I was hoping the rain might hold off when I
came home from work yesterday. It did better than
that, and instead of gloom and rain it was a
pleasant sunny evening. It was even just about
shirt sleeve comfortable at about 14° C. Today
started off fine and dry, but a bit on the cool
side. I am unsure of the temperature at day break,
but it is now almost 14° C - although it doesn't
feel like it to me. The sunshine is getting patchy
now as more and more clouds appear in the sky, and
so it may not get much warmer, but the forecasts
says it should stay dry today. Tomorrow may be
different - a lot different. It could well be
cooler and wetter - as is traditional as we head
into a bank holiday weekend !
It was nice coming home in the sunshine, and
it was nice to go straight out again to the
pharmacy. I had worn a coat to come home from
work, but I took a chance on leaving my coat off
when I went to the pharmacy, and it was quite
comfortable even though the sun was starting to
get a little low in the sky (although it would
still be nearly 3 hours until sunset). When I got
to the pharmacy I was recognised without having to
tell them my name, and my prescription was ready
and waiting for me. Unfortunately it had a note
attached saying that I really ought to see a nurse
or doctor to get my blood pressure checked. Of
course that immediately sent my blood pressure
soaring - at least I assume it did !
After the pharmacy I went around the corner
to Aldi where I contrived to spend more money on
groceries and stuff. Stuff included another pair
of £3.99 sunglasses of a different shape to the
previous ones, and also a fitted sheet. I did, of
course, buy more food too. That included a fairly
large looking, but still a meal/snack for one
(probably) cheese and pasta salad. I may well have
that as part of my dinner tonight.
After a fair night's sleep, it was nice to
be able to silence my alarm, turn over, and go
back to sleep for an hour - and by pure chance it
was almost exactly one hour ! I didn't have to get
up even then, but I did anyway, and started
preparing myself to visit the hospital for my
retinopathy scan this morning. This is where they
put drops in the eyes to dilate the pupils, and
then photograph the back of the eye to see if
there is any damage caused by high blood glucose
levels.
This year the on-the-spot analysis showed
nothing at all, and that is quite strange. Usually
there is some tiny little thing that they say they
will keep an eye on, but it's nothing to worry
about this time. Maybe the detailed analysis,
which I'll get in a couple weeks, will tell me
that they have spotted some teeny weeny bit of
damage that is nothing to worry about, but is to
serve as a warning to me.
While I was waiting for the drops to fully
dilate my pupils I went to the toilet (shouldn't
have had beans for dinner last night !). While in
there I took advantage of the privacy to take a
selfie showing my pupils starting to dilate. It is
not very impressive, and for some reason the
lighting in there seems to show me turning yellow.
I have no idea what the yellow tinge is, but it
doesn't exist in reality !
Some time has passed since writing the last
paragraph. Also, two pints of beer have passed my
lips. So I have partly lost the thread of what I
was writing. Oh well, never mind !
It's now 13:45 BST, and to continue.....
When I came out of the hospital the sun was
still shining, and at any other time that would be
wonderful, but with dilated pupils everything was
dazzling bright. I put on my new sunglasses, and
that tamed the dazzle, but with dilated pupils, and
with not wearing my usual glasses, everything was
terribly out of focus. After I had walked for a
few minutes I decided that I would put up with the
painful glare, and put on my glasses instead of
the sun glasses. Now anything I could bare to look
at was in focus - sort of ! One big exception was
the view finder of my camera. I attempted to take
a few pictures, but all I could see in the
viewfinder was just one big smudgy blur ! A couple
seemed just about usable - although I edited them
while my eyes were still a bit blurry, and have
not seen them since. I assumed that they would
look sharper once my eyes looked sharper !
Hmmm, this isn't the
finest picture of a clump of bluebells growing
by some railings.
The riverbanks of the River Ravensbourne looking
green and lush by the still and placid water.
This could have been a wonderful picture if I
had held the camera steady, or allowed more time
for it to focus, or some other thing. Still, at
least it looks better than the vague blur I
could see through the viewfinder as I took
the picture.
By midday my eyes
were still not completely back to normal, but
there was no time to rest them because I met
up with my friend Patricia. That's twice in
one season ! Better than last year, and I
think I'll be seeing her at least one more
time before she flies away again. We met here
at home for 15 minutes before I treated her to
some lunch (soup of the day !) in the
Wetherspoons. I had two pints of beer in
there, and I now feel almost sleepy. I am
going to put my head down for a while fairly
soon, but I think I'll be going out again for
a quick drink with the lads in The Catford
Constitutional Club at 5pm.
This is what my eyes looked like just before
midday.
Wednesday 29th April
2015
08:36
BST
Hooray !
Tomorrow is payday !!!!!
Unlike the day before, yesterday ended with
plenty of sunshine. It was a bit warmer than
expected too. My thermometer read 14° C when I got
home from work. That was edging towards feeling
very slightly close to warm ! This morning
started out slightly cloudy, and in consequence it
was less cold than the day before - around 8° C.
The good news is that today is now forecast to be
not quite as terrible as was predicted earlier. It
is still going to be pretty terrible, but there
will probably be less rain than expected, and
there is now reason to hope that the rain might
hold off while I go home - and go to the pharmacy
to pick up my repeat prescription. If we're lucky
the temperature might hit 12° C this afternoon.
Tomorrow is not looking that good, but maybe it
will not be quite as bad as today.
It was nice to go home in the sunshine
yesterday, but it didn't inspire me to do anything
constructive when I got home. I had thought of
washing a few shirts, but it seemed like too much
effort, and a waste of that effort just to wash
three short sleeve shirts. I'll probably have some
spare time to do that tomorrow. Last night was one
of those nights that are far too frequent when
good intentions seem to melt away like snow in the
spring.
I was going to try and have a fairly light
dinner - maybe lots of salad, and maybe little
else. I have managed to do that in the past, but
not last night. I did have a bowl of salad that I
dressed quite simply with a sprinkle of sesame
oil, and a good sprinkle of rice wine vinegar, but
I also had a chicken korma and rice ready meal
too, and I had a few snacks during the course of
the evening. Perhaps I can blame some of it on the
sesame oil dressing on that salad. I've had it
before, but last night it seemed to be slightly
unpleasant. Perhaps the oil has gone off, but the
unpleasantness didn't seem to be an "off" sort of
taste. Maybe the rice wine vinegar had something
to do with it. I have never tried it before, but
it seemed OK. It was probably more acid than I
expected, but it seemed to be quite a pleasant
vinegary taste. It would probably go well on
chips.
Either I've got the height of my pillows
about perfect, or maybe the temperature of my
bedroom was perfect, or maybe both were perfect,
or maybe it was something completely different,
but I seemed to get another improved night's sleep
last night. My only complaint would be that having
woken feeling fairly good half an hour before my
alarm was due to wake me, I managed to fall back
asleep so deeply that my alarm going off was a bit
of a shock. If it hadn't gone off I might have
slept on for another hour, maybe even two - who
knows ?
I don't seem to be suffering from the usual
ailments in the usual ways this morning. One thing
I do seem to be suffering from could be hay fever
or the start of a cold. It's probably an allergy
rather than a cold, but it does seem to involve a
lot of sneezing, and a good powerful sneeze seems
to aggravate my floating rib
syndrome/costochondritus/???????? and cause some
momentary pain across a bit of my chest. It does
seem that my chest has settled down a lot
recently, and most of the aches and pains I get
are the result of very specific movements - some
of which I can remember not to do and save myself
some discomfort. For instance, while crossing the
road it is best if I don't swivel just the top
half of my body around to see what is coming up
behind me - that, as I learned the other day, can
be quite painful. In future I will have to try and
remember to turn my whole body around so it is at
right angles to any possible traffic (this mainly
involves crossing very lightly used side roads).
It seems that I have not been called to make
an appointment with my GP before my repeat
prescription is dispensed. So I don't yet have the
opportunity to discuss my aches and pains with a
doctor, but maybe I will sort out something sooner
or later. In the more immediate future I assume
that my drugs have been prescribed, and are ready
for collection tonight. I was going to go straight
to the pharmacy from the station, but I think I'll
go home first for a mere few seconds (possibly).
When I get in I'll dump the rucksack that I
brought to work today, and I think I'll put my
other rucksack that I use for shopping in Aldi on.
While I am almost passing Aldi I might as well go
in there as get some Olive oil, maybe some
balsamic vinegar, and maybe a bowl of ready made
salad or two. I'll probably get other stuff too
while I am going around the store, but I'll try
not to be too extravagant for two reasons. Reason
one is that such extravagant items usually have
too much sugar or fat or other bad stuff (but
usually plenty of nice flavours !). Reason two is
that my bank balance is unusually low at the
moment. I'm paid tomorrow, but I don't like to
stretch things too far !
Tuesday 28th April
2015
08:51
BST
Instead of 14 or 15° C, it only got to
about 12° C. That was not really unexpected, but I
didn't expect it to be quite gloomy looking,
almost as if it were about to rain, when I made my
way home from work yesterday. At least that 12° C
was just high enough to feel comfortable in just
shirtsleeves -providing you didn't stand still for
too long ! This morning dawned bright and clear,
but the temperature had fallen as low as 4° C, and
there might have even been a frost in some rural
areas not that many miles away from me. Once again
the forecast says that it is supposed to
stay a sunny day all day, but the highest
temperature is only expected to be 12° C again.
The forecast is still saying that tomorrow will be
cold, wet, and miserably dull !
I did have a small selections of aches and
pains while at work yesterday, but they seemed
very minor, and hardly worth mentioning compared
to some days last week. I didn't feel terribly
energetic going home from work, but I also didn't
feel it to be any more an inconvenience than the
usual waste of over an hour of my life. Going home
under a dull cloudy sky did not enthuse me, but I
was forced to feel sort of enthusiastic about
finishing off the laundry I had left soaking
overnight and through the day. As expected, it was
most unpleasant wringing out the cold soapy water.
Even with rubber gloves on it felt nasty and slimy
! It was much nicer when I was rinsing and
wringing out hot water. It also seemed like hard
work, and my wrists seemed to be getting a bit
sore after some vigorous wringing out.
Eventually it was all hung up to dry, and I
could concentrate on getting my dinner together.
As I suggested yesterday, I had the two ready made
salads I had bought from Aldi on Sunday. I left
out the (presumed) sugary mango chutney from the
chicken and mango salad, and substituted low
sugar, but high everything else mayonnaise in
large dollops to that salad, and did the same to
the potato and egg salad too. That rather spoiled
the healthy effect of those meals, and I further
spoiled things by having a few snacks during the
evening - but not terribly, terribly spoiled !
I have to confess that I have a drink
problem ! What I probably really wanted was a
cigarette as I battled to take an interest on
something, anything on TV, but a large glass of
whisky usually makes for a substitute on such
occasions. The trouble was I didn't buy a bottle
of scotch this month after the previous month's
bottle had lasted into the beginning of this
month. I really wanted a large scotch, but it was
not an emergency, and so I couldn't open my
emergency half bottle of scotch. It was not a
special occasion so I couldn't have any of my
Jameson's Irish whiskey. I have other spirits and
liqueurs about the house, and I have my small
collection of "about to be banned" high strength
lagers but I wanted whisky ! So I made do with
sugar free cola, and went to bed completely sober.
Now that is a serious drink problem !
Last night I changed my pillow. I had
forgotten that what I had been sleeping on was two
completely knackered, and sometimes lumpy pillows
stuffed into one pillow case. I am not sure why I
don't throw them away ! I went back to sleeping on
two non-lumpy pillows that are so soft that my
heavy head compresses them to the thickness of one
good quality pillow (I guess). Maybe it did some
good because I did seem to sleep a bit better last
night, but there could be other reasons for that.
I do think I feel a bit healthier than I did a few
days ago. Currently I reckon I am only 73% on my
way to death compared with 87% a few days ago.
This is obviously some sort of improvement, and
maybe a better pillow might mean better sleep, and
better sleep might even make me feel only 61%
towards death.
On the subject of health and death and other
interesting things. I was most surprised not to
hear from my GP's surgery about my repeat
prescription request. It is looking like they have
accepted it with no questions asked. That means I
have a long walk home tomorrow night. I have to
virtually walk past my own front door to get from
the station to the pharmacy where I'll pick up my
drugs. It will make my walk from the station to
home over double the distance. That's not terrible
- except when it is pouring with rain like it may
well be tomorrow !
There are many reasons why I should probably
be sacked. I am the ultimate lazy bastard at work,
and I cannot understand how I haven't been caught
doing no work at all on some occasions. On the
other hand there is no one here at work who can do
some of the things that I do, and I would guess
there are generally not that many people anywhere
who have some of my specialist skills. Micro
surgery on printed circuit boards is one example
of my specialist skills.
This picture needs some explanation - It is
the view down a microscope of some modifications I
had to make to a dozen printed circuit boards.
Running from top to bottom, down the middle of
this picture, are two parallel conductors like
train lines. They carry two signals - transmit and
receive - and unfortunately the designer of the
circuit board mixed up his transmit with his
receive on these pre-production prototype boards.
The error will be corrected on the final design,
but so our development team can continue testing,
I was tasked with trying to correct the error -
and I did. I cut the two tracks and crossed the
signals over with some very fine wires. I've
coloured the wires red and black to make them more
obvious. For comparison purposes I've laid a hair
from my own head alongside those two wires to show
just how fine this work is !
Monday 27th April
2015
08:12
BST
If you ignored the rapidly falling
temperature, not that there was much to start
with, it looked like a pleasant sunset. The sky
was dappled with tiny fluffy looking clouds, with
plenty of blue between them. Of course the
temperature continued to fall, and the forecast
suggested that some sheltered parts of the
countryside could see a frost. Here in London it
was 5° C, but it is a bright and cheerful sort of
morning. While a plume of frigid polar air heads
our way ready to ruin the upcoming bank holiday
Monday, and is already dropping snow on north east
England, it is forecast to be a bright sunny day
in these parts. It may not get to the optimistic
15° C that I mentioned yesterday, but it should
definitely get to at least 12° C, and in the
sunshine that should feel quite comfortable. It
seems tomorrow may be similar to today, but after
that we can look forward to getting wet !
I didn't feel very comfortable in bed last
night, and yet I think I probably got quite a
reasonable amount of sleep. At first it felt too
warm under the duvet, and too cold without it. As
usual I sort of compromised by doing things like
sleeping with one leg under the duvet, and one leg
not. I can't remember what I did with my arms.
What I do know is that I woke up just before 2am
with a really stiff and sore neck, and had to take
a couple of Ibuprofen tablets to reduce the pain.
Maybe they worked better than I though because I
seemed to sleep quite well after they had taken
effect.
This morning I felt more OK than usual when
I got up. Nothing much hurt to any detrimental
extent. All I had was just a bit of stiffness here
and there. Even my guts seemed more stable than
usual - and that was a surprise considering I
ended up eating more than I thought I would. The
only unexplained thing was a red mark like a rash
in some respects, but unlike a rash in that if I
hadn't noticed it while showering this morning I
would never had realised it was there. It is
possible that it started before this morning, and
I had just never noticed it. It is one more thing
to mention to my doctor. This morning I put in my
request for a repeat prescription, and at 05:52am
it was (electronically) acknowledged. Any minute
now I am expecting a phone call saying I am past
my review date, and will have to see a doctor
first.
Yesterday I mentioned that I actually felt I
had eaten enough while eating some fruit for
lunch. I never really get that sensation, and
wondered if it was something I could nurture and
improve upon to help me eat less. Well, I have to
admit it didn't last long. I guess it was just
another symptom of something that was causing me a
bit of stomach discomfort last week, but doesn't
seem to be active this morning. The actual act
that meant I ended up eating more than I thought I
was going to happened in the middle of the
afternoon yesterday.
I was feeling a bit rough in the afternoon,
and like on Saturday, I decided the only option
was to force myself to go out for a walk. Just
like on Saturday, I felt awful for the first
minute or two, and perfectly OK after that. I
walked to Tesco where I bought a couple of bottles
of Diet Coke, a couple of tuna and cucumber
sandwiches for breakfast at work this morning, and
some other stuff. Some, or maybe quite a lot of
that other stuff I ate a bit at a time during the
rest of yesterday. A bit here, and a bit there
didn't seem much at the time, but I expect the
cumulative amount was a lot more than I expected
to eat. I must try to do better tonight, and I
think there is a chance I will because all the
worst stuff has now gone !
It was an uneventful journey to work this
morning. All the trains were running to time, and
all were of the correct length so there was no
overcrowding. The only "excitement", if it could
be called that, and it probably can't be, was that
there was something happening on the concourse of
Waterloo station - something very, very static
happening.........
Those wonderful people at Asda were
promoting their "George" clothing range. I once
bought a most beautiful purple shirt from George
at Asda, and it was obvious that it was designed
for strange alien people. As I recall, it was very
loose around the chest, and incredibly tight
around the gut. I suspect it was styled on a
cartoon character, maybe a character out of Tom
and Jerry - some sort of strong man with a huge
chest, and very narrow waist. I still have that
shirt somewhere. It is too nice a colour to throw
away, and yet I don't think I will ever be able to
wear it - at least not before I've partly rotted
away in a coffin for a few years.
I have only been at work for 90 minutes, and
yet I am already looking forward to going home.
Once I get home I have some laundry to do. I left
some stuff soaking yesterday afternoon, and
tonight I have the unpleasant task of wringing out
the cold soapy water before rinsing in 3 or 4
bowlfuls of warm water. Then I can hang it up to
dry, and have some dinner, although maybe I might
wash a couple of shirts as well while I am
splashing around in soapy water. Dinner will be
the two ready made salads I pictures on Saturday.
I think I'll leave out what I suspect is sugary
mango chutney from the chicken and mango salad,
and I'll probably substitute something equally
unhealthy, like mayonnaise, but unhealthy in a
less damaging way. After that I can watch a bit of
TV, and/or read a book, and then back to bed
again.
Sunday 26th April
2015
12:35
BST
So yesterday turned out better than
expected - it was not as dull and wet as expected,
and the unexpected amounts of sunshine made it
less cool than expected as well - but what about
today ? Maybe today is not as awful as expected.
It is pretty awful - make no mistake about it -
but it is not awful, awful ! There were some
showers earlier on, but they seemed to have passed
for now, and it is currently dry outside. Well
maybe not dry. Everything is a bit damp outside,
but there don't seem to be many puddles in the
road now - at least in Catford. I expect the lousy
pavements of Earlsfield are still like the great
lakes ! It's currently 10° C outside, and under
some circumstance that is not very cold, such as
when it is sunny, but it is grey, dreary, and
miserable outside, and that makes 10° C seem too
cold to support life as we know it ! It may stay
dry for the rest of the day, but this is probably
about as good as it is going to get. Tomorrow may
benefit from the temperature rising to 15° C, but
it is not expected to be a very nice day. Once
again we cross our fingers and hope that the
forecast is out of date, and far too pessimistic.
I had a quiet night last night. There was
practically nothing on TV, and I spent more time
reading than anything else. With nothing going on
to grab my attention I was asleep in bed fairly
early for a Saturday night. I can't recall the
exact time, but I reckon it was around 9.30pm. I
tried an experiment last night. I slept on one
pillow instead of two to see if it made any
difference, and I'm not sure if it did or didn't.
It felt quite odd as you might expect, but it
didn't seem to stop me going to sleep. What I am
unsure about is whether it helped me stay asleep.
I have a feeling that I slept for longer before
waking up, but once I woke up at around 3am, if I
remember correctly, I seemed to keep waking up
every so often - sometimes an hour, sometimes as
short as 20 minutes later.
A little while before 5am I felt too
uncomfortable to go back to sleep. Lots of bits of
me ached until I got out of bed and had a good
stretch. A couple of hours later I did go back to
bed, and I probably stayed in bed for as much as
two hours, but I don't think much of that was
sleep. So eventually I got up, showered and got
dressed. Having done that I felt awful ! I felt a
bit like I did before going out to Aldi yesterday,
and the cure was to do something instead of
slouching around. So I washed some shirts, a
couple of pillow cases, and a small towel. After
that I felt genuinely tired, but otherwise quite
well.
Along with the various ailments I have been
suffering with for a while I have developed a new
and useful "ailment". I think I was first aware of
it while having some dinner last night, although I
had sort of noticed it before that. The big test
was just a short while ago, although it wasn't
pre-meditated as a test. I've just had my Sunday
lunch, and it was quite a simple lunch. I had a
can of Heinz tomato soup with "a hint of chorizo",
or however they described it, and that was
followed by quite a big crunch Conference pear and
a not very sweet tasting apple.
It was very strange. For the first time in
my life, as far as I am aware, I actually felt
like I had eaten enough. Normally I only stop
eating because I have made a difficult, but
concious decision that I am only going to eat so
much, or I am beginning to feel stuffed,
distended, and heading into pain territory. The
idea of some sort of signal from my stomach to my
brain to say I have eaten sufficient is a sort of
alien concept to me, and yet that is what I felt
last night, and that is what I felt a little while
ago. It was so strong that I found I didn't even
want to finish all the apple and pear. This is
presumably how most people don't get fat. I think
it is something I ought to cultivate even if the
signal has been switched on by some sort of bodily
malfunction - disease, microbes, viruses, cancer,
decriptude, super enlarged spleen, alien
abduction, or whatever !
Well it's another thing to tell me doctor
about when I have my standard 1.35 minute NHS
consultation in the near future. I have to order a
repeat prescription very soon, and I am past my
review date. So the surgery is bound to call me up
saying I have to see a doctor first - and when
they call me that is the easiest way to get an
appointment !
Saturday 25th April
2015
17:05
BST
Yesterday afternoon turned out much better
than expected. It was sunnier than I thought it
would be, and I think it was probably a little bit
warmer too - at least 14° C, and maybe more. The
forecast for today didn't look good, but in fact
after some rain until mid morning, it has actually
been a fairly pleasant day. There are still many
clouds in the sky, but most of the afternoon has
still seemed quite bright, and frequently sunny.
It has certainly been warmer than expected ! I saw
18.5° C on my thermometer a little while ago !
There is a possibility that it might rain again
sometime after dark, and the forecast says that it
will rain tomorrow morning. It also says that it
will be no warmer than 11° C - but that forecast
was made on Friday when the forecast for today was
being made completely wrong ! I wait with baited
breath to see how good or dreadful tomorrow really
is !
I felt dreadfully tired after work
yesterday, but as is often the case, that
tiredness seemed to partially evaporate after I
got home - although it was only partial. I had
what was supposed to be a light dinner, but felt a
lot heavier. Part 1 was a big bowl of ready made
salad with some Tesco "Value" sliced "tikka"
flavoured chicken. I dressed that with extra
virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was
nice, but it left me wanting more. So I had more.
I had a handful of baby plum tomatoes and some
brie. It was not a very big snack, not big at all,
but it left me feeling like I had eaten too much.
I do seem to be suffering from something wrong
with my stomach that is giving mixed feelings at
the moment. It could be an ulcer, or it could be
something lethal, but as usual I assume it will
eventually clear up if I try and treat it right.
There were several things wrong with my
sleep last night. The worst was that after getting
to sleep before 9pm - at least I think I did, but
I couldn't put an accurate time on it - I woke up
feeling dreadful at about 11.20pm. Much of the
"dreadful" was because I was convinced it was time
to get up, and I was still feeling terribly tired.
Once I realised what the time was I felt a lot
better, and I was soon asleep again. My sleep was
interrupted several more times by assorted aches
and pains - mostly from my legs, hips or back (but
not all at once) - but I think I eventually got
enough sleep.
This morning I saw Aleemah, and that meant
going to the Wetherspoons pub for breakfast.
As usual, while Aleemah had her vegetarian
breakfast, I sampled some beers. I had a half pint
of each of the beers in the picture above. I can't
say that any of them were particularly nice, but
all three were pleasant enough. The only notable
thing was the price I was charged for the beer on
the right, "Ghost Ship". The price tag clearly
says £2.50 for a pint, but strangely enough I was
only charged £1.18 for a half pint !
After the pub we had a quick walk around the
99p shop where I bought a bag of "Stiglets" -
complete with a picture of Top Gear's Stig on the
front. It was obvious they were Twigletts, and
that is exactly how the six small bags inside were
labelled. I munched through a couple of bags
as we watched a film called Lucy.
It was not a film I enjoyed that much. It was far
too violent, and far too American for my tastes
(despite none of the action action taking pace in
America).
After Aleemah went home I decided to go and
do my weekly shop in Aldi. I'm not sure why I
forced myself to go out when I felt tired, and
when my stomach was feeling a bit uncomfortable,
but evidently I know myself better than I think I
do. By the time I was half way to Aldi I was
feeling fine, and apart from being weighted down
with shopping, I felt fine when I got home. I
wasn't quite so careful about buying only mostly
low everything stuff today, and I did but one very
naughty item (or a packet of 4 very naughty
items).
Those naughty items were little pots of
sugar laden ice cream, and just now I had two of
them just to see what effect they would have on my
stomach. It was feeling a bit weird earlier - sort
of empty and full at the same time. After two
little sampler sized pots of ice cream it feels
normal - I think. I'm not sure what that means,
but I am happy about it anyway. All I have to do
now is survive off water for the next 48 weeks to
counter the effects of all that sugar and fat !
I did buy two things that small people may
regard as complete meals, but I'll be treating
them as being more like snacks. They are ready
made salads that don't really need any further
ingredients.
I've had one of these potato and egg salads
before, and they are quite nice. The secret of how
it is only 154 calories in total, with only a
modest amount of sugar in it, is that they slice
the single new potato quite thinly. It tricks the
brain into thinking there is more of it.
I've yet to try one of these chicken and
mango salads, but I expect it will make a nice
snack. Rather surprisingly it only contains 108
calories despite containing slightly more sugar
than the potato and egg salad. Most of that sugar
will be in the mango chutney - or what I assume is
mango chutney in the little pot that is visible in
the photo. I might throw that away and have
something with less sugar in it - maybe oil and
vinegar. Maybe the sachet of dressing in the
potato and egg salad is responsible for the
majority of the sugar in it, and perhaps I'll not
use that either.
I haven't any plans for the rest of this
evening. Maybe I'll stay up a bit later than usual
if there is anything on TV that catches my
attention, but otherwise I may well be asleep by
9pm. I find it hard to believe that tomorrow will
be much better than the rather dull and wet day
forecast for it, but I will concede that it could
be better like today was. Even so, I think I will
treat it as if it will be dull and wet and make
appropriate plans for it - shutter the windows,
and stay under the duvet !
Friday 24th April
2015
07:48
BST
I was confused about the difference between
the icons/pictograms showing the progress of the
weather, and the written description yesterday. It
turns out that the written description "Although many places will
start cloudy and dull it will slowly brighten
up with the cloud retreating back towards the
coast by midday. Most parts will then have a
sunny afternoon and with light winds it will
feel warm." was the more accurate
forecast. Even before midday the grey clouds had
all but gone, and there was no sign of any black
clouds. When I left work it was bright and sunny,
and the temperature was 14 - 15° C, or a couple of
degrees higher than the most optimistic forecast.
The forecast for today was terrible a few
days ago, but the latest forecast seems more
optimistic that we will have a fairly good day.
The sky was quite misty at sunrise, and the
temperature was down to about 6° C. The forecast
was that this morning would be bright and sunny,
and once that mistiness dispersed that turned out
to be correct, but the small bit of sky I can see
from my office window is looking very cloudy now.
The optimistic guess is that there will be many
sunny intervals today, and that the temperature
will slowly rise to something similar to
yesterday. The pessimistic bit is that there could
be some rain tonight, and maybe more tomorrow -
although the forecast for tomorrow seems in a
constant state of flux.
It was nice going homewards in the sunshine
after work, but I didn't go straight home. I had a
message to say that boozing was taking place in
The Catford Constitutional Club after work, but I
didn't even head there.....at first. Last night I
did the sensible thing and picked up some shopping
first. Having to get some of it in the fridge was
a good excuse not to stay boozing for too long,
and carrying that shopping home, which included
what I was to have for dinner, was a good reason
not to go in the chip shop.
I reckon I spent about 90 minutes with some
very pleasant company having a few beers and a
good natter. I tried half pints of four different
beers before deciding on one to have a full pint
before going home. It was a slightly weird
beer....
It was called "Little Things That Kill" (
microbes ?), and brewed by Weird
Beard (whose web site is an abortion
of macromedia flash, and should be banned
from the internet). It was just 3.9%, and so not
very strong at all, and described as "A violently
hoppy little beer". I would disagree with that. It
was not strongly hoppy in my opinion, although the
type of hops did give it quite a distinct, and
very pleasant flavour. I think under different
circumstance I could have drunk several more pints
of it !
It was a little after 6.30pm when I got
home, and I felt hungry, but not famished. So I
had an almost, but maybe not quite, moderate
dinner. I had a couple of ham and jalapeno
coleslaw sandwiches, a small pack of "Sweetfire"
baby beetroots, and a packet of "Meateors". The
latter might have started life as some sort of
animal feed, but was adapted for humans. They were
small balls of "90% pork" with an alleged barbecue
flavour. I dread to think what the other 10% was -
I didn't dare look. They weren't exactly horrible,
but they had no appealing features, and I don't
think I want to be repeating that experiment again
! The beetroot had some good stuff in it -
vitamins, minerals, and stuff - but also rather a
lot of sugar. Maybe it was a sacrifice worth
making, or maybe not.
I was in bed quite early last night. I read
for a while before turning out the light. I don't
really remember anything after turning out the
light. I reckon I was so tired that I fell asleep
instantly (maybe three pints of beer helped too).
I think I slept better than recently, but my mind
has been teased by a conundrum that will probably
never have a valid answer. Did I dream about
attempting to cycle to work because my right knee
felt sore in the way that cycling would possibly
make it feel sore, or did my knee feel sore
because I was cycling in my dream. The other
unanswered question is whether my knee was
actually sore at all ! It seemed to feel stiff and
painful until I got out of bed. That seemed to
instantly cure it !
It could be because it is Friday (although
unfortunately it is still another week until
payday), but I do feel sort of not too bad this
morning. What appear to be baked in aches and
pains still ache and pain this morning, but quite
mildly. Other than them, nothing much really hurts
this morning - unless you count my feet (I am
wearing shoes that are very comfortable to wear at
work, but not so comfortable to walk in). All I
have to do now is get through another day at work
without too much grief, and the weekend starts as
soon as I am out the door ! Tonight I expect I
will be lazy and do bugger all. Tomorrow morning
I'll be seeing Aleemah, and after that......who
knows ? Maybe I'll do something wonderfully
constructive........or maybe I won't !
Thursday 23rd April
2015
07:50
BST
Yesterday morning was pleasant, although a
little cool, but the clouds became thicker than
expected in the afternoon, and my journey home
from work was conducted under a gloomy sky. I
think it was about 14° C as I made my way home,
and normally that would feel quite comfortable,
but the grey skies seemed to make it feel cooler
than it was. It also felt rather cool indoors, but
perhaps that was just me because it took very
little heating to make it feel warm in my bedroom.
Today has started off very dull, with not even the
merest hint of the sun up in the sky. It is not
quite as cool as yesterday morning - thanks to all
the clouds during the night - but at 8 - 10° C, it
is not exactly warm. It's not even mild !
The problem with trying to forecast the
weather from the weather forecast is that it is
often contradictory when it is not just completely
wrong ! Here is a screenshot of today's weather
forecast, and underneath it is the written
description cut-n-pasted from the BBC's web site.
Maybe it is just me - perhaps I do not understand
English, or I am stupid - but the pictures seem to
tell a completely different story to the words !
"Although
many places will start cloudy and dull it
will slowly brighten up with the cloud
retreating back towards the coast by midday.
Most parts will then have a sunny afternoon
and with light winds it will feel warm."
Let's take that last sentence - "Most parts
will then have a sunny afternoon and with light
winds it will feel warm.". The afternoon starts at
midday, and the pictures show black clouds at
midday, and at 1pm, and at 2pm. At 3pm the clouds
change to grey or white, but there is still no
hint of any rays of sunshine until 4pm, and then
it's back to light coloured cloud again ! Also,
12° C, even with no wind at all, is not exactly
warm. It ain't bad, but....... It all makes me
wonder what next Monday will really be like. It
will probably snow, but be described as a heatwave
!
I did not feel that good at work yesterday.
There were no specific symptoms that made me feel
rough. It was more a case of everything making me
feel rough, and that included work itself. Over
the previous few days I put my creative skills
into overdrive to come up with some demonstration
pieces for an upcoming exhibition. Apparently they
are so good that they could even be described as
pre-prototype prototypes that would need little
work to turn into manufacturable units. Yesterday
I was pressurised into drawing up some notes and
stuff describing what I had done - and I hate
doing stuff like that - particularly when to me it
seems so blatantly obvious just by looking at what
I've done. More importantly, it is the mechanics
that need the most attention. What actually needs
to be done is for one of our mechanical engineers
to look at my bodges, and draw some proper
technical drawings featuring real measurements (I
did it all by eye). By comparison, the electronic
bits and pieces are simple. Someone will have to
design a printed circuit board to replace the lash
up I made to interface a new camera module to our
existing control board, but that was obvious to
everyone before I even started my bodge. In short,
I got completely fed up about the idea of writing
a load of bollocks. I was going to try and start
writing something this morning, but I've had
another project dumped on me - and this one I
would do differently to the waqy I have been asked
to do it. So today is going to be another
depressing day !
I felt tired and aching when I got home
after work yesterday. Not only that, but it did
not feel very warm indoors. It seemed mild enough
to come home in my shirtsleeves, but once I got
indoors I turned the heating on. Not having any
afternoon sunshine to warm the front of my house
makes an awful lot of difference ! Once I had got
changed, and my bedroom felt a bit warmer, I
decided to lay down and read for a while. I
expected I would probably fall asleep, but that
didn't happen.
Maybe an hour after I had got home, and
still awake, I decided to have some dinner. I
wanted to try and have a fairly light dinner, and
I half succeeded. I started off with a bowl of
ready mixed salad, and added quite a few chunks of
Feta cheese. I have no idea where I got the idea
from, and if I researched it I am sure I would
find out I am wrong, but I have this stupid idea
that Feta cheese is somehow healthier than, say,
Cheddar. A cold salad, dressed with virgin olive
oil and balsamic vinegar was certainly nice, but
it didn't satisfy like it should have. So I
supplemented it with some hot soup. I had a can of
cream of tomato soup - with added Feta cheese -
and that was followed by a can of lentil and bacon
soup. That seemed to hit the spot, and I went up
to my bedroom feeling just about satisfied.
I fully intended to go to bed extra early
last night - even if it was only to do a bit of
reading - but I got distracted. I decided to watch
a bit of TV on my PC before going to bed, and to
do that I plug in a USB TV tuner. I have a few of
these, The reason why I have several to choose
from is that they are both cheap, and not all of
them will work on a Linux PC. So I bought a
selection to try. One of them is a tiny little
thing, and I have yet to see it working. It needs
some firmware loaded on it, and on a Windows PC
this would be included in the drivers. On a Linux
PC the firmware is in the form of a discrete file.
Everything seemed to load OK, and yet the tuner
could not seem to find any stations.
In a fit of frustration
curiosity I decided to reboot my PC into Windows,
and install the drivers and software to test the
USB dongle on that. It still didn't work, and my
conclusion is that it is probably a faulty unit
(and I can't even remember when and where I bought
it !). Just to make sure, before I throw it away,
I have brought it into work to test on my Windows
7 PC. If it doesn't work here, on a modern, fast
machine, then I declare it definitely faulty !
Playing with that dongle kept me up later
than I intended last night, but it wasn't that
late when I went to bed. Once I was in bed I read
for a while, and then I turned the lights off, and
immediately started to sweat ! I don't really know
why that was. It could have had something to do
with some raw chillies I added to the salad I had
for dinner, or it could have been something to do
with the "three fingers of red eye" (otherwise
known as Tesco special reserve whisky) that I
decided I would have while mucking about on my PC.
It may also have had something to do with whatever
illness I had that made me feel so bad yesterday
and the day before.
I may well have been the latter because
after what turned out to be an averagely OK sleep,
I think I do feel better this morning. I still
feel a bit lousy, but it is a completely different
sort of lousy to the previous two days. Today it
is more of a sort of poor weather sort of lousy,
and maybe there is a hint of hangover thrown in
too, but the amount of whisky I had last night
doesn't normally cause a noticeable hangover. So
it looks like I am going to live yet another day !
Tonight is traditionally drinking night, but
I haven't heard where we are drinking - if we are
drinking. I do feel a bit ambiguous about drinking
tonight. I am sure I will enjoy it if I do stop of
for a few on my way home from work, but I don't
find myself looking forward to it that much. It
would be terribly anti-sociable, but I could be
just as happy going straight home, and just
vegetating - amybe reading in bed before an early
night. Time will tell....
Wednesday 22nd April
2015
08:18
BST
Once again the temperature failed to hit
the fabled 19° C. The highest I saw was 17° C, but
that felt very nice, and with a light breeze it
was excellent drying weather. Like the night
before, the clear sky allowed the temperature to
drop during the night, although only as low as 7°
C this morning. It is forecast to be a
bit of a cloudy morning, but only light cloud,
and indeed the cloud is so light at the moment
that it is almost transparent ! The
forecast has now changed. Maybe they looked out
the window, saw that it is a bright sunny morning,
and hastily changed the forecast in the last hour.
There still seems to be the possibility of some
cloudy periods in the afternoon, and that may
limit the temperature to 14 or 15° C........but
that is still fairly pleasant.
After starting yesterday feeling too
horrible to go to work, I seemed to recover quite
quickly during the morning. It wasn't a complete
recovery, but I think that washing the
pillowcases, sheet, and duvet covet helped more
than hindered. It certainly warmed me up, and it
loosened up a few stiff muscles. It ended up that
there was nothing really stopping me from going
out for a walk in the afternoon, even just a
stroll to the shops and back, but I didn't really
fancy it, or just couldn't be bothered. What I
could be bothered to do was a bit of gardening.
Maybe "gardening" is a bit of an
exaggeration. Perhaps "garden maintenance" is a
better description. I just swept the garden path
of assorted detritus, and filled a bin liner with
some pulled up weeds - although it didn't feel
quite as trivial as that description suggests. If
I could do the same amount of weed pulling
everyday for three days, and somehow get rid of
the remains of a buddleia bush, and the short
stump of a very immature tree, I could almost be
ready to either lay a small lawn, or even plant
some food crops. It doesn't feel like it will
happen this year though, but you never know...
It felt like quite a productive day
yesterday, or at least pretty productive
considering how I was feeling at the start of the
day. It should have meant that I was nice and
tired, and ready for an early night last night,
but it didn't. I guess the extra sleep I got when
I went back to bed after deciding I felt too rough
to travel to work, plus the times I just lay on my
bed quietly reading, provided more than enough
relaxation for the day. So it was quite late
before I got to sleep last night.
I slept fairly well, but as seems to be the
norm now, I started waking up every 30 - 60
minutes from about 3am onwards. I didn't feel all
that wonderful when I got up, but at least I
wasn't shivering, and I didn't feel like I might
be heading towards vomiting. I did feel quite a
lot of aches here, there and everywhere, but
although the quantity and intensity may have been
a bit higher than usual, they didn't seem to be
any reason not to come to work today. Maybe the
worse ache was from my chest. One lingering,
although quite intermittent, symptom that started,
or at least started in earnest yesterday, was a
dry tickly cough. Oddly enough, it seemed to be
worse while I was in bed, and it certainly shook
up my costochondritus - inflammation of the bits
that are "loose" inside my chest (probably) due to
incomplete healing following my heart bypass
operation.
The journey to work didn't seem much removed
from normality. I felt less inclined to rush about
- maybe because I wasn't sure if I was up to it -
but other than that it was pretty much like any
other day - a bit boring, and a tragic waste of
over an hour of my life ! Oh well, in a quarter of
a day I can do the whole thing in reverse, and
waste another hour of my life. If the forecast can
stay relatively close to reality, I will at least
have the pleasure of going home in warm sunshine.
Once I am home I have no plans at all...or maybe I
have one. I ought to try and eat rather sparsely
if I can. I was a bit careful about what I ate
yesterday, but it was inevitable that while I was
home all day I ended up eating more than I should
have. The difficulty is that eating is the
only pleasurable thing I have to look forward to
when I get home (apart from sleep) !
Tuesday 21st April
2015
11:43
BST
The temperature didn't hit the hoped for
19° C yesterday. I'm not sure how high it did go -
it was either 14° C or 17° C, and I am thinking it
may have only been the former. Maybe the latter
was in one of those sun traps in the centre of
London. It was certainly nice though, and if it
didn't actually feel warm, it certainly felt very
comfortable. The all day sunshine was certainly
very welcome. During the night the temperature
fell a lot - I saw just 4° C on my upstairs
thermometer, although the one outside the kitchen
downstairs said 6° C. It was a bright clear
morning, and the sun is forecast to continue to
shine all day long again. Fifteen minutes ago the
old fashioned thermometer out the kitchen (not the
radio linked one) was indicating the temperature
was 14° C. Maybe it is today that we will see that
fabled 19° C - although if this sunshine continues
to pour heat into the air it might even go higher.
Tomorrow is showing as cloud in the morning, and a
bit of sunshine in the afternoon, but only 14° C
max. Friday is showing as 16° C with thunderstorms
!
The most exciting feature at work yesterday
was a fire drill.....
Here's our two fire
wardens rounding up the troops (sort of) for
roll call in a nice sunny park !
As far as I can
recall, I felt OK-ish at work. For a short
while, a time when I was being lazy at an
advanced level, I did start to feel very
tired, and falling asleep while I read stuff
from the internet would have been easy, very
easy, so easy that I think I did fall asleep
for a second or two. Eventually it was time to
go home, and time to enjoy some direct
sunshine on my neck, or wherever it chose to
fall.
On my way home I called in to Tesco to
pick up some more salad - and some stuff to go
with the salad - and some reduced price ready
cooked, hot "mega meaty ribs in a chilli
marinade". Of course the latter was not
exactly the healthiest option, but they are
very tasty, and at half price it would be
criminal to ignore them....
Although I was quite careful about what
I bought in Tesco (with that one slip off the
path of righteousness), I still ended up
eating more than I should have done. Over the
weekend, on Sunday I think, I found my old
swimming trunks that have not been used since
I used to go swimming with Patricia almost 10
years ago. They were not a generous fit then,
but they were perfectly comfortable. They are
not any more ! I can still get into them, but
I didn't dare breathe out !! It was a good
reminder that I ought to be seriously reducing
my fat/oil intake. I have managed to reduce my
sugar intake a lot, and my carbohydrate intake
a fair amount. That has (probably) taken the
load off my pancreas (I hope), and it will
have reduced my calorie intake a bit, but to
get back into those swimming trunks (which
might be useful if I am ever ship wrecked)
would take a lot more effort than I am
currently achieving.
If I was ever to take up a suggestion
that Amazon gave me when looking at their web
site last night, I would have to live off
distilled water for a year and a half.....
The popular idea is that Amazon scour
every move you make on the internet, and their
super computers know everything about you.
Evidently they have a very serious software
bug if they think I can wear skinny slim fit
jeans ! It would be nice if I could, but never
in my whole life have I ever been skinny or
slim. I was born fat, and I've been like that
every single day of my life !
This morning I woke up from a pretty
average sort of sleep feeling averagely OK,
but from then on I seemed to go down hill. By
the time I was showered, dressed, and about to
leave to go to the station I felt horrible. I
felt shivery, and I had a sort of empty yet
nauseas feel in my stomach. That rather put me
off going to work. So I got undressed again
and went back to bed with the heater on full
blast. At some pint in the next two hours I
fell asleep, and woke up just in time to call
work to tell them the good news.
I still didn't feel that wonderful, but
I had stopped feeling shivery, and a couple of
tuna and cucumber sandwiches that I had bought
in Tesco last night, and that I intended to
take to work with me for breakfast, cured the
empty feeling I had (although at one point I
did wonder if I would throw up). I have no
idea what ailed me. Maybe it was just the
terror of going to work or something.....
Despite the heater still going full
blast I was not feeling hot, but I knew a kill
or cure way of warming up - and it would
either sort out, or really blow up some mild
costochondritus I was suffering from.
(Costochondritus is my new catch-all name to
replace "floating rib syndrome" when
describing clicking, popping, and cracking
noises from with my chest, although strictly
speaking it is only relevant when the proper
bits are inflamed and painful). That way of
warming myself up was to do some hand laundry,
and this morning I really went for it ! I did
a pair of sheets (easy), a fitted sheet (still
fairly easy), and a rather heavy duty duvet
cover (a real handful !).
The fitted sheet is drying indoors
because there is no room on the washing line
for it (well there is, but the far end is
worryingly close to where many birds like to
drop "little presents" from the overhanging
tree branches !). That duvet cover is not one
of the cheap and nasty ones from
Poundstretcher, and is bloody heavy when
saturated with water - far too heavy to wring
out with any useful effectiveness. so I can
only wash things like it on nice sunny days
when it can drip away to it's hearts content
in the garden. Funnily enough, I feel much
better for doing that hard work...or maybe it
wasn't such a surprise.
I am going to have a lay down and read
of my book now. That will probably make things
worse again, and so maybe I might go out for a
walk this afternoon.....or maybe not. I'll see
how motivated I am later.
Monday 20th April
2015
07:57
BST
Yesterday evening/late afternoon was not
exactly warm, but it seemed to be quite
nice.....but maybe only when viewed from indoors !
It was not always sunny, but it seemed to stay
bright until the sun set, and I guess that I
shouldn't complain about it being just 13° C, but
I will anyway ! With the sky just about empty of
clouds during the night, the temperature plummeted
! It wasn't cold enough for a frost, although the
pattern of condensation on some car roofs or
windscreens did look a lot like melted frost. My
upstairs outdoor thermometer said it was just 4°
C, but the downstairs one said a more generous
5.5° C. While it was most definitely "wear a coat
to work in the morning" weather, it was gloriously
sunny once the sun had risen high enough to
clear the roof tops. The weather forecast on TV
last night predicted that the temperature could
hit a comfortable 19° C today, and tomorrow it
could be similar (maybe even better if we are very
lucky).
Last night I had a wonderful sleep until
about 3am this morning when it all started to go
wrong. I kept waking up for no apparent reason.
Maybe I just didn't need any more sleep, but that
can't be so judging from ow easy it seemed to get
back to sleep again. One consequence of this is
that I remembered snatches of quite a few dreams -
although I seem to have forgotten most of them
now. I remember one featured an alien invasion. I
was in some sort of bunker with several other
people - one of whom seemed to be a girlfriend -
although there was too much war like action taking
place for any "romantic interludes" ! One scene
sticks in my mind (although it is looking like a
bit of a hazy view now). It was of something that
looked like a giant buzz saw blade that was
cutting up buildings under the control of the
aliens (whoever they were). One other "scene" was
worth taking the trouble to remember because it
seemed to sum up how life sometimes appeared. I
was following my "girlfriend" up a stair case as
we escaped from the bunker, and I said "Don't
worry. We are in next weeks episode, and so can't
be killed yet !". I don't think I used the actual
word "episode" in the dream, but it was something
very similar. Hmmm, life is no more than a play
that is only of any significance to those that
watch us play our parts, while we are just
characters with no reality outside of the play. I
wonder who said that...maybe it was me !
This morning I could judge myself to feel
good, bad, or indifferent. It is one of those
mornings where if I judge myself on how easy it
was to walk to the station, or on the more testing
experience of the race across the link from
Waterloo East station to Waterloo station, I would
have to say I felt pretty good. That's not the
whole story though. The walk to the station seemed
easy because I was concentrating on how bad other
bits of me felt. For some unknown reason I
developed a very tickly throat a little while
after waking up (and a bit of a runny nose). The
tickly throat made me cough a lot, and that made
my chest hurt. So while I walked to the station I
wondered if my chest would start to feel better or
worse - it did start to feel very slightly better
- and I also contemplated whether I had visited
the toilet enough before setting out. So I sort of
left my legs to get on with the business of
walking to the station, and they seemed to do the
job well. I was also quite pleased with my
performance of racing other commuters across the
link to Waterloo station. I didn't get to lead the
pack, but we left the majority choking in our dust
as we powered up the slope, accelerated on the
level, and didn't slow down on the next slope.
From then on it was full speed ahead on the level
until the ticket barriers where we dispersed in
all directions !
Going home in the warm sunshine is
definitely something to look forward to once I've
got today's work out of the way. Today I am
probably going to end up on a go slow. My first
line manager is piling on the work, and the more
he gives me the slower I go. This is partly
because there is now no room to work on my bench,
and partly because it pisses me off to have all
these projects all on the go at once, but more
important is the fact that by the time I get
around to starting on the next project I have
forgotten what it is all about. These are all
projects for the exhibition coming up in about 35
days times (although I am still unsure if that is
working days or actual days - I know the date and
could work it out, but I can't be bothered).
Oh well, maybe my manager will learn how to manage
me before I quit this job.....or maybe not ! To
quote a well known unpleasant character "Am
I bovvered ?".
Sunday 19th April
2015
17:07
BST
It may not have been warm, but yesterday
afternoon ended up quite bright and sunny, and at
5pm I was going to walk to Aldi in my shirtsleeves
(I didn't, but not because I didn't think it warm
enough). During the night the temperature dropped
down to 6° C (or in the region). It made for a
chilly sunrise, but at sunrise the day looked very
promising. There was a scattering of clouds, but
there was still plenty of blue sky to be seen.
Unfortunately the cloud got thicker, and covered
more and more of the sky. By 9am it looked as bad
, or worse than the most pessimistic
interpretation of the weather forecast. At some
point, and it is hard to put a time on it because
it happened very slowly, the clouds thinned again,
and from mid afternoon there was quite a bit of
sunshine. This was a departure from the weather
forecast, and so was the temperature rising to
about 13° C (the forecast was for a pathetic 10°
C). The forecast for tomorrow is still saying it
will be bright and sunny with a top temperature of
16° C.
As far as I can recall, I felt perfectly OK
last night, but I still had no inclination to go
out to a gig in the evening - none at all !
Admittedly this was a pre-planned decision when it
came to seeing Chain. They were playing at The
Belvedere Hotel which is right opposite Belvedere
station. If I was feeling adventurous I could have
got there, and maybe even got home again, but it
was having to travel to that very station every
morning that made me quit my previous job (under
voluntary redundancy terms) when work moved from
Elmers End (easy to get to and from) to Erith (a
pain in the arse !). I am sure there were more
local gigs I could have gone to, but I just
couldn't be bothered.
One of the things I did instead was to do
some research, and I came up trumps. I was looking
into possible reasons for all the clicking,
popping, creaking and groaning that come from
within my chest when I do certain things. These
aren't always literal noises, and generally are
felt rather than heard. It too very little time (1
minute ?) to find a web site that explains all -
albeit in a general sort of way. Only a doctor or
anatomist would bother to actually count my ribs,
and stuff like that. Until some time in the not
too distant future, when I finally bother to
consult my doctor about it, and he or she gives it
a different name, I will call it costochondritus.
The website that both describes my symptoms
well, and gives me that name is - http://www.healthhype.com/popping-cracking-clicking-sternum-breastbone-rib-joint.html.
Other websites, including our very own nhs.co.uk,
concur with this, but the one I linked to
describes it best. As I have previously said, this
problem, whether it is actually costochondritus,
or one of several very similar conditions, has no
actual cure, and in most cases all that can
be offered is anti-inflammatory drugs - and I
already know that Ibuprofen usually works very
well when, and if it generates actual pain instead
of just feeling unpleasant. Fortunately, since
deciding to ignore the advice of the nurse to
quadruple my Metformin dose, the inflammation that
was causing me some pain seems to have mostly gone
away again.
I think I had another good night's sleep
last night, and I eventually woke up feeling
fairly refreshed - although I do seem to be
yawning quite a lot now ! I did have one niggling
little problem that spoiled some of morning -
trapped wind. At least it was trapped every time I
tried to deflate myself while sitting on the
toilet, but I didn't seem to have any problem
farting all the way from home to the station when
I went to meet Aleemah at the station ! I
guess as I age two things are happening - my
digestive system is getting more decrepit, and
my brain, as it becomes more senile, is
reverting back to younger years when farting was
a great joke. Just wait and see what happens
when my mental age drops to about 15 !
I still felt the effects of being distended
when we got to the pub, but evidently I was just
about empty, and no one in the pub had to suffer
the consequences of it, and the same was true for
those innocent souls shopping in Aldi when we went
in there after breakfast in the pub. Today
Aleemah brought over a DVD of a film I thought I
should know well, but evidently I didn't. It was
the classic 1957 horror film Night
Of The Demon (apparently called Curse Of The
Demon in N. America). I was sure I had seen it
before, and maybe I did remember a few minutes of
it, but essentially it was a new experience. I am
not a fan of horror stories, but I guess it was a
little bit enjoyable.
Saturday 18th April
2015
14:07
BST
Yesterday wasn't bad, but neither was it
good - except towards sunset when it was sort of
bad. Compared to a few days ago it was a bit cool,
and there was a distinct lack of sunshine. I can't
remember if there was any sunshine at all, but
maybe there might have been the odd minute of
sunshine here and there. The day did warm up
enough to make coming home from work without
wearing a coat quite comfortable, but it also
cooled down enough near sunset to make walking
home from the pub without wearing a coat
definitely uncomfortable ! Today has seen much
more sunshine, particularly this afternoon, but it
is still no less cool than "mild" outside.
Currently it is about 13° C, and that is supposed
to be about as good as it is going to get.
Tomorrow is currently forecast to be very grey
with some rain in the afternoon, and very cool - a
mere 10° C. Once the weekend is over, and we are
back to work, isolated from the worst or best of
the weather, it will be warm and sunny again !
My mild hangover dissipated by mid morning,
and my volatile guts evidently had settled down
before that, although my guts still felt slightly
distended for a while after that. By home time I
was feeling fine, and maybe even better than fine.
Even better because I had exchanged a few text
messages from my friend Patricia, and she was free
to meet up with me soon after I got home from
work.
She timed it well. I had just enough time to
drag a comb through my hair (figuratively speaking
- I actually brushed it), and to make other
adjustments to make me and my home look less like
a caveman and cave. We didn't stay here long.
After I had dumped all her mail on her that had
accumulated during the past year (a legacy of the
couple of times she has stayed here in the past),
I took her to the famous (?) Catford
Constitutional Club for a quick drink.
It was a quick drink too because the place
was very busy, and there was nowhere to sit, but
there was time for her to visit the ladies toilet
- mainly on my recommendation rather than any need
to use it (although she may have). The ladies
toilet there is unlike any toilet in any pub
anywhere in the world - probably. I have never
seen it first hand, but I have heard first hand
descriptions, and seen a few mobile phone
snapshots of some of the features. Some describe
it as like a ladies boudoir. It is somewhere that
is definitely on the Catford tourist trail if I am
the guide !
After the one quick drink there we moved on
to the Wetherspoons pub where we could get a table
to sit at to continue nattering, drinking, and
also to have a light snack together. I guess it is
the measure of a good friendship that despite not
seeing Patricia for 12 months or so, it was like
no time had passed at all, and we just resumed the
conversation from where we left off. Actually I am
not sure I've explained that very well, but hey
ho......
This is Patricia in the Wetherspoons pub
last night. It could have been a brilliant
picture, but I think one of us moved during a
slightly longer exposure time than I was
expecting.
I'm not sure how long we were in the pub,
but it was getting on for sunset when we left.
Patricia had a fair journey to get home - a bus
then a train - although if she had taken my advice
she would have got one bus from almost outside the
pub to right outside the station where her train
would take her - and with trains only every 30
minutes the single 45 minute bus journey might
even been a lot quicker ! Oh well, maybe next
time. I had a far simpler journey home - a 7 or 8
minute walk, but without a coat it was a very cold
walk !
I was tired when I got in, and also hungry
despite the chicken and bacon pannini snack I had
in the pub. I guess the beer, all three pints of
it, can be blamed for both conditions. Fighting
the tiredness was easy because I was feeling a bit
excited or happy, but fighting the desire for more
food was rather less successful, and I ordered a
takeaway. I doubt it is any defense, but I was
also mightily tempted by a simply mouth watering
aroma of garlic and chicken wafting from some food
establishment (possibly Nandos).
So I had some curry, and I ended up not
going to bed until after midnight ! I think I got
my second wind while impatiently waiting for my
food to be delivered, and although I only ate a
smallish portion, I still had to wait some time
for it all to settle down. When I finally went to
bed I fell asleep very quickly, and I had two long
chunks of rather good sleep - with a 2 hour pause
between them. I didn't actually get up until gone
10am - and that is a bit of a record for me !
After two consecutive evenings of light
boozing I possibly felt better than expected. I
can't think of anything specific that would stop
me feeling rather good this morning, but I still
only felt moderately OK. I had the energy and
enthusiasm to do quite a lot of laundry, but that
seemed to drain me. Maybe it is another case of
the weather being half and half. It frequently
looks like it is very nice outside, but the
reality is that it is almost chilly. The
thermometer says it shouldn't feel quite as chilly
as it does, but the breeze is just strong enough
to blow the meagre amount of warmth away.
I was going to get some shopping from Aldi
today, but partly because I had enough left over
curry for a good lunch, and mostly because I just
can't seem to raise the enthusiasm to go out for
the sake of going out, I have put off shopping
until tomorrow. I'll be seeing Aleemah for a
couple of hours tomorrow, and that will mean
another visit to the Wetherspoons pub, and more
beer - but usually only a single pint unless there
is some beer on that I get too curious about, and
have to have another half pint. After that we will
go to Aldi.....and then I can put my feet up and
vegetate until it is time for work on Monday
morning - maybe !
Friday 17th April
2015
08:14
BST
It seemed like summer had been and gone,
and that Autumn was starting yesterday. It was
supposed to be a sunny afternoon, but I don't
recall much in the way of sunshine then.....or any
at all, although there were periods when it was
quite bright outside. It was certainly not bright
when I left work to go home (via the pub), and
there was some rain as I made my way home from the
pub. I would hazard a guess that it got no milder
than 13 or 14° C. Today will be better and worse
if the forecast is correct. It should stay dry
today (but I am pretty certain no rain was
forecast for yesterday either), and there could be
a little bit of sunshine if the cloud cover stays
similar to how it is right now - thin looking
broken clouds covering over 50% of the sky, but
with big enough gaps to let the sun through if
those gaps happen to be in the right place at the
right time. The forecast says it will get no
milder than a not really mild at all 12° C.
Tomorrow might be better, and Sunday could be
worse. So much for the heatwave that some of the
more wildly optimistic pundits were predicting for
the rest of the month...or whatever.
I don't think I felt particularly good or
bad yesterday, and I suppose feeling very average
is probably the best we can expect most of the
time (brought to you by the department of the
bleedin' obvious !). Of course that statement was
not wholly accurate. I felt slightly blue because
the sky was grey, and the shoes that had been
quite comfortable in the morning seemed to get a
bit uncomfortable in the afternoon - maybe my feet
had swelled up a bit or something. Some booze
seemed to correct the discomfort, and when I
finally took those shoes off there was no sign of
any fresh damage.
It was very nice to have some beers with
some friends, and I could have been tempted to
have even more than the the one more than the
three maximum I had planned to drink. The pub
seemed to have some nice beers on last night, and
the one I liked best was the Bedlam
Brewery's "Golden" ale. At 4.2% it is
slightly stronger than a session beer, and yet is
weaker than many beers. I had three pints of it,
plus a pint of Fusilier
beer from the Hop Back brewery - which was
OK-ish, but not so enjoyable.
With four pints inside me it was time to
walk back home through the park. It was at least
an hour before sunset, and maybe even longer, but
it was nasty and dull in the park, and it was not
an enjoyable walk. It was made worse by it feeling
quite chilly (I wasn't wearing a coat), and even
more unpleasant by the rain falling on me. When I
first started there was just the occasional drop
of rain here and there, but by the time I reached
home it was getting more like a proper shower. In
the last minute of walking I did begin to get
quite wet !
The good thing about walking through the
park is that there are no food shops on the way to
tempt me off the path to righteousness (or
whatever), although what I had for dinner when I
got home was not exactly the most healthy option I
had. It certainly wasn't salad weather, and so I
had a heap of Hong Kong noodles - a container of
ready cooked noodles that are described as Hong
Kong flavour on the packet. I bought them from
Aldi last Sunday. They are quite tasty, but a big
plateful of noodles is not the right thing to have
when you are trying to avoid carbohydrates to help
control blood glucose levels. Four pints of beer
was bad enough for that ! I can imagine my blood
glucose level spiked quite high last night, but if
I have been resting my pancreas enough recently,
it might only be a semi short lived spike.
This morning I don't seem to be too affected
by an elevated blood glucose level, but I do have
a mild hangover, and turbulent guts ! Oddly enough
they do seem to be the only significant things to
moan about this morning. Either my more usual
aches and pains are being over shadowed by these
other discomforts, or my usual aches and pains
aren't there this morning. I certainly don't seem
to have any of the pains associated with my so
called floating rib syndrome. My chest still
clicks and pops when I do certain things - such as
doing up my shoe laces - but there don't seem to
be any pains with it.
This lack of pains may be just be because it
has always been very variable, or it could be
because of small changes I have made. I would
guess that it may be a bit early to say that
substituting my ruck sack for the shoulder bag has
been useful, but maybe it is helping. Another
change is that I have halved the dosage I am
taking of Metformin. Now I have got my diet under
better control, and I am (usually) avoiding stuff
that raises my blood glucose level too much, I
shouldn't need the higher dose of Metformin.
Whether that has any bearing on the matter is
another unknown, but I prefer not to take any
pills if I can. I must be one of the few
hypochondriacs who hates medicines ! Anyway, if it
wasn't for the mild throbbing in my head, and the
weapons grade trapped, and not so trapped, wind, I
would probably be feeling fairly good this morning
!
Thursday 16th April
2015
07:55
BST
I don't think I could describe yesterday as
hot, but it was certainly quite warm. The
headlines shouted that some parts of London hit
26° C, but the best I saw on my thermometers was
just a tad over 23° C - which I have to
acknowledge is still rather impressive for mid
April. Today will not be nearly as warm, but this
morning's forecast is a little bit more optimistic
than yesterday morning's predictions for today. It
is a bit cloudy right now, but the cloud is not
very thick, and frequently quite broken. Sometimes
it blocks the sun almost completely, but for most
of my journey to work there was at least a bright
glare in the sky where the sun should be. The
forecast says the cloud should disperse soon, and
we will have a bright sunny afternoon. That will
raise the temperature from about 10° C when I left
home this morning, to a pleasant 15° C (or a
couple of degrees higher than that forecast for
today yesterday morning). If we are lucky the
forecasts for subsequent days will improve because
they are still rather unexciting - staying dry,
but not always sunny, and top temperatures around
12 - 13° C.
Compare ,and contrast these two
images........
The top picture is from the rather
enthusiastic front page of The Evening Standard.
They quote weathermen forecasting "that the hot
spell could last until next week". Underneath it
is a screenshot from the BBC's weather forecast
web page taken early yesterday evening. The
forecast for today was the new improved 15° C
rather than the forecast for 13° C made earlier in
the morning, but for the rest of the week there
are no signs of a hot spell ! It looks more tepid
than hot to my eyes.
Yesterday I made the mistake of saying that
the pain in right elbow was much diminished, and
maybe implied that it was just another of those
unexplained pains that suddenly appears, and then
fades away again for no obvious reason. That did
seem to be the case at the time, but it wasn't
long before the pain flared up again, and from
time to time, through the day, and even when I was
in bed, the pain became quite annoying. It wasn't
until later in the day that I remembered the
reason for it....well almost remembered. I can't
remember when or where it was, but I do recall
catching the middle of my arm, around where the
elbow is, on what was probably a door handle as I
walked through a door, but it could have been
something else sticking out. I do recall it was
quite painful for an instant, but by the time I
had walked another dozen paces I more or less
forgot about it. This morning there is a feint
sign of a bruise that may get worse, or made fade
away. At the moment it is a bit like yesterday
morning - the pain is almost not there, but it was
quite fierce when I woke up this morning.
Hopefully it will not get worse today as it did
yesterday.
Apart from my right elbow being rather sore,
and my feet being slightly sore, I felt quite good
when I got home yesterday. I went home via Tesco
where I bought far too much cheese. It is not good
for me, but it is hard to resist at the best of
times, and impossible to resist when Tesco are
selling off "7 cheese platters" for just £2.
I would hazard a guess they were originally a xmas
item selling for a lot more, although the box is
not christmassy. With one other exception,
everything else I bought was fairly innocent
stuff. That exception was a half price, cooked,
and originally hot, bacon joint. A lot of it
is bone and lean meat, but being "baconised" pork
it was also a bit fatty and a bit salty. It was
also delicious when eaten with a bowl of salad !
If my memory serves me well, once upon a
time we used to have "off days" - infrequent days
when you don't feel so good to one degree or
another for various reasons. I guess most people
still have them but I don't. I have "on days" -
infrequent days when to some degree or another,
and usually for unexplained reasons, I feel good,
or at least better than average. After a fair
nights sleep, however unlikely that seemed with my
sore elbow demanding rarely used sleeping
positions to reduce the worst of the discomfort
from my elbow, and increasing discomfort in other
areas, I woke up with my elbow still very
uncomfortable, but everything else unusually good.
By the time I had had a hot shower it felt like my
elbow was on the mend, and by the time I was
walking to the station I was hardly noticing any
discomfort from my elbow.
Maybe I was slightly distracted by the fact
that I had dared to walk to the station without a
coat on despite the temperature being a bit low
for that. At first I wondered if I had made a big
mistake by not wearing a coat, but once I got
moving it felt all right, and once I stopped again
as I waited for 5 or 6 minutes for my train to
arrive, it did feel a bit nippy ! Apart from that
I felt unusually good. Walking to the station
seemed easier than usual, and perhaps that was
helped a bit by wearing shoes that I thought might
be uncomfortable, but weren't. I was so unsure
about those shoes that I took a spare pair in my
rucksack in case I needed to change them.
I have to admit that these particular shoes
are not completely comfortable, but they aren't
bad, and are probably remarkably good considering
what they are. They are a pair of very cheap (£4 -
including p&p if I remember correctly)
plimsoll like trainers bought from Amazon many
months ago. They are made in China (but lots of
footware is these days). The sole looks like it
may have been made from recycled yoghurt cartons,
and the canvas dies with some sort of white
industrial effluent (and probably is). The do have
a rather strange, possible deadly, part chemical -
part perfume like disguise, smell about them.
However, they are nice and roomy inside, and they
don't rub. They are comfortable enough too be
totally forgotten when sitting down, and are very
comfortable to walk in, but rather strangely they
are not comfortable to stand still in (although
not terribly uncomfortable either).
I had high hopes of quitting my job and
becoming one of the paparazzi, but I think I
failed my audition. My reaction time was just not
quite fast enough for a clear picture of two of my
work colleagues walking in the park together
yesterday lunchtime ! She came out OK, but he has
a tree branch across his face. Shame really - he
is now my first line manager, and a clearer
picture could have been good for blackmail
purposes ;-)
Tonight, or it is technically late this
afternoon, I am looking forward to a beer or
three. Three is the maximum I am aiming for, but I
could be having less, and I could be leaving the
pub too early for more anyway. If I am lucky I
will have about two pints before at last meeting
up with my friend Patricia. Maybe it will happen
this time, or maybe not, but there is an added
incentive for her this time because I have a
letter for her at home that she needs to collect
sooner or later. So maybe a double bit of
excitement before one more day at work, and then
the weekend is upon us.
Wednesday 15th April
2015
08:12
BST
Yesterday ended up with glorious warm
sunshine. There were reports of the temperature
hitting 24° C in one or two parts of the city, but
I don't think I experienced anything higher than
20° C, although I might accept 21° C if anyone
challenged that. The sun rose on a clear blue sky
this morning, and the forecast says today will be
a couple of degrees warmer than yesterday. The BBC
gives a rather conservative forecast of 23° C,
while The Metro uses tabloid hyperbole and says
26° C ! So today should be great, and it was just
barely warm enough to leave my coat off to come to
work this morning, but tomorrow, if the forecast
is correct, blows all the grand theories that a
heatwave has started that will last through the
spring, into the summer, and if the more extreme
sensationalist writers were correct, until the
next ice starts. Tomorrow will be perfectly
average for mid April - about 13° C, and probably
mostly overcast with a very improbable, but still
possible, chance of rain - perhaps after dark when
it doesn't really matter. That's not quite the
average in my dreams, but that is the official
average worked out since records began in 1967, or
was it 1952, or 1927, or 1854, or maybe even 1745
!
If I had been wearing suitable shoes (i.e.
shoes that were comfortable for extended walking)
I might almost have been tempted to walk the 2
miles (by the more scenic route) to Wandsworth
Common station after work yesterday. I haven't
done that walk for a few years now. It always got
me hot and sweaty, and always left me feeling a
bit knackered after a day at work, and I can
imagine it would have left me more than knackered
if I had done it yesterday afternoon. I should try
and force myself to do it sooner or later, and
then try to do it as often as I can. I desperately
need the practice to build my stamina up again.
I went home from work the usual way
yesterday - walk to Earlsfield station - train to
Waterloo - cross over the link to Waterloo East -
train to Catford Bridge - and then walk home. I
must admit that the warm sunshine did not inspire
me to be all energetic like I used to a summer or
two ago. Until the angina pains ruled it out, I
used to have this strange masochistic desire to
run up the escalators on the hottest days. I
sometimes wondered if I was a lizard who needed
extra warmth for my muscles to work properly.
Maybe I did have the desire, but not the physical
wherewithal to do it. One not insignificant brake
on my intentions was the shoes I was wearing. I
had specially selected them as being a pair that
would not aggravate the sore places on several
toes where some ill advised shoes had rubbed all
the skin off. So while the shoes I was wearing did
not rub the top of my feet, and nor did they pinch
at the side, the soles seemed very lumpy and
uncomfortable to walk on. The pair I am wearing
today are different, but similar...although maybe
not quite as extreme.
I did not feel good when I got home
yesterday. I wasn't in any physical pain or
discomfort (apart from my feet), but I didn't feel
excited or happy, and I only have a vague idea why
that might have been so. Perhaps I was a bit
disappointed that I had not been able to make
better use of the warm sunshine, or maybe it was
just some sort of chemical imbalance in my brain
caused by a lack of vitamins J and U. Maybe I
don't have enough pumpkin in my diet or something.
Whatever may have been lacking in my diet was
certainly not quantity. I had a double dinner last
night. Part one was a fairly simple salmon salad,
and just the sort of thing to make me fit and
healthy when that is the only thing I eat in an
evening. It wasn't enough though, and I ruined
everything except my enjoyment by eating a prawn
masala curry - a ready meal I had bought from Aldi
last Sunday, and being as it was not a frozen
meal, was probably approaching it's best before
date, and would have had to be eaten sooner or
later.
Last night was another night where I
seemingly slept well when judged by the lack of
times I apparently woke up in the night, but in
actuality must have been a bad night. I must have
been sleeping on my right arm in a some very
awkward way sometime before I woke up at 4.45am.
My right arm was really rather painful when I woke
up, and most of the pain was centred around the
elbow. Once I started moving it the pain quickly
diminished, but even now there is still a feint
reminder, like an old wound, of how it felt when I
woke up. Whatever the precise cause of it was,
there is definitely one factor that probably
contributed to it happening. It was my right elbow
that I dislocated 15 - 20 years ago when I
stumbled and fell while getting out of a car in
the pitch darkness one night. It is the first
place on my entire body that starts to ache in
very cold damp weather now !
This morning I have started an experiment to
determine if some of my "loose rib cage/floating
rib syndrome" pains are made worse by using a
shoulder bag (or courier bag, or whatever your
favourite name for a bag with a long strap that
you wear over one shoulder is). It does present an
asymmetrical load on my upper body, and maybe
could be making things worse for me. So today I
have left it at home, and I am using a ruck sack
to take stuff to and from work. It is not quite as
handy for commuting because you have to take it
off everytime you sit down on the train, but in
other respects it is more comfortable. I'll try to
keep this experiment going for at least a full
week, and hopefully more, and I see if I can
detect any useful difference.
With it being so bright and sunny yesterday
I had to get out for 10 minutes around lunchtime
(but not actually in my lunchbreak) to enjoy it.
It was rather nice in the park, but there wasn't a
great deal to see - or take pictures of.
I noticed these three trees lined up nicely
when standing in the right place. Two are in
blossom, and one is still bare. There is also a
dog in the picture, and although you wouldn't know
it unless you saw the original (or were there when
the original picture was taken), there is also a
magpie in the picture.....and also that intense
blue sky !
Here's more of that blue sky with a plane
flying through it.
Yesterday was the first day this year, and
possibly since autumn started last year, that I
have been able to work with the window open. It
felt nice and fresh in my office for a change
(it's usually polluted with nasty cooking smells
in the afternoon).
Well one politician has lost my vote - not
that I could have voted for him anyway - he's not
a local politician, but he does represent a whole
bunch of politicians. He is in fact David Cameron,
current leader of the Conservative party, and he
says that he and his chums will be delivering the
good life to all hard working Britons. Well good
for you chum, but what about us lazy bastards ?
Who is going to raise out standard of living, and
enhance our happiness. Evidently not this bunch of
public robbing, power seeking, self centred bunch
of egotists ! I tried working hard once, but I
didn't like it, and it got me nowhere. So now I do
the minimum possible, and work down from there !
Tuesday 14th April
2015
07:57
BST
I can't recall if there was any sunshine
yesterday, but it was brighter than I expected. On
the whole it wasn't a bad day, although it would
have been better if the top temperature had been a
bit more than 15 or 16° C. That should happen
today. Before sunrise the sky looked like it was a
bit cloudy, but once the sky got a bit lighter any
cloud that was there seemed to disappear. The
forecasters seem quite confident that it will be a
bright sunny day with a top temperature of 22° C.
Tomorrow could even be a degree higher, but after
that, and contrary to earlier forecasts, the
weather will resume a more early spring like theme
- cloudy, occasionally wet, and under 15° C ! As
usual, let's hope they have that very wrong again
!
I hate to say it, but work has almost become
not hateful recently. As we build up to an
exhibition in June, interesting things and jobs
are coming my way - also some frustrating things,
but frustration can be better than boredom -
sometimes ! It left me feeling moderately happy
yesterday, and that seemed to feed through to
feeling physically not too bad. I arrived home
after work (on trains that seemed to work as usual
instead of the disastrous service in the morning)
feeling very slightly more than still alive.
Two results of that feeling were that I
almost had a healthy dinner, and I did yet more
hand laundry. I washed three work shirts and a
pillowcase. None of those items were particularly
taxing, but to do them after work must mean
something. I certainly didn't feel like doing
anything similar last week, nor the week before
that. For dinner I had two bowls of "ready mix"
salad. The reason for two was twofold. Firstly I
enjoyed the first, and secondly, they had been in
the fridge for a few days, and were just on their
best-before date. While all the greenery and raw
stuff was mighty healthy, I'm afraid I spoiled it
all be using too much mayonnaise, and a rather
generous amount of cheese. (Although I did cut the
cheese into small chunks to make it look like
there was more of it).
After spending quite a while composing an
email I went to bed. I semi lost track of the
time, but I think I was asleep not too long after
9pm, and I slept remarkably well until about
4.30am when I woke up feeling like it was time to
get up. Prior to that I had woken up twice. At
least I think it was twice, but one occasion might
have been a dream. All I can remember was
straightening my pillow before apparently falling
straight back to sleep again. At 3am I woke up
feeling very cold because the duvet had partly
fallen off me. Once again I seemed to fall asleep
very quickly.
Once I had attended to the usual morning
necessities I felt quite reasonably good. I knew
it would mean walking to the station with damp
hair in the rather cool morning air, but I felt
good enough to wash and condition my hair this
morning. In fact because I was able to wash it so
early it was almost dry by the time I set out for
the station. Walking to the station was almost
pleasant, although as I have said many times
before, even on days when I managed a 10 mile
walk, it was still hard work to walk to the
station.
From still feeling quite good when I got on
the train, I went to feeling quite rough when I
was about half way to Waterloo East. It may have
been the way I was sitting, or it may have been
something else, but I had one of my chest aches -
and it was just a dull ache rather than what I
would call a pain. It is the one bothersome thing
about the problems I've had with my chest and what
seems to be some loose ligaments, ribs, or other
skeletal bits. It's a pain that could have more
than one reason, but until it actually interferes
with anything I will continue to lump it in with
other random pains that happen as my rib cage
swings here, there and everywhere (or seems to).
One thing that could have given me an
immense amount of pain, far exceeding anything I
have experienced ever before, and that would be to
have a very large lump of concrete drop on my head
!
These lumps of masonry, one with a Western
Union sign still attached to it, and one with a TV
aerial still attached to it are on the pavement
just around the corner from Catford Bridge
station. I took these pictures this morning, but I
first saw this debris on Saturday. I took some
pictures then, but the pouring rain, which
probably caused the problem, also seemed to cause
my lens to mist over, and the pictures came out
too fuzzy to use.
The falling masonry made quite a crater in
the pavement, and would almost certainly have
killed someone if it had landed on them. The
single traffic cone that guards the pavement was
probably found lurking somewhere, and is obviously
unofficial. I can imagine that if the council
happens to notice this incident there will be more
than an old traffic cone involved !
This is the source of that fallen masonry. It was
a decorative divider at roof level between two
shops - an Afro-Carribean barber on the left, and
an Afro-Carribean hair dresser on the right.
Monday 13th April
2015
08:31
BST
The weather was rather good yesterday,
although it did come with one minor annoyance. It
was bright and sunny, and almost, but not quite,
warm. A top temperature of 16° C (or maybe a
little more at times) sounds very good, and apart
from one little problem, it was rather good. The
problem is that all that bright sunshine made it
look as if it might be warmer still. When doing
something active that was irrelevant, but when
relaxing, such as laying on my bed reading, it
quickly began to feel quite chilly. It started
getting cloudy during the night, and that kept the
temperature up a bit, although it was a quite
chilly feeling 7° C when I started out to come to
work. The forecast says most of today will be
cloudy and overcast, but it is only light cloud,
and it shouldn't rain. Even without much sunshine
it should still get to 15° C or more, but
tomorrow, fingers crossed, we will see some real
warmth. Temperatures of 22° C are forecast !
It was nice to hear that someone is
concerned about my recent reports of bad health
(thanks Ruby), but things are not quite as bad as
they may seem - I think. It is true that I could
possibly avoid quite frequent bouts of discomfort
if there was some miracle cure for what ails me,
but if it is, as I firmly believe, a
muscular-skeletal problem, then there is actually
little the medical profession can do for it
(although if I was a surgeon I would open myself
up and get busy with the super glue and staples,
but I don't think normal surgeons tend to do
that). My biggest concern is that all these pains
I get as my rib cage seems to click and pop and
move and rattle and hum, could mask pains that
might indicate some sort of heart problem.
However, being aware of that fact makes me
consider the nature of the pains most carefully,
and there have only been a few occasions when I
have had doubts. The biggest argument against
those few doubts is that walking makes any pains
less instead of more. That is consistent with the
idea that bad, or maybe just different postures,
cause some of those pains. Walking, with my back
nice and straight (usually - at least I think it
is) keeps my ribcage nicely centred (probably),
and there is no discomfort from it at all. Shame I
can't sleep like that - unless I sleep on the
floor with no mattress - something that I believe
those with spinal injuries have to endure
sometimes.
I did lots of stuff that could have made my
aches and pains a lot worse, but the fact that
they didn't proves something or another ! My main
achievements, or if I am honest, the sum total of
my achievements yesterday was to go shopping in
Aldi, and to (hand) wash three loads of washing.
The first load was some shirts and underwear. The
second lot, which I dried in the garden, included
a medium sized bath towel (very heavy when
saturated with water) and some mini tablecloths.
The third lot needed extra soaking to get out some
more stubborn stains, and I started that in the
morning, and finished it mid afternoon. All that
left me feeling knackered, but quite pleased, and
most importantly, it didn't produce any new pains,
or even really wake up any dormant ones.
I find it hard to believe, but it seems like
I must have been fairly careful about how I ate
over the weekend. At some point last week I seemed
to increase my waist by somewhere in the region of
an eighth to a quarter of an inch. Doing up my
trouser belt to it's ultimate notch made it very
slightly too tight prior to the weekend, but it
just seemed to do up to that notch with no effort
this morning. Maybe some of the things that I feel
guilty about eating over the weekend will actually
do their worst today or something. Having said
that, I think the worst things I ate were on
Saturday, and that is despite a shopping trip on
Sunday.
One of the innocent things I got from Aldi,
and which I ate yesterday, was a masterpiece of
culinary engineering. It was a potato and egg
salad. It had a mix of common salad ingredients -
lettuce leaves of some description, tomatoes,
cucumber, spring onion, and I think there were
some slices of radish too. It has one boiled egg
cut into two halves, and one new potato sliced
into thin slices. It was the latter I found most
clever. If that new potato had been unsliced I
would have eaten it in one bite, but when the
slices were distributed amongst the rest of the
salad it made it seem like there was so much more
of it.
One of the problems of spending a
considerable amount of the afternoon laying on my
bed reading and dozing off, and then more of the
same in the early evening, is that when it came to
going to bed I found myself wide awake ! Luckily
it was one of those false alarms, and although I
did lay in bed seemingly wide awake for maybe half
an hour, I actually fell asleep while wondering if
I would ever fall asleep ! I ended up sleeping
quite well apart from one little problem. It
seemed warm in my bed when I first got in, but
during the night the temperature in my bedroom
fell quite a lot, and at 3am (or was it earlier ?)
I woke up feeling freezing cold ! I got out of bed
and turned the heater on, and then got back in bed
and made sure I was fully covered (except for my
face) with the duvet.
One aspect of my health that has become
apparent over the last week or two is that I seem
to be taking care of my blood glucose level far
better than I was a month or more ago. Although
the symptoms never got severe, and the fact that
they crept up on me so slowly, meant that I was
not immediately aware that I was starting to get
thirsty, and peeing more. The change in the
opposite direction, after cutting out, or severely
cutting down on anything I believed to be capable
of raising my blood glucose level, is more
apparent. I can still wake up in the morning with
a mouth like the Sahara, but I haven't spent the
night getting up for a pee, and my drink
consumption at work has dropped to less than 500ml
a day.
This morning I almost feel good. Maybe one
day I will actually feel good, but today is as
good as, or better than average. It's just as well
that I feel like that because it was an
"interesting" journey to work today. On
Southeastern Trains there were signal problem
and/or over running engineering problems between
New Cross and London Bridge. So my train was
delayed getting to Hayes (Kent) where it starts
it's run towards Charing Cross. That meant it was
late leaving Hayes, and late arriving at Catford
Bridge station. Then because we were late we lost
our slot onto the main line at Lewisham. So that
delayed us a few more minutes. Next were a couple
of failed signals we had to go through the
procedure to pass at danger by getting verbal
permission from the signaller, and then proceeding
at a cautionary speed. We arrived at Waterloo 15 -
20 minutes late. That was all a bit tiring, and I
could have done with somewhere to sit and have a
rest. Fortunately Catford has all the most modern
conveniences, and I could have had a rest on the
way to the station !
Once I got to Waterloo I thought all my
troubles were over.....wrong ! The train I got
from Waterloo was, if I recall correctly, the
07:24 to Dorking. It was a bit of a rush, and
instead of making my way almost to the front of
the 8 coach train, I had to get on the back
portion of the train which was one of the
refurbished, ex-Southern, class 456 2 car units.
That would have meant a longer walk at Earlfield
station, but not today ! I think it was a few
minutes after we had left Vauxhall station, and
had accelerated to full line speed (~50 mph), that
there was a bang followed by the sound of
something hitting the train, possibly (and
probably) the underside of the train a little
further towards the back.
When we arrived at Clapham Junction the
doors nearest to where I was sitting seemed to be
a bit hesitant to open, and then refused to close
again when the train was ready to leave. It seems
obvious that something fell off the door closing
mechanism, and bounced on the track a couple of
times under the train cause the first bang I
heard, and the second one further back. After
waiting at Clapham Junction for 10 minutes, and
with huge crowds building up, the train was
finally declared a failure, and everybody was
ordered off the train.
With platform 11 now blocked the following
trains were diverted into platform 9. Now the only
problem with platform 9 is that there is no way
for the train to cross over to the usual platform
at Earlsfield, and the train would have to use the
very, very, rarely used platform 1 at Earlsfield,
and that meant someone had to find the keys open
up the barriers that close off platform 1 at any
other time. Happily it all went to plan, and apart
from the platform staff only opening one of the
barriers, which may have been reasonable in the
rush hour with platform 2 already getting quite
busy, everything proceeded smoothly, and for the
second time in the last 5 or 6 years I have had
the pleasure of alighting from a train at platform
1 !
The very slightly late running 07:48 service
to Hampton Court calls at the very rarely used
platform 1 at Earlsfield station.
Crowds stream through
the opened barrier that normally segregates
the unused platform 1 from platform 2. I
wonder what my journey home from work will be
like ? Surely it couldn't be this exciting
again !!
Sunday 12th April
2015
09:45
BST
Friday afternoon was very pleasant - it was
sunny and warm ! It was all change yesterday
morning. For a while there was torrential rain,
but by mid morning that stopped, and the clouds
disperesed to give a rather nice sunny afternoon.
The temperature in the morning was over 10° C, but
in the rain it felt damn chilly - particularly
when your trousers are soaked with rain water !
The temperature went up in the afternoon, but I am
not sure how high - maybe above 19° C. This
morning started bright but a rather cool 8°
C(although as little as 6 weeks ago that might
have been considered a luxury day time temperature
!). This afternoon promises to be warm, sunny, and
rather pleasant, although the forecast says the
highest temperature will only be 15 or 16° C.
Tomorrow the weather takes a brief holiday. It
will be cooler and greyer, but if the forecast is
right we can expect bright sunshine and
temperatures in the region of 20° C on Tuesday and
Wednesday.
I predicted that I would feel terribly tired
at work on Friday, but I was wrong. Maybe it was
because I was doing something interesting, and
that distracted me. It was still very nice to get
home after work and put my feet up. I came home
via Tesco where I bought a couple of bowls of
ready mix salad, and some other less healthy
stuff. The most unhealthy was probably also the
most delicious - which is typical of life ! It was
something I had not seen before on the hot cooked
chicken shelves - which occasionally has stuff
that is not chicken. In this case it was described
as extra meaty ribs in a chilli glaze (or marinade
- I forget which). Oh my, were they delicious. It
would be worth dieing for more of them ! I suspect
they are not a regular feature, and being so
wonderful means they are probably snapped up
early, but maybe I'll get lucky again some day.
After dinner, and a bit of TV, I sort of
collapsed. Not the falling to the floor screaming
sort of collapse, but the more gentle falling
asleep in front of the TV sort of collapse. I
decided I didn't have the energy to watch an
episode of Start Trek (the original series), but I
did have, or at least I thought I might have, the
energy to listen to it. I had probably watched
that episode several or more times in the past,
and I could fill in the pictures from my
imagination as I listened to the dialogue. Well
that didn't last long, and the next thing I knew
was that something like an hour had passed without
me realising it.
At that point Sods law, or one of the other
tragedies of life kicked in. I turned off the TV
(which was actually the PC in my bedroom), brushed
my teeth, and got into bed - and realised I felt
completely wide awake ! Life is never easy or
predictable - or maybe this was predictable, but I
wasn't thinking straight. So I started to read in
bed, and I read until it was quite late - by which
I mean after 10pm. Then I turned out the light,
and while thinking up a million reasons why I
would never get to sleep, I fell into what seemed
as if it was a very deep sleep.
At 3am I woke up, and thought that I was
going to have another episode where I wouldn't be
able to get back to sleep. Maybe it was because I
didn't have to worry about not sleeping, because I
didn't have to go to work in little more than
three hours, that I did fall asleep again quite
quickly. I woke up twice more after that, but only
for minutes at a time, and I felt rather pleased
that in the end I managed to sleep until 7.30am. I
know that is early for some, but that is a two and
a half hour lay in for me !
I didn't have to go to work yesterday, but I
did have to meet Aleemah. So I couldn't really try
for any more sleep, but I felt reasonably
refreshed, and I don't think I felt too bad in
other ways (just the usual background aches and
pains). It was the usual procedure of meeting
Aleemah at the station, going to the Wetherspoons
for breakfast, and than back here to watch a DVD.
The DVD that Aleemah brought was slightly
interesting, but not actually enjoyable. It was
called Coven (I think) and concerned a group of
schoolgirls who decide that camping out in a wood
known to be used for witchcraft on Halloween was a
good idea - how clichéd can some film plots get ?
The film was of more immediate interest to
Aleemah because her latest interest is Wicca, and
that the film was filmed in her local
neighbourhood. She has visited the woods where it
takes place, and been inside the circle of oaks
trees shown on maps as the coven. Well the woods
looked nice, and although we never experienced
Lucifer rising, or any supernatural goings on, it
reminded me of lurking in the woods at night
looking after an illegal radio transmitter back in
the early 1970s ! Instead of Lucifer we would get
the occasional visit from The Post Office Radio
Investigation Branch....although there were some
who did suggest that the head of that branch, a
certain Mr Gotts, was actually the devil incarnate
!
After Aleemah went home I
did..........nothing ! If I had felt like rushing
around there was a chance that I could have met up
with my friend Patricia. She sent me a text
message asking if I fancied meeting for a drink,
but because I was busy with Aleemah I didn't see
it until over an hour had passed after Patricia
had sent it. The only thing I did to break
doing nothing was to have a late lunch - so late
that it could also have been an ultra early
dinner. It was a rather disappointing Tesco ready
made paella. It wasn't nasty, or anything like
that, but I couldn't recommend it to anyone else.
It just failed to excite. Oh well, it filled a
small hole.
For the rest of the evening I tried watching
a bit of TV, but there was nothing on worth
watching - at least not at the time I tuned in. I
did some reading, and between reading I watched
some videos I had on my PC. I'm not sure where
they came from, or maybe I do but cannot say, but
I seem to have 160 episodes of Tom And Jerry
cartoons stored on my PC. They cover the good ones
made in the 1950s (maybe) through to the complete
and utter crap ones made in the last 1960s
(probably). I watched a few of the earlier ones.
Once again I went to sleep quite late, and
last night I think it was closer to 11pm, and that
is very late by my usual routine. I had another
pretty good nights sleep - it wasn't perfect, but
what ever is in this area of the universe in this
time period ? After getting a total of about 8
hours sleep, at least I think I did, I got up
feeling strangely fragile. It's quite hard to
explain that. The closest, although unsatisfactory
explanation is that it felt like I was on the
threshold of feeling dizzy, or in pain, without
actually being so.
To test the strength of that threshold I
have done some laundry. Sometimes that makes me
feel worse, and sometimes better. After all the
discomfort I have had from my imaginary floating
ribs (and split sternum - allegedly impossible,
but sometimes it has felt like that), I haven't
done any laundry in the last fortnight, and I've
built up a bit of a backlog. Well I've now done
some shirts and underwear, and I don't think I
feel the worse for it, although I haven't finished
yet. I have left a towel, and some little mini
tablecloths soaking in some bio detergent, and
very soon I will finish them off. It's a nice
bright and breezy day, and I can let the towel
drip itself dry on the washing line in the garden.
So no frantic chest busting wringing out required
for that today !
I don't know what I'm doing for the rest of
today - probably not much. I suggested to Patricia
that today might be a better day to meet up, but I
don't think I'll be seeing her today. I may go to
Aldi at some time today. There is nothing I really
need from there today, and probably tomorrow, but
going there today would be cheaper than going to
Tesco later in the week. I could go to Aldi after
work, but it is a long walk, and I have to go
right past Tesco to get there.....so
Friday 10th April
2015
07:47
BST
Once the morning fog had lifted yesterday
morning, it turned into a nice day. It was
starting to get a little cool by about 7pm, but
prior to that it was bright and sunny, and
although still a tiny bit short of warm, it was
very comfortable to just stand around in without a
coat. Of course standing in direct sunlight,
particularly when the air was still, did feel more
than warm ! It was about 7° C when I walked
to the station this morning. In Catford it seemed
quite clear, but in west London it seemed to be a
bit misty. The forecast allows for the occasional
cloud to drift in front of the sun, but it should
mostly be a bright sunny day, and today it should
actually feel warm if the temperature hits the
predicted 19° C. It seems like tomorrow could
start off wet, but by mid-morning it should dry up
to give a bright, mostly sunny day. The
temperature is forecast to be lower than today,
and could be as low as 13 or 14° C - which would
have been wonderful a few weeks ago, but is now
looking a bit disappointing.
Most of the aches and pains I had yesterday
morning diminished as the day went on - but not
all of them. The yellow Converse trainers I wore
allowed the raw skin on my feet to heal, and
although at one point I wondered if my feet were
swelling because they felt a bit tight, that came
to nothing, and I was able to go home from work in
comfort....well, my feet were comfortable ! I
arrived at The Catford Constitutional Club feeling
pretty good, and I assumed that a few beers would
act as a good analgesic for any remaining aches.
For a while I assumed correctly !
I only had three pints last night, and none
of them were stronger than 5%. One pint was a
moderate strength ale (4.2% ?) and the other two
pints were of "Midnight
Special" perry. The first pint of that perry
was rather nice, but the second rather less so. I
guess I'm just not really a cider/perry drinker.
My original plan was to get some shopping from
Tesco either before or after drinking, but all it
took was three pints to break that idea down, and
instead of some nice healthy salad, or maybe
somthing slightly healthy, I went for what was the
worst possible option, and bought a couple of
battered sausages and chips on the way home.
What's more worrying is that the two sausages
didn't taste the same, and I think one of them may
have been slightly off.
I don't know if it was the perry, or the
sausage, or just the general state of my health,
but after getting to bed at a reasonable hour, and
apparently sleeping OK, I woke up sometime after
2am feeling absolutetely awful. It felt like my
whole body wanted to explode. Maybe my blood
pressure had hit an all time high, or maybe it was
something completely different, but I could not
lie down again. I had to get up and read some
pages from the internet while I hoped this horrid
feeling went away. To some extent it did, and I
did manage to get back to sleep for about an hour
before I woke up again a few minutes before my
alarm was due to go off.
It is possible that I had some sort of heart
attack during the night - 2.30am is a popular time
I believe - but I still seem to be alive this
morning, and I made it to work with no trauma. I
still don't feel terribly wonderful, but it feels
better than in the early hours of this morning. My
biggest annoyance now is that I feel terribly
tired, and I felt myself dozing off a couple of
times on the train to work. On top of that noyance
is the grand aggravation that I am probably going
to have to do some work today just to keep myself
occupied, and not falling asleep ! I would really
like to lay down and have some more sleep, but
this malady is the exact opposite of the angina
pains that put me in hospital in September 2013. I
was perfectly comfortable back than provided I was
resting, but a walk of a few hundered yards got
really painful. Now I find that a walk of a couple
of hundred yards, or a lot more, and done at a
forced pace, is the cure for many discomforts.
Weird, ain't it ? Oh well, at least this time I'll
be able to walk to the hospital rather than call
an ambulance if things get much worse. I wouldn't
be surprised if I had to do that before the end of
next week, but we'll see how things go.
Thursday 9th April
2015
08:16
BST
After the cool and misty start, yesterday
turned out fairly nice. The afternoon was bright
and sunny, and warm.....well maybe not actually warm,
but certainly not cold. The only fly in the
ointment was that a smattering of clouds shaded
the sun for most of my journey home from work.
That made it feel ever so slightly cool - although
I had stuffed my coat into my bag, and was just in
a short sleeve shirt. I think the temperature was
just about the forecast 16° C. The sky was mostly
clear overnight (I think), and that allowed the
temperature to drop to a chilly 6° C, and also
precipitated a fog ! It may be starting to lift
even now, and the forecast is for another bright
and sunny afternoon. It could even be a degree or
two warmer than yesterday, but once again, there
could be a gap in the sunshine just as I am going
home ! Tomorrow could see the temperature get up
to 19° C, but the latest forecast for the weekend
says the temperature will drop to as low as 13 or
14° C instead of the earlier prediction of 20+° C.
Here's a little video
showing how foggy it was as my train to
Earlsfield approached Clapham Junction station.
I don't know if it was the loss of sunshine
while I travelled home from work, but I found
myself feeling unaccountably miserable when I got
home, or maybe soon after. I had had a tolerably
good day at work, but it was a painful day. My red
Vans trainers that I wore to work (without socks)
seemed to abrade skin from my right foot, as well
as wearing through the thin scab on my previously
damaged left big toe. The only reason I wore them
was because I seemed to remember they didn't do
stuff like that. It made for a rather
uncomfortable day - particularly when that pain
was added to some of the muscle/skeleton/ligament
pains in and around my chest, and the stiff and
painful right shoulder blade. Yeah, I probably was
not happy at work !
As a result of my aches, pains, and general
feeling of "meh !", I ate a bit more for dinner
than I really wanted to, although it wasn't
actually the size that was probably most damaging,
but the chilli relish I added to it. That stuff is
like jam, and contains a horrendous amount of
sugar in it - it's little more than sugar and
chillies. It's a nice idea, and rather tasty, but
I really should not make a habit of eating it.
Maybe I survived it OK though. While I haven't
checked it by my meter, I am not getting any
symptoms of high blood sugar at the moment. I'm
not feeling thirsty, and I am not peeing a lot.
I wasted some of last night watching some
previously unseen episodes of The Simpsons that I
downloaded, and that cheered me up a little, but
then I had one of those random events in my head
that had me experimenting with Bluetooth audio. I
suppose it was not entirely random. Earlier in the
day, while at work, I had a rather long phone call
from a friend. Holding my mobile phone to my ear
for so long got all sorts of bits aching, and it
was one of those times when I wished that I had my
Bluetooth headset charged up and with me. That
little gizmo hardly gets any use because I don't
have long calls on a regular basis, and it doesn't
really fit my (evidently) non-standard shaped
ears. So yesterday I ordered a cheap and cheerful
across-the-top-of-the-head pair of stereo
bluetooth headphones with built in microphone.
I thought that it could be useful sometimes
to have a pair of stereo headphones that I could
also connect to my PC - either at home or at work.
Although they won't be delivered until tomorrow at
the very earliest, and in practice sometime next
week, I thought it would be interesting to try and
get my single
over-the-ear-and-stuff-it-in-your-earhole earphone
working with my PC at home. I have had it working
before, but I think that was before I upgraded to
the latest version of Linux Mint. Initially it
didn't work, and I tried several things as
recommended on various internet forums, but the
actual answer was to try several different USB
Bluetooth adaptors. The slightly expensive super
duper type 4 one didn't work, and neither did the
one I bought from the 99p shop, but the one I paid
the penny extra for, from Poundland, did work -
straight away with no mucking around ! It was all
rather strange. Each one seemed to be accepted by
the operating system with no trouble, and all
seemed to have the correct drivers, but only one
would transfer audio to the headset. Weird !
I finally got to bed rather later than I
intended, and that was a great pity because I
didn't sleep very well. In fact my sleep was crap
! I seemed to be awake more than I was asleep
(although I realise that the truth is probably
different to how I seemed to perceive it). It was
one of those nights where some bits of me were too
hot, and some too cold. Where lumps that weren't
there the previous nights seemed to grow from my
pillow and mattress, and when the duvet shifts in
it's cover, and can't be flattened out by kicking
your legs and waving your arms - I should have got
out of bed to fix it, but I couldn't be bothered !
This morning I feel pretty lousy ! The only
good thing is that my yellow Converse trainers are
not causing me any pain - at least not yet they
aren't. The red Vans didn't seem to be that
uncomfortable at first, but my feet felt raw
before I got to work yesterday. So my Converse
trainers are doing quite well so far. One bit of
me that can be painful if I make the wrong move is
my left shoulder blade. I am not sure what the
wrong move is, but it is very easy to make it. It
feels like I slept with a brick under my shoulder
last night, but really it is just an extension of
the pain I had there yesterday, and I think the
day before too, although this morning it seems a
lot worse. Of course I also have some of the usual
pains around, under, in, and on my chest as my
bones and ligaments, and heavens knows what else,
swings around in the breeze. When I pulled my
shoelaces up this morning I generated quite a
symphony of popping and grinding sounds inside my
body !
I'm not sure what is happening tonight, but
I am assuming that I will be having a few pints of
muscle relaxant somewhere - and hopefully
"somewhere" will be The Catford Constitutional
Club. I wouldn't be terribly averse to going
elsewhere, but being a lazy sod it is so
convenient to go somewhere that is only a 50ft
diversion from going straight home after work. I
haven't heard from anyone if it will be there, or
even if there is any boozing tonight, but I might
pop in for at least a pint regardless, and I
expect Jodie would be up for a pint or two. The
only small problem is that I ought to buy some
shopping on the way home too. Maybe I'll end up
with delicious, but naughty cod and chips for
dinner !
Wednesday 8th April
2015
07:49
BST
There were reports in the paper this
morning that temperatures of 21° C were recorded
in some parts of central London yesterday. I guess
that might have been possible where some of the
big buildings all huddled together trap the heat,
but away from the centre, here in Earlsfield or in
Catford, a top temperature of 16° C may have been
more realistic. It was certainly very nice though
- blue skies, and sunshine - sunshine that
actually felt hot !
This was the view from the bridge into King
Georges Park around the back of where I work. The
sky was a lovely shade of blue, and the heat of
the sun on my back, particularly my left shoulder
blade, which has been a bit stiff and sore
recently, felt wonderful. Most trees are still
bare at the moment, but the tree just right of
centre in this picture is just starting to go
green.
Here's a close up of the
top of that tree. It's not terribly distinct,
but the pale green of the new leaves is obvious.
Today has started off
rather cool, and the sky is misty, or was
misty. The rising sun is starting to "burn
off" the mist, and we should be in for another
nice, warm, and sunny day. After a few
false starts it does really seem that spring
has really sprung, and will be leading us into
summer. The next few days are forecast to be
dry (but maybe not exclusively dry), and
daytime temperatures should be in the mid
teens on most days. It can only get better - I
hope !
I didn't feel all that wonderful
yesterday morning, but two very short walks,
each little more than 5 minutes, seemed to get
some of the creases out, and 5 or 10 minutes
exposure to the warm sun seemed to work
wonders. By the time I left work to go home my
main complaint was that the sore spot on my
left big toe, the bit where I had rubbed the
skin off on Monday, was starting to feel a bit
sore again. It was never very painful,
but it was a big relief to get my shoes off
when I got home.
Having eaten so little on Monday, I did
feel very hungry from time to time while I was
at work yesterday, and I felt very peckish
when I finally got home. I had pre-cooked a
heap of vegetables the day before, and I
reheated those with the addition of some ready
cooked barbecue flavoured chicken fillets (the
small ones that I think are meant to go in
sandwiches). That filled a small hole, but it
didn't satisfy me enough to stop me eating
more - although I did manage to hold out for
at least 10 minutes !
I had some ready cooked, ready to eat,
barbecue chicken wings in the fridge, and they
probably were getting near their use by date,
and would have to be used sooner or later, and
I used them last night after warming them up
in the microwave. They were, of course, very
nice, but I am now wondering if they were even
more unhealthy for me than I first thought. I
am wondering if the barbecue glaze contained a
lot of sugar. Until last night it seemed like
my blood glucose level had come right down. I
didn't feel the need to drink much yesterday,
or the day before, and I wasn't peeing much.
Last night, by which I mean through the night,
I woke up to pee 3 or 4 times. That is one
sign of my blood glucose level being high,
although I didn't seem to match that by
feeling thirsty. Maybe the combination of
vegetables I ate had diuretic properties -
although that must just be fantasy !
Despite needing to pee 3 or 4 times in
the night, I seemed to sleep quite well again
last night. Once again I allowed my bedroom to
cool right down during the night, and I also
swapped a pillow for one that was very
slightly lower than my usual - but only by a
quarter of an inch, or something like that.
Maybe it made a difference, or maybe not. I
certainly woke up feeling rather good this
morning, but it didn't take long before I felt
crap. Washing my hair meant working with my
hands above my head, and that annoyed my
floating rib syndrome, and all the twisting
and arm waving action (well how would you
describe it ?) of soaping myself up, and
rinsing it all off under the shower, and then
towelling myself dry, really got a few things
hurting !
Many of the aches and pains went away
again as I made my way to work, and a few new
ones appeared. Of particular annoyance is that
the shoes I put on, my red Vans trainers,
which should have been comfortable, and not
chafed my left big toe, turned out to be not
very comfortable at all. I was right in that
they are not chafing my big toe, and probably
are not actually chafing anywhere, but they
just don't feel comfortable at all. So, once
again I am looking forward to getting home
again, and putting me feet up.
I have nothing planned for tonight, but
there is a very small chance that I might get
a visit from my friend Patricia. She is back
in London again after spending 18 months in
Argentina, and I look forward to seeing her
sometime soon. Other than that, I look forward
to a chicken curry ready meal that has to be
used soon, and then, if I have no visitors,
going to bed with a book quite early in the
evening. I would look forward to a good
night's sleep, but I think I can only
realistically hope for that rather than look
forward to it.
Tuesday 7th April
2015
07:52
BST
I don't know, or care what the weather is
like in Folkestone, but here in (south) London it
is a fine morning......
The clouds that started to obscure the sun,
or make it a bit hazy before sunset last night,
dissipated during the night. The result was a
rather fine sunny morning that was only spoiled by
being a very chilly 6° C. The depth of my shadow
in the photo above may give some idea of how
bright the sun was (and also how low in the sky it
is at this time of the morning, at this time of
the year). It is forecast to stay sunny for most
of today, and that should take the temperature up
to as high as 14° C. This morning's paper was very
enthusiastic about a plume of warm air heading our
way, and suggested we could see temperatures of
20° C or more this coming weekend.
Although I didn't exactly do much exercise
on my rapid 1.8 mile walk around Folkestone
yesterday, there was still a lot of train travel
involved, and that always seems quite tiring by
itself. It also makes me hungry. Well usually it
does, but it seems yesterday was an exception. It
was almost dinner time when I got home, but
somehow I decided to review and start to edit some
of my photos before eating. When I did eat it was
a cheese salad based upon a bowl of Tesco "ready
mix" salad with some extra baby plum tomatoes and
a couple of mini sweet peppers. (Also a generous
helping of full fat mayonnaise !) On most days
that would not be enough to satisfy me for the
evening, but last night it did.
There are various reasons why I might have
slept better than usual last night. They might
include not eating too much, fresh air during the
day, and allowing my bedroom to get quite cold in
the night. Whatever the reasons were, I appeared
to sleep well last night - or at least I don't
remember waking up in the middle of the night for
too many random reasons - and yet I didn't wake up
feeling that refreshed. I feel decidedly average
at the moment. My floating rib syndrome doesn't
seem to be painful, but it still feels like my rib
cage is detached from the rest of my skeleton, and
it still sort of clicks and pops as I make certain
movements. The good news is that the sore spot on
my left big toe is not causing me any discomfort
this morning, and my legs do seem to be working
rather well. If it wasn't for the very chilly air
it might even have been pleasurable to come to
work this morning (which doesn't equate to it
being pleasurable to be here !).
I've made mention of what a long journey it
is to and from Folkestone, and I thought I had
better put some figures on it. I have never
bothered to measure it, but it takes at least a
good 10 minutes to walk to Catford station, and I
usually allow at least 15 minutes to give time to
buy tickets. From then on I can give "exact"
figures based upon the railway timetables. I
caught the 11:33 train from Catford, and arrived
at Bromley South station 11 minutes later. Then
there was a 10 minute wait for the 11:54 Dover
Priory train that would stop at Folkestone at
13:19, or an hour and 25 minutes later, or 1 hour
46 minutes after my first train left Catford, or
roughly 2 hours after leaving home - all to go
about 60 miles !
Going home again was slightly different. I
caught the 14:14 train from Folkestone Central
station, but instead of changing trains at Bromley
South, I changed at Sevenoaks. I could have stayed
on the train to Bromley South station, but that
would mean a 22 minute wait for the train back to
Catford. The train I caught at Sevenoaks was the
same train that I would have the long wait for at
Bromley South, but it was only a 10 minute wait at
Sevenoaks, and so less boring. I arrived back at
Catford station at 16:11 - three minute less than
2 hours after I started - and then it was another
10 minutes or so before I had walked home. That
makes about four hours travelling for just less
than one hour in Folkestone. Was it worth it ?
Maybe !
It seems sort of stupid that even in the gloomy
daylight I couldn't see the picture on the
viewfinder of my Panasonic LX20 camera very well.
In bright light it is all but hopeless. That does
seem to give a clue as to what sort of scenes that
camera excels at - gloomy overcast days. A camera
for sad occasions ! The picture above of the
lighthouse at the end of the pier under a steel
grey sky, and surrounded by steel grey water, came
out nice and sharp (and grey) even when using the
full x21 zoom.
I'm not sure if any of my other cameras
would have managed to do any better capturing this
picture of a ship of some sort on the distant
misty (or rainy) horizon.
This boat was not so far out, and wasn't in
the mist and murk. I didn't have to crop the
picture too much to add a bit more zoom to it to
get this level of detail while still showing that
it was quite distant.
I guess no trip to the seaside is worthwhile
without a picture of a seagull on the railway
station platform !
I guess this picture should have gone first
somewhere, but I took it on the way home, and I
guess it marks the end of the story about my brief
visit to Folkestone.
Monday 6th April
2015
19:03
BST
Day 4 of a 4 day
weekend !
Yesterday turned out far better than it was
supposed to. I'm not sure how warm it actually
got, but far more sunshine than forecast certainly
raised indoor temperatures, and outside may have
risen as high as 14° C (I think I saw more on the
thermometer outside the back bedroom, but I think
that one exaggerates a bit). Today was good and
bad, and the good was in Catford, and the bad in
Folkestone (Kent). By 11am it was warm enough to
walk to the station in a short sleeve shirt, and
although the sun was starting to get a bit hazy
behind some thickening cloud, it was still very
comfortable late this afternoon - unless, like me,
you were in Folkestone where it was rather chilly,
and exceedingly grey ! The forecast for tomorrow
has changed to rather good. The latest theory is
that it will quite sunny, and 13° C. The end of
the week is currently forecast to be rather
wonderful after all the crap days we've had until
now - maybe a very agreeable 18° C !
Not a lot happened yesterday - well, I
didn't do much at all. I had thought about going
out, but the morning started off looking like it
might be a nasty day. By the time I realised it
was turning into a sunny and warm(ish) day I had
eaten too much breakfast to want to do anything
worthwhile, and so I spent much of the day
relaxing, and quite a chunk of that on the phone
to a mate. All that laying around makes me ache in
all sorts of places, including my anti-angina, the
chest pains that happen if my posture is all wrong
while relaxing.
The only cure for these assorted aches and
pains is movement, and walking is best for it. So
today I made sure that I was (sort of, in a way)
fit to go out. If my theory is correct, this
weekend is the first time ever that "weekend
engineering works" have actually gone in my
favour. The last time I planned to go to
Folkestone I am sure I abandoned the idea because
the journey was horrendous. If I recall correctly
it meant three changes of train with long waits at
each train. This weekend I was able to do it with
just one 9 minute change of train. It was still
nearly a 2 hour journey, but it was a fairly
smooth journey.
When I started out from Catford it looked
like this.....
......the sky was blue, the sun was shining,
and I felt perfectly comfortable in a short
sleeved shirt with no coat on. Then the closer I
got to Folkestone, the crappier the weather got.
It didn't actually rain - but only by the skin of
it's teeth - but the sky was cloudy and grey, and
it was really quite chilly - and that was with a
coat on ! Nevertheless I boldly set off to find
the sea !
One of the first things I saw of interest
was this bus. I've never heard of "Stagecoach
Gold", but here's a service to Canterbury (at
least I think that's what it says on the front) in
full colour.
Maybe the whole point of my trip was to see
this vintage cigarette vending machine. I haven't
seen one like this for countless years. If it was
working, and I had taken a few 2/- coins with me I
would definitely have bought a pack or two !
After 10 - 15 minutes of fairly fast walking
I finally found the sea - and it was a very long
way below me ! It seems that Folkestone town
centre is a long way above sea level - 100, maybe
200 feet above sea level. By the time I took this
picture I had already decided that it was not nice
out, and that I would not be staying long. So I
didn't go down to sea level - which I could have
done using The Leas funicular railway that is the
easy way up and down the cliff.
This is what Google
maps describes as Folkestone pier, but it is
actually the end of Folkestone Harbour station
branch line, although it was used as a
terminal for cross channel boats. The branch
line was officially closed last year, and
there are proposals
to convert it from a railway line to a proper
seaside pier. It looks as if anglers already
have access to it, and if I had more
enthusiasm today I might have investigated it
more.
One final picture for today, but I have
a few more I will try and remember to post
tomorrow. This is the slope from the ticket
office to the platforms at Folkestone Central
station. The weird railings seem to have the
effect, whether intended or not, to trick the
mind that it is not such a long haul to walk
up to the platforms. I rushed back from the
sea front as fast as I could walk to get the
next train home. It's only an hourly service,
and I would have been really pissed off to
miss it. At such speed I thought I would only
have enough energy left to drag myself up to
the platforms, but it was surprisingly easy. I
worked up a light sweat getting there, but I
didn't seem to be short of breath at all. The
best thing of all is that I was completely
free of any of the pains I had started out
with (although I did gain a painful abrasion
on my left big toe where it was rubbing
something rough inside my shoe. It still seems
that my heart is sound provided I overwork it
- which is obviously ridiculous !
All the pictures above were taken with
my new Nikon camera. The pictures I'll show
tomorrow (providing I remember to take a copy
of the file names of them - they are already
uploaded to my server) were taken on my
Panasonic camera. I've been trying to find
what scenes that camera likes, and it seems it
is overcast seascapes ! All the pictures I
took on it today were usable (although maybe
not always "good"). If only I could see the
viewfinder in daylight, even crappy daylight
like today, it could be a good camera. At the
moment it's only real positive attribute is
that it only sips from the batteries. It takes
ordinary AA batteries, and I think I am still
using the original set of Duracell Lithium
batteries (non rechargeable) that I fitted
when I first got it a few years ago !
Saturday 4th April
2015
12:35
BST
Day 2 of a 4 day
weekend !
Yesterday could have been worse - it could
have been a winters day with snow and ice and
stuff. Instead it was merely a fairly unpleasant
overcast day that was just mild enough to be
almost comfortable if you kept moving. I think
I'll let the BBC decribe today's weather by way of
a screenshot from their website. What you see here
is pretty close to reality - rather horrid really
!
None of the following
days seem to inspire any spring jollity, but
at least tomorrow and Monday will be a little
less cool, and once the long Easter weekend is
over the temperature goes up another degree.
Then once this bank holiday is a distant
memory that is best forgotten, the sun will
probably come out, and the temperature will
shoot up to a comfortable 20° C - maybe !
If yesterday wasn't actually a good day,
it at least had it's good points. My little
outing just after midday was enough of an
achievement to make me feel good enough to go
out again in the evening. I left a little
later than intended, but that was good on two
counts, and only mildly bad on one count. The
good things were that the rain had stopped
when I went to catch the train to West
Wickham, and that I didn't arrive too early.
The gig was scheduled to start at 8pm, and I
thought that I would arrive to late to say
hello to the band before they started, but it
turned out hat they were late setting up, and
didn't start until 8.30pm. The bad thing is
that almost al the journey was in the dark,
and looking out of a train window at blackness
is not very exciting !
Last night was the first gig I've been
to this year, and also the first opportunity
to test my new Nikon camera at a gig. The
results were both terrible and brilliant. It
is not only possible, but probable that if I
fiddle with the settings I can improve on the
terrible - maybe a lot. The problem is that in
auto the camera will go for very long
exposures to compensate for lack of light, and
it does it far more aggressively than any
other camera I've used before. With the flash
turned on, which I try not to use at gigs, the
results are really crisp. Here's a few
pictures taken last night.
This picture was
taken from about 6 - 8 feet away with the
flash on. Apart from a bit of cropping,
and shrinking to fit on the page, it is
essentially untouched. It's Jo Corteen
doing a guest vocal spot for the song
Layla.
Using less zoom to get Chris Mayer and
Graham in the shot too.....
.....and in this one, John Sutcliff, the
drummer as well.
There was no
good reason why I couldn't have stayed
to watch the entire gig, but I decided
that it would be handy to go home
again after the first set. It was
quite pleasant going home. For one
thing it is downhill to the station,
and the train always seems quicker
when heading towards home. I had
limited myself to two pints of
Guinness, and I suppose that was one
reason for going earlier, but those
two pints acted like medicine, or a
tonic that made walking effortless.
I arrived home feeling so good
that I hardly touched the chicken and
chips I accidently bought on the way.
By hardly touched actually meant that
I ate the chips because reheating
chips is never very successful, and
the type of chips you get in fried
chicken shops are thrice as bad ! So I
ate the chips rather than waste them,
and kept all the chicken for today. I
then headed towards bed, but not
before reviewing all the photos I
took, and editing some of them.
It was midnight before I went to
bed, and a few minutes later I was
fast asleep. I managed to get a good
sleep last night. I lost track of how
much sleep I got, but it was a two
part sleep. I woke up a little before
5am, and even though that was stupidly
early after such a late night, I got
up for a bit and checked my email and
stuff. Sometime later I went back to
bed. I didn't really expect to sleep
much, but it was 10.30am before I woke
up again.
I seemed to get up a lot quicker
at 10.30 than I do at 5am, and I think
it was no more than than 30 minutes
later that I was heading to Aldi to
get some shopping. There was nothing I
desperately needed, but I still seemed
to spend quite a bit of money. The
silly thing is that quite a bit of
what I bought was perishables, and I
already had stuff like vegetables,
plus a couple of ready meals that have
to be used soon - not to mention some
fried chicken that I bought last night
! I had some of that fried chicken,
but not all of it, for lunch today. I
followed it with a small punnet of
rather average strawberries, and a
small little pot of mixed "woodland"
nuts. (Although I wasn't aware that
cashew nuts grew in the same sort of
woodland that the more common nuts
grew in).
The Spders are playing another
gig tonight at The Chatterton Arms pub
in Bromley. It's an easy venue to get
to by bus, and to get home from. I
thik there is a 50% chance I'll be
going to that gig too. I don't feel
too keen at the moment, but I've just
eaten. Maybe once I've had a little
lie down, and maybe a snooze, I'll
feel more keen, or able.
Friday 3rd April
2015
17:30
BST
Day 1 of a 4 day
weekend !
It didn't end up quite as cold as predicted
yesterday. Instead of 8 or 9° C, it was probably
closer to 11, or even 12° C when I left work to
walk to the station. The day was also sunnier than
expected. Even today has not been quite as
horrible as expected. Instead of non stop rain
there have been long periods when it has been dry,
and while 95% of the day has been terribly
overcast, there have been a few brief
glimpses of hazy sunshine - that was very
unexpected ! On top of that, it has once again
been warmer than the forecast predicted. Earlier
this afternoon it was definitely over 11° C !
While today, and maybe the day before, turned out
better than the forecast, the forecast for
tomorrow seems to be getting worse. A few days ago
the forecast said that there was a good chance of
some sunshine, and that it would be at least 12°
C. Every forecast since then has predicted the
temperature to be lower and lower, and the chance
of any sunshine to be smaller and smaller. The
only unchanged thing is that it is supposed to be
dry. So I presume it will pour down tomorrow !
It was nice to get some beer in after work
last night, and nice not to feel constrained by
work the next morning. I think I probably had four
and a half pints of beer last night, but I still
left the premises sober enough to not go in the
chip shop on the way home ! Some how I actually
waited patiently for some time before I had my
dinner. If I was able to wait that long I should
have made do with a small snack, and nothing more,
but I waited that long because I ordered a
takeaway. It was a couple of kebabs - one chicken,
and one lamb. I ordered then from a shop that I am
sure I have used before, but maybe I didn't
because I think I would have remembered such a
poor quality meal if the last had been like last
night's. The chicken was fairly OK, as was the
salad, but many other places do far better than
"fairly OK". The lamb was a real disappointment.
Most of it was tough and chewy, and a few pieces
were so tough that I spat them out ! I ended up
eating far less than I ordered, and maybe, just
maybe, my total calorie intake was within
acceptable limits (and there should have been
nothing in what I did eat that would have any bad
effect on my blood glucose level).
I went to bed not hungry, but not stuffed
either. The booze, despite not seeming to affect
me that much, may have helped me fall asleep quite
quickly, but going to bed later than usual
probably helped more. Last night was one of those
nights where I slept seemingly solidly for about 4
hours, and then I woke up for no obvious reason,
and felt wide awake. On most nights I have to
fight that because of work in the morning, but
last night, or more accurately, this morning, I
didn't. I got up and amused myself by reading some
of my favourite web pages/web sites. Some of them
are :-
After an hour, or was it two (?) I went back
to bed, and slept for a few more hours, although
not particularly well. I seem to recall it was
around 7.30am when I slowly started to get up. I
didn't feel that wonderful when I got up. The
chief problem was my floating rib syndrome
problem. My chest felt very crunchy, and laying
down just made it get worse. I sometimes speculate
that as well as having some sort of "loose screw"
holding the bones of my chest together, that maybe
I also have some sort of hernia as well. What I do
know is that sometimes my chest can get quite
uncomfortable sometimes. At it's worst I can get a
nasty pain about halfway down my right side, and
sometimes when that goes I get a nasty pain near
my left breast bone. It is as if I had a loose
diagonal strut across the front of my chest.
Chest pains are always of some concern, but
I don't think mine are lethal - unless all the
bones and ligaments that make up my chest collapse
completely one day - it reminds me of the
occasional Austin Allegro (I think it was) you
would see with a front wheel poking out sideways
after the front suspension had collapsed when the
warning signs had been ignored. I was never sure
is such cars were repairable, or if they were just
scrapped. Oh well, I guess I'll try and get my
doctor interested in my dodgy chest some day.
Meanwhile, there is one thing that helps a lot,
and that is going for a walk. Unlike the angina
pains I was getting in 2013, these pains feel
completely different, and a good stiff walk can
sometimes completely cure them for a while.
My original idea was that it would be very
unlikely that I would go out today, but with my
chest starting to annoy me, and it not only not
raining, but brief glimpses of hazy sunshine, I
decided to go out for a short walk - and it was
very short ! I walked to the station where I
sampled a ride I have wanted to try on several
recent occasions when the trains from Catford
Bridge are diverted to Victoria station instead of
the traditional Charing Cross or Cannon Street. By
the time I had walked to the station, travelled to
Victoria, and then came home again, I was feeling
far better. There were two negative things about
this little excursion. The first was that taking
picture through train windows never works that
well, and the second was that Victoria station was
far, far busier than I had imagined, and I didn't
really get a chance to take any pictures there. I
did take a couple of picture though, and I also
shot a little bit of really crappy video !
The screenshot on the left is of the service
I took to get home - the 13:28 London Victoria to
Hayes (Kent) service from platform 5. Once upon a
time that route would only be used in a dire
emergency. I remember the first time I had ever
seen it used was probably about 8 years ago. There
was a fire under a railway arch on the approaches
to London Bridge station, and they had to send my
train somewhere, and the signallers chose to send
it to Victoria. That was handy because plenty of
trains from Victoria call at Clapham Junction, and
I was easily able to change there for a train to
Wandsworth Town station (which was my normal
destination before work moved to Earlsfield).
This is an absolutely lousy
picture that I just managed to snatch as the
train home passed Battersea Power station. It
shows that they have finally demolished on of
the chimneys. Those big white chimneys are
listed, and each one will be demolished and
rebuilt to be identical to the original plans.
It has taken many months to demolish just one
chimney - that doesn't sound as if it was as
rotten as it was made out to be !
This is Brixton station. On the way too Victoria
we went along the high level lines that pass
over and behind the station. On the way back we
passed through the disused side of the station.
You can just the remnant of the old platform in
the bottom left of the picture.
Standing on the remaining bit of disused
platform is this solitary bronze figure forever
waiting for a train that never stops.
Time seems to be
passing quite quickly now. Sorting out these
photos, and writing all this writing seems to
have taken a full hour. In one respect this is
good. It has stopped me getting too relaxed,
and that means there is probably a fair chance
that I will finally get out to see a gig, or
at least a bit of a gig tonight. The Spiders
are Playing in The Swan, West Wickham. It's
only a short train ride away (plus a 10 minute
uphill walk), and maybe because it is a bank
holiday, they are starting nice and early at
8pm. The only fly in the ointment is that it
is now pouring with rain. Oh well, it might
stop again soon.
Here's the video I shot on the train
today. It starts as we enter Lewisham station
on the way towards Victoria. As the train
pulls out again we go over the famous diamond
crossing where the two routes converge and
then diverge. Then we go up the incline to
where the Lewisham
rail disaster happened in 1957. The
"temporary" bridge that was hastily put up to
restore service (they didn't muck around in
1957) is still in use today - solid as a rock.
As the train goes around to the left the new
tracks that bypass St Johns station can be
seen with "Do Not Pass" signs on them. I can
remember when there was no track there. First
of all a single track was put in, and then
within the last couple of years, it has been
extended for full two track operation.
Thursday 2nd April
2015
08:20
BST
The theory that yesterday would be like the
day before was almost perfectly correct right up
to the point when it didn't rain in the afternoon
! Not having to go home in the rain was a definite
bonus, but yesterday's weather did not really
inspire me, or make me feel good despite there
being a fair amount of sunshine around the middle
of the day. Maybe that because I felt cold all. I
think the heating was off in the main part of the
building at work, and while my office had the
heater on, it didn't seem to make me feel
comfortable, and it felt positively freezing (or a
bit chilly) in the rest of the premises. Today has
started off wet, but I managed to dodge all the
rain except for half a minutes worth of very light
rain while waiting for my train at Catford Bridge.
It will continue grey and murky for the rest of
the day, but it is not supposed to rain again
until later tonight - and if you believe that
you'll believe anything ! Today, as well as being
dull, wet, grey, and generally nasty, is also
going to be quite chilly. The highest temperature
is forecast to be a mere 8° C. Tomorrow, the first
day of the long Easter weekend, is forecast to be
even worse than today - copious rain falling from
a grey-black sky all day long ! The temperature,
which will be low, is irrelevant - I will probably
bolt the doors, leave the curtains closed, and the
heating on full all day and attempt to sleep
through the whole sorry business.
I invented a simple test yesterday. If it
was raining I would go straight home from work,
and if it was dry I would go home via Tesco's. It
waqsn't raining so I went home via Tesco's where I
hardly made any effort to buy anything healthy. I
had a strange desire for bangers and mash, and so
one of the items I bought was a bangers and mash
ready meal. In the end I didn't eat it because I
also bought some other old junk. The prawn layered
salad that I had as a starter sounds like it
should be healthy, but it had too much carrot in
it, and it also had some pasta in it. It probably
wasn't terribly unhealthy, particularly if eaten
as a single meal in it's own right, but in
combination with other stuff it probably teetered
more on the edge of harm rather than health.
One of the tragedies of life, or maybe just
my life, is that feeling rough often promotes
behavior that makes me feel rougher still, and so
it was last night. I was not feeling great
yesterday for a variety of reasons, and eating too
much of the wrong stuff did nothing to make me
feel better - at least in the long term. At the
time of eating it was a most enjoyable experience
of course. So I went to bed feeling a bit too
stuffed, and based on the preceding theory I
assumed I would have a very rough night. In fact I
didn't have a terribly rough night. It could have
been a fair bit better, but it turned out to be a
fairly average night. I woke up a few times, and I
probably mildly needed a pee on a couple of those
occasions, but also, as I have only recently
realised, my phone was flashing to say it had
received a new message, and so would have beeped,
on every occasion that I woke up.
The fact that it seems to be my phone that
wakes me up more frequently than the need to pee
in the night, and perhaps on some nights, maybe
even including last night, it is the phone that is
the single reason for waking me up in the night,
does give me some hope that my blood glucose level
is still better controlled than I assumed it to
be. So I should have woken up feeling wonderful
this morning - but miracles only happen in months
with a "Q" in them (and then only during the full
moon). Perhaps I wasn't in any actual pain, but my
rib cage felt looser than ever, and was clicking
and crunching with every movement...and I was
constipated too !
Well, I'm at work now, and having finished
fighting my way across London to get to work (even
if it is a mental fight with myself) I am more
relaxed, and more comfortable. All I have to do
now is get through the rest of the day without
going mad from the sound of the motor and pulley
test whining away 10ft from my desk (see the video
I posted a few days ago), and then I can grit my
teeth for the milder commute back to Catford. Once
back in Catford I can look forward to several
things. The first thing to look forward to is some
beer in The Catford Constitutional Club with the
lads. I suspect I'll be staying a bit later than
usual tonight, and I'll probably end up reeling
drunk (with luck !). Then I can look forward to
four glorious days of not having to go to work.
Even with tomorrow looking like the end of the
world weather wise, I can still enjoy it by doing
bugger all, and seeing nobody. Maybe on Saturday
it might be dry enough to do something or go
somewhere, but even if not, it will still be
another bonus day of not having to go to work. I
don't like work !
Wednesday 1st April
2015
08:26
BST
Yesterday was quite a sunny day, but it was
not very warm, and could be described as cold.
Another feature was the wind - which didn't help
the temperature. Actually it did help and
hindered. It was blowing in air that was 11° C,
but making it feel only half as mild as that. The
wind was quite gusty, but not terribly strong
until sunset when it really picked up for some
time into the night. There will be less wind
today, but otherwise much of today will be like
yesterday. It will even be a bit colder to make it
feel more like yesterday. The other feature is
that it will probably rain a lot more than it did
in the late afternoon yesterday. It was sunny when
I left work, and it was sunny when I got home, but
while I waited for my train at Waterloo East
station the rain fell in torrents !
This picture is supposed to show the torrential
rain - but it doesn't ! You can hardly see that
the opposite platform is wet.
This picture does show the rain - but only if
you see the huge original blown up to full size
! Although this small version does show a sort
of haze that you can imagine is rain falling.
What is more prominent is Networker 465165 that
leads this 6 car train that forms the 16:12
service to Gillingham (Kent) from Waterloo East
platform A.
I seemed to be
suffering from some sort of fever or delusion
that it was Friday yesterday. It must have
been a severe case of wishful thinking or
something, or maybe it was just the sunshine,
although it's hard to rule out madness. It
should have made me feel pissed off that it
was not the end of the week, but still almost
the start. Fortunately it didn't because I am
riding on a bit of a high because it's a short
week this week - and so is next week. It may
not be logical to get excited about staying
indoors for four days by myself as it pours
with rain outside, but that is still better
than being at work (although it will probably
be very bad for my health). Maybe I am too
pessimistic - Friday is still forecast to be
pretty poor, but there seems to be some hope
that Saturday may be very slightly reasonable.
I felt pretty good when I got home from
work last night, and the fact that I came
through almost a cloudburst without getting a
drip on me was good for the spirit too.
Luckily I knew a good way of ruining that, and
so one of the first things I did was to wash
some shirts. That re-introduced a few aches
and pains here and there, and may have
contributed to a poor nights sleep too. Once
the shirts were hanging up to dry I cooked my
dinner. It didn't turn out that well because
in an attempt to use up a red cabbage I rather
over did it. Maybe I should have cooked it a
bit more to soften that cabbage, but in the
end I threw quite a lot of it away. I made up
the deficit by snacking on too much junk. It
was all low sugar junk, but it certainly
wasn't low fat ! It feels like my blood
glucose level (based on thirst and amount of
peeing) is probably in the reasonable range,
but I can't see my belt getting any looser
after the last couple of days of, besides
other stuff, too much cheese eating !
I had another night's sleep where I
seemed to sleep well for half the night, and
then really badly for the rest of the night.
One significant problem was my incorrectly
named "floating rib syndrome". For the first
part of the night I was sleeping on my right
side. That is my favourite side, and I
probably do over 75% of my sleeping like that,
but sometimes when I wake up in the night I
turn over to my left side, and attempt to
sleep like that. It doesn't feel quite right,
but if I am tired enough I can usually fall
asleep like that, and suffer no ill effect
from doing so.
Last night I rolled over to my left
side, and I felt my whole rib cage shift off
centre - at least that is what it felt like. I
have no idea what actually happens. It doesn't
hurt as it happens, but it can hurt afterwards
- usually very mildly, but it can also make me
very concious of my breathing. Now there is
nothing worse than trying to ignore your
breathing when trying to relax. On top of that
my chest felt very slightly tight, and it was
uncomfortable to breathe in too deeply. The
cure is remarkably simple - change to any
other posture except laying on my left side,
but it was too uncomfortable to try to sleep
on my back, and too uncomfortable to sleep on
my right side. Laying on my back makes my
back, arms, buttocks, neck, and legs
uncomfortable. I am usually comfortable laying
on my right side, but after 4 or 5 hours of it
I feel the need to relax all the muscles used
in laying on the right side - or some old
nonsense like that. The short version is that
I slept well for half the night, and terribly
for the second !
There is a good chance I am going to get
wet on my way home from work today, and yet I
am still looking forward to going
home......but that is true of every day I am
at work. I have no concrete plans for tonight,
but I am wondering if I should go home via
Tesco. Tomorrow night I am boozing, and can't
get any shopping then, and I am assuming that
Tesco will be closed on Good Friday. Perhaps I
ought to check on that because Friday, when I
am not at work, and probably bored stiff,
would be the best day to go shopping - even
if, as is likely, it is pouring with rain.
It's been a while now since any big stand
has appeared on the concourse of Waterloo
station, but this breakfast bar advertising
several well known names appeared this
morning. It looks as if they should be
giving away bacon sandwiches, but there was
no smell of frying bacon - which was
probably both good and bad !
