We Were Still Full,

from last night,

 so we decided against a Sunday roast, but just a small late breakfast/early lunch at the Deli Nene,

 a small English breakfast for Diana and Steve,

 a salmon and mushroom omelet for Kai,

 smoked salmon and avocado salad for myself,

 'Cheers!',

 Steve and Kai had some work to do at home, so we made our way to the bus stop, it was then I remembered where I left the red car,

 arriving at Thicket Rod,

 we made our way into Crystal Palace Park,

 huge trees lined the avenue inside,

 with so many things to see,

 I remember all of this so much as a kid, in fact it was here that I first went fishing way back in the late 1950s, naturally fishing in these PC times is not allowed here now, 

 some one went to a lot of trouble to paint this fun picture of dinosaurs having a party, just a shame some one then decided to put graffiti on it, but there it is,

 railings now a must for every lake, it appears they are needed to stop people from falling in, strange it never seemed to happen when I was a kid, well if it did we did not make a fuss,

 in the distance a huge dog, a Newfoundland as it happened,

 a look along the lake,

 not sure what these were, well I knew they were ducks, but not which specie these were,

 from memory this is not only the first place I fished as a kid, it was also the first place caught a fish, a small perch,

 the owner and his dog caught us up, 

 another view along the lake,  

 rounding the corner of the lake,

 we spotted this heron,

then a real disappointment,

 the last time I was here the dinosaurs were painted in sympathetic colours, pale greys, yellows and greens, but it was obvious that they had not been painted in years,

 many, many years,

 also the water level had been allowed to fall so that the dinosaurs were literally ourt of water,

 it was so sad to see my childhood memories of what should have been,

 replaced by grey concrete,

 only one in the distance had some semblance of coulour,

but even that was a pale parody of it's former self,

 worse still the owners of the park had let the water level drop so much mosquito breeding grounds of mud had began to form,

 heaven knows what diseases will be spread here when the summer comes, 

 and imagine the smell! this was once a gushing waterfall,

 now a stagnant pool of who knows what,

still the Canadian geese and their chicks have managed to find some clean water,

 we made our way past the sports arena where Steve ran this morning and back again as he was supporting some friends there,

 and this is what they were aiming for after competing in the triathlon they were in, the finish, 

 continuing uphill, this tree was a mass of flowers, 

 I am not sure what the were, but there were so many of them,

 looking back across the sports field,

 many supporters stood waiting for the athletes to return,

 the radio tower in the distance, which is best known as the main television transmitter for the London area,

 then one of the younger competitors flashed past us,

 we made our way to what is now left of the original Crystal Palace, 

 but first Diana in the daisy's,

 of course I say the original, but the first original Crystal Palace was in Hyde Park, which then moved to Sydenham Hill, South East London, now known as Crystal Palace in the early 1850s, above a panorama of half of the main frontage,

 at the far end the central staircase, 

 another competitor passed us by,

 the end of the base of the once magnificent building looking towards the middle of the building,

 and to the rear,

 we continued uphill,

 next to the rear of the Crystal Palace Museum, and on to the weigh bridge,

 no change for us on it, it weighs up to 20 tons!

 we went into the museum, but regrettably no phonographs were allowed,

 but I took this one of some pipework outside,

 we made it to the top of the hill,

 and along the High Street,

 and around the triangle that makes Crystal Palace town,

 past the Greek church,

 with it's carving over the door,

 in the next street,

 there are number of secondhand shops,

 selling lots of,

 mid 1950s furniture,

 that seems to be becoming more popular, 

 although I am not sure I am taken by these two characters,

 now abandoned this tiled public house is one of a dying breed of exterior decoration,

,

 we made it to the bus stop at the top road,

on to the bus and to O'Neil's in Beckenham,

 for a bacon sandwich and a glass of wine,

 instead of walking straight to Steve and Kai's home we made a detour,

 through Beckenham Place Park,

 past the cherry trees that have now stopped flowering,

 and a few side roads,

 until we found the front of the building,

 that I have my apartment in,

 huge pine trees in the front garden,

 I went to the rear of the house, the top four windows from the right are where my apartment is,

 and I also own the roofs space where the upper two windows are,

 we decided to walk through the park,

 looking back towards the far end of the park,

 one of the many good things of living in the park, it has its own postbox, no more going to the post office to post a letter, they are collected here twice a day,

 then into the golf coarse itself,

 'fore!', 

 the mansion house, 

this was where Diana and Kai,

 went for a run,

through this entrance, we were soon home, after our evening meal we settled down to watch a program that was live celebrating the 90th birthday of the Queen of England, followed by a film then for us all we were off to bed.