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Saturday 8th
February 2020
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08:54 GMT
Yesterday's weather was good, bad, and
indifferent. The day started with a frost, but
there was glorious sunshine as soon as the sun had
risen high enough. There was very little wind, and
that sun felt very warm when soaked up by my
blacker leather (look) jacket. That inspired me to
go for a walk in my sleeveless denim jacket at
midday. As I opened the front door the sun was
eclipsed by a cloud. From then on there were just
sunny intervals, and the wind started to pick up.
The afternoon temperature was probably around 8 or
9° C, but during the evening the temperature rose
to 10 or 11° C, and that seemed quite mild because
the wind seemed to have dropped again.
There was some rain in the small hours. I'm
not sure when it stopped, or even if it has
stopped now. It still looks very damp outside as
if there might be some very fine drizzle. The
forecast insists it has stopped now. It also says
it should brighten up enough to give sunny spells
from around midday until sunset - now at 17:02,
and getting later every day !! During those sunny
spells the temperature may rise from a mild 9° C
now to what might be pleasant in a bit of sun -
11° C. Until midnight it looks like the day will
be inoffensive, and occasionally nice, but
tomorrow sees a big change. Gale force winds are
still predicted, as is plenty of rain. Most of the
rain may be light rain, but the current prediction
is for about 4 hours of very heavy rain around the
middle of the day.
Yesterday was one of those days that was both good
and bad. Fortunately the bad was only mildly bad,
but then again the good was only mildly good. My
day probably started properly with a walk to
Iceland (the supermarket). I specifically wanted
to buy some sugar free wafers. The company who
make them produce three flavours - chocolate,
vanilla, and hazlenut - and Iceland had none of
them yesterday ! They did have sugar free
Digestive biscuits, as well as sugar free
chocolate biscuits, and sugar free chocolate chip
cookies. I bought a pack of each, and I will eat
them with care. I know the wafers I wanted have no
measurable effect on my blood glucose level, and I
hope these others don't.
By the time I had walked to Iceland and
back, which is little more than 6 minutes walk
away, I was feeling hot. The sun didn't feel warm
on my face, but it was really heating up my black
leather (look) jacket. It gave me the stupid idea
that I could go for a walk with bare arms to soak
up some of that golden sun. As soon as I opened my
front door to go out the sun dipped behind a
cloud. I still went out with bare arms, wearing my
sleeveless denim jacket, and it felt good and bad.
It felt good to be mostly free of a coat,
but the wind, which seemed stronger than when I
went out shopping, now seemed to have quite a nip
to it. As a consequence I didn't push my walk to
any more than (roughly) once around the northern
end of the park. There was also another reason for
this. I received a reply to a message to Angela to
say I was heading her way, to say that she
wouldn't be in the pub. She had to go shopping in
Lewisham. That was a bit of blow because half the
reason I went out was because Angela suggested
yesterday as a good time to meet again after our
Tuesday lunchtime meet. It made being out in the
cold wind seem even worse.
The sky certainly looked nice most of the
time I was out - at least it did when looking
north. The view to the south looked a lot more
cloudy, but the sun did break through a few times.
Over the years of my lifetime the river has
changed several times. After the floods of 1968
there were some brutal flood defences built to
shore up the river banks. Many years later it was
realised it would be better if the river was
allowed to flood in a controlled way. So there are
several places where the river is allowed to
flood, and the park is the most obvious choice.
Once upon a time the river had several islands on
it as it meandered through the park. They all
disappeared when the river was "re-sculptured".
Now it seems that after the recent very wet
weather, and the river running very high, one
island is being reformed. I only found this by
going through the trees and bushes that screen the
river from the path at this point. I hope that
next time the river runs very high it might
finally carve a proper channel through the mud,
and this embryo island is fully born. Then I can
probably get a bootful of water trying to cross to
it like I did as a kid !
Just for a change I stepped onto the down
platform of Ladywell station. It was just as this
train arrived. It is a very unremarkable scene,
but if anyone finds this in 50 years it might seem
old and quaint. There is persistent talk about
turning over the line to London Underground to be
an extension of the Bakerloo Line. I bet the
station would look very different after that ! For
the sake of records, this is the 13:05 service to
Charing Cross.
For some time now I have been wanting to
take my Toshiba PDR-M61 camera out on a bright
day. It is the camera I bought for under £5 in a
charity shop, and then spent about 3 or 4 times
that amount to seek out and buy an obsolete "Smart
Media" memory card for it. This first picture
seemed to overwhelm the camera, and it came out
dim and wishy washy. I tried to pep it up a bit,
but it still looks lousy.
On the other hand, this more gently lit
picture came out more like I was expecting it to.
With only three times optical zoom I couldn't get
a close up picture, and I had to crop this picture
to make it look larger. It is that cropping that
gives it a slightly soft look because at just 3.2
megapixels there were not many to spare.
I got home feeling rather chilled after my
short walk - just 1.52 miles. I could have made
some hot soup, or I could have cooked one or more
of the ready meals I had in the fridge. I actually
had the last two Greek salads I had bought the
night before. I had one with cheese, and the other
with spam. It probably turned out to be a good
choice. After eating I just relaxed. I think I
even had a snooze. I was saving my energy for the
evening.
I will admit that I really had to push
myself to go out in the evening. It would have
been so easy just to put my feet up, and perhaps
watch several hours of telly, but I wanted to see
M.T. Pockets playing enough that I forced myself
out the door. It was a bit irrational because I
already had a very good idea what the gig would be
like. As it happened, it was worse than my worst
fears.
M.T. Pockets were playing in the Railway
Tavern almost next door to Bexley station. It is a
straightforward journey there even if it involves
a bus and train, and on average takes about 50
minutes. I first went to the 202 bus stop where I
waited no more than 5 or 6 minutes for a bus to
Lee station. That journey took a little bit longer
than usual because of road works on Brownhill Road
(part of the South Circular), and temporary
traffic lights. I arrived at Lee station just in
time for the 8.31 train - except it's place was
taken by a late running freight train. My train
arrived a few minutes later.
When I arrived at the pub my worst fears
were not worse enough. It is a small pub, and it
was packed out like a short formed rush hour
train. It was difficult to actually get in the
door, and once in there was no way to get to the
bar, or the toilets (which I didn't need because I
couldn't get to the bar to buy a drink). I managed
to wave hello to an Murphy, M.T. Pockets lead man,
and to say hello to Dan's mum. I then inched my
way out again, and took the first train back to
Lee.
I only had to wait about 8 minutes for a
train. (There was an earlier one, but it was fast
from Albany Park to London Bridge - on a warm
summers evening I might have taken it just for
fun). I guess my luck was still with me
because I only had to wait 3 or 4 minutes for a
202 from the Lee station bus stop to take me back
to Catford. The entire round trip - door to door
to door took 1 hour and 40 minutes, and that
included calling into the fried chicken shop for
some dinner.
That dinner tasted nice, but it was
slightly tainted by some guilt. I knew that if
nothing else I should not have ordered the
"fries". My blood glucose was predictably high as
a result. My other failure was in predicting I
would by asleep in bed by 11pm even if I had
stayed to see some of the gig. That was on the
understanding that the gig was going to start at
8.30pm, and I would be there earlier than that. I
actually arrived close to 9pm, and there was no
sign that the band was close to starting. If they
were I might have stayed to take at least a couple
of snaps. It turned out that I was not in bed
until 11.05pm, and it probably took me 10 minutes
before I went to sleep.
I have no idea if I slept well or not. Much
of the night was a sort of blur, and I only have
the vaguest of recollections of getting up to pee
once, twice, or whatever. I know my sleep became
intermittent after about 5.30am, and I know I
could not seem to get back to sleep from about
7.30am. It should have been light by then, and if
it was it might not have seemed like a bad idea to
get up, but I really wanted to sleep until it
actually looked like daylight outside. I'm not
sure I could describe the light outside as
daylight even now, although maybe it is starting
to brighten up. There is a bright patch of sky
where the sun should be. If the clouds thin a bit
more then maybe those forecast sunny intervals
will come true.
I definitely don't feel very dynamic this
morning even if I feel otherwise not bad. It is
possible that my high (compared to my average, but
not in real terms) blood glucose level is slowing
me down a bit, but I think the gloomy weather
deserves equal or more blame. I have no definite
plans for today beyond a possible aspiration
tonight. If I can raise the enthusiasm I might go
to a gig in The Morden Arms in Greenwich. It is
very easy to get to - a single ~20 minute bus
ride, but I have been warned that it is a small
pub. If I get there and find it cramped I will
probably just walk out again.
For the rest of the day I think I can
imagine doing some more cleaning/tidying in the
back room. I probably will go to Aldi at some time
- probably this morning. Other than that I have
stuff to read, snoozes to take, and if the sunny
spells are looking good I may take a turn around
the park.
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