Today could be mostly a cold and dull day, but the latest revision to the forecast does give a bit of hope for an hour or two of sunny spells just before sunset. Unfortunately the chance of rain at 9am is now shown as 50%. The afternoon temperature may reach 10° C. Tomorrow's weather forecast is looking like how the forecast for yesterday should have looked - sunshine from sunrise, degrading a bit to sunny spells that will finally give way to cloudy skies an hour or so into the afternoon. Once again the temperature should reach 10° C.
 
  I meant to show a picture taken at sunset the night before yesterday. It gave a far better idea of what yesterday's weather would be like than the forecast. The sky was partly clear, and the clouds were tinged with a nice friendly red and orange. I think if I had waited another 10 minutes the colours would have been a bit more vivid. This picture was taken at 16:10pm, and true sunset was still 15 minutes away.
 

  With the sun shining brightly, and it being a Wednesday, it seemed time to stretch my legs yesterday. Before that I had to have a shave, shampoo, and a shower. After that I needed almost an hour to dry my hair, and cool off before I could put on my winter coat, and venture into the great outdoors.

  The significance of it being Wednesday was that is my usual day to meet Angela. It doesn't happen every week, and I wasn't sure if it would happen yesterday. Happily it did, and I had a pleasant hour in the pub with Angela. She was in a much happier mood than last time. The rift with her daughter is starting to heal - as I was sure it would given time. Maybe it is happening faster than I thought.

  It is funny how one unexpected thing can trigger off a chain of events - even if most of the things are theoretical, or nice if they could happen. It started when the barmaid brought me over a half pint of Guinness. It was a freebie. She had poured it for a man who evidently couldn't wait for it to be poured, and walked out the pub before it was ready. Rather than tip it down the sink it was donated to me.

  For some reason Angela took a liking to the little half pint Guinness glass, and joked that it would be too obvious in the quiet pub to slip it into her bag. When it came time for the next round Angela gives me her credit card, and goes for a quick smoke outside while I order the drinks. While I was at the bar I asked the barmaid if it was possible to buy the half pint glass, and she just gave me a clean one for nothing. That delighted Angela when she came back from her smoke.

  As I was walking Angela back to work, after thanking and saying good bye to the barmaid, I remarked how well we were treated in that pub, and how I felt guilty that I only go there for single hour once a week. Angela agreed, and said that one day we ought to go for an early evening session in there. I mentioned how she once suggested we attend one of the quiz nights they used to hold pre-pandemic, and she said that if they returned we should have another go at trying to go to one. I have doubts that these things will ever happen, but it's nice to think that Angela likes the general idea even if she dare not be able to account for all her time to lover boy.
  I had actually walked to the pub by the scenic route, stopping to attempt to get some cash from the hole in the wall by Catford Station, but that machine was out of order. I couldn't help but noticing the thriving Buddleia bush growing between the bricks of the arch under the railway that leads into the park. There is another bush on the other side of the arch. If Network Rail don't do something about it those roots will cause bad damage to the arch, and sometime in the future they may have to close the railway line to take remedial action.
  It is pure coincidence that I did almost the same walk as this exactly 2 years ago, and I took exactly the same picture of this tree glowing red in the autumn light. I think the sun had been blocked by a cloud at this point, and it must have been the same 2 years ago. That is a shame because I can imagine that tree would look like a flame in bright sunshine.
  The screeches of Ring Necked Parakeets can always be heard in the park, and seeing green streaks in the sky, as they parrots fly from tree to tree at 500mph is also a common sight, but it only now, when the trees are losing their leaves, that the parakeets can be seen in the trees. Unfortunately this was the only one I could take a snap of, and without some heavy processing of the picture, it was originally just a silhouette against a bright sky.
  I really must take some nuts with me the next time I walk through the park. The squirrels are building up their body fat to keep them going through the winter, and some can be almost tame when offered nuts. Jodie recommends almonds rather than peanuts. This squirrel did a nice pose for me, but it was in the shadows, and the long exposure has gently blurred the picture.

  It was nice to get home again, and in a way it was nice to get home before I was starting to tire - it would be more correct to say before my legs and feet were tired. Two and a half pints of Guinness on an almost empty stomach gave me a different sort of tiredness. I still managed to go through the photos I took, and prepared the few I used here before relaxing. My original idea was to have a can or two of soup when I got in, but before I started to get that ready I ate a few Doritos "Snax" chips, and discovered they were just starting to lose their freshness because the lid didn't fit properly. I ended up eating the rest of them before they got worse.

  Eating all those corn chips should have put me off an idea that was brewing inside my head. I found a strong yearning for some shish kebabs. Before I could do anything about that I did a bit of reading, and had a snooze. At 5.30pm I was online, and ordering some kebabs, and hoping they would arrive not too long after 6pm. I made one bad mistake. I ordered 4 "regular" sized kebabs, 2 chicken, and 2 lamb. I wish I had ordered just one of each large sized.

  When the kebabs arrived they were delicious - possibly better than from other places I have used over the last couple of months (probably about one order a month). The only bad thing is that they were a lot smaller than expected. A small amount of meat under a pile of quite tasty salad. I ended up eating all four of them using the twisted logic that said if three is enough that would only allow one left over for tomorrow, and one is not enough !

  I felt full when I had finished (and not forgetting that I didn't eat the pitta bread), but I didn't feel over full, or bloated. It was just nicely full. It was only about 90 minutes later before I had switched off the TV, and was in bed reading. I think I was asleep before 9pm, possibly as early as 8.30pm. On the whole I seemed to sleep quite well last night if judged by the fact that even when I did wake up I had no trouble getting back to sleep again. Maybe if judged by the time I seemed to be dreaming, it may not have been such a great sleep.

  On the other hand, it is believed that dreaming, more than actual sleep, is the most important thing to "refresh the brain" then maybe is was good after all. Most of the bits of dream I can remember were about, or took place in an abandoned factory. I remember there was a lot of stuff that could be just taken, but not all of it was good. Quite often it would only be half of a really good bit of test equipment (for instance the display, but not the control equipment, or vice versa). The most interesting discovery was that certain components had been wrapped in bank note because the quality of the paper would protect the delicate components. I did gather quite a collection of old 10/-, £1 and even a few £5 notes, but they were long out of circulation, and so of little value except to collectors.

  I woke up at about 5am, and it seemed to be time to get up, but I refused that idea, and went back to sleep. I woke again at around 6am, and turned the heater to full power, and then had a wee before going back to bed to allow the heater a little time to warm my bedroom up. I didn't intend to, or even expect to sleep again, but the next thing I knew was that it was 7am, and definitely time to get up. This morning my blood glucose was a very satisfactory 8.2mmol/l, and although only for 4 days, my running average for the month is now 8.35mmol/l. That is good, although I am hoping that by the end of the month it is still less than my best month so far this year (8.37mmol/l).

  The book that could have been delivered yesterday never turned up, and so today I had better keep an eye out for that. As I said yesterday, it is coming via Whistl, and I am sure they hand over small packets, like a single paperback, to the postman for "the last mile". If it is coming today it will typically be between 11.30am and 12.30. All I have to do is make sure I have showered, and dressed before that. I sometimes go to Tesco on a Thursday morning, but I don't think I need to today. That means the next thing of significance will be a beer drinking session with Jodie, and probably Michael this afternoon.