Saturday 4th July 2020

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Saturday 4th July 2020

Lockdown day 103

09:19 BST

Yesterday was a far nicer day than the day before (and maybe the day before that !). There were plenty of sunny spells, and it felt mildly warm. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it didn't last that long, and from 5pm there were a series of mostly light showers. The fortunate bit was that those showers were perfect for watering the garden. The maximum temperature was around 20 to 21° C.

I've decided to start using the Met Office forecast for the time being. I prefer the BBC format, but the BBC's accuracy has taken a nose dive since lockdown. Presumably they don't have enough staff available to open the window, and see what it really looks like outside. I'm not entirely sure that even the Met Office have got today quite right.

I'm fairly sure there was no drizzle at 6am this morning. I was awake for a short while around 6am and I saw no rain, and there is no sign the ground has been wet since last night. I am not completely familiar with the symbols used on the Met Office forecast, but today I see a whole lot of what I take to be heavy, dark grey cloud. I would not say they cloud was dark grey at the moment, and although it is dull outside, it is far from gloomy. Whatever the exact definition is, it seems it will be the same all day long. The only variation is the predicted drizzle at midday. At just 19° C it is not going to be much better than tepid today. Tomorrow may start dull, but it should brighten up from mid morning to give sunny spells. From midday the sunny spells may give way to non stop sunshine (although the BBC reckons it will stay overcast all day). The maximum temperature is currently predicted to be 21° C - a little warmer than today, but a disappointment if the afternoon is going to be drenched in sunshine.
a short walk

Before embarking on my daily exercise there were a couple of visits I had to make. The first was to the pharmacy to pick up my repeat prescription. Unfortunately there was another mishap, and it wasn't ready in time. I noted that the idiot was back behind the counter, and I think he disrupts the smooth flow of everyone else's work. I will be trying again on Monday morning. On my way back I made my second visit. It was to the corner shop for a couple of bottles of pop, and more specifically to get the latest New Scientist magazine.

I didn't feel like walking too far yesterday. My feet still felt a bit tender after wearing the bad boots the day before. The prime purpose of the walk was to hopefully see Angela, and for that it could have been a lot shorter, but I did manage to push it up to almost two and a half miles (2.464 miles). As I mentioned yesterday, I didn't really expect to see Angela. On Friday she often goes shopping during her lunchbreak, and then there was my win on the Premium Bonds. By some mystical voodoo a win on anything like that seems to sap my luck to win anything else !

I didn't take any pictures on my walk, but I did shoot this bit of video. I was halfway through Ladywell Fields, on my way heading to the Ladywell exit of the park, when there was a sudden roar from the direction of the hospital. I saw a small amount of vapour appear above the trees, and my first thought was that something had happened to the big Oxygen distribution point which has tow huge cylinders, plus control equipment. I then thought that unlikely because the vapour dispersed while the roaring noise continued. My next thought was that it was a compressed air cylinder being decompressed. The roar of it was still loud even when I got to Ladywell. I then looped back around and went down the path that runs past the back of the hospital. Eventually I found the source, and a place on the river bank where I could actually see it. It was a release of steam from the boiler house. I would speculate that it was a safety valve that had opened, and then got stuck open, although some sort of planned maintenance can't be ruled out.

After waiting on Angela's favourite park bench, sitting in nice sunshine, for about 15 minutes, I gave up, and went straight home. I noted that they were still queuing outside the Tesco Express store as I passed it. I thought it might have quietened down by now like the Sainsbury's Local shop has near Catford station. I could have extended my walk at that point by walking into the middle of Catford, but my feet felt sore after the damage I had done to them the previous day. It may have been a wise move to stop when I did because when I got my boots off I could only see a couple of mildly red areas. Had I gritted my teeth and walked more I could have done more damage.

Like the day before, that walk seemed a bit like hard work, but it was something else. It was really like a sort of wheeziness that wasn't wheeziness, or maybe was just mild wheeziness. It was more a case of my breathing felt different to usual - sort of needing just a little more effort. I think the problem actually lies in my rib cage, and it's assorted muscles and ligaments. I am still going through odd chest pains that happen when I make certain movements with my arms. Putting on a t-short can trigger a pain, but oddly enough, not taking the t-shirt off again. Doing washing up, with my arms held out over the sink is another trigger. The reason why this might be bullshit is that a couple of squirts from my blue inhaler did seem to help - just a shame I didn't use it before the walk instead of several hours later.

I am eating eat a bad mix of stuff lately. When I got home from my walk I had a couple of chicken salad rolls I had bought from Tesco the previous day. They were made with semi wholemeal bread, and some say that has less sugar in it. They may not have spiked my blood glucose. I decided on a slightly more healthy dinner of almost fat free pork medalions with mushrooms and bean sprouts. The pork was rather dry and chewy, but it wasn't that bad.

The only trouble was that I decided to have dessert before the main meal. I have to admit I was in a funny mood yesterday. The previous day I knew there was a very good reason why I didn't see Angela - it was raining at the critical time - but it still felt like a good achievement. After all, it included some hill climbing, and I explored some roads I had never been down before. Yesterday there was also a fair reason I didn't get to see Angela, but the walk didn't really have anything else to bring any satisfaction. It was work rather than pleasure.

There were other depressing things gnawing away at the back of my mind. There was the ever present annoyance at having to wear a mask on almost empty trains, and very lightly loaded buses. That has been added to by the pub re-openings scheduled for today. I really would like to be able to go to a pub, ideally with Angela at lunchtime as much as any other reason or time, but all the restrictions put on the openings just make the whole thing pointless. It is worse than pointless, it is like teasing a starving man with food - you can see it, but you can't have it. Some will make appointments to sit in a soulless pub for an hour or two, but increasingly people are saying that without the spontaneity of being able to walk in on the spur of the moment it is just not worth the bother. Many pubs are going to go broke if it keeps on too long.

All this put me in the mood for ice cream for dessert, before dinner ! It was an interesting ice cream. I can't remember the name, but it was allegedly just 360 calories per pot, and only used plant based sweetener - presumably Stevia. It seemed pretty nice, and it's low (or zero) sugar content means that in theory it should be the best option for me when I get the occasional urge for ice cream.

In order to try and keep my blood glucose down I didn't drink any ales last night, but I did drink both Lager and Guinness - although not mixed.....hmmm, could be anither mad experiment sometime. The lager was the last two tins of the opened 12 pack of Löwenbräu I had (I still have one unopened pack). For a bit of novelty I put a splash of lime cordial in it. Lager and Lime used to be a popular drink back in the times when most lagers were pretty nasty, and keg beers even worse. I am not sure if it is still drunk today. The lime was certainly not needed for the Löwenbräu to be very nice, but it was nice.

After drinking the last two cans of lager (I didn't want to open the other pack just yet) I then had a can of Guinness. When I had drunk that my brain was probably just softened enough to try a daring experiment. Once upon a time, and maybe still current, there is a Goth drink of Guinness and Blackcurrant (actually Goths will drink anything and everything with with added blackcurrant). I only have some Apple and Blackcurrant cordial, and I added a splash of that to a can of Guinness. It was not awful, but I don't think it improved the Guinness in any way. It was probably worth it for the experience, and I might try it with just plain Blackcurrant cordial one day...but I am in no rush to do so !

I had a bit of a stomach ache after I went to bed, and I had visions of being up into the early hours dashing to the toilet, but ultimately it turned out to be trapped wind, and is soon cleared. I think I was fast asleep by 11pm, and maybe even a bit earlier. I slept well until 2am (approx) when I had something that has no description that I am aware of. It was like a sort of inverse nightmare. I had a dream that it was 6am, and I had woken up feeling really good on a bright and warm morning. As I lay in bed I had a stretch, and closed my eyes as I had an early morning yawn. Unfortunately I opened them again for real, and saw reality. It was actually 2am, I ached in assorted places, and my right hand was totally numb where I think I had been sleeping on it I also needed a pee. It wasn't long before I got back to sleep again, but I have no idea if I returned to my happier fantasy dream world.

This morning my blood glucose is 7.5mmo/l, and that is a lot less than I was expecting, and pretty fair. My weight was once again bad news, and maybe my blood pressure was not quite as low as it tends to be these days. My temperature was it's usual sub-human ! I really don't know where on the scale between terrible and wonderful to describe how I feel. I sort of hope that today may be one of those days where I might start off walking feeling sub-par, but actually quite good once I get moving.

If I can avoid the drizzle that might fall I think it is my intention of going for some sort of walk today. If I don't I have plenty of other things to do. I seemed to have developed a back log of laundry to do after doing none since the last proper sunny day we had - whenever that was. I really ought to do some work in the garden soon. Maybe today, when it is not going to be that warm, may be a good day to do some. I think I shall just make up today as I go along.