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Friday 20th
March 2020
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08:53 GMT
Compared to the previous couple of days,
yesterday was a bit grim. The early version of the
forecast turned out to be correct with regard to
the heavy cloud cover, and the temperature. The
afternoon just about managed 9° C, but it cooled
quite quickly in the evening. I suspect it was
even cooler than the 7° C predicted for midnight.
Maybe it was just the wind blowing through the
slightly open window, but it felt absolutely
freezing in my bathroom at midnight. I don't know
if it appeared in later revisions of the weather
forecast, but the early versions only acknowledged
a bit of light rain in the morning - which was so
light it couldn't easily be seen, but was keeping
the ground wet. No version of the forecast I saw
showed fine misty drizzle for the later half of
the afternoon, and continuing into the evening -
maybe even later. It was the sort of rain you can
completely ignore until you realise you are
getting damp.
The forecast for today has got off to a bad
start, and the latest revision is no different. So
far this morning there have been no black looking
clouds, as in the pictograms of the weather
forecast above, although I do note that the
headline says "light cloud". At the moment the
cloud is thin enough to let enough light through
for the day to appear fairly bright. Every now and
then there is a very brief, literally just a few
seconds, sunny interval. They have been slightly
hazy, and casting a fuzzy shadow, but this still
feel much, much better than the forecast suggests.
Maybe the clouds will thicken up to more resemble
the forecast, but then again, light cloud is
forecast from midday onwards (or now 2pm in the
latest update). The latest update quashes any idea
of a sunny period at 6pm (as above), but I am
thinking that if the current cloud doesn't
thicken, but actually thins, as the forecast
claims it will, then there could be sunny periods
this afternoon in defiance of the forecast. It may
still be a rather cool 9° C though. Tomorrow is
still predicted to be a mostly sunny day, but at
just 9° C again, it will not feel that warm in the
sun (although it will probably warm my front,
south facing, rooms up a treat !
Yesterday was another busy day, or at
least was busy at times. I spent quite a lot of
time either selecting some old, but ready edited
videos taken at gigs, or editing, and generally
trying to tart up some videos I shot, but never
got around to doing anything with. The one thing I
didn't seem to do, although I kept meaning to, was
to do some smaller, sort of "standard definition"
versions to show here. I should be doing more
today, and maybe tomorrow I'll have a video to
show.
Video editing on my PC is a slow process,
although it is actually the rendering of the edit
to the final file that takes most of the time.
During that time there is nothing to do but let
the computer churn through it's billions of
calculations. While it is doing that I can do some
more physical tasks elsewhere. The weather was too
yuck to consider gardening, but I did wash the
sheet, and pillowcases I had recently taken off my
bed. I also washed a hand towel at the same time.
At this time of year, although the
occasional day is an exception, I have to dry my
washing indoors, and I speed it up by using a fan
heater on low to waft some slightly warm air
towards it. The day before yesterday (or the day
before that) it seemed warm enough that I just
used a 12" desk fan to move a bit of air over some
washing. In the morning it felt cold, but was dry.
The washing above seems dry this morning, and may
have been dry before I went to bed last night.
That fan heater that can be seen at the
bottom of the picture is relatively cheap to run -
particularly when only switched to "half" or just
1kW - but these things are cumulative. Yesterday I
had a red topped letter from my electricity
supplier (who also supplies my gas) to say I
hadn't paid my last bill, and that I owed them
£198. In fact the last bill was £180 more than
that, but my monthly standing order was already
eating into the debt. Until I had a so called
"smart meter" my rare meter readings meant that
over a period of 12 months my standing order would
pay for all the electricity I used.
In the winter I would use a lot, and during
the summer very little. My standing order was
equivalent to my average consumption over the
course of a year. Now the company can do monthly
reading remotely they seem to have lost any idea
about average consumption. Now the curious thing
is that my gas, billed by the same company, is low
in winter, and high in summer. In winter clothes
and stuff get less sweaty, and so a t-shirt can
last two days instead of one (except on those days
where a fresh t-shirt is mandatory because you are
meeting someone you get close to, but for stuff
like shopping.... I also don't need to wash my
hair everyday like I would during a sweaty summer.
The upshot is that my gas bill was heavily
in credit, and in credit enough to pay off the
entire electricity bill with some surplus. There
was nothing to do but grit my teeth, and phone the
energy company. What I wanted to do could not be
"automated" and I needed to speak to a real life
person. I think by the time I had heard 24
messages about Coronavirus, and then put into a
queue for an "adviser", and then finally through
to the real live human, took the best part of 20
minutes. The next bit was relatively quick.
I explained to the adviser (or whatever he
was called) about how I had a large credit on my
gas bill, and could I transfer that to my
electricity bill. He honestly said he didn't know
if that was possible, but he would check. To my
surprise I was only put on hold for a minute or
two before he came back and said, yes, he could do
it, and just needed my verbal agreement to go
ahead and do it. The deed is now done, and now my
electricity bill should be in credit, and not
debt, in a few days (while the transaction burbles
through their computers). It does this just as my
electricity consumption is already going down as
the days get warmer. By starting in credit so
early in the year, I should have plenty of credit
when next winter starts, and, if I want, I can
have the warmest house in the street without
having to worry about a big electricity bill - and
if I do get I'll probably be able to pay it off
with my gas surplus again.
During this coronavirus "emergency" my
regular Thursday drinking session has been put on
hold. I still fancied a beer, and so did Jodie. We
decided to just have a quick drink in Catford.
Specifically we were going to meet at The Catford
Bridge Tavern. It is convenient for both of us - a
6 minute up the road for me, and right by the
station for Jodie. I actually said I would meet
her outside the station, and it is a good job I
did because The Catford Bridge Tavern was closed.
I have no idea if they opened a lot later than
usual, or have shut up shop while many people
choose to avoid each other to avoid infection.
 The main problem with
Covid-19, the coronavirus, is that it attacks the
respiratory system (as well as muscles, joints and
bones like 'flu does). It seemed to me that a
simple test of whether my respiratory system was
in good working order was to check how well my
blood was diffused with oxygen. As the picture
shows, my oxygen saturation was 99%, and that is
better than most people manage on a good day. It
is also probably remarkable for someone who has
been a very heavy smoker. Curiously enough, back
in 2013, just days after smoking 50 cigarettes a
day on some days if I was very bored) I was still
able to get my oxygen saturation up to 99% -
easily beating the allegedly fit ambulanceman
while the ambulance drove me from Lewisham to
Kings College hospital - where a few days later I
would have my quad heart bypass operation. Whether
that oxygen reading is a useful indicator or not,
it seemed good enough for me to go out boozing
despite a tendency to cough a bit.
Curiously enough, the You Tube video that I
think I linked to last week, that explained the
figures given in a British Medical Journal
article, and showed that high doses of vitamin D
provide good protection against respiratory tract
infects, seems to be true. Maybe my time will
come, but for the moment, this occasional dry
tickly cough, that mostly occurs when I am at
home, and rarely when out walking in the fresh
air, seemed to be confined to just the back of my
throat, but if it is an infection it has not gone
down my windpipe.
Jodie and I, having found the Catford
Bridge Tavern closed, walked down to The Ninth
Life pub (the old Black Horse and Harrow) for some
very expensive beer in a noisy environment with
only a scattering of people in it. I had to raise
my voice to speak to Jodie, and has been the case
for years, that started me coughing - which is
sort of embarrassing in these times. I kept my
throat well lubricated by having two pints while
Jodie drank very slowly while she kept up with her
Twitter, and something else, addiction on her
phone. In the meantime I had a call from Kevin. He
was out and about with Iain, and so we arranged to
meet in the Wetherspoons pub at 5.30pm
Jodie and I were there 10 or 15 minutes
before that, and Kevin and Iain probably arrived
before the deadline. I have to say that the
Wetherspoons felt much more civilised when half
empty. Even the toilet has a sort of sparkle that
is not usally seen. Of course the only downside is
that I had to be far more aware of how much booze
I was drinking while with Kevin. It could have
ended up as a marathon booze session, but I was
drinking on an empty stomach, and called a halt
after my fifth pint (2 in the previous pub, and 3
in the Wetherspoons).
I only took pictures of three of the beers
I tried. The Oakham Citra, which contrary to some
ideas, didn't seem to have any notable citrus
taste, was quite nice, and was from the Ninth Life
- at double the price, and a bit more than the
Wetherspoon offerings. One curious thing is that I
cannot say any of the five different beers I tried
was notably good or notably bad. They were all
just sort of "pleasant".
After 5 pints on an empty stomach I was far
from rolling drunk, but my brain was in a very
relaxed state - too relaxed to stop me walking
into the fried chicken shop. It is not something I
would choose to rely on, but while it is just an
occasional treat, it is possible that fried
chicken and "fries" is not terribly bad for me,
but only because some sort of guilt makes me
reluctant to eat any more after I have shovelled
that loveliness down my throat.
I don't know if it was the beer, the food,
or just the general air of doom that is seeping
into my mind, but my sleep last night was filled
with strange dreams whose only common thread was a
sort of sadness of missing someone, or perhaps
some people. In fact I am not sure it was any
specific person. It was more a sort of awareness
of absence, although I doubt that makes much
sense. Other than what was going on in my head, I
probably slept well. It was one of those nights
when waking and falling asleep again seemed to
have blurred boundaries, and when big chunks of
time seemed to pass with little awareness of it.
When I first woke up I was feeling quite
rough. My chest ached a bit, and I thought my legs
were very creaky. That all changed in a minute
when I had to quickly pull on some trouser and
rush downstairs to collect a parcel. The postman
left it on the step, and then stood back to guard
it until I opened the front door to bring it
inside. It was a typical case of bulk panic
buying...or not !
These wafers are not always easy to get
hold of. Being sugar free I can eat them as a
treat, or just on those occasions when something
sweet tasting (but not actually sweet) seems like
a good idea. The only problem is that only two
places that I know of stock them, and then only
now and then. On top of that, the two places that
occasionally have them on their shelves, Iceland
and Poundworld, have only had the vanilla flavour
version. It has been ages since I last saw the
chocolate version. I don't think I was really
expecting to find any, but I checked Amazon, and
there they were. I am unsure how much Iceland
charge, but these, bought as a 6 pack, cost about
£1.50 - 50p more than Poundland, but at least I
now have some. The only disappointment was that I
could not find any hazelnut flavour. I am sure I
can remember eating them once, but I could find no
trace of them even when searching on Google.
Today I have no idea what I am going to do.
I may self-isolate, but that is nothing new. If it
does brighten up a bit I may go for a walk in the
park at lunchtime, and I may even call in the pub
for a pint of Guinness. I won't be meeting Angela,
but I have heard from her. Provided she shows no
sign of any symptoms, her work says she can go
back next Thursday. It is possible I may see her
before then, but I definitely look forward to
seeing her next Thursday or Friday.
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