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Diary – 2018 May
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All my diary pages going back to 2009
DRAWING & PAINTING:
1 May
We went for a walk by the river, which is really more of a stream, as it
is very shallow. In the park the daisies looked like a covering of snow.
4 May
We went to Crystal Palace Park. The sphinxes have been painted and look
much better. This is the view looking back up the hill. The Crystal
Palace stood where those distant trees are and the sphinxes would have
been on the steps leading up to the entrances.
The big hole we saw last year is now a completed skateboard area. Some
young men were doing acrobatics and zooming up into the air.
We walked through the park to the dinosaur lake. There were lots of coot
chicks amongst the weeds. These Canada geese were very noisy, as it is
the breeding season.
This is the bridge railing showing carvings of dinosaurs on a timeline
This is Hyleosaurus of 140 million years ago. The concrete dinosaurs are
being restored and repainted, and the finished ones are looking very
smart.
Dino always comes to Crystal Palace with us to see the dinosaurs. He
said he prefers dry land to the muddy water though. He says this broken
tree is proof that the dinosaurs walk about when no-one is looking.
On the way home we saw this pigeon sitting inside a drainage pipe. We
wondered whether it led through to the open on the other side, and is a
safe little hole to spend the night in.
6 May
We went to Hampton Court Palace. This carved wooden griffin creature is
guarding the big vegetable garden. We found another area of garden that
we had not seen before, with azaleas and colourful shrubs and winding
paths.
Here is the laburnum tunnel. Only some of the flowers are out and it
will be better in a couple of weeks.
We had our lunch under the trees in a quiet corner. All the daffodil
areas are now long grass with beautiful wild flowers. Blue Parrot was
concentrating on the food bag rather than the scenery.
After Hampton, we took a bus to Richmond Park which is not far away. You
have to walk quite a way through the plain open and wooded part of the
park to get to Isabella Plantation in the middle. Once there, the first
thing we saw was the bluebell area, with winding shady paths going round
under the trees.
The Plantation is full of brilliant azaleas, and rhododendrons in the
more wooded parts.
This is the best and favourite feature, a tiny stream surrounded on each side by
azaleas, with of little bridges at intervals. It goes over lots of
little weirs and flows into a big round pond. The water then
leaves the pond on the right side of the picture and continues down to
another less decorative pond further along.
7 May
We went to the May Fayre today. This is the drumming band Bloco Fogo
which was very loud. Following on was the new May Queen and her
entourage behind.
The Mayor of Bromley crowned the May Queen and there were short
speeches, and then dancing round the maypole.
I like these big bubbles that children can go in and roll around on the
water. The cupcakes were wonderful and I don't think there would be any
left over at the end of the day.
12 May
We went to the Steam In Dartford Day held in
Central Park in honour of Richard Trevithick who improved the steam
engine design to make it lighter weight which meant it could be put on
wheels and travel either on road or on rails.
As rain was forecast for later, we went straight to the steam engines to
get photos while it was still dry. This is a travelling pipe organ was
playing both old and modern tunes.
Most of the steam engines are painted in bright colours but the one on
the right is all black and is named Nightmare. One wonders what sort of
trouble it caused when being built or restored, or maybe its name is
just to emphasise its strength.
These are Alfie and Arthur, two heavy horses who give ploughing
demonstrations around the country. This collie dog was playing games
with the stick, placing it at people's feet and waiting for them to kick
it around, so he could leap up and catch it. If there was any delay in
the person realising what they were expected to do, he barked to let
them know what he wanted. Later on he was doing the same with a very old
and chewed looking flat football.
More miniature engines
We went up this old open topped bus and got a good view of the fields.
The second field was full of classic cars, all polished and perfectly
spotless, and with their engines on show.
This tractor is at least 12 feet high, it looked like a mountain to me!
Behind the white tent were all the motorbikes in rows, more polished
chrome and multiple headlamps and mirrors on many of them.
This donkey shay was being pulled by a big shaggy dog. There was a long
row of smaller engines, many of them operating water pumps.
This working model has all the extra bits like bags of coal, tools and
bundles of sticks. We saw lots of Action Man toys working hard operating
the models.
In the big white tent we looked at all the photographs of past rural and
farm life. Then we listened to the Dartford Concert Band for a while.
Once we were on our bus home, the rain started to fall harder but we
were glad it held off for the morning.
13 May
I like to watch the birds in the birdbaths. I feel
as if I am joining in with them, having a splash in a lovely open-air
lido swimming pool.
14 May
These are apple tree seedlings, that we discovered
were sprouting when we cut the apple open to eat it. And here I have
some grass seedlings covered up against the heat of the sun.
17 May
Today we went to the Open Day at the National
Physical Laboratories in Teddington. This is an electron tree, and the
ball is made of tungsten and is so hard it cannot be broken, crushed,
dented or scratched.
All the equipment at NPL is the most up-to-date
possible, but they had a few historic items like these old adding
machines and a giant chip to show how it works.
This is the atomic clock and the time display was
shown on a screen by the doorway. This is a room that makes very
accurate measurements and it is done on slabs of granite so that there
are no sudden changes in temperature.
These are heat pictures of the visitors passing by.
We went between buildings here from one corridor to another.
Afterwards we went to the locks at Teddington. Here is where the River
Thames changes level. The river tides stop at Teddington.
We had our sandwiches sitting in the lock gardens looking out over the
river.
19 May
Today we went to Rickmansworth Canal Festival. All
the boats are very colourful. In one part there was a fairground and
amusements.
This is the unrideable horse, and we didn't see
anyone who didn't fall off. There were boat rides around the lakes.
There was an animals section where people could
hold or stroke them.
Later on we walked along a quieter path to another
lake. This Canada goose had the whole of our last bagel, which Brown
Teddy didn't mind at all. This man in the water is demonstrating safety
and rescue methods.
I was especially looking out for all the narrowboat
painted decorations, mostly on the sides and on the pails.
We walked up to the lock in the other direction.
This painting of horse and barge shows how it used
to be done.
20 May
Today we went to Stockwood Park. They had steam
engines and train rides in the Discovery Centre garden.
Most of them had the engines running. There were
also model boats.
In the sensory garden, there were lots of nice
smelling plants.
This is my favourite part, and the flowers in the
stone urns are easier to see without bending over.
A few more steam engines outside the museum. Blue
Parrot decided the best part of the day was the madeira cake that we had
brought with us.
21 May
This is a cumulus cloud rising to be a storm cloud.
We had thunder, lightning and rain during the night.
23 May
The birds are braver than usual for the bits of
bread, as they have young ones sitting in the bushes.
You can use the space on your 404 page to help find missing people by embedding info from notfound.org See Yellow Teddy's 404 page
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