Thursday 16 June 2022

Up, Out And Away,

it was a blindly good start to the day,


sunlight streaming trough the trees,

hardly a cloud in the sky,

as I made my way to the station to buy the tickets from Dartford to Gravesend, I use my bus travel pass to catch the number 54 bus to Blackheath Village, also it works on the train from Blackheath to Dartford, but I have to pay for my tickets from Dartford to Gravesend, the problem being that like Beckenham Junction the ticket office at Blackheath has so far on every trip been closed, so I have to buy my tickets at Beckenham, but not on a Monday or a Tuesday afternoon when that ticket office is also closed!

on the bus past the Foxgrove Road park entrance,

look out for the ducks!

the island in the middle of the lake,

I was soon going past the gayly painted pub in Catford,

and the never finished building in Lewisham,

the market in full swing,

alighting in Blackheath Village I walked past the florist,

and nice selection of summer flowers for the garden,

on the top row some mini sunflowers,

at Dartford the fountain looked cool, and refreshing, it was so warm,

no problem for the Canadian geese,

and the swan, 

I normally catch a 483 or a 481 bus from the station to the nursing home, but today Alan and Rainham Steve meet me at the station,

so we arrived in no time as there is always a wait between getting off of the train and one of the buses arriving, we chatted away, Duncan pleased to see us all, when Duncan's lunch arrived we then made a move and let him eat in peace and quiet, Alan kindly dropped me off at the station and I was soon on my way,

I arrived at Blackheath Village,

and on the number 54 bus looking at the wildlife gardens on top of some of the bus stops,

past the Downham entrance to the park,

and past the Foxgrove Road entrance I normally walk through, but today I stayed on the bus,

as I was going to the bank opposite the Odeon cinema in Beckenham, banking finished I walked to the shop as I had some printing that Graham had asked me to print,

back to the park on the bus, I noticed the owners of Foxgrove Lodge had put out a couple of hanging baskets,

both looking nice,

in the bright afternoon sun,

also some lupins were making a show,

it was a glorious day even though there was a few clouds in the sky, a coffee and a chat and we were out,

glad rags on,

as we made our way through the park onto a tram to Croydon,

where another of the 49 story high rises is being completed,

the is where we are going, the Fairfield Halls,

looking back at the construction,

we were soon inside, I tried to take some photographs but the stage was just too dark for my camera, and the show were going to watch? Jools Holland and his orchestra, with Ruby Taylor as the lead singer, and what a show! in no time at all people were up dancing, his music so infectious, then a security guard started telling people to sit down, Jools noticed this after the song finished he said "I have played here before, the Fairfield loves dancing", that was it, everyone, and I do mean everyone in the stalls and most of the circle where we were joined in, what a performance from Jools and the orchestra, you may remember we watched Jools and his Hootenanny on New Years Eve, we both thoroughly enjoyed every single number of the show tonight, a big 'Thank You' to Diana for buying the tickets for one of my birthday presents, and as an aside, you never know, I might bump into Jools on one of my visits to see Duncan when I am in Blackheath Village as he and his family live there, arriving back home it was feet up for a nightcap, and one from Silent Witness before we were off to bed.


2 comments:

jpo5626 said...

Stan-do you know what is going on with the unfinished building. Every once in a while you show a picture of it and nothing changes forward. Must be a good story! A shantytown let a building like that go to waste!
Thanks
John and Alley

PattayaStan said...

Dear John and Alley, I first noticed this building way back in 1965, I passed it every day I went to work as an apprentice in the print trade, over the early years that I first noticed it has been both a dancehall and a bingo hall, both ventures in the 1970s lasting only a few years, since then work has started on it and then stopped as I guess whoever owned it ran out of money and sold it on to another builder, but at least this time it has a new roof, who knows in the near future it may well be finished! best regards, Stan and Diana.