The weather forecast got it wrong
yesterday. Instead of it being a very dull, bland,
and overcast day, it was actually quite bright !
The start of the morning was admittedly dull, but
by mid to late morning big holes were opening up
in the clouds revealing bright blue patches. At
that time there did seem to be a cloud covering
the sun a lot of them time, but early afternoon
saw some nice periods of sunshine. That continues
into the evni9ng. It was a warm afternoon, 23° C,
and the evening felt like a nice summers evening.
The forecast has changed a bit
since I took the screenshot above, but main
features have not changed much. There was some
rain earlier this morning, but it seems to be
dry again now, and the sun is doing it's best
to burn a hole through the clouds. It may not
make it because there is a lot of cloud up
there. I think the forecast is best read to
say there will be more showers today, and
probably when you least expect them. Both the
BBC and Met Office reckon the afternoon will
be wetter, and that there will probably be
some thunder and lightning tonight - the BBC
reckon there will be more than the Met Office.
It seems like it will be a slightly cool day
with the latest revision to the forecast
saying a high of just 19° C. Tomorrow maybe
mostly overcast with a possibility of a short
sunny spells, and a bigger chance of a couple
of showers later in the day.
The spare strimming wire, for my new
strimmer, that I mentioned yesterday, actually
turned up mid morning. That left me free to go
out for a walk late in the morning. A day of
rest had done wonders for all my aches and
pains, and that just left a few scars to heal.
Those scars, except for one I'll come to soon,
had no bearing on my ability to walk, and so I
went for what should have been a short walk.
I didn't want to overdo it, and it was
supposed to be more of a trial than a
purposeful walk, but once I got going it
seemed quite easy going. The only pain was
from one of my toes that had been chafed on an
earlier occasion. It was because of the
difficulty of getting more supplies while I
refuse to go into shops (because I don't want
to wear a mask), that I didn't take any
painkillers for this walk. I was really
expecting to walk less than half the distance
I did. I do wish I had spared a sticking
plaster for my sore toe though.
Things started to go wrong, or maybe
they started going right when I heard trains
hooting as they went through the park. My
initial plan was to try and walk to Ladywell
and back, but I spotted some railway workers
sitting by the track, and the most discrete
place to take a picture was from the bridge
that connects both sides of the park when it
crosses the railway. Having gone halfway over
the bridge to take that photo I decided I
might as well go the whole way, and do a turn
around the south end of the park. After
that I did the north end.
These are the
shoes/trainers I decided to wear. I
originally bought them from a sale in
Peacocks, and decided I rather liked them.
That was at least 10 years ago, and for
some reason I thought I would keep them
for best. Then I mostly forgot about them.
The left shoe is very comfortable, and the
right one two except for my club toes on
the right foot. I think "club toes is the
right description for toes that are
permanently bent, and the joint sticks
upwards. The middle toe of my right foot
was very raw and painful at the end of my
walk.
This is not the clearest picture of
a grasshopper, but it is the only one I
have ever been able to take (as far as I
can remember). It's bright green body has
come out slightly over exposed, and so
some of the detail is lost. What surprises
me is the length of it's feelers. They are
longer than it's body.
The acorns are starting to look
mature on this oak tree. The pointy thing
above it is an oak gall (I think). A wasp
(?) of some kind has laid it's eggs in
another acorn, and so the acorn is
deformed. It will contain lots of gallic
acid one of two ingredients for old
fashioned writing ink. The other
ingredient being iron.
The southern end of the park
contains an orchard. Apparently there used
to be an orchard there hundreds of years
ago when it was part of a private garden.
Now there are maybe 20 assorted fruit
trees growing there, and for the first
time I saw lot of fruit on the trees.
These are an unknown variety of pear.
What is surprising is that all the
fruit trees are open to any kids in the
park, and I am surprised they haven't been
stripped bare by now. I guess kids of
today just nick sweeties from the sweet
shop instead of going scrumping.
I am not expert, but I think these
look like conference pears. There should
have been plums and damsons in the orchard
too, but I am not too sure if it is too
early, or too late in the season to see
them..or maybe those trees are not mature
enough yet. All the trees were planted as
saplings maybe 5 years ago.
I found this London County Council
boundary marker in a corner of the park I
had never visited before. On the left,
beyond the chain link fence is the
railway. The park is on the right. Beyond
this marker would have been the old
Catford Greyhound Stadium. It is only
speculation but I think it marks the
boundary with the railway line. An act of
Parliament would have given the railway
company ownership and management of the
land it was built on, and out of control
of the council.
I noticed a new sticker on the
local postbox saying it was a priority
postbox. I gather this means it get a
collection every day except at the
weekend. Apparently some post boxes get
less than that. Disgusting !!! When I was
a kid there were collections, and deliver,
on a Sunday.
While 90% of my feet were
comfortable on my walk my middle toe, on
the right foot, was emphatically not ! I
must admit I have seen worse, but the
joint of this middle toe being chafed was
really rather painful. Without it I might
have stretched the walk to go even
further. That middle toe, and the one to
the left (and to a lesser extent the one
to the right) I think are are described as
clubbed. Socks would have prevented the
chafing to some extent, but there is
little room to add a sock when wearing
those white trainers. I should have used a
sticking plaster.
At the right time of year, when
the water is just right, and the
sun is shining in the right
direction, and if you
know where to look, plus with a
bit of patience, it is easy to
see fish in The River
Ravensbourne as it winds it's
way through the park. This view
is from the bridge over the
river next to where the railway
bridge takes the trains on the
Catford Loop Line over the park.
The first
thing I did when I got home from my
walk was to weight myself. Being
mostly idle the day before, and the
walk only being 2.6 miles, meant that
the reading the scales gave was
nothing spectacular. On the other hand
it wasn't bad even if it was a whole
kilogram higher than the best reading,
taken after a longer walk in hot
sunshine, a few weeks back. After
getting on the scales I took a picture
of my bloodied toe. Now I look at that
picture again it doesn't nearly a
tenth as bad as it felt, and to a
lesser extent, still feels this
morning.
After that I could relax and
have some lunch. My lunch was rather
selected for me by Iceland. I am glad
I don't buy fruit from there as a rule
because it seems to be poor quality -
or at least kept on the shelves when
it is starting to get over ripe.
Yesterday morning I discovered one of
a bag of Satsumas I had bought was
already green and mouldy, and several
others were soft and squidgy. I
salvaged just three good Satsumas from
that bag, and I had those, plus an
apple for my lunch. I also had a chunk
of cheese with them for a better
variety of taste.
For the rest of the afternoon I
alternated between resting and
"processing" the photos and video I
had taken. Finally it was dinner time,
and I treated myself to not one, but
two small steaks with salad. I really
should have just had one steak in this
time where I am trying to stay away
from shops for as long as possible,
but both steaks had half price
stickers on them, and were a few days
after their use by date....On the
other hand they said they had been
matured for 30 days, and I doubt a few
more days would have made much
difference. They were both very nice.
For some reason I can't recall
if my new strimmer was delivered just
before, or just after dinner, but it
was after dinner when I assembled it.
It seemed too late to try it out, and
I was going to do it this morning - if
it isn't, or hasn't been raining. I
watched TV for an hour or two before
going to bed at about 8.30pm. I read
for perhaps half an hour before
turning the light out, and tried to go
to sleep.
I had been comfortable just
laying on my back reading, but as soon
as I turned over to go to sleep I
found two sore spots. Although I still
can't see any bruise, I still have a
very sort spot approximately on my
right buttock. It is actually more on
the side of the buttock, but I know of
no name that describes that area. The
other sore area was that toe on my
right foot. Sometimes it seemed that
the most comfortable position for one
area was the most uncomfortable for
the other. I eventually git to
sleep, but both areas would cause me
pain in the night. I don't think I
slept that well last night.
This morning there was good
news. My weight seems to have stayed
down, and, fingers crossed, although
my weight will always bob up and down,
day by day, it seems the units digit
stays the same, and and it is 1kg less
than, say, a week ago. I think all te
fruit I am eating lately is keeping my
blood glucose up a bit, but it was
less this morning than it was
yesterday, and yesterday was lower
than I expected. Even my blood
pressure seems to staying very stably
low for the past few months (barring
occasional freak days).
My main plan was to strim my
lawn, and maybe a few other areas
today, but with the grass probably
still wet from some earlier light
rain, and the potential for more rain,
I am not sure if I will do it today.
What I may do is to give it a quick
whizz to see how the machine feels. Of
course if it seems like much quicker
work than I imagine I may well do a
lot more, but I'll just take it as it
comes. I might possible go for a walk
today. There are a few hours in the
afternoon when it may not rain, or if
it does it might be very light rain. I
may go out for a walk and take a
chance that I won't get drowned in a
torrential downpour. On the other hand
being lazy, and catching up on a bit
of last night;s lost sleep wouldn't be
a bad thing. all I can say for
definite is that I am going to trim my
beard next, and then have a shower.
What happens after that is anyone's
guess.
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