I noticed this sign after I had walked right through the park, and came out the other side at Lower Sydenham. I thought that the Dylon Works, for years a landmark by Lower Sydenham station, had been demolished, and replaced by expensive little flats in huge buildings. Surely they have not names the estate "Dylon Works" ? It is the "works" bit that seems all wrong to me. "The Dylon Estate", or something along those lines, may have been better.
  I went round the end of the park in the opposite direction yesterday, and so went through the light blue arch from the other side. Note the mural on the right with a fox, bee and ladybird.
  This is not a great picture because I was shooting into the glare of the sun. Just to the left of this picture is a storm drain outlet into the Pool River. At some time in the past it was a source of pollution, probably engine oil, and there were absorbent booms placed around the outlet. I don't know if an old log, or big tree branch, had been pinned to the river to act as an anchor for those booms is something I can't be sure of, but the log is still there, and mother duck, and her duckling were all nicely lined up as they say on it. If only I could have taken this picture from the other direction....

  On my way back home I called into the Catford Hill Poundstretcher. There was no queue, and probably only about 4 people in there. I was a bit disappointed that I could find few sugar free drinks in there. I did but a couple of 500ml bottles of raspberry and melon, sugar free Tango. I couldn't drink it on a regular basis, but it is nice for an occasional novelty. I was very disappointed, at least I assume I was, that I could not find any sugar free, special, seasonal (Xmas) "spiced ginger" Irn Bru. It sounded very exciting, and yet back in the real world it could be disgusting (which could explain why Poundstretcher have so much of it - no one wanted it at the time).

  As I said further up the page, my feet were not feeling that painful, but they were not that comfortable either. It was a relief to get the new boots off. For the rest of the afternoon it was the soles of my feet that complained the most when walking about the house. For the first hour after getting home they complained a lot ! Fortunately I had nothing special to do, but I did cook some sausages for lunch, and edit all my photos plus a video before I could lay on my bed to completely take the weight off my feet.

  I know I wanted to have a long snooze when I laid on my bed, but I don't think I did. I spent some time finishing the last few pages of last Friday's New Scientist, and I read more from the book I was reading. I am sure I tried closing my eyes a  few times, but I don't think anything happened. As dinner time approached I was feeling too lazy to slice up some vegetable to make the salad I was intending to eat. Actually I am not sure that "lazy" is the right word, but I can't think of a more accurate word. Maybe there isn't one.

  I ended up ordering two takeaway shish kebabs - one for last night, and one for tonight. There was a curious bit of logic to my order. The place I ordered from was slightly more expensive than other places - but only by a matter of 50p or so - and so I was less tempted to pad the order out with any extras like grilled wings (as a for instance). So my order actually cost less money to start with, and then it turned out that there was a 20% discount for some reason. My order tirned out even cheaper - although still not as cheap as a do it yourself dinner.

  A combination of things that included a poor nights sleep the night before, some fatigue, no viable distractions on TV, plus a desire to finish the book I was reading, sent me to bed before it had got dark last night. I went to sleep quite quickly after I had finished the book, and I think it was still fairly early when I did fall asleep. My best guess was that it was before 10pm, and that is the most accurate figure I can say.

  I slept quite well if judged by the speed I went back to sleep after getting up for a pee. Some vivid dreams, or perhaps being able to remember some bit of them, may indicate less deep sleep, but I am not sure. There were two specific dreams I could remember. One concerned being back working in a telephone exchange. I can almost picture some bits of that dream, but I can't seem to describe them.

  The other dream did leave more tangible memories. I can only remember it from going up a tower using a weird, but potentially practical lifting mechanism. It was like an escalator but based upon an endless rope ladder that went up one side of a sort of chimney, and down the other side. You just got on it like a ladder, and let it haul you up to the top where you got off.

  The top of the tower was like a store room, but it had several doors leading from it, plus a passageway. One door lead into a bathroom, shower and toilet. It was all in perfect condition, but sort of dusty like it hadn't been used in years. Another door lead to a short passage that had doors leading to an individual toilet, and and individual shower. I was hinking the place would make a great bolt hole if such a thing were needed, but my hopes were dashed when, at the end of this short passage was a bedroom, and there was someone using the bed. For some reason I thought the person may have been Japanese, although why that may have been important escapes me, but the most significant thing was that the place was not empty as I thought it was.

  This morning my blood glucose was nice and low - just 6.2mmol/l. It is a shame that didn't go along with a useful drop in weight. All my other indicators suggest my health remains good....but none measure how sore my right leg is ! My right knee and thigh seems to be very sore this morning. Twice I have had to get up from my PC to straighten my leg because it is rather painful when sitting down. It took some paracetamol about 15 minutes ago, and I hope it starts working soon. The one thing I am unsure about is whether the pain is equally from my knee and thigh muscles, or if it is pain from my knee spreading upwards to my thigh. My right knee started getting painful many years ago, although I can't recall which year. That was when I started taking 2gm of fish oil a day, and until now it seemed to keep that knee joint moving smoothly, but maybe the damage has got too great now, or maybe it is just one of those transient things that will fade away again soon.

  Today, despite the pain, I feel compelled to go out again for three interlinked reasons. Getting out for a walk is good for my mental health. The sunshine is also good for my mental health, plus it generates more protective vitamin D. Finally I want to test the second pair of boots I bought. Considering they are very similar to the pair I tried yesterday, I expect similar results. Today I want to wear them with some thick socks in the hope they will add some padding where the fit is loose, but not too much where the fitting is tight.

  Two things to finish on. The first just recalls the saying "lucky with card, unlucky with love" (although I can't recall the actual quote). Once again, as has happened several time in the past, when I have had an unhappy time with Angela, I have had a small win on the Premium Bonds. Now it seems that my relationship, such as it was, with Angela has finally come to an end, I have had another win on the Premium Bonds. I won't know how much until I (hopefully) get the confirmation letter. During this lockdown, when the post can be erratic, they sent an email to say I had had a win, but it didn't say how much. It did say it was small enough that they have re-invested it in more bonds. I can't remember what limit I put on that, but I think it was probably in the hundreds of pounds. My usual win is more like just £25, but on this occasion, when it seems my luck with Angela has hit rock bottom, I hope it is something more substantial than that !