Sunday Again!

we started the day as usual, a slight sleep in,

and in no time it was a read and sherry time, 

we started with a huge spring roll,

I mentioned to Diana it was just like the ones May used to make when instead of a pizza takeaway next to the shop it was a Chinese takeaway, it was delicious, 

we needed a long break after that, for today roast beef, with gravy for Diana,

sans gravy for myself, 'Cheers!',

the dessert was a good as it looked, 

apple pie, custard and ice cream, in the afternoon feet up for a film, one of Diana's favorites, well one of mine as well, 

 The Big Country, here is what I commented  about the film in November 2017, 'talk about an all star cast, Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives, Charles Bickford, Alfonso Bedoya, Ramón Gutierrez, Chuck Connors, Chuck Hayward to name just a few, in case you have not seen it the film contains for myself one of the best, if not the best, monologues in film history by Burl Ives,

 and here it is, Burl Ives in the speech that won him an Oscar, and rightly so, I did read somewhere that his monologue was made in one take, the first one, and that was the one used in the movie, there were no second takes, strangely enough my first childhood memories of him was him singing in the Uncle Max radio show from 8 till 9 on a Saturday morning, I guess I was about 5 or maybe 6 years old, so 1955 or 56 the song? Big Rock Candy Mountain, a song about a hobo's dream land, great lyrics, here they are in full,

One evening as the sun went down

And the jungle fires were burning,

Down the track came a hobo hiking,

And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning

I'm headed for a land that's far away

Besides the crystal fountains

So come with me, we'll go and see

The Big Rock Candy Mountains,

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,

There's a land that's fair and bright,

Where the handouts grow on bushes

And you sleep out every night.

Where the boxcars all are empty

And the sun shines every day

And the birds and the bees

And the cigarette trees

The lemonade springs

Where the bluebird sings

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

All the cops have wooden legs

And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth

And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs

The farmers' trees are full of fruit

And the barns are full of hay

Oh I'm bound to go

Where there ain't no snow

Where the rain don't fall

The winds don't blow

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

You never change your socks

And the little streams of alcohol

Come trickling down the rocks

The brakemen have to tip their hats

And the railway bulls are blind

There's a lake of stew

And of whiskey too

You can paddle all around it

In a big canoe

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,

The jails are made of tin.

And you can walk right out again,

As soon as you are in.

There ain't no short-handled shovels,

No axes, saws nor picks,

I'm bound to stay

Where you sleep all day,

Where they hung the jerk

That invented work

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

....

I'll see you all this coming fall

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

the song was first recorded in 1928 by Harry McClintock, its a Hobo song, the word Hobo I have been told stands for Helping Our Brothers Out, first coined in America's Great Depression', and if you want to join in, sing away!

Burl Ives, as I am singing along, I remember those far away Saturday mornings so well,

 what a great actor he really was, after a snack in the evening it was,

 

H.M.S. Defiant, set in 1797 at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars, HMS Defiant is an enthralling British naval drama made to capitalise upon MGM's epic remake of Mutiny on the Bounty, also released in 1962, the main story is the contest of wills between a benevolent captain and a cruel, vindictive first officer, after which a Midsomer Murder it was before we were off to bed.

Diana Had Another Day Off,

shopping in Bromley was planned, 

so she had a head start on me, I really do not like looking at shop after shop, so I left home after her, I should say again I am only making one post today as it is Diana's day off and I do not want to spend the morning on the computer, 

past the snail mail box, into a grey, cold day,

I walked past the Christmas tree store on the green, and made my way to Bromley, 

my first port of call Timpson, near the Sainsburys outlet in Bromley, my watch strap was wearing thin, luckily when we bought the watch I also ordered a spare strap, 

inside it was expertly fitted in no time at all, and I was on my way into town, 

passing Primark, 

and the towns Christmas tree, which I have to say lacked multiple bubbles and other decorations, but was made up for by its size, 

I made my way past the stalls, 

this one for Christmas goods, 

and the chestnut man, I normally buy some here, but we still had some from our last trip to Polhill,

a few stalls further along, the fishmongers, 

and yes I weakened, a pot of cockles to go,

another Christmas stall, 

this one selling plants,

the cyclamen looking nice, 

the second Christmas tree in town,

I have to admit, 

the aroma from these stalls,

was so tempting, 

and the beer hall beckoned, 

with its display above it, 

but I was on a mission,

I even gave Diana's favorite a miss!

there was a small fun fair in town, a helter skelter, 

and Ferris wheel, the mission I was on was to look at shops selling cameras to replace the one that had just gone completely mustang, I was using my telephone to take photographs today,

but no luck, so I made my way back to Lidl, spiced rum supplies were getting critically low, I called Diana who was still shopping, 

and arranged to meet here, the Greyhound in the High Street,

where Diana joined me for lunch, 

chicken tikka masala for Diana,

Whitby scampi for myself, 'Cheers!', our bill came to £21.04, 

Diana's shopping trip was successful.

and here is my watch with its new strap, well done Timpson's! in the evening after a small snack, (a cockle sandwich), and a BattleBots we watched a epic, 

The Fall of the Roman Empire, amazing to think it was released 60 years ago! we both enjoyed the movie, but we both kept thinking the same, "where is Charlton Heston?", after which Diana was off to bed, for myself a documentary about I, Claudius, narrated by Dirk Bogart, 

titled The Epic That Never Was, over the years I had seen small snips of the uncompleted film, this answered all of my questions about it, and with the end of that I was off to bed.

As Soon As I Posted The Blog,

I was out into a nice bright day,

the sunlight streaming through the trees,

not a cloud in the sky, 

passing Peter Pan's Pool on the number 54 bus on the way to the station, today it will be a easy trip, for two reasons, firstly I no longer have to change trains at Dartford, the new service runs from my starting point at Blackheath Village and continues through Dartford to Gravesend, I hope they keep the new schedule for the future, the last part of the journey will also not be a problem, instead of waiting for the 483 bus at Gravesend to take me to Duncan's nursing home, Alan who wants to visit Duncan, will pick me up at the station, so a easy trip today,

past the bus garage, 

so many buses outside today,

the gayly painted public house in Catford,

and of course the Catford cat,

the building that is never seems to be finished being refurbished in Lewisham,

looking along the side of it I can only think it must be some kind of warehouse, 

the skyline of Lewisham looking busy with new buildings,

the Lewisham Christmas tree looking a bit bare, I guess someone has already started taking down the decorations,

as I passed St. Margaret's church it will only be a couple of stops to the village,

in the village next to the station,

the florists had a really nice show,

of flowers,

both cut,

and in pots,

like these, 

then disaster! due to work on the tracks there will be no trains leaving here until January 3rd. just my luck, as soon as the new service is in place I can not use it! so on to the rail replacement bus, 

over Blackheath,

and past the boating pool,

where Dad and myself would bring along our putt-putt boat, as it happens very similar to this one, and admire the huge pond yachts that were there,

the bus took over an hour calling in at the stations where the trains were not running, and of course had to navigate so many road works,

so instead of the normal 20 minutes or so on the train, 

I arrived at Dartford where even on the old service I would have been in Gravesend!

thankfully Alan drove from his home to Dartford and picked me up there, instead of at Gravesend,

and here we are at the nursing home where Duncan is staying,

we had both brought a few chocolates and biscuits that Duncan likes, we chatted away, righting the wrongs of the world! and remembering when we all used to go out to pubs and restaurants in Rainham and Rochester, after saying our goodbyes,

we made a move over the road to the car park, Alan dropped me off at Gravesend station, many thanks indeed for Alan going so much out of his way to pick me up and drop me off, the train to Dartford where the bus link was also continued to Woolwich, so instead of the bus from Dartford to Blackheath and then me catching a number 54 bus home, I could stay on the train and pick up the number 54 in Woolwich,

which I did,

so I sailed past Charlton House, 

over Blackheath,

and into the village, 

and to the stop I would have arrived at opposite the station if I had taken the rail replacement bus,

just past Lewisham, the Taco Bell still not yet open,

I noticed this last week, a buildings roof completely covered in plants for summer time bees to visit,

I was soon walking past Foxgrove Lodge and home, Diana arrived shortly after myself, so a coffee and a chat, after our evening meal we decided to watch a couple of films, 

starting with I. Frankenstein, which had so many special effects, I have to admit we had watched the film before, but it was still great fun to watch again,

we rounded off the evening with Medieval, the film is about the life of Jan Žižka, a Bohemian military commander who never lost a battle, the film is set prior to the Hussite Wars (1419–1434), when Žižka was young, telling the story of how Žižka became a famous military commander and leader of the peasants uprising against the next ruler, a very enjoyable film and at 2 hours long it was just long enough for us, before we were off to bed.