The early morning forecast, as shown in the screenshot above, is fantasy ! Even the very latest revision persists in the falsehood that this morning was, and will be for another hour, sunny. All we have had is occasional sunny periods. There are just too many clouds in the sky to give long periods of sunshine. What the forecast did get right was that it would be bloody cold at the start of the day. Once again we only missed a frost by a degree or two. Hopefully the sunny periods will continue, as forecast until sunset. (The latest revision shows sunny periods for 2pm as well). One very minor bit of positive news is that the temperature may rise to 13° C by late this afternoon. That is by no means warm, but better than just 11° C. The current forecast for tomorrow shows a very similar picture as the screenshot above, but the afternoon temperature may rise to 16° C - that might feel warm if the wind behaves itself.


  I wasn't feeling that good yesterday morning, and I am not sure why. It was probably a hangover of the lockdown blues, but I was determined to try and improve how I felt, and that meant going for a walk, It was not a great success !

  The first thing that went wrong was to do with the weather. I knew it was cold, and put on a warm coat. The cold wind was still almost stinging my face as I walked, and then when the wind dropped, and the sun came out for a few minutes, I started cooking under than black coat. My face started to sweat, and it felt like a sort of cold fever until the sun went in, and the wind seemed to blow harder. That cooled me off again.

  The next annoyance was that I had updated the "Simply Walking" app I use on my phone to measure how far I walk, and to plot it on a map. It was only a couple of weeks ago I discovered that by turning off the option to use phone masts "to improve accuracy" that my tracking stopped showing weird glitches that ruined the accuracy. That option does not appear in the settings of the updated version, and I presume it has gone back to believing that phone masts are more accurate than GPS, and the track has become crap again. There is a big jagged glitch under where it says Ladywell Fields in the left hand map. It also shows I wasn't following the river when I knew I was, and that I walked straight through the railway embankment !

   There was one more annoyance regarding the tracking app, but this time it was my own fault. I accidently brushed my finger across the stop button as I went to push the pause button. That is why the walk is in two parts. If it was accurate then the two combined bits of walk would add up to 1.7 miles, but I think that 1.5 miles would be closer to reality. On top of everything else, my chest, or more specifically my ribs did not feel comfortable. I think I mentioned yesterday that I seem to have started another period of my ribs causing pain and discomfort when making certain movements.

  Overall, I did not enjoy the walk. I had deliberately chose the route to include the climb up the hill to Ravensbourne Park Road. When it came to start going uphill I had to force myself to do it rather than continue following the relative flat course of the river. I found I preferred to stop for an extra deep breath twice when going up the hill. I probably didn't need to, and if it had been warm and sunny, and I was in a better mood, I might have even enjoyed pushing myself to try and do it non stop, but I just could not be bothered.

  Part of the aim of the walk was also to call into the Sainsbury's Local shop. When I got there I found no queue, and I just went straight in and bought what I needed. I was out again in 5 or 10 minutes. It felt good to get home again, and to be back in a more stable temperature. As usual I had bought some salads from Sainsbury's, and I decided to make a tuna salad. I had 4 cans from a 5 can pack of tinned tuna on the shelf. When I took it down to extract one can, and to open that can, I noticed a jar on the shelf that I can't remember buying.

  I can't even remember where I might have bought it from either. I suspect it might have been Aldi, but I guess I will never know for sure. One thing I do know is that I can see a feint date on the lid of the jar. It says 2017 (plus some other writing that I must attempt to decipher). At this point in time I have no idea if that is sell by, or use by date. Whichever it is, these Polish baked beans with pork sausage are definitely rather old. However, if the cap is tight enough to have kept a vacuum in then I reckon they should be OK. The only thing holding me back is that this jar, which apparently contains two servings (ha ha) contains 33 grams of sugar. If it was heated in the microwave for more than a few minutes it would come out as toffee ! That amount of sugar would blow out my (self imposed) sugar allowance for a day, or possibly for a few days.

  After eating my tuna salad I rested for a while, but I slowly became bored doing nothing, and while I had little enthusiasm for most things, I did think it was about time I installed my new "Fox-cam", aka an I.P. CCTV camera, properly. That meant getting the ladder and tools out. I have to admit I don't really like working up ladders, and I am very aware of the danger of my step ladder/extension ladder collapsing under my weight. I only had to go up 4 steps, or about 3 feet, but it still felt a bit dubious. Anyway, I got the camera installed enough to test it. It needs further adjustment that I might do today (or ought to do today). The most obvious is that the picture is not level, but there is also the problem that it needs internally rotating so it can point down into the garden.
  I must say that I am was quite impressed with the first views with the camera now it is outside. It seemed to have the potential when I just had it looking through a window, but now it gives some very nice high definition pictures. The best bit would come later. At about 9.10pm it was dark enough outside that my own eyes were struggling to see any colour, or make out any details, but this new camera was still producing a colour picture, albeit a bit grainy, but it amazed me. Once I have rotated the inside (it appears to be on a sort of ratchet) so it can be tilted downwards to see into the garden, and also not slightly tilted, I think I will be very happy with the £36 it cost me !
  This picture was taken with the light fading fast, and to make matters worse it was taken through a less than perfectly clean window. I used my little pocket Canon camera to take it at full zoom. This fox is sitting on a shed roof waiting until it felt safe to cross the shed, and jump down onto the fence at the back of my garden, and then down into the garden at the rear of mine. From there it can get access to the road for further exploration, or possibly to it's cubs. I suspect that there is a back entrance to the hole that goes under the fence to the left of my garden, and comes out into the garden at the rear. With no zoom, and the camera mounted a bit lower, my new camera caught the action. The picture is a bit dim, and the fox is small, but check the shed roof on the right of the video.
   Once again I seemed to be careful how I ate yesterday. In some ways it was more accident than intention. Maybe it was because I didn't have anything too awful to eat in the larder (except that very sugary Polish baked beans with sausage that I haven't opened yet). My tuna salad for lunch was followed by cold chicken shish kebab for dinner. I did eat some asorted nuts for a nibble now and then, but otherwise I seemed to be quite restrained. The fact is that after a small blip yesterday, my blood glucose level was just 6.0mmol/l this morning, and that is rather good. It is also worth remembering that I did have a couple of big bottles of Cobra lager last night as well. I'm not sure, but I think I might have even lost a tiny bit of weight, but even if I didn't, I certainly haven't put any on for some time now.

  This morning I can almost convince myself I got a pretty fair night's sleep, and maybe I don't feel so bad this morning. I think I can only go as far as to say that I am waiting for some stupid movement to jar my ribs again, but at this time they don't seem to be causing any problem. Now if only it was warmer and sunnier, I think I could enjoy a walk in the park today. I shall probably go and see how it feels. I will walk in the Pool River Linear Park because it is almost on the level. It is actually a very, very gentle walk uphill towards Lower Sydenham - if it wasn't then the river wouldn't flow. The difference in height between the entrance to the park by Poundstretcher and Wickes, and Lower Sydenham is probably no more than 10ft, and is generally not noticeable, but it is there.
  I finish on an enigma - what does this sign really mean ? Subway open is simple enough - providing you know there is a subway, and know where it goes to. I assume the pictogram of the bicycle, and the 21, means that cyclist should keep to a minimum of 21 miles per hour as they go through the narrow subway so they knock as many people as possible flying. The W over an inverted W probably means Waterlink Way to those who know it exists. For others it might mean you can go Wee Wee in the subway (as some do). I can't work out what the jogger symbol means.