I Had Already Dropped Diana Off At Work,

so I had all day to play with my photographs,

this one I took way back in 1983 on Pattaya beach when boats would come close to shore and we would walk out to the boarding ladder, but it had a problem that I had been putting off correcting, it ran out of photo on the left side, also the main mast was not quite upright, after a lot of trial by error, 

it looked like this, but in doing so I had now run out of photograph at the bottom of the picture! when I put the photograph in a mount I will lose some of the photograph, the bottom of the boat will be clipped by the mount, 

so I eventually ended up with this, it took forever, (which is why I had not tackled the photograph before), 

next a architectural photograph of the Shard, I decided on a black & white, plus straighten the uprights and and add a few clouds in the sky, 

and here it is, 

next one from The National Slate Museum, which is located at Gilfach Ddu, the 19th-century workshops of the now disused Dinorwic quarry, within the Padarn Country Park, Llanberis, Gwynedd, we visited the site in September 2021 with Steve and Kai, back to the photograph, I wanted to alter the perspective so the disused rail tracks looked like a cross, 

and here it is, 

yesterday I was playing with this photograph and mentioned I wanted to dull the ladies shoulder, hat and the bright lights in the background,

for myself a lot better, but still not quite as I want it, and then I hit a snag, I had run out of paper! yes 100 sheets of A3 matte paper finished, luckily I ordered some a couple of days ago and it should be here on Saturday, as they call it in the motor industry JIT and it was! Diana had finished work and after a rest we were out,

to one of our favorite Indian restaurants, the Kathmandu Masala,

 

inside some poppadum's and a sherry as we perused the menu,

our starters arrived, lamb samosa for Diana, prawn puri for myself and a try of a duck starter which was nice, we had not ordered it before,

a 'Cheers!', as our main courses arrived, 

a prawn, lamb and chicken dish as well as peas and mushroom rice, a mushroom bhaji and nan bread, 

after our meal a coffee and a dessert for Diana, 

a 'Cheers!', with a coffee, 

and for myself the last of the bottle with a Jamaican coffee, the bill came to £123.00, many thanks to Diana as it was her treat, then back onto the number 54 bus, 

arriving at Foxgrove Lodge we stopped to sample the aroma of some of the flowers, these roses the nicest, indoors it was the last half of a Midsomer Murder, followed by a Have I Got A Bit More News For You, and the good news? next week we will be a part of the studio audience! Diana had arranged for tickets to see the show live and being recorded for transmission the following evening, after that we were off to bed.

After Diana Left For Work,

I played with a few photographs,

this one from the 1980s when I visited Wat Arun, the Temple of the Dawn in Bangkok, 

looking at them there does not seem to be any changes, but it is only when seen as prints that they can be seen, as it happens we visited the temple when Diana's family were over in Thailand with us in November 2024 for a holiday, the photograph above almost impossible to take nowadays, the place is packed morning until night, and where would you find a monk wearing black robes?

as it happens I am pretty sure this is where I took the original photograph when Diana's family was with us, people everywhere!

another from Thailand, this a temple I took with the infrared camera, I straightened the uprights, 

and decided on making it black & white, 

next to Scotland, Edinburgh to be exact, at Gladstone's Land,

I blurred the ladies shoulder and hat, again not obvious unless you can see the actual photograph, by now it was time for my evening meal, shortly afterwards Diana arrived home, so our usual fare of a Outback Opal Hunters and a Deadliest Catch, we then decided on a series on BBC iPlayer, 

Marie Antoinette, a period drama, and remarkably good it was too, we enjoyed it so much we watched a second episode, the sets, costumes, storyline and acting all superb, after which Diana was off to bed, a early start tomorrow, for myself a Bangers & Cash followed by a Kenny Everett before I too was off to bed.

Blog Posted And I Was Out,

into a cold grey day, 

I was off to visit Duncan, tomorrow a special day for him as it is his birthday, but he unwrapped his present from us today, our card had not yet arrived, hopefully it will tomorrow, but he did have another card and some presents, his daughter Louie, (Lu-Lu) from a previous marriage had popped back to the UK from Mexico where she works, Duncan was in fine sprits, the staff at the home where he stays labeled all of the shirts that we had bought him, so they are not lost in the laundry, when his lunch arrived we said our farewells and I made a move, 

into a day that had not improved at all, on the way back I thought about my car insurance, I had a limited mileage policy 2,000 a year, but just going to visit Duncan every week, it is 20 miles each way, so 40 miles X 48 weeks, the number of time a year I visit Duncan makes 1,920 miles so the 2,000 a year is defiantly out of the window, so I called my car insurance company, after what seemed like hours I was talking to someone, only to find out I had cancelled the policy in February! and I could not remember who I transferred to, naturally I had paid with Barclaycard, so no emails about it, and of course I could not find the February Barclaycard statement, so on to the Barclaycard website, but my Barclaycard number was not recognized! After an age I finally talked to someone, yes the Barclaycard site was down, just my luck! anyway it was established I was with Admiral, so I went on their website and altered my mileage to 5,000 a year and removed Steve from the named drivers list, pressed pay and was told the alterations meant a £15.00 reduction! so that was a result, I also had a few other things to do, so I only had time to play with one photograph,

this one, I took on one of our trips to Santorini, naturally I played about with it a tad, with Affinity Photo 2, and a few other programs I had bought over the years, 

and this was the result, from a rather drab throw away photograph to one that is nice enough to hang on our wall the next time we change them, by now it was time for my evening meal, 

but first a read and a sherry with the latest copy of Private Eye, 

before some smoked salmon, 

and a cottage pie, 'Cheers!', then my usual fair of Outback Opal Hunters and a Deadliest Catch, before my film for the evening,

Land of the Lost, a funny and well produced comedy, as I wrote before, 'the story is that paleontologist Rick Marshall takes Will and Holly into a new world of danger, dinosaurs and big bug-eyed lizard people while trying to find their way back home and, too, save the universe and in doing so saving his reputation, great kids adventure, which is why I like it so much, nothing to tax the brain', I then started watched The Kenny Everett Video Show as Diana arrived home, that started with this, 

 

which I just love, and if you want to join in it is, taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapiki- maungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu, a place in New Zealand, and on tonight's show a real treat, a superstar we were only talking about a few days ago, 

David Bowie, what a performer, after the show a coffee and a chat before we were off to bed.

Before Diana Left For Work,

I was out and driving to Sidcup to visit Mick, 

who had recently lost his wife Pauline, here we all are in happier times, we chatted away reminiscing about old times, Mick helped out in the shop for a number of years, and we chatted about some of the many videos and later DVD's we made for the shop, after I left it was home and out again, I had asked Diana to pick up some T shirts for Duncan but I said the wrong size, 

so rain coat on and I was out into a wet, windy, rainy day, past the snail mail box and on to a 354 bus to Bromley, I did not take the car, I have to admit I can not understand how this new parking charge works using a mobile telephone, Diana knows perfectly, but as she is not here and there are no cash parking machines in Bromley it was the bus for me, 

off of the bus in Bromley and past The Artful Duke, 

which is next to The Partridge, and into Primark, shirts exchanged, 

and I was back opposite The Greyhound, waiting for a bus home, 

arriving in Beckenham I decided to alight at the club, 

I do not visit it now as I only went there with Steve, so I had a look at the new cricket pitch, the crease covered, 

the boundary newly marked, 

it was still raining, the tennis courts deserted, 

all of them, arriving home it was time for my evening meal, soup it was, after the usual programs, 

 The Abyss, was starting, underwater aliens, a downed nuclear sub, starring Ed Harris and directed and written by James Cameron, what more could you want? great special effects and a Day the Earth Stood Still storyline/ending, I should say that the film had been slashed to pieces, so many scenes cut, this is the worry when/if Blu-ray discs are ever stopped being produced, instead of seeing the whole film you will only see the heavily cut and sanitized version shown on television, after that finished Diana called, so off to pick her up, 

 after arriving home it was feet up for a coffee before we settled down for the The Good The Bad and the Ugly, we had watched the film before, but it was still good fun to watch again, after that we were then off to bed.

We Had A Few Things To Do Today,

so glad rags on, 

and we were out, 

past the snail mail box, on to a number 354 bus, 

and we arrived in Bromley, walking past The Partridge with its new outside umbrellas looking nice and inviting, if only it was warm and sunny!

Diana popped into Primark, not only for look around but to buy a present for Duncan as it is his birthday this week,

I carried on walking, no stalls today as it is a bank Holiday, 

well there were two stalls, 

one selling ice cream, and one clothes, 

but this is where I was off to, stocks of spiced rum at nearly critical level, I bought a box of wine as well, and some food, by now we were hungry as we had not eaten breakfast, so The Greyhound it was then,

a American with pancakes for Diana, 

a good 'ole English fry up for myself, 

'Cheers!' with a mug of tea, our breakfast came to £17.45,

back on to a number 354 bus and home, after dropping the shopping off at home we were out again and walking past the snail mail box,

to the gates that stop cars from entering this part of the park,

on the gates a poster, we were hoping that with the fun fair there would be a few stalls selling food like cakes and cheeses, 

walking past the wildlife area that was planted a few years ago, the sticks that were put in by the local school kids now growing really well,

not many people at the rear of the mansion,

as for stalls, there were none,

just the fun fair, so we decided on a drink as we were here, 

but the courtyard packed with a huge queue, 

so round the corner to where there was just a drinks counter, which was also busy, 

not many benches, 

except these two farthest from the bar,

the view from the bench, 

which was nice except the grey clouds rolling in, 

Diana arrived, 

with a coffee and a beer, 

and some nuts, 

'Cheers!',

as it happens just as we were finishing our drinks a few spots of rain fell,

as we made our way home past the fun fair, 

to the gates at the end of the pedestrianized area,

to the snail mail box and home, we just managed to beat the shower, it was almost like a Sunday, so feet up for a film, 

so the Ten Commandments it was, at nearly 4 hours long it was a epic view! what can one say? so many famous actors appearing, and coupled with the fact that at least 14,000 extras and 15,000 animals were used in the movie makes it one of the must see movies of the 1950s, the film took us well into the evening, after a snack it was a Deadliest Catch followed by a Midsomer Murder, rounding off our evening with another from It ain't Half Hot Mum, before we were off to bed.