It Was Diana's Day Off,

so the girls were out to London for the day,

 

starting out at Blackheath and then down to Greenwich, 

for the Uber taxi boat ride to London Bridge, meanwhile I had a few things to do at Kai's house, I beat the painters there as they did not start until 08.00 in the morning, when it warmed up as I waited for Robbie to service Kai's boiler, I popped outside in the sun, 

and was soon joined by Buddy, 

who made himself comfortable on my lap for a snooze, then Robbie arrived and it was time for Robbie to service the boiler which he did and replace a washer in a leaky tap, unfortunately he did not have one of the many different sized ones in his kit of spares, so he will return on Thursday to replace the washers in both taps and reposition a radiator that kai wants moved, just as he was going the Man with a Van arrived, after showing him what needed to be dumped he gave me a price to give to Kai and he was on his way, it was now late afternoon, so before I left for home,

it was time to feed Buddy, who ate al fresco, as there was still too much happening with the painters inside, on another note I mentioned I had joined a photographic club, the Beckenham Photographic Society, on my fourth week there another competition was held, for black & white prints, or 1 black and 1 other colour, so I entered a couple of my prints, 

Urquhart castle,

and this one of the lake at the front of the Palm House that I called Ice on the Water, and much to my surprise Urquhart Castle received a 'highly recommended', I should also mention that with all of this printing our 6 year old printer, finally had a terminal hissy fit, we are now the proud owners of a Eco tank Epson ET - 8550, which rather nicely prints up to the paper size A3 and A3+ and so far the results are excellent, in the evening the girls arrived home so a Midsomer Murder it was before the girls left for Kai's house, for myself a helping of a Have I Got A Bit More News For You, followed by a Ain't Half Hot Mum before I was off to bed.

I Have Moved Back To Our Home,

although Diana will continue to stay with Kai in the evenings,

so the good news is that I will start making posts on the blog again, back to Sunday, Kai went to her home to feed Buddy and do a few things about the house, for us a walk to the mansion, naturally I had to stop by one of the cherry trees,

through the gates and up the hill,

on our left the wild area that was planted 5 or 6 years ago, starting to really grow now, 

the plant stall was here as usual, 

with everything from succulents, 

to daffodils, 

as it was Mothers Day, not many bunches of flowers left,

it was the first day of spring, the clocks going forward this morning, it was also a sunny day, so lots of visitors to the park,

and lots of cheese, 

looking back from the front of the mansion, at the stalls along the roadway,

a quick pose as we walked around the rear of the mansion,

families out enjoying the park in the sun,

we found a bench to sit on, a coke for Diana,

well I just had to!

a selfie on Diana's telephone,

I had some peanuts in my pocket, that the local robin appreciated, 

we then looked at the stalls on the road, 

lots of people queueing, but nothing took our fancy, 

as we walked home this magnolia was putting on a good show,

as were the cherry trees, 

a quick pose under the flowers,

and a walk,

towards the camera,

then time for our Sunday lunch, 'Cheers!',

for our starters duck spring rolls, with prawns on toast sprinkled with sesame seeds,

our main course, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, with all of the extras, with gravy for Diana, 

sans gravy for myself, another 'Cheers!', after which it was a afternoon and early evening with Columbo, when Kai joined us,

 it was Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, great fun, after which a Midsomer Murder was being shown so we watched that before a It Ain't Half Hot Mum, after which we were all off to bed.

I Am Now Making Just A Short Post,

to let everyone know,

that we are still at Kai's home, although this weekend Kai will be staying with us, the good news is that Steve's beloved angel fish have found a new home at Darren's, we moved them last week and all went well in the transfer with no casualties, this week on Sunday it is the heavy job, removing the aquariums, for Kai, well all of us, although we will never forget him, the aquariums were a constant reminder of Steve, which especially for Kai brings back painful memories, hopefully pleasant memories will replace the ones of sadness, so I will not be making any posts for a few weeks as will be at Kai's home, I should say I have continued to visit Duncan who remains in good sprits, but it must be said that he also misses Steve, amongst other adventures we all had they both took their Open Water SCUBA courses together and passed all of those years ago.

Yesterday It Was Time For Steve To Leave Us,

well over 100 people attended the funeral, 

which was conducted perfectly by all of the professionals involved, today Kai will be turning a new page in her life, as you might expect she is still fragile and having reminders of Steve everywhere in the house it will still be difficult for her, I am at home this morning, so I am making this short post, but we will still be staying with Kai through the next few weeks, when we are fully at home I will be able to continue with a daily post. 

Through all of this I had to take my mind off of the situation, so I joined the local photographic club, the Beckenham Photographic Society, last week a speaker took us through different approaches to photography citing a number of famous photographers, (as it happens I had not heard of any of them), but it was enlightening to look at different styles of photography, last night was my second night at the club and the previous week we were all asked to bring in some of our photogrghs for a quarterly show, I did not know what to expect, anyway I brought along 2 sets of 3 prints and entered them into the standard group, as opposed to the advanced group,

 looking at the competition, it was a bit of a forlorn hope, some were just so good,

boards had been placed around the room to display the prints members had brought along,

 a guest judge was given the task of judging and awarding a first, second and third place, behind him my 2 sets of entry's,  

masks and waterlilies, and guess what? much to my complete surprise I was awarded first place for the waterlily set! you could have knocked me down with a feather!, these are the three I entered,

next week there are a number of guest speakers and a black & white contest was announced for 2 weeks time, but entries have to be handed in next week, the problem being my printer has finally died, so I can not print any B & W's as only one print can be entered I might bite on the bullet and get the local photoshop to print one for me, I will sign off now, as I am gong back to Kai's home as Diana will be working this afternoon, Kai just can not bear to be left alone, we all feel a great sadness, Steve was a part of so many peoples lives, but I guess life must go on.

Today We Are At Home,

and this is the first time I have looked at the blog since Steve passed away, 

looking through old photographs I found this one, Steve and myself back in the 1980s in Dang's bar in Pattaya, still there but now called The Gold Star Bar, such happy memories, so sad now to look at them, for any friends or acquaintances reading this, 

the funeral will take place at Beckenham Crematorium, on Wednesday the 12th March at 10am (English time) the address below:

Beckenham Crematorium

Elmers End Road

Beckenham
Kent
BR3 4TD

Telephone: 020 8658 9495 / 020 8658 9775

 

the link to the crematorium below,

 

https://www.dignityfunerals.co.uk/crematoria-and-cemeteries/cemeteries/find-a-cemetery/beckenham-crematorium-and-cemetery/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=listings&utm_content=7557&utm_campaign=local_listings

 

Below is the Webcast for Steve's funeral so you can be there on the day if you cannot make the cemetery,

https://watch2.orbitus.com

Username  gubo2508
Password.  776920

 

and afterwards at The Beckenham Sports Club, 19 Foxgrove Rd, Beckenham BR3 5AS. Telephone 020 8650 0266, could you please forward the above to anyone I may have missed, again I will not be posting for the next few weeks as we will be staying with Kai. One practical piece of advice has come out of this, if you secure your laptop/telephones with a finger/thump print, go back to numbers, and let who ever is going to execute your will and look after the surviving partner have the numbers to unlock your laptop/telephones.

It Is With Great Sadness That I Make This Post

regular readers will know my life long friend Steve,

he had a heart attack last Saturday, he was rushed to hospital where 3 stents were fitted, on Tuesday he was allowed home and as instructed started making short walks every day, on Friday evening he fell asleep as normal, but he did not wake later in the evening when Kai tried to wake him, despite the efforts of 2 ambulance crews and a cardiac specialist, he could not be revived, 

Steve and Kai, 

with Diana, in memory of past days, dear friend you will be missed so much by all that had the pleasure of knowing you, R.I.P. We will be staying with Kai for the next 3 - 4 weeks, she can not bear to be in the house alone, as I can not use my telephone to post the blog I will not be posting for the foreseeable future, I hope you understand at this difficult time, when we are back home I will continue to post.