The prime purpose of yesterday was to meet Angela at lunchtime for a drink, but it was also an opportunity to take my new Canon Ivy camera for another walk in the park. Sadly, my hopes for a bit of sunshine never happened, except just before, and just after being in the park, and in consequence I never got to take any great pictures.
  There was some blue sky to be seen, but behind me, where the sun should have been, the clouds were too thick for the sun to shine. The lack of light on the ground makes the grass look dull and muddy. I could have brightened the picture up to make the grass look green, but that would have bleached out the clouds.
  Down on the river the picture looks a bit dull, but better that the sky shot above. This is still looking north to keep the sun behind the camera, although there was no sun, but maybe the southern sky was a bit brighter. The park is beyond the railings to the left, and the Hospital is beyond the right hand river bank.
  One failure of the Canon Ivy is that it has no zoom, but that is understandable considering it has no viewfinder to see what you are doing. This picture would have been better taken by one of my other pocket sized cameras, like the Canon iXus 285 HS, The camera in video mode would be even better because this little robin did a few seconds of dancing before flying off.
  Another picture that was desperate for some sunshine. The little area of the park on the far side of the river, and on the other side of the path to the St Mary's Church Therapeutic Garden, had carpets of snow drops to see.
  I noticed these miniature daffodils, or narcissus were in bloom in the shelter of a big tree in the graveyard beside St Mary's church. There were other plants already in bloom showing that we are now heading into spring at last.
  As I said near the top of the page, the prime purpose was to meet Angela in the pub at lunchtime. I tried the Canon Ivy out in the pub, but we drink at the dim end of the pub. In this picture it looks like there is an arc lamp shining through the doors in the background, but it was no more than ordinary, rather dull daylight. The camera worked hard to get this picture of Angela, but the result contains a lot of grain, and a peculiar colour cast that I can't seem to correct.

  We had a lovely time in the pub for just the one hour. There were giggles and confidences swapped - just like very close friends, but sadly not lovers. Angela often refers to me as "my best friend", but not publicly in case lover boy hears about it and goes into a rage of jealousy.
  With slightly reluctant permission I also too a snap of Asia the bar maid. Once again she has a strong yellow cast that I couldn't correct....well I could by turning up the blue a lot, but that just made the background (actually the front of the pub) look like it was some sort of psychedelic disco or something. The colour cast comes mainly from the yellow lampshades that can be seen in the picture. Asia is a wonderful, friendly bar maid, and seems almost like a friend to me and Angela.

  All too soon it was time to leave the pub, and for me to walk Angela back to work. I can't remember exactly when it was, but Angela asked me to remind her of my door number. I think I might have a Valentines card coming my way ! We parted on a hug, and a peck on the cheek. A minute or so later the sun came out, and I was dazzled all the way home. The sun went behind a cloud just as I reached my front door, and was not seen again.

  One problem with the fresh air, and 2 pints of Guinness, was that it made me feel hungry. The one can of "soup" (actually tinned Irish stew) I allowed myself didn't quite quench that hunger. During the course of the rest of the afternoon I had a snooze and two snacks. One snack was a couple of small, and slightly tart apples with a chunk of cheese, and the other was three Marmite flavoured rice cakes with sliced cheese on top.

  That almost worked, but I didn't delay my dinner. My dinner was two bits of haddock in breadcrumbs, cooked in the mini oven, and a small can of garden peas. Those peas came from Tesco, and I compared them with the small tins of garden peas bought from Aldi. The Tesco version actually had slightly more (probably natural) sugar in them, but maybe they were also a bit greener, and a bit nicer.

  I had given some thought to the idea of going to an open mic session in Bromley last night, but even before dinner I was feeling tired. If I had really intended to go out I would have deferred my dinner until after I got back. I watched a bit of TV, but by 8pm I couldn't stop yawning. It makes it sound like I could have fallen asleep there and then, but after brushing my teeth I initially went to bed to read. I put the book down just before 9pm, turned out the light, and sunk into insomnia !

  It was gone 10pm before I fell asleep, but once asleep I seemed to sleep well for most of the night. From about 5am I woke up frequently, but it seemed to take no effort to fall back asleep in a few minutes. It was another morning when I overslept by stealth ! The last few hours of sleep were plagued by dreams that didn't seem scary as such, but were still quite disturbing.

  The dreams seemed to start in a strange version of a big telephone exchange. There was something going on that kept me there through most of the night, although I don't remember what that might have been. It was 4am when I left, and my only way of getting home was to trudge a mile up the rod where there was a big factory that had a very early morning bus service. It was laid on by the factory owners, but was in public service. It had a route number of OB, and it wasn't clear where it was going.

  When it turned up it was a very small bus, and the driver announced that we would not all be able to get on. I don't know how, but I was one of the lucky ones, and I was on the bus when it started. At that point I was unfamiliar with the area, and I had no idea where we were going. At one point it looked like we were going down Bromley Hill, but I didn't recognise the buildings in the distance.

  I asked the driver to stop at the next safe bus stop, and he did. I could barely read what was on the bus stop, but I did make out that a 66 bus stopped there, and that it's destination was Vauxhall. I thought that would be a good starting point to get myself home. The 66 bus turned up after no more than a minutes wait, and I got on it. It turned out to be a micro bus with seating for no more than 8 people. I resigned myself to standing for the rest of the journey without even knowing how long that would be. I woke up soon after the bus started moving.

  It was just gone 8am when I got up - a little later than my aimed for time of 7am - but in the grand scheme of things it didn't matter when time I got up provided I was washed and dressed by early afternoon ! After my afternoon snacking I was slightly apprehensive when checking my blood glucose level. It was pleasing that the reading was 8.2mmol/l compared with 8.7mmol/l yesterday morning. That was enough to take my running average for the month to 8.02mmol/l, and that takes it back into the lowest on record for a few years.

  I don't think anything is happening today until about 3.30pm when Jodie will be around for another "exotic" beer drinking session. She may be joined by Alan at some point, and if Michaels bowel problem has gone quiet he may join us, but I suspect that is unlikely.