The weather forecast for yesterday was
mostly fantasy. The did indeed start bright, but
clouds thickened, and made it seem quite dull
before the morning was over. From midday, and for
the next few hours, there were a few bright sunny
spells, two or three passing showers (on a day
that was supposed to be dry), and one quite heavy
shower. The latter was definitely not mentioned in
the forecast ! Later on it did brighten up, but
the various later revisions of forecast the kept
adding a shower at random times in the hope that
it might getting something right. They were the
times when it seemed the sunniest. The afternoon
temperature was 19° C, and maybe a degree or so
warmer for a while. It cooled quite quickly, even
before sunset, to give quite a cool night.
At 6am it seemed quite bright
out, but it is now looking a lot duller. If
today's forecast matches reality it could be a
very dull, and rather cool day. Maybe 8am and
9am will feature some sunny intervals - the
latest revision of the forecast has kept then
in. With an afternoon temperature of just 18°
C, and probably not even a single ray of
sunshine to take the edge off it, it has all
the ingredients for a bloody miserable day.
Tomorrow may be two degrees warmer (20° C),
but under a grey sky, with a possible threat
of rain, tomorrow may be nothing to look
forward to. In fact it is looking like the
first week of July is going to be pretty poor.
I've just taken a break to go shopping
in Aldi while it is quiet there. I kept
expecting to see one of the sunny spells the
BBC weather forecast predicted - there were
none ! However I did feel some fine rain
blowing in the wind. I wondered if the BBC, or
MeteoGroup, who now provide their forecasts,
had somehow mixed up rain and sunshine. So
recent forecast would suggest they have. That
prompted me to find the Met Office forecasts
web page. It tells a different story to the
screenshot of the BBC's web page.
I don't like the format of this
forecast, but if it proves to be more accurate
I might start using it instead of the BBC's.
It seems to have ignored the very fine rain I
felt just before 9am, but it is certainly much
more optimistic. Until I saw the sunny
intervals predicted from midday, and possibly
full sunshine at 3pm, I was not going to go
out, but maybe I may do now.
The sky
looked a bit grim, but it was not supposed
to rain, and so I pulled my boots on,
gritted my teeth, and went for a walk
yesterday. It took me a bit of time to
convince myself to go, and I started out
fairly late compared to most of my walk.
It deemed it a needed walk, but there was
no need break any records. I decided that
if I could just walk 2 miles it would be
good enough, but hoped I might manage 3
miles.
The more I walked, the better I
felt - up to a certain limit. Considering
the weather had turned against me it
seemed crazy to go even further. During my
walk there were a couple of sunny
intervals that featured hot sunshine, but
they only lasted a few minutes each. I
also walked through 2 or 3 passing
showers. They were just light rain, but
their duration was sufficient to start
getting me wet.
When I got to a point when there
was almost no shelter nearby the heavens
opened, and cold heavy rain pelted down on
me. All I could do was to try and increase
my pace, and walk to the blue tunnel under
the railway (I have shown pictures of it,
and even a video in the past). It was
typical for the gods to have their laugh
by stopping the rain a minute or so after
I was under the shelter of that arch under
the railway.
Maybe I should have seen sense at
that point and turned around to walk home
as fast as possible, but I didn't. I was
sort of feeling OK. Most of the aches and
pains, plus stiffness, had faded away
while walking, and even my feet were not
complaining much. I did wonder just how
far I dare go, but I ended it with a loop
around Lower Sydenham station. It took my
total mileage up to 4.1 miles according to
my Huawei phone, and that seemed to show a
quite accurate track of where I had
walked. However my old Cubot Dinosaur
phone, running as a check phone, somehow
added an extra quarter mile to that !
Once again I documented some of
the parts of my walk that seemed
relevant in another low budget
video. A few words are missing
because of wind noise, but most
of it seems understandable...I
think/hope. The only missing bit
would be about halfway through.
It concerned getting out of the
river after I had jumped down
onto the shallow bit of river. I
couldn't video get back onto the
path again because I needed two
hands....or actually I didn't
because there was nothing to
hold on to. On the other hand
having two hands free would have
been very useful if I fell as I
expected to. I had to do some
twists and turns that even a
ballerina would be proud of,
while balancing on the rocks. It
did feel highly precarious, but
it went without a hitch. I might
try it again one day when I am
feeling stupid !
This is one of those pictures that
would have looked so much better if I
had taken it on one of my big DSLR
cameras. I could have got the teasels
in sharp focus against a blurred
background. It would have made them
stand out instead of merging into the
background. A 3D picture would also
have done the job.
When I took this picture I thought
"that's a bit odd" ! The sign marks
the boundary with Beckenham. A bit
further down the road, by just a
hundred feet or so, is another sign
that shows you are entering Lewisham
(circled in red). I later found out
that the border between the two
actually goes down the middle of the
road between these two signs, and so
both are correct - provided you are on
the right side of the road !
I had
passed these two on the other side of
the river on my way towards Lower
Sydenham station, and on the way back
they had moved to the other side of
the river, and a few hundred feet
upstream. I know there are fish a few
miles down river, and I have seen
fishermen there, but I have never seen
anyone attempt to fish this far up the
river. It didn't seem that had caught
anything, but I believe that is not
the important part of fishing.
On the walk back home there was
one more brief burst of sunshine, and
I had to walk through another passing
shower - fortunately very light rain.
By the time I reached the Sainsbury's
Local shop I knew my walk would be
just over 4 miles, and I thought it
deserved a reward. I popped into the
shop, and treated myself to a couple
of sandwiches, some Sharon fruits, and
a small tube of Halo Top low(ish)
calorie/sugar ice cream.
It was good to get home and get
my boots off. My feet were aching a
bit, but it was not any specific bit
aching, and there was no visible
damage. The toe that gave me some
severe discomfort a week or so ago has
still not fully healed, but it is only
waiting for the scabs to dry up and
fall off. I didn't put any covering on
it, and it gave no trouble at all
yesterday.
There was one thing I didn't do
when I got home, and it rather annoyed
me. I forgot to weigh myself before I
ate or drunk anything. I was hoping to
see a nice low figure, but I had eaten
the tub of ice cream before I
remembered, and there was no point in
weighing myself then. I was going to
do other stuff, mostly "processing" my
video and pictures, after eating the
ice cream, but I felt very weary. I
lay on my bed to read, but very soon I
was fast asleep.
I am unsure how long I slept
for, but I doubt it was more than an
hour - although after a couple of poor
nights of sleep any amount was good.
Before I started on the video I wanted
another bite to eat. If the ice cream
was breakfast then I wanted lunch. I
could have eaten the sandwiches I
bought, but I decided on a more
healthy option - or healthy in some
aspects. I had two Sharon fruits, and
a Pink Lady apple. That would increase
my my blood glucose loading a bit, but
the vitamins and fibre would be good
for me - or so they say.
Later on I had my dinner
slightly later than usual (by about 20
minutes !). It was cold lamb shish
kebab - the spare I had ordered with
Saturday night's takeaway. It would
have been nicer of the meat was hot,
but I still enjoyed it. I then settled
own to watch a bit of TV. There was a
bit of a delay before I could relax.
Freeview have added a few channels,
and moved a few services around, and
it was time for a retune. That was
quick enough, but sorting out the
channels into an order that suits me,
and deleting unwanted channels was a
chore.
By the time I was ready to sit
back and relax the only thing I could
think of watching was a couple of
episodes of 'Allo 'Aloo. At 9pm I
switched channels to watch a fairly
old episode of Have I Got New For You.
It was interesting in as much as it
was while Trump was starting his
campaign to become American president,
and was already spouting complete
bollocks. It seems a wonder he was
ever elected, although those in the
know say that Clinton, his main
opponent, had/has just as many screws
loose.
At 10pm I brushed my teeth, and
went to bed. Despite my long afternoon
snooze, I only managed to read a page
or two before my eyes were drooping. I
would be very surprised if I were not
fast asleep well before 11pm. I woke
up for a wee several times in the
night, but on the whole I seemed to
sleep well. I'm sure I woke up far too
early just before 6am, but no matter
how I tried I could not get back to
sleep. At least it was useful to be up
early so I could get to Aldi early.
I think I probably got to Aldi
by 8.30am, and it was very quiet -
just like I like it. I was home again
just before 9am. I bought a selection
of supplies including some to consume
soon, and others, like cans of
assorted beans (not baked beans) to
keep for a rainy (brexit) day. I'm not
quite sure why I was stupid enough to
buy a couple of packs of sandwiches,
but it effectively meant I had to eat
the sandwiches I had bought from
Sainsbury's yesterday. I have to say I
didn't fully enjoy them because a
slight taste of guilt.
Having eaten those sandwiches I
suddenly feel tired, and I could
happily have an early siesta. It also
means I feel even less about going
out. When the Met Office forecast
predicted sunny spells it seemed like
it might be worthwhile at least going
to the park to see if Angela will be
there today. Unless it is sunny at the
start of her lunch break it might be
unlikely, but for the sake of a less
than 1.5 mile walk - in fact possibly
under 1 mile if I go there, and back
by the most direct walk - I will never
know unless I go there.
The only other thing I might,
or should do today, is a bit of
gardening. The flowers in the little
window boxes outside the front windows
are starting to fail. They might do
better if taken out the pots and
directly planted in the garden. I
probably ought to do that, and to make
sure they are well watered.
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