There seemed to be some rainfall before I
got up yesterday, but as far as I recall it stayed
dry until some very light rain at the end of the
day. It was one of those days that sometimes felt
a bit warmer than the forecast temperature. I
suspect it was because 13° C, as it was yesterday
afternoon, was around a transitional temperature
where it feels cold when sedentary, but warm when
doing any sort of physical work/exercise. As such
it could have been nice if there were more
sunshine, but I can hardly recall any sunshine
yesterday.
By now, half of the weather forecast for
today has already happened, and mostly the
forecast above seems to have been right, but
reality diverged at 1pm. As far as I am aware, the
last 3 hours of potential rain never turned into
actual rain. Rain could happen any minute though -
the overcast sky looks right for it - but on the
other hand it has looked like this all day except
for a short while sometime probably between 7 and
8am when there seemed to be some sunshine lighting
up the outside of my curtains. It is a couple of
degrees cooler than the best of yesterday, but
like yesterday it feels cold when being lazy, but
it is easy to warm up when being less sedentary.
The odd thing is that while I often have my heater
up high to stay comfortable in my bedroom when,
for instance I am doing no more than reading or
writing stuff on my PC, it doesn't seem to feel
unpleasantly cold in the bathroom where the window
is partly open. The latest revision of the weather
forecast says drizzle will start at 3pm, and that
will be followed by up to three hours of light
rain. Tomorrow should be bright and sunny with an
afternoon temperature of 13° C.
Yesterday was one of those days where I was
unusually busy, but also with some nice periods of
relaxation...at least I think I managed to relax a
fair amount of time, but somehow I can't seem to
remember what that might have been. My first bit
of "being busy" was when I went out to Poundland
to see if I could get something I could use as a
window box for some more plants. I wanted
something that would fit on the third side of my
front bay window. I did buy a few things in
Poundland, but like the shelves stripped bare of
toilet paper, it seemed that plant pots were also
stripped from the shelves by panic buying.
It was a bit embarrassing when I started a
dry cough after leaving Poundland. I expect many
people avoided me thinking it was one of the
symptoms of Covid-19, the Coronavirus. Maybe it
was, but it could also have been a change of
atmosphere, or maybe it was some sort of repressed
guilt or fear thing surfacing when I saw a certain
van parked a few shops away, and one I would be
walking past.
Once upon a time, and I think it was in the
early 1980s, a certain pirate radio station was
raided by The Special Patrol Group - basically a
bunch of police thugs. A few years later the
Special Patrol Group were disbanded, and then
re-banded into the Territorial Support Group
provided they promised to crack a few less skulls
in the execution of their duty. I believe a few
actually stuck to that promise.
I still needed something like a long thin,
boxlike, flower pot to put on that third bay
window windowsill. I knew it would cost more, but
I went to Poundstretcher, and found one there. I
also panic bought 4 cans of sugar free Irn-Bru,
two bottles of mild yellow mustard in squeezy
bottles, and two new shower curtains. the latter
seemed to be more cloth like than the printed
plastic shower curtains from the old 99p shop. I
thought they would be a bit nicer for when
Patricia visits - probably some time in April if
all this Covid-19 business allows - and if she
dares visit anywhere outside Argentina which
hasn't made the news yet for being part of this
pandemic.
The long thin plat pot I bought was quite
deep, and I knew I did not have enough potting
compost to fill it. Rather than go out again and
buy another bag, I did some mild gardening -
collecting small rock, and big pebbles off the
lawn area, and half filling the pot with those. I
then used the last of the compost I had to 3/4
fill the pot. It was still a bit low, but should
be OK. With the compost watered until nice and wet
I re-potted the seedlings I had started off in
takeaway containers. It was not a perfect process,
and the seedlings ended up at all haphazard
angles, but I feel sure most will sort them selves
out. In maybe a few months I should have flowers
all around my bay windows - at least that is what
I hope for. Reality might be different.
It was probably after putting the pot
outside that I allowed myself to put my feet up
for a bit, but time seemed to be racing by. It
wasn't long before I was checking my camera, and
also steadycam device, for the two gigs I was
intending to go to in the evening. I'm am not sure
how I suddenly felt well enough, and could find
the energy to go from hardly any gigs for months
to 2 gigs in one evening, but it actually
happened, although it was really hard work.
The first gig was a disaster on so many
levels. There were a few possibilities to get to
the pub where the first gig took place, but the
easiest was to take a bus that stopped near The
Lord Holmesdale pub. the venue for the first band.
All other options involved getting other buses or
a train to Bromley, and getting the 336 bus from
there instead of from where it's route starts in
Catford. It is an excruciating bus route that
meanders all over the western hemisphere before
getting to the pub (and don't even ask where it
goes to when it continues to the end of it's route
!!).
I thought I had allowed myself plenty of
time to get to the pub, but it was obvious it
would take longer, although I suppose it wasn't a
bad guess because it was no later than 8:10pm when
I arrived at the pub for what I had been told was
an 8pm start. The pub was a lot smaller than I
thought (it is one of those pubs that looks far
bigger on the outside - the opposite of Dr Who's
TARDIS). For about 3/4 of the bus ride I was the
only passenger. It seemed like the terror of
Covid-19 was keeping many people away from buses
and pubs. There were only about 8 people, plus the
band, when I got to the pub. At that point they
were still setting up, and had not even done a
sound check.
I had actually gone to the gig after Carrie
Mae, famous actress and TV presenter (on small
cable channels) put out an invitation to all and
sundry. Even she, plus her guitarist and partner,
did not arrive until almost 8.45pm. By that time I
had taken a few pictures of the band during their
sound check, but all those pictures were just test
shots as I played with camera angles and camera
setting. I confess that I took the snap of Carrie
without warning her, or she would have put on her
"professional face". She did have some good news
for me. I gave her some framed pictures, plus a
few unframed photos I had taken of her, and Steve
Blessing, when they performed as a duo on the
Petts Wood Xmas lights stage.
She told me that her mum loved them so much
that she made a sort of shrine of the pictures.
Carrie promises me she will show me a picture of
them in place. Apparently Steve's mum also liked
the pictures I had taken of him, and while Steve
is too cool to think anything of them, his mum
loves them !
My original plan was to take about 20 or 30
minute worth of pictures at The Lord Holmesdale
before taking a tour through the back streets of
Bickley (just outside Bromley) to get to The
Chatterton Arms where Chain were playing at 9pm. I
gave Beyond Driven until 9.10pm before I gave up,
and started walking. It might have been as little
as 10 minutes off quite fast walking between pubs,
but it felt longer, and with a very low hill to go
over (no more than a pimple really) it felt like
hard work. It was quite warm in the first pub, and
I was not the only person to remark upon it. By
the time I got to The Chatterton Arms my forehead
was beaded with sweat.
Chain had started on time, and were at
least 3 or 4 songs into their first set when I got
there. I didn't stop to get a beer, but I did dump
my coat , and camera bag, on top of the bands
coats and spare gear (they are happy with that)
before I started taking some snaps. At first I
tried taking pictures with ambient light, but I
was using my Nikon camera, and the only big
aperture (more sensitive in low light) lens had
too narrow a field of view, and so I soon started
to use my flash gun - but only as infill flash
once I got the settings about right.
When no flash worked it worked reasonably
well. This picture of Jo is untouched apart from a
bit of straightening up, and cropping. It is not
the quality of picture I like, but something about
it reminded me of a picture I had seen of Janice
Joplin, and if it was good enough for a major
star, then it must be OK. The potential flaw in
that argument is that I have now seen it so many
times that I can't help but think all the ways it
could have been so much better.
One of those picture that I am apparently
famous for - capturing a moment in time. I hope it
was a good moment - it's all in the eyes. I think
Steve, playing bass guitar, was probably looking
at me, but maybe Jo is looking over my shoulder.
Curiously enough, when discussing venues
with Chris (seen at the back of the picture with
Strat guitar) on Thursday, he said that there was
plenty of space for the band at The Chatterton
Arms. Maybe from his perspective there is, but it
is not apparent if you want to watch the band.
There is precious room, and the drummer and bass
player are almost on top of each other. the worst
thing, from my perspective, is that it is very
difficult to take a picture of every member of the
band in one photo. The picture above, taken while
squatting down next to a pillar, is the best I
could get that has everyone's faces in it (OK,
except John on drums - you can only see half his
face).
I stayed for a few songs into Chain's
second set after getting there late, but it was
almost 11pm when I left (I think the pub defies
tradition by closing at midnight). My leaving was
delayed by a few minutes when a drunken postman,
by the name of John, wanted to praise all my
wildlife photography - which was nice except I
missed a 320 bus by about the same amount of
minutes. I had to get a 208 bus. It takes an
identical route from there to Catford as a 320,
but always seems slower.
I only had to wait about 6 minutes for a
208 bus. After what felt like a long journey I
arrived in Catford. I had decided that I was going
to throw caution, and common sense to the wind,
and buy some hot supper when I got in. I had only
drunk just 3 pints of Guinness all night, and so
it wasn't the booze, but I was sort of feeling
quite weary. I should have gone straight to bed,
and with hindsight I wish I had, but I plodded off
away from home to get some fried chicken, and
"fries" from the shop on the other side of
the main road (the 320 would have made it a lot
easier because the fried chicken shop is only a
very short detour from the direct way home from
the bus stop).
I only had to wait a few minutes for my
food (one reason why I didn't go for a shish kebab
which can take 15 or more minutes to cook). Then I
started walking towards home. My feet felt like
they were lead, and that 7 or 8 minute walk felt
like very hard work. It was a joy to get home, and
tuck into my food. It wasn't long after eating
that I got into bed, and fell almost instantly
asleep (which I could have probably done quite
painlessly without that greasy food). I woke up 2
or 3 times in the night, but every time I seemed
to fall asleep again in minutes.
This morning I felt refreshed, but not
bubbling over with energy. I didn't actually feel
knackered, but the only thing I could consider
doing was "processing" the pictures I had taken,
plus one of the videos I had shot. The video was
both good and bad. The good was that the lighting
seemed reasonably OK for my mobile phone camera
(in video mode), and the sound came out well too.
The good and bad was mainly due to me not being
able to seamlessly control my steadycam unit. It
was OK if I left it alone, but I just can't seem
to get the hang of the pan and tilt control. It
seems no matter what I do I always go in the wrong
direction. I think I need a lot more practice. I
had better take it in the park on one of the
upcoming dry and sunny days.
Aside from my
misoperation, it seems a reasonable video of
Chain performing "Whole Lotta Love". In one
way it is not quite so good as some video I
dug out from 2010. That video was also of
Chain, and also performing in The Chatterton
Arms. I used my Sony VX1000, semi pro camera
for that. It used to be a fantastic camera. It
was good in medium low light situations
(although modern camera now do much better),
and it had a decent stereo mic on it with
manual recording control. It also had a very
good optical image stabiliser. On top of that
it was designed so that it could be easily
held, and that contributed to it's stability -
no steadycam required (for semi-pro stuff).
It's one downfall in this day and age is that
it is only standard definition in 4:3 standard
aspect ratio. It can do 16:9 widescreen, but
to do it it just crops the top and bottom of
the picture - reducing the definition even
further.
Today I have mostly been glued to my PC
- editing pictures, editing video, and quite
some time writing this ! I expect that I might
be glued to the TV later...or maybe
not...Sunday is often a rubbish day for TV
entertainment, but I'll check it out before
writing it off. Mostly I think I shall look
forward to tomorrow when there should be lots
of lovely sunshine, and with luck I can have a
drink with Angela at lunchtime.
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