The most significant thing (although there were other significant things of almost the same importance) yesterday was that I finally got to do some exercise. I had a loose plan that I would get a train to either Clock House or New Beckenham stations, and then walk home. In the end I chose to go to New Beckenham station.

  By the time I got back as far as Lower Sydenham station I was feeling good enough to take the long way home via Southend Park. The only flaw in this plan was that I had been assuming that there would be sunny intervals while I was out, but the forecast was wrong, and it was very grey out. Fortunately it was 13° C, and I didn't feel uncomfortably cold wearing my sleeveless denim jacket.
  The walk was a good opportunity to test my latest camera - a Canon Ivy. As can be seen in the picture above it is a small camera that is ruggedised, waterproof down to 6ft, and takes either photos or videos. It has one small drawback - it has no viewfinder, and it is either point and hope, or you can connect it, via bluetooth and wifi (why both ?) to a mobile phone, and use the screen on that as a viewfinder. There are also some options that can be changed via the mobile phone link.
  The very first picture I took while on my walk (I had taken a couple in my bedroom just to see how it handled) was this picture of the departure screen on platform 2 of Catford Bridge station. It seemed nice and clear, although the clours seemed a little desaturated.  Incidently, when you add the 0.323 miles of the walk from home to the station, to the distance of the main walk, it comes out to a 4.016 mile walk in total. I haven't done a walk that long in ages.
  I was also taking the opportunity to take more shots using my Nikon D80 camera. The last time I took it on a walk all the pictures seemed under exposed. This time many were very slightly over exposed. I had done some experimentation at home recently, and I now seem to have developed some "muscle memory" of where the major controls are, and also to remember that the in-view exposure meter works backwards compared to that on my other DSLR cameras. The picture above, after a few tweaks seems very satisfactory - particularly considering it was taken "into the sun", not that there was any visible sun, and it was generally very dull out.
  The starting point of the long portion of my walk.
  My walk became more interesting as I followed the footpath alongside the River Pool towards Lower Sydenham. The last time I was here, probably a year ago, it was very difficult to get down the river bank to water level. It looks like the winter storms have altered the river a lot. There were more banks of shingle, and in a few places the river bank had been made into a more gentle, albeit still slightly steep, drop. Maybe it helped that the vegetation alongside the river seems to have been cut back as well as naturally died back in the winter.
  This was the second place I was able to get down the river bank, and onto the shingle to take a sort of mid-stream picture of the river. This pleased me for no reason that I can work out. It was also pleasing that it seemed easier than expected to scramble back up the river bank, although having said that, I have to admit I could feel the stiffness of my knees a lot.
  It was possibly a bit masochistic, but I deliberately lengthened my walk by diverting through Southend Park. It was dull grey and completely deserted in there. Usually there are at least a few kids kicking a football around, but it seems I had the entire park to myself. In the middle of the park there is a hump backed bridge that I once thought was purely ornamental, but now I have doubts about it. The River Pool runs through the park below the surface in a culvert, and as far as I can guess, it runs alongside this bridge on the left. To the right of the bridge is a steep embankment, although it is covered in thick vegetation. Looking over the parapet on the left side I could just see what looks like parallel courses of granite bricks among the vegetation. I suspect that one upon a time there was a stream, or maybe a land drain, that flowed under the bridge and into the river when it was open. I also suspect that the stream is now in a pipe the leads into the culvert.
  This picture really tested how quick I could change setting on my Nikon D80 camera to capture this blackbird in quite deep shadow. I "turned the taps on full" (so to speak) but the original picture was still under exposed, but it was fairly sharp, and not really very grainy. I managed to brighten it up enough to look OK in my photo editor (The Gimp).
  This was another picture taken on my Canon Ivy camera. I think these rocks are my second favourite rocks in the river as it flows through the River Pool Linear Park. I think my favourite rocks are a bit tricky to get at now because it looked like the shingle that allowed easy access has been washed away since last time I was there.
  Almost at journey's end - near the gates of the Catford end of The Linear Park, and finally a squirrel does a nice pose for me. This was taken with my Nikon D80 camera.
  On Catford Bridge now, and another picture taken with the Canon Ivy camera. The sign is heavily covered in graffiti, but one thing is still very visible - the sign pointing to Catford Stadium. This was the Greyhound stadium the closed nearly 20 years ago, and the grounds where it stood, plus other space, covered in blocks of flats.

  I felt good and bad when I got home. I felt good that I had managed a 4 mile walk without too much difficulty, but the bad was that I did feel a lot more tired than I hoped for. I also felt hungry after only having a single bowl of instant noodles for fuel. I hoped to quench that hunger with a can of chunky soup-like chicken casserole. I thought that was working, but after copying all the photos I had taken (many more than those shown here), giving them all a good look, and then laying down for a snooze, I woke up feeling really peckish.

  Maybe I didn't feel peckish straight away, but as soon as I started the process of selecting and editing pictures (also editing a few test videos taken on the Canon Ivy camera - which were boring, but better than expected), I then began to feel really peckish. I decided I would risk a few Stax (corn based triangular crisps in a tube). The trouble is that they are rather moreish, and I ended up eating far too many. In fact I had the last of the tube as a sort of dessert after my dinner.

  On the whole I was very pleased with the results from both the big Nikon DSLR camera, and the small Canon Ivy. I was particularly impressed with the video from The Canon Ivy. One useful thing is that the microphone seems not unduly sensitive, and that combined with it's low light performance suggest it might be good for gigs.

  My dinner was very similar to the dinner I had the previous evening. It was sliced boneless chicken thighs with green vegetables. In last night's case it was two rather small Pak Choi, and about 6 sprouts. As usual I spiced it up with some chilli sauce, and a few other things. I found it very enjoyable, and of course it was very low sugar, and I think it had very few calories.

  There was nothing special about last night. I watched a bit of TV, and read in bed. I think I felt ready to try for some sleep at about 9.30pm, and before 10pm I had slipped into sleep without realising. I woke several times in the night, and had quite a few now forgotten dreams. At about 5am, after a pee, I turned the heater up full, and slept until just gone 7am when I got up.

  The one thing that spoiled yesterday was my inability to put down those Stax snacks. I am very sure it was those that raised my blood pressure to an annoying high, even if it wasn't terribly high. 8.7mmol/l ruined a nice run of low readings, and sent my running average haywire. I should be able to recover from it unless I allow myself to do something stupid again before the end of the month.

  Today's excitement will be another, rather shorter, walk through the park to have a lunchtime drink with Angela. There is also, I have to admit, a rather unlikely possibility that I will go to an open mic in Bromley this evening. If I do I rather expect it might be just a flying visit. It all depends on how I feel this evening. I guess I ought to make a big effort to go because I need to get into practice of late night gigs again, but I have to admit it will be a lot easier when the sun is setting a good few hours later.