07:49 BST

  Yesterday was another very summery day. The sunshine was rather intermittent until late morning, but from then on to early evening it was most often gloriously sunny. It's worth noting that the forecasts were saying the afternoon would be dull, and that it would be 22° C. All that sunshine pushed the temperature up to 25° C again. Much later in the night it began to rain.

  

  The first hours of today featured a lot of rain, and even some thunder and lightning. The latest revision to the forecast shows heavy rain for 8 and 9am. It is actually raining as I type this, but I am not so sure that I would call it heavy - at least not yet.  Later in the day there could be sunny spells for 2, 4 and 5pm, but I would imagine that the forecast for this afternoon could change many times before the afternoon is over. This afternoon's temperature has dropped a degree in the recent revision, and now only 21° C is expected - on the other hand it does seem to be 16° C now, and that is a degree higher than forecast.  Tomorrow could feature a lot of rain, and it will almost feel chilly at just 17° C. The days after tomorrow are currently looking dull and cool, but yesterday, and the day before were not looking nearly as good as they turned out in the forecasts from a week ago.

   Yesterday was a surprisingly busy day. I had originally planned to do a quick shop in Tesco prior to going out to meet Angela, but once Angela called that off I went for a medium shop in Tesco. I felt quite warm, and the sweat on my brow after I had brought some heavy shopping home (the biggest weight being 4 x 2l bottles of Diet Coke) says that I was very hot. I spent an hour cooling down before the next thing I did.

  I left to go to Catford station at about 11:50am to get the 12:05 train heading towards Elephant & Castle where I would change trains. The great quest to visit all the limits of my Freedom Pass was on again for another day ! Elephant & Castle seemed to be the best place to change trains to go to Sutton. The Thameslink trains go two ways from there to Sutton. They do it as a loop with alternate trains going via Wimbledon, and the other direct to Sutton.

   According to the journey planner there was only 1 minute to change trains at Elephant & Castle for the first train that went the long way via Wimbledon, and I wasn't expecting to catch it - which was OK because I didn't want to travel the long way around. To change trains I had to go down the stairs to the subway that connects the platforms, and had to do it through quite a lot of slow moving people.

   It took quite a bit of effort to go up the stairs to the platform I wanted, and I did it in time to catch the train I didn't want, but perversely did want ! The reason being was that I could change at the next station, Loughborough Junction, to the train I did want - the direct train to Sutton. I think I have only ever passed through Loughborough Junction once or twice, and I have never stopped there until yesterday !
  Once upon a time it was a much bigger station, and I am sure it had a rather grand station building, but now the entrance and ticket office is housed under an arch under the viaduct. On top of the viaduct the platforms, either side of a central access stairway, have been extended over a road bridge to cater for 12 carriage trains. There is evidence of the days when the biggest train would have been just 4 carriages, and that there were once 4 platform faces. I had 10 minutes to explore the station before getting the train to Sutton.

  I don't think I have ever visited Sutton station before, although I believe I had passed it at road level before, but now I doubt that. The station is huge, or seems to be, because it is a Y shape, and each side is long enough for 12 car trains. At the end of each branch of the Y the distance between the two feels like it is probably half a mile. It isn't, but it is easy to imagine that.
  This screenshot of the map gives an idea of how Sutton is actually an important junction station. Trains come in from two directions on the left, and leave in three directions to the right. It was lucky I was travelling towards the rear of the train from Loughborough Junction, and didn't have to walk all the way back down the platform at Sutton to cross from platform 2 to platform 4. It was quite a tight change of platforms to get the train to my first quest station - Epsom Downs.
  I knew that once upon a time Epsom Downs was a very important station when everybody would take the train to watch the horse racing on Epsom Downs, but these days it is a shadow of it's former self. There is just one long platform instead of the original 2 (plus possibly a couple of sidings), and what may have once been the station house/ticket office now seems to be a private house.
  This is the rather lacklustre main entrance to the station. It is no more than a hole in the fence with a self service ticket machine, and a couple of Oystercard readers. It felt like a real let down when I got there and found close to nothing. I did no more than walk from one end of the platform to the other before getting back on the train. Most of the line is single track before it becomes double half a mile (at a guess) before Sutton station. I changed at Sutton for a train calling at Ewell East station.
  Ewell East station does have a single story building with ticket office and facilities for station staff. It might have had a waiting room, and possibly toilets too, but I didn't look that closely. The more significant thing is that the line seems to be built on an embankment, and so is the station building. The entrance is 10 to 15ft above street level. Once upon a time there may have been a big staircase leading up tp the entrance, but now there is a ramp and zig-zag staircase (both with bright yellow hand rails).
  It is far from obvious that the station is built on an embankment when on the platforms. This is the view looking towards London. I haven't studied the timetables, but a quick look at the departure board suggested it has 4 trains an hour. Two of them go to Victoria, and two to London Bridge. It was gone 2pm at this point, and I was feeling starving. The easy thing was to get a London Bridge train. Happily that was the next train, but it is almost an hours journey to London Bridge.

  Once on the train I consulted the times using my phone, and found I would arrive on platform 10 (if I recall correctly), and I had 15 minutes to get to platform 6. Now I know the correct exit from the high number platforms (the staircase in the middle, and not the exit at street level at the rear of the train) I knew I had plenty of time to take snaps of any trains I saw. I accumulated quite a few at London Bridge, plus several at each station I visited on the way to London Bridge.

  I think it was the 3:16 train to Hayes that I caught to get to Catford Bridge. That was just early enough to avoid any rush hour crowding. I arrived at Catford Bridge at approx 3.25pm feeling tired and hungry. Just under 10 minutes later I was at home after being out for 10 or 15 minutes short of four hours. I had barely any time to rest before going out again to collect my latest repeat prescription from the pharmacy. I was happy to find it was ready and waiting for me when I got there, although not so happy that they forgot the low dosage aspirin. Fortunately I seem to have enough spare to last me.

  Finally I could sit down and have a bite to eat, but not before I had drunk a pint and half of water to make sure I was hydrated prior to checking my blood glucose. As expected, it had dropped a lot during the day, and was down to 7.6mmol/l. Having done that I had something to eat. It was a 5 pack of Chorizo style Pepperami. I thought Pepperami was always like Chorizo, but this did seem softer, and not so pleasant. It may have been a 5 pack, but a packaging error had sealed an extra stick in. Bonus !

  I really wanted to lie down after eating, but I gritted my teeth, and processed the pictures I've used here. I still have a load of pictures that I need to check to see if I need to add any of the trains to my big spreadsheet. One thing I did notice was that apart from the diesel powered trains that go to Uckfield (a non-electrified line), Southern Trains fleet is now just a boring monoculture of class 377 trains since the class 455s were withdrawn on the 14th May. It made South Eastern's motley collection of trains quite exciting by comparison.

  I finally got to lie down and quietly read for an hour or so before it was time to get myself a proper dinner together, and to watch The Simpsons on Channel 4+1. My dinner was a very simple salad - just ham on a bed of mixed salad leaves. It also included a couple of pickled cucumbers (or gherkins as we know them). I only ate one and a half of them because since the jar was opened they seem to be deteriorating already.

  Once again it was time for more rest before watching QI on Dave. It now starts at 9pm instead of 8.20pm, and I think it was a long one that didn't finish until 10pm. While watching it I treated myself to a couple of large whiskies, and a large handful of salted peanuts. I was quite sleepy, or so I thought, when QI finished, and I was soon in bed, and reading a few more pages from the book I am reading. I then tried for sleep, and initially nothing happened.

  I am not sure when I fell asleep, but it wasn't very good sleep when it came. I think I woke up again before the thunderstorm unless there was a single very nearby thunderclap that woke me up. As storms go it didn't seem very impressive. There was the peculiar things of apparently lightning with no following thunder, and thunder with no preceding flash. It kept me awake for maybe half an hour, and maybe it carried on after I fell asleep again.

  I did seem to wake up a lot last night, and it usually wasn't for needing a pee, although I probably went out to the toilet just in case every time - except for one, or at least I think I remember it being once.  From maybe even just before 5am I was sleeping very lightly, and seemed to drift in and out of sleep. Some time before 6am I was more or less forced to get up. I had started to get cramp in my legs, and it seemed like my legs were trapped in the duvet. Some of that was sleep paralysis. I had to force my legs to move so I could leap out of bed to put weight on my legs to stop the pain.

  Since then I have checked my blood glucose, and had some breakfast. This morning, after eating so little yesterday, my blood glucose was very low, or perfect for a non diabetic - it was just 6.4mmol/l. A record low for the last few years ! That deserved a special breakfast of two bowls of instant noodles. I feel better for having them, but I can't say I feel that good this morning. I blame low atmospheric pressure and rainy weather.

  One part of yesterday's story that I have mentioned yet is that I got a message from Angela while I was out. It would be nice to think that either Angela is missing me, or is feeling sorry for me - either is good for me ! She suggested we could meet on Friday to make up for missing yesterday. That was excellent news but does raise a possible complication. Today two things could happen, and ideally it would be better if they were on different days. It is possible that I will be having a pub lunch with Patricia today, and later this afternoon Jodie should be over for a beer tasting session. Ideally I would put Patricia off until tomorrow, but I definitely don't want to miss an hour, or maybe more, with Angela.