There was little sign that any forecast rain fell this morning. I did notice a bit of damp in my back garden, but that could easily just have been dew. At the moment the sky, or at least the bit I can easily see from where I am sitting, looks a sort of blue grey colour, and it could still easily rain at any minute. Later on there could be some occasional sunny spells, but I don't think we will be lucky like yesterday when the afternoon was so much sunnier than forecast. One thing about today is that temperature should reach 17° C. That should feel mild, and even quite warm if there is any sunshine. Tomorrow could reach 16° C, but at the moment the forecast says rain, and some of it heavy, from before dawn until just after dusk.
  I put a lot of faith in the weather forecast yesterday, and I was more than amply rewarded. I had decided that I would only go out if it definitely seemed to be sunny. By the time I had showered, and got dressed, there was a sunny period. Unfortunately it was a short one, and as much as the first third of my walk was done under a rather dull sky. The first hint that things were changing was when I had reached the top of Mountsfield Park. The sun hadn't come out again at that point, but I could feel warmth on my left shoulder. Glancing up at the sky I could see the sun was trying to get through a crack in the clouds. It was the warmth that got through first, but after a while enough diffuse sunshine got through to make everything look a little brighter.
 I did not have to walk far before I got my camera out. The row of poles in the road is a new feature, and I am not 100% sure what they are supposed to achieve. The shop named Patty Palace is on the corner of a one way side road (just out of view on the left). That side road is, or was used by lorries taking stuff to the Tesco supermarket.  Once upon a time there were even terminating buses going down that road. They would come from Lewisham. Now it seems nothing can turn right into the side road if coming from the Lewisham direction.
  It would seem that my recent walks have been to places with the wrong types of trees to display the colours of autumn so vividly.  This picture would show those colours much more vividly if the sun had been out when taking this picture in Mountsfield Park. Had I arrived at this spot 10 or 15 minutes later those golden coloured trees would be glowing in sunshine, but sadly they look a bit dull here.
  It was several weeks ago that I went through a bit of the old Hither Green Fever Hospital estate, and mentioned that I would have liked to get a snap of the old water tower.  Yesterday I found the correct footpath that provides a short cut from Mountsfield Park into the old hospital grounds. The sky was still looking rather dull, but there was some thin sunshine to light up the old water tower. It is a very impressive structure. I am not sure what it is used for now, but it may be used as an office for the estate management company.
  One of my aims was to try walking to The Lord Northbrook pub. I knew I had been not that far from it on some previous walks. I didn't expect to do it yesterday, but I did. My timing was just right to take a snap of a couple of police horses (and riders) outside the pub. One of life's great statements of weirdness is that The Lord Northbrook pub is on the corner of Southbrook Road.
  It is a shame that I have left it so late to start "collecting" these painted signs under railway bridges in this corner of London. They were painted some years ago, and are now starting to deteriorate. The platforms for Lee railway station end at the bridge that carries the railway across Burnt Ash Road.
  There is a lot of money to be made from dentistry, and it's associated arts. This used to be my dentist - maybe it still is, but I haven't been there was maybe 15 years. It was the scene for my most painless, and most agonising dentistry. It was where a visiting professor from King College Hospital pulled three of my wisdom teeth, and made it not much worse than trimming my fingernails. It was also where a young, probably freshly trained dentist pumped phial after phial of anaesthetic into my jaw with seemingly no affect when pulling a tooth. It was the most agonising thing I have ever endured.

  When I set out on the walk I was feeling very creaky. My joints seemed to hurt, and my breathing felt strange. Almost wheezy, but not quite. I can't really explain what it felt like, but the aching joints and funny breathing all pointed to a Covid infection...may it was, but... I wasn't sure that I would be able to walk all the way to the top of Mountsfield Park, but I could, and I could do it non stop without being near to short of breath at the top.

  There were two more hills to climb on the way home, and while I wouldn't go as far as to say that both were easy, I can say that I had few problems in walking non stop up those hills. By the time I was entering Catford I was feeling surprisingly good. I felt there were no difficulties with lengthening my walk to carry out an experiment. Instead of taking the most direct route towards home I walked to the little supermarket on Catford Bridge. Jodie had assured me that they didn't care about masks in there, and so I walked straight in, grabbed some strong Polish beer, and a couple of 1.5l bottles of Diet Coke, and paid cash. The girl behind the counter treated me as they always have in the past - friendly, but just doing their job.

  I think the lift that the sunshine provided for more than half my walk, and the lift from being able to do some limited shopping again, made me feel so good that even after walking just a tiny bit short of 5 miles, I almost wanted to go out and walk a couple more miles - and I think I could have done it.  Before anything else I stripped off my outdoor clothes, and checked my temperature and my weight. My temperature was completely normal, and my weight had come down a fair bit since the morning - all as expected.

  I then had a light snack. It was some cheese with rice crackers. I had originally thought I would have a can or two of soup, but with sunshine still pouring through my front windows I didn't feel the need for anything hot. After such a light snack I could have got dressed, and gone out again. I considered a quick walk to Ladywell and back just to prove I could do it, but I was also thinking I had the energy to go through the pictures I had taken, and edit them.

  When all the pictures were done I allowed myself to lay on my bed to read, but I didn't spend long reading. I had web pages to read and catch up on, and, in theory, I should have been making some preparations to cook my dinner. When it came down to it I couldn't be bothered to cook, and opted for a takeaway.  This time I went for a safer option...well amost safer. I ordered some stuff form a kebab shop. I, err, accidently included a doner meat with chips among the more healthy stuff I ordered.

  Dinner last night was the doner meat and chips. I have to say it was as much delicious as it wasn't healthy, but sadly that is true of most things. I washed it down with a novelty beer. I couldn't get the full name in for the picture on the left, but the beer was called Desperado. I am sure I have had it in bottles before, and I think I still have one unopened bottle, bought in Aldi years ago, in my fridge.

  I don't know if this canned stuff is brewed differently, or if the flavour has been changed, but I don't remember the bottled stuff being that nice. The can I drank last night was quite pleasant, but maybe only in the way that a bland lager can be livened up with a shot of lemonade in it. That is exactly what Desparado tasted like, and while it was ice cold it did go down well.

  Later on I would have two cans of 6.5% Polish beer. They slipped down rather well too, but I sort of regret drinking them now - and not for the reason that might seem most obvious. Even after three cans of 6% plus booze I didn't feel as if I had drunk any booze at all. It certainly didn't get me asleep very early. I stayed up watching some space and moonshot stuff on the Smithsonian channel until gone 9pm, and I probably didn't finish reading until 11pm. I was asleep very soon after that though.

  If it hadn't been for another session of insomnia lasting about an hour at 2am, I would have said I slept well. As seems usual now, I felt as if I woke up too early this morning. If it had been a few months back I was said I had slept later than usual. I seem to prefer to sleep until dawn, and waking up even 10 minutes before sunrise feels too early.

  When it was finally light I was disappointed to see that it was actually only half light, but maybe after checking the weather forecast I was happy to see that it wasn't raining when it should have been. Actually I don't know why that would make me happy. Rain, hours before I might go out would be of zero consequence, and these days I should be happy to see the garden being watered.

 Aside from the autumn blues, I felt fairly OK. I had wondered if I would feel any effects from my (almost) 5 mile walk, but I felt no worse (but also no better) than most mornings now. What was annoying was that my blood glucose level had gone up again to 9.1mmol/l. I don't think I can lay all the blame of the chips with the doner meat, and so the strong beers have to get the blame. I should stick to the Tui beers from New Zealand. They are nice, I have an unopened box of 12 of them, and they are 99% sugar free. The beer and the chips, and the greasy meat, definitely had a bad affect on my weight.

  I really ought to go out on a 6 mile walk today, but the indifferent weather is not raising the correct enthusiasm for it. The sun did come out out a few minutes ago, but seems to be fading already. I'll see how I feel, and how the weather looks after I am washed and dressed, but if I stay in I have plenty of things to do. Maybe a few short periods of sunshine will inspire me to get the hoover out. I really ought to do some hoovering - even if it is just the front room where I dropped some crumbs of food on the carpet while eating dinner last night (while watching TV). Those crumbs could feed a hungry mouse that I would prefer to look elsewhere for it's dinner. I also have video and pictures to edit. I could potentially be very busy today if I did everything I want to do, or should do, here at home.