A Summer Catch-up plus A Walk on The Regents Canal...Plus Moon Launch Today

The grand interior of St Marylebone Parish Church

One of my London walkabouts recently drew me back to Marylebone, the area I

first settled in when I first moved to the capital. And I was keen to look around Marylebone

High Street with a return visit to that popular book shop Daunt Books with it's creaky

wooden floors and it's old oak frames.

And while in the area I couldn't resist calling into the St Marylebone Parish Church (top image).

It was refreshing to see it in the light of day, as I last visited there in the Winter during the evening.

Below is Madame Tussauds at Baker Street just a short walk from Marylebone. The big

green dome building next to it was once the Planetarium which closed down in 2010.

It's now the home of the Marvel Universe 4D Experience.

Britain has suddenly become a one subject nation with the recent news, or should I say recent

bombshell, that the Energy regulator Ofgem announced that the Energy price cap will rise from

£1,971 a year to £3,549, with a predicted increase to over £6,000 by next January. And the truth

is that ordinary people simply wont be able to pay their bills.  

The outgoing Government simply cant do anything about it until September the 5th when 

a new Tory Leader and Prime Minister is chosen. And the two Leadership candidates Liz Truss

and Rishi Sunak are vying with the Tory voters as to who will come up with the best solution to solve

this financial predicament.

So things are going to get hard for everyone. And I for one will be interested to see how or if we

can get out of this mess. People are already angry at the exorbitant salaries being paid out to

the current heads of the Energy Companies.

I know of a couple of ex-pats that are returning to Britain this Bank Holiday weekend. And one of

them uses this blogging platform. I wonder if he knows what he's returning home to.

Well I have been busy elsewhere online this Summer and have been neglecting these pages.

So I thought I'd do some catch up posts. But still no news on starting another new blog.

Of course I miss posting up all the eye candy featuring those adorable Asian and Latin

models.

And I have come up with a half idea to be posting up some new eye candy. And looking around

various other site hosts, I really cant see ones that offer the layout freedom that google blogger

offers, after all I know it so well. It's just the censorship that is always a concern.

But if I was able to open up a new separate google account, would this blog Chrysalism

and my youtube acount be out of danger from any future deletion by google by having two

separate accounts? I need to look into it. 

Today's online content out there is quite extraordinary, something we never had back in 2006/7

when we all first started our blogs. Back then we relied on provocative images of models and

celebrities. Now of course it's the ordinary people out there that are the real stars of the internet

as you can see below... not a single model or celebrity among them, and many of them making a

fair living online.

Soon we'll be running out of young workers if we're to believe this survey I found online (below).

Young people's dreams and ambitions have certainly changed.

Although I see that there's a typo error on the word Doctor. 

 

I've been putting off a planned walk along the Regents Canal, but a couple of weeks ago on

an uncomfortably hot day,  I managed the walk from a Canal gate entrance near Lords

Cricket Ground, walking right up to Camden Lock.

 I remember that particular week as being very warm and  I think we had three or four

cloudless days, perfect for picture taking. And yet I've often wondered what it must be

like to live on an English canal. Maybe nice during the Summer months, but perhaps

a little harsh in the Winter.

Another stretch of this canal worth exploring sometime might be the walk from Camden Lock to

St Pancras Lock near Kings Cross.

Below are just a few pictures from my walk. But boy was I pleased to get back home on

such a hot day. During this Summer's heatwaves, cold showers have been a life saver.

On the day we hit 39c I think I had about three cold showers that day. And unfortunately air

conditioners in U.K homes really hasn't taken off yet.

Above and below:  This is The Fengshang Princess, 

a hand-crafted, floating, red pagoda

restaurant on the Canal, serving a Chinese menu.

And it looks a pretty picture early in the evening.

Quite a few rather grand looking homes can be found on

the early part of the walk.

Above: Passing St Mark's Church in Regents Park.

Below: Arriving at journeys end at Camden Lock.

I recently took a trip out to the Mill Hill Nurseries in search of a Conifer tree to use as

a big center show plant for the big blue plant trough I made last Summer. And I certainly

found a healthy looking one but it came at a hefty price of £39.

They always do well right throughout the year. And so along with the Hebe and Ivy next to

it, the big plant container is going to look a treat right through next Winter.

I really needed a Conifer to take place of the failed Hydrangea. A plant that's

never easy to look after.

We've been having such a long hot Summer this year that all the plants have required lots

of water and attention.

The Bird/House table is looking good. I've added a peanut feeder to it as well as a coconut shell

for the birds to nibble at. And as well as adding on a perch, I've put lots of straw inside the roof

in the hope that birds might nest there at some point.  

Today is launch day for NASA's Artemis 1 space project in which an unmanned rocket

will take off at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida,  for a six week mission around

the Moon, paving the way for a manned flight in 2024.

The launch time is set for around 8.30 am (U.S. time) weather

 depending, and hopefully sometime after mid-day here in the U.K. 

This year I've been keeping track of our four Supermoons this Summer with the

last of them showing up earlier this month called the Sturgeon Supermoon.

The next Full Moon will be the Harvest Moon on Sept 10th.

Below: Venus in the Eastern sky taken last week just before sunrise. It's hard not to miss it

if there's a clear sky, as it is the brightest object in the sky next to the Moon.