Thursday 23rd April 2020

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Thursday 23rd April 2020

Lockdown day 31

09:14 BST

It was very nice yesterday - very sunny, and it did feel warm in the all day sunshine. The afternoon temperature was 18 or 19°C. That was enough to feel warm when active, but a little bit cool when snoozing. We have reached the time of year when the sun is too high to pour it's light and warmth directly into my front rooms, and I did feel a bit cool when waking up from a snooze in the afternoon.

The latest revision to the forecast not only says that the temperature will be over 20° C, but it should actually reach a more than warm 23° C for a few hours this afternoon. It should feel hot in the direct sunshine. Tomorrow may be a couple of degrees cooler, perhaps just 21° C, but that is still very acceptable. The day after tomorrow, Saturday, may still be pretty much the same as today and tomorrow, but once again a degree or two cooler than tomorrow - maybe just 19° C, but that is still nothing to complain about.

After feeling so knackered after my 2 mile walk the previous day it did feel a bit brave to select a route that I could extend to almost 4 miles (and perhaps a bit more) if I really pushed it. It seems I was brave, and although it didn't push to the ultimate distance, I did go as far as the bow string bridge to cross the river, and start home again.

It was much nicer in The Pool River Linear Park yesterday compared to on Sunday. On Sunday it had been very frustrating trying to keep a big (usually much more than the recommended 2 metre) distance from anyone. Yesterday the park was much, much quieter, and much of the time I was able to keep 10 metres or more from anyone. There were times when it was inevitable that I had to get much closer to others because there was no space to move very far apart - on narrow paths, for instance.

Another good thing about yesterday, and there were several good things, is that my current phone, and my old Motorola G phone (the latter without a sim card in it) agreed very closely that I walked exactly 3 miles. Maybe I might boast that it was actually 3.03 miles because I can't see any obvious errors on the track recorded by that phone (my current Huawei P20 Lite).

There were a lot of butterflies in the park yesterday. Most of them were too fast to get a good look. One annoying one was so "fluttery" that all I could really see was a blur, but it seemed to have orange tipped white wings. I wonder what species that was ? It's not a great picture, but I did manage to get a snap of a butterfly with black wings with yellow/white spots on them (as pictured above). I have no idea what species it is either.

The vegetation either side of the narrow mud path alongside the river is really growing fast now. It is not terribly obvious in this picture that some of that vegetation includes stinging nettles. I was only wearing shorts, and so I had to be extra careful when walking down this path that was often no more than 10 inches wide. Somehow I managed to avoid getting stung.

You can barely see him, but there is a man on the path in the distance. It wasn't always quite this quiet, but it is easy to see how I managed to keep 10 or more metres distant from anyone - except near the north end of the park where it seemed far busier - but still much quieter than on Sunday.

Purely for the novelty of it, I walked around the far end of my walk in a clockwise direction. Usually I go anti-clockwise, although I don't know why. It meant I crossed the bow string bridge,part of which can just be seen on the right hand side of the picture, from west to east. That gave me the chance to walk up the "official" steps from river bank level to the bridge level. When I say walk I really mean climb. Those steps are more for decoration than human use. Each step was about knee height, and it is a bit of a climb going up them. At this point I had walked 1.5 miles, and yet it didn't seem very taxing to haul myself up those steps, although I did stop for 10 seconds to take a deep breath at the top !

I felt I should share a little part of my walk yesterday. I have taken pictures of, and also when standing on the exposed shingle of the river bed before, but with the water level still very low I thought I would video a little walk out into the river itself by walking on that exposed shingle. Standing on the rock at the end really wasn't a big deal, but on the other hand it was the first time I tried it, and there was some small fear that it might not have been stable. Fortunately it was as solid as, errr, a rock !!

At almost the end of my walk I passed the Sainsbury's Local shop by Catford station. This was by design, but I wasn't going to go in there if there was a long queue. Fortunately there was no queue at all, and the doorman ushered me straight in. As usual I bought a couple of Greek salads. I also bought another 4 cans of Guinness, some sugar free blackcurrant and apple squash, and a couple of packets of paracetamol. Most of the other places I shop don't seem to have any paracetamol in stock, and so it was a bonus to get a couple of spare packets. I do rely on paracetamol to reduce some pains when walking - sometimes my hips, and quite often my dodgy ribs.

Unlike the previous walk on Tuesday, I did not feel completely exhausted when I got home. I was glad to get indoors, and take my boots off (plus most of my outdoor clothes), but I still had the energy to go through, and prepare the pictures I took (including trimming down the screenshots of the track of my walk from my phones). I can't remember if I waited until I had done all that before I had some lunch. It might have been in the middle, but when it actually happened is irrelevant. Lunch was not really the healthiest option - it was reheated chicken wings that I had ordered with my kebab the previous night.

Later on I would have the spare kebab from the previous night for my dinner. I had that cold, and with some extra hot chilli sauce, it was very nice - much nicer than the wings I had for lunch. I had a strong impression that they had been cooked once, and then reheated in the chip fryer before being delivered to me. I probably zapped them in the microwave for too long (4 minutes) and a few didn't survive that extra zapping. They were very dry and tough - but on the bright side they were just about fat free !

One thought I had before going to sleep last night, was that I am actually doing quite well during this lockdown. I am very used to spending long periods on my own, and while this is now a very long period of time, and is going to get longer still, all that prior practice helps. I seem to have found easy sources of food, although they are a bit more expensive than Aldi. I am probably lucky in that I have two quite close parks to do walking exercise in, and while I definitely have off days, I am well practised at walking medium distances. The downside is that now the weather is good I had hoped to be extending my range by coastal or countryside walks, but with travel restrictions that is not really possible. The only real disappointment is not seeing or hearing from Angela. She did post something on social media yesterday, and so at least I know she is not ill or dead.

I didn't have any gut problems last night, and I was able to get to sleep with no problems. I remember dreaming, but I can remember very little of those dreams. That is possibly a sign that I slept quite well last night (or maybe it is nothing of the sort, but self delusion has it's merits). I think I feel mostly OK this morning. One great thing is that my blood glucose level has come back down to a sane value after it's huge peak yesterday morning. I can't remember the exact value this morning, but it was 7 point something, and that is absolutely fine. All my other health indicators are good, and to me surprise and delight, that includes my weight. It was not a big drop, but it was the first drop back towards where it was in what seems like ages.

There was some other good news this morning - although I admit you have to look at it dispassionately to see it as good,

While the current TV adverts keep emphasising that Covid-19 can kill anyone, it is patently obvious that up to the 10th of April (the latest published statistics) there have been no Covid deaths for those under 15 years old. Between 15 and 44 years old the amount of deaths are a tiny proportion compared to the size of the population. It is not until you get to my age (65 in June) that the death rate starts to get noticeable, but it seems I still only have a one in three chance (approx) of dying of Covid-19 compared to other causes. Yes, even one death is sad, particularly for those who knew the victim well, but if you can stand back and appreciate the big picture, we are not doing that bad - and if you think we are doing bad than I suggest looking up the death rate for something like The Black Death, or death rates from bullets and bombs in WW1, that will put things into stark perspective.

Today I am determined to get out and walk in the sunshine again. If for no better reason than the ultraviolet is not good for you if you are a coronavirus, but increases our vitamin D levels - and they help fight infection. The more obvious reason is that I enjoy it. I may only aim for a 2 mile walk, or I might take a route that could extend that to 3 miles or more. I think I may still end up going through the park where I might see Angela regardless of what my route turns out to be. I hope I see her today, but I will not be too disappointed if I don't (but still a bit disappointed).