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Thursday
11th November 2021
09:47
GMT
I suppose I would have to admit that the
forecast for yesterday was more or less
accurate. It was dull and sometime gloomy, and
the prediction of a 10% chance of rain probably
covers the fact that there was often some fine
drizzle. I can't confirm the temperature rose to
14° C, but it did feel to be in that region
where it is neither hot or cold.
It is
interesting to take a look at how the
weather forecast had changed since I
took the screenshot above. On the left
is how part of the forecast was looking
just before I started writing. It too is
complete fantasy. The air is currently
clear and bright, and the sun has been
shining sine it rose at just gone 7am.
They have got the temperature right.
From about 2pm the forecast still
follows the early version above. At 2pm
a man steps outside the Met Office, and
sees what it is like, and then will
possibly describe more pure fantasy. All
we can hope is that this morning's
sunshine continues for as long as
possible, but beyond that no body knows
what will happen. It is almost
meaningless to mention it, but at the
moment it is predicted that tomorrow
will be mostly dull apart from a few
hours of sunny spells at the start of
the afternoon.
Yesterday could be described as
generally satisfactory, and for a while
it was rather good. One minor annoyance
was that I made the same mistake as I
often make in the morning. After I
finished writing I laid on my bed, and
let myself relax for a bit. I think I
read a few pages from the book I was
reading, and almost had a snooze. I then
went and had a shave, washed my hair,
and had a shower. Just to make sure I
was even hotter I blow dried my hair.
Now this was all well and good but I
didn't have enough time to cool down
before heading out on a short walk that
would take me to The Jolly Farmers.
As usual I
kept my eye out for potential
photographs. On a dull day (with some
occasional very light drizzle) it was
not ideal for photography, and this
robin sitting under the remaining leaves
of a tree made it harder, but I managed
to get a just passable picture.
One thing I
noticed today, but have never seen
here before was the Harlequin
ladybird, and it's larvae. The only
place I have seen these before was on
the bridge over the River Wandle where
the path leaves King Georges park
(just around the corner from where I
worked). The two pictures above were
taken on the wooden top of the railing
of the bridge over the little
artificial stream (now silted up and
dry) fed by the River Ravensbourne.
Maybe these ladybirds, sometime known
as Asian ladybirds, have some affinity
to water.
This squirrel, on it's own, and
foraging in the grass, some way from a
tree, turned out to be almost tame. It
came within about a foot of taking an
almond from me. If I had had a little
more time, and if the nearby bench
seat was dry, I might have stayed for
a while to get it's confidence.
This squirrel, in the old St
Mary's church graveyard, was not tame.
Maybe a few bribes of almonds may have
got it, and his nearby friend, a bit
more interesting, but a crow came
screeching over, and they all
scattered to safety.
I noticed the glazed tiling has
been reinstated on the lower half (and
left hand side) of the old
Ravensbourne Arms. I think the tiles
are lighter in colour than the
originals. I don't know why this has
happened, or even when it happened. I
do know that there is a group who are
trying to find a PubCo, or brewery who
will re-open the place as a pub and
music venue. It would be nice to think
some progress is being made in that
direction.
I had sent a text message to
Angela while still in the park, and
she quickly replied to say that she
would join me for a drink. We had a
very nice drink together. Angela was
in a good mood, and both my two pints
of Guinness were uncontaminated, and
were delicious. (Somehow all the
disinfectants used against covid used
to somehow contaminate some of the
glasses). Although it was really nice
seeing Angela, our meetings no longer
seem as intimate as they once were. It
seems lover boy really has her under
his spell - which is sort of
depressing.
I "liberated" these beer mats
from the pub before we left. I don't
exactly collect beer mats, as in go
out of my way to get them, but when
the opportunity presents itself...
Somehow the advertisers craft makes
this slightly bland beer seem so much
better than reality !
There was some very fine
drizzle blowing in the wind when we
left the pub. I walked Angela back to
work, by which time the drizzle seemed
to have stopped again. It was so light
that it was almost ignorable, but it
stopping maybe the reason I went back
home through the park instead of the
most direct route. I didn't see any
more squirrels until I got to the
border closest to home. There were a
couple of squirrels there, but they
neatly avoided me. Meanwhile, across
the road...
These two cats were keeping
their distance - just - but there were
some cross words issued ! You
can hear some if you can see this 30
second video.
>
I reckon
I had walked about 1.5 miles in
total, but I still felt fairly OK
when I got home, although maybe
the Guinness made me feel a bit
sleepy. I think I only had a
cheese sandwich for breakfast, and
I felt like some lunch. I had two
packs of Polish instant noodles
for lunch. One was bacon flavour,
and not that good. The other was
goulash flavour, and rather
better, but still unexciting. I
then prepared the pictures and
video I had taken before having a
nice rest and I think that
included a snooze.
My dinner was some "Chinese
inspired" marinated pork steaks. I
had them with plain boiled home
grown potatoes. They were very
nice (the steaks and potatoes).
The only problem is that it turned
out to be a smaller meal than
intended. There were 4 steaks in
the pack, and after cooking two I
noticed that they shrunk quite a
lot (possibly because I over
cooked them). I decided to cook
the other two, and I had them with
some tomato sauce.
The only trouble is that I
didn't have all of them. After
eating one, and some of the last
one my knife sort of slipped, and
sent the plate with the last half
of the steak, covered in tomato
sauce into my lap, and the steak
ended up on the floor leaving a
trail of tomato sauce down my
trousers ! I guess I could have
washed that half steak and eaten
it, but i threw it away, cleaned
up the mess on the carpet, and
changed my trousers.
By 8.30pm (or was it 9pm ?)
I was feeling very sleepy, and I
was fast asleep very soon after. I
slept until almost 3am, probably
getting up once before then for a
wee, and then hit a spell of
insomnia. It felt like I was awake
for around 90 minutes, although I
suspect I was drifting in and out
of sleep during that time. I never
did get back into a deep sleep
after that, but it was better than
no sleep. I think it was around
6.30am when I started getting up.
This morning my blood
glucose was nice and low again,
although still not as low as I
would like, but that could come if
I cut down, or out, some of what I
would have regarded as luxuries a
month ago - things like
sandwiches. This morning it was
just 8.0mmol/l, and that has
reduced my running average a
little more to another new record
low. It took a little while to
realise it, but I seemed to feel
fairly good this morning, although
after sitting here at my PC, with
my legs seizing up, I wonder if I
was a bit premature with that
fault.
On the other hand, I have
had a shower, got dressed, and
been shopping in Tesco before I
started writing this. It was very
marginal, but I judged it just
mild enough to go without a coat,
and walking without being
encumbered made the walk seem so
much more enjoyable. I spent just
under £30 in Tesco, and came away
with 4 bottles of strong beer,
amongst other stuff. I even bought
a reduced price pack of cheese
sandwiches. It was a very small
discount, and considering the
sandwiches were on their last
legs, a very miserly discount.
The main feature today
should be an afternoon drinking
session with Jodie and Michael.
Before that I have to polish the
glasses, and put some heat on in
the dining room. Before that I can
be as lazy as I want to be, and I
want to lay on my bad in the
sunshine coming through my bedroom
windows, and read a bit, and if it
happens, have a snooze.
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