Today is the last day of the run of good weather we have had. Tomorrow may be dull, overcast and at just 15° C, comparatively cool. By contrast, today should be as warm as yesterday, 23° C, and even sunnier. The only fly in the ointment is that the sun is now rising so far to the east that it is shining past my bedroom, and not into it, and it is feeling rather cool indoors, but even though I can't see the sun, I can see that it is casting sharp shadows along the road.

  One of the things I forgot to mention was that the day before yesterday I did three loads of laundry by hand. One was not noteworthy - it was just a few t-shirts and underwear. The next was a bit more noteworthy. It was a bath towel, and they can be very heavy when saturated with water. The final item was a pair of jeans. As I think I have mentioned in the past, I do not wash my jeans as often as I should. This is because of experiences from 10 or 20 years ago. In those days my jeans were quite tight around the waist, and I was terrified of them shrinking in the wash - which in those days was a savage beating in a washing machine.

  The pair of jeans I washed the day before yesterday were actually the 2nd pair I have washed recently. Yesterday I morning I washed a third pair, and having seen the state of the water after the first wash I am rather glad I did. Some of the colour of the water was dye coming out of the jeans, and some must have been mud ! I don't think the dye was very colour fast because after a wash, three rinses, fabric conditioner, and drying, those jeans now look quite pale, and almost stone washed. On this occasion it doesn't matter if any of these jeans have shrunk - all had plenty of slack.





  After doing long(ish) and medium length walks the previous three days I was contemplating having a lazy day to let my feet and muscles recover, but it felt wrong to waste a warm and sunny day. I came up with a plan where I would give the boots I bought from Aldi last year another go. The last time I wore them they seemed to be feeling a bit more comfortable provided I didn't go too far.

  My plan was to walk just 2 miles. That would be long enough to test those boots in another way - to see if they really were waterproof when standing in a couple of inches of water. They were, and they also didn't seem to be that uncomfortable...at least not at first. Like my new and old boots, they seem to be very sensitive to what socks I wear with them. The Aldi boots are not as big as the recent boots I bought, and so thin socks work best.

  As you can see from the screenshot of the app on my phone, my walk was a bit more that 2 miles. I don't think there was any time that I could forget I was wearing those boots (unlike my old, and very worn pair that I can sometimes forget I am wearing), but any discomfort was very mild until the last half mile. I was very happy to get home and get those boots off at the end. The good thing is that the boots left no lasting damage or discomfort.






  The first test of how watertight my boots were was when I stepped into the river at a very shallow point to take this picture. This is the River Ravensbourne looking upstream from where it joins the Pool River.
  This is the Pool River, and once again it is looking upstream. It looks the bigger of the two rivers, but the combined river is called The River Ravensbourne. It continues from here, with a few streams, and one small river, The Quaggy, joining it as it meanders it's way to exit into The River Thames at Greenwich.
  I haven't seen the Mandarin duck(s) for some time, but yesterday I found this one, with the hen just out of shot, sitting on a log in the river. The strange thing is that I didn't realise the hen was only about 18 inches away when I took a few snaps. She is quite drab by comparison, and the glare of the sun on the viewscreen of my camera made even taking a picture of the cock a bit hit and miss, but he seems to have come out fairly well.
  I had meant to turn back some way before I reached the bow string bridge, but while I was there I crossed the river, and walked back on the other side. At this point I was still feeling good, but after another mile my feet began to complain, although I still seemed to have the energy to walk up the occasional bank without breaking tread. With hindsight, although my feet were getting uncomfortable, I probably could have pushed myself to go an extra mile.

  On the way back I did a bit more shopping. I had already done some shopping in Tesco in the morning, but I wanted to see if the Sainsbury's Local shop by Catford station had the latest New Scientist magazine in. They did, and to make my purchase by contact free debit card more worth while I also picked up a 4 pack of Guinness, and some 4 bean salad. I nearly bought more salad, but I bought some from Tesco in the morning. There was no queue to get in the shop, and only one person before me at the checkout. In little more than 10 minutes, and maybe less, I was back on my way home again.

  I felt sort of weary when I got home, but I attended to the pictures and video I had recorded first before I settled down to lazily read New Scientist while laying on my bed. I can't recall if I had a snooze or not. I intended to, but for some reason I don't think I actually fell asleep.

  There was one thing about yesterday that spoiled it. It felt too much like a Sunday, and Sunday's are generally very boring days. The worst thing is we have to endure a real boring Sunday tomorrow - and it is not even going to be a nice day. It became very apparent that I was becoming very bored yesterday afternoon. Being bored made me feel very hungry, and while I managed to do no worse than a few light nibbles until dinner time, I was more generous when it came to dinner. I had Tesco brand Cumberland sausages, which were not nearly as good as Sainsbury's, and a sachet of Heinz Spanish inspired "Creationz" mixed beans in sauce. It seemed to be quite a big dinner.

  Even if it was a big dinner, I still had some peanuts, and some cheese to nibble on later in the evening. I also drank three bottles of beer. I drunk a bottle of Whitstable Ruby Ale, a bottle of Fullers Bengal Lancer, and finally a bottle of Old Peculiar. By 8pm I was not really feeling mellow, but I was starting to feel a bit tired. I still had loads to read in New Scientist magazine, and so I headed to bed. I think I was asleep by 9pm.

  Three and a half hours later I had to make two visits to the toilet, and neither was for a pee (although I did that as well). It seemed an odd time for my guts to suddenly decide to need the toilet, but it was probably better than farting all night. My bedroom strongly reminded me of that strange farty, oily, tarry, and smoky smell that used to hang around in the old East London Line before it was cleaned up, and changed to the London Overground.

  Apart from that half hour interlude in the night, I seemed to sleep well. I had another dream about being back in a telephone exchange, and I had a dream about a woman. In the dream I remembered passing her a few times on my walks, and on this occasion she spoke to me. She was by no means good looking, but not unpleasant. She asked why I didn't wear a watch, and I replied I didn't need a watch because I could check the time on my mobile phone. I can't really remember what happened after that, but I have an impression she was destined to become a friend, and maybe more.

  This morning I feel a bit stiff and creaky, and my feet are very slightly sore...well maybe not exactly sore, but I can still feel the battering they have taken in the last 4 days of lots of walking. All that is nothing new, or even worthy of consideration - said he optimistically on the basis that once I get moving these things will be OK. The thing that almost shocked me was that despite having ice cream for breakfast, and beer in the evening, plus a big and unhealthy dinner, my blood glucose level was marvellously low this morning - for me ! It was just 6.6mmol/l, and I think that is even lower than "pre-diabetic". It means I need to take a bit of care today in case it goes too low - although it has a long way to go to get there. It does mean I could take a few liberties today - I might if I feel the need, but I will try not to if I can.

  I am not sure it is a good idea, but I think I need to get out into the sunshine again today. I am getting a bit bored with the Pool River Linear Park, and Ladywell Fields is also boring, so I don't really know where I will go, but I will probably go through one or the other to get ????? There is a little park just beyond Lower Sydenham, and maybe I might attempt to get there, but it could mean a  mile walk, and I am not sure if I fancy a walk that long today. It will be several hours before I go out (when it is nice and warm outside), and maybe I might have a definite plan by then.