I'm sure that earlier forecast for today, as published yesterday, predicted some sunshine for this afternoon, but this morning, and the most recent revision, say today will be unrelentingly dull. It is also going to be rather cold. The middle of the day may be no more than 8° C, and the rest of the day, up to 10pm, will be 7° C. No rail is specifically predicted, but there is a 10% chance of rain at any time today. Tomorrow could be mostly an even deeper shade of grey, and colder still !

 
  Once the weather got crap, as autumn descended upon us, I didn't really think  I would be doing much walking, and even when I did, it felt like I was really out of condition. A walk that would seem easy and enjoyable in warm sunshine, felt like hard work, and was done with gritted teeth instead of a happy smile (sort of).

  Yesterday was the exception. Two previous walks, the last just the day before yesterday, had loosened up a few stiff joints, and warmed up some aching muscles. That made the going feel easier despite it being very dull with a slight threat of rain yesterday. The thing that really made a difference was that I had a purpose for yesterday's walk.

  That purpose was to see the Friends Of The River Pool working on the river, and see if I could learn more about what they were doing, and about the river in general. Like last Wednesday when I finally said hello to some of them, and had a chat with Donna, they were all friendly, and almost keen to explain what they were doing.

 Yesterday I mainly talked with the man whose name I forget, but who the one who was qualified to lead the team. I can't remember the full description of his Masters Degree, but then again neither did he because it is a long title. It pertains to river, marine, and land management, plus ecology and stuff. It seems that although he has this fancy degree his day work is in a totally different, and much more well paid job. He seemed reluctant to say what it was, and so he is probably a copper or something.
  I arrived by the river during the volunteers lunch break, and so didn't see any action taking place here. Later on I learned that this outfall is actually the overflow of what appears to be a deep sump. Apparently there is a manhole, with no cover, a little bit behind the bank at this point. The estimate was that to fall down it would be a drop of about 15 feet into very cold water - nasty ! The other side of the bank is a sort of no man's land with no public, or indeed any easy form of access apart from wading through the river.
  The river was fairly low yesterday, and it left most of my favourite rocks exposed. I was also able to walk out onto the shingle, and walk a little way upstream on it.
  With the weather being so gloomy there were very few people in the park. There were even very few joggers out, and they will often run through rain. This view is very different to the view on Sunday, and not just because there were a lot of people out on Sunday. It is the lighting that is so very different. Yesterday the light was very flat, and so there were no shadows and no highlights in this photo. It just looks miserably grey.
  I was using my Nikon D3200 DSLR camera yesterday, and that produces pictures that are more forgiving of a lot post processing. The original picture was perfectly exposed - for the sky behind the squirrel. I had to turn the brightness up a lot to reveal any detail of the squirrel. It seemed to work OK, and against all odds it is not too bad a picture of a squirrel.
  I noticed this dumped supermarket basket on Sunday, but I think the contents were different yesterday. What was very different was the rat inspecting the contents yesterday. Like this using zoom from the other side of the river, they look sort of cute....sort of...
  I frequently see this (or another) heron further down the river towards Catford (or even further still in Ladywell Fields). Yesterday was the first time I had seen one so close to Bell Green, and also the first time I had seen one perched on such a low branch. It is not so obvious in this shrunken version of the picture, but it's eye seems to be looking directly into the camera lens.
  Two of the volunteers making up faggots to use as infill for the new berm they are construction. The woman on the right is Donna. She was the one I spoke to the previous Wednesday. I have to confess I didn't recognise her out of the river, and not encased to almost the chin in rubber waders. It only clicked a few minutes after we had been talking that she was the same person !
  One of the volunteers had brought his dogs with him. This one looked like a shaggy wolf, but was quite friendly. The other dog was the same breed, but all black. He (or she ?) didn't photograph well in the gloomy light.
  Here's two of the volunteers lugging a bucket of mud, silt, and stuff from where they are clearing the drainage outfall area. The bucket of muck will be tipped into the new berm. I believe that next week they will clean up a pond in an area known as the Vineries, and all the mud and vegetation from there will also be added to the berm. It will include some water plants that should grow, and help bind the berm together - and provide a bit of colour along the river bank.

   I expect that standing around for 20 minutes or more, chatting to the volunteers, helped to make this walk feel a bit easier. Although, having said that, standing around would usually make my legs seize up. As I said further up the page, having a purpose to this walk, which was over very well worn ground, made it seem much easier. It still wasn't as satisfying as a long walk in bright warm (or hot) sunshine exploring new roads and places, but it was good to get home and not feel exhausted - like my previous two walks left me feeling.

  I was able to sit down, and concentrate on selecting and editing photos very soon after getting home. It wasn't straight away because I had a lunch of rice crackers and some cheese. I was going to have more fruit, but I couldn't be bothered to wash and prepare it, and get my fingers all sticky eating it. I think that after the eating, and photo editing, I still had time for a short snooze before preparing my dinner.

  My dinner was another rather grand affair. It was too big, and not very healthy. I started off preparing some parsnips, and getting them half roasted before finishing their cooking alongside some sausages and shallots. Now there are things in this world that can make a grown man weep, and peeling shallots are one of those things ! I had that big pile of parsnip and sausages with a baked potato. Actually it was two roast potatoes. I seriously overcooked the first potato. I did it in the microwave, and it seems like the microwaves hit the bottom of the potato more than anywhere else. The top was nicely cooked, but the bottom was charred to a crisp.

  After cutting off the charred bit I realised I was not left with much potato at all. I decided to cook another, and this time I turned it upside down halfway through the "zapping". It was rather nicer than the semi cremated wreck of the first potato. I felt quite stuff after that big dinner, and later on it would seem to have a detrimental affect on my sleep. It's more instant effect was to make me feel sleepy, and after the fresh air earlier, I found myself getting to bed by 9pm.

  As far as I can remember, I was probably asleep soon after 9pm, but I do have a sort of niggling feeling that it could have been a fair bit later than that. The whole night was a bit of a blur. I seemed to be awake a lot, although I think it was probably for less time than it seemed while laying in the dark. I did seem to feel uncomfortable when laying down, but not in any specific way. Maybe that big dinner had affected my centre of balance or something. The one thing I do remember clearly from once or twice sometime in the night, and it was that it felt intolerably hot under my duvet. I think I mostly slept uncovered - which was not ideal for sleep on a cold night (as last night was).

  This morning I feel I am suffering more from my bad sleep than from my 3 mile walk. Once upon a time 3 miles seemed like a long walk, but it is pretty routine now, and I shouldn't really be getting any bad effects from such a walk. I can say I have any specific aches this morning. What I do have could be described as being like a full body hangover !  What I would like to do would be to try for another hour or more of sleep, but I don't have time for that this morning.

  At least there is some good news. My blood glucose went down, instead of up, after my feast of a dinner. Yesterday it was 8.5mmol/l, if I recall correctly. This morning it is down to 8.3mmol/l. That is still higher than I would like, but still in a mostly safe area. My temperature was only 35.0° C, but I've seen it lower in the morning. I haven't checked my blood pressure yet, but I expect it will be typically quite low once I have cherry picked a suitably relaxed time to take it. I don't think I'll be weighing myself today - again !

  The first thing I have to do today, once I have finished writing, is to finish some laundry I left soaking yesterday morning. I had intended to finish it before going on my walk, but there wasn't time to do it, and after my walk I didn't fancy doing the job. Once that laundry is finished, just three rinses and fabric conditioner to go, with an energetic wringing out between each stage, and hung up to dry I can have a shower, and possibly wash my hair.

  Once I am clean I can relax for a short while, but then I will soon have to start cleaning the dining room up ready for another Thursday afternoon beer session with Jodie. It would be nice if Michael could join us, but I don't think he has started any hospital treatment for his little malady. As well as cleaning up the dining room I ought to try and find the enthusiasm to run the hoover around the place. Walking through mud left mud on my boots that has dried and fallen off as I have walked through the house with my boots on. In an ideal world I should take them off as soon as I come home, but I am not agile enough to do it without sitting down - and there is nowhere to sit near my front door !