There was
the potential for a lot more rain
today according to early versions of
the forecast. The reality is that we
have had sufficient rain, generally
quite light rain, to give the garden a
fair watering, but it is possible it
could be dry now for the rest of the
day. Several hours could still be very
dull, but it is possible that the sun
could come out at 6pm. It has been a
very fresh morning, but the
temperature is slowly creeping up to a
predicted high of 22° C according to
the latest forecast revision. Tomorrow
should still the temperature as high
as 20° C, but it is likely to be a
very dull day with a high chance of
rain for the afternoon. Some of it
could be heavy rain, and there could
even be some thunder and lightning.
Yesterday was definitely a good
day. As I mentioned yesterday morning,
the cans of lentil soup I had for
dinner the day before yesterday did
what was predicted, and made for a
slow start in the morning as my
intestinal tract purged itself. It did
leave my guts with a hollow ache for a
while, but by midday I was ready to go
for a short walk, and it was a short
walk. I basically took the shortest
walk direct to The Jolly Farmers, but
overshot to the shop next door.
That shop is called Casa
Transylvania, which I translate (very
incorrectly) as The House of Vampires
! I particularly wanted to buy a
couple of cans of the Bulgarian (?)
beer they sell there. That was despite
Jodie describing what the cans would
probably look like, despite it
possibly being 10 years since she
tried them, and that if the cans did
match her description they would
contain horrible beer.
They did match her description,
but I bought them anyway. I also
bought some smoked cheese from one of
those old Eastern European,
ex-Russian, countries (I say it like
this because I can't remember where it
actually came from). I am sure I have
bought some cheese that was near
enough identical that is supposed to
have come from Turkey. Anyway, I've
had a few nibbles of it, and it seems
very nice. I also bought a pack of two
Hungarian sausages. I am not expecting
them to be wonderful, and they may
even be unpleasant, but these things
have to be tried.
The reason I went to the shop
yesterday, rather than any other day,
was that I though it might be a good
excuse to invite Angela to join me in
the pub next door for her lunchbreak.
She needed zero convincing, and I only
just had time to order her Vodka and
Diet Coke before she arrived. We had a
very pleasant hour together, and I
think it was virtually a full hour
because Angela was in no great hurry
to get back to work (although I don't
think she was more than 6 or 7 minute
late getting back).
Once I was home there were a
few things I needed to do. One was to
try and have a snooze, but I don't
think I managed one. I definitely had
a play with one of my cameras -
selecting lenses, making sure the
batteries were charged, and the memory
card had enough room. It is lucky I
checked the flash gun because the
batteries in that were totally flat
after not being used for 18 months or
more.
The reason for checking the
camera, and for having an early
dinner, was because last night I went
out on a train, to a pub, and to see
my first full gig since I saw Chain in
February 2020 - just days before the
first Covid lockdown. With hindsight I
realised my choice of dinner was a
poor choice. It was grilled sausages
that had been left to cool down to no
more than tepid. They seemed very
greasy like that, and I didn't have
anything with them. They sat in my
stomach like a lead brick sending up
occasional sausage tasting burps.
At one point I was wondering if
it was wise to go out, but after
taking a couple of antacid tablets,
and a swig of whisky, I felt good
enough that the lure of the gig, and
of going on a train for the first time
in something like a whole year, was
too strong to refuse. It was lucky
that the gig was in The Swan in West
Wickham. It is not my favourite pub,
but at least it wasn't mega busy last
night. The luck element was actually
to do with it being reasonably near a
railway station, although it is a sod
of a hill to walk up from the station
to the pub.
It was good to see everyone,
and hear some live music again. The
only downside is that it felt like I
had to learn to use my camera all over
again. I took loads of pictures, and a
large proportion were really bad. This
one, with Chris Mayer in the
foreground, and Steve Pitt behind him,
is focussed wrong. The guitar is nice
and sharp, but Chris's face is in soft
focus.
Jo Corteen was one of the first
persons I talked to when I got to the
pub, and she gave me a big hug - which
was very nice.
Time has changed nothing ! As
it was 18 months ago, it was the same
last night. Rob Todd got up to sing
"The Road To Hell". He tells me that
next time he will finally sing a new
song - the Bob Segar song "Turn The
Page".
At the
end of the Alanis Morrisette song,
"Hand In My Pocket", which Chain
cover, Steve Pitt gets his harp
(mouth organ) out does a solo
piece.
I only stayed until just
after the end of the first set. If
I had stayed to the end I would
miss the last train, and leaving
during the break seems the best
option. Jo gave me another hug,
and said it was so good to see me
again. There were a few hand
shakes, and then I went out into
the very pleasantly cool night
air. It may be a bugger walking up
from the station, but that means
it is a pleasant stroll down the
hill to the station. I timed it
well so I only had a 5 or 6 minute
wait for the train.
When I arrived home I was
greeted by the sight of the solar
powered lights I had "planted" in
the window boxes outside my front
room. When I bought those lights,
a fortnight ago, or thereabouts, I
tried them in the back garden. I
guess it was the scale of things,
but they looked very
underwhelming. Last night was the
first time I saw them working from
the road, in the dark. They seem
surprisingly bright in those
window boxes. I'm not sure they
look "good", but they don't look
bad.
It was nice to get home,
and sit down. I was tired, but I
guess I was still a bit excited,
and so not initially sleepy. One
thing I didn't do, although I was
tempted, was to buy myself any
supper. If I had it would probably
have been naughty chicken and
chips. I decided I would have no
more than a snack. I had a handful
of peanuts, and another little
chunk of the smoked cheese I had
bought earlier in the day.
It seemed too cool to open
my bedroom window, and my bedroom
did initially feel a bit hot and
stuff, but it didn't seem to take
long to get to sleep. Once again I
had that bad good, or good bad
sleep. There were about three
times in the night when I wondered
if I would ever get to sleep, and
then realising that as much as 3
hours had passed since thinking
about it. It could have meant that
apart from those moments when I
was awake, I was probably sleeping
OK, but I couldn't stop yawning
for hours after getting up.
Not having any substantial
supper last night was probably a
good thing. My blood glucose was a
very nice 7.7mmol/l this morning.
Maybe it not being a sweaty night
helped as well. In fact it was
feeling rather cool when I finally
got up. Overall I seem to feel OK
this morning - apart from that
belief that I may not have slept
enough last night. I'm not sure if
it feels odd or not, but my legs,
including my knees, ankles and
feet don't seem to ache as much as
usual, but then again I didn't do
that much walking yesterday.
This morning I spent a fair
time photo editing, and I probably
wasted at least half an hour
dealing with a phone call from
Lee. As I write this I have just
scraped the bird table semi clean,
and put down new food for the
birds. It is almost past lunchtime
now, and my thoughts are turning
to the idea of some sort of lunch.
I did have fish fingers for
breakfast, and so I shouldn't be
that hungry. Maybe it is the
thought of a grey afternoon, and
nothing exciting to do that drives
my thoughts towards eating. I have
no idea what else I'll be doing
for the rest of the day.
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