Diana Was On Early Shift,

so for myself a quiet day,

after my usual start to the day and and a bit of being a househusband Diana arrived home from work, to say she was tried was a understatement, so Diana had a few zzzz's during which I watched American Gangster, a look at the other side of law enforcement when both brother officers in the police force and the criminals are against a serving policeman, also the downfall of Frank Lucas, (1930 - 2017), and the officer that brought him down, Richie Roberts, although both Lucas and Roberts were talking to other after Franks release, the true story is here, but he, (Richie), has somewhat fallen from grace according to this article, as it happens we had both watched the films before but it was nice to watch again, Diana awoke refreshed and it was soon time for our evening meal,

first a read and a sherry, tonight another from Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo, titled The Theologians, 

for our starter this evening a lamb kebab salad,

which was so nice,

for our man course, fillet pork with string beans and mushrooms with chips for Diana,

roast potatoes for myself,

'Cheers!', after a break we moved to the sofa to watch a Midsomer Murder, 

after which we had a Eton mess, which Diana made with strawberry meringue, and a range of fruits, it was so delicious I finished the whole bowl! by now we were so full, so feet up for a spiced rum or two as a nightcap as we watched on more from A Touch of Frost, before we were off to bed.

Both Diana And Myself Love Cruises,

and with that in mind I found this,

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, a romanticized depiction of the 1870 race between the Robert E. Lee and the Natchez, but I did not have any idea that a lazy cruse in days long gone could be so dangerous, I had thought of a leisurely cruise down the Mississippi would be so relaxing as the boat sedately made its way on the river, but these steam boats had another side to them, steamboat racing! and it was dangerous, still it has to be said that the first steamboat race in 1811 didn't see any explosions or deaths, but the boats did crash into each other, between 1816 and 1848, boiler explosions alone killed more than 1,800 passengers and crew and injured another 1,000, according to government records, “Western steamboats usually blow up one or two a week in the season,” Charles Dickens observed, after an 1842 tour of the U.S. although not racing one of the most horrific accidents occurred in 1838, when the Moselle, a fast and nearly new Ohio River steamboat, exploded off Cincinnati. “All the boilers, four in number, burst simultaneously,” reported one contemporary author. “The deck was blown into the air, and the human beings who crowded it were doomed to instant destruction. Fragments of the boiler and of human bodies were thrown both to the Kentucky and Ohio shores, although the distance to the former was a quarter of a mile.” At least 120 people died, but the exact death toll remains unknown, then in 1852, a steamboat boiler exploded during a race and 80 people died, and then it got worse, apparently “Western steamboats showed an appalling accident record,” wrote historian Daniel J. Boorstin in 1965. “A voyage on the Mississippi, it was often said, was far more dangerous than a passage across the ocean.” I never knew how dangerous steam boat travel was, I must have watched Gone With the Wind a few a few times too many! for the full story have a look here.

This Is Great News For Beer Drinkers,

that like a beer or three whilst working!

photograph tito pixel/Unsplash, a Spanish court ruled that an electrical company was wrong to fire one of its electricians for allegedly drinking more than three litres of beer on the job, in September of 2021, the Spanish electrical company fired an electrician that had been with the company for 27 years after a private detective presented evidence that he had been constantly consuming alcohol on the job over several weeks, the private eye had been hired by the company to observe the sacked employee and his colleagues throughout the day, and he observed them drinking copious amounts of beer all through the day, case closed I would have thought, but apparently not, the court ordered the electrical company to either reinstate the sacked worker or pay them 47,000 euros, at todays rate £41,613.45 or $52,303.95, it turns out being drunk is only true when the employer can prove without a shadow of a doubt that the accused was inebriated to the point where he could no longer fulfil his duty safely, and the private investigator did not do that, “At no time did the private detective make mentions of signs of inebriation or clumsiness when it came to walking,” the court explained, “There is no proof – documentary, expert or witness – that unequivocally demonstrates that the man was under the effects of alcohol and was inebriated, intoxicated or drunk. Neither has it been proved, even circumstantially, that his physical and mental faculties were reduced or diminished during his tasks as an electrician, nor that he was impeded when he drove the company van at the end of the working day.” so it appears whatever profession you are in, drinking and working are perfectly compatible!

Only One Post Again Today,

we were out with Steve and Kai, 

and as usual I took too many photographs! some work going on near the snail mail box, as I made my way to the number 54 bus stop, we were all meeting there, Steve and Kai were walking from home, and Diana was on the bus meeting us there directly from work,

in no time at all we were walking across Blackheath, well at least I was, looking back towards the village parade of shops,

and in the one behind this tree, Steve, Kai and Diana were buying some tea,

meanwhile I had a new friend, just one as it happens, 

normally there are mobs of crows here,

or I should say a murder of crows,

but today just this one,

as it happens he seemed a lot more trusting than many of them,

and walked quite close to me as I gave him some peanuts,

here comes the gang,

all smiles as usual,

with their bubble tea,

and in case you are wondering bubble tea is a tea-based drink that originated in Taiwan in the early 1980s, Taiwanese immigrants brought it to the United States in the 1990s, initially in California through regions like Los Angeles County, but the drink has also spread to other countries where there is a large East Asian diaspora population, and it has of course arrived in the UK, but what is it? bubble tea most commonly consists of tea accompanied by chewy tapioca balls ("boba" or "pearls"), but it can be made with other toppings as well, such as grass jelly, aloe vera, red bean, or popping boba, it has many varieties and flavors, but the two most popular varieties are pearl black milk tea and pearl green milk tea ("pearl" signifies the tapioca balls at the bottom), all I know is that having tried it once it went on my ‘Do not try again’, list,

walking over the heath nearer to Greenwich Park, which was where we were going,

the crows became more numerous, 

as it happens Diana made a video of me feeding them, they really like peanuts!

the girls were too full for a ice cream,

past the gate house,

and this was what we had come for,

the cherry blossoms now in flower,

unlike our last visit here in April, when the flowers were still in bud!, 

there were not many cars or people in the park, but they were all here under the cherry blossom,

time for a pose,

or two,

one more, then a closeup,

lest try that again without anyone in the background,

that's better,

and I just had to,

and one more for luck!

we were lucky with the weather, it was supposed to be cloudy and overcast, 

but when we arrived, the skies cleared,

and made it perfect for taking photographs,

Diana and Kai had a selfie stick,

and they were soon using it,

under the trees,

and in the avenue of trees,

all of these from Kai's telephone,

with the stick,

a jump for joy,

one more pose together,

and one more of Diana, of course us boys were busy,

looking after the girls clothes and in Steve's case Kai's handbag,

some trees had passed their sell by date, so a few new ones have been planted,

we started the walk down the hill to town,

stopping on the way of course,

well I had too to !

the sunny spell in the weather coming to a close, but to be fair we were so lucky that the sun came out just when we were in the cherry blossom avenue,

Steve beat us all to the bottom of the hill,

it was a good job we did not want a photograph of the gates,

road works totally obscured the view of them,

into town and past Diana's favourite shop, Oliver Bonas,

we crossed the square,

the girls wandered off, Steve and myself had a look in the shop that sells second-hand vinyl, CD and Blu-rays,

which is opposite one of the entrances to the market,

 the reason we had come into town was this,

the ice cream shop,

I took a few photographs outside,

then bimbled inside,

the selection was huge,

so many flavours and colours,

and many with small pieces of glitter on them,

next please!

the ice cream shop is opposite Oliver Bonas,

and here they are,

I decided against one, next on to the 199 to Bellingham, then off and on to a number 54 and home, we said farewell to Steve and Kai as they were going to do some shopping on town, 

and we made our way past the wisteria on Foxgrove Lodge and home, after our evening meal I was out again, 

the work now finished by the post box,

I walked into town to catch the 227 to Penge, but before that as I walked past the green,

the Christmas tree now repurposed for the upcoming Coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is scheduled to take place on Saturday, 6 May 2023, at Westminster Abbey, and of course many towns are holding their own celebrations over the weekend that the ceremony takes place on,

walking post the graveyard,

some blue bells and as it happens some white bells putting on a good show,

they looked nice, on to the 227 and I meet Steve in the Moon & Stars in Penge, we chatted the night away over a number of beers, after saying our goodbyes back home,

and past Foxgrove Lodge, and home for a spiced rum nightcap, Diana had already gone to bed, she had a early start today and the same again tomorrow, 

for myself I watched Horror Express, which considering it was based in a train and that it was released in 1972 was remarkably good, a few of the scary bits were indeed scary! and with the end of that I was off to bed.