After Diana Left For Work,

I played with a photograph, 

I had played with it before, but for myself it was not quiet as I wanted it, so I spent a few hours changing various parameters, crickey it sounds like I know what I am doing!, anyway at the close of play it looked as it does above, the photograph is of Sanctuary of Truth, we have been there many times before, but this one of those very rare photographs taken of the part of the building you can only see from the sea, you can have the same view from the land, but, you are so close to it, it is impossible to get it all into a photograph unless you use a fish eye lens, playing over, in the afternoon it was feet up for,

 Gunfight at the OK Corral, the 1957 version, if only you could go back in time and tell everyone the good guys always win, but I guess if you did they would not listen, 

time for my evening read and sherry, 

for tonight Diana had left me a meal of bangers & new potatoes and broccoli to heat up, 'Cheers!', next a new release, 

War Machine, a real Gung-Ho movie and no mistake, the star is a one man army, pulling people from certain death so many times, and against all odds taking down a almost impossible to kill alien killing machine, what a hero, so if you like this sort of film this is the one for you, no denying the star of the movie, Alan Ritchson, is super fit, he did his own stunts, but for myself I prefer a bit of a team effort, and something just a tad more believable, moving on, 

when Diana arrived home Amazon had left a parcel for her, which she found to be bit of a mystery, she did have one thing on order, but normally they are delivered in a Jiffy type envelope, 

and here it is, a cover for her camera, you can see how much bigger the box is, 

and seeing how thin it is, 

why these odd phone covers to stop scratches on our telephones are normally sent in a envelope, so a cost to Amazon for a over size box and we have to chop it up to get it into the paper recycle bin, what a waste, as Diana unwrapped that we had a Bangers & Cash on, as usual very entertaining, after which we were off to bed.

First Thing After Posting The Blog,

I was out,

the car needed it's yearly MOT and bi-annual service, I dropped the car off here at the Eden Park Motorist Centre, I was told it would take a few hours, so I popped over the road to,

the Toby Carvery at Eden Park, for breakfast, before going inside I bought today's edition of the Daily Mail, reading through it I came across this advertisement,

"Really Bad Photographer Wanted"

I could not believe my eyes, was it true? well I just had to investigate the add, and guess what? it is true! Not only does the lucky winner receive a 10 day holiday he or she will also receive $50,000 and worldwide fame! So if you or a family member or friend really are a bad photographer have a look here at the Icelandair web site and apply toute de suite! Back to the car, I received a telephone call to say the car was ready, so a intermediate service including a oil and filter change, a top up of AdBlue, checked air-conditioning and anything else that might make the car unroadworthy including the MOT which means a technician will check all aspects of your car to ensure that it’s safe for the road, they will go over the whole car, including seatbelts, brakes, lights, mirrors, steering, suspension, tyres and more, all in all the bill came to £396.46 including all taxes, which all things considered, especially that the car only needs serving every 2 year seems in this day and age quite reasonable, after playing with a couple of photographs it was time for my evening meal, 

first a read and a sherry, 

followed by some onion bhajis, 

yes an Indian meal tonight, a chicken tikka masala, 'Cheers!', after the usual Outback Opal Hunters it was feet up for a couple of films, firstly,

The Big Bus, in a threat to the oil companies, a nuclear powered bus makes its Inaugural journey non stop from New York across the country, and in the same vein as the Airport movies

 all manner of problems befall it, even before it starts out, great fun, I followed that with an old favorite, 

 The Fearless Vampire Killers, a lavishly made and enjoyable film, I have to say I really enjoyed watching this film again, a bit dated now but if you have not seen it give it a try, the film was also known as Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck, the 1967 comedy horror film was directed by Roman Polanski, written by Gérard Brach and Polanski, produced by Gene Gutowski and co-starring Polanski with future wife Sharon Tate, who died so tragically, with the end of that Diana arrived home, just as a Midsomer Murder was starting, so feet up for a coffee and a chat as we watched that before we were off to bed.

Diana Was On A Late Shift Today,

we had a few things to do around the flat,

and after breakfast I was going to play with a few photographs and one of the new papers, but, see above, it was just like being back home, a power cut, so it was all stop, after dropping Diana off at work in the afternoon it took an age getting home,

this truck tried to get through on the unmade up road, but he could not, the tree branches overhanging the road were too many, too low, and too big, so it was back up time he will have a job doing a 3 point turn, it is way to long to reverse all the way to Westgate Road, and there lies the problem, so many sat navs take you to the unmade up road entrance and not the proper entrance to the park, as illustrated above, so no playing with my photographs today, arriving back home it was feet up for some television, a Tipping Point and a The Chase before my evening meal, and then,

De Leeuw van Vlaanderen, from the blurb:

"A tale centred on the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302 where the Flemish rank and file won a major victory over the glorious French knights"

and very enjoyable it was too, the film was dubbed in English, looking at the reviews it was hated by the French reviewers (4*), but very well like by everyone else, (9*), strange that, I followed that with another film from Europe, this time from Norway,

Narvik: Hitler's First Defeat, again a break from mainstream blockbuster movies, the movie follows 2 months of fierce fighting, wanted by both sides of the conflict for its iron ore reserves, Narvik was the town where the residents are caught in the deadly crossfire, a band of Norwegians soldiers and civilians did more than was possible, after which I was out to pick up Diana from work, arriving home we joined a Have I Got A Bit More News For You, before Diana was off to bed, for myself a Bangers & Cash before I too succumbed to Mr. Sleep.

I Decided To Play With Some Of The New Paper I Had Bought,

today the PermaJet Titanium Lustre 280,

you can read about the papers qualities here, 

the finish I have to admit did look nice on the black & white prints, I may even enter them in next seasons meetings at the club, which closes down for the summer, so next autumn it is! next I watched a documentary that I noticed was playing today,

Vasa: The Ghost Ship, and why is she famous? the Vasa was a Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628. The ship sank after sailing roughly 1,300 meters, (yes less than a mile!), into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628,

above as she would have looked as she set sail, 

and now, raised and preserved, photograph courtesy of Yacht.de, the story of her is here, 

which brought me nicely to my evening read and glass of milk, yes off to the club tonight and afterwards I will be picking up Diana,

'Cheers!', as I tuck into a bowl of mushroom soup that Diana had left for me, after my meal I went to a meeting of the Beckenham Photographic Society, I had entered a couple of digital images into a competition, with absolutely no luck at all, here they are:

a study of a roundabout at a fair, 

and a mudskipper taken in a river in Vietnam, note to self, must try harder! next stop to pick up Diana, arriving home it was feet up for a Endeavour that had just started, after which we were off to bed.

After Dropping Diana Off At 04.45 AM, I Had A Quiet Day,

I was going to spend some time on my photographs, 

but I got side-tracked by Deep Ocean: Kingdom of the Coelacanth, I have been fascinated by this fish since I was a kid, I first heard about him in the mid 1950s and ultimately when one was put on display at the Natural History Museum I visited him as soon as I could, this is at a time when wild life television programs were de rigueur, series like, 

Hans & Lotte Hass,

  Armand & Michaela Denis, and of course our own,

 David Attenborough, all of whom I watched on a small black & white television all of those years ago, anyway back to the program, first aired last year in September I found it fascinating, the fish is a true living fossil, the coelacanth, the fish was thought to have become extinct some 66 million or so years ago, but one was discovered back in 1938 of the coast of Africa in the western Indian Ocean,

if you are interested in the story behind this fish I can thoroughly recommend A Fish Caught In Time by Samantha Weinberg, it is a great read and of course factual, I have made a number of posts about this fascinating fish, one for instance feature this question, is a cow (a mammal) or a salmon (a fish), the coelacanths closest living relative? have a look here for the answer, by now I was comfortable so I continued watching wildlife programs until Diana returned home, after our evening meal and a Outback Opal Hunters we watched another of the series of Call My Bluff, so funny and witty, then our film for the evening, 

Little Shop of Horrors, great fun and with a surprisingly well known cast, a musical similar to Rocky Horror, but with no real rememberable tunes, still great fun, after which we rounded of the evening with Poirot before we were off to bed.

It Was Diana's Day Off,

but I had to stay in,

unfortunately everyone in the flats where we live could only make today for all of our front doors to be measured, new fire regulations had been announced, meaning that all of the fire doors to our homes that were fire certificated, no longer were, so at about £3,500 plus 20% VAT each, every door has to be replaced, the problem being there are so many companies that make fire doors, that is not the problem, the problem being each door has to be certificated by the fire door supplier that the insurance company will accept for a multi family dwelling, and as far as we could see, there only 2 companies that are able to supply doors are approved by the insurance companies, and of course both quotes were just so similar, it is almost like they talked to each other! as if, so the girls had a day out to Ravenscourt Park, I stayed at home and played with a few more photographs and also popped into town for some shopping, 

luckily the cherry blossom was out in the park, 

from left to right, Kai, her friend Joy and Diana,

and a close up of Kai and Diana,

Kai taking a pose, 

the blossoms just starting to shed some petals, another week and it could have been too late, 

snack time,

croissants and coffee around, next window shopping, what else?

in the late afternoon/early evening the girls felt a bit peckish, so off to The Great Thai Kitchen, where they meet up with a couple of Kai's friends, 

lots of Thai street food, 

was the order of the day, the girls had a great time, in the evening before Diana returned and after my evening meal I decided on,

 Seven Worlds, One Planet, I watched the one that featured South America, one of the many places I would like to visit, after which Diana returned home, so it was a coffee and a chat as well as we watched a very entertaining,

Call My Bluff, a great quiz show, basically two teams of three alternate between giving and guessing the meanings of obscure English words, all of which are found in the OED. (Oxford English Dictionary), for a little more detail of the game, the game comprised two teams of three (a captain and two guests) who would compete to earn points by identifying the correct definitions of obscure words. 

The teams take turns to give three definitions, one true and two bluffs, while the other team attempted to determine which was correct, examples of words used in the show, taken from a 1972 book published in connection with it, include queach, strongle, ablewhacket, hickboo, jargoon, zurf, morepork, and jirble. 

The word queach was defined by the contestants as "a malicious caricature", "a cross between a quince and a peach" and "a mini-jungle of mixed vegetation" (with the last definition being the true one), it was great fun and amazingly Diana did in fact choose the correct definition more often than I did, the program was broadcast between 17 October 1965 to 22 December 1988, I have to admit I enjoyed it at the time and so did many others as can be seen from the number of shows that were broadcast, there were 12 series shown on BBC1 and 25 series on BBC2, BBC1 showing 469 episodes and 542 episodes in BBC2, just over 1,000 episodes, amazing! we then spent the rest of the evening with Poirot, after which Diana was off to bed, a 05.00AM start for her tomorrow, for myself a Bangers & Cash before I too was off to bed.