Diana Was At Work,

on a late shift today, 

for myself I had a lazy day, well most of them are! just watching You tube videos about focus stacking amongst other things, in the evening, time for my read and sherry, 

next a Lancashire hotpot, 'Cheers!', after which a film, 

 The Statement, it is the tale of a former Nazi executioner who becomes a target of hit men and Police investigators, as it happens it is based on a real story, the film is loosely inspired by the true story of Paul Touvier, a Vichy French police official.

Real-Life Parallels

• The Crimes: Paul Touvier was a leader in the Milice (a paramilitary police force under the pro-fascist Vichy regime in World War II). He ordered the execution of seven Jewish prisoners in 1944.
• The Cover-Up: Like the fictional Pierre Brossard in the movie, Touvier evaded justice for decades after the war. He hid in safe houses and monasteries with the help of right-wing Roman Catholic clergymen.
• The Pardon and Arrest: Touvier received a controversial presidential pardon in 1971, but public outrage led to new charges. He was arrested in 1989 inside a Catholic priory, convicted of crimes against humanity in 1994, and died in prison in 1996.

Differences from the Film

• The film is directly adapted from Brian Moore's 1995 novel.
• The main character, Pierre Brossard (played by Michael Caine), is a fictionalized composite rather than a strict biographical portrayal.
• The plot involving hitmen hunting Brossard down in the 1990s is dramatized for the thriller
• Touvier was caught and died in jail in 1996.

then on a much lighter vein, a comedy fresh out of Sherwood Forest!

Robin Hood: Men in Tights, so funny especial the sight gags that Blinkin misses, the legend had it coming... find out where Robin Hood put his Little John, what made Will Scarlet, and what did Friar Tuck into his tights that made Maid Marion all of a quiver? great fun, Diana had to work late this evening, so she did not arrive home until nearly midnight, so a hot night-time drink for her before we were off to bed.

First Thing,

I was out,

into a nice bright day, on to a number 354 bus to Bromley,  

where it took a diversion due to road works, so a walk back past the Swan & Mitre, 

which was quite serendipitous, I passed the fruit and vegetable shop I do not normally walk past when I go to Bromley, and there they were,

the first of the years chestnuts, one kilo later and I was on my way,

past the now empty art deco cinema, 

and The Partridge,

lots of stalls, 

as today was Friday, 

the haberdasher here as well,

into Lidl, stocks of spiced rum dangerously low, then back home, in the afternoon I dropped Diana off at work as she has a late shift today, for myself some Saturday afternoon television, 

which brought me up to my read and sherry, 

and a huge king prawn salad which Diana had made for me, 'Cheers!', for tonight's entertainment I continued with, 

The Blue Max, and very enjoyable it was too, then a bit of a surprise, some time ago I bought a black & white movie, the 1953 version of,

Titanic, I had never watched it before, and I have to say it was remarkably good, a different story line to the latest version of the tragedy, from the blurb:

"Unhappily married and uncomfortable with life among the British upper crust, Julia Sturges takes her two children and boards the RMS Titanic for America. Her husband, Richard, also arranges passage on the doomed luxury liner in order to allow him to have custody of their two children, Annette and Norman. Meanwhile, Annette begins a romance with a young American college student and tennis player, Gifford Rogers. Unfortunately, their family problems soon seem minor when the Titanic strikes an iceberg".

after which Diana arrived home, so feet up for a coffee for Diana and a spiced rum for myself, as we watched a Have I Got A Bit More News For You, followed by a Bangers & Cash before we were off to bed.

A Very Short,

and quick post today,

 as we are going into Bromley before Diana goes to work, after I dropped her off yesterday afternoon I looked at a few things my camera can do, photo stacking being one of them, it is not as easy as I thought, but then I am pretty hopeless at this sort of thing, after a few mind numbing You Tube videos I had my evening meal, followed by the usual Outback Opal Hunters, then a film, a pity that Diana was at work as it happens, we just love comedy, especial slap-stick, well there was more of that in,

 Scary Movie 4 than you could shake a stick at! great fun! I then started to watch a movie which was a tad more serious, 

The Blue Max, about half way through it I had to leave to pick Diana up from work, I will watch the rest of it another evening, arriving home it was feet up for a Have I Got A Bit More News For You followed by a Bangers & Cash before we were off to bed.

After Dropping Off Diana At Work,

I had a quiet day,

I watched a number of YouTube videos, about photography in Namibia and about my camera, which I have to admit I am getting more familiar with now, but I am still only using a fraction of the options/programs/selections on it, on to my evening read and milk, yes a meeting of the Beckenham Photographic Society, so I will be driving there this evening and afterwards picking up Diana from work, 

'Cheers!', with a glass of milk as I tuck into some smoked lake trout, 

 in the evening off to the club, I entered 2 photographs for the up coming competition next week, above titled, 'Industrial size art', 

and this one, 'Three couples, two waiters and a cat', both taken in Lisbon, the rubber tree, as we know it (Ficus Elastica), that we keep in our homes here is huge, 

last week at the club I joined Brian's studio workshop, one of the members printed off some of the results for each of us to keep, many thanks for that, basically Brian was showing us how to start with a modestly priced reflector the harshness of a direct flash can be tempered, the reflector he used was a slide projector screen, now a thing of the past but readily available for £10.00 or so in charity shops or a tad more on eBay, the results, bearing in mind this was just 45 minute workshop, were remarkably good, and with some fine tunning would be excellent, back to this evening, a speaker, Julie Andrew LRPS taking us all through the art of Macro photography and focus stacking, I took a few photographs of the main items, they are all pretty much self explanatory, so I will not comment on each one, it was just a shame I was on one side of the screen, so they are not presented well, but there it is,

and here is Julia presenting her talk, 

it was all so interesting, especially as it appears my camera has a self stacking programme, at over 400 pages the camera's users guide I downloaded for the camera, means that I have barely scratched the surface of what my camera will do, so macro photography and focus stacking will commence over the next few weeks! as soon as the meeting was finished I was off to pick up Diana from work, arriving home a coffee and a chat, well a spiced rum for myself, as we watched a Bangers & Cash before we were off to bed.

I Dropped Diana Off At Work At 03.50AM

this morning, 

just after midday I was out, passing the crows that mug me for peanuts as usual, 

and past the snail mail box, out of the park and to the number 54 and 354 bus stop, where I meet Diana from work on the 354, we were soon on a number 54 bus, 

passing Lewisham market, 

which had been partially relocated, 

due to this being built where a part of the old market was, 

we alighted at Blackheath station, the sign still here, but it looked much better when it was painted blue with white letters,

no Oliver Bonas today, 

a quick look, 

at the fruit and vegetable shop, 

we were hoping for some cob nuts and although a tad early chestnuts,

but alas none in stock, 

but they did have a good selection of ornamental gourds, 

up the hill and past The Crown, 

and bookshop on the corner, 

we made our way past the church,

and over the heath,

as we neared Greenwich Park I threw a few peanuts on to the grass, 

in seconds, 

the crows appeared from nowhere, 

from all directions,

they kept a distance between myself and them,

in no time there must have been 20 or so, 

as even more arrived, 

and brought some of their seagull friends along as well,

by now I was getting low on nuts, 

so we carried on walking, past the ice cream van,

and into the park, 

the autumn leaves now starting to show their colours, 

some work going on near the café, 

looking back towards the entrance we came through, 

into,

The Pavilion Café, 

latte coffees for both of us and a cake for Diana,

next the observation point, at this point in the blog I always say, "Ancient and Modern",

a quick pose, 

and then in the distance, 

a huge cruise ship, 

looking to the right, the O2 and the old power station,

then in the distance, 

the unmistakable sound of a Chinook helicopter, passing us by,

as we made our way downhill, a quick pose,  

at the bottom of the hill the Greenwich Tavern,

we were soon in the town and into Nelson Arcade,

which leads to the market, 

not so many stalls here during the week, 

but on Friday, Saturday and Sundays it is full of stalls,

these flowers looked so nice, 

a quick pose, 

as we continued to look around, 

next past the Cutty Sark, 

I hate to say it, but it was starting to look a bit stormy, new for the area, 

a garden was being laid, and of course to get over the hose pipe ban, like Beckenham Place Park, the hoses will be buried, so no problems with Greenwich or Lewisham council fining itself!

and today totally ignoring the ban, 

the plants were watered in, 

it should all look very nice when finished, I just hope the local vandals leave it all alone, 

we made our way to look at the cruise ship, 

a quick pose, 

and there she is, from the Viking Line, 

cannon, Diana and ship, 

it seems strange to think those on board spent a fortune to be here, for us the price of a bus ticket, well free for me as I have a OAP bus pass, 

looking down river towards the O2,

back into town, 

and past the local fish & chip shop, of course the woke, upset at everything they can think of brigade, raised huge objections to the name, luckily unlike the objectors, the owner was not mentally deranged and kept the name, 

on to a 199 bus and a change onto a number 54 and we were soon home, on the way back we picked up a kebab, it saved Diana who has had a long day from cooking, after which it was feet up for a couple of films, although we had watched it before, firstly, 

Sgt, Bilko, as I mentioned we had watched it before, here is what I wrote then:

"I watched Steve Martin in Sgt. Bilko, I liked the original series, I first started watching it with dad aged 7 in 1957, I have to admit I asked dad frequently what was happening, but dad enjoyed it so much and I liked watching it with him, back to the film, it is so funny, in truth I can not think of a better actor to have played this role in the film as Steve Martin, but it was not plain sailing for the film, from the article:

"According to Spy Culture, the makers of Sgt. Bilko similarly asked the U.S. Army for “access to an Army base and other support for the film.” But the “entertainment liaison” took a look at the script and deemed it to be totally unacceptable. As one memo noted, “The hero was a crook and the ‘bad guys’ were officers.” They also objected to the movie’s “antiquated” portrayal of the military, which they claimed was “incompatible with the film’s present day setting.”"

which lead to this end of film credit: 

“The filmmakers gratefully acknowledge the total lack of cooperation from the United States Army.”

but in any event we both totally enjoyed watching the film again, we followed that with, 

 Bootmen, charmer Sean Okden gave up tap-dancing when he started working in the steel mill, I wonder why? he then decides to start his own tap-dance group wearing hardhats, which he soon gives an original edge when the steel mill inspires him to weld metal on their shoes and dance on industrial steel, so it the metallic acoustics fit well with a local rock group, after many trials and tribulations his group put on a show to great acclaim, think Fred Astaire with a hard hat, after which we started to watch a Bangers & Cash, but Diana had such a long day starting just after 03.00AM when we woke up, she was off to bed before it finished, for my self I saw the end of it before I too was off to bed.