Yesterday's forecast thunderstorm never
happened, but it did rain just enough to water the
garden. Until about 10.30am it was generally
bright and sunny, although there were a lot of
dark clouds in the sky. It probably was around
11am that the first rain fell. This is when the
original, early morning, forecast said it would,
but instead of a thunderstorm it was initially
very fine and light rain. Maybe 15 minutes later
it transformed into a light shower, although I did
describe it as pissing down in my video. It
stopped 30 minutes, or less, later. there were a
few other showers during the afternoon, but none
were heavy. There were a few more bright spells in
the afternoon, and into the evening. The
temperature probably only reached 21° C in the
afternoon.
The latest revision to the weather
forecast just shows a few sporadic showers,
and the chance of some of those is fairly low,
and they may not happen. It could leave us
with a fairly bright, and mostly dry day. The
BBC weather forecast still clings to the idea
that there could be a thunderstorm, but while
the Met Office thought it would be at 4pm, the
BBC reckons it will happen at 1pm. I guess
they will be right one day. Today could be a
whole degree warmer than yesterday, 22° C. The
current prediction for tomorrow shows the
temperature down to just 20° C, and it will
probably be a wet day with some very heavy
rain now and then, but apparently no
thunderstorms !
I thought the weather forecast would put
me off going out yesterday, but later
revisions to the forecast seemed less
threatening, and so I thought I would go out
for a short walk. I expected to be driven home
by heavy rain at any minute, and so it seemed
like a good time to give the boots I had
bought in Aldi another go. They are not a
generous fit, and even with sticking plasters
to shield the tenderest places, my right foot
soon got uncomfortable.
Fortunately it didn't seem to do any
more damage to my foot, but it may have done
if the first rain fell as I got to a natural
point to turn back towards home - the
bowstring bridge across the river. At that
point I might have carried on walking further
away from home if my foot was comfortable. I
don't think it would have changed how wet I
got because the rain had stopped by the time I
got home, and I had already walked through all
the clouds had to offer at that point.
Towards the end of my walk my left foot
started to feel uncomfortable, and when I got
home I saw that the side of my foot was
looking red, but there was no blister, and no
blood. Despite the discomfort I did sort of
enjoy the walk. Even walking in the rain was
OK because it was light rain, and didn't feel
cold.
For this walk I took my waterproof Fuji
XP71 camera with me. It came in handy taking
pictures in the rain - as intended - but it
does have a problem. Using it for video seems
to put a strain on the battery. The first
battery I had in it didn't seem to recover
when I did the second bit of video, and took
the battery down until the indicator had
turned red, and worse, was flashing. The
second battery seemed to recover every time,
and I was able to take more video after saying
I wouldn't be able to. Whether this was wise
is another question. Most of the video is
probably pointless, but I do them because I
can.
The first section of this video
starts soon after I left home. I
thought I felt a drop or two of rain
on my face. I also mentioned
the boots I was wearing, and how
they were already feeling a bit
tight. There are also a few sections
taken on my walk, that were not part
of the walk - or to put it another
way they were not shot in the park.
The sky was already looking very dubious
when I was walking over Catford Bridge.
This was seconds after it looked like the
sun had gone in for good, but there were a
few short sunny spells later including one
or two in the middle of the heaviest bit of
light rain.
I did, or
course, visit my favourite rocks in the
river. I had expected the water level to
be higher after the recent rain even if
there had not been much of it. In fact I
think the water may have been a bit lower
than last time I was there. One plus point
for the Aldi boots I was wearing is that
they seemed to be able to tolerate very
slightly deeper water, and I think I could
have walked further downstream from the
rocks than usual if I took care. I was
several yards from the shingle, standing
in shallow water when I took this snap.
A dumped Boris Bike. I thought these had to
be unlocked and hired by using a credit
card. That would mean they could trace the
last user, and charge him with theft or
something. Maybe they just keep charging his
credit card until it runs out.
It was not really appropriate to dump litter
in a plastic box (with broken handle at one
end), but I would bet it was a crow that
scattered it everywhere.
You can't really see it with the picture
shrunk down to fit here, but it should show
a spattering of rain on my rose tinted
glasses from walking in the rain. You can
see where the rain has hit my t-shirt.
I did
include a very wobbly bit of video of the
lattice-girder railway bridge, but this
view is from the other side. The bridge
carries the Catford Loop Line over the Mid
Kent line at an angle of 69° if I recall
correctly. Over the August bank holiday
weekend it is due to be replaced. The new
bridge is (or should be by now) already
constructed, and sitting in a field on the
far side of the railway. A humungous great
crane will lift the old bridge off it's
abutments, and then lower the new bridge
down onto them. If all goes to plan, the
whole job will be finished over that
weekend, and trains on both lines can
re-open on the next day.
When I got home I stripped off my
outdoor clothes, and weighed myself. After
only 3.2 miles, and it not being hot any
sunny, I wasn't very dehydrated, and my
weight drop was not that good, but at
least it was some drop. It wouldn't last
long like that because I couldn't resist
having some lunch. Actually what I
couldn't resist was trying some of my home
grown potatoes. I cleaned up a few, sliced
them in thick chunks, and boiled them 10
minutes in the microwave. With hindsight I
should have savoured them with just a
glaze of butter, but I squirted on a load
of Coronation flavour mayonnaise
(basically a light curry flavour). They
were still pretty good.
I don't know if it was the hit of
carbohydrate, but I felt really hungry
after eating those potatoes. I had a few
small nibbles in the afternoon, and then I
cooked up an experimental dinner that
would challenge my pancreas even further.
It was basically pasta with chick peas in
a tomato, garlic, and chilli sauce. It is
ages since I last cooked any pasta, and I
think the pasta I cooked has probably been
in the cupboard for over 5 years. It seems
that once you have cooked pasta properly
(to you own taste) you never forget how to
do it. I did it all on autopilot, and it
turned out to be really nice.
Even after that pasta, which was
not a very big meal, I still felt peckish,
and during the evening I nibbled on a
small handful of hazlenuts, and then a
chunk of cheese. I washed all this down
with two bottles of Westerham Brewery's
"Viceroy IPA". I bought a whole case of
that beer, and initially I found it
slightly unpleasant. Last night's bottles
seemed to slip down nicely, but they left
a very bitter taste in my mouth which I
didn't like.
Last night's sleep was slightly
different. In some ways it was good. I did
get two long periods of uninterrupted
sleep, although the last hours of sleep
were a bit lumpy. The curious thing was my
dreams. It did seem like I was dreaming
for mere seconds at a time - which is
actually usual, but you very rarely
remember it like that. I tried to remember
some of these brief snippets of dreams,
but most have escaped me now. One seems to
remain.
The dream was set in a curious
place. It was a compartment on a tube
train that was shared with a guard -
except it was too big for a tube train,
and even a mainline train. It also seemed
to be my bedroom. I was with someone, but
I can't recall who she was. She asked what
the grey leather jacket was she could see
on a chair. I said I saved it when Jo
(singer with Chain) was having a clear
out. The outside was not anything she
might wear. Even the inside may be too
strong for her tastes. The inside was
lined with purple silk that was so purple
it almost glowed. The collar was lined
with black velvet. It was very Goth in the
extreme. The really peculiar thing was
that it seemed to fit me - something
really unlikely in the real world.
This morning was another morning
when I woke up a bit early, and just knew
that I would never get back to sleep again
no matter how hard I tried (and I did).
The only notable negative thing is that my
right knee seems a little stiff again. I a
also possibly constipated, but there is
plenty of time for that to change. After
all my eating my weight still seems
stable. I am going start a spreadsheet in
September to record my weight on a daily
basis. Hopefully this will help me try and
push it down a bit more. Of course it
could have the opposite effect and depress
me ! One thing that was good, but
only considering how bad it might have
been after my my high carbohydrate load
yesterday, was my blood glucose. 9.0mmo/l
is too high, but still just about safe. I
was expecting it to be over 10 this
morning so I guess there is still hope,
although for what is another question.
It is now two days short of 28 days
since I last did any shopping. I have
almost run out of fresh food (I still have
bacon and cheese), but my supplies are
still looking good. Things could get a bit
thin, but I reckon I can hold out another
month, but after that I guess I will have
to give in, put a mask on, and go shopping
again. It will be sad day for me. One
thing could help me out a bit longer, and
that is buying food from market stalls. It
was what I thought I might be doing quite
soon when all this started, but I have
still to try it. I must admit that I have
never really bought food from market
stalls, and I am unsure of the protocols,
but I guess the sooner I try it, the
sooner I will learn.
I think I am going out for a walk
today. Maybe some will be in the rain
again, but if it is no worse than
yesterday I won't be too bothered about
it. I want to test a pair of trainers
today. I have a pair that I tried around
the house for a while yesterday, and they
seem to be a generous fit. I can imagine
wearing them out after about 15 miles of
walking - if they prove to be comfortable
- but that is probably better than letting
them gather dust. I don't know where I
will be walking today, but it won't be in
rivers if I am in lightweight trainers.
They might be OK for hills though.
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