Diana Had Another Early Start,

and had to be at work just before 05.00AM,

and I had to be in Bournemouth first thing, the 6 month lease on our beach hut had come to an end, so I had to pop down to pick up all of our bits and pieces in it, the problem being the gate for traffic to the beach huts only opens for 1 hour very first thing in the morning so cars are kept away from pedestrians, joggers and cyclists, it had started getting light about an hour ago, 

but already there were people sitting on the beach,

and taking a stroll,

the hut emptied, the gas bottle and ring are included in the hire, it was a bit sad as it happens, although we only visited a couple of times due to the lockdown, we have such happy memories of Bournemouth and the hut,

it was well before the tourist centre opened, where the keys have to be picked up and dropped off, but they have a cunning plan,

a key drop!

a last look at a misty entrance to the pier and I was off for the 120 mile journey home,

arriving back in Beckenham Place park, I unloaded the car,

and was back out again past some of the houses in the park as I walked to the bus stop,

past the garden of Foxgrove Lodge at the entrance to the park, where the first of the rhododendrons had started to flower,

it must be spring!

as the first few bunches of miniature daffodils,

also put on a show,

and this is where I was off to, Kingfisheries, in Croydon Road Beckenham, one of our fish had come down with Ichyophthirius multifilis, commonly called white spot disease or ich, the thing is if one fish has white spot they will all contract it, in a natural environment it is not a killer, the parasites as they hatch, (the white spot is a cyst with a huge number of invisible to the naked eye parasite, maturing and waiting to burst out), have a limited life and range, but in the confines of an aquarium fish will become repeatedly reinfected, weakening them so much that it is fatal, one bottle of cure later and I was on my way home, arriving just before Diana returned form work, after our evening meal it was feet up for a Midsomer Murder, a New Tricks, two from One Foot in the Grave and we were then off to bed.

Time To Catch Up,

so back to Monday,

another early start for Diana, we walked to the bus stop, past the Marks and Spencer lorry that had just started to unload, the N3 night bus on time at 04.03, 

as I walked back home I noticed that some primroses had started to bloom in the graveyard,

quiet a few of them as it happens,

along with some snowdrops, 

the M & S lorry continuing it's unload,

during that day I watched some television, and looked more closely at some of the stamps I had been playing with previously, I was also visited by the fox,

who enjoyed the peanuts,

as did the crow in an uneasy stand off, later in the afternoon Diana arrived home from work after having a coffee with Wilma, one of her work colleagues, 

during the day Diana had received a couple of photographs of the house build that were taken over the weekend, a few more loads of in fill had been delivered,

and a few more courses of the walls had been completed, we spent the evening watching television, as it was a weekday, we settled down for a couple from Poirot, a Midsomer Murder, rounding off the evening with a New Tricks, after which we were off to bed.

After Playing With Some Of My Stamps,

I though I would take a close look at some of them,

this is the first page of the 1908 Franco-British exhibition, and what an exhibition it was, with nearly 9 million people attending the exhibition, Imre Kiralfy, was a famous exhibition organiser in his time and “permanent counsellor of the British government for foreign shows”, also member of the London Chamber of Commerce, as the Commissioner-General for the Franco-British Exhibition, he developed the exhibition grounds on farmland on 140 acres at Shepherd’s Bush where he built the Great White City and Stadium,

From the Official Catalogue: ‘The suggestion for a Franco-British Exhibition to celebrate the entente cordiale between the two nations was the idea of Mr. Imre Kiralfy, and was first suggested in April, 1904.’ Following the success of the India Exhibition of 1895, Kiralfy expanded his scope immensely, resulting in a public fair at a 140-acre site in West London, which was visited by about nine million people. The Central Line was specially extended for the exhibition, and a new station created on the Hammersmith line. £300,000 was pledged by guarantors, and negotiations opened with the committee arranging the Olympic Games of 1908, which were to take place on the same site. Twenty palaces and seven exhibition halls were constructed of ‘fire-proof materials.’ The Indian Pavilion was built ‘in the severe style of Mohammedan architecture by the Government of India’ (Official Guide, 46). The ‘Indian Arena’ offered ‘the spectacle of “Our Indian Empire.”’ A replica Ceylonese village was built. Refreshments were provided by, amongst others, the Indian and Ceylon Tea-houses of Lipton and Co.

although these stamps look the same, each one features one building, above The Palace of Machines,

and as it looked at the time, photograph Dalspace Library,

The Garden Club,

again as it was at the time,

The Decoration and Furnishings Palace,

to give an idea of the size of the exhibition here are a couple of views of it, Alchetron,

JDP ECON, the exhibition really was huge,

as comitatives the stamps were produced in long and short examples as above, there was I believe a trail of 8 colours, but I think only 5 were printed as issues, in collecting over the years I have only found examples of green, light blue, dark blue, red and brown, there may well be others but I have yet to find them,

over the years many exhibitions were staged,

like this one, the Festival of Empire 1911, held at the Crystal Palace,

also in 1911, the Scottish Exhibition, held in Glasgow,

and even more in 1911, the Coronation Exhibition at Great White City, 

another exhibition was held in 1924,

the British Empire Exhibition,

and the good news is that there is even a video of this one,

in colour no less! sorry to go banging on about stamps, but I enjoy collecting, looking at them and finding out about their history so much.

I Will Not Be Making A Post Today,

as we will be up at 04.00AM I will be dropping Diana off at work,

before making my way to Bournemouth, the 6 month lease on our beach hut has come to an end, so I have got to drive down to pick up all of our pots, pans, crockery and also empty the hut of our other bits and pieces and return the keys, the problem being that the access road is only open for 1 hour a day, and that is first thing in the morning, hence my early start, hopefully I will catch up with the posts over the next couple of days.

Sunday Lunch,

so time for a sherry and a read,

'Cheers!',

for our starter a dressed crab each,

 that I bought from Pearl Fisheries in the High Street a couple of days ago, 

and nice they were too,

on to our main course,

roast chicken, sans gravy for myself, with gravy for Diana,

for our dessert, apple strudel,

covered in custard,

eyes down and tuck in!

for our afternoon film Diana chose a real classic, one we had watched way back in 2011, M, not every ones taste in films, but one that I liked when I watched part of it many years ago before we bought this copy in Blu-ray, the film directed by Fritz Lang is about a child killer,

the killer is played by Peter Lorre, who was 'discovered' in this film, he went on to become an International star, in the film he is hounded by the police and the underworld, both of whom he thinks he has given the slip to,

but soon he realizes, the net is closing in on him and is accused by a blind beggar,

and his fate is sealed,

madness and self loathing over takes him, a great movie, the soundtrack is limited and many scenes have been added to the original with no sound at all, which is what the director Franz Lang wanted,

we followed that with Upside Down, or as my mother would say Downside Up, stunning visuals and a nice story, we rounded off the evening with three from Columbo, and with the end of them we were off to bed.