Thursday 31 August 2023

Blog Posted,

and I was out, 


into what was actually quite a chilly day,

I caught the early number 54 bus, and was soon passing Peter Pan's Pool,

hopefully the ducks will fly across the road,

entering Lewisham the traffic was light,

the market already up and running,

the florist next door to Blackheath station not yet open,

I was in plenty of time for the 09.31, and good news it went to Gravesend, so no changing trains at Dartford,

commuters on the up line already left for London,

a bright day when I arrived at Gravesend, on to the 483 bus,

and I was soon walking up the hill to the nursing home where Duncan stays,

blue skies and it had warmed up, the tree in the distance,

was loaded down with fruit,

looking like mini apples,

I really do not know what they are,

great fun at the home, today all of the resident that want to can come outside for a bar-b-q, I mentioned this to Duncan who I guess will be take out later in the afternoon, he was in good sprits, we chatted away about where Diana and myself had been to over the past couple of weeks, as it happens I only stayed for an hour, as Diana was on early shift in the morning, in the afternoon she had booked tickets for the cinema, also I had to pop into town to pick up my bi-monthly prescription, and be back home to meet Diana and take the bus to Bromley, 

after saying our farewells I made a move to the bus stop,

arriving at the station not too long to wait for the 13.04,

on platform 0,

and here it is, 

an hour or so later I was walking out of the station at Blackheath,

the florists now open with a nice selection of cyclamen,

by the other window a selection of cards,

the number 54 bus arrived and in no time I was passing the building where work never seems to be finished, as it happens our home is starting to feel like that, the completion date put back by a month,

into Catford,

sad news about many of the bee gardens on top of the bus shelters,

most had dried out, I am guessing funds were found to install them, but someone forgot to budget for funds for them to be watered,

the same at the Green man complex,

but at least some of the plants are hanging on,

I stayed on the bus as it passed the green,

and made its way down the hill into town,

where the bus caught up with the one in front, for some reason it seems like the number 54 bus like to travel in pairs!

off and into Lidl,

a small selection of plants,

seeds,

and cut flowers, shopping finished,

and over the road to Boots to pick up my prescription, 

into the park and home, a coffee a wash and we were out, onto a 162 to Bromley,

a quick pose,

and we were inside the Vue,

either we were early or we had the cinema to ourselves,

Diana had stocked up with snacks, unfortunately with a killer straw, a new study, published Thursday in the journal Food Additives and Contaminants, found evidence of “forever chemical” PFAS in the majority of both paper and bamboo straws tested, you may remember that perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was banned globally in 2020, it is so dangerous to us and the environment, in case you do not know PFAS stands for “per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances,” and refers to a collection of long-lasting chemicals that take a very long time to slowly break down in the environment, for the full article have a look here,

a very happy Diana, time to tuck in!

for myself a box of popcorn,

selfie time,

and this is what we had come to watch, Meg 2: The Trench, I will not say too much as many will not yet have watched the movie, but for us it was almost non-stop action, great special effects, and a totally unbelievable storyline, which of course is what this sort of film is all about! we really enjoyed Meg 2 and are looking forward to Meg 3!

out into the pedestrianised High Street,

and into Miso, for our evening meal,

'Cheers!',

we started with a nibble on prawn crackers,

followed by spare ribs,

we just could not eat here without a Peking duck,

gently does it,

Ta-Dah!

what a feast!

and then our main course arrived, Diana went with a kare lomen, a spicy soup with fresh tiger prawns, lemongrass, coconut milk, red chillies, fresh ginger, cucumber, fresh coriander and a wedge of lime served with udon noodles, for myself a Malaysian chicken curry, stir fried chicken breast with Chinese mushrooms, peas, onions, coconut milk and spices in a curry sauce served with steamed rice, all of which was delicious, the bill without service charge was £77.00, we caught a 354 home where Diana was soon off to bed, she has a week of early starts, 

for myself the BBC is showing a re-run of the series I, Claudius, a great BBC series from 1967, over 10 hours long in all, I watched it till late in the evening, I read some where that the incredible performance by Derek Jacobi as the stammering fool actually spilt over into his private life, it took several months after filming had finished for him to stop stammering, a trait he did not posses before filming started, I should say that now it looks very dated with sets that were vastly underfunded, but what a story as Clau-Clau, that many would mockingly call him, recites his life history to you, the viewer, and what a history! from approximately the death of Marcellus (24/23 BC) to Claudius' own death in 54 AD, he shows what life at the top of society was like, the BBC mini series is based on a book of the same name by Robert Graves, if you have time watch it, but forget about over budgeted film sets, this is by comparison done on a shoe string, and is all the better for it, after that I too was off to bed.