After some early morning rain, yesterday
enjoyed many hours of sunny intervals. The showers
eventually returned much later than expected in
the afternoon. None of those showers could really
be described as heavy, although occasionally it
was more than a light shower. I might have heard
one clap of thunder, but nothing locally, and it
might have just been someone dropping the lid of a
wheelie bin. The rain, even of not heavy, was
persistent enough to give the garden a good
watering, and it continues on and off through the
whole night. In the sunshine it felt warm, but
otherwise it was almost a cold day with the
temperature only rising to 17° C for a while.
It has been raining this morning, but
appears to have stopped now. The main thing
about this morning is that it is cold. All the
heat stored in the brickwork of my house seems
to have all gone now, and this morning it
feels cold enough for me to want to put some
heating on. The latest revision to the
forecast says that if we are going to see any
glimpse of the sun it should be right now, but
the chances of the sun making it's way through
the dense cloud cover seems very unlikely. The
chance of sunny spells at 11am and midday have
disappeared in the latest revision, and it is
looking like today will be completely overcast
- sometimes very heavily ! It may be a dry
day, but it will still be cold and horrible.
Today the maximum temperature is predicted to
be just 16° C. If I go out I will probably
have to put a coat on. This is not summer
weather ! Tomorrow may start as a re-run of
today, but there is a chance of a few sparse
sunny spells from about 2pm, and they may
drive the temperature up to 18° C.
I had no idea that yesterday morning
would turn out as sunny as it was. There was
nothing in the forecast to suggest it would be
so, but I still felt the urge to get out for a
walk, and it seemed perfectly reasonable that
I wouldn't need a coat, or any other
protection. I think the sun popped out just as
I was leaving, and maybe that felt like a good
omen.
After not getting any exercise for 6
days apart from one short walk, that was very
uncomfortable, I wondered how yesterday's walk
would go. I felt a bit creaky when I started
out, and I wondered how long it would take for
that muscle on the rear of my right thigh to
start complaining. It didn't, and that was
good news. The only thing I suffered from is
hard to explain.
From time to time I felt a bit
asthmatic, or at least that is the easiest way
to explain it. In reality it was something
else, and something I have no name for, and I
find it hard to explain. I am guessing it must
be Covid-19 related, but it could equally be
something like cancer, or a simple allergy. I
have tried to describe this before, and it
always fails. It could be like the inside of
my trachea being rough instead of smooth so
the air is turbulent as it passes down to the
lungs. It doesn't impede the passage of air,
it just feels funny when it is happening.
There were several points along my walk
when I wondered if it was wise to continue
walking, but having go so far it seemed like I
wanted to continue because I had a desire to
do a bit of exploring. It worked out well, and
I explored a new footpath I had discovered on
the map, and from there I could go along a few
roads that I had previously only ever been
along in a car. Seeing them at a walking pace
gives a much better idea of how they all join
up.
One of yesterday's discoveries was that
there are hops growing among the weeds
brambles, stinging nettles, and other assorted
plants along the river bank. I was
wearing long trousers yesterday, and for the
first time in ages I was safe to walk along
the narrow path along the river bank without
getting my legs scratched and stung. I say
safe, but there was an additional hazard
yesterday - mud ! It looked like the river had
been at almost flood level a little while ago,
and that had deposited a very slippery layer
of fine mud on some parts of the path, and it
was a bit tricky to pass in a few paces.
This picture was taken on my way home.
There seemed to be a lot of cloud bubbling up
at this time, although the rain was still 3 or
more hours away. I was over a mile away from
home here at the bottom of Perry Hill, and it
was uphill, passed Angela's house, before much
of the way home was downhill.
On the way back down Perry Hill I
noticed this roadside mini library. I have
seen several of these on my travels lately.
This one seemed well made, but I didn't see
any books that might interest me - although I
will confess I only gave then a cursory
glance.
I spotted these, presumably, free
plants next to the mini library. If I had any
means to carry them I might have helped myself
to a couple for my garden.
As I passed Catford station, on my last
half mile before home, I saw these two police
horses. I wish I had videoed them. The black
one seemed to slip, or at least became
momentarily skittish as it turned right into
Ravensbourne Park Road. Maybe it thought one
of the cars wasn't going to stop or something.
Another of my unrehearsed, off the
cuff, videos. There are quite a few
short sequences in this video that I
took at various points along my
walk. They possibly explain my
progress in a simpler way than
trying to write about it.
I think I was probably aiming for
just a couple of vague miles when I set
off on my walk. I was rather pleased that
I almost did 5 miles in the end. I was
even more pleased that I didn't stumble
into my house on my last legs, and with my
feet in agony. I was happy to get
home. There can be no denying that, but my
feet were only moderately sore (and they
quickly recovered), and I was no so
knackered that I couldn't wait for a
couple of hours before I put my feet up
for a while.
It was still bright and sunny when
I got home, and while it would cool off a
lot, I was feeling warm enough to be a bit
sticky. With it seeming like summer was
over for the year, it seemed a good time
to treat myself to my last tub of low
calorie ice cream from the freezer. It
started out delicious, but I guess I was
cooling off too fast because the last
couple of spoonfuls had a lot less taste
because by then my tongue was numb.
Although I was not exhausted after
that walk, I didn't feel I had the energy
left to get back to putting the top coat
of paint on the wall in my dining room. I
probably could have done it because later
on, after dinner, I finished some laundry
that I had started soaking in detergent in
the morning. That laundry included a bath
towel, and so demanded a lot of
manhandling to wash it and wring it out,
but it was hung up to dry - indoors with a
fan on it - well before I went to bed.
I probably, maybe certainly, didn't
deserve a takeaway for dinner last night,
but I ordered one anyway. I found that the
menu structure of the German Doner Kebab
web page had been restructured so it
finally worked. I was able to order, and
assess a "German Doner Kebab" last night.
In fact I ordered several things, and ate
them all. They were certainly
different to the usual kebab fare. Of the
three things I tried I think only one
deserves further consideration. It is
their "Gym kebab". It is just kebab meat
with salad, and it comes in a box which is
impractical to eat from.
The next time I have a Gym kebab I
will turn it out of it's box onto a plate.
I think they were relatively cheap at
about £5 each, and there are several
variations to try - beef, chicken, or a
veggie option, and a few variants on salad
ingredients and sauces. I can imagine
trying a few the next time I feel I can
justify the expense of a takeaway (or the
next time I think I have "earned" one).
On the whole, yesterday was a good
day. I had a achieved a lot, and eaten
some nice food, but it all went wrong at
bed time. I assumed that after that good
walk, doing the laundry, and a nice
filling dinner, I would have no trouble
getting a good sleep. How wrong I was ! I
suffered from bad insomnia, and didn't get
any meaningful sleep until nearly 3am this
morning. It was one of those nights where
I could not get comfortable.
There was the usual to hot, too cool
with and without the duvet, but also I was
also suffering from aches and pains. It
didn't seem to matter what position I lay
in, something hurt. Not badly hurt, but
bad enough to be distracting. It might be
any of my leg joints, my feet or toes,, my
arms or hands, and my back and chest.
Usually one attempted sleeping posture
would be associated with one pain. I just
could not win. I think that taking a
couple of Ibuprofen at 2am might have
helped. It was probably soon after that
that I started getting some snatches of
sleep.
This morning I don't feel good. I
don't feel sleepy as such, but it feels
like I want to go back to bed again in the
hope that I might get a few more hours
sleep. I also feel very cold this morning.
I know it is not a fever because my
temperature was well below fever level. I
think it is because it is cold ! Twenty
minute ago I gave in and turned the heater
on. It is only on low, but I am feeling
warmer already. I had been hoping I would
not need any heating, or to close the
bathroom window, until the clocks change
at the end of September. I think that is
the normal time I do it.
I haven't actually closed the
bathroom window yet, but I am considering
it. On top of the temperature being just
12° C according to the forecast (although
I haven't confirmed that), there have also
been some strong, and bloody chilly gusts
of wind blowing through the open window. I
am not sure if I want to take a shower
under those conditions. I think the rest
of me is feeling fair this morning.
Nothing aches that much this morning, and
despite my exciting eating yesterday, my
blood glucose level is very satisfactory
this morning. Even my weight might still
be very, very slowly dropping, or if not,
it is no going up.
I have a few plans for today, but I
doubt if I will be doing all of them. I
would like to go for a walk. I have
another interesting route in mind based
upon a variant of yesterday. One
interesting aspect was when planning it.
My plan is sort of vague because it is
more a sketch than a solid plan, but while
looking at the map I thought that if I
could get to "there", and it should be
relatively easy, I would not be far away
from "there". Then I have to be
sensible and take into account that
wherever I get to, I have to get back
again, and just getting further and
further away is just not possible.
The weather is just not going to be
good for a walk today, but I hope it
doesn't sap my energy too much because
there are things to do indoors. I really
must finish the painting so I can get the
new curtains up. Prior to putting the
curtains up I ought to do a bit of
cleaning up - trying to get a bit more
paint out of the carpet ! With
August now rapidly running out it is time
to make new spreadsheets for my health
readings for September, plus I need to
knock up a September page for this
website. I hope I can do these September
things today.
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