished we were both off to bed.




Wednesday, 25 February 2026

Another Early Morning For Us,

a 05.00AM start for Diana, 


after dropping her off at work I posted the blog and looked at a few documentaries until Diana called, 

then out into a bright day as I made my way past the snail mail box and meet her at the bus stop, 

then a number 54 to Blackheath, where a fun fair was getting ready to leave, 

the church on the heath,

with Diana for a pose, 

or two, 

as usual, 

we were mobbed by a murder of crows as we crossed the heath,

into Greenwich Park and past the gate house, 

time for a pose,

as we neared the daffodil beds, 

Diana taking a close look,

at some of the blooms, 

and nice they were, 

bringing a bit of spring sunshine into the day,

there are several beds here, 

cordoned off,

they all looked just so nice, 

looking across one of the beds, 

time for a pose, 

one more of the daffodils, 

and we were into The Pavilion,

for a coffee and a cake,

well just a coffee for myself, 

but for Diana she just loves the cakes here,

out into a glorious day after the months of dark grey days, 

in the cafes garden, 

a magnolia, 

was just starting on it spring display, 

we walked to the observation point,

for a few poses, 

these things, 

just have to be done,

below us the National Maritime Museum

behind it on the other side of the river Canary Wharf,

to the right the old power station, 

and beyond the O2, 

and there they are together, 

we walked down to the gates, 

in the far distance although difficult to see, the Cutty Sark,

we had decided to come to Greenwich to have a late lunch/early evening meal, our first choice the Vietnamese Pho Street, but first a look around town,

then something we both did not expect Oliver Bonas closed and shuttered up!

we carried on looking in the other shops, 

ice cream, yummy!

I decided against a bespoke suit, 

as we made our way into Greenwich Market,

not so many stalls, most are here for the weekends, 

this one more than a tad patriotic, with the way things are here in the UK at the moment, I am surprised the stall holder has not been asked to take down the Union Jack as it might upset the illegals,

a really nice show of flowers on this stall, compared to Beckenham prices quite reasonable too,

as always there is a Citroen van in attendance, 

for some reason old refurbished and like this one seem to be so popular with food vendors, 

out of the market, by now we were both famished, 

and a decision was made, 

into the Vietnamese for our meal,

we almost had the the place to ourselves, and we soon found out why, they had run out of red wine! so that was that, 

we decanted to the pub next door, where they had plenty of the red nectar, 

for our starters Diana chose deep fried spicy squid, 

for myself potted Devonshire crab, 

with garlic toast all of which was delicious,

on to our mains a huge Atlantic cod for Diana,

a steak for myself, 'Cheers!',

surprisingly The Kings Arms was also not busy, 

eyes down and tuck in, the bill including service charge was £80.00, next stop the 2 buses home, where it was feet up for a Outback Opal Hunters and a Deadliest Catch before our film for the evening, a comedy with an all star cast, 

A Fish Called Wanda, a plan to steal diamonds is beset with double dealings and a villain who loves animals, but who unfortunately leads to the demise of many! it was a almost Brian Rix farce so funny in so many places, with Ken who has a stutter, almost taking the star role, but I doubt in these PC times the movie could  be made without howling's from the loony left, great fun, after which as Diana was tired she was off to bed, for myself a double helping of Bangers & Cash before I too was off to bed.