Diana Was At Work,

I had a quiet day,

 I did a little bit around the flat, as well as give the aquarium a clean and spray the orchids with their fertilizer, the one that we bought from McBean's, was stll putting on a good show,

 one stem had finished,

 but the second was now really flowering,

with a few more buds still to open, we bought it last November on one of Diana's days off, out of interest it is know as a Pacific sun spots orchid, (Oncidium catatante), 

 in the evening time for a read, 

I had just finished River God, the first of 6 books in the Egyptian series,

and tonight I started on the second, The Seventh Scroll,

 'Cheers!', 

 late in the evening Diana called, so off to the bus stop,

 I was surprised that it was still light, arriving home feet up for a nightcap and we were off to bed.

Yet Again We Prepared For A Picnic,

but again it was not to be, 

 just as we were getting ready the clear blue skies clouded over and it poured with rain! so our picnic was inside as we watched television,

 in the evening, a pre meal read and sherry,

 and for tonight's starter, duck spring rolls with sliced spring onion and cucumber,

 'Cheers!', 

 for our main course baked salmon with asparagus and mash,

 another 'Cheers!', from me, 

 for dessert strawberries and sliced peaches with cream and evaporated milk,

 delicious!

 by now it was dark outside, so I decided to take a couple of photographs of the orchid that was in flower, 

 there was just so many blooms,

after our meal a little aquarium maintenance, Diana cut down some of the ground cover plant that had grown a little to tall, after listening to music we then settled down to a late showing of New Tricks, after that we were off to bed.

The Orchid,

is putting on a magnificent display,

 almost all of the buds have opened, the flowers so heavy they are pulling the support stick over,

 masses of flowers, hopefully they will last for some time, 

 and the good news is that there is another flower spike growing, we were going to take a walk in the park and have a picnic now that it is allowed, but it was not to be, outside it was blowing a gale, so maybe tomorrow, after watching a few game shows it was time for our evening meal,

 a read and a sherry, 

 as we had a bottle of chilled bubby, it seemed a shame to leave it in the refrigerator,

 our starter for this evening, chicken pate,

 back to the bubbly,

 it had a proper cork cork, if you see what I mean,

 and it was remarkably reluctant to leave the bottle, success! 

 a quick pore,

 'Cheers!',

 just what the doctor ordered as they say,

 for our main course,

 chilli con carne, 

 looking out of the window the fox was waiting for his daily helping of peanuts,

 for dessert a bramley apple pie with custard and ice cream, 

another 'Cheers!, we listen to music for some time then a happy round of Poirot, and Sherlock Holmes rounding off the evening with one from New Tricks, next for us, we were off to bed.

The Orchid,

with the large flower spike,

 was beginning to open

  and nice it looked too, 

 with lots more buds still to open,

 breakfast over it was time to go shopping, we parked in the cinema car park, and again almost had the whole park to ourselves,

 I joined the queue to go into the bank, which is opposite the cinema

 Diana went a few shops along to go into Tesco,

 next stop, to Kingfisheries Aquarium, our local tropical fish shop, it is at 308, Croydon Road Beckenham, BR3 4HR, telephone number 0208 6503716, they are open 11.00 – 4.00  Monday to Saturday, as a guide it is on the opposite corner that the BP petrol station in Croydon Road is on, 

for us we needed some RO water for the aquarium,

opps! spilt some!

looking at the rear of the shop in the outdoor cold water section,

I noticed,

that they had a nice selection of water lilies in stock,

also they had some some sterlets, (Acipenser rutheneus), it is the commonest of the sturgeons, unlike other sturgeons, this one spends all of its life in freshwater,

 in the afternoon after a few quiz shows, time for our evening meal,

 for our starter, mussels in a garlic sauce,

 'Cheers!',

 before our main course I took a photograph of the aquarium, if you look really closely you might see one or two red shrimps,  

 as I was doing that I noticed the fox waiting for his peanuts,

 he grabbed a few,

and disappeared,

 on to our main course, 

we had a lamb shank each,

 another 'Cheers!', as Diana was putting the plates in the kitchen she mentioned the fox was back,  

 and there he was, patiently waiting and looking up at our window, more nuts for him, 

for dessert Diana's favorite, sticky toffee pudding with fresh cream and ice cream, delicious! we listened to some music then we watched the television, one each from Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, and New Tricks, all of which brought us up to midnight when for us we were off to bed.