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My Diary/Blog For the Month of August 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday 28th August 2016 |
| 15:00 BST Friday was a perfect summers day. It was hot ( at least 25° C) and dry, but from time to time the sun got a bit hazy. I think there was a shower yesterday, but I can't quite think when it was apart from I'm sure it was before midday. The rest of the day was dry and warm, but there were periods when it was overcast. I would guess the temperature didn't make it to 25° C, but it probably wasn't far short. Today has seen a mixture of sunny periods, but not that many, and a couple of light showers. It still feels rather pleasant just wearing shorts indoors with the windows open. The forecast actually says it should only be 21° C, but it feels better than that. My thermometer, at least the one that seems to over read by a degree or two reckons it is currently 26° C. Tomorrow is forecast to be a degree or so warmer, drier, and sunnier. The good news is that I did get to Herne Bay on Friday as planned. It was nice and hot there, particularly so when getting off the air conditioned train ! That made it ideal walking weather - ideal for me. Others may have a different opinion.  To add to me exhaustion was the fact that I had decided to walk to Reculver over the cliffs instead of under them. I feel sure that following the coastline around at sea level is the fastest route, and that is what I did back in 2010 when I walked all the way from Birchington On Sea to Herne Bay. That walk was 9.35 miles ! It might be possible that there is a quick walk across the cliffs, but I certainly didn't find it. I found one steep path up the cliffs that I followed until it ended abruptly in a 40 - 50ft drop into a chasm ! I had to retrace my steps, and try again further along, past the chasm, and see where that path went. It seemed to go a long way inland, and when I finally spied the ruined church again it still seemed miles away.   While I had my phone out, and it's camera activated to take the picture of the delights of the beach, I took the obligatory selfie on the left. By some fluke it doesn't show a thin smear of sweat across my brow. I did the entire 7.13 mile walk mostly under a hot sun, and I didn't wear any sun protection. On the whole I got away with it but not as well as when I used to do these walks frequently enough to build up natural protection. My right arm did come away rather red, but the burn wasn't bad enough to notice in any way but by eye. However the back of my neck was not so lucky, although the only way I realised I had burnt it was when I was brushing my hair the next morning - those hair brush bristles felt very sharp ! It is a long tedious journey to get to Herne Bay, and a doubly tedious journey to get back - made triply worse by the train being very full of noisy kids who were obviously not worked to exhaustion on the beack as they should have been ! I did feel tempted to have an extra special, very unhealthy meal when I got home - maybe a takeaway or something, but I mostly stuck to my guns and had a salad with a few nibbles later on. I thought I deserved an early night after the day out, and I was on my bed (too hot to get in it) fairly early, but I didn't seem to get much sleep. I think that like many of my nights recently, I got about 4 hours of good sleep followed by chunks of random sleep until I gave up and got up. I didn't feel too bad yesterday morning. Apart from the back of my neck, and then only when I was using my hair brush, my sun burn was no bother. The only legacy of that long walk was some aching in my calf muscles, and maybe some in my thigh muscles, but it was the calf muscles that did slightly slow me down when I went out to meet Aleemah for our Saturday morning breakfast in the Wetherspoons pub. I wondered if that long walk in the hot sun the day before had left me dehydrated so I had two pints.......just in case !!! At some point yesterday I managed to fit in doing some laundry, but I spent more time photo editing, but only until late afternoon. In the evening I went to a gig to see Life Of Brian playing at The British Legion hall in Hayes (Kent). It was a good gig, but with a couple of annoyances. The first annoyance was that contrary to past custom, or so I am lead to believe, The British Legion decided to charge non members £5 to enter. I was fortunate that my £5 was paid by Angela - although I was perfectly happy to pay it myself. One of the reasons I had been encouraged to go was to take some pictures, and so you could say that £5 was my fee.....no, actually you couldn't really could you.  I'm not sure what time the gig officially ended, but I left in time to get the last train from Hayes station. Until I checked earlier in the day I would have thought the last train was at about 10.30pm, but it was actually at 11.31pm. I doubt the gig went on much longer than that. It's unfortunate that by going home early I was unable to say a proper goodbye to Angela, and that made me a bit sad, but with hindsight I was offered a full kiss on the lips so it wasn't that bad. For some strange reason it was a sort of pleasant journey home even if I was dwelling on what I hoped might be rather than what reality was. I have to confess that the disappointment nearly drove me to get a takeaway, but maybe my willpower is stronger than I thought, or maybe I am learning some lessons, and I avoided all the fast food shops. I did have a few small snacks when I got in, but nothing too terrible for my healthy (just slightly terrible !!). Once again I had a bit of a good nights sleep followed by more bad sleeping. I estimate I am running on a sleep deficit of 3 or 4 hours now, but I don't feel too bad for it. I currently feel worse for a stomach upset that has come on recently, but maybe has blown itself out. It is possible that it will start up again later on, and that is a worry. I don't know what I could have eaten to bring on the runs, but I know what I have eaten that could bring on the runs later. Today I fancied a rather more substantial meal than "rabbit food". I fancied a solid bit of meat. So when I went out to Aldi this morning I bought myself a nice steak. Then I realised I already had a steak, still sealed in it's supermarket packing, in the bottom of the fridge. It had been in there quite some time - quite a few weeks ! When I opened it it had a strong smell, but not a rotten smell. So I cooked it, rather more well done than I would with something fresher, and ate it. It did taste very slightly different, but nothing I would worry about if I didn't know how long it had been "maturing". If there was anything wrong with it I reckon I would soon be vomitting, but it is my other end that was a bit lively earlier on. Tonight, quite early tonight, I could go out to another gig. In fact there are two on. The best on is in the worst place, and I think that is the one I will probably try and get to. It is a three band line up, The Belles, Ferdinand's Northern Ferrets, and The Zorbs playing in The Coach And Horses. Photography in that place is difficult at the best of times, and if, as I suspect, it gets busy it is almost impossible. Assuming I actually go out, I could almost be tempted to leave my camera behind, and enjoy the music and the company, but I had better take it and try and get the odd snap as and when.. |
There is no doubt about it, yesterday was a proper, hot
and sunny, summers day ! I have little doubt that the
temperature did reach 30° C as was forecast. As 6pm
approached the sky became very cloudy, and it looked like
the hot afternoon was going to end with a bang ! It seemed
to be perfect conditions for a thunderstorm, and maybe
there was one elsewhere, but after a while the clouds
looked less threatening here, and the evening was dry. It
was also still very warm, and rather sticky ! Today feels
much fresher. The temperature may still climb to 27° C
later, but it is currently closer to 23° C. The sky is not
so clear today, but we still have had plenty of sunshine,
and there is every reason to hope that these sunny spells
will continue all afternoon. Tomorrow will probably see
clearer skies, and much more sunshine, but apparently the
temperature will only peak at 25° C.
| Tuesday 23rd August 2016 |
07:51 BST It felt good to walk to
the station in warm sunshine yesterday, but there weren't
many sunny periods like that. Quite a lot of the day was
overcast, but it was warm and comfortable except on the
train going home. It started feeling nasty and humid for
the last 5 minutes of the journey for some reason. It was
fine once I got moving in the outside air. I am unsure of
how warm it got, but the forecast for 24° C sounds about
right. This morning, after a clear night, it was a little
cool. Estimates vary between 14° and 17° C, but I was
comfortable just wearing my shorts. Once the sun had risen
properly, which is now ages after I get up, the sky was
lovely and blue, and it is supposed to stay that way all
day. The temperature should rise to 28° C, and even 29° C
is possible. Tomorrow could be very similar. After that
the weather will go downhill to make sure we get the
traditional wet and windy August bank holiday Monday ! I
feel like I am properly dressed for 29° C today (picture
on the left)I didn't feel all that great at work yesterday. It is hard to describe why. I wasn't in any specific pain, but I seemed to ache mildly from the legs upwards. Oh, actually I did have one specific pain, but that was mostly during my journey into work. I was wearing a pair of shoes I had only briefly tried once, and that was possibly over a year ago. I thought I would give them a second chance, and initially they felt OK. The problem was that they were a cheap pair of Converse copies, and I reckon they were designed for Asian feet - which would seem to be less wide, and maybe flatter than western feet. So they rub, grated, and pinched, and all this was made worse by my feet (and ankles) being a bit swollen yesterday.  Apart from throwing those shoes out, the first thing I did was to check my health - and it was good ! I didn't seem to have lost any more weight, but I hadn't put any on. My blood glucose level was wonderfully low at just 4.9 mmol/l, and my blood pressure reading, on my second attempt was 128/85, and that is exceptionally good for me. (My first reading was a fair bit higher, but my doctors have always said to allow a few minutes to pass after the first reading to get over the shock, and relax properly). I was sort of busy last night, and that was good because it distracted me from food. I'm not sure how much distraction I actually need though on this occasion. I seem to be getting in the swing of this healthy eating lark. I did nibble on a little cube of cheese when I first got home, but I didn't eat anything else except for a salad. It was quite a big salad with some kiln smoked salmon, but the thing that bulked it out most was a whole little gem lettuce. It is possible that had some interesting effects later. Before I had my salad I washed two pillow cases, and two sheets. Later on, after my salad had settled a bit I washed a duvet cover. I had to leave that duvet cover on a clothes horse in the bath to drip dry overnight, but by this morning it was 99% dry. I've left it hanging on the banister rail to get bone dry during the day. The other important thing I did before going to bed was to upload the pictures I had taken of The Short And Curlies performing at The Black Cat on Saturday 13th August. You can view the album here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/135353558@N03/albums/72157669691990173 I'm sort of pleased how most of the pictures turned out. One little thing I also did was to sign up to CAMRA - The Campaign For Real Ale ( http://www.camra.org.uk). There was a nefarious purpose for this. I didn't realise you got a dozen or so vouchers for 50p of a pint of ale in certain CAMRA supporting pubs, plus other discounts when you show your membership card. It seemed the sensible thing to do.     I'm not entirely sure what
was going on at Waterloo station. The umbrella thing
over the ice cream cart said The Economist, but I
don't think they were advertising that paper. The ice
cream cart said "Free ice cream" (behind the man in
the grey suit who got in the way just as I was about
to take the picture), and the illustration of the
little tub of ice cream had an insect logo on it. I
didn't actually see any ice cream being given away,
but I did read the logo on the back of the young
ladies t-shirt. It said "Ask me why eating insects
makes sense". I think that maybe they were some sort
of eco warriors....or something like that.
I went to bed early enough last night, but I didn't sleep terribly well. I am not sure what caused it, I sort of suspect it was the large amount of lettuce I had, but I peed an awful lot during the night. It was quite useful because my feet and ankles were a bit puffy yesterday. This morning I've peed all the excess liquid out, and they are normal again - which is sort of handy when I am wearing shorts, and my ankles are on display for all to see. The other good thing is that when I weighed myself this morning I had lost nearly a whole kilogram. I am now entering the weight range I achieved in an attempt to cure my angina before I had to give up and let the surgeons do it properly. There seems no reason to stop now it is going so well. Unless something happens to really piss me off I should be able to keep this up for the rest of the summer, and maybe a little way into Autumn. From then on I will have to do my best to keep things stable until the weather improves in spring. I have only one definite plan for tonight. I'll be meeting my friend Ruby who is down from Cumbria to visit London. It's a sort of annual ritual. We'll have a couple of pints together near Waterloo station, and then say good bye for another year (probably). After that it will be time to race up the escalator - I wonder if I can do that with a couple of pints in me - and head for home for another salad - probably featuring a whole little gem lettuce. I wonder if I'll spend another night getting up to pee large quantities every couple of hours ? |
There was another little delight on Saturday
night that I had forgotten about until I checked my phone
this morning. Pictured on the left is one of the posters
that were up inside and outside The Black Cat. The delight
is that the picture used on the poster is one of mine !
Oddly enough, I don't think it was actually an M.T.
Pockets gig when I took that picture. I'm quite proud of
that picture - although snapping Dan in mid leap was more
luck than skill, and, I have to confess, I was prompted
when it was about to happen !
| Thursday 11th August 2016 |
| 08:45 BST I was hoping that yesterday's weather would be better than the last forecast I saw for it, but I think that forecast was probably about right. The morning was overcast, and it wasn't until I was leaving work to go home that there were any substantial sunny periods. When the sun did come out it was bright - dazzlingly so while I was trying to read The Evening Standard while waiting for my train on Waterloo East station. It wasn't a particularly warm day, and I think I can only describe it as "comfortable". I think the temperature struggled to reach 20° C. Today may be a little better in so far as the forecast reckons the sun might break through late this morning, but even then we will probably only get short sunny spells every so often through the afternoon. At the moment it is rather dull and miserable. It also feels rather cool even if it is around 15° C. With luck we should see 22° C by mid afternoon. Tomorrow is still forecast to be very sunny, and 24° C for much of the afternoon. There were a few times when I felt seriously tired at work yesterday. They were mostly, if not exclusively when I allowed myself to relax too much. I felt fine when I left to go home. I cheated a bit and caught a bus to the station - obviously I didn't need one, and that was why one appeared at just the right time ! Maybe it was the little extra rest I got by taking the bus that enabled me to do something I rarely do - mainly because it is only recently that I have felt capable of doing it. I ran for the train, or more accurately, I ran to get on the front half of the train. Not only did I run, but I ran faster than I expected to, and kept it up for between 2 and 3 carriage lengths. Now maybe that is not a long distance in the grand scheme of things, but it was a fair way for me. It felt odd not to feel completely knackered after that little run. I could definitely feel that I had done it, but I was left wondering just how far I could have run if I had pushed myself to the edge. Maybe I'll never know, or maybe some occasion will come along when I can try for a little more. One thing isn't a mystery, and that was that I still had enough energy to briefly break into a run, perhaps just for a few steps, when I did a fast walk up the escalators at Waterloo. Logic tells me that I should capitalise on this and do more to get even fitter, but that would feel sort of unnatural to me. When I got back to Catford I did yet more shopping, and this time it was in Tesco. I mainly wanted to buy a couple of bottles of Diet Coke, but of course I bought other stuff too. Some of that stuff was frozen stuff that I have managed to stuff into the freezer to have much later. Other stuff was more perishable, and I'll have to be careful to strike a balance between not eating too much of it too quickly, and watching out for "best before" dates. Last nights dinner was a salad and some reduced price sandwiches. Maybe too many sandwiches because I did feel quite full for a while. Later on, when some of it had settled I snacked on a handfull of walnuts while I sat at my PC and edited photos. Photo editing was about all I did last night, but I finally made some progress. I selected and edited photos for an album of The English Rogues gig at The Black Cat on Saturday 30th July. They are now ready for upload to Flickr, and I may do that sometime today. I did upload all 82 photos from Petts Woodstock last Saturday. They are on Flickr, and you can see them here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/135353558@N03/albums/72157672197846216 There are photos of Dread Centre, Big Red Bus, Vince Lightning And The Thunderboltz, Forlorn Hope, Chain, Jason And The Lagernauts, some more pictures of Chain, and Yoka And The Sugarbeats. I finally managed to get to bed, and get to sleep before 9pm last night. It might even have been as early as 8.30pm. This time I slept properly, or as near to properly as I can manage these days. I did wake briefly at around 3am, but I was probably only awake for 5 - 10 minutes. After that I did wake several times, but I managed to sleep right through 5am (just) and in a rare treat, I didn't get up until just after 6am - a lie in of a whole one hour !!! This morning I feel a bit creaky, and maybe my bottom is a bit precarious, but all these things seem to be settling down now. I have washed my hair, and showered, and once I am dressed I should be ready for anything.....hmmm, maybe that is a slight exageration ! The first thing I want to do is to go to either Poundstretcher and/or Poundland and see what they have in the way of wine glasses. It occured to me recently that I don't seem to have any matched wines glasses any more. Should I get a special visitor it might be nice to have matched glasses. I think I am almost ready to receive special visitors again. The little accident I had the previous evening, where I spilled some sauce from a tin of mackerel onto the living room carpet, may not have been as bad as I feared. It was very whiffy when I got home from work last night, but after opening the windows, and scrubbing the area with some Dettox, the smell almost went away. I've just checked it this morning, and it is still a bit smelly. I have been recommended to treat the area with bicarbonate of soda, but I am not sure that will work now the area is dry. Maybe I'll see what treatments might be available on the Pound shop. A little later today, once the sun appears, I have a plan to go out for a walk in the countryside. I think I mentioned recently that it seems a long time since I've done my favourite walk from Eynsford station to Shoreham station, and today might be a good day to do that walk. The only trouble is I don't actually feel like it at the moment. Fortunately something has come to my rescue. Halfway through this paragraph I had a message from Patricia. She wants to come and pick up her mail, and maybe we'll go for a quick lunchtime drink as well. |
| Monday 8th August 2016 |
| 07:55 BST We've had some pretty good weather recently. Saturday, Petts Woodstock day, was very warm and sunny. I think the temperature reached 24° C, and that's probably a good temperature for an outdoor event. Yesterday wasn't quite as warm, and there were periods when the sky got a bit cloudy. The best of the sunshine, or perhaps the most continuous sunshine was from about 4pm until sunset at 8.37pm (if my memory serves me well). Today it is going to be the opposite.  Saturday was rather a fantastic day. The highlight wasn't going to Petts Woodstock, but seeing Angela in The Black Cat, but Petts Woodstock was still rather excellent. Having my "access all areas" back stage pass made the experience far more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. There were loads of fantastic people there, and I was surprised just how many I knew (even if it was on just nodding terms with them), but unlike the most ardent festival goers I really don't like being in the middle of crowds. Being able to wander to less crowded areas, and on one occasion, being able to use the backstage toilets - proper toilets, not portaloos, was a great joy. I think I saw, and photographed, 6 bands in all, and in a day or two I will be uploading a huge photo album to Flickr to show the results of my photography. One strange thing is that I found I preferred taking pictures off the inside stage more than the outside stage. Outside it was bright daylight, and photography was fairly easy (although I stil managed to take many useless, unusable pictures). It was dark inside, but it was colourful too. At first I was dismayed about having to change all the settings on my camera, but it was worth it. A few pictures, and it was just a few, came out really well. My original plan was to leave Petts Woodstock at about 7pm, and head directly to The Black Cat in Catford, but by 4pm I began to feel a little bored, although bored is probably not quite the right word. Maybe I just wasn't feeling quite entertained by the band who were on at the time, and I wasn't sure about the next few bands who were due on. The band who were on when I decided to leave early where Yoka And The Sugarbeats. They were one of those paradoxes - they sounded brilliant, and I didn't like them ! The lead singer had an excellent voice, and her backing musicians played really well, but somehome it just didn't gel with me. After taking half a dozen pictures of them I wandered off to the station. When I got there I faced a small dilema. I could wait for just over 15 minutes and re-trace my steps back to Catford via Lewisham station, or I could wait 5 minutes to get a train as far as Grove Park, and get a bus from there. I chose the latter, and it was the correct choice because I probably got home at least 30 minutes earlier than I would have done if I had gone via Lewisham. That gave me plenty of time to have a bite to eat, do some photo editing, have a quick wash, and have a rest before going out again. I arrived at The Black Cat before Redriffe, the band for the night, were more than half way to setting up. That left a bit of a wait, but it was all worth it. Richard, who looks after all the stage stuff at the pub, had assured me that Redriffe were really good, and they were. I had seen them before, but I think it was only a short visit because I was feeling very off colour when they had been there before sometime in May. In fact it was the 14th May, and upon checking I see I have the pictures to prove it - https://www.flickr.com/photos/135353558@N03/albums/72157668472776605 Before the week is out, and hopefully well before that, I'll have some picture from Saturday night to show. Angela turned up about half an hour after I arrived there, and we enjoyed each others company until she was whisked away in a car driven by Gerry, lead guitarist from The English Rogues, who passes Angela's house on his way home. 
It seems a shame that I'll
probably have to wait until next Saturday to see
Angela again. It feels so good to be in her presence,
and kiss and cuddle, even if far too brief, is so
rejuvenating ! It's odd how life, well maybe just my
life, lurches from dull, boring and pointless to vivid
and exciting in just the space of a few weeks. It's
almost like being young again. Now if only I could get
rid of the aches, and pains, creaks and groans...
I guess we left the pub, and went our separate ways sometime around 11.30pm. When I git home I should have gone straight to bed, but I was buzzing far too much for that, and I was feeling a bit peckish. I really should not have done it, but I popped a Tesco's curry ready meal in the microwave, and 10 minutes later I sat down to a meal that tasted so wonderful. I probably got to sleep at something like 1am on Sunday morning. In theory I should not have woken up until 9pm, and It would have just about been OK if that had happened, but of course it didn't. I was awake 5 hours later, and ready to get up. I have no idea why I felt ready to get up. it was stupid really, but I got up anyway. One reason for getting up early was to prepare for a visit from my friend Aleemah - not that I needed to do much preparation because I had somehow managed to do some useful housework on Saturday morning. As usual it was the same proceedure as when I see her on a Saturday. Meet at the station, breakfast in tghe Wetherspoons pub, and then back home to watch a DVD. We are slowly getting through her huge box set of The Outer Limits. Some stories are good, and some less so. One story was good in concept, but boring to watch, and I think we both dozed off during it at one point or another. Once Aleemah had gone home I did some laundry, and then steeled myself for a long sitting at the PC editing photos. I have such a huge backlog of photos to deal with, but at least I managed to almost finish the pictures I took at Petts Woodstock. I just have something like 200+ pictures of Chain's turn on the big stage to go through, and then I can upload a huge album to Flickr. Maybe I'll manage that tonight, or maybe I won't. Once that is done I can tackle two Saturday's worth of pictures from The Black Cat. Oh, just remembered, I still have an album of day 2 of the previous weekend's Chattfest to upload too. (Day one is here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/135353558@N03/albums/72157668960811753). I did my best to get to bed early last night, and completely failed ! Maybe I got a bit more than 4 hours sleep if I am lucky, but not much more. The strange thing is that for the moment I don't feel too bad for it. I suspect it is going to make for a long day, but I'll manage. I'll also manage to find the energy in the unlikely event that I get a message from Angela about a quick meeting after work. I have little doubt that would get me buzzing for a while, but I would probably crash and burn afterwards (but it would still be worth it). I guess my only realistic plans for tonight are for more photo editing. |
| Saturday 6th August 2016 |
| 08:49 BST The weather was rather nice yesterday. It wasn't particularly warm, but it was dry and mostly sunny, and apart from saying the temperature probably reached 22 - 23° C, that is all that needs to be said about it. It's looking today is still on track to be a warm sunny day, although the sky may become hazy in the later afternoon, and the sun may not return until early evening. The top temperature is still predicted to be 24° C. Tomorrow should be just as warm, but the sun may not appear until midday. From then on it is predicted to be sunny. Fridays are good examples of how time can be highly variable. Looking back it seems that my day at work passed quite quickly, but that seems at odds with my memory of it in real time. Some of the dragged, but probably not all. I managed to find sufficient work to make it look like I was busy, but in reality it was easy stuff that I like doing. It probably looked good enough to fool my boss if he only took a casual glance. It might have been more difficult to fully justify it if he had asked for details ! Once again, like yesterday, it was stuff that could ultimately be useful for the company, but it wasn't needed yesterday, and nor will it probably be needed next week - but you never know ! On my way home from work I called into Tesco to buy more odds and sods. I wanted a couple of bottles of Diet Coke, a couple of fresh sandwiches for today, and some nail varnish remover. Much to the amusement of some I sometimes use nail varnish on my left thumbnail because it seems to grow with a groove down the centre of it, and it tends to split there. So I protect/reinforce it with nail varnish. Recently it has been purple nail varnish, but that was getting tatty. Once I got some nail varnish remover I could remove the old and replace it with a nice powder blue nail varnish. Of course it would be better if my fingernail malady had affected my index finger. Then I could paint it black, and pretend I was the famous Black Fingernail ! I ate too much last night - particularly when taking into accounts the needs of today - more of which later. On the other hand the ready meal I had wasn't that big. If I was cooking bangers and mash I would have had far more mashed potato, and I wouldn't have had just three half sized sausages. I would have had at least 4 full sized sausages ! Anyway, once I had finished filling my face with bangers and mash, plus rather a lot of other stuff, I finally knuckled down to do some photo editing. I still haven't done the photos I took of The English Rogues at The Black Cat a week ago, but I did select and prepare all the best photos of Chain performing at Chattfest 2016 last Sunday. There are other photos that I still have to go through for that afternoon, but I don't consider them as important as the Chain photos. Unfortunately I haven't had time to upload them to Flickr yet, but I may have time to do it this morning, or sometime tomorrow. I managed to finish all my photo editing some time before bedtime, but I decided to have an early night instead of staying up and doing more on my PC. Unfortunately that didn't mean I got to sleep early, but at least it gave my eyes a rest. Last night was another of those nights when my brain would not shut up. On the whole it was having good thoughts - picking out the few best bits of the recent past, and projecting them into the future. Eventually I got to sleep, and apart from a short series of really quite odd dreams that seemed to string together as one longer dream (like a series of scenes in a movie), I probably slept OK until a little before 5am. Waking up early on a Saturday is always annoying (except of quite rare occasions when it is useful), and I had to get up for a while before going back to bed. Eventually I slept for a while more, but I was rather less happy with my dreams. One dream seemed to feature a tooth falling out. One minute it was in my mouth, and the next minute I am spitting it out in two pieces into my hand ! There was no obvious reason why that tooth should fall out. There was no blood, no pain, no anything. It was just like spitting out a cherry pit. It was still a most unpleasant experience to dream about though. This morning I don't feel too bad. In some ways I almost, but maybe not quite, feel good. This is just as well because I have a very busy day ahead of me, and I haven't been idle since waking up either. So far I have done a little bit of washing up. I've knocked some cobwebs down, and done some hoovering, plus I have changed my bed sheets and pillow cases. I still need to wash my hair and have a good shower, and then the real day begins !   |
| Thursday 4th August 2016 |
| 07:35 BST I'm sure that yesterday wasn't quite as dull as yesterday's forecast predicted, but maybe I am confused because one of the few sunny spells predicted happened at the wrong time for the forecast, but the right time for me - when I was going home from work. I'm not sure if the temperature really hit 23° C but maybe it did for a while, although I would have attributed the stickiness to high humidity. Today's weather looks straightforward......  This is a rare admission - I had quite a good day at work yesterday. This was mainly because I was doing what I thought I ought to be doing rather than what I should have been doing. Actually I have no idea what I should have been doing. As far as I knew I had nothing to do, but I sorted myself out an interesting project that helped keep my knowledge up to date, and I know will be useful to the business in the fullness of time. I'll be doing a bit more of it today. It was still nice to escape at the end of the day though ! The only thing to report about my journey home from work is that there were no Evening Standard papers at Earlsfield station, and I forgot to pick one up at Waterloo station (where I assume they had some). I had nothing to read on the trains home, but it didn't seem to matter. In fact it was nice to re-acquaint myself with the scenery again -sort of. The problem there is that over the last few years so much building work has taken place next to railways that in some places it is like going through a concrete canyon. Most of these building are domestic flats, and many are very close to the railway. This is surprising because if HS2 (England's 2nd high speed line - if it is ever built) has taught us anything it is that living closer than 3 miles to a railway line is instant death, and cows in the same county will spontaneously abort. At least that is what the protesters reckon - many of who probably don't live anywhere near the proposed route of HS2. When I git back to Catford I headed straight for Tesco. As anticipated, there were loads of reduced price bargains available. Wednesday's always seem good for that. I bought loads of stuff that I shouldn't have bought - including a packet of two cream horns. They were very nice, but I shouldn't eat for a fortnight after eating them. On the other hand, maybe they did inspire me to slightly less of other stuff, and the main part of my dinner was salad dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar instead of being drenched in mayonnaise or some other ready made dressing. I believe, rightly or wrongly, that olive oil and vinegar is more benign than other stuff. There was one important thing I should have done last night, but I didn't do it. That was to select and edit photos that I took of The English Rogues playing in The Black Cat last Saturday. I did do other stuff though. One slightly important thing was to upload all the good pictures from day 1 of Chattfest, last Saturday, to Flickr. You can see the results here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/135353558@N03/albums/72157668960811753 I also washed a couple of hand towels and a shirt, plus I washed my hair. That seemed enough for one night. I almost managed to get an early night last night, but I was kept up by a phone call. I have been offered a (like) new 3 seater settee, plus a single seat by a friend, and I had to take a few measurements of doorways and stuff to see if we would be able to get it into the living room if I accept it. I'm told it is blue and gold, and I'm not sure I would like that, but I await a picture to see what it really looks like. I have to admit that my settee is getting a bit long in the tooth, and could do with replacing if this potential replacement is OK. I guess it was about 9.30pm when I got to bed, and I was fast asleep quite soon afterwards. I guess I probably slept quite well, and I know I slept well enough to need waking up by my alarm clock app on my mobile phone. This morning I feel tolerably well, and all the usual aches and pains, creaks and groans, are very mild again. Even my guts seem very calm, and that seems good but strange after the can of baked beans I ate the other night. I am quite surprised they haven't made their presence felt in the usual way. Tonight I should be doing lots and lots and lots of photo editing, but it's Thursday, and I am going for a drink after work with the usual Thursday night drinking club. What I ought to do, and maybe I'll achieve it, is to just have a couple of pints before rushing home to start that photo editing. I have sandwiches in the fridge that I bought from Tesco last night, and I could have those for dinner while I sit at my PC selecting and editing photos. Or I might just get drunk instead ! |
| Monday 1st August 2016 |
| 07:47 BST It was definitely more sunny yesterday morning compared with later in the day, but the sun did come out a few times in the late afternoon. There were also times when the clouds seemed quite thick and threatening, but fortunately it stayed dry, and while it was far from hot, it was very comfortable in just shirtsleeves. This morning has started the coolest it has been for quite some time. It was just 14° C, and despite it being the start of August it gave plenty of hints of Autumn. It will warm up later on, but because we now seem to have lost some nice early morning sunshine, it will not warm up that much. It may not even reach 20° C. Apparently there could be a light shower any time this afternoon, and heavy rain is forecast for this evening. It will continue right through the night, and halfway through tomorrow morning ! It's been quite a weekend ! Yesterday saw my fourth music session in two and a half days, and yet more Guinness was consumed. I didn't feel quite as good as I did earlier, or at least not until the Guinness cut in. I think the eggs and bacon I had for breakfast yesterday laid a bit heavy on my stomach for a long time. If I was having a lazy Sunday it would have been a delicious way to start the day, but maybe on an active day I should have had half the amount of bacon, and one less egg. There was only one significant thing I did in the afternoon while waiting to go out, and that was to upload all the pictures I took on my Thursday morning walk up to Mountsfield Park, through Mountsfield Park, along Hither Green Lane, down through Lewisham Park, and finally to the Lewisham War Memorial before walking home again. They can all be found on Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/135353558@N03/albums/ I've added some captions to explain many of the pictures, and you'll find those captions under the picture - if in album view you'll need to click on an individual picture. When viewing a single picture you can click on that picture to expand it to see some of the finer detail. At 4pm it was time to leave for my fourth music session - day two of Chattfest at The Chatterton Arms. It felt longer, but I waited less than 10 minutes for a bus, and I was on the long tedious journey to, and through Bromley. By the time I arrived at the pub, and had bought myself a pint of Guinness, The Scorchers had started their set outside on the stage in the beer garden. I feel sure that someone had said that Chris Mayer, lead guitarist for Chain, was part of the band, and that was why I wanted to get there in time to see their set, but that wasn't the case. The only member of the band I knew was the drummer, John Sutcliffe. The Scorchers turned out to be very competent, but somehow unexciting. However they were luxury compared to the next act. Kate Sparkes was no Kate Bush, although she could sing. It was the fact that she was a "karaoke artist", singing solo to a backing track, and singing songs that I didn't like, or didn't like in the style that she sang them in, that gave me daark thoughts about demanding my money back ! Eventually, after what seemed like an eternal wait, and one that included several cock ups because she couldn't control her own iPad, the source of her backing tracks, it was time for the grand finale as Chain took to the stage. I've been very lazy spending too many Saturday nights in the highly convenient Black Cat instead of travelling a bit further afield to see Chain playing, and it has been some time since I last saw them. In one respect that's bad, but on the other hand I think it increased my enjoyment even more when I saw them last night. It was a fantastic finale. There wer people dancing and singing along, and even the governor of the pub put his neck on the line by agreeing to a quick encore even though they had passed the 8pm noise curfew time. It was a great end to a great weekend. As expected, there were plenty of people there I know - not that well in most cases, but we are all part of a larger family - sort of. There was even my mate Lee there. For some reason he only lacked a tie to be dressed for the opera instead of a rock gig. I don't know if he was trying to impress his girlfriend, but if she has any sense he failed !! There was one little surprise when I left the pub......  Once again I was lucky enough to only have a short wait for a bus home. On this occasion it was a 320, and it always seems that they are faster than the 208 - and particularly so at about 9pm on a Sunday when the traffic is light. At the end of my bus ride a good thing happened. I was the last one on the bus, and the bus driver didn't realise I was waiting to get off at the final stop by Catford Bridge station, and he whizzed past thye stop. For some people that could have been bloody annoying, but for me it was wonderful. I got the driver to stop and let me off the bus much nearer home as he drove through the side roads to get to the bus stand behind Tesco. Not only was I half way home, but it also avoided the temptation to celebrate the end of a great weekend of mostly well controlled eating by buying some chicken and chips. I was a bit peckish when I got home, but what I had was mostly better for me than chicken and chips. I had a ready made egg and potato salad first, and then spoiled things by eating a small packet (of three) small Eccles cakes. Soon after that I went to bed. And soon after that I fell asleep. On the whole I slept fairly well, but I would have been happier if I had gone to sleep an hour earlier, and slept later, but for now it seems I had enough. This morning I have a mild headache, but otherwise I seem to feel reasonably OK. There is nothing else I can really moan about.....well I could force myself, but perhaps I'll give it a rest for a day or so. Hopefully I'll be feeling good when I get home again because I should have a very busy evening. I've got laundry to do, and stacks and stacks of pictures to review and edit for upload. I hope I can get all those pictures done before I take a cartload more next Saturday at Pettswoodstock (I've been given an access all areas pass, and so I shall go snapping crazy...or something). |