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Saturday 11th
April 2020
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Lockdown
day 19
08:26 BST
Yesterday was another day that could be
mistaken for summer. It was dry with almost non
stop sunshine, and the afternoon temperature
reached 20° C (and possibly a tiny bit higher).
The forecast has
been slightly revised since I took the
screenshot above. The latest revision show non
stop sunshine until sunset, but the
temperature forecast has been reduced to a
high of 23° C. It should be a slightly warmer
version of yesterday. Tomorrow brings some
unknowns. For the last few days the forecast
for Sunday has alternated between rain and no
rain. The latest prediction is no rain, and a
day not too dissimilar to today. By
comparison, the day after, Monday is currently
looking like it will be feeling quite cold
compared to the last few days, but even that
could change in the next 48 hours.
 With the forecast
for hot, or maybe medium-hot sunshine, I just had
to force myself to go out for walk yesterday. My
right leg was feeling stiff and painful again -
probably as bad as the day before, and possibly
worse. I started out with a bit of a limp, and I
expected to have to turn back well before I
reached the furthest point of my intended walk.
Unlike the day before, the more I walked the less
my leg hurt, and it was getting to the point where
it was starting to get ignorable after about half
an hour.
If you take the GPS trace of my walk at
face value it was a very long walk - longer than I
have walked for quite some time - 4.72 miles, but
that figure is very wrong. In reality I estimate
it to have not even been 4 miles, but maybe not
that much less than that. The errors are easy to
see - the big spikes sticking out of the main
trace. I might finally have an explanation for the
two pairs at the bottom of the trace, but the big
one, halfway up the map, remains a mystery.
The two spikes where it says "Waterlink
Way", and the two spikes near the bottom of the
trace almost coincide with pole mounted PTZ (pan,
tilt and zoom) CCTV cameras, and my theory is they
communicate via microwave link. That microwave
link seems to interfere with my phone, causing it
to lose track of the GPS satellites. On my next
walk in that area, which might be today, I will
take a backup mobile phone, and see if that gets a
better reading.
This is the new mantra of the
age we currently live in - allow 2 metres spacing
between yourself, and the person in front of you.
In fact that should be at least 2 metres from any
side of you. I work on the self preservation
principle - I assume that everyone else carries
horrendous diseases, and so do my best to give
them the widest berth possible. In some places
even that 2 metres is really difficult, but I
think I managed at least 3 metres spacing from
anyone on my walk most of the time.
I liked this reminder of the innocence of
days past. I am not sure I was ever able to do
this as a kid, but I certainly would have wanted
to. I wonder if he managed to scoop up anything of
interest in that net. Of course there are some on
a certain social media web site who would scream
blue murder at someone enjoying themselves
outdoors. Braying that it is not essential. Those
people are utter idiots who fail to realise the
purpose of the lockdown. It is to stop people
congregating together, and cross infecting each
other. Keeping your own isolation is safe for the
person doing it, and for everyone else.
After no rain for several weeks or
more, the river is running very low at the moment.
In places large tracts of the river bed are now
exposed and dry. If my walk had been a bit more
relaxed I would have had time to explore this more
- walking out on the shingle to see what photo
opportunities were possible.
Here's another photo that would enrage the
self righteous (and probably get me labelled a
pervert). This woman was at least 3 metres away
from the path. She was inconveniencing no one, and
obeying social distancing correctly. She was doing
no harm, and yet there are people who would
advocate the police fining her, and some would
suggest the army shoot her - just for enjoying the
sun in a way that endangers no one.
I can't recall seeing a sight like this on
the river before - a mummy duck and 13 ducklings.
I've seen places that look like they could be duck
nests, but I've never seen any eggs. I think I
have seen an occasional duckling, never this
amount before. I am unsure if it was the same
family, or not, but a little later I was walking
on the other side of the river, and there was a
duck and ducklings trying to navigate past a
fallen tree in the river. The sun was behind me at
that point, and if must of the ducklings were not
obscured by the tree, I could have taken a far
better picture.
I went for a long shot for this picture.
Just above the centre of the picture can be seen
the black blob of a CCTV camera at the top of it's
pole. It is near this one, and another half a mile
behind me, that my GPS tracker "hiccups", causing
the spikes on the trace of my walk. My suspicion
is that the camera is radio linked to somewhere,
and it is the radio transmitter that causes the
problem - maybe just to my Huawei phone -
something I intend to check today.
Towards the end of my walk I didn't really
have any significant discomfort from my right leg,
and while I was getting tired, I seems some way
off being knackered. That is a significant
improvement. I seem to recall that the first time
I walked this route I was really knackered at the
end of it. Not yesterday though, and I felt
perfectly fine to make a very small detour before
heading home. The detour was to the Sainsbury's
Local shop by Catford station.
At the start of my walk I noted there was a
queue of at least a dozen persons waiting to get
into the shop. On my way back I noted just one
person waiting outside, and he was let in just as
I arrived there. The door was guarded by a very
jovial guard. I am not sure if he was brought in
from a security company, or if he was Sainsbury's
staff. He indicated the place to wait (more tape
stuck on the ground). Then he said wait a minute
while he had a quick count of how many were in the
shop. He re-appeared moment later to say that once
someone came out I could go in. It was a
refreshing change to have someone so helpful.
I doubt my wait outside was more than a few
minutes, and then I was in with a few specific
things in mind. I bought three ready made Greek
salads, 3 reduced price ploughman's rolls, and a 4
pack of Guinness. Five minutes later I was heading
for home again. It was all very civilised,
although I think my timing was very fortuitous.
The last bit of my walk, just under half a mile,
still felt fairly OK. I was looking forward to
getting home, but I definitely feel I was on my
last legs.
I did treat myself to just one can of
Guinness when I got home, but I was feeling in the
right mood to avoid eating anything until dinner
time. Before I drank my can of Guinness I weighed
myself, and I was down in a good area. If I could
do what I did yesterday every day for the next
week or two I could not just drop some whole
kilogrammes, but the tens of kilogrammes digit my
fall by one as well. I very much doubt it will
happen like that, but now that summer is here (or
as good as summer) I should be able to force
myself out for a lot more exercise - although it
will be at the expense of doing stuff indoors.
I only did one thing of note while I waited
for dinner time to come around. It was to do a bit
of laundry. I thought it was going to be more, but
it was only one t-shirt and 5 pairs of underpants.
I should have washed the t-shirt I wore yesterday
because it got a bit sweaty, but I didn't put it
into the laundry bag. I probably should have put
that washing on the line to dry, but I hung it on
a clothes horse to dry. At least I didn't need a
heater to speed things up, but I did use a fan to
get some air blowing past the clothes. It uses
considerably less electricity than even a fan heat
on low.
I had a three part dinner. Parts one and
two were Greek salads. I almost had them as they
came, but to one I sprinkled on some hot chilli
sauce, and the other had some mayonnaise. Part
three were a couple of grilled chicken legs -
grilled with some added spices. They seemed really
tasty. Maybe a few extra days in the fridge had
tenderised the meat more. Many say that
supermarket meat is too fresh, and benefits from a
bit more ageing.
Before eating I checked my blood glucose
level, and it was nice and low again (6.7). I had
hoped it would still be quite low this morning,
but I was slightly disappointed. It was not
terribly high, but I was hoping it would be less
than 8.3. The strange thing is that it seems those
Greek salads have a moderately high sugar content,
and I am not sure why. I know tomatoes can contain
a fair bit of sugar, but those salads only have 3
or 4 baby tomatoes in them. I am wondering if it
is the dill dressing that is to blame.
Last night I seemed to remember what time
it was when I turned out the light. It was 9
minutes past 10pm. I think it was possibly less
than 10 minutes later before I was fast asleep.
Last night was one of those nights where
apparently I was sleeping really well until 1am
(on this occasion). I woke up and could not get
back to sleep again for nearly an hour - and there
was no apparent reason for it. Once I got back to
sleep I seemed to sleep quite well until the first
light of dawn. That felt too early, and after a
bit I managed another hour of sleep.
In theory I got sufficient sleep, but for
the first half hour or so I couldn't stop yawning.
Having now reminded myself about yawning I can
feel one coming on any minute ! At the moment I
seem to have a split personality. One half of me
is still excited about my nice walk yesterday, and
the other half of me says "oh no, not again" ! I
do feel a bit creaky again - particularly my right
leg - but I think I have to work on the assumption
that once I get moving in the warm sunshine I will
feel OK again.
It is my intention to duplicate much of my
walk yesterday, but with two small changes.
Firstly I think I am going to wear shorts to get a
bit of sun on my legs, and secondly, if I am
wearing shorts I will be more wary about going
down some of the narrow paths by the river. Some
parts or getting to the point where the growing
vegetation rubs against your legs, and I am not
sure I would be happy with that with bare legs. I
guess that it is a third change that I am
contemplating trying to extend my walk by
including a bit of Ladywell fields in it.
The real disaster today is that I will be
eating, probably for dinner, the ploughman's rolls
I bought yesterday. All that bread will send my
blood glucose level soaring. I sort of wish I had
never bought them now, but I am not going to throw
them away, and I fully intend to enjoy them - and
that enjoyment is the reason I bought them in the
first place. I'll probably have to walk 6 miles
tomorrow if I can - it's possible, but unlikely.
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