Foxes And Crows,

here again this morning, 

one was more than a bit thirsty than the others, 

having a long drink, 

I then looked for a couple of photographs to enter into the next PDI (Projected Digital Image), competition for the club, I chose these two, above 'Neon Dreams: A Night In Chinatown, Pattaya.' and,

'Dulcimer Player, Piazza Navona in Rome', will the judge like them? it is in the lap of the Gods! as it happens I decided to play with AI and asked it to name them for me, an instruction which it totally ignored, 

and sent me this composite picture, which I have to admit looks pretty good, but still no name, I think I will leave this AI malarky to the professionals, after Diana called,

I made my way into a grey, cloudy day and meet Diana on the bus, 

alighting at Bromley, past The Partridge, 

and Primark, 

Diana popped into the bank, 

and then shopping, no haberdashery today as it is Monday, 

or stalls in the High Street, 

for myself into LIDL, as we were in Bromley I picked up a couple of bottles each of spiced rum and sherry,

 then into the Greyhound to wait for Diana,

and here she is, with her new short haircut,

and nice it looks too,

as by now it was getting late we decided to eat here, chicken bits for Diana,

scampi and chips for myself, 'Cheers!', including a drink each the bill came to £20.40,

on to the bus for the trip home, then a walk through the park, on the way I got mugged by the crows, 

they recognise me, so a few peanuts to keep them happy, arriving home for a change we watched a couple of Simpson's before a Midsomer Murder, after which Diana was off to bed, a early start today and a 05.00AM start tomorrow, for myself a Bangers & Cash before I too was off to bed.

Another Day,

with a few guests first thing, 

one was waiting curled up on the lawn, 

then a second one appeared, 

the first taking a drink, 

then a rest, 

after which they noticed me, 

so a few peanuts to chew on, 

something startled the one with the bent tail,

I have not mentioned the crows, who were no fools, almost every time I throw peanuts to the foxes, 

they land on our window sill for their nuts, sometimes even if there are no foxes as I am typing the blog there will be a tap on the window as one waits for some nuts, clever birds!

it was then time for my read and sherry,

 

for our starter today huge New Zealand mussels with garlic and toasted bread,

a quick 'Cheers!',

on to our main course, roast chicken with lashings of gravy for Diana,

sans gravy for myself, another 'Cheers!', from me,

and for dessert, apples strudel with ice cream,

delicious, next feet up for our Sunday afternoon/evening films, firstly, 

 The Incredible Shrinking Man, made in 1957 I did not think Diana would like it as it was filmed in black and white, but she was fascinated by it, Scott Carey finds that he has begun to shrink, first just a few inches, so that his clothes no longer fit, then a little more, soon he is only three feet tall, and a national curiosity, at six inches tall he can only live in a doll's house, it all sounds a bit lame, but a movie head and shoulders above the rest when it was released, keeping to a black & white theme, 

Treasure of the Sierra Madre, from the blurb:

'Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin, both down on their luck in Tampico, Mexico in 1925, meet up with a grizzled prospector named Howard and decide to join with him in search of gold in the wilds of central Mexico. Through enormous difficulties, they eventually succeed in finding gold, but bandits, the elements, and most especially greed threaten to turn their success into disaster'

a enjoyable look at the power of greed and compassion, if you have not yet seen the movie and you like black & white movies give this one a try, Humphrey Bogart gives a stella performance as he spirals into madness, after a snack in the evening, 

Titanic, I had watched this once before, but Diana had not, and I have to say it was remarkably good, a different story line to the latest version of the tragedy, from the blurb:

"Unhappily married and uncomfortable with life among the British upper crust, Julia Sturges takes her two children and boards the RMS Titanic for America. Her husband, Richard, also arranges passage on the doomed luxury liner in order to allow him to have custody of their two children, Annette and Norman. Meanwhile, Annette begins a romance with a young American college student and tennis player, Gifford Rogers. Unfortunately, their family problems soon seem minor when the Titanic strikes an iceberg".

after which Diana was off to bed a 04.00AM start for her tomorrow, for myself a Have I Got A Bit More News For You before I too was off to bed.

First Thing,

a few guests, 

mum and two cubs had arrived, 

for a few peanuts, 

for some reason this youngsters tail has a slight kink in it,

Mum giving me the evils, 

after a few handfuls the cubs left, 

but the mother knew that if she waited, 

there would be a few more, 

peanuts for her,

in a couple of weeks time there will be the first of the print competitions at the club, so I spent quite some time looking through galleries of my photographs to make a decision on which two to enter, I eventually decided on, 'Mr. & Mrs. Grebe and family',

and this cheeky one, 'The frog who knew too much', hopefully they will do better that the last competition! And then my day went into a downward spiral, the printer refused to print, I did the usual things, unplug the machine, after some time plug it back in again, clear the print queue, then in the LED window I received a massage that said the rear feed tray needs removing and cleaning, 

so here goes, photographs from Northlight Images, 

I have to say all of this is way above my pay grade, 

I was really going into the unknown, 

it was not until I had completed this that I looked on the Internet and found their very handy page from Northlight Images, rather worryingly I found nothing that I could see that was wrong, 

so I reassembled it and popped it back, well I do not know what I did, but it is back to printing perfectly!

and here they are, I mounted them in the standard size mounts for club competitions, 

by now it was time for my evening read and sherry, 

for tonight Diana had left me a delicious smoked salmon salad, then feet up for my evening's films, the first Scary Movie 4.5, but here is the thing, I could find Scary Movie 4 and Scary Movie 5, but not 4.5, strange but there it is, next, 

 Gladiator II, I had started watching a couple of days ago, so tonight I finished the movie, the basic story is that after his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people, then Diana returned from her late shift, so a coffee for Diana and another spiced rum for myself, as we settled down to watched a couple of back to back Bangers & Cash, it is amazing that so many cars featured I had seen friends or their families owning in the 1950s/60s/70s that are now worth so much! as a example a Ford V8 Pilot owned by Chris, sold for £35.00, a Triumph TR 3a bought by Dash for £375.00, and so many others, but now changing hands for tens of thousands, if only I had kept just one of the cars I or my parents owned like this one, VGP 750, and here it is,

the registration plate VGP 750 = Very Good Performance 750 (the c.c. of the engine), 

then I had a huge motorcycle accident, so it had to go,

the car was last seen at the 750 Motor Club Festival in August 2010 at Silverstone, I wonder where it is now? and after that we were off to bed.