We Had A Lazy Day,

Diana did not have to go into work until the late afternoon,

in the evening after a Simpsons it was time for my read and sherry,

'Cheers!', with a prawn cocktail,

followed by liver and bacon with mash, delicious!

for dessert,

mango and grapes, after a read it was feet up for a couple of films,

 for tonight Northmen - A Viking Saga, which was quite enjoyable as it happens, although with the odds against them it was a tad hard to believe, but then it is only a film, 

next, Risen, which we had watched before, but enjoyable to watch again, then time for a few funnies on YouTube, before Diana arrived home, so feet up for a coffee and a chat before we were off to bed.

Great News,

well for myself,

Max Headroom is making a come back! one of my favorite presenters, I first watched him on Channel 4 and Rapido in the mid 1980s, he was was a fictional computer-generated character who was designed for TV hosting and advertising, but was actually pretty subversive underneath because the artificial intelligence program that generated him used the brain of a real (although fictional) person as a model. The character, portrayed by Matt Frewer in prosthetics, first appeared in the British movie Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future in 1985. He then hosted a TV show called The Max Headroom Show, followed by an American drama titled simply Max Headroom, and also appeared in a series of ads for New Coke, all in the 1980s, now Max Headroom is coming back, to be played once again by Matt Frewer. A new TV series is being developed by AMC around the glitchy TV personality, with Christopher Cantwell of Halt and Catch Fire fame as showrunner. The executive producers will be Frewer, Cantwell, Lisa Whalen, Elijah Wood, and Daniel Noah. There's no word yet on when the series is expected to air, but hopefully soon, for a history of Max,

and how the character was created have a look at the video above, as I mentioned, great news, well for myself and I guess a few others.

Before You Watch This Video,

let me say a couple of things,

the slide is on a normal table and not stuck on a wall, the ball is not receiving any help from magnets, but the slide defies gravity neither the less, magic, or is it? it is so obvious once you watch the video, but it had me thinking for a few moments! all a matter of perspective, Struck Duck, who made this illusion, has an Etsy store where you can buy this and other illusions, or if you have a 3D printer, you can buy the STL files and make your own, as it happens,

there are a number of 'impossible' shapes you can down load for a 3D printer all for just £6.21, but remember, You will not receive a physical item with this purchase, if you would like to purchase the actual impossible sculptures, you can find many of them for sale in Struck Duck's shop, now where can I borrow a 3D printer?

After My Usual Start To The Day,

it was time to arrange the flowers,

the problem being that the sunflower heads were so heavy,

so I used some sponge in the bucket to keep them in place,

there was quite a difference in colour between the flowers that Diana bought,

and the ones we picked yesterday,

in the afternoon a laze in the garden with some Round the Horne,

when Diana arrived home it was time for our evening meal,

before I popped out,

it was a tad cloudy but still warm,

the owners of the lodge as usual put a bowl of water out for the dogs that owners walk in the park,

I made my way past the green,

and church, to the 227 bus stop,

and arrived at the Moon & Stars to meet Steve, we chatted the night away, it all went a bit mustang on the way home, the first 227, totally full, the next 227 totally full, so a walk back to Beckenham for a 54, the tree hugging greens ask you to use public transport, and then fail to provide it! arriving home rather later than usual I had a nightcap before we were off to bed.

Can Chewing Gum,

really reduce the chances of catching SARS-CoV-2 Virus?

photograph Fusion Medical Animation, although it has not yet undergone clinical trials, but these are already planned, this gum might help defeat the virus, so how does the gum work and how effective is the gum? the experimental gum contains copies of the ACE2 protein found on cell surfaces, which the coronavirus uses to break into cells and infect them. In test tube experiments, researchers found that virus particles of the Delta or Omicron variants attached themselves to the ACE2 “receptors” in the chewing gum, causing the viral load in the saliva to fall to undetectable levels, in a recent paper published in the Biomaterials Journal, research leader Dr. Henry Daniell said, “Because nasal transmission is negligible when compared to oral transmission… chewing ACE2 gum and swallowing ACE2 protein should minimize infection, protect COVID-19 patients and prevent transmission,” This “viral trap”, as researchers refer to the experimental chewing gum, contains ACE2 proteins carried with engineered lettuce cells, but a second type made with bean powder is apparently capable of trapping influenza strains, coronaviruses that cause the common cold and other oral viruses, the trial planned will see COVID-19 patients scheduled to each chew four ACE2 gum tablets each day for four days, if it is successful I just hope it does not pull all of my fillings out when I chew it!

As We Struggle To Keep Cool,

here is the hottest craze from Japan,

water jelly, You can drink it right out of the bottle, eat it with a spoon, or top it with fruit and enjoy it as a refreshing treat, according to a PR Times press release, it was launched last year and ended up being a huge summer hit, selling 2.8 times better than JR East Cross Station Water Business Company expected,

although it has a clear color it is actually a flavored product, with the most popular flavor available being ramune, it apparently has a caloric content of 55 calories per 100 ml, which is surprisingly high, considering 100 ml of Coca Cola contains only 37.5 calories, the water jelly has to be chilled to achieve its gelatinous texture, but you can also freeze it if you want to consume it as a sorbet,

following last year’s successful launch, the maker of water jelly has already increased production to keep up with demand, and also introduced a larger 515-gram bottle. Unfortunately, water jelly is currently only available in Japan, but who knows, maybe next year water jelly will be available over here to keep us as cool as cucumber!

Thursday,

Diana's day off this week,

I had a small surprise for her, which was blown out of the water, I had a trip today planned to go to a PYO sunflowers farm, but yesterday Diana arrived home with a bunch of flowers, with sunflowers, so I had to fess up about today, but a decision was made to still go the the sunflower farm, so glad rags on, I should say as usual with our days out I took way too many photographs so I am only making one post today,

we were off,

past the strange roundabout in Eltham,

and into Sevenoaks,

if this photograph looks familiar it was because we were here in July picking strawberries, the same day we visited the lavender farm, we did not know it then, but the same farm, Stanhill has a sunflower PYO area, and a maize maze it happens,

we will be buying a few soft fruits on our way home,

the sunflowers were at the far end of the farm next to the maze,

the winters pumpkins I am guessing planted already, thinking about it, they may be courgettes or perhaps marrows?

looking across to the strawberry fields we visited last time,

all picked out, no more I guess until next year,

in the distance a thin yellow line,

the entrance to the maze and the rows of sunflowers,

I should mention you should bring your own secateurs, although they are available to hire with a £5.00 deposit, but on busy days they might all be hired out already,

I was soon snapping away,

there were so many bees here,

mainly huge bubble bees,

they had plenty of choice!

there were several rows of sunflowers,

stretching to the tree line in the distance,

well,

I just had too!

as we walked uphill we looked back,

to see the sunflowers facing us,

so time for a few selfies,

with a few close ups,

although cloudy,

it was still a nice bright day,

as we moved further up the field,

there was no doubt the flowers were getting taller,

which gave me a better look at the bees,

as I mentioned, there were so many of them,

one of the problems of the taller plants,

was that it was easy to loose sight of Diana,

and it was so easy to photograph the bees,

without having to stoop down,

it was fascinating watching them,

I am sure Diana is in there some where!

well may be not,

we now started picking some blooms to take home,

a final look at a bee, as I mentioned there are lots of bees here but thankfully we did not disturb any of them enough to be stung,

selection made,

the cost is £1.00 per stem or 5 for £5.00,

and if you look carefully you can find a single stem with three or more flowers on it,

which we did,

looking across the field of maize with a maze made out of it,

here are a couple from previous years, well I would not want to spoil it for this year!

from the website:

This year's theme is the Queen's 'Jubeelee',  this summer and help Queen Bee retrieve the missing jewels from her crown! HRH (Her Royal Honeyness) Betty the bee, thinks she is the queen and has taken to wearing a crown around the farm!

The crown jewels have all gone missing in the maze, so Queen Bee needs your help to find them all and get them back to their rightful place...on her head! Search the maze to retrieve all the jewels and discover what is Queen Bee's favourite summer treat! Price includes a gamecard and map.

Prices

Adults: £7.00

Children (4-16): £7.00 (under 4s go free)*
Family Ticket (2+2 or 1+3): £24.00

*Maximum of two free under 4s per paying adult

Please bring a pencil to complete your game card at the end!

it all looks like great fun,

we made our way back to the car,  buying not only the flowers but some cherries and plums as well,

next stop Coolings, we did not have a breakfast before leaving,

we had visited here early in the month,

just after we had been cherry picking,

so we made our way to the restaurant,

outside it was a riot of colour,

the photographs,

do not do justice to how bright some of the blooms were,

and today was a cloudy day,

mini sunflowers,

in one of the greenhouses a really impressive display of hanging baskets,

breakfast/lunch is served,

coffee for Diana,

a pot of tea for myself,

a toasted cheese and ham sandwich for Diana,

and for myself,

scampi and chips,

eyes down,

and tuck in! the bill came to £20.00,

we made our way back to the car,

but looking at some of the flowers on the way,

these canna lilies were just so red,

I had to take a closeup of them,

Diana with the bee display,

the hanging baskets,

all looked just so nice,

and in so many colours,

if only we had somewhere to hang one!

the farmer taking a rest,

at first I thought there were bonsai, but there were just dwarf conifers,

we arrived at the koi section,

so a pose with the fishes,

we went up top looking down on the fish,

and nice they were too,

outside you could buy a handful of food to feed them for £1.00,

we started on our way home,

and we were soon going over Hayes common,

arriving home the flowers had wilted a tad,

so straight into water,

we will let them soak over night then tomorrow I will rearrange them, we watched a couple of quiz shows, then after our evening meal it was a couple from Antiques Road Trip, followed by a double helping of New Tricks, two episodes played back to back, after which we were off to bed.