First Thing Up Early,

to drop Diana off at work at 03.50 AM

for her 04.00AM start, I arrived back home and had a few more ZZZZ's, in the afternoon I picked Diana up and as she was tired she went to bed, so for myself a afternoon film, All Quiet On The Western Front, the 2022 version, a great movie, especially at the end of the film, where man's vanity cost so many needless lives, this is by far the most realistic and gruesome portrayal of what I can only imagine the horrors of the First World War was like, the film even shows how after the armistice was signed at 5.12 AM men were still told to fight right up to the eleventh hour, all 2,738 of them died as both sides tried to fight to the end, and gave their lives needlessly, a very moving and well made film of the horrors of the First World War, in the evening,

 it was time for a read and a sherry, no milk this evening!

Diana fancied fish & chips well so did I along with a delicious saveloy, peas and gherkins,

'Cheers!', after our meal it was feet up for our evening film, for tonight,

 Lake Placid, somehow a super-size crocodile takes up residence in the lake, but worse was to come as it transpires there is more than one, great fun for all concerned, well except for the human crocodile bait! followed by a Bangers & Cash, afterwards Diana was off to bed, for myself a Have I Got A Bit More News For You, before I too was off to bed.

First Thing,

we were up and out as it was Diana's day off, 

a quick pose at home, 

and then out into a cold, slightly misty day, 

on to a couple of trains and the tube, 

eventually arriving here, 

at Olympia, 

for a show, 

it was the Destinations: The Holiday & Travel Show at Olympia London, 29 Jan–1 Feb 2026. '600+ travel brands, expert speakers & ideas for your next adventure', as the blurb read, 

we were not quite the first in, but pretty close!

we had 2 destinations in mind, both with one purpose, photography, 

a 'normal' tour with a group of people would mean that the group would want to move onto the next place, whilst any photographers in the group would want to spend more time at each stop, I preferred a escorted tour, it takes away all of the faff of getting local transport and booking hotels at every stop, 

the two places I was interested in was Namibia and Costa Rica, 

so it was those stalls I called on, 

everyone was incredibly helpful, 

but not many offered dedicated photography holidays, where a experienced guide would also be a photographer, 

like for instance Andy Mumford or Will Grey, 

it was great fun looking, 

and here is one travel company that does cater for photographers, Naturetrek, the problem was that they only had huge booklets with their tours, they were happy to let me take one, but I thought it such a waste as I was only interested in 3 or 4 pages, so they will send me their specialist photography brochure, 

Diana popped upstairs, to take a photograph or two, 

I am down there, really!

it was the first day, so the place was a tad busy, 

many of the stalls had their countries food or drink on offer as well as their music and culture, perhaps demonstrated best by the video that Diana took, 

it was loud, lively and very enjoyable, welcome to Saudi Aribia!

I had as many brochures as I needed with a couple of companies sending me some details in the post and some by email that I can download. if you are thinking of a holiday many of the companies here are offering £500 off a holiday booked here over the course of the show, with some offering 10% off, so a reasonable saving if you know your destination and dates of travel, but be quick as Sunday is the last day of the show,

time to go, 

by now we were both hungry, 

but a pose first, 

after a bus ride we were here, 

in the Golden Dragon, our go to restaurant if we fancy a Chinese meal,

for our starters prawns on toast covered with sesame seeds, 

and spicy garlic ribs, 

which were delicious!

for our main course, chicken with cashew nuts,

three different kinds of pork and duck,

with garlic beansprouts, egg fried rice and a couple of sauces, plus a bottle of house red for myself and a coke for Diana,

'Cheers!', the bill came to £140.00, eating out is not cheap anymore! arriving home we watched a couple of quiz shows before our film for the evening,

The Time Machine, far better special effects than the original, but then this was made in 2002, the original in 1960, but for all of that I think I preferred the original, as we have the original on DVD we may watch it soon, after which Diana was off to bed, a 04.00AM start tomorrow, for myself one from Have I Got A Bit More News For You, before I too was off to bed.

I Did Not Play With Any New Photographs Today,

but I decided to print a few off for the next,

Beckenham Photographic Society Nature Evening, on March 13th. a tad early I know, but at least I now have a few photographs to bring with me, above a thistle in Beckenham Place Park,

a cheeky frog in Crystal Palace, 

a double flower tropical waterlily from Thailand, 

as is this lady on a canal there, 

a mudskipper from Vietnam, 

back to Thailand for a orchid, 

swans at Winsor, 

and a leaning building in Finland, I print all of my photographs up to A3 size so that I can look for any changes I want to make, I then rather that waste the paper do the same on the reverse, so as it happens 5 suitable for the nature group, and three others, hopefully they will be as well liked as my last offerings,  

after that, time for a read, but no sherry, I am picking Diana up from work after the meeting at the club, 

'Cheers!', with a glass of milk before I was off to the club, tonight we had a guest speaker Jason Boswell, the talk titled, 'Hobbyist Outdoor Photographer to Pro Food Photographer', 

and very informative it was too, in a few weeks time he will return, as members of the club have been asked to bring in food samples to photograph, during the meeting there was news of the clubs forth coming exhibition, all of the details are on these:

so if you want to see some truly excellent photographs please pop along and have a look, as I will be helping out you might even bump into me there!

meeting over I drove over to pick up Diana, arriving home we watched the last episode of,

 Seven Dials, it was a tad complicated as it happens but we got there in the end, after which we were off to bed.