I Had One Of Those Days,

when I took 1 step forward, 

but was pushed 2 steps back, take the above, this is now the Third time I have had to prove to BT that when the shop closed, 

I sent all of their equipment back, complete with a coving letter and the extra Jiffy bag they sent me, 

all packed up and ready to go, 

and here is the post office receipt to prove it, enough you would think, but not for BT! every 2 weeks I have to go through the same 50+ minute telephone call to establish that yes I have sent it, and no they will not ask me again, I will not hold my breath, the same for some of the other utility suppliers as well, then the big one, our car insurance for no apparent reason had risen from in round figures £600 to £900+, I called around and found that Aviva for the same cover was £680, so I took that, emailing Admiral to cancel my insurance with them, I was told they could come down on price, £750 but why did they not give me that price first? for all of the faffing around it took trying to obtain cheaper quotes I would have stayed with them, too late I am with Aviva now, so in one long paragraph that was most of my day, I only had time to play with one photograph,

and I was not very pleased with that, so I will try again at some time, tomorrow is Diana's day off so no playing with photographs tomorrow, after my evening meal it was the usual Outback Opal Hunters, and as I was watching Deadliest Catch Diana arrived home so a coffee and a chat it was, as we settled down to a Midsomer Murder, then a treat a Sherlock Holmes we had not watched for more than a few years was playing, so we watched that until the midnight hour after which we were off to bed. 

I Had A Bit Of Luck,

two of my photographic programs had stopped working, 

apparently a fault had occurred as I received a message when I tried to use them: System Error, MSVCP140_ATOMIC_WAIT.dll Not Found, anyway after a lot of fluffing around I found the MSVCP on the Internet and uploaded it, and so far no more problems, so I played with the image above, which has sort of turned out as I wanted it, the photograph is of a huge mirror ball suspended over the courtyard in Beckenham Place Park, which brought me nicely up to my Sunday lunch, unfortunately due to staff shortages Diana was at work today, 

firstly a read and a sherry, no change there then!

and as some was left over from yesterday, some smoked salmon,

'Cheers!, as I tucked into a chicken and ham pie, it was then feet up for a few films for the afternoon and evening, firstly s sci-fi,

In Time, set in a future where money is literally time, in this world you can literally live forever, if you have the time, I followed that with,

The Man in the Iron Mask, this the 1977 version, the story is so well known but I will mention that Richard Chamberlain for myself plays both parts so well, then almost a comedy but played very straight laced, 

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which was directed by Wes Anderson, a delightful film of a story by Roald Dahl, after a snack in the evening,

The King, I had watched it before, but just fancied watching it again, as it finished Diana arrived home, we switched channels to find,

 On the Beach was showing, the 1959 version so we watched that as we tucked into some lychees I had bought in Bromley, after that sobering end to the evening we were off to bed.

We Were Both Going Out,

Diana catching the 354 to go to work, 

I was also catching a 354, but going in the other direction to Bromley, 

and there she was like myself waiting on the opposite side of the road for a bus, 

I was soon in Bromley, and also as my bus turned the first corner there was Diana's bus heading towards her, so there was not much longer for her to wait,

I made my way past Primark, 

and the haberdashery stall, 

and balloon seller, I was on my way to The Glades, 

outside of which there was a flower seller, 

and there it was, 

The Glades in Bromley, 

and this is where I was going, after just 5 days of totally appalling service from BT/EE I was going back to Vodaphone, it happened like this, I was on the telephone to BT/EE on another matter and during the conversation the representative said he could do a good deal on my mobile telephone contract, I mentioned that 5 years ago I went with EE and the service for Ravensbourne and Beckenham Place Park was so bad that EE cancelled their contract a few months through with no cost to me! but the BT/EE rep said all was now well 5G throughout the area, he assured me as he looked it up, well it was not! after several calls in everyone of them somewhere through it the person I called said the usual words for BT/EE, "You are breaking up, can you please repeat that?" so thankfully on Tuesday I will be back with Vodaphone, why oh why did I listen to BT/EE? SIM card in my pocket and DD signed and I was off to do some essential shopping, 

past the balloon seller 

and the seafood stall, 

and I was here into LIDL for some spiced rum, as well as some other food bit & pieces, arriving home it was play time, with a photograph I took of a huge mirrored ball over the courtyard in Beckenham Place Park, 

but I wanted to straighten out the image, so it looked sort of abstract, this was my first attempt, pretty awful, the curved lines especially at the top not straight at all, so I started trying again, but my computer that I have to admit had been playing up, it was now taking over four and a half minuets to switch itself on was one of the problems, any way I found that now 2 of the most important programs I had for editing my photographs did not work, every time I tried to use them I received a message: System Error, MSVCP140_ATOMIC_WAIT.dll Not Found. A job for me tomorrow as it was nearly time for my evening meal,

but first a read and a sherry,

followed by some smoked salmon, 

and a Chinese meal Diana had left for me, 'Cheers!', next one of my films for the evening,

Independence Day: Resurgence, all action and special effects galore, great fun, and the good news another Independence Day, the third is rumoured to be in the pipeline,

 Braveheart, I had watched the movie before, it was a great, almost all action movie, great to watch, but to be fair it was one of the least historically accurate movies that have ever been made, but still enjoyable, trouble was I kept rooting for Longshanks, about halfway through the movie Diana arrived home, so a coffee and a chat, as we watched the film to its end, after which we were off to bed.

First Thing Up Early,

to drop Diana off at work at 03.50 AM

for her 04.00AM start, I arrived back home and had a few more ZZZZ's, in the afternoon I picked Diana up and as she was tired she went to bed, so for myself a afternoon film, All Quiet On The Western Front, the 2022 version, a great movie, especially at the end of the film, where man's vanity cost so many needless lives, this is by far the most realistic and gruesome portrayal of what I can only imagine the horrors of the First World War was like, the film even shows how after the armistice was signed at 5.12 AM men were still told to fight right up to the eleventh hour, all 2,738 of them died as both sides tried to fight to the end, and gave their lives needlessly, a very moving and well made film of the horrors of the First World War, in the evening,

 it was time for a read and a sherry, no milk this evening!

Diana fancied fish & chips well so did I along with a delicious saveloy, peas and gherkins,

'Cheers!', after our meal it was feet up for our evening film, for tonight,

 Lake Placid, somehow a super-size crocodile takes up residence in the lake, but worse was to come as it transpires there is more than one, great fun for all concerned, well except for the human crocodile bait! followed by a Bangers & Cash, afterwards Diana was off to bed, for myself a Have I Got A Bit More News For You, before I too was off to bed.

First Thing,

we were up and out as it was Diana's day off, 

a quick pose at home, 

and then out into a cold, slightly misty day, 

on to a couple of trains and the tube, 

eventually arriving here, 

at Olympia, 

for a show, 

it was the Destinations: The Holiday & Travel Show at Olympia London, 29 Jan–1 Feb 2026. '600+ travel brands, expert speakers & ideas for your next adventure', as the blurb read, 

we were not quite the first in, but pretty close!

we had 2 destinations in mind, both with one purpose, photography, 

a 'normal' tour with a group of people would mean that the group would want to move onto the next place, whilst any photographers in the group would want to spend more time at each stop, I preferred a escorted tour, it takes away all of the faff of getting local transport and booking hotels at every stop, 

the two places I was interested in was Namibia and Costa Rica, 

so it was those stalls I called on, 

everyone was incredibly helpful, 

but not many offered dedicated photography holidays, where a experienced guide would also be a photographer, 

like for instance Andy Mumford or Will Grey, 

it was great fun looking, 

and here is one travel company that does cater for photographers, Naturetrek, the problem was that they only had huge booklets with their tours, they were happy to let me take one, but I thought it such a waste as I was only interested in 3 or 4 pages, so they will send me their specialist photography brochure, 

Diana popped upstairs, to take a photograph or two, 

I am down there, really!

it was the first day, so the place was a tad busy, 

many of the stalls had their countries food or drink on offer as well as their music and culture, perhaps demonstrated best by the video that Diana took, 

it was loud, lively and very enjoyable, welcome to Saudi Aribia!

I had as many brochures as I needed with a couple of companies sending me some details in the post and some by email that I can download. if you are thinking of a holiday many of the companies here are offering £500 off a holiday booked here over the course of the show, with some offering 10% off, so a reasonable saving if you know your destination and dates of travel, but be quick as Sunday is the last day of the show,

time to go, 

by now we were both hungry, 

but a pose first, 

after a bus ride we were here, 

in the Golden Dragon, our go to restaurant if we fancy a Chinese meal,

for our starters prawns on toast covered with sesame seeds, 

and spicy garlic ribs, 

which were delicious!

for our main course, chicken with cashew nuts,

three different kinds of pork and duck,

with garlic beansprouts, egg fried rice and a couple of sauces, plus a bottle of house red for myself and a coke for Diana,

'Cheers!', the bill came to £140.00, eating out is not cheap anymore! arriving home we watched a couple of quiz shows before our film for the evening,

The Time Machine, far better special effects than the original, but then this was made in 2002, the original in 1960, but for all of that I think I preferred the original, as we have the original on DVD we may watch it soon, after which Diana was off to bed, a 04.00AM start tomorrow, for myself one from Have I Got A Bit More News For You, before I too was off to bed.