It seems like today could be similar to yesterday, but with one minor change. This morning is forecast to feature light rain. There has indeed been some rain, and maybe there will be more. Maybe it is actually raining at the moment, but the rain is so sparse that it is barely wetting the ground. The latest revision of the forecast shows the chance of rain to drop from 86% at 9am to 26% at 10am. From 10am the cloud should start to thin a bit, and by 2pm we could get sunny spells for the rest of the daylight hours. With luck the sunny spells may start a bit earlier like they did yesterday. The afternoon temperature might be a degree higher, 21° C, than yesterday. Tomorrow is currently predicted to feature almost solid sunshine, but surprisingly the afternoon temperature may be no higher than today.
   
I don't think I mentioned yesterday to avoid making promises I might break, but I was quite keen to get out for a walk to get my joints working again, and to see how my sore toe was doing. I'm not sure why I decided that I wanted to do a bit of hill climbing, but it was probably some desire to burn a few extra calories. (I don't think the walking app I use on my phone to plot my route, takes into account the extra effort involved in walking up hills).

  I wanted to get out a bit earlier than I did (midday) in case I got held up by another long rambling phone call from my friend Lee. Fortunately he didn't phone because my progress was slowed by waiting for my freshly washed hair to dry. I am not sure why I bothered to wash my hair - it would soon get damp with sweat again. I am not even sure why I had a good scrub in the shower either. I was not planning to meet anyone, and I was actively avoiding coming to close to anyone.

   One thing I did do that was unusual was to have a couple of puffs from my asthma (blue) inhaler before I went out. The air didn't feel as thick as it had been the previous few days, and I wondered if that inhaler would make any difference. It is difficult to tell if it did or didn't. I'll attempt to explain why it might have, and why it might not have, later.

  Before coming on to the actual walk it is worth mentioning two things that happened before I set off. The first was a "red bill" from EDF concerning my electricity bill. It was a reminder that I still hadn't paid the last bill, and quoted the amount I owed - which was actually half of what the unpaid bill was. I pay by standing order, and which before having a smart meter installed, would pay my average bill by the end of the year - some months were in credit, and some in debt but it evened out in the end. My last standing order payment paid half of what was originally owed, and paying off the remaining amount would not break the bank. I probably will do just that - maybe even today, but I could stall even longer, and with my reduced demand for electricity in summer, my standing order would make it all up in another month or two - and then it is possible I would go into credit.

  A happier event took place just as I was going out. My neighbour from next door was going out at the same time, and we got talking. It was the first time we have gossiped across the fence in ages. One amusing tale she told me was about her recent bus journeys since masks were made mandatory for public transport. She said that everybody sitting on the top deck of the bus had masks, but most had pulled them down to chat on their mobile phones ! I found that amusing. My neighbour also remarked that it looks as if I had shed several stone since whenever she was comparing it too. That was good to hear because the scales say otherwise, but I am aware of a pleasant change in my body shape. Once again it does seem feasible that fat is being replaced by more compact, but just as heavy, muscle.
  My walk took me to the top of the hill again. As you can see, it was still very cloudy, and the view looks very flat. For a while now I have been mentioning that going up hills has become easier. Yesterday the long climb up from the middle of Catford, with the last 3 or 5 hundred yards being the steepest, seemed to be merely medium hard work instead of bloody hard work ! I am unsure if the couple of puffs from my rarely used inhaler helped or not. Maybe it did make my breathing a bit easier, but I was hardly out of breath the previous time I did this bit of walk. Mostly it was easier on the leg muscles, and that has been part of a slow progression over the last 3 or 4 months.
  I came out of the park by a different entrance this time, and took the opportunity to take a snap of the house I used to live in from approx 1969 to the end of October 1983 when I moved out after buying the house I still live in now. The old house is the one nearest the camera at the end of a short terrace. These relatively new build houses were probably built on land cleared by a German bomb during WW2.
  My walk took me down an alleyway that links two roads - one of them, the one I had just left, is otherwise a dead end. I don't recall realising that I was on the Green Chain Walk previously, but yesterday I looked up and saw the sign in the middle of the picture. It is infuriating that all signs relating to the Green Chain Walk seem to be mostly in obscure places. I cannot recall passing any signs to say I was on it when I saw this sign, and at the end of the alley there was not sign to say the Green Chain Walk continued to the left, or to the right.
  I don't care what the sign claims, I know it is just me and my shadow ! Even more so during this pandemic lockdown. I'm not sure it is a very nice sign.....imagine passing it very late at night when on your own, and suddenly you read that you are not alone ! It is enough to scare the crap out of anybody.

  I was going to go into Poundland at the end of my walk, but there was a short queue outside it, and I didn't have the patience to wait. Walking by there did lengthen my walk a little bit, and that was good because it was not until I got home that I spotted the devastating news that I had accidently left the tracker app on my phone set to kilometres instead of miles. I thought I had been doing so well until I switched back to miles, and the truth that my walk was slightly less than 3 miles was revealed. On the other hand, that was a fair walk after being lazy for a week while my sore toe settled down.

  When I got home that skinned toe was still reasonably comfortable under it's sticking plasters, but it hadn't allowed me to forget it. What I did forget was to weigh myself as soon as I had got home, and taken off my boots and outdoor clothes. I didn't remember until I had already eaten some lunch, and by then it was too late. Lunch was a bit of a mess. It was going to be no more than some grilled bacon, but then I had an insane idea to use up the second packet of rather crappy flavoured beans I had bought from Aldi the previous weekend. There were two things wrong with those beans - they didn't taste than nice due to excess cumin to make them taste more "Mexican", and they seemed to have a lot of sugar in them. Oh well, they have all gone now, and will never return.

  During the afternoon I did my usual after a walk - being lazy when I wasn't "processing" photos I had taken along the walk. For some reason I felt what could be described as being "edgy" in the afternoon. Maybe it was guilt after eating the bacon and the beans. Maybe it was the feeling of still having energy after realising my walk was shorter than I thought it was. Maybe it was that sign about being alone playing on the deeper parts of my mind. Maybe I just fancied a tastier dinner than I had ingredients for in the fridge.

  I found I wanted fish and chips, and it was a very strong want that seemed to have no sane, or insane inspiration. I gave in and ordered a takeaway - fish and chips for dinner yesterday, and a chicken shish kebab for dinner tonight. As usual the portion of chips seemed huge. I suppose potatoes are cheap, and the chip shops want to give the impression that they are generous to help retain customers. Yesterday I made a point of only eating half the chips, and so today I have a half portion of chips waiting to be reheated (in my mini oven/grill rather than microwave) and eaten at some time.

  Being a Saturday there was no Star Trek on, and so I checked to see if there was any other entertainment on TV last night. Almost every channel was showing something awful, but Talking Pictures TV was just about to show "Angels One Five". It was film made in 1952, and shows part of the Battle Of Britain from the perspective of one small unit. I have to say I enjoyed it, and it was a splendid example of how a film can be good because it has a proper plot, and the only "special effects" were very much part of what was going on at the time, and were not overdone for so called dramatic effect. In other words it was a proper English film, and not a crap Hollywood movie.

  As seems to be the current trend I was in bed, and asleep soon after 10pm last night. Once again I woke up around 1am, and I thought I was going to be awake for half the night again, but last night (or should I say this morning ?) I did manage to fall asleep again after, perhaps, half an hour. I guess I got a fair night's sleep, and I was up bright and early this morning....or something like that.

  I don't think I will be able to get an accurate weight on the scales this morning because my morning poo(s) has not arrived yet, and I have drunk at least half a litre since getting up. However, to my surprise and delight, my blood glucose is not as high as expected after those chips, and beans I ate yesterday. It was 7.7mmol/l, and while I would strongly prefer it to be 6.8, it is very close to my current monthly average, and that seems fair enough. My temperature and blood pressure are both typically a bit lower than average for normal humans.

  With half a portion of chips to eat I think it is probably imperative that I get out for a walk today, and ideally something over three miles. At the moment it is quite gloomy looking outside, and that puts me off. If I wait for another 3 or 4 hours the promised sunny spells might happen, and that would make a walk a lot more attractive. I think I may replay a walk I did a few weeks back when I walked to the top of Blythe Hill, and then head towards the Lower Sydenham/Bell Green entrance of The River Pool Linear park. I'll then head home through the park.