COLD DARK ROOM

Kristoff

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Hi Kathy, and thanks for the warm welcome! I live in Florida with my significant other (he and I will sign all the paperwork eventually), two part-time kids (love them full-time, but they're only with us part of the time), a herd of cats, three turtles, and a bearded dragon.

I’d love to see a picture of her herd, Anne! :)
 

Kristoff

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Good morning my friends! I get to be slow n lazy this morning:) first appointment is not until 10am so I got big kids off to school, spent extra time with my critters and had some lazy coffee with a couple chapters of my favorite author.. Now I guess I gotta get my Little man up and ready and get moving. Enjoyed the extra time this morning:) Read ya later!

Who’s your favorite author, Heather?
Sounds like the best start of the day ever! :)
 

Kristoff

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I’m so happy my boy made it thru his surgery and is doing so good today!!

He was a zombie last night but ended up eating and he’s super hungry today!
He’s on two meds and on his way to feeling better.
Can you imagine having 12 rotted teeth?
His breath smelled like a decaying fish. No joke!

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Oh dear. Does he have any teeth left? Poor thing. He deserved some luck in his life—that is, you, at last. [emoji170][emoji170][emoji170]
 

Kristoff

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My husband and I recently got our own kayaks. :<3: He bought mine for my birthday. When we visit the water, I'll paddle out to the swamp to watch for turtles. Who knew? :p
He's going to feel so much better now. I just went to the dentist today to get a filling repaired. Turns out mashed potatoes are great when half your mouth's numb. Give the little guy a hug from me.

Turtle watching would be just about the only thing to tempt me to go on water. Brrrr! [emoji85][emoji23]
 

Kristoff

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Good morning all. I have already been for my swim, bumped into a former colleague who I haven’t seen for years (not while swimming) and must now drive to an appointment in Uckfield... about an hour south from here.

Not see you later! [emoji112]

Phew. Bumping into somebody, even a friend, while swimming is a drowning hazard... :eek: :p
 

Kristoff

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Oh, I can imagine... Not the 12 rotted teeth part, but definitely what we call "death breath" from one of the cats. It's like he projects it when he's growling and hissing, not wanting to be messed with. (Most likely to occur when said cat needs to be pilled...) It's almost like a weapon, this death breath.

Of course, the wielder of this highly potent death breath would be the black cat named Anubis... :)

Purrfect match between the name and the cat! [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
 

Kristoff

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Good Morning/Afternoon all.

Up early this morning to soon depart for a drive to southern Maryland to kayak on Mattawoman Creek. It’s an interesting area, part of the creek meanders through a large boggy, marsh area complete with eagles, beaver, otters American Lotus and more....whereas the opposite end widens up, has a lot more waterfowl, eagles and eventually joins the mighty Potomac River. So, depending on the route one can really encounter a vast array of “stuff”.

The paddle plan (pix below) today is to head toward the Potomac - unless it’s way windy...the marshy area is much more protected.

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Interesting name... :confused:
 

Kristoff

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happy-birthday-adam-x0heb3.jpg


A very Happy Birthday for you, all best wishes, a lot of luck and cheese, the grace of wifey and some bottles of .....
That`s what I am wishing you for your new year of life.

Sabine, the ccLBee

All of us cat lovers know at least one cat like that, don’t we? (I can still smell that “gift” whenever I remember it[emoji33][emoji33][emoji33]) [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
 

Kristoff

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Good afternoon all. It’s been wet, wet, wet here in the south east today and it’s due to get wetter.

JoesDad and I have spent today in London. It’s the annual Open City weekend when around 800 buildings, both ancient and modern, that the public cannot normally visit are open free of charge.

This year we visited 5, so postcards will be split across more than one post.

Our opening visit was to the brand new Bloomberg building ... it even has a Roman temple in the basement which we visited last year. Designed to be eco friendly and base for their 4000 staff monitoring and reporting on the financial markets.

It is stunning!
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View of St Paul’s Cathedral
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View towards the Leadenhall Building aka the Cheese Grater due to its sloping side (see later)
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Gorgeous. And the location (of course)!
 

Kristoff

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That tea looks wonderful!

And I am so pleased your Danish mail finally made it to South Africa... I think it probably did travel by snail!

First that, then a camel. Snails are dirt-cheap in Europe. The Swedes, who bought out bankrupt Post Danmark, are desperate to cut costs. [emoji33][emoji33]
 

Kristoff

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Next up one of the oldest churches in London, St Helen’s.

It is medieval (15th century) and was the church for a convent next door which now houses St Helen’s Place (see next post)

However, Henry VIII fell out with the Pope and had all the convents and monasteries closed keeping their land and money for himself. The church survived and became a protestant Church of England church.

It survived the Great Fire of London in 1666 and even survived both World Wars with no more than a couple of broken windows.

Then, in 1992, the IRA bombed the Baltic Exchange and this poor church was badly damaged with the pressure blowing out windows and blowing the roof off.

The church underwent significant repair with things being salvaged where they could.
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Stand for the Lord Mayor’s ceremonial sword when he attends services!
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Memorial to a merchant from 1594 who established trade with Turkey.
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A church can only have so much luck, I guess.
I wonder which side of the memorial depicts the Ottomans (if any).
 

Kristoff

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Next up St Helen’s Place and Leather Sellers’ Hall. The Worshipful Company of Leather Sellers is one of the city’s oldest Livery Companies founded in the 15th century. While the leather trade isn’t as important as it was, the company still does much charitable work and runs several schools which were originally founded for the poor.

They bought the convent land from Henry VIII for £380 five years after he closed the convent and established their second hall their. They are now in their 7th hall, the 6th on this site, renting out the rest of the buildings.

The modern building behind is called The Gherkin
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The Court Room with some ancient leather goods on the table
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The modern Reception Room faces St Helen’s church (previous post). This side of the square was also damaged by the 1992 bombing. They have made the most of the view.
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The apprenticeship indenture paper for JRR Tolkein’s Great Grandfather. It’s called an indenture because of the dents at the top of the document. Two copies were made on the same sheet of paper. One copy was kept by the Livery Company and the other by the apprentice. The cut was wiggly and you could prove it was the original because it would match its opposite half!
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I bet they have a gift shop!
 
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