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Friday 21st
February 2020
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09:37 GMT
Yesterday's rain was mostly drizzle. There
was some drizzle that finished around sunrise, and
it started again around 11am rather than the
forecast time of 1pm. By 6pm, when hail had been
forecast for 36, or even 48 hours in advance, it
was dry, and the sky was partly clear. There were
a couple of hours around midday when the wind
contained some quite strong gusts, and was other
wise strong enough to make 11° C feel quite cool.
Later in the afternoon the temperature dropped to
7° C, and then to just 5° C by midnight, and it
was definitely feeling cold.
As yet I have seen no sunny spells, but I
have seen an intensely bright patch of sky that
was strong enough to cast a very blurry shadow.
The latest revision to the forecast starts at
10am, and shows no sunny spells. It seems today
will be overcast by light cloud, but should stay
dry. Most of the afternoon should be 11° C, and
the temperature may not drop below 10° C all
night. Tomorrow may start with some heavier cloud,
but the cloud should get lighter during the day -
but never enough for the sun to get through. There
is a very small chance of rain at any time. It
should be a little warmer than today, and possibly
hit 14° C for a short while.
My idea of doing most of this writing in
the evening didn't seem to be such a good idea
upon reflection. It obviously would not work if I
was going to a gig in the evening - something I am
still not doing very frequently, but intend to do
as the days get longer, and the nights get
warmer. I have now thought up an alternative
idea. I now save a full archive of every day's
diary entry, and only saving a précis on the month
page. What I might start doing is to write the
"today" page in increments during the day, and
then save the complete day at the end of the day.
One other thing I must do is to add "previous day"
and "next day" navigation buttons on the daily
archives. At the moment the only way to navigate
to a different day is to go via the monthly pages.
Anyway.....
I didn't want to try and meet Angela at
lunchtime yesterday, despite her often being there
on a Thursday, but on Thursday I go out for a
drink in the late afternoon. That didn't stop me
going out for a quick walk around the park
yesterday. Instead of the rather metaphysical idea
that it might be good for me, I had a very
specific purpose for this walk.
I wanted to take my new boots for a test
drive to assess their comfort level. At first I
was not sure if they would be OK. I could feel
some pressure points, and being made of synthetic
material, I was not sure that they would mould to
me, and I would have to let my feet be re-modelled
to fit the boots - a very painful, and incomplete
process. However, by maybe halfway through the
walk they were starting to feel much more
comfortable.
I thought there was hope that they may
become as comfortable as the boots they will
replace, but later on I would have second thoughts
about it. One other positive thing at the time was
that I felt in no hurry to take those new boots
off when I got home, and spent a while wearing
them in the kitchen as I prepared some lunch. That
lunch was 5 port sausages. I wanted something to
"line my stomach" before embarking on a drinking
spree - of precisely three pints !
It was about this time last year (or the
year before) that I saw some purple fungus in the
park. It is odd for two reasons. Autumn is the
more common time for fungi, and purple fungus is
very unusual. The last time I saw it, in almost
the same place, it seemed a bit darker, but I
suspect it will be a bit darker today. There seems
to be much more of it this year.
There seemed to be a bit of commotion on
the river, and it seemed to centre around the
mandarin duck. Maybe it was a territorial thing
with the usual ducks, or maybe it was some sort of
mating ritual.
At 3.55pm I set out to get a train to go to
my Thursday drink. I thought I would give my new
boots another test. This time I was no so sure
that they would turn comfortable as time passed.
They weren't actually that uncomfortable though.
One thing they did do was to slow my walk down a
bit. It took nearly 10 minutes to walk to my
favourite spot on the station. Normally I can do
it in 9 minutes, and occasionally less. Maybe I am
underestimating the time I took investigating
something.
When I arrived at the station I saw a civil
engineer with a theodolite. I also noticed that a
lot of the vegetation had been clear either side
of the stairs going up to the platform. It is
possible that I wasted a whole 60 seconds admiring
"the view". At first I wondered if the integrity
of the bridge and embankment was being checked,
but a later theory was that it was a survey prior
to adding lifts to the station. I subsequently
heard this latter theory was right.
I chose some of the less strong beers in
the pub. They were not so nice, but I thought it
would be a good idea to not get too drunk - not
that I get drunk on three pints, but it can make
me very sleepy when I get home again - more so
with a warming dinner in me. I had toyed with the
idea of going to one, or even potentially two open
mic nights last night, but as usual, once I got
home, had some dinner, and was sitting all warm
and cozy, I didn't fancy going out again. Maybe it
will happen in the mystical times to come when the
evenings are lighter, and warmer.
My dinner was boiled beef and sprouts - not
the legendary boiled beef and carrots. It should
have been nice, but I found the sprouts to be
unusually bitter, and the diced beef to be not
nice - it's texture suggested it should have been
cooked for a lot longer to soften it up, and it
seemed to have very little flavour. Had the whole
meal been a lot nicer I may not have been tempted
to have a healthy-ish "pudding". My desert was
actually an apple and some nuts follwed by some
sugar free vanilla wafers.
That kept my stomach amused for an hour or
two, but before I went to bed I got the munchies
again, and devoured a packet of Aldi own brand
spicy pepperoni. Another hour, or so, and I was in
bed reading. It must have been approaching 11pm
when I put the book down, and was soon fast
asleep. I had no nasty dreams last night - or none
that I recall. I seem to recall having some
confusing dreams where nothing was quite correct.
Sometimes two or more places would be sort of
merged into one, and it was difficult to predict
where the join was.
I don't know if I slept well or not, but I
do know I slept a lot later than usual. It was
another one of those "I'll just close my eyes for
a minute" scenarios where you wake up an hour or
two later. I think I feel as good as most
mornings, this morning. My blood glucose was just
over 7 again. I have been unable to weigh myself
properly because I have yet to go to the toilet.
Sooner or later those sprouts are going to move,
and then it it is possible that I'll find my
weight is about as expected.
I am currently still thinking about my
options for today. I think I ought to go for a
walk in the park. The unknown is currently "when".
Angela often goes shopping during her Friday
lunchbreak, and so it is probably not worth timing
my walk to arrive at the pub at 1pm, but maybe
I'll check with her first. I would have liked to
go to a gig tonight. M.T. Pockets are playing in
what looks like a big pub in Dartford tonight. At
the risk of repeating myself for the third time,
if it was warmer, and the day was longer, I would
consider it a possibility, but I don't fancy
trying to navigate through Dartford after dark.
Maybe I'll do something in the garden this
afternoon - I'll have to sooner or later, and at
least today should be dry....but tomorrow could be
better.
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