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My Diary/Blog For the Month of March 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saturday 25th March 2017 |
| 10:33 GMT After the dull start, yesterday afternoon was bright and cheery. Unfortunately it was still a little cool. At it's best it was 10° C, and how that feels depends on the wind. There was a light breeze yesterday, and that was just enough to make it feel a bit cool - but I still went to the doctors, and Aldi afterwards in just my shirtsleeves. I knew what the forecast was for today, but it still came as a bit of a shock. The morning started bright and sunny, and it seems most of the day will be bright and sunny too. The forecast for the temperature has been revised upwards a little. We can now (hopefully) look forward to 14° C for a short while this afternoon. Tonight the clocks change back to BST, and that leaves everything disorganised....sort of. Sunrise will be at 06:50 tomorrow instead of 05:50 - which is bad, but sunset will not be until 19:23 - which is very good. Even better is that after an extra hour for the sun to rise (according to my body clock), and then a slightly dull morning, the sun will burst through between 10 and 11am, and then it will be sunny right through to sunset. The only slight downer is that it may only reach 12° C. On reflection, I must have been fairly busy yesterday. I did a whole smelly pile of washing up for one thing - I had to, I had run out of forks ! Most of what I did was to do with rehabilitating my spare room. It is good when a plan starts to come together. One task was to clean the inside of the windows, and the window frames. In an ideal world those frames could do with a lick of paint, and maybe they will get it, but for the moment they don't look too bad if you don't look too carefully (preferably with the curtains closed in a dimly lit room !). One thing that was most pleasing is that I have got every last single thing off the bed. Some of it is piled up at the other end of the room in a semi tidy heap, but I think there is a chance I might even be able to tidy that up at some point. Previous work included cleaning, dusting, re-arranging 3 out of 4 bookshelves, and I think tackling the top one, which is hideously dusty is going to be one of the next jobs to do (and then re-dust the bookshelves below !).  Apart from some of the stains
on the wall - a few of which are not stains but where
sticky tape has been has pulled a bit of wallpaper off
when it has been removed - this is the spare bed in
all it's glory. On the wall at the head end is the new
reading lamp I put up recently. One other task I
completed yesterday was to start washing the duvet
covers, pillow cases, and sheets for the bed.
 Yesterday I washed the Che
Guevara pillow case and duvet cover - it's very
handy for militant South Americans to sleep under
(well Patricia liked it - I think !). I am
currently soaking a couple of sheets, and one of
my next tasks will be to finish washing them.
Later on I will wash a few other bits for that
single bed. I must confess I am finding it
surprising how much of it, although apparently
clean, is tinged with the smell of cigarette
smoke.
At just after 3pm I went out to the surgery for my double appointment there. On the whole it was very satisfactory. I first saw the nurse who dressed my wound. She also looked at the printout of the blood pressure readings I had taken for the doctor towards the end of February. The doctor had not been enthusiastic about them, and chose to concentrate on the higher readings. The nurse chose to look at all the low readings, and thought that my blood pressure was very satisfactory. Unlike the doctor, she arranged to scan my printout, and enter it into my official medical record. I won't be bothered for blood pressure readings for a while now. The actual re-dressing of my wound was a little less uncomfortable than the previous day, and that was good. Once that was done I was handed over to the general health practitioner, or whatever he was called, to have my feet prodded with his monofilament fibre. It's to check for nerve damage in diabetic patients. I had no trouble with that, and the rest of my feet were reported to be in generally good condition. Finally it was time to leave, and to pick up my doctors sick certificate on the way out - another good thing ! At one point I was thinking of going out last night, but I wasn't actually sure where the gig I was going to actually was - not a good situation to be in. So I decided to stay in, and I took advantage of that to order a takeaway. My choice of food was peri-peri chicken. This is usually grilled, and so is rather less unhealthy than fried chicken. As usual, I checked the Food Standards Agency website for the hygiene ratings for the restaurant I had chosen. They scored 5 out of 5, and that is rather good for a takeaway. That lead me to believe that my peri-peri chicken would be really good - it wasn't ! On the whole it was a disappointing experience. Having to order a bit more than I wanted to meet the minimum price for delivery was no problem, but it was annoying to have to wait 65 to 70 minutes for delivery, or 15 - 20 minutes longer than the estimate. When it arrived I enjoyed the small burger that I had ordered just to get the price up to the minimum, but I was not impressed with the chicken. It seemed very greasy, and maybe a bit too charcoal flavoured. It was as if it had been fried, and then thrown onto some live charcoal to brown it off a bit more, and to give it the right flavour. The long wait increased the guilt I felt about getting a takeaway, and then the greasy chicken made the guilt feel very strong. So much that I only ate a small part of what I ordered. It meant I had potato wedges for breakfast this morning, and I shall have peri-peri chicken for lunch ! I shall put the chicken in my mini oven/grill, and I hope I can drive off some of the grease when I reheat it. It is definitely nice not to have to rush to bed, and not have to worry too much about getting up early. I think I sleep better for it, although I don't seem to sleep any longer than usual, and possibly less because I know I can have a snooze during the day if I need it - and I often do. Sleeping better seems to mean a few less aches and pains.......or maybe what I am trying to say is that the worst aches and pains seem to fade very rapidly after getting out of bed, and after that I am relatively pain free - but not totally. This morning I've been to see the nurse again - a different nurse. This one is an old fusspot, and was trying to convince me I ought to go to the emergency walk in clinic in New Cross tomorrow to get the dressing changed. I think I prefer the nurse I saw yesterday, and the day before. She thought I would be fine if I missed out Sunday's. Today's nurse also fussed around with the final dressing. I am not sure is she was trying to be artistic in the way it was placed, but I think she had three goes before she was satisfied. On Monday morning I see yet a different nurse. I wonder what she will be like - maybe it will be the one who seemed to mess up dressing the wound on my leg when I came out of hospital (it was where the vein was taken for the graft on my heart). On the way back from the surgery I called into Poundland for more cleaning supplies for the back/spare bedroom. Continuing the cleaning in there will be my main priority - probably. This evening my priority will definitely change. Tonight Chain will be playing a gig in The Black Cat. I haven't seen them play for a long time now, and I am rather looking forward to it. |
| Friday 24th March 2017 |
| 09:27 GMT Maybe it was just me, but yesterday seemed to have an almost wintry feel to it. It was frequently dull. and while the daytime temperature may have just about hit 10° C, it seemed damned chilly in the evening. Fortunately, while today has started off very overcast, and with the temperature down near 6° C, the afternoon is forecast to be bright and sunny...and at 11° C, almost warm. Tomorrow may be even sunnier and 13° C, and then while we have to accept that a forecast so far in the future is pure fantasy, next Tuesday could be very sunny, and a definitely warm 16° C ! There was absolutely no reason why I didn't write anything yesterday, but somehow I just never got around to it. Maybe it was a good idea because I can just stick to recording a few salient points about Wednesday. As I suggested I would, I took a couple of bags of shirts to the Age Concern charity shop, and they seemed very pleased to get them. On my way back I called into Poundstretcher to buy three (3 for £10 !!!) under bed storage boxes. I felt a little short of breath when I got back, and I think I know the reason. I have been disturbing a lot of dust during my clean and tidy up of the spare bedroom. Things came to a head when I started to fill the new storage boxes. I had been hoping I could stuff my spare winter duvet in one, but it was too small. I decided to swap out the contents of a bigger box, and use the bigger box for the duvet. All there was in the bigger box was an ancient blanket that had been sitting in that box, with the lid very loose, on top of the wardrobe for countless years. I think I had last used it as a cover for the spare bad, and it was full of cat hair and dander plus loads of cigarette smoke. Handling it really made my throat close up. I guess it could have been cleaned, but I dumped it straight in the wheelie bin. After that I didn't do much at all. Eventually I felt less asthmatic, but I decided I had had enough of housework for one day. So I settled down to some reading, and eventually went to bed. I wanted to be fresh and alert for my first appointment with the practice nurse yesterday. My appointment with the nurse was at midday, and so I had plenty of time to do something. That something turned out to be a bit of exercise. I decided that I would go into Lewisham to do some shopping in Sainsbury's. I've never really explored a big Sainsbury's before, and I was curious what I might find. I was a little disappointed that their range of salads was no better than the little Sainsbury's "Local" near Earlsfield station. I bought four ready made salads - 2 Greek, 1 Italian, and 1 classic. I also bought two 2l bottles of Sainsbury own brand diet cola. It has a slightly odd, but not unpleasant taste. I also bought a few other bits and pieces, including a couple of bottles of chilli sauces that I had not seen before. It was a fair bit to carry even with the bottles in my ruck sack, and I didn't fancy getting on a crowded bus like that. So I walked. I guess it was no more than a mile and a half, but carrying that shopping made it seem like hard work. I think I must be really out of shape ! However it was a mostly pleasant walk. I walked back through the park, and stopped to take a couple of snaps of the daffodils as they come to the end of their lives.   When I got home I was feeling quite hot, and almost once again, very slightly short of breath. I also did not have that much time to change to a clean shirt before going out to the surgery. When I got to the surgery they were running a bit behind schedule, and I think I waited almost 20 minutes (including the 5 or more minutes I was early getting there) before I was called. I hadn't dealt with that nurse before, but she seemed pleasant enough, and of course, like most of them, utterly demented ! Before starting on my wound she said I was due a blood pressure reading. This time I threw a tantrum and said NO ! I said I was fed up with every visit starting with my blood pressure. I said it would be stupidly high, just like most times, and I would much prefer it if she would just get on with treating my wound - and she did ! She commented that it was a deep hole, but it had a nice big opening. The significance of that was that she was going to re-pack it with stuff called Aquacel. Having that done while under the influence of local anaesthetic is of no significance, but I didn't have the benefit of that yesterday, and while it wasn't agony, it wasn't comfortable either ! Maybe it was all worth it in the long run. I think the nurse may be a bit pessimistic, or maybe I am too optimistic, but she predicts that the dressing will need to be checked and changed once a day (except Sundays) for the next two weeks ! To support that she has written me a 2 week sick certificate (although I don't pick it up until today when it should be countersigned by a doctor). So I have an official 2 weeks off work to look forward to (and maybe 2 weeks of pain !). The good thing is that I have made appointments for all the days, and they are all early morning appointments. That will give me the rest of the day to do as I wish - and with the potential for warm sunny days approaching, I can think of several things I can do. One of the first benefits of no work in the morning is that I could stay out late last night. Slightly deliberately, but mostly by accident, I was very late getting to the regular Thursday night drink with the Thursday night gang. I got to the pub, The Greyhound in Bromley and waited and waited, and waited to be served at the bar. In the end I stormed off and decided that I would take advantage of the pubs warmth, toilet facilities, and anything else that I didn't have to pay for, but I would not buy their bloody beer ! It wasn't long before the next round was being bought, and I was persuaded to have a pint. It was most satisfying to be able to order a pint of "Bitter And Twisted", one of the guest ales that was on last night. It seemed to match my mood rather well ! The only sad thing was that it was not very nice. Not actually horrible, but I wouldn't have fancied a second pint. I only stayed for the one pint because I had a cunning plan. Being able to stay out late meant that I could go on to Geoff's open mic night at The Coach And Horses in Beckenham. It's always a very friendly little gathering with a few photo opportunities - though not many because it is small, cramped and dark ! To my great surprise Angela turned up. Unfortunately she was with John, but unlike at The Black Cat a few weeks ago, she was friendly, and happy. It was nice to see her like that, and it was nice to be greeted with a big hug, and another slightly lesser hug when I left.  Angela at The Coach And Horses with a nice smile on her lips. I guess I left the pub
around 10pm after drinking quite a few pints of
Guinness. All I had eaten earlier in the day was a
couple of the salads I had bought in Sainsbury's
earlier. I think that justifies me feeling
starving hungry when I got home. There was stuff I
could have, and was going to zap in the microwave,
but I was in the mood for the really unhealthy -
fried chicken and fries - and that is what I had.
It was delicious, and I deeply regret it...I
think.
Last night I slept incredibly well until I didn't. My stupid brain woke me up at 5am as usual, and while I may have been able to get a few tens of minutes extra sleep, I've essentially been up since then. I feel basically OK this morning. My wound is comfortable, and since I've been moving around a little, I seem to be mostly free of aches and stiffness. I don't think I feel like rushing around today though. At 3.15pm I have my next visit to the nurse. Today will be the last one that isn't in the morning. It seems to be booked for just 5 minutes because at 3.20pm I have been forced to have my annual diabetic foot examination. While it may be useful, it is also very tedious. Basically bits of your foot, particularly the toes, are prodded with a thin fibre. If you can't feel it, it could mean nerve damage caused by lack of blood flow. I know that if I stub my toe it bloody hurts, and if I wear the wrong shoes that chafe the skin, plenty of blood flows from the chafing ! Once I am free of the nurses, sadistic or otherwise, I am free to do as I please. One possibility is to go to some sort of gig in Sidcup. I am not sure what it is all about, but there will be several bands at the University of Greenwich, Sidcup branch, drama and theatre workshops (or something). That brings with it the promise of good lighting and a proper stage. I ought to go, but for some reason I don't feel terribly enthusiastic about it. I think I'll just play it by ear when the time comes. |
| Monday 20th March 2017 |
| 08:11 GMT The weather wasn't bad yesterday, but neither was it good. It wasn't particularly cold, but for most of the time it was very dull outside. A few sunny spells did cheer things up, but they were usually too brief, and there was not many of them. Today's forecast does not fill me with glee.  Did I mention that I got carried away on Saturday night, and took 527 snaps (mostly by shooting in burst mode) on Saturday night ? It took some time to scour through that lot looking for, what turned out to be, the most presentable 32 pictures. When I say it took quite some time I mean that it occupied most of my day yesterday. In fact if I wasn't eating or sleep I was probably selecting and editing photographs ! You can see the end result here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/135353558@N03/albums/72157681525055296 - but they are not terribly good. Yesterday morning I was congratulating myself that my trousers, and trouser belt were starting to feel a bit looser, but I was probably acting a bit premature. I lost track of what I ate yesterday, but I know it was too much - particularly in regard of what I ate ! The problem was that while I was spending hours in front of my PC editing photos I was very prone to snacking, and it was the snacks that ruined everything. Once upon a time I would have just broken out an extra packet of fags instead of snacks, but I can't for another 18 and a bit years ! It seemed sensible to go to bed early last night, but it quickly became apparent that I was far from sleepy when I got in bed. I thrashed around, trying lots of different sleeping positions until one of them, and I have no idea which, seemed to be relaxing enough for me to fall asleep. All that tossing and turning, and possibly a few repeats of it during the night, may well have contributed to a change in my medical condition this morning. In some ways I don't feel too bad this morning. I seem to have a mild headache, and a bit of a stiff neck, but neither is completely distracting. Of greater significance is it seems a small fissure into the cyst on my back has opened up. There were a few small spots of blood on the towel that I have been protecting my pillow with. When I was having a shower I managed to give the cyst a small squeeze using just the tips of two fingers (I can't reach back any further), and more blood came out, but it wasn't much. It could just be an early pre-shock, but I'm sure it is building up to the full volcano like event. I decided I wasn't going to go to work with even a small blood stain spreading out on the back of my shirt, and definitely not with the possibility that loads of blood and even more unpleasant stuff could come exploding out at any time - maybe today, maybe tomorrow, or maybe it will hold on until I am finally referred to a surgeon who will lance it properly. So today I am off work sick - except I am not so sick that I can't try and do some useful stuff at home - shirtless. I have managed to get an appointment to see a nurse to get the leak dressed, but I have to wait all the way through until 7.20pm for that to be done. At the same time I will see if there is any move on getting a referral to a surgeon. I wouldn't be sorry if the nurse said come back tomorrow for the dressing to be changed. It might mean another day off work, but I think I can handle that. |
| Saturday 18th March 2017 |
| 11:34 GMT My current theory is that weather forecasts cn only see 6 hours into the future ! For instance, yesterday started off bright and sunny just as the forecast predicted, but the sunshine continued into the afternoon, admittedly more in the form of sunny spells, but the forecast said it should be overcast. I can't really comment on the temperature because I seemed to be a bit off colour from late afternoon, and into the evening, but I think it was probably in the 10 - 11° C region. Today is forecast to be either dull or very dull, but we have had a few short sunny spells, and maybe we will get more. This could be a case of the forecast from a 2 days ago is more accurate than the current forecast. One thing seems highly likely is that the temperature, after starting and finishing at 11° C will flatline at 13° C for the majority of the day. Tomorrow might see 14° C for a few minutes, but most of the day is predicted to be 12 or 13° C, and it is going to be heavily forecast. The antibiotics I am taking do now seem to be having a useful effect - on everything except the cyst on my back. That is definitely more inflamed, much more tender to touch, and possibly bigger. I don't think that is the desired effect ! The most noticeable positive effect is that it seems to have relieved most of my chest pains. When idly reading through the info leaflet that came with the tablets I noticed that they could be prescribed for osteosomethingoranother, or in other words, bone inflammation. I was not aware that bones could be inflamed, but the way my chest is behaving itself suggests that something has improved. It is not perfect, but it may still be improving. You have no idea how being free from pain helps improve how you feel all round ! My day at work was mostly comfortable, and I seemed to have a fair bit of energy when I left work. I didn't time it, but I think I probably shaved at least a few seconds off the walk from work to the station. There was some trouble on the trains from Waterloo East (a broken down train near London Bridge was one excuse I think I heard). It was mainly delaying train to Charing Cross, and so there was a shortage of trains to come out of Charing Cross for services out into Kent (and, of course, Catford Bridge !). If I could have got to Waterloo about 4 minutes earlier there would have been a good chance of getting a very delayed earlier train, and so I ran up the escalators just in case it had been delayed any further, but sadly it hadn't, and I missed it by just those 4 minutes. The train before my usual train, the 15:50, was cancelled, as was my usual 16:05. I had to wait for the 16:17 which was actually running on time. It was only about a 15 minute wait, but during that time I came to feel increasingly chilly. When I finally arrived at Catford Bridge, about 12 minutes later than usual, I walked home as fast as I could. It was probably a little bit faster than usual, but it seemed more like hard work than pleasure. I think I had run out of energy, but it did warm me up a bit, but I still put the heating on in my bedroom full blast when I got in. I was going to start my dinner with a rarher special salad that I had bought from Tesco last Tuesday. It was one of those hifalutin things with sprouting somethings and weird cheese. Evidently I had kept it in the fridge too long because it was a bit smelly and so I threw it away. (and this morning the bin really stunk when I opened it). Instead of salad I had a Lancashire hot pot ready meal with some chilli sauce. That felt nice and warm. After that I had two little pots of bean salad. They cooled me down again. After eating I thought I would lay down and maybe doze off for a bit before getting ready to go out. I think it was something like 90 minutes later, at 8pm, I woke up wondering why it was light. For an instant I thought it was morning, and time to get up to go to work. Then I realised that all the lights were on because it was still evening. It was too late to clean myself up (and I had intended to wash my hair as well), get dressed, and be out the door at the same time I had actually woken up ! So I abandonded the idea of going out, and maybe that was sensible because I was feeling really cold by then. So I brushed my teeth in the freezing cold bathroom (that's how it felt to me), and went to bed. Before going to bed I decided to sleep under my winter duvet. So I went to bed under my thickest duvet, and with the heater on full blast. The night before I would have felt that to be intolerably uncomfortable, but last night it felt good. I doubt it took more than 5 or 10 minutes before I was fast asleep, and I stayed asleep until 3am. With the hour to 90 minutes of sleep I had before I went to bed, and the 6 hours of sleep when I did go to bed, it is no surprise that I felt very awake when I woke up at 3am. I could have tried to go back to sleep, but I doubted if I could. So I spent a couple of hours pottering around the internet - mostly on web sites like http://www.theregister.co.uk/ - technology news from a sometime cynical viewpoint (specially the comments to various news items). I'm not sure how long after 5am it was, possibly minutes, maybe half an hour or more, before I got back into bed, and eventually fell asleep again for another hour or two. This morning I could describe several little aches, but generally I feel pretty good for a change. I could congratulate the antibiotics for doing good stuff, but there is something else that must be contributing to my well being - and it is the bean salad that I ate last night. Do you remember that old schoolboy rhyme........ Beanz, beanz,
Good for the heart, The more you eat, the more you fart, The more you fart the better you feel, Beanz beanz for every meal ! To celebrate feeling good I
have done a few useful things this morning. I've
showered and washed my hair, but I guess that is not
really newsworthy. Washing three shirts was no big
deal. Putting a bath towel into soak is just
unfinished business, but donning rubber gloves to wash
a weeks worth of fethering washing up felt like a job
well done. That, and taking out the festering remains
of that very wiffy bean sproutin' salad stuff to the
wheelie bin has made the kitchen smell much more
pleasant !
I am not sure what my plans are now except for a shopping trip to (probably) Aldi. Tonight I am torn between going to two different gigs. Actually there is a third one, but I might have a cunning plan that would rule that third one out. The Life Of Brian, who I wanted to see last night in Beckenham, are playing in The Lord Norhbrook pub in Lee. I've never been to any gigs there before, and it could be an interesting experience. I can get the 202 bus from outside Catford Bridge station to get there. So it is an easy,if slightly tedious journey. A bit further away, in Charlton Village, Load Algae are playing a gig. A few days ago, before I realised that The Life Of Brian were playing, I thought I might try and go to see Lord Algae. It might even be feasible to see both bands. The 202 bus also goes to The Royal Standard in Blackheath (it's the same stop that I would usually get the 54 to when going to The British Oak). I could change to a 54 there (and possibly other buses) or I could even walk it from there.   Finally, here's a video
clip taken aboard one of Thamelink's new class 700
trains.
|
| Wednesday 15th March 2017 |
| 08:05 GMT It didn't feel like yesterday would be all that good. In the morning it was overcast, and that gave the day a cold feel despite the temperature being only a little short of 10° C. The afternoon was a big improvement. Despite what the forecast was suggesting, it did get a lot brighter, and from time to time the sun managed to shine through the clouds enough to give some fuzzy shadows. The temperature soon rose to 14° C, and some reports said it peaked at 16° C in some places. From then on it did feel sort of warm, and it stayed that way deep into the night. This morning it was supposed to be 11° C, but I reckon it was as low as just 8° C. However, if we are lucky there should be a lot of sunshine later, most of it in the afternoon, and that could take the temperature up to a forecast 15° C. At the moment it is rather misty and murky.  My visit to the doctor was very useful yesterday afternoon. I think I was seen within a few minutes of my appointment time, and that is always good. The doctor read the result of my ultrasound scan, and it said that my cyst was most probably infected rather than just filled with fatty material. She had a quick look at it and it is now obviously bigger, and looking a bit red and angry. As I result I have been prescribed quite a strong course of antibiotics 4 tablets a day of 500mg each.  After leaving the doctors I went across the main road to "Cash Busters" to see what they had in their window. It could have been sometime around Xmas that I noticed they had a rather posh looking Sony "Handycam" in the Window, and yesterday I noticed that the price had come down on it, and it was looking rather lonely and unloved. So I bought it ! It has several good things, and two bad things. It is very high resolution - and that is handy. It has the fabled "night vision" option that some perverts believe can see through some outer clothing to reveal the underwear. It uses a compatible battery to my other, lower spec, Sony Handycam. Those are the positive things. The negative things are that it principally records on a mini hard disk which is going to have a very finite life. There does seem to be an option to record onto Sony "Memory Sticks", but they are expensive, and it maybe only still photographs that are stored on them. One other minor annoyance is that it records everything in the file format of a Blu-ray disk - fortunately not in an encrypted form. One significant thing that happened last night was that I was acknowledged by Angela just as I thought I wouldn't be. It was Angela who encouraged me to go to the doctor about the cyst on my back. It was when I suggested that it could be harbouring a mild infection that, and that could be the reason why it felt like I was fighting some unknown infection for so long. When she heard that I had been prescribed antibiotics for it she messaged me with a simple one word "Perfect". It was as if to say any more would some how show unfaithfullness to her official lover ! I had a lousy night last night. It felt, and feels like I was awake for most of the night. There were various reasons for this. If I laid on my back the cyst felt sore and uncomfortable. If I lay on my right my wonky chest felt sore, and if I laid on my right my stomach felt sore. I am pretty sure I was suffering from trapped wind just to help all the discomfort. I think I had probably been asleep for almost 2 hours when I woke up with acid reflux. I could definitely taste acidy salmon and cucumber at the back of my mouth (I had unfortunately eaten some salmon and cucumber sandwiches too late in the evening). So I chewed on a couple of antacid tablets, and eventually got back to sleep again. I doubt I had been asleep for as long as an hour when I woke up from a dream that I was peeing myself in bed. That was a worry, but a dry bed proved it was just a dream, but what an awful dream to have ! I don't know how many hours I thrashed around trying to get comfortable after that, it seemed like hours and hours. I guess my next bit of sleep was my last until my alarm woke me up, and it could have been less than an hour. In fact it may have been less than 30 minutes ! This morning I have some very mixed feeling. I am obviously acutely aware that I am very tired. My cyst has not begun to shrink yet, and is occasionally painful - sometimes for no obvious reason. Other bits of me randomly ache too. One positive thing is that my legs feel to be in good working order, although if I try to speed up too much it jars some of the loose bits in my chest. All the thrashing around in bed seems to have left a legacy of neck ache. Apart from that I guess I feel fine. I now await the antibiotics to perform some sort of miracles beyond their prescribed remit. It feels like it will be good to get the working day over, but on the other hand I don't think I have anything to look forward to tonight - except bed. I just hope I can get a good sleep tonight. Maybe I should load up on whisky and go to bed at 7pm to make up for last night's lost sleep. That would only work if I could actually stay asleep for most of the night, and that does seem unlikely, but I live in hope. 
 I took these pictures at Waterloo station on Monday after work, and then promptly forgot about them, but they are still displaying this car this morning. So I was reminded to show them this morning. This might be the new Ford Mustang, but I reckon it is the new Ford Tippex - http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_306258-Ford-Granada-1982.html. |
| Monday 13th March 2017 |
| 08:12 GMT I Guess, although I hate to admit it, that yesterday's weather was quite close to how it was forecast. In other words, it wasn't a particularly nice day - doubly so when it was all horrible and wet. On the plus side, it wasn't that wet, and the temperature, maybe 12° C, was semi reasonable. In some respects it is the contrast with today that made it so negative.  I don't think I did anything significant at all after I finished writing yesterday. It was a rather typical Sunday afternoon and evening - boring, boring, boring ! I did manage to have a short snooze, but woke up feeling very brittle and/or creaky. Finally it was time to go to bed, and having got into bed, disaster struck. Admittedly it was rather a weak disaster, perhaps in the extreme, but it was still a disaster. No doubt you are aware of the store of the princess and the pea. If not you can read about it here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_and_the_Pea In my case it wasn't a pea but the tiniest, most innocent piece of grit you can imagine. It was so small it was difficult to find, but to my right buttock it felt like a jagged piece of broken glass. Having removed it, I managed to get to sleep. In some respects it seemed like I slept OK last night, but it was a definite annoyance when my alarm woke me up. It is possible that without it I may have got another 5 or 10 minutes sleep ! This morning I feel like I want to feel good, but it seems my body is fighting that idea. My chest definitely felt very crunchy when I made certain movements, but most other bits of me seemed to be working fairly well. The walk to the station seemed easy enough, but I was having difficulty keeping up with the front of the pack as we dashed over the link from Waterloo East to Waterloo mainline station. I did a little extra exercise this morning. I wanted to buy a couple of bottles of water on my way to work (no food because I am back to fasting until my evening meals again). The easy place to buy some was Tesco. It's a 30- 40 second walk from Earlsfield station on my way to work. The cheapest water I could see in there was 65p a bottle. So I turned around, walked out of the shop and back to the station, and then around the corner to buy the water from Sainsbury's where it is just 45p per bottle. It must have added at least an extra 90 seconds of walking to my journey to work ! Now I am at work I don't feel too bad. I would obviously much prefer not to be here on a bright, sunny, and eventually warm day. One extra source of discomfort today is the cyst on my back. After being dormant for most of 10 years (my latest estimate) it is definitely sore now. It is actually feeling like it could possibly burst given a bit of encouragement. It would be handy if it could not do that until tomorrow, perhaps around 2.30pm - so I can attend my appointment with my doctor with blood and pus streaming down my back. It would make for a very unambiguous discussion about it ! I don't think anything is happening tonight. It would be good to see Angela after work, and not just for my sake. When I saw her on Saturday night she was looking tired and stressed - and old. She needs to take a break and relax for a bit, and I know that she can relax when in my company, but I can't see it happening. So tonight it will be the usual routine. Go home try my best to moderate what, and how much I eat, and partly fail. Then read for a bit before going to bed. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day, and I have no idea what I am going to do on such a dull and gloomy day to pass the time until I go and see my doctor. Sleeping would be nice, and I guess I might manage maybe an hour or so. |
| Sunday 12th March 2017 |
| 14:40 GMT It's a strange thing to say, but I liked yesterday. It wasn't cold, and there was some sunshine. I am not sure how warm it got, but I think it was possibly at least a degree higher than the forecast 15° C, and an extra 2 degrees would not surprise me. As midnight approached it was still 10° C !  One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that I've heard that the official results of the ultrasound scan of my cyst have come through. I don't know what the official result is yet, but I expect it is just an approximate measure of how much unpleasantness is lurking in that cyst. I have been invited to make an appointment with a doctor to discuss it, and that appointment is on Tuesday afternoon. I am making the rash assumption that the reason for being asked to make an appointment is that further action is probably indicated. That might be good because after something like 15 years of being mostly dormant, all the prodding it has received seems to have made the cyst slightly bigger, and slightly tender. If I could actually reach it well enough to apply the right pressure I reckon it is ripe enough for me to deal with myself, but with the difficulty of dressing it if I could pop it, it is probably better that it is dealt with at the surgery. I thought yesterday would be a good day for drying stuff on the washing line, but it wasn't. For one thing, at this time of year the sun doesn't rise high enough to beam into most of my back garden. There was also a lack of a decent breeze. However it was good enough to give both the towel I mentioned yesterday, and the duvet cover I also washed, a head start drying. I finished the process indoors. The other thing I did during the day was to go to Aldi. I spent rather a lot of money in there because I made a point of buying stuff that, if eaten in moderation, should keep my blood glucose level relatively low. That included a few expensive steaks. I had one for lunch with some marrowfat peas. Marrowfat peas seem to contain quite low levels of sugar and fat - more so than other types of tinned peas. I looked everywhere in Aldi for more tins, but couldn't find any. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed that the remaining tin I had came from Tesco. Looks like I will be calling at Tesco, possibly on my way home from work tomorrow, to buy more Marrowfat peas. I can't remember how I passed yesterday afternoon without being bored. I must have been doing something important ! I reckon it was probably doing some odd jobs around the house, reading and snoozing. Eventually it was time to go out to The Black Cat to see Lord Algae playing a rather good gig there.  On the plus side, the new £400 lens for my Canon camera worked as well as I hoped. I did initially try it at the bingo hall a few weeks back, but the horrible lighting there meant that it was not a good test. Last night it was really useful. It's main attribute is that it gives a wide angle view while still letting in a lot of light. I have spent many hours today selecting and editing the picture I took last night, and many of the pictures I have now uploaded to Flickr use the new lens - https://www.flickr.com/photos/135353558@N03/albums/72157679401097481 I guess it was getting on for midnight when I arrived home after the gig. In a deliberate act of defiance I went out without a coat, and although I wouldn't have liked to stand around waiting for buses without a coat on, particularly on the way home, I felt perfectly comfortable for the short walk to the pub and home again. It felt like a rehearsal for summer. I had a special treat lined up for when I got home - curry ! I definitely wanted to avoid fried chicken, kebabs, etc. So I selected a couple of small curries that were low in fat and sugars, and didn't come with rice when I was in Aldi. All they needed were a 7 minute zap in the microwave before unadulterated luxury ! Then I went to bed. I got up stupidly early this morning, and started editing last nights photos. I sort of wish I hadn't started so early, and had managed a few more hours sleep, but I was restless and didn't feel comfortable. I guess I ought to get that extra sleep tonight. I wasn't really counting, but I must have spent 3 or 4 hours going through those photos. I did take several breaks during the process, and one of those breaks was to wash the bed sheet that matches the duvet cover I washed yesterday (I did the pillowcases earlier in the week). Apart from a few smelly t-shirts, all my washing is up to date now. It's only 3.30pm as I type these words, and I think I feel quite weary. Maybe a snooze would be a good idea. It would certainly make this Sunday afternoon go by a bit faster - Sunday afternoons can be a real drag ! I'm yawning just thinking about it ! |
| Sunday 5th March 2017 |
| 10:32 GMT As forecast, the temperature slowly dropped down to about 5° C during the evening, through the night, and through the small hours of this morning. Since daybreak the temperature has slowly risen again, and we have had the forecast rain and sunshine. If the forecast holds we are due to have a few dry hours now with occasional sunny spells. Then the rain will start again for much of the afternoon. Curiously enough, the sunny spells will also continue at the same time. Sadly, we have now reached about the highest temperature for today - 8° C. At sundown the temperature will only drop a couple of degrees because we are going to be wrapped in a thick blanket of cloud. There may be a few splashes of rain in the night, and maybe one or two brief showers during tomorrow. It's going to be dull, very dull sometimes, but the forecast does make an optimistic guess for a very short period of sunshine in the afternoon. The temperature will probably be 9° C, although it might make 10° C for a few minutes ! I almost enjoyed my quiet night in last night. It would have been better if there had been something more stimulating on TV to amuse me. Unfortunately there wasn't. One thing that did "amuse" me was a bit of home cookery.......maybe "cookery" is a misnomer as you'll see as I describe the recipe. Several things/events came together to suggest the recipe. The first ingredient in the idea was my past experience of eating the sugar free vanilla wafers while my throat was very tickly. Those wafers are quite dusty, and have played havoc with my tickly throat. In turn that has left me coughing so much that I was almost turning purple. The second ingredient came about because of my shopping trip to the Pound Shop yesterday morning. Among their special offers were cans of Ambrosia ready made custard. The cans themselves suggest they normally sell for over £1, but the Pound Shop were selling two for just £1. It seemed a good idea to grab a couple of cans while I was in there. Last night I had the stroke of genius (maybe) to make a simplified pseudo trifle - or to snap the wafers into bite size chunks and eat them with custard. It was great - no tickly throat, and the two combined were delicious. Shame about all the sugar in the custard, but you can't win them all. I should still have felt tired last night after all the lost sleep I've hard in the past week, but maybe it was because I didn't have to get up this morning that I felt no urgency to get to bed. That is sort of strange considering I was a bit bored. It was about 11pm when I turned in, and to my great surprise I slept quite well - by comparison with most nights in the last week or two - although I could have wished for even better sleep. Maybe it was just the right timing, or maybe it was deciding to stay in and almost act like I was still ill, or maybe it was the custard and vanilla wafers, but this morning, for the first time in ages, I woke up feeling like my head wasn't going to explode from the build up of pressure in my sinuses. They have been full of copious amounts of white, yellow, and green mucus that was often taking in excess of half an hour to blow out my nose on previous days. Not only that, but it didn't take too long to clear the mucus from my airways so I could breathe easily. I have to be careful because I've had at least one false alarm before, but this morning it really does feel like I am getting better at last. When I think about it, I have done stuff this morning that I probably would not have done if I felt that bad. I finished washing the pair of jeans I left soaking overnight (plus a pair of lounge pants). I've emptied all the waste bins in the house - there are 5 of them if you include the recycling bin, and the small basket in the bathroom. I've also done all the washing up, and a little bit of random tidying up. The tidying up is not very obvious, but it will help a larger effort in the future. The final thing for now was to cook some breakfast. It was a very stripped down mixed grill - a couple of lean burgers, two rashers of bacon, and some baby tomatoes. It wasn't exactly healthy, but it was nice, and if I had full cooking facilities and a bigger set of supplies I could have made it infinitely less healthy in the extreme ! Now I feel like resting for a bit, and I probably will. During my little bit of random tidying up I found a book that I had mislaid. It is another Robert Heinlein book - Waldo And Magic Inc - and I think it is time to re-read it. It is possible that the rest of my day could consist of nothing more than reading, and that could be nice, but I am sure I will do more than that. For instance I think I would like a quick whizz around the shops if I can time it right to coincide with a sunny period - a dry and sunny period. I don't know where, how, or with whom, if indeed it is with anyone at all, but a beer might be a nice accompaniment for the day. |
| Saturday 4th March 2017 |
| 16:21 GMT After the wet start to the day, yesterday turned out to be semi-pleasant. There were, as far as I can recall, a couple of brief sunny intervals. Apart from those it was a lightly overcast afternoon, and the temperature probably hit the forecast 11° C, or if it didn't, it still felt very mild. There was some rain during the night (or something made the road wet), and I think there was probably a shower a little after sunrise. Since then it has been a fairly bright day with frequent, although short periods of sunshine. It has been another mild day with the temperature reaching 11° C, and for a short period it may have even touched 12° C. The temperature is slowly dropping now as the sun sinks towards the horizon. (Sunset is at 5.45pm today). The temperature is forecast to drop to 6° C by 5am tomorrow morning - which is rather cool, but not terribly so. The maximum temperature tomorrow is forecast to be 9° C, and we will probably see some sunshine, and also some showers. In theory I should have felt terrible yesterday, and in some respects I did, but not as badly as I expected. It wasn't always easy to concentrate after so little sleep, and the ongoing effects of my "mild viral infection" that should have cleared days ago, and as predicted, I can see some terrible typos in what I wrote yesterday. (I'll edit it in a minute, and no one will have to know how demented my brain was !). The very strange thing is that I might have done more work yesterday than I did for the other four work days of last week ! Having done that work, and watched the clock slowly limp around to home time, I left thinking I was so weak that I would have to crawl home. It wasn't quite that bad, but I decided I really wanted to get a bus to the station, and I did. The only trouble was that I had to run for the bus, and that sort of negated the point of it all ! One of the things I was aware of as I made my way to the station was that there were signalling problems in the London Bridge area, and that I could be facing an annoying wait when I got to Waterloo East. It was lucky that I did seem to have some reserves of energy when I got there. It may have helped that I didn't rush to much as I crossed from Waterloo mainline station to Waterloo East station. That's not to say I did it that slowly. When I arrived on platform A my 16:05 train seemed to be indefinitely delayed, and indeed I later learned that it arrived at Catford Bridge almost half an hour late. Meanwhile, as I got my breath back I glanced over to platform C. Near the limit of my long distance vision I could read that a Sevenoaks train was due, and that 2 minutes behind that was a very late running Hayes service (via Catford Bridge). So I took a deep breath, and walked back up the slope to the passage across the railway, and then down to platform C. By that time the Sevenoaks train had been and gone, and the Hayes train was imminent. I only managed to get half way down the platform before the alleged 10 car train arrived. I rushed as close to the front as I could before getting on. Then I walked down inside the train to get to my favourite position - the front of the third coach from the front. I was sure that the train was formed of 2 + 4 + 4 car units, but it must have been the other way around because I realised I had made my way to the very front of the train instead 3 carriages back so I could get off right by the exit that I use at Catford Bridge. In this case it didn't matter, and maybe it was actually a good idea. Had I used my normal exit I would have missed something.  After taking the picture above, I walked right down the road to Iceland (next door to The Black Cat). I didn't seemed to feel so exhausted that I wanted to rush straight home, and I felt a yearning for some of their "Slimming World" ready meals. I seemed to but more in there than intended, and maybe that wasn't a bad idea once I did some dubious mental calculations. Some of those "Slimming World" meals are not as good as you might think. One I nearly ate last night, and I will have to eat sooner or later, contained about 650 calories. That wouldn't be too bad if it was going to be one solitary meal, but I wanted more than just that. So I checked a chicken pathia curry I bought. It didn't come with rice, but was still a nice meal just on it's own, and it had something like 550 calories (These calorie amounts are not exact, but the real values are in these sorts of areas). I ended up having two "full fat" curries without additional rice, or anything else, and it was both tasty, and I think I probably consumed less calories and stuff that way. Of course it was still too many calories, but at least I'm sort of trying ! I was supposed to be so tired last night that I should have gone to bed before 7pm, but that is not the way it turned out. I was was aware that I should be tired, but I never felt that tired. I did try laying on my bed with a book, and I expected to be able to not read more than a single page before falling asleep, but somehow that didn't happen. Eventually curiosity got the better of me, and I made a start editing the photos I took at the bingo hall of Thursday night.  M.T. Pockets at the Mecca "Mic Night" competition final.  This second picture is of the
6 contestants (Dan Murphy and Dylan Tidman count as
one) at the Mic Night contest run by Mecca Bingo at
their Catford bingo hall. Both these pictures, and
most of the others I took, are marred by the horrible
blue stage lighting, and the predominately blue
projected image behind the stage. Another photographer
says he is going to render all his pictures as black
and white images because of the bad lighting.
I seemed to spend a couple of hours going through as few as a third of the pictures I took before deciding that maybe I really ought to go to bed. By then my throat was feeling rather dry and tickly. It took a while before I was able to stop coughing and clearing my nose, and finally get to sleep. I was obviously so sleep deprived that once I fell asleep I fell into a deep enough sleep to sleep solidly for the first 3 hours, but after that I woke up quite a few times before finally deciding to give up and get up. At least I managed a sort of lay in this morning. I think it was 6.30am when I finally decided to get up, and it was probably only because it was starting to get light by then. When I got up I felt pretty dreadful. My throat felt all bunged up, and the mucus I was trying to cough up seemed really sticky and lumpy. My nose was also very bunged up, and I seemed to be blowing out a never ending supply of really rather unpleasant thick green, yellow and white mucus. Maybe an hour later I was breathing mostly normally. I haven't felt very dynamic today, but I have done some useful stuff. I went out to the Pound Shop this morning to buy some stuff, and that stuff included some spare copies of the book I am currently reading. It is superficially about Led Zepplin, but turns out to be mostly about what was going on around them in the musical world as they rose to power, and fell again. A good few chapters are about early British blues stuff, and I know that Chris Mayer, guitarist from Chain, likes to read about that. So I now have an early Xmas present for him. Angela has expressed an interest in the book. So she can have a copy, and that leaves one spare copy. I'm not sure who would like it, but at just £1 it won't break the bank if no one wants it. One physical task that was both hard work, and not hard work, was washing a weeks worth of work shirts and stuff. I was expecting it to be a lot more tiring than it was, but even so, it was still more tiring than it should have been. Once that lot was hung up I put an old pair of jeans in to soak. They are one of my larger pairs, and sometimes they are more comfortable to wear when I am sitting down for long periods (probably growing deep vein thrombosis) at work. The only trouble with the pair I am now soaking in bio detergent is they still have blood stains from all the leaks on my leg where they "borrowed" the vein for my heart bypasses in 2013. It seems weird that my chest healed faster than my leg ! Hopefully some pretreatment with stain remover, and then soaking in bio detergent will at least reduce that old blood staining. Several interruptions while writing this means that it is almost 7pm as I write these words. I was hoping I might feel good enough to go to a gig tonight, but it seems I don't. It looks like I'll be having another quiet night in by myself again. Oh well, the last couple have been semi enjoyable, and I see no reason why this one shouldn't be. Maybe staying in and trying to get better is the correct thing to do. |
| Friday 3rd March 2017 |
| 08:32 GMT The best of the sunshine happened while I was indoors yesterday, and somehow that makes it less memorable. I suppose that yesterday was one of the best days we have had lately. It was dry, sometimes sunny, and it wasn't too cold. I think it probably did hit the 11° C that was promised, but the breeze did make it feel a little cooler from time to time. By the evening it was very cloudy, and that kept the temperature up during the night. It was almost 6° C when I walked to the station this morning. Unfortunately it was also raining - and that rain fell several hours before the forecast predicted it would. That rain stopped while I was traveling to work, but there could be another couple of hours worth of light rain starting in 90 minutes or so. This afternoon should be dry, and only lightly overcast with the temperature up near 11° C again. Tomorrow shouldn't see much rain, and once again the temperature should peak at around 11° C. I did very little coughing while I was at work yesterday, and what with my nose being mostly dry, it seemed like I may have gotten over my "mild viral infection", but it was not to be. I may have slept better the night before, but I still felt very tired yesterday - maybe so tired that I didn't have the energy to feel too ill in other ways. It came as a huge relief to finish work, and make my way towards Bromley for my Thursday night drink. I didn't go straight to the pub because I had a tip off that one of the charity shops in Bromley had some cameras in it's window. So I duly walked several hundred yards down the high street to find the charity shop. When I found it, it was closed. That was a pity because it did have one camera that I might have been interested in. It was an Olympus Pen camera. I'm pretty sure it was an analogue camera using 35mm film, but maybe not. It might also have been quite cheap, but equally it could have been very expensive. If it was cheap I might have just added it to my collection, and bought a couple of reels of film from the Pound Shop to test it. When I got to the pub I went straight for the strongest beer - Fullers ESB. This was because I felt some strong beer would help sooth away some of the aches and pains, and also because I was only staying for two pints. I would have more later. Having drunk my two pints with the lads, I went to catch a bus back to Catford. I guess I was leaving about an hour earlier than usual, and that difference was enough to go from a usually semi lightly loaded bus to one that was jam packed - and it stayed that way all the way to Catford. I was going to wash my hair when I got home, but I felt too tired for that. So I had a fairly light dinner - (non cream of) tomato soup with basil, and a small Lancashire Hot Pot ready meal. After eating I lay down, and predictably enough, I fell asleep. I woke up maybe 30 minutes later, and I was just in time to get dressed to go out, grab my camera, and start walking to the Catford bingo hall where M.T. Pockets were in the final of "Mic Night". The semi final, a few weeks back, was only randomly organised, and M.T. Pockets did a full 15 minute set. Last night it was all very regimented. Tables were reserved for supporters of each act, and one table was reserved for three judges. There were 8 acts (or was it just 6 that felt like 8 ?), and each act had just 8 minutes to do their stuff. I didn't think M.T. Pockets showed their best. They covered Prince's "Purple Rain". It is a song they usually do towards their usual set, and it usually ends up as a sort of extended jam. Trying to fit all the "twiddly bits" into one short 8 minute session was probably not a good idea. They still sounded good though, and rather a lot better than many of their competitors. Inevitably there was one rap act performed by a white man who thinks he is black. I don't care for rap at any time, and I thought his presentation was pretty amateurish. One man sang acapella - that was brave, but it was a crappy song. There was one man who had a very good voice, although I hated what he sung. Nevertheless, I would not have been surprised if he had won. The winner was a woman who couldn't sing to save her life, singing a country and western song. I was quite shocked that someone so bad, in my opinion, could win, but she was the lucky person who took away £500 prize money. Once she had been awarded her prize I said my goodbyes, and rush home. I think I arrived home a few minutes after midnight, and after drinking 3 pints of Guinness at the bingo hall, I felt very peckish. Fortunately I had a couple of Tesco tuna and cucumber sandwiches in the fridge, and they made for a nice snack. Of course by that time I was past feeling tired, and it seemed that I would not be able to fall asleep - a feeling that probably lasted no more than 5 minutes once I got in bed. I woke at least once for a pee, or twice if you count waking up 10 minutes early. In a fair and humane world I could have turned over, and gone back to sleep after having that second (or third ?) pee, but I had to get up to go to work. Not only that, but once I started to consider it, I realised that my guts were very turbulent. Maybe it was the Guinness, or maybe not, but something got my guts all agitated. Luckily I was able to get comfortable before leaving to walk to the station. Upon first getting up, my nose and throat were, unlike my guts, all bunged up, and it took a lot of nose blowing, and coughing to get my airways cleared. Since then I haven't coughed much, and my nose has been mostly dry. The rest of me feels pretty bad. I've had some chest ache as well as some upper and lower back ache, but most of all I feel really, really tired. I dread to think what I am typing now. As my fingers hit the keyboard my eyes start to close, and I have to keep going back to see what rubbish I have typed with my eyes closed. I have corrected some major cockups, but I feel sure there are still going to be some sentences that have some terrible typos. It is going to be a challenge to get through work today, and I can't see myself being very productive, or indeed productive in any shape, form or fashion. On the other hand, something may come up that grabs my attention, but if not I will waste the day counting the minute before I can go home (which will only make it seem longer, buy hey ho). Tonight I aspire to do just two things - eat and sleep ! If I get a second wind I may have a look at the pictures I took last night. Maybe I might force myself to do that anyway because half the shots were taken with my new wider angle lens, and I'd like to see how well it performed. |
| Thursday 2nd March 2017 |
| 07:51 GMT It was nearly the case that I would have had to describe yesterday's weather as atrocious. Fortunately the showers that spoiled the afternoon stopped by the time I went home from work. I'm sure that there were a few sunny periods yesterday, but I can't seem to picture when they were. Maybe yesterday was rather dull. One good thing, although it is scraping the bottom of the barrel, is that the temperature did hit the 9° C that was forecast. There was some hope that the temperature could hit 11° C today, but the most recent forecast is not so optimistic, and now says 10° C. The cloud is supposed to be mostly thin and broken today, and so there should be lots of opportunities for sunny spells (we have already had one, although the sun was so near the horizon that it carried little heat). Sunset tonight is 17:42, and after sunset the temperature will drop to 7° C. That will make a good start for tomorrow, and 11° C is forecast, but sadly it will be a very wet 11° C. Rain is forecast until early afternoon, but it should be dry when I go home from work. Unfortunately it is likely to be very gloomy with almost black clouds overhead ! Getting through a whole day at work is difficult, and no more so than when you are not feeling well. Recent days have been a real trial, but maybe not yesterday. I still felt very tired and sleepy, and a few bits of me mildly ached, but I was coughing a lot less, and my nose had mostly dried up. I should have felt good, and maybe in some respects I did feel good, but it didn't seem to help the day go any quicker, and I would still have got a bus to the station if I had spotted one coming up the hill. Of course there was no bus to be seen, and as usual I walked to the station. I feel sure that walking to the station felt easier than when I was walking in the other direction in the morning. I suspect it will be some time before I can actually enjoy the journey home rather than just enjoy the fact that I am going home. That's on the assumption that I will ever find the sort of health I had for a couple of months last year (thanks to the antibiotics I was prescribed for a chest infection). When I arrived back at Catford Bridge station I found I still had enough energy to go home via Tesco with a very small spring in my step. It is possible I tried too hard to only buy healthy(ish) stuff while I was in Tesco. I say this because I fancied a snack later in the evening, and when I looked around I couldn't really see anything that I could call a snack - except for one thing that I will describe a little later. I did buy a few ready meals that are not exactly healthy, although since there has been a policy of reducing salt and sugar in ready meals, they are less unhealthy than they used to be. What I actually had for my dinner was supposed to be healthy, but it was mainly low this and low that because the whole thing was so insubstantial. Part one was a jerk chicken with rice and peas. It was allegedly in the region of 436 calories. A real man sized portion, with less watery gravy, would probably be in the region of 4360 calories ! Part two was a South Indian curry with wild rice. Once again it was in the region of 450 calories. If you took away the watery gravy it would have amounted to about 5 mouthfuls of food ! The two parts left me still feeling hungry, and I did eat a few bits of delicious blue cheese to satiate my taste buds. It may have been little more than an hour after eating dinner that the craving for a snack became extremely strong. I'm not sure what I would have chosen to satiate that hunger, but whatever it was, I didn't have it. What I did have was some sugar free vanilla wafers. They are very tasty, but those wafers generate a lot of dust, and I had a pretty good idea what would happen if I ate some - and I was right. Fragments of wafer and it's dust stuck to my throat, and got me coughing on an industrial scale again ! In between coughing up my right testicle, and left big toe, I managed to do some uploading. I uploaded two photo albums to Flickr. The first was pictures taken of The Big Red Bus gig at The Coach And Horses pub in Beckenham on 17th Feb. I was fortunate that it wasn't a very busy night, and I was able to get to the front to take a few good pictures. I was aided in my art by the lovely tungsten filament PAR lamps that were lighting up the band. They are not that bright, but my camera loves their warm colours. The second album was The Life Of Brian playing at The Bricklayers Arms, also in Beckenham on 18th Feb. That gig was very crowded, and there was no way I could get any long shots. To make matters worse there was no lighting there at all - well, not stage lighting. Some of the brightest lighting probably came from the bar. These pictures are very grainy. I probably should have converted them all to black and white to hide the grain better. You can find all my Flickr photo albums here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/135353558@N03/albums/ I should have gone to bed even earlier than I did - which was 8.30pm - but I was probably trying to let my coughing subside after eating those dusty vanilla wafers. Maybe it worked because it did feel good to be able to lay down without instantly coughing my lungs up. It did seem that I was 90% over my so-called mild viral infection last night. I was coughing a lot less, and even my nose was less bunged up. As a result I probably woke up in the night no more than I might have at any other time, but it probably did take a bit longer to get to sleep again. I can't say I got a good night's sleep, last night, but it was far better then the two or three or more previous nights. In consequence, I do feel a bit better this morning. I feel sure that I will still get sleepy when I am bored, or when I am studying something on my PC. I actually feel really sleepy just thinking about this. Most of me, with one exception, feels tolerably OK this morning, and the bits that involve walking on my way to work seemed less taxing than yesterday (although a long way from those halcyon days when they would seem not only easy, but enjoyable too). The one exception to the general idea of feeling better was my chest (and perhaps my hands too). My thermometer said it was cold when I left the house this morning, but what it couldn't tell me was that there was a viciously cold wind too, and that froze my hands, and it froze my chest. My operation scars, the big obvious one on the outside, and the many smaller ones inside (that I presume to be there) really played up with that freezing wind blowing on them. It was really unfortunate considering that I haven't been suffering much from my usual chest pains recently. Now I am at work, and the room has almost warmed up enough, I feel very sleepy, my chest hurts, and that is about all the most significant negative things. I do have a few less significant aches and pains, but they are the ones that let me know I am still alive. I am not sure how this bodes for the future - it is going to be a rather busy future. It's Thursday, and that means boozing after work. Tonight's venue is The Partridge pub in Bromley. I shall try and limit myself to just 2 pints of medium strength beer while I am there because I need to dash home as early as possible. The reason is that I need to get myself ready to go out again. It will be a moment of madness to go out when I should be going to bed, and doubly so when I have to go to work in the morning. The reason for this madness is that M.T. Pockets will be playing in the final of the talent competition being held by Mecca bingo at the Catford Bingo hall. I haven't seen all the competition, but I reckon M.T. Pockets stand a very good chance of winning the competition. There is an album of pictures taken at the semi final here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/135353558@N03/albums/72157678623412070 |
| Wednesday 1st March 2017 |
| 08:09 GMT The last day of February was not a very nice day, and that is despite it being sunny from time to time. It was definitely sunny enough for me to have to pull the blinds down to stop myself being dazzled. That sounds like it should have been a nice day, but it was ultimately too cold and too wet to be called nice. Most of the sunshine was in the first half of the day, but the afternoon was dull and wet. Worst of all, it was raining when I left work to go home ! Today might have a small advantage in that it is not going to be so cold, but I will probably still be rained on when I leave work to go home. Until midday the cloud should be light and broken enough to let a few rays of sunshine in, but it will thicken up after midday. If I am very lucky the rain might hold off until 4pm, and I may be able to start my journey home from work in the dry. Yesterday morning it was cold enough for a hint of frost. This morning it was about 5° C. Later on the temperature should peak at around 9° C before falling back to 5° C. The temperature should then remain stable until it starts to rise towards 11° C by late in the afternoon tomorrow. As well as almost being warm, tomorrow could be sunny too ! I thought I might feel reasonably OK at work yesterday, but it turned out that I felt rotten. I felt very sleepy - possibly the sleepiest ever ! Every time I started to read stuff on my PC I would fall asleep - and sometimes it was for long enough to have brief dreams ! On top of that I had some quite powerful coughing fits. I had been hoping that my cold was beginning to dry out and go away, but I was wrong, or if not wrong, certainly premature. Sometimes I would get a dry, tickly cough, but more often it would be a wet cough that needed a lot of coughing to expel a nasty bit of mucus that was tickling my windpipe. I am surprised my chest didn't feel rather more sore than it did with all that coughing. One sign that I think is positive, is that I am now blowing out some very green/yellow mucus from the deepest recesses in my nasal/sinus system. Some of it possibly be coming up from my windpipe, but I can't say for certain. I didn't feel too bad for half my journey home from work. Unfortunately my train from Waterloo East to Catford Bridge seemed freezing cold, or at least the carriage I was in was. That triggered off some coughing, and generally made me feel bad. By about the halfway point I was craving some hot soup to warm me up, and make me feel less hungry. Of course it was just after that point that I got a message from Jodie to say she was in Catford, and would I like to meet her for a drink. If it had been Angela I would have said yes, but on this occasion I turned the offer down, and headed straight home. I did three things last night. The first was to get some hot food in me. I was going to start with soup, but I felt the urge to experiment with something a bit more substantial. So I poured a can of "Ravioli in tomato sauce" into my microwaveable saucepan, and then poured a can of "meat balls in tomato sauce" over that. Before zapping it in the microwave I added a good splash of chilli sauce. The result was pretty poor. It wasn't horrible, but it failed to have any "excitement" about it. I won't be doing that experiment again. Part 2 of my dinner was a Tesco branded version of "Lamb hotpot" - Aldi do one that is basically identical. They are nice and warming, but very small. So I followed that with a can of (not creme of) tomato and basil soup. Having eaten I moved on to the next thing I did. That was to test the new camera lens I bought, and that was delivered on Monday. I didn't get a chance to check it while Angela was visiting on Monday. It would seem I have learned a few things about camera lenses since getting my first DSLR camera. The new lens is a 28mm lens, and as expected, the field of view is about double that of my 50mm lens. The aperture only opens to f1.8, and so it lets in a little less light than my 50mm f1.4 lens, but it should still be sensitive enough for all but the very dimmest gigs. It was a rather expensive "toy", but I am sure it would have been ideal at he Life Of Brian gig at The Bricklayers Arms pub a couple of weeks ago - the event that inspired me to look for a new, wider angle, lens. This reminds me that I still haven't uploaded the picture from that gig to my pages on Flickr. Maybe that is something for me to do tonight. The third thing I did last night was to go to bed, and to go to bed very early ! It was just after 7.30pm when I jumped into bed, and turned the light out. It took a long to get to sleep because everytime I laid down in a comfortable position my nose would feel blocked and stuff, or I would start coughing.....or more frequently, both ! That was the story for the whole night. I may have got a little more sleep than the night before by just about managing to start earlier, but it was pretty crappy sleep. It seemed like I would wake up once an hour, and take 10, 20, 30, and maybe even 40 minutes before being able to fall asleep. My "mild viral infection", according to my doctor, is having some annoying consequences ! This morning I feel sleepy and week, and my throat and nose are still bunged up with snot and bogies ! I've probably got a mild headache as well. In an ideal world I would not be at work, but we live in a far from ideal world. Getting to work wasn't too bad apart from my legs feeling weak. Walking from home to the station was not hard, but neither was it as easy as it could be. I managed to keep up with the faster commuters as we charged over the link from Waterloo East station to Waterloo mainline station, but I had no energy to go overtaking people. At the end of that I had a small spurt of energy or enthusiasm, and ran for about 40ft to make sure I got in the front of the train on platform 4 at Waterloo. Maybe that little run, or maybe I could call it a sprint, must have been the bit that totally sapped my energy. My walk from the station seemed unusually sedate because i couldn't find it in me to go faster. While it might have felt a lot slower, it only seemed to add an extra 20 - 30 seconds to what is about a 10 minute walk. My plans for tonight are like this - I've brought my ruck sack into work so I can go home via Tesco. I am hoping they have some bottles of the reduced price chilli sauce left, but I also want to Diet Coke, and some food items. Hopefully I can stop myself buying some of the foods I would very much like to eat, but shouldn't. One thing I have already mentioned is to upload some pictures to Flickr. I'm sure I have more than one album to upload. After that I can't think of anything better to do than to go to bed. I hope that tonight I will be coughing less, and my nose doesn't get blocked too much so I stand a reasonable chance of getting to sleep early, and staying asleep longer. |