If You Are In The Market For A New Car,

this could be the one for you, 

photographs Mercedes-Benz, it is the newly announced Mercedes-Maybach SL 680, 

a super luxury open-top two-seater,

to suit individual preference, two design concepts are available: The "Red Ambience“ with the exclusive colour Manufaktur garnet red metallic and the "White Ambience“ with the colour Manufaktur opalite white mango,

 both will have the exclusive 53.3 cm (21-inch) Maybach 5-hole forged wheels,

and here it is in white, both colours will have the AMG version's 577-hp twin-turbo V-8, nine-speed automatic, and all-wheel drive, and how much will this stunning 2 seater cost you? well if you have to ask you can not afford it!, but expect when announced the figure to be in the mid £200,000s, would I like one? sort of, I just wish they did one in blue.

Often Amazing Discoveries Are Made On Archaeological Digs,

but here is a thought, 

photograph BNT via EBU why not let someone else do the digging? point in case, at a Black Sea resort near Varna, Bulgaria, an ancient sarcophagus dating back to the Roman era was discovered on a beach and used as a bar! There all the hard work done for you,

archaeologist Alexander Minchev said that all archaeological artefacts legally belong to the state, regardless of where or how they are found. He called for an investigation into how the sarcophagus ended up on the beach, suggesting that this might not be an isolated incident, the discovery came to light when a former police officer noticed the sarcophagus on the beach while on holiday in Varna and reported it to the local authorities, the full story is here, but one commentator might have a point, “Better it was being used and was in the open for everyone to enjoy. I have been in the store rooms of the archaeology museum in Naples Italy and what they have on display is not even 2 percent of their collection” there is of course a downside to having items on 'open' public display,

photograph Hecht Museum & X as this 'after' and 'before' photograph show when in this August a Bronze Age jar at the Hecht Museum in Israel was accidentally broken by a four-year-old boy visiting with his family, the Museum said the jar was created between 2200 and 1500 BC. It was likely used to carry or store substances like wine or olive oil during an era predating biblical royalty King David and King Solomon, thankfully Inbal Rivlin, director of Hecht Museum, said the boy broke the vase accidentally, and the situation is being dealt with as such, “There are instances where display items are intentionally damaged, and such cases are treated with great severity, including involving the police. In this case, however, this was not the situation,” she said. “The jar was accidentally damaged by a young child visiting the museum, and the response will be accordingly.” to openly display or not? that is the question.

Wednesday Is Here Again,

as soon as I post this will be out, 

to visit Duncan, and hopefully I will have a easier time than I did last week, when the buses were total chaos, back to Tuesday, I had a day doing the usual househusband things, watering the plants, cleaning the aquarium, etc. I then thought I would spend some time in the garden as the sun was appearing from the clouds, just as I was about to go downstairs, the gardeners arrived, then 3 hours for them in the back garden cutting the grass and trimming the plants and hedge, after they left it was time to pick up Diana, so that was that, arriving home, we watched a couple of quiz shows before our evening meal, a BattleBots followed by a Antiques Road Trip, before it was time for a Midsomer Murder, after which Diana was off to bed, for myself Have I Got A Bit More News For You Was showing, so that was it for myself before I too was off to bed.

Diana Was On A Early Shift,

in the afternoon we arraigned to meet up, 

as today at the mansion there was the So Last Century fair going on, out into a sunny day, 

and there she was, 

we made our way past the gates that stop cars from entering from this end of the park,

on the left the part of that park that had been planted and was to be let grow naturally really taking shape,

lots of vans and cars parked, only exhibitors allowed here, 

on the right at the rear of the mansion the area was packed,

a really natty VW food stall,

lots of stalls in front of the mansion, no plant stalls today however, 

I started taking a few photographs of the stalls, 

behind me, the fish & chip van, that was my evening meal sorted!

I carried on looking at the goods on offer, 

almost everything here from the 1940s, to the mid 1960s,

I have mentioned before so many items on the stalls I remember from my own childhood, if not in mum & dads then in school friends homes, 

Diana took a quick photograph of me,

Diana had seen something that interested her,

a selection of plates and crockery, 

glass dishes, 

and all manner of things on this table,

almost every home had a set of 3 G Plan tables like these, 

or this one, 

in the next few stalls, 

a selection of other bric-a-brac, 

if soda syphon collecting is your hobby, 

this is the stall for you,

they were everywhere!

Diana was hungry, well we both were, 

so route 66 it was, 

for Diana, a large chicken & chorizo,

whilst we waited, 

I took a few more photographs, Diana picked up her meal I looked at the fish & chip stall, sold out! just my luck,

we popped around to the rear of the mansion,

under the big tree, 

a jazz group was playing, which was rather nice,

I had a look at the stalls at the rear, 

again so many things here from my youth, 

but nothing took my fancy, 

so we started on our way home,

Diana was amazed at how big and heavy her meal was, 

past the snail mail box, 

and it was here that she weakened!, it started as just a nibble, you can guess the rest! arriving home Diana made me a sandwich and then finished her meal as we watched a quiz show and a Bangers & Cash, after which a couple from Wycliffe before Diana was off to bed, for myself as it happens another Bangers & Cash was showing so I watched that, before I too was off to bed.

Christmas Is Here!

and it is official, 

photograph threads.net the first Christmas mince pies have been spotted, in the Elephant & Castle branch of Sainsbury's which is in South London, as you might expect with summer still here there were a few comments, from the article:

'One wrote, with two exclamation marks: "Oh the horror, the horror." Another added: "This really is cultural climate breakdown," while a third commented: "Bloody ridiculous!"'

the full article is here, and in case you are wondering, as of today there are 119 days to Christmas!

A Couple Of Watches,

one for Diana and one for myself,

well as I mentioned in the previous post, Christmas is just 119 days away! firstly for Diana a Blancpain, this one Ladybird Colours Phases de Lune 3662B 1954 95B or if pink is a little too feminine, they are available in other colours, 

like this one for instance, Ladybird Colors Phases de Lune 3662A 2954 55B other colours can be found here, 

the movement is just 4.58 mm thick having 30 jewels in it the watch has a 100 power reserve and consist of 243 components, naturally these watches do not come cheap, the pink at £38,200 or the green at £32,500, 

 

and for myself from the Revolution team a Atelier Wen the Ying colour which features a dazzling silver dial that has been hand-turned in a diamant or diamond guilloché pattern that gets progressively finer towards the middle of the dial,

 the raw dial takes approximately 36 hours of continuous turning any slight deviation in the accuracy of the process renders the dial unusable as the distorted refraction of light is visibly noticeable, and the resultant failure rate of this particular dial variant is therefore approximately 50%,

the watch has 32 jewels, with a 41 hour power reserve, and compared to the ladies watch a snip at £2,610, and it includes a 5 year guarantee! well that's Christmas sorted out!