In The Afternoon,

Richard called round,

to measure the attic for carpet, it was surprisingly large, in total 40 square meters, so he left a number of sample books for us to choose from, we then spent the rest of the afternoon chatting away, we had not seen each other since I left to stay in Thailand some 30 years or so ago, we had so much to catch up on! after our evening meal and a few game shows, it was a treat for the new episode of Murdoch Mysteries, tonight's episode titled Manual for Murder, great fun, we rounded of the evening with a episode of New Tricks, titled Dead Man Talking, one we had not watched before, and with the end of that we we off to bed.

I Have Always Had A Fascination,

with 'old school',

Japanese art, but here is a modern artists that somehow captures that feel,

 with illustrations of hers used in books, magazine stories, comic book coveries, or gallery walls,

 the artist is New York City-based, Japan-born Yuko Shimizu,

she is known for a diverse client list, from NIKE and The New York Times to Library of Congress, you can follow her and her work on Instagram.

Whilst Listening To The Radio,

on your mobile telephone,

 how many times have you nearly dropped it into the toilet bowl? maybe you have already! so here is the retro answer for you,

 a bathroom toilet tissue dispenser with a built in AM radio,

encased in plastic dyed in unnatural hues these incongruous yet ingenious multifunctional devices emerged at the end of the 1960s,

 and to blend in with any colour scheme, it must be pretty in pink, apart from Windsor,

 and Tammy,

there were it appears many other manufactures out there, such as Futura, Westminster, Ultra Tone, Federal and Little John amongst others, above is the patent that led to all of them, I do not think they are currently available brand new, so it would be a case of tracking a secondhand one down and making sure it works before you buy, but when you, do no more worries about dropping your mobile telephone down the loo whilst listening to the radio!

It Is A Fact,

seatbelts save lives if you use them,

but also bear in mind there are times you might want to get out of them quickly!

In 2016 Hanoi Had The Second Worst Air Pollution In The Area,

and to combate that, in 2030 the city will have no motorcycles,

 the city hopes that by increasing buses and public transport the city will clean itself up, knowing this photographer Jon Enoch,

 flew to Hanoi,

 to take these socially aware photographs,

 of what will be in 2030,

 just memories,

 of how goods were transported around the city,

Jon’s work has earned him widespread recognition, from multiple nominations for Celebrity Photographer of the Year to the Professional Publishers Association’s Best Magazine Cover for his portrait of Paul Gascoigne, an amazing set of photographs, one can not help thinking, if the sellers above can not use motorcycles for their business, and I doubt the loads above can be moved using public transport, will that mean they will all buy trucks? which I would have thought would give out more fumes and take up a lot more space on the roads than the motorcycles they are now using, but there it is, you can see more from Jon Enoch, Jon on Twitter, Jon on Instagram.

Paul The Electrician,

arrived on Sunday morning,

 as we were going have two more sockets put in upstairs,

 all went well, all we have to do now is wait for the radiators to be installed, next carpet down and we can start moving our bits and pieces upstairs, meanwhile downstairs we watched the London marathon,

 the flowers this week looked extremely nice, 

 the lilies that are now opening,

 giving off a most delicate perfume,

 after Paul left for our lunch today, we moved seats so we could continue to watch the marathon,

and for today a smoked ham, Diana's with gravy,

 mine with out,

we rounded off the meal with sherry trifle, then feet up until the residents AGM, we all meet in Maggies, and made the decisions for next years expenditure, the house we live in has 8 flats, and being an old building there are always a few things that need doing to keep it in good repair, meeting over we settled down to watch some from the Poirot box, and on cable a few from Murdoch Mysteries, and then for us we were off to bed.

I Am Guessing,

many will recognize this photograph,

for those that do not it is Rasputin, who a group of murders tried to kill, by poisoning him with cyanide, when that did not work by shooting him, finally killing him by throwing him into a freezing river, to finally kill him by drowning, apparently he, Rasputin, had superhuman strength and magical powers, but one thing, there was only one key eyewitness account, written by one of the killers, Felix Yussupov, so perhaps the 'facts' were embellished to save later claims that the murderers did indeed kill an unarmed priest, at Rasputin's autopsy it was a fact, that there was no cyanide in his body, also it was a fact that there was no water in his lungs, he was dead before he hit the water, what did kill him was one of a number of bullets, the fatal one in his forehead, it appears that his death had to be made dramatic to hide the simple murder, in later years even the British Secret Service were rumoured to be involved in his murder, for a look at the autopsy and other paperwork have a look here, all three links for myself are a fascinating read.

I Do Not Normally Watch,

football, cricket, rugby, golf, tennis,

tiddlywinks, snail racing or any of the other major sports, having said that we did watch for the first time in my life the London marathon, that apart I was intrigued when I saw this, could three professional football players beat 100 school kids? the video above shows just what happened when Japanese pro soccer players Hotaru Yamaguchi, Hiroshi Kiyotake and Yosuke Ideguchi took on the team of kids, it looks like great fun was had by all.

May Day Celebrations Will Soon Be Here,

if you are lucky enough,  

to be in Padstow, Cornwall, UK, the townsfolk have a particular way of celebrating May Day, photograph by SGBailey, it begins at midnight on May first, when the villagers erect a May Pole and sing to awaken the Hobby Horse, or 'Obby 'Oss in the local dialect, in the morning, the ‘Obby ‘Oss emerges. It consists of a large round platform supporting a black apron. The man who carries the beast puts his head through a whole at the centre of the structure. He wears a mask with a tall pointed cap, a menacing otherworldly image. At one end of the platform is a tail and at the other, a stylized head with snapping jaws. Simpson and Roud have noted that, ‘by no stretch of the imagination does it look like a horse’, the costume-wearing man cavorts along the streets, accompanied by a ‘teaser’ who leads the ‘Oss in a traditional dance to the sound of accordions and pounding drums as the participants sing the ‘Day Song’, the tradition has it that any woman caught beneath the apron will be married or pregnant within the next year. There is some speculation that the 'Obby 'Oss is more of a dragon than a horse, which harks back to the possible origins of the ritual, there's more to the Padstow May Day festivities,

than at first meets the eye, as you can see in the above video, I have to say that for myself there was something that reminded me of the film, The Wicker Man, the first version made in 1973 starring Edward Woodward, a great film by the way, so in a couple of days Happy May Day!

Keeping To A May Day Theme,

in Japan,

 the dawn of the new Reiwa era coming on midnight at the 1st of May this year, the people of Japan take their time to commemorate the events that happened on the soon-to-end Heisei era, may it be personal achievements or general trends, and what more creative way to celebrate the closing era with a breath, or specifically, a can of air? This idea came from the city of Seki, Gifu prefecture, buyers can choose to open these cans whenever they like, so it’s up to you whether you’ll open it right when the Reiwa era starts or save it until later, the cost? for a breath of fresh air the tins are being sold for 1,080 yen (US$9.70) each, with online orders to be made here, after the 1st of May, unfortunately the product will only be sold in Japan, photograph Heso Production, will it be a great seller? I really do not know, but this is not the first time canned fresh air has been sold, have a look here, but this one is a tad more expensive, according to the article at $24 a bottle, and it appears to be selling well!

Last Week We Booked A Table,

for an afternoon cream tea,

 in Royal Tunbridge Wells,  

 so today we took a drive to the town,

 and strolled along the High Street,

 this is where we will be having our tea and scones, The Ivy,

 a quick pose outside,

 and we were on our way to look around the town,

 lots of shops as you might expect,

 and more than a few side streets to explore,

 this one with a nice eye catching display,

 this jewellers was most impressive,

 as was this one opposite, 

 we made our way,

 towards the main pedestrianised shopping area,

if there is one thing I do not like about the UK, it is all of the rubbish bins on display, they look a total eyesore no matter how neatly they are placed, what has happened to make the country look like a giant rubbish tip? it never used to be like this, but there it is, I am now living in modern times,

 we continued our walk,

 so many fascinating shops to look at,

 but this was where we were heading,

 the Pantiles, and this is the address to have!

 we started our walk,

 the outside tables put out more in hope than anticipation,

 it was bitingly cold,

 but no matter for us as we wrapped warm,

 the whole street seemed almost deserted, 

in the summer the place is packed,

 but today we almost had the place to ourselves,

 just a few other Saturday shoppers out and about,

 this seafood restaurant looked nice,

 in a building that had above the door, established in 1745,

 I was intrigued by the balcony above this shop,

 the legend says it all,

 in the lower street the Corn Exchange,

 next to it,

 a building with the Royal crest,

 so Diana had to have a pose,

or two,

 a closeup of the crest,

 behind us the Pantiles

 looking back to where we had walked from,

 and the sign,

that says it all, 

 one more pose,

 and then it was my turn, 

 we walked back along the lower road,

 still no takers to sit outside,

 passing some of the side streets,

 we were soon at the restaurant for our booking, and it was a good job we did book, the place was packed!

 we both had our own pots of tea,

 our afternoon snack arrived,

 and nice it looked too, 

 top up the Rosy Lee,

 and start our snack, 

and the order is, well for us,

 sandwiches,  

cakes, 

lastly scones with cream and jam, 

 a quick look at the bar, the table next to us had just become vacant and was filled in less time than it takes to type this, hardly a soul on the street but this restaurant is fully booked even in the low season,

  we both had a plate of sandwiches each, so now on to the top layer of cakes,

 a delicious meal, including service charge the bill came to just over £40,

so a quick pose in the doorway, and we were on our way home,

 later in the evening our meal,

 starting with mussels,

 spare ribs for Diana, 

lamb chops for myself,

'Cheers!', we listened to music for the rest of the evening, I am only making this one post today as we are having an early breakfast and going to watch the London Marathon and the run upto it on the television, and with that we were off to bed.