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Tuesday 4th
February 2020
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09:10 GMT
Yesterday started out as if it was going to
be bright, and there were even a few short periods
of hazy sunshine, but the forecast sunny intervals
didn't seem to happen. The temperature during the
middle of the day was 11° C, but there was quite a
cold wind blowing that made it feel a lot cooler
(there may have also been another reason why I
thought it felt cooler than 11° C. During late
evening it did cool down a lot, and for a while it
seemed like we were heading for a frost in the
morning.
This morning the temperature had started to
rise again, and there was no frost, but it is
still going to be a rather cool day with the
temperature only expected to peak at 10° C. It has
been sunny this morning, although it is slightly
hazy sunshine. The latest revision to the forecast
has the last sunny interval at midday, and after
that it will be lightly overcast for the rest of
the day. The worst change is that now it is
predicted that the afternoon temperature will only
be 9° C. Clear skies in the night are predicted to
make for a very cold, 3° C, morning tomorrow. That
is almost cold enough for a frost. The whole day
is going to be cold with the temperature not
expected to rise beyond 8° C. On the plus side, it
may be sunny like today.
One of the first things I did yesterday was
to go to Poundstretcher. I bought an assortment of
things from there, including yet more flower
seeds. I felt a bit creaky walking to
Poundstretcher, and the walk home felt a bit
worse. I attributed that to two things. I was
wearing shoes that are sometime very comfortable,
and sometime not. Yesterday they were not. I had
also bought things like cans of soup, and jars of
pickles. Combined with other stuff, it made my
rucksack quite heavy. I expected walking to be
more enjoyable without the rucksack, and with
better shoes.
I only had about half an hour before I did
my "daily exercise". Before I went out I examined
the underside of my right boot. That is the one
that seemed to squeak, or even squelch when in the
wet. I noted a short (1/4 inch or less) slit in
the heel area. I was sure that was the source of
those annoying noises. I decided to get a Stanley
Knife, and cut it open. I found a small chip of
glass in there. I removed that, and trimmed the
flap either side back to the solid material. It
wasn't a 100% cure, but it was a 95% cure. I think
there may be another tiny hole somewhere.
Fortunately the heel is thick enough that it can't
easily be pierced, and the boot is still perfectly
waterproof.
My walk, even with my very comfy boots, and
with no heavy rucksack, still felt like hard work.
I wanted to aim for over 2 miles, but it was hard
work trying to force myself to walk 1.52 miles.
The sad thing is that there was not even a reward
for it at the half way point. I messaged Angela to
say I would be in the pub at the usual time. She
replied with, initially, a maybe. Later on,
actually just after 1pm, she sent another message
to say she felt too tired to come out.
I had just one pint of Guinness in the pub
before continuing my walk. Even after a short
rest, and a pint of Guinness I still had to push
myself to not walk home by the shortest route. It
could almost have been nice walking through the
park. I saw many signs of spring, but I felt cold,
and walking gave more pain than pleasure (not
actually "pain", but bits did ache). On top of
that the sun had long disappeared behind dark
clouds. Later in the afternoon, as sunset
approached, the sky took on that colour that
suggests snow - which was unlikely when my
thermometers said it was 10° C, but stranger
things have happened.
A possible sign of Spring ? I haven't seen
the Mandarin duck for ages, possibly since the
beginning of Autumn, but it, and it's mate, are
back on the river now.
I'll admit this picture loses something
when shrunk to this size. The duck is not really
the subject of this picture, but that was how it
was intended to be. In the large, uncropped,
version of this picture it is the patterns on the
water that are the real subject, but for now it
will just have to be the duck as the subject of
this picture.
I can never remember if these are
narcissus. I tend to call them mini-daffodils. It
was surprising to seem them flowering. They are 6
to 8ft from the river, and probably within the
area where the river slightly warms the soil, they
were not in the shelter of a big tree that has
helped some crocuses to flower elsewhere in the
park.
I feel there is some cheating going on in
the "Therapeutic Garden" behind St Mary's Church.
That wall does face approximately south, and will
soak up and heat from the sun, but I feel sure
these flowers were raised in a greenhouse, and
planted out as soon as they were about to flower.
It does give give a nice splash of colour that
gives a feeling of what is to come once Spring is
really under way.
This daisy almost certainly is natural. I
chose this one on it's own, rather than a few
small clumps of them very close by. Being so
close to the ground may mean it gets some shelter
from the cold winds, or perhaps it, and all it's
nearby pals, just got bored waiting to flower, and
just did it anyway.
I felt tired when I got home from my walk.
I had a late lunch of some salad with pork
luncheon meat, and then lay on my bed to read. I
was soon drifting off to sleep. I had left the
heater on low, but I woke up almost shivering. I
just could not seem to warm myself up. I didn't
check it, but it felt like I had a fever. Some
sort of bug could certainly explain when my walk
seemed such a slog. It seemed a very good time to
test some of dry soups I had bought.
Having used a pint glass to check how much
a pint of water filled the bowl I intended to use,
I used three packets of chicken soup mixed, and
poured on a pint of boiling water. With the
addition of some hot pepper sauce, it was quite
nice, and started warming me up. Those soup
sachets were Tesco branded. I was curious as to
what the Heinz soup sachets would be like. It
seemed that only two sachets were needed to make a
pint of Tomato, with a hint of basil, soup. I was
quite disappointed with the taste. I seem to
remember that those Heinz sachet boxes (of 5
sachets per box) were on special offer - probably
2 for about 75% the price of 2 individually. I
think I might know why they wanted to clear their
stocks.
Two pints did warm me up, but it took a
curry, several hours later, to make me feel almost
hot. For whatever reason, yesterday evening was a
bit dreamlike. I think one, maybe the main reason
why was boredom. There was not enough going on to
engage my concentration. I have no idea what time
I went to bed, but I think it was probably not
long after 9pm, and maybe was even before that.
At first I seemed to sleep OK, but by 2am I
had woken up feeling cold again. On top of that I
could feel several sore ribs, and an ache over my
whole chest. I ended up taking some Ibuprofen, and
turning the heater on full. An hour or so later I
managed to get back to sleep again, but it was
touch and go. Every time I tried to sleep fully
covered by my duvet I felt too hot, but worse than
that was that I could not seem to find a position
that was comfortable for my chest. I began to
wonder if I was going to have to take a walk to
hospital again, but the Ibuprofen eventually
kicked in, and I became more comfortable.
For the next 4 or 5 hours I woke quite
frequently - sometimes from weird dream. Some
dreams were of trying to find a toilet in what
must have been a university. Another dream seemed
to be about old Central Line tube cars being
re-purposed as a space station ! I think I started
getting up at about 8am, but originally I was
thinking of going back to bed after doing my usual
morning rituals, but that didn't happen.
he good news is that even after eating so
much yesterday, which included a small pack of
sugar free vanilla wafers, my blood glucose was
good this morning. It was about the average value
I can usually achieve with on a small amount of
effort (I hope to get it a fair bit lower during
the warmer months when less food is needed). Even
my weight has a chance of having dropped a tiny
amount - although that does suppose that before
the morning has finished I will have made at least
one large deposit in the toilet (nothing has
happen yet except wind).
Today my one single plan is to go for
another walk. I think there is a fair chance I
will see Angela today, and that will make any
discomfort worthwhile. I did get the impression
that she was looking forward to today, but only on
the proviso that she would get a good sleep last
night. If I seem to feel OK after I have had a
good shower I may try and walk the long way around
to the pub. There is one possible fly in the
ointment. I was feeling comfortable half an hour
or so ago, and turned the heating off. Now I
actually feel sort of a bit warm. This is either
the menopause for men, or some more medical thing
happening to me. I blame the Corona Virus.
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