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This image came up in my FB feed. Captioned thusly:

United Kingdom and Ireland as seen from Space on a rare clear day.

Source, the James Webb Space Telescope, on Facebook.

I was in Thorney today. There are lots of lovely buildings in Thorney, such as those of Abbey place, pictured above, and in the gallery below.

An then there’s what remains of the Abbey. Now known as St Mary &St Botolph’s Church.

And here’s a gallery of snaps from the church/Abbey:

Also in Thorney, a lovely old windmill, that’s now a domestic residence.

And to finish, avenues of trees on Willow Hall Lane.

I was out, working, again today. So, just as with the Sunday, I had to watch ‘catch-up’ style.

The first thing to note is that Jak Jones did extraordinarily well, having survived the 7- bloodbath that was the first session, to fight back to 17-14. And he’s won a lot fans in doing so.

But, as the ex-player pundits anticipated, having started with a six-frame cushion, Kieran was – never mind their respective pedigrees – odds-on favourite.

And so it duly transpired. After numerous frames where he seemed unable to cross that tantalising finish line, at 17-14, he finally did it. With a little help from Jak.

I’ve warmed to Kieran slowly, over the years. Several of his admirable qualities were on display today/tonight: for one, it’s powerful to see what it means to him (and his family); for another, the sense of community and family he cherishes is heartwarming; thirdly, his candour and honesty.

I could go on. But ultimately, he earned it. He deserved it. And he was generous in victory (as was Jak Jones in defeat). A great final! All hail the new chief.

I’ve just sold another bit of music gear. This time a 14” Zildjian K Mini-China. Sold on Reverb, for £160 + £15 postage.

Here’s a gallery of pics of me packing it, ready for ‘shipping’, as we say nowadays (thanks, Yanks!).

So, the cymbal is packed and ready to be shipped. It being a Bank Holiday Monday, I couldn’t post it today. So it goes off tomorrow.

Next up, a wee gallery of pics from my first delivery route of the two I did today.

After the bloodbath of the first session, which finished 7-1 to Wilson, Jak Jones has been fighting back. As I’m typing this, he’s clawed his way back to 10-5.

Phew! And now it’s the last frame of today’s second session. Can Jak take this? And get from seven behind, to just three in arrears.

Gaah! Nail-biting stuff on the last black. Which it took Kieran about 10-15 minutes to get.

Wow… that was really something. I wanted Jak to win that frame. Pity he didn’t. But, still, that was pretty draining to watch! God only knows what it was like for the players.

These dark purple tulips were an Xmas gift from Hannah and Tim. Thanks guys!

Out on my deliveries, I saw this very apt road sign:

Back home, what are these plants?

And to finish, odds n’ sods: mini-tracked tractors; nice old truck; stalls; sundry stuff.

A few more I missed earlier…

To finish, the ‘spectacular’ RAF Battle of Britain fly past:

Ok, I only saw one plane. Was it the Hurricane or Spitfire? I didn’t see what I took to be the one plane closely or clearly enough to identify it. I think it was the Spitfire?

This fly past was the only slight disappointment. A few more passes and both planes would’ve been nice.

But, all told, there was tons to see and enjoy. And we had a thoroughly good time. Lots of beautiful old machinery. And it was a gorgeous sunny day, in a pretty location.

Today we went to Stradsett Park Vintage Rally. And what fun we had! First off, it’s just a gorgeous day; terrific, esp’ considering how grey, gloomy, wet and rainy it was yesterday.

One little worry was, with all the rain yesterday, would we get stuck in the mud trying to leave? We’ll come back to this later. For now, having parked, on entering the show grounds, the first thing that greeted us was this:

We then circumambulated an area at the left, which was populated with the little machines in this first gallery.

After all these little machines, I went to look at the trucks:

And after the trucks, the (mostly larger) steam traction engines:

At this point we decided to go back to the car, have a bite of lunch, and then return, this time with chairs.

St John’s in Parson’s Drive had a little notice up in the porch, recommending to the interested visitor the Guyhirn Chapel of Ease, as a ‘typical Protestant’ place of worship, of its kind.

I was arrested by this grace stone sculpture, as I entered the chapel grounds. Somebody, whose name I didn’t bother to check, is very much at their ease, six feet under.

The chapel is set in a very easeful spot, ‘twixt the high bank of (?), playing fields and scattered housing.

After this, I had a yen to quest after some second hand Robert Louis Stevenson books. I thought the little used bookshop at Peckover House might be just the place. It wasn’t, book wise. But it was in other respects.

In the end I came away with these, instead:

If we can find a cassette player, these will be fun to listen to!

I was listening to this album in the car whilst on my delivery rounds recently. And then the John McLaughlin Archives, on FB, posted about John’s collaborating with Buddy.

I piped up with a comment about this Live, ‘72 album, and the cover of John’s ‘Marbles’, and boom, they (JM Archives) came back with a post of a gallery of images, from which these are taken.

Most of the photos are black and white. And many are not too great quality wise. It’s also a pity – no offence to the maestro! – that there’s so many of Carlos and so few of the other players. But overall it’s still a wonderful cache of images.

Gallery: