It is not raining right now, and this is in accordance with the latest revision to the forecast, but seconds later it has started again. It is predicted to fall for the rest of today, and in the small hours of tomorrow. Sometimes it will be heavy, but mostly just light rain. This is certainly a very wet winter ! Most of today will see the temperature up to 10° C, but like yesterday, it seems it will be fairly windy today. It should be OK indoors, but that 10° C will probably feel rather cool outdoors. Tomorrow will probably see the temperature drop down to 5° C by daybreak. By then the rain should have stopped, and the afternoon could see the temperature rise to 8° C. There could also be sunny spells in the afternoon, although many times in the recent past this has changed to rain in the morning forecast.


  I had two very good reasons to go for a walk yesterday. The first was my high blood glucose level in the morning. Not eating until I got back from the walk was half the plan, although it did leave my stomach growling with hunger until I was distracted from it by the walk. The other thing was that the walk would help burn off some of the sugar. It was successful, but I am thinking it would have been even better if I hadn't eaten two sweet and juicy navel oranges last night.

  The other reason for the walk was to take advantage of it being relatively warm, and with the forecast saying it should be bright, although no actual sunshine. As I said at the top of the page, the forecast was not very accurate. It wasn't very bright for almost all the time except for when the sun actually came out for a few minutes. those few minutes were glorious.

  I was thinking I might get away with no coat, but I erred on the side of caution and wore a light coat. This was just as well because the wind felt very strong when walking against it (mostly on the way to the park), and it felt quite cold. Under my coat I was feeling quite warm enough, but my hands and face felt very cold.

  Another unwanted feature of the weather was rain. It was only a light sprinkle, and probably only lasted 5 to 10 minutes. The forecast said it would definitely be dry ! It didn't really bother me except I didn't want my camera getting too wet. I didn't put it in my camera bag, but I did put the lens cap on after drying all the speckles of rain off the lens.
  I reached the pond in the Vineries area of the park at a time when the sky was quite bright, and that seemed to make the water in the pond look very bright and clear. The water in the pond keeps the bottom of the pond a lot warmer than the air, and the temperature probably shows not that much variation through the year - that is the only reason I can think of that allows these water plants, possibly water hyacinths, to flower in the middle of winter.
  I don't know if it is ongoing work that will see the burnt down fence being reinstated between the main path, and the fish bypass channel, but yesterday I noticed there was a lightly trodden path across the top of the exit of the fish bypass that allowed me to take this picture of the channel looking downstream.
  It wasn't much of a path, but I found it easy enough to walk a little way along the side of the fish bypass, and to finally get a clear picture of the exit of the main part of the bypass that allows fish to go around the weir. The curious thing is that this end looks to be much much older than the entrance end. (Entrance with respect to the direction the water flows, but for the fish it would be the other way round). The concrete sides of the river just before, and just after the weir, with the footbridge in the middle, would have been built as a result of the flooding in 1968. The construction of this end of the fish bypass looks very much older. I speculated it could date back to when there was once a water mill near here, but I consulted a map from about 1905, and there was no sign of anything here then.
  I think I saw it the previous time I walked over the bridge (once up a time The Bridge Of Doom), but I didn't stop to take a photo. Some time in the last few weeks a non slip coating has been put on the ramp up and down the other side of the bridge. I guess there were complaints of people slipping on the new decking that was fitted last year. I must admit it was a bit slippery when wearing mud caked boots. I wonder how long that non slip grit will last. It seems to be wearing very fast.
  I have absolutely no idea why Santa should want to stop here - one of the very muddy steps leading down to the muddy path alongside the river. Evidently someone thought it important enough to nail this tag to the edge of the step.
  This is the entrance to the field that lies on the opposite side of the river to the official path through the park. I'm not sure if this picture does justice to what it is little more than a quagmire ! The amazing thing (probably) is that if spring is not too wet, the mud will dry out, the grass will re-grow, and on some warm spring morning there will just be a narrow track through the grass again.
  Once upon a time I thought this pond, not far from the Winsford Road entrance to the park, was something to do with the decontamination of the polluted old gas works grounds. My imagination said it was to collect contaminated run off water so eventually the contamination would settle in the mud, and the mud dug out for disposal elsewhere. These days I have doubts about that theory....on the other hand, the smell coming off the pond does smell of something worse, more sulphurous, than just stagnant water. Apparently frogs live in it !

  I do have more pictures to show that I will show tomorrow. I feared this walk would be a very uncomfortable walk, but my legs seemed to be working much better than I thought they would, although I think a 5 mile walk would have taxed them to the limit. The main problem was the weather. I was both hot and cold at the same time, the light was mostly dull and depressing, and I didn't fully enjoy the park like I usually do.

  As I exited the park I felt I could still walk a fair bit more, and I decided to walk home the long way around. I didn't realise it at the time, but I think my subconscious realised that it would be a good time to take some pictures that Patricia was curious to see. She is currently stuck in Argentina, but is longing to visit London again for the summer. She is lucky that she can work anywhere she can get an internet connection - that is one advantage of being a translator, and during the pandemic, an online interpreter.

  Patricia has an affinity to Catford, and thinks of it as one of her homes. She has been following the British news, and was curious as to what Catford looked like during this tier 5 lockdown. Yesterday was the first time I have walked along the high street since this current lockdown, and possibly for several weeks before that. I was quite surprised at how quiet it was. Anywhere selling food was open, but had few customers. I expect all the fast food and cafe establishments are doing most of their business by deliveries.

  As I say, I should post some pictures of the high street tomorrow. I also have a few pictures taken near The Black Cat Pub. It seems a film crew have been using it as a base and temporary store while filming in the area. It is possible they did some filming in there too. Near the front entrance of the pub were two genuine telephone boxes - not installed, but just standing there as film props. I also spotted a red, double decker bus up on the access roads above the shopping centre. I couldn't see enough of it to decide whether it was also a film prop, or a catering bus.

  In all I walked 3.6 miles. That conveniently breaks through the 5km barrier - not that there is such a barrier, but it is a nice round figure to mark something or another. My legs still seemed OK when I got home, but I did feel very tired. I managed to choose and edit the photos I took, and I tried to do some laundry, but I gave up on the latter halfway through. Eventually I had a quick snooze, and then it was time to cook dinner.

  I had eaten a few snacks since getting home - the first food I had eaten all day, and I guess it was lunch rather than just a snack. My dinner was liver and bacon cooked with no sugar baked beans. I was in quite a mood to be careful about how I ate yesterday, and rather than make a pig of myself, I only cooked half the liver (to eat last night, and cooked the other half ready to be reheated today). I didn't have anything else with that main course, but I did eat two sweet and juicy navel oranges, and a red apple for dessert.

  I went to bed early last night, but initially just to read for an hour or so. That hour was almost up when I received a message from Patricia. I think she had just got the news that her son had published his first medical research paper, and she was overjoyed by it - as you might well imagine. She was also gushing with praise about how much I had helped them both in various ways over the years. Over the last year it feels like Patricia has been almost one step away with falling in love with me. her comments last nigh were filled with love and kisses !

  I probably slept quite well last night, and in a way that was a surprise because the rise in temperature outside is right in the middle of that awkward temperature that makes my bedroom too cool without some heat, or snuggling deep under the duvet, and yet too warm to be fully covered by the duvet. I left the heating on last night, and spent most of the night uncovered - even when that felt very slightly too cool. I still seemed to get in a lot of sleep, and didn't wake up until the first hints of daylight were in the eastern sky.

  In the recent past I have said that oranges don't seem to have too much of a negative effect on my blood glucose, but I find I have to blame those two big, juicy and sweet navel oranges for my blood glucose only dropping to 8.5mmol/l this morning. It is a very good drop considering it was 9.7mmol/l yesterday morning, and very close to the danger point, but I was hoping it would be a bit lower still this morning after the care I took yesterday. Maybe I have to remember these things take time, and there is some lag between food intake and blood glucose level - although only in the downward direction it seems.

  I'm glad that I have excused myself for going out in the rain for another walk today. I feel almost good enough to enjoy a walk this morning, but only on the proviso it would be at least 15° C and bright sunshine - and that is definitely not today ! I have one definite thing to do today. Yesterday I started hand washing a large bath towel. After the usual three rinses the water still seemed very soapy. This is usual for a bath towel. I am guessing the towel is getting loaded with shower gel residue when using it to dry me, and that is despite thinking I have rinsed myself off thoroughly beforehand.

  It is hard work hand washing a big bath towel. After the initial wash, and three rinses, I was feeling too fatigued after my walk to do any more. I came back to it later and did another two rinses, but that was after eating dinner, and I just wanted to relax. Today I may give that towel another two rinses, and finally some fabric conditioned before hanging it up to dry. Once that is done my major work for the day is over, but I have other housework to do - things like taking the rubbish out, and the waste food out (lots of orange peel and other peelings plus other stuff that is stinking the kitchen out).

  There is good news, three lots of it, from Amazon I can report today. The refund for  my scam hard drives has gone through. I think I opted to have the refund as credit to my Amazon account - it seemed simpler that way. The other two bits of good news are really only one bit of good news - both halves of my single order for more bottles of Irish whiskey are now out for delivery today. They left the Dartford depot just before 10.30am, and so it is possible they will be here quite early in the afternoon - assuming it is not the blasted driver that makes Catford his last calling point, and arrives as late as 9pm ! Grrr !