13 September

 After our early coffee we inspected the garden as usual. This garden is a dispenser of so much joy and pleasure in so many ways: the pleasure of seeing things grow, the joy of creative design and learning about gardens and plants, and the pleasure of making plans together! 

Planning and throwing ideas around is every morning's ritual.

This morning the resident fox slipped away as we came out, and the black cat slinked around in the garden. The river Crane was silent and uninhabited.

We wanted to play Scrabble last night, but we were just too bushed. So we played this morning. After one game, I made us all omelettes, and then everyone took some me-time for the rest of the morning.

Come the afternoon, Ilse and I went to Richmond to pick up a prescription from Boots and get groceries from Marks & Spencer. They had only two granadillas, and we needed 6, so we drove to the Kew branch (Ilse's old M&S) and got the rest.

It is Saturday afternoon, and come hail or high water, people will be watching the rugby at the pub.

As we get to the high street, we see there is a street festival in full swing. The cordoned off area in front is for children to skateboard, then market stalls and art activities.

The streets are bathed in rainy wetness, but at least it's not raining any more.

We are nearing the Prince's Head pub again.

Here is a parking spot for Lime cycles. It is such a handy convenience. You have an app, pay through the app, and it unlocks a bicycle for you. You ride for the allotted time, park the bike and walk away!

You still see the iconic phone booths in the street, although they are derelict, probably kissing booths these days!

Right on Richmond Green is the beautiful Richmond Theatre,

overlooking the green. Richmond has three huge parks, Old Deer Park, Richmond Park and Kew Gardens, plus a host of village greens, so it really feels like the countryside here.

We are quite near Heathrow Airport, and have a constant flow of planes passing overhead.

Also on Richmond Green I spotted an old church transformed into residential apartments!

In a side street, another old church is transformed into the Orange Tree Theatre.

This is a functional church with a modern side building: amazing juxtaposition.

The Mortlake Cemetery covers a huge expanse of land, and we pass it often, for we have to navigate around it to reach any other part.

At 7 we go to Kew tube station, old stomping ground of the Hobermans, for a celebratory dinner for Richie, whose birthday it is on Monday. This is Kew,

and this is the birthday boy in Ma Cuisine. We had a fantastic dinner, big smiles all round, and returned home happy as Larry.