The latest revision of the forecast for today shows no sunny spells until 7pm, and that ends at 8pm ! The morning sunny spells have disappeared from the forecast, but the sun is doing it's best to fulfil the earlier forecast, and is actually shining as I write this. I can see lots of blue patches of sky, and maybe the sunny spells could continue if those blue patches get in the right place for the sun to shine through. The latest temperature prediction says the afternoon will only reach 19° C. Tomorrow may have a sunny morning, and sunny evening, but no sunshine is forecast for the afternoon, but it could be a bit warmer than today at 21° C.

    I should have done something yesterday, but I couldn't raise the enthusiasm. Maybe my breakfast of mixed vegetable curry on naan bread sapped all my energy. That is indeed a possibility because I tend to do a lot more, walk longer distances, etc, when I feel lean and hungry (so to speak). There was also the problem of waiting for a delivery of the beers I ordered. They were delivered precisely in the middle of the two hour slot that was predicted by the courier. That was at 11am. I could have done more after that, but at the point I hadn't even had a wash. After that the hours seemed to drift away.

  There was one thing I did do that took up a bit of time. I think I mentioned that I had found that the Nikon D40x camera in Cash Busters was badly over priced. Yesterday I did some more research about cameras. I found that there was a Nikon D80 camera on Amazon for £100. That was being sold as "body only". I think it said it came with batteries, and a charger, but essentially it meant without lenses. That was fine because I have a selection of Nikon lenses.

  One of the good things about the D80 is that it is one "grade" higher than the D40, and although similar in many respects, it is aimed at the more serious, and could be regarded as "entry level professional". That probably means the image sensor has less flaws (all sensors have flaws, but they are electronically hidden), and maybe something as simple as better firmware. The D40 and D80 were the last Nikon cameras with the focus motor built into the camera body, and that is why I decided to buy a D80 (for £104 including P&P).

  Many years ago I bought a very fancy lens for a Nikon camera. It is big and heavy because it is a constant exposure design (at least I think that is what it is called). It is similar to the lenses used on professional movie cameras. The focus and exposure shouldn't change when you zoom in on a subject. I have never been able to check this properly because I thought autofocus was broken on it. It was only later I discovered it had to be used on a camera with the focus motor built into the camera body - which the D80 has ! I am now crossing my fingers that the special lens works as well as I hope.

  The other good thing about that lens was that I ended up getting it for a really good price. I think I originally paid £200 for it (but it might have been £300). I took it back to the shop to say the autofocus didn't work. I took my Nikon camera with me to prove it. I said I either wanted my money back, or because it was otherwise I good lens apart from the need to manually focus, I would be happy to pay half price for it. They readily agreed because otherwise they would be stuck with a faulty lens - that much later might turn out not to be faulty (hopefully).

  After my extravagant breakfast I had a very light lunch of a cans of soup. I needed something to warm me up after doing so little that I was feeling cold. There was also the thing that I was expecting a fairly substantial dinner, and that was what I had. It was a rather too greasy chicken biryani. I was also worried that it had a hint of a smell to it that suggested it might be going off, or maybe it was just the smell of all the cinnamon stick in it. That can smell musty at times. I followed that by a tandoori mixed grill (by itself). It was quite a substantial meal, and I felt slightly queasy later on. I did wonder if it was the start of food poisoning from the dubious biryani, but nothing happened.

  There was some good stuff on TV last night. The best was an ELO gig being shown on Sky Arts. It was a good production because it was not just the music, but between some songs there was documentary type stuff - back stage, the stage being set up and a snatch of rehearsal taking place on a half complete stage. There were also comments about this that and the other from members of the band or stage crew. The only bad thing is that it went on far too late, and while I didn't watch it to the end, it is partly why I have started to write so late today.

  I slept fairly well for a lot of the night, but I had some seemingly long dreams that made perfect sense as I dreamed them, but now seem almost impossible to describe in any meaningful way. They shared one common theme, and that was that something, maybe a disaster, maybe even war, had disrupted normal life. I saw what must have been refugees from one end of Catford being herded into houses at the other end of Catford where they would live in very overcrowded houses. I seemed to end up in a building that was part dormitory, part classroom, and part workplace, although no work was going on there. The last thing I remember was trying to convince others (actually real, school, or work friends) to come out with me to do litter picking. That was something we were allowed to do, and I was arguing it would be a good way of stretching our legs, get some fresh air, and most importantly, a possible chance to find out what was going on. In all the dreams I never did find out what had cause this upheaval.

  It was predictable that my blood glucose would be rather high this morning. It was 9.2mmol/l, and when it is that high I try and fast for the day. Today that might be easier than many days because I intend to go out if I can get ready in time. One thing holding me back is that while I have made two deposits in the toilet, I still feel a bit bloated, and if I go where I want to go, it is probably that I will be away from toilets for a long time !

  My plan, if I actually do it, is to get the train to Herne Bay to watch some live music there by maybe three bands. If I could be bothered to stay late there is also a firework display, but I expect to be home again before it is dark. So far I have had a shower and washed my hair. Ideally I want to get a train in about an hours time. I had better pull my finger out if I am to get it. I still need to have at least one more very productive visit to the toilet, and to pack my rucksack with a raincoat that I hope I will never need, and a camera and lenses, a bottle of water, and some liquorice allsorts to give me a little lift if my blood glucose goes low enough to sap my energy (but not so low as to cause other problems).