Page composed
using
 1
|
|
Sunday 8th
March 2020
|
09:02 GMT
Yesterday was not quite as bad as the
forecast predicted. There were a few hazy glimpses
of the sun for a short while after sunrise, and
then almost the rest of the day was overcast - or
so the forecast predicted, but later in the
afternoon the sun did make a few more appearances.
As per the forecast it was a dry day, and the
afternoon temperature was 11° C.
As I write this the sun is shining, and it
has done so for well over an hour, and maybe for
two hours. There are clouds in the sky, and sooner
or later one will come along to block the sun for
a while. Some of those clouds could be rain
bearing, and the forecast has made a few attempts
to predict when it might rain. The latest revision
to the forecast above still shows the first shower
at 10am, but no rain for the next couple of hours.
The forecasters are still convinced that there
will be showers all afternoon, but they also show
the chances of rain to be in the region of only
30%. I would hazard a guess that there may be more
sunshine than rain this afternoon. In any sunshine
the predicted 12° C could feel nice. It should
stay mild (for night) tonight, and tomorrow is
predicted to start at 5° C and rain. Once
that splash of rain is over it could be a nice
bright day with a fair amount of sunshine, but the
temperature may only be 11° C.
I thought I felt reasonably OK yesterday
morning, but only after having some doubts about
it. It turned out those doubts were right, and
although quite attenuated, the aches and pains of
my recent illness, whatever it might have been,
still rumble on. It first became apparent when I
went to the corner shop. It is only a 2 minute
(maybe even 90 second) walk at full speed, and
unless there is some good reason, I do tend to
walk there at top speed. When I got to the shop it
felt like I may have pushed myself a bit too far.
On my return I slowed a bit and took a few photos.
Here's a sight you don't see everyday
around this quiet neighbourhood. At first I
thought it was just parked there for no apparent
reason. When I was in the corner shop the lady who
work in there, and knows everything, said it was
there as a result of a raid on a cannabis farm in
the house of the corner. It was more obvious the
house had been raided when I cam back from the
shop because I could see the front door propped up
against the fence between the two houses. There
was a also a very distinctive aroma wafting up and
down the road once the house had been unsealed.
 While I had my
camera out I took a short wander to the car with
the wheel clamps on it that I showed a picture of
a few days ago. This time I had a proper look at
the notice stuck to the drivers window. The car
has been immobilised because of some unspecified
debt. It is presumably unpaid parking fines, but
it might possibly be for an unpaid Hire Purchase
commitment (or whatever the modern version of H.P.
is).
The final thing I did before going indoors
again was to take this snap of my middle window
box. Fresh shoots are still emerging from the
compost, but it all seems to be growing so slowly.
I guess I am just impatient. At least there is
still hope that in the weeks ahead I might have a
gloriously coloured load of flowers on my
windowsill. I'm not so sure about the seeds I
sowed in the front garden. There are a few hints
of different shoots appearing there, but most new
shoots are in places I don't think I put any
seeds, and I think that they are a mix of weeds,
and Michaelmas daisies. The latter are very hardy,
and spring up every year whether I want them or
not. They would be fine if they were not so
random. If my other seeds do finally grow I might
make a better attempt to do something with those
Michaelmas daisies.
I didn't really intend to have a very lazy
day yesterday, but quite a lot of it was very lazy
- but not all. It was another of those days where
I seemed to do lots of very little jobs at random
time - typically while walking through the back
room and thinking "I can move/shift/throw out that
something", and then spend 5 to 10 minutes
doing it. It is actually turning out to be an
effective strategy. It shouldn't be too long
before I can make some major changes in that room,
and apart from a few intensive spurts of work,
most of the preparatory work has been done in
small painless increments.
The one thing I did do yesterday that was
hard work, and nearly beat me, was to wash a large
bath towel by hand. I got to the end of the second
rinse and my arm muscles were really complaining.
I had to stop there, and take a rest. To prevent
too much pain when I started again I took a couple
of Paracetamol tablets to tame the pain. They
worked OK, and 30 minutes later I did another
three rinses, and then fabric conditioner/softener
treatment before finally hanging it up to dry. It
was a painful reminder of how what must have been
a virus (maybe THAT virus) was still
affecting my muscles and joints.
One job I did yesterday was rather easy
once I had finished scrambling around to set it
all up. It was to test the new battery for my
Kenwood Mini Disc player, and to remind myself how
long the battery would last. It is so long since I
have used this (or my Sony) Mini Disc
player/recorder that I have no memory of how long
they would last on one a full charge. To make
matters more difficult, the new batteries are of a
higher capacity than the originals. I picked out
some discs that had full albums recorded on them,
and started playing them.
I was using cheap PC speakers to monitor
the sound, and they are far from HiFi. Their
frequency response has a pronounced peak somewhere
in the mid-range, and it was about the same
frequency as Roger Waters whiney singing voice. It
made listening to three of his albums rather
unpleasant, although admittedly, out of the three
albums there were only about 2 "radio friendly"
songs to be heard.
In total I played 6 albums before I had to
call a temporary halt for the day (I should have
re-started while doing this typing). Some albums
were only about 45 minutes long, and others a bit
longer. I can't actually say how long I was
continuously playing music on that player, but it
must have been over 4 hours. In that time the
battery indicator fell one tick out of about 6. I
suspect, and today I may well find out for sure,
that a full battery charge could last 8 hours or
so.
One thing to note in the picture about is
the Aerosmith's Greatest Hits on Mini Disc. It is
the only prerecorded Mini Disc I ever bought new,
and it was about twice the price of the CD
version. No wonder that Mini Disc never really
caught on, although it was the advent of the
portable mp3 player that really consigned it to
history. Shame really because they were handy
little devices, and with a decent external
microphone could do some cracking recordings - the
main reason why I am resurrecting mine with brand
new batteries.
My evening was not very exciting, but even
so, I still didn't get to bed until about 10pm. I
did spend a fair time reading in bed (the brand
new New Scientist magazine that was the main
reason for my visit to the corner shop in the
morning). If I recall correctly, I fell asleep
very soon after putting the magazine down, and
turning out the light. I took a chance on not
taking any Ibuprofen before going to bed, and it
seems last night I didn't need any. I seemed to
sleep quite comfortably.
Like the night before, and probably most
nights - if you will excuse my saying night when I
really mean morning - from about an hour before
the first hints of sunrise I started to have
semi-memorable dreams. This morning's was far too
complex to remember anything more than an overview
- as usual. The first bit I remember was
being at work, but in a slightly unfamiliar
workplace. It was coming up to lunchtime and I
left the workshop and ended up somewhere very
unfamiliar.
It seemed to be a college or university,
but most of what I saw were dining rooms. I went
through several of them while looking for an exit
so I could go outside for a smoke. In one dining
room security were trying to clear the room
because they believed that a terrorist was about
to commit an act of terror, but no one was
interested in leaving because they knew the so
called terrorist, and knew he was just a nutter
full of wind and bile, but harmless. I think I
eventually fond my way out of the building via
couple of kitchens and a huge laundry room - which
seemed to look similar to a brewery, but was
definitely a laundry !
This morning I have a feeling that I might
feel OK. It is hard to explain or list the absence
of something unknown, but it definitely feels like
something negative is missing. The only way to be
sure is some sort of test. That could be going for
a walk, or even doing some work in the garden. The
only flaw in that plan is the forecast rain
hanging over my head like the sword of
Damocles. At the moment the sun is still
shining, but a lot of cloud is starting to bubble
up. I think that once I have washed and dressed I
will go for a short walk to Poundland or
Poundstretcher, or both.
I have a cunning plan... I do a lot of
microwave cooking, and do it in plastic
containers. Those containers seem to pick up
unremovable stains - particularly if something
like tomato purée is used in the recipe (If
throwing random bit in a container and boiling it
is a recipe !). All efforts to scrub those
containers clean have failed, and so I am
replacing them, For small stews I have got some
glass containers with clip on lids. For bigger
"stews" I will continue to use plastic, but I now
intend to put those stained containers to use as
plant nurseries. I'll drill a couple of draining
holes, and fill them with compost to raise new
seeds. The old lids of the containers will now be
used underneath as drip tray. Before all that I
need compost, and I can get that at either
Poundland or Poundstretcher !
|
|
