Today will also feature pure sunshine from dawn to dusk, but at only 9° C for the afternoon, it is going to be a cooler day than yesterday. Like yesterday, the temperature at 8am was almost cold enough for a frost. This morning it was 2.5° C plus or minus half a degree - rather lower than the 4° C shown in the forecast. Tomorrow may reach a far better 12° C, but it will come at the cost of a rather dull sky, and the possibility of a shower later in the afternoon.
  I spent a fair bit of yesterday adding more and more data to my ever growing spreadsheet that catalogues my collection of train photos. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it is almost up to date now in so much as I am have been dealing with pictures taken in the last two years. Some of the very newest pictures I added as I processed them, and in the Covid years I did very little train photography. Just for a change of scenery I made a start on some of the photos I shot on film. Back in those days, maybe around 1996, my technique was rather poor, and some of what should have been great shots were just about unusable.

  One thing I tried not to do to any great extent yesterday was to eat, although I suppose that more refers to dinner time. I had my usual bowl of noodles for breakfast, and a can of Irish Stew (which is very much like a "chunky" soup) for lunch. I knew I would not be eating anything substantial until much later in the day, and so I supplemented that stew with a little tub of Fray Bentos chicken curry. Those little tubs are only just over half the size of a can of soup. The chicken curry was one I bought out of curiosity, but never again. It was dry and hard tiny dice of chicken in a brown slime that tasted completely unlike any curry I have ever experienced. It had a heat rating of minus one chilli, ad had not detectable Indian spices in it !

  Finally 7pm approached, and I had got everything together to leave to go to two gigs last night. They were my first two evening/night gigs that I went to for 4 months (I think). I went to the 320 bus stop with the aim of getting to Bromley in time to see Whitestar start their gig at 8.30pm. Of course there was no rush because the started at least 15 minutes late. One of the things I definitely didn't miss while not going to gig was the extremely tedious 320 bus ride to Bromley. I guess it probably only takes 20 minutes, plus a 5 minute wait for it at the bust stop, but it felt like an eternity.
  By way of proof that I got there, here's Simon Whitestar at the microphone. It was very obvious that I was glad I had brought a flash gun with me because it was pretty dim in there, but I turned the flash down until it was mainly just fill in flash, and I was happy with the result of that. I was less happy that I didn't have a wider angle lens with me. I was using my Nikon D3200 camera last night, and all the shots were taken with an 18 to 200mm lens. Something like a 10mm lens would have been good.
  By stepping back a bit, barely missing stepping on others toes, I was just able to get the whole band in. This picture looks a bit lopsided because just to the left was a speaker that was eclipsing the end of Roy's guitar. That's Roy Dalley on guitar, Matt Donovan on drums, Simon Whitestar at the mic, and Gus Mcinlay standing at the back on bass. Whitestar make some very good music - a mix of covers and their own originals - but they are annoying in that it is very hard to snap them all looking vaguely towards the front.

  I do have some video of Whitestar. I shot one song on my little Canon Ivy camera, the one with just one control and no viewfinder. The pictures weren't too bad, but the sound was just one hell of a distorted racket. Prior to last night I thought it's microphone sensitivity was quite low, but last night proves that was most definitely not the case. I did shoot a video on my mobile phone, and that has pretty fair sound, but the picture is marred by camera shake. It is not your ordinary camera shake, but the result of filming in the middle of an Earthquake. Standing next to me was a man who was most definitely not light on his feet, and he was dancing extremely enthusiastically. The floorboards were really bouncing up and down, and I am surprised we didn't end up in the cellar.

  Despite their late start, I gave Whitestar the full 30 minutes I had set aside to watch and photograph them. It wasn't really enough time to get any great photos, but I think I probably have 5 or 6 that are usable. I then walked down the road to The Partridge pub where Chain were due on at 9pm. I was hoping they had made a late start, but they were probably a few songs into their first set when I got there.
  The Partridge is always packed on gig nights, and the layout means the audience is right up to the back of the mic stands. I really don't like the place, but originally I was hoping to have a few words with Jo, before they started, to thank her again for the seeds she posted to me. Unfortunately all we could do was to exchange a wave, and the shock of seeing me almost made her miss a line of the song she was singing.
  I just couldn't get far back enough to take a good picture of Jo, but I did manage this shot from the side just as she turned slightly towards the camera. I haven't examined all the pictures I took last night, but my first impression is that I am not happy with most of the snaps of Chain. One problem is that there was little room to move, and there was someone I really don't like there who hogs the best positions, and will yield to no one.

  It was good to see Chain again, but my timing was lousy. After two or maybe three songs (since I arrived) they announced their guest singer. I don't think I know his name, but his speciality is singing David Bowie songs. He made an awful racket singing "Starman", not one of my favourite David Bowie songs, and once he finished I quickly slide away to go home in disgust. I had achieved my goal of getting to two gigs, and so I considered it a success,

  I then had to face the bus ride home. The first bus to arrive was a 208. Like several other gig venues there is a choice of two buses to go home on, but they stop and start in different parts of Catford. Where they stop is no problem at all, but I can't be at two bus stops at once when going to a gig. The bus seemed to keep up a fair speed on the way home (well it is mostly downhill !), and it always feels quicker travelling towards home.

  One of the things I half budgeted for in my eating plans for the day was to have a late takeaway supper. That was basically just three bits of fried chicken without "fries".  The only slight problem with the 208 bus stop is the need to walk a little way in the wrong direction to home to the Chick Chicken shop. It is not my favourite, but it is usually OK. I was home with my supper by 10pm, and that seemed reasonable.

  What was less reasonable was that chicken. I was given three bits of breast, and it was rather dry, and less succulent than I expected. It was OK, but not wonderful as I hoped for. I suspect it had been in the heated display cabinet for rather a long time, and that had dried it out a bit. Once I had eaten the chicken, and washed the grease off my hands, I copied the photos to my PC, and had a quick look before quickly selecting the 4 I have shown here.

  I was in bed before midnight (potentially before Chain had finished their gig), and it didn't take me long to get to sleep. At first I thought it was going to take a time, but as I was thinking that I fell into a fairly deep sleep. One thing I didn't do last night was to drink in either pub. I did try and get served in The Swan And Mitre, but they were so busy that I gave up after 5 minutes. The bar at The Partridge was too packed to even consider it. The net result was that I woke up fewer times to pee last night, although I still woke up a few times as if I had the need - force of habit !

  I was up earlier than I expected this morning. It was soon after 7am, and it was probably because it was light outside, and while it wasn't actually sunny at that time, the light had that quality to show it would be sunny once the sun was high enough in the sky - and it is indeed gloriously sunny as I write this. I did wonder how I would fare after my late night supper of unhealthy food, but I needn't have worried. Somehow my blood glucose was right down to an excellent 7.1mmol/l. It has only been a bit lower than that twice before this month, and only once in January. I feel I would have to work hard at eating today to get such a high reading that it would stop the end of this month average being a new record low.

  Today my time will be split mostly between two things. I need to go over all the pictures I took yesterday, and see if I can find enough of both gigs for two photo albums. I have doubts I will find more than 3 or 4 usable Chain pictures. I also have one video to edit of Whitestar playing while I am being bounced up and down on the floorboards because of the energetic dancing of the man next to me. I need to decide if it is worth doing anything with. This afternoon should be another beet tasting session with Jodie . If I have any spare time and energy I could also wash a few t-shirts and underwear, but even if I do I doubt I will get it done in time to hang it on the washing line to dry while the sun is out - not that the washing line will see much sunshine at this time of year.