It Was Just Like Christmas,

a couple of parcels to open, 

firstly a GodoxVING V860iii F Speedlight flashgun, the 'F' refers to the model that will fit my Fujifilm GSX 100s II camera, I have a future trip planned where I will be shooting some small animals, so a flash gun is de requre, in the next parcel, 

'the thing' but what is the thing? I hear you ask,

it is a flashgun diffuser, for macro photography a basic flashgun will even on its lowest setting often swamp many feature of the subject you are trying to photograph, so a diffuser is used, this particular one from Cygnustech Diffusers,

it all arrived in a very nice box showing some stunning examples of macro photography, it all with bands and a magnetic clip,

fitted over the flashgun and camera,

the 'business' end, I did not use it as I had not charged the battery for the flashgun, but it was fun using the 120mm macro lens, I am so looking forward to the trip, just a bit about the diffuser, these from the instructions I downloaded and printed, 

this a general summary, 

and this one of the pages that show exactly how using a diffuser scores over a flashgun without one, as I mentioned these are from the pages the companies instructions that are available, I would mention that considering it was made in Australia and had to be sent here, it arrived in no time at all, many thanks indeed to Cygnustech Diffusers, and now to Diana and the girls in Belgium, 

left to right, Diana, Wilma and Kai,

onto the train London to Brussels,

breakfast is served,

McDonald's they must be there, 

they could not have planned it better, a huge flower fest in the main square, 

and here is a video that Diana made,

and of course chocolate shops, 

and a message from Diana to myself, 

more chocolate, 

there was even a Chocolate Museum!

time to eat, 

selfie time! Diana, Wilma and Kai,

my favorite in Belgium, mussels with triple fried chips, 

the girls also tucked into spaghetti, 

and a seafood paella, they are having a great time, for myself in the afternoon I decided it would be nice to boil a few eggs, for a summer salad, regular readers will know that for myself the kitchen is a personal death trap, apart from taking something out of the refrigerator, every time I try to do something, even remotely looking like cooking, it all goes horribly wrong, only this year I totally destroyed a saucepan, twice making the flat smell of burnt food for weeks afterwards, in another incident I ended up in A & E requiring 3 stitches, in other words kitchen visit for myself to actually do anything means me being cut, burnt, scratched or scalded, I kid you not, I have to admit the dails, knobs and buttons on the front of the toaster, microwave, hob, oven and washing machine are all several steps above my paygrade, but back to the eggs, what could go wrong with boiling 6 eggs? well in a change of pace for myself nothing, however, after some time I could smell something in the living room decidedly not nice, I rushed into the kitchen to see the pot that we keep our coffee pods in and the filter for the vacuum cleaner, 

slowly melting, I had turned the wrong ring on! and then it got worse, 

whilst the plastic from the coffee pot scraped off of the hob easily, 

the plastic from the hoover filter had formed a unholy alliance with the glass top of the hob, using a blade to try to remove it I had to keep stopping as the blade was digging into my fingers so much, I will have a go at it every few hours, note to self, give up all of this cooking malarky, after my evening meal it was feet up for,

The Creator, from the blurb:

"Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, Joshua, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war-and mankind itself."

a great storyline, especially as lately in the news there has been so many reports of AI going rouge, great special effects a really enjoyable film, after which I watched a couple of Bangers & Cash before I was off to bed.

It Was All Happening Today,

first thing load up the car, 

I am booked in today to dump lots of rubbish at the council tip, the boot and rear seats packed with junk, but before that stop at Kai's home, so Diana can drop off her bags there, tomorrow the girls, Diana, Kai and Wilma are off to Belgium, bags dropped off I then took Diana to work for a late shift, after which she will go to Kai's overnight as they have a early start on Thursday, for myself join the queue to enter the tip, but first a questionnaire about the councils performance regarding weekly bin collections,

the business part of the tip, I off loaded lots of junk then parked up in Beckenham, 

and walked to Boots the chemist to pick up my prescription, 

outside Ye Olde George Inn looking so nice against the blue sky, 

into Sainsbury's, 

the High Street empty of traffic, road works, again!

into Sainsbury's, as Diana is away for a few days a top up of bits & pieces for my meals, 

arriving home a read and a sherry, 

before a Chinese curry I had just bought, 'Cheers!', in the evening a couple of films, firstly,

 The Other Boleyn Girl, which I enjoyed watching again, I do like costume/period/drama films, I followed that with,

 13 Ghosts, Arthur and his two children, Kathy and Bobby, inherit his Uncle Cyrus's estate, complete with money and antiques, with 12 ghosts, but where is the 13th? after that scary dairy I was then off to bed.

We Had A Sort Of Busy Day,

I did not drop Diana off at work,

as I was waiting in for Neil to call around to change the batteries in the fire detector in flat 2, the owners had given me the keys to let Neil in, as I typed out the blog one of the foxes called by for a drink, one of the flat owners keeps this bucket filled with water for them, meanwhile before Diana left for work she was busy upstairs, we had a trip to the council tip planned for Wednesday, I had my old computer and screen to dump, upstairs we had accumulated so much stuff that we just did not use any more, like all of the bits and pieces we had when we had a beach hut at Bournemouth many years ago, it was all taking up space and gather dust, and besides, we had lots of new junk to put upstairs, after that Diana left for work,

in the afternoon Neil the engineer called in and changed the batteries, but the new ones were dud! 

so back upstairs and another set fitted and all was well, 

the photo with the 2 faults was the low battery and the fact that the upper panel was open, 

both panels now reset, 

so now a green light on the board as normal, after my evening meal there was not much on the television so a film from Film 4,

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, it was a fantasy sort of film, so many times I expected Harry Potter to walk in, demons and magic everywhere, just past the halfway stage I would not say I had lost the will to live, but I was getting perilously close, so I gave it up and settled down with a Midsomer Murder until the time to pick Diana up from work, then feet up for A Touch of Frost before we were both off to bed.

First Thing,

looking out of the window, 

by the water bucket for them, one of the foxes was having a few ZZZZZ's, but most strangely instead of curling into a ball to keep warm, 

he was stretched out, just too hot by far, 

and like many people in the heat, just could not get comfortable, 

then a visit from the fire alarm company, our in flat sensor had arrived and was changed in no time, the engineer went to reset the alarm, 

only to find there was a second problem, a low battery warning in flat 2, 

the good news was that there were no other problems, so he will pop back today to replace the batteries, after my evening meal it was a WWII film, as there was not much on the normal channels this evening, so,

The Enemy Below, it was, a game of mouse and cat between a submarine and a destroyer set in the Second World War, after which I popped out to pick up Diana from work, arriving home, feet up for a Midsomer Murder before we were both off to bed.