The important thing about yesterday was that with hardly any wind there was less wind chill, and in the sunshine even 4° C didn't feel that awful. I was so slow getting ready that it was gone 1pm before I finally went out, and by then the temperature may have been approaching 6° C. Something, maybe some weird supernatural sixth sense, made me think I could get away with a slightly light coat, and I didn't even do the front of it up. I was feeling very comfortable warm before I had even walked a quarter of a mile.

  Fortunately I didn't over heat at any time. Nevertheless, I didn't feel all that good, and that was particularly so when I first set out. After a bit, and several stops to take photographs, I felt better, but there was always a bit of an edge to it. I didn't have a complete walk in mind, and I pushed myself to walk the 2 and a quarter miles that I managed. My legs felt very tired when I got home - which is not good for such a short walk.

  As I may have suggested (possibly the last time that I thought I would go for a walk, but didn't) I wanted to take my Nikon D80 camera for a walk, and try and get some better pictures than the last time I took it out. There are two problems with that camera, and one problem is me being unfamiliar with it. The layout of the controls, and how they work is very different to my other DSLR cameras. To make matter worse, the light meter in the viewfinder works back to front. If the pointer is to the right it is under exposed, and to the left it is over exposed. I am sure that is the opposite of my other cameras.

  It seems that the camera has a great bias towards under exposing pictures giving a dull, lifeless look. The curious thing is that for a while I was going to be blaming the shutter speed being slow causing that effect, but obviously a slow shutter lets more light in. On the other hand I did take some pictures which had some motion blur that was suggestive of a slower shutter speed than I was using. It is possible the camera is out of calibration somehow, but I expect most of the problem is the way I am using the camera. If I ever become familiar with the controls enough to be able to use them almost without thinking, like on my other DSLR cameras, I may get better picture....or maybe less wasted picture may be a better way of putting. I am just so glad it is digital, and I am not wasting expensive film with all these mistakes. However, I did take a few good pictures.
  I was using the full zoom on the 300mm lens I was using when I took this picture of a ring necked parakeet high up in a tree. On this occasion the exposure was about right, but the picture is not very sharp. The focal point seems about right, and that suggests motion blur. With hindsight I probably should have used a faster shutter when doing a hand held shot with so much zoom.
  I was hampered taking this picture by having to use full zoom again, and the subject being in the shade. This pigeon was sitting in a shallow part of the river. I fear it was probably ill, or injured.
  I really had to turn the exposure up to get this shot of a parakeet eating what may have been a tree bud. It is holding it in one claw, while grabbing the branch with the other. It was one of those lucky shots where I just happened to be looking in the right direction at the right time.
  I took this picture towards the end of my walk. It wasn't in the park, but by The Catford Bridge Tavern. I often see starlings in the vicinity, but it has always been very dull when I have attempted to get a snap of one in the past. This one was in the sunshine - but only just because the sun was so low in the sky.

  I was happy to have walked as fas as I did, but I was happy to get home again. It had felt like hard work despite it being mostly on level ground, and not being a very long walk. It was really only my legs that were complaining. The rest of me felt tired, but not tired enough to want to lay down. I went through all the pictures I had taken (considerably more than shown here !) before doing anything else. In a curious way I didn't seem to feel hungry, and it seemed easy to ignore any hunger that was born of just habit. All I had was a very small handful of almonds - not really even a handful - more like a heaped dessert spoonful.

  When dinner time finally came around, which wasn't such a long wait considering it was 1pm before I even went out, I decided I would have the same as the previous night's dinner, but cooked in a better way. I sliced, instead of diced the Polish smoked bacon, and the slices were very thick ! Rather than roast the sprouts I cooked them in the microwave in just a splash of water. I guess that made them more like steamed than boiled. Unlike the day before, they were slightly soft instead of almost crunchy. It was a much nicer dinner, and I didn't feel like any sort of dessert. In fact I actively resisted it.

  There were a few good things on TV last night. One thing was a 2 hour documentary about The Beatles Apple Corp business. Some of that was very interesting, and I ended up watching that mostly while occasionally checking what was happening on QI that was being shown on Dave. The Beatles documentary finished in time to switch permanently to Dave to watch Have I Got New For You (from April 2021). I think that finished at 10pm, and I went straight to bed with my book.

  I read for at least half an hour, and then tried to go to sleep, but nothing happened for at least an hour. I was just think that maybe I would turn the light back on, and get back to the book, when I think I must have fallen asleep. I know I woke up a few times in the night, and I can remember considering if I was getting a good sleep, but it all seems so hazy now. I feel that probably means I did sleep well.

  Part of the reason I tried to resist even thinking about some sort of dessert after dinner was that I was hoping that I would get a nice low blood glucose reading this morning. I possibly wouldn't have if I had the fruit I was considering at one point. This morning my blood glucose was a rather good, spot on target, 7.5mmol/l, and that took my average for the whole month down to a record low of 8.2mmol/l. If I hadn't started January with two very high (10.4mmol/l !) readings that average would have been 8.05mmol/l. Ideally I would like to end February with an average of under 8.00mmol/l, but that is probably wishing for too much, and I have a feeling that I will be "celebrating" too much today to get a nice low reading in the morning. Maybe there was a similar reason why I messed up the beginning of January.

  So far this morning I have had a shower, and been shopping in Aldi. I tried not to buy anything too bad for me in Aldi, but a few things slipped under the radar. I have just had half a small wine glass full of Aldi's chilli peanuts. I had a feeling there was a reason I didn't buy them very often despite them being delicious. I was right, one of their listed ingredients is sugar (possibly used as a carrier for the chilli flavour), and their sugar content takes the nutritional label into the orange. I have sealed the bag with a clothes peg, and will try not to have any more of them for at least a day or two.

  The wind is far too cold to go out again today. I only have one definite thing planned for today, and that is to finish washing two pairs of lounge pants that are currently soaking in detergent. Other than that I will possibly be very lazy, but maybe I'll play with my latest old (secondhand) PC. Maybe I'll do some more to my train pictures spreadsheet catalogue, or maybe I will just lay on my bed reading (and also reading some online stuff).