Monday 7th February 2022

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Monday 7th February 2022

08:10 GMT

After a rainy start to the day there was a lot more sunshine, in the form of sunny spells, than the forecast predicted. Unfortunately they didn't really extend into the afternoon. In early versions of the forecast there were sunny spells predicted for 4pm, and in later revisions to the forecast light showers were shown for 4pm. Neither happened - it was just the same as most of the afternoon - grey. The afternoon temperature reached the predicted 10° C, but any warmth was blown away by a really vicious wind.

There is a clear sky right now, and I think we only missed a frost by the skin of our teeth. That clear sky will soon be giving bright sunshine (it is actually happening right now, but until the sun rises in the sky a bit more it is hidden behind the houses over the road). The latest revision shows the sunny spells (by 10am) to continue until 1pm now, and just like was predicted for yesterday (but they didn't happen) there will be sunny spells again at 4pm. The wind maybe a fair bit less gusty until much later in the evening, and the afternoon temperature of just 9° C may not feel too bad. The current prediction for tomorrow shows sunny spells from late morning, and continuing right through to sunset. The afternoon temperature is predicted to be 12° C. That could be t-shirt weather if the wind is not too bad.

I didn't seem to have that much to say about the day before yesterday, and I haven't got a lot to say about the morning, and half the afternoon yesterday. Apart from writing yesterday's diary/blog/thing, and having a good scrub under the shower, and washing my hair, I mainly rested until it was time to go out.

I mentioned yesterday that I was hoping to get to my first gig since last October. While I really wanted to go to the Lord Algea gig, there were a few hurdles to overcome. One was being allowed on a bus without a mask. Fortunately it seems that despite the London Mayor wanting to keep mask wearing going on transport he controls, not that many agreed with him. I did get on the bus, and although I was not doing a proper survey, I don't think I noticed more than half the passengers wearing a mask.

The other hurdle to getting the bus had to be overcome before the bus even arrived. I was shocked at how cold it felt when I left home. I assumed that 10° C would feel comfortable without wearing a thick coat, but the strong wind, and the stronger gusts, really blew in every crevice. It wasn't long before I did the front of my coat up. To make matters worse there was a long wait for a bus. The Countdown display on the bus stop was saying the bus would arrive in 3 minutes, and it kept displaying 3 minutes for something like 10 minutes, and then my bus disappeared from the face of the Earth, and I thought I would have a 15 minute wait until the next.

I was getting close to stomping off home when my bus appeared on the display again as being....wait for it.....3 minutes away. After 3 or 4 minutes it went down to 2 minutes away, and 3 or 4 minutes later it actually arrived. My original plan was that I would get to Greenwich in time to take a quick wander to The River Thames, and take a few snaps. That idea was based upon it being mild, and fairly bright - it was neither. There would not have been enough time anyway - partly because the late arrival of my bus, and secondly because the middle of Lewisham was almost gridlocked. Some sort of roadworks were going on, possibly for bicycle lane work, that blocked the whole high street.

I arrived at the pub just as the band were finishing setting up, and it wasn't long before they started. They make a very big sound for a three piece band. I think they started with a Who cover.

Max Edwards, the lead singer, and bass player, often seemed to be staring straight at my camera lens.

Close up on Max.

I'm sure I must know the drummers name, but after a few years since last seeing them play, his name, if indeed I did know it, has just evaporated away.

One of those pictures it is good to get, but only if I had some idea of what was going on. It looks like Max is giving the guitarist a bad stare, and the guitarist if staring at the drummer, while the drummer stares at Max. It was either one getting a cue from the other, or someone had made a mistake.

Once again I don't know the guitarist's name. What I do know is that in most of the photos of him he looks like a Sikh. The black beanie hat he is wearing looks like a turban, and the black moustache and beard completes the illusion.

I did try a few snaps without using my flash gun, but I didn't have my big aperture lens with me, and I could only just get close to full exposure by opening all the taps, and going for a too long shutter speed. Such a long exposure time would have given too much motion blur. I had to give in and use flash. As usual I mainly bounced the flash of the ceiling, and no one seemed to react to the flash.

I think I am pleased with the pictures I got, but I quickly began to realise that there were only so many pictures that can be taken of a 3 piece band confined to a small stage area. I guess it was about half an hour after starting to take photos that I realised I had taken enough, and put my camera away. I then pulled out my phone and shot a couple of videos.

I've heard 6 piece bands do a better cover of Pink Floyd's "Time", but Lord Algea, as just a 3 piece, do a really enjoyable cover of it. The beginning and ending were a bit tricky/dubious, and there were one or two little mistakes, but it still sounded great.

I had just one pint of Guinness in the pub, and I drank half of that while the band were still setting up. It is a shame that I was there on my own because it would have been nice to claim a table, or part of a table with someone who could guard my camera bag while I was taking photos or buying more drinks, or even when going to the toilet. Being on my own I sat down in vacant chairs to take a few snaps, but most of the time I stood up.

I had only been there for about an hour before I decided I had taken all the photos and video I wanted, and decided to go and get the bus home. Once I out in the cold air I realised that I probably should have tried to use the toilet even if I was encumbered by my camera bag. As I reached the end of the short road the pub is in I saw a bus pass, and the words "Oh bugger" came to mind. It is another minute or two walk from there to the bus stop, and I was happy to see another bus was due in just 7 minutes. It may have been my imagination, but that 7 minutes seemed to be more like 5 or less.

The bus was diverted to behind the shopping centre in Lewisham, like the bus going to the pub was, but there seemed to be few delays in that direction, and it didn't feel all that long before I was getting off the bus at the end of my road. There was still some light in the sky while I waited for the bus, but it fully dark when I got back to Catford - or maybe not fully dark because Aldi was still ablaze with light because I think they were still open - although it looked almost deserted. It was good to get home because the first thing I did was head straight to the toilet !

Having had my wee I started checking the photos I had taken, and started to edit (mainly just top and tail) the video that I hope you can see a bit further up the page. While the video was being "cooked" in the video editor, I was cooking my dinner. I hadn't eaten anything since my two bowls of instant noodles for breakfast. My dinner was just two cans of soup, although both were "chunky" soups. One was actually labelled as Irish stew, and I guess it only differed from the "Chunky" soups by having more lumps of meat in it.

I was torn between two different channels while watching a bit of TV before bed last night. Sky Arts were showing a documentary about the making of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" album. While Dave was showing "QI" follwed by "Have I Got News For You". I watch a bit of the Pink Floyd documentary, and it was good, but I took a chance that it will be repeated in the next few months, and ended up watching Dave.

Then I went to bed. I read in bed for half an hour or so, and then put the book down, and turned out the light. Initially I thought that maybe I was too excited about getting out of the house for a couple of hours, and seeing an hour of gig, but I think I fell asleep while considering these things. On the whole I slept well. I hope it was just a reaction to the extra hot chilli sauce I had used on my dinner, but at about 2am I woke up for a wee, and when I got back into bed I noticed that a bit of my pillow, and the top edge of the duvet were wet from, presumably, sweat. After that I seemed to sleep well again.

I woke up for another pee or two until it was just gone 7am, and then when I got up for a pee I stayed up. With hindsight it was probably more habit than need to pee so many times in the night. I say this because this morning my blood glucose reached a new low. It was just 7.3mmol/l, and 7.2mmol/l is considered the upper limit for a non diabetic. Of course one the drugs I take is supposed to ease the excretion of excess sugar in urine, although if I recall correctly, it only made a small improvement when I started to take it.

One thing I want to do today is a small shopping trip to Tesco. I deliberately don't want to buy too much to avoid excess temptation, and it would be hard to fill a trolley in Aldi (and so be able to use a manned checkout) with the small amount I am thinking of. If I can do that shopping, then have some energy a bit later, and if the sun is still shining, then maybe I will go out for a walk.