Once again there is a Weather Warning that slightly contradicts the main forecast....Errr, I just realised that the Weather Warning I thought was for yesterday is actually for today, and now the current forecast is almost consistent with it. That being the case, I think it likely that today is going to be very similar to today, and also with a few possible errors. The latest weather warning is in tow parts this morning. The first warns of heavy rain from 3am this morning until midday. The error here is that this is generalised for the whole of the Greater London Area. As far as I am aware, this morning's rain has been fairly light so far. There was even 27 seconds of sunshine ! The second part of the weather warning is for those thunderstorms from midday until about 9pm. We had a full dress rehearsal for that yesterday, and now it looks like it will be a repeat performance. Probably the only sure thing is that the temperature will probably be 20° C this afternoon. Tomorrow will probably return to sunny intervals with just a medium chance of a shower at 1pm...maybe.
  I thought I would leave this screenshot of the Weather Warning untouched since I posted it yesterday - it is for today it seems !

  I wanted to get out for a walk yesterday, but I only intended it to be a short walk to test how my damaged toe was doing. I found the toe was still uncomfortable enough to take away most of the pleasure of the walk, but it wasn't so bad that it made the walk really painful. It did seem to be getting worse as I approached home, but that may just have been that I had stopped fighting it.

  Two, perhaps three other things made this walk less pleasurable. All were weather related. It was generally a rather gloomy walk. The sun did almost show a few times, but it was mostly grey out. It felt very sticky out. I almost enjoy a good sweat when under a hot sun, but yesterday just felt really humid. The final thing was that it started raining when I was still 5 minutes from home. That alone put me off trying to extend this walk.

  The only good points were that I haven't walked this route for a little while, and the dull and threatening weather kept the casual users of the park away. One particular interesting thing was walking through the grounds of Lewisham Hospital. I noted one or two people who looked like doctors had a facemask around their neck, and not over their mouth and nose. Most people, and I passed quite a few, had no visible facemasks, or anything like gloves. Just one person, and he looked like a toilet cleaner, was wearing a face mask and gloves. Apart from that one anomaly, it rather reinforces my belief that in normal life masks are of no benefit except under circumstances where social distancing is impossible - rush hour trains and buses - and only rush hour trains and buses !
  I found this an interesting sight. From left to right it starts with a tree that looks bare, as if it is winter. Next to that is a tree in blossom that looks like spring. The nest tree is bright red like it is autumn. The trees in the background, with their full load of leaves represent summer.
  There is a large area of shingle exposed while the river was quite low yesterday, and these rats were scurrying about on it. From above (I was standing on a bridge over the river) they looked almost cute.
  Although the water level looked low while I was in the park, it is evident that it has been a lot higher judging by the amount of debris trapped by the rocks of the weir.
  It's been some time since I last walked through the old (and now disused) graveyard around St Mary's church. Following the example set by my friend Patricia (currently stuck in Argentina until travel restrictions are lifted) I said hello to all the dead people.
  I guess this was a sort of act of defiance. On my final journey by train I was bombarded by announcements saying face masks were mandatory for travel on trains (and buses*). It did not say face masks were mandatory for standing on railway station platforms. So I boldly stepped onto the platform to snap this picture of Ladywell station.

* My friend Sue has a different take on this facemask business. She reckons that if the bus driver is not wearing a mask, she does not have to either. She tells me that so far she has not seen a single driver with a mask on.

  Although I describe my walk as sweaty it was really more "sticky" than "sweaty". I obviously did sweat, but I wasn't really out for long enough to start dehydrating. It must have been the final visit to the toilet that did the trick. I weighed myself as son as I got home, and was very happy to see my weight was rather less than I thought it was. It was still a fair bit higher, when measured in units of 100 grams, than when I have come home from a long walk in the sun, and probably very dehydrated, but it gave hope for the future, and confirmation that the plan is working - even if at a snails pace.

  I did have some lunch soon after I got home, but I think it was just a couple of pieces of fruit. That didn't satisfy me enough for what was to be a boring afternoon. By then the rain was falling freely, and working in the garden was pointless. The grey light coming through the windows sucked any inspiration to do anything indoors. By 3pm I had a hunger that was based purely on boredom, but still seeming as real as any other hunger. I ended up having an extra meal.

  That extra meal was some mixed beans in a Mexican sauce. It was like a cheap and nasty version of Heinz "Creationz" sachets of beans (although the "Mexican version of "Creationz" is pretty crap compared to other flavours). In one sense a very high fibre meal could be useful, but this one did seem to have a lot of sugar in it. I'm glad I only bought one sachet of it from Aldi because it wasn't not good on several levels - the second one being the sauce. It was thin, and over flavoured with cheap cumin.

  When it came to dinner time I tried to be more careful. I had a pack of skinless chicken thighs in the fridge, but when I took it out I noted that it was well past it's use by date. Upon opening it I found it was starting to get a bit whiffy, but I judged it not too far gone to use provided I cooked it well. I cooked half the chicken thighs in the mini oven and grill, and the other half in the microwave. Both were heavily seasoned. The half I cooked in the microwave were in a container with a clip on air tight cover. It was very air tight ! As soon as it cooled off the top bowed inwards as if it were vacuum packed - which it essentially is. I'll be using that chicken today.

  I had the grilled chicken with a pile of salad leaves and some chopped spring onions. I would have added some tomato, but I didn't think I had any tomatoes. It was a tasty dinner with just one fault. I had used several spices, including two types containing chilli flakes, on the chicken when cooking it, and I expected it to be quite hot. It wasn't, or didn't seem to be, and so I sprinkled on some hot pepper sauce. That livened it up a bit. It wasn't long after eating it that I think the spices started doing their stuff (aided by the hot pepper sauce). I started sweating very strongly. It was such a strong sweat that I wondered if I had a fever, but my thermometer said no. It was obviously just a case of spices, a raised blood glucose level, and the humidity still being high.

  I wanted to get up early this morning, and so I tried not to get to bed that late last night. As usual I did some reading in bed, but I was probably asleep soon after 9.30pm. I slept well until around 1am when I woke up, and couldn't get back to sleep until almost 4am ! That was annoying ! I still managed to get up, and shower relatively early this morning. I wanted to go to Tesco before it got too busy, and when I got there just before 9am there was no queue, and not that many people in my way inside the store.

  Before continuing I must explain something. I have already mentioned, possibly even yesterday, that I still follow Angela's infrequent posts on a well known social media web site, and that I have noticed a small change in what and how she posts. Yesterday she put up two posts that were different in that in some way they were more frivolous than her recent posts. While in Tesco I noticed an "artisanal" vodka that was on special offer, and was £4 cheaper than Angela's favourite vodka - Smirnoff. I took a picture of the bottles and price label, and sent it to Angela. To my surprise she answered me almost by return. It was a rather bland "than you" (with no added kisses as would have been usual once), but it is the forst time she has acknowledged one of my messages since mid April. It's not much, but it feels sort of good.

  I didn't buy any vodka in Tesco, but I did buy a big bottle of their own label  "Special Reserve" whisky. I had principally gone in for cheese, and I did indeed buy several bits of cheese. One other thing I was particularly looking for was big sticking plasters. Many places, but by that I probably mean the old 99p shop, Poundland, and Poundstretcher tend to only stock small sticking plasters, and they are too small for skinned toes ! I do have some wide sticking plaster that can be cut to length, but it is running out. Tesco had something similar, but it was in pre-cut lengths - maybe a bit too short for my needs. They also had a some very big plasters that may be even better, there is only 5 of them in a packet.

  Apart from my sore toe, I have only one other complaint this morning - one that comes and goes. It is my right knee. I don't think it like this damp weather. I did have a bit of backache when I first got out of bed, but that seemed to fade away once I got moving. Apart from it seeming to be stuck between two limits, and not heading down at the moment, my weight is satisfactory. My blood glucose could be considered good not too bad considering some of the stuff I have eaten recently. It was 8.0mmol/l this morning - rather higher than I am happy with, but nothing to worry about provided it starts going down again - although that might be difficult to achieve on a boring and miserable day like to today (thanks to the weather).

  One more word about Angela. One thing she posted on social media yesterday was that she said she had been trying to take a photo of a squirrel carrying a whole digestive biscuit. That implied she had been in the park during her lunchbreak, but the time it was posted suggested she has brought her lunchbreak forward an hour. If I want to try and meet up with her "by accident" I'll have to bear that in mind. Next Monday is currently forecast to be warm, dry and sunny. That might be a good time to see if I can find her.

  I can't really see myself doing much today. I did go out in some very light rain when I went to Tesco, but I don't fancy going out now the rain is starting to get heavier. The garden is almost saturated, and will be getting even wetter and muddier, and so I don't think I'll be wanting to do anything out there today ! Maybe I will go for a short walk in the rain if I am bored enough. It could almost be exciting, more so during a thunderstorm, but the greatest problem is that any rainwear I have just gets too hot and clammy because it does not breathe.  I can foresee hat I will be trying to catch up on some of my lost sleep, and doing lots more reading today.