It should be sunny
now, but only very hazy sunshine is getting
through the white cloud in the sky. That cloud
could give rise to some light rain before the
morning is over. The thickening cloud means
the temperature will peak at 24° C at midday,
and then start to cool off. Late afternoon
could be a lot cooler than yesterday.
There could be more light rain tonight, and
tonight could be almost chilly compared to
last night. The highest temperature tomorrow
could be just 19° C, and the day will probably
feature scattered showers.
The whole of yesterday was ruled by
waiting for a parcel delivery. From fairly
early in the morning I knew it had reached
Amazon's Dartford, local delivery depot by the
very small hours of yesterday morning. In
theory it could have been out for delivery
from as early as 11am, and arrived here around
3pm. Experience showed that was unlikely even
if it was possible, although it has happened
once or twice.
Later on I began to get a better idea
of when it might arrive when they actually
admitted it had left the depot, and was out
for delivery. That was, if I recall correctly,
just after midday. My original idea was to go
out to play on the trains with my Freedom
Pass. I had hoped to visit Upminster and
Rainham stations. It was obvious there would
not be time for that, and with hindsight I am
glad I didn't go.
I thought it would be safe to go out for
a couple of hours for a walk locally. That had
to mean a walk through the Linear Park. I
wasn't ideally dressed for that in one
specific way. It was very hot, and so I was
wearing shorts. That meant walking along the
river bank would be unwise - too many nettles
and brambles to catch my unprotected legs. I
still managed to get stung on one leg when
walking too near some nettles.
It was definitely steaming hot, but
that was not trouble. In fact it may have
helped in many ways. In the night I had slept
(as best I could) with the fan on full blast,
and it probably over cooled me. I had lots of
aches and pains yesterday morning. One of the
worst was my chest - not so much for it's
strength, but for it being a sensitive area.
The pains/aches were never more than quite
mild, and generally they were from my
operation scar tissue, but it is an area where
aches are always something to be very aware
of.
Other aches were more painful, and they
were mostly from my legs, and feet, but my
right shoulder was really quite creaky.
Getting hot sunshine on it seemed like a good
idea, and maybe it did help. My legs just had
to keep moving, and my feet....well, my seemed
like they were getting really hot and the
soles were feeling quite painful depending on
how I was distributing the weight to them.
It all made for a very schizophrenic
walk - it was great being out in the fresh air
where a breeze was keeping my slightly dry,
and yet it all seemed like a lot of painful
hard work. The map on the right shows a very
familiar route. It says 3.34 miles, but if you
could zoom in you would see a lot of little
squiggles where I went into the Sainsbury's
Local shop by Catford station. I forgot to
pause the tracker while in the shop. A similar
thing happened when I got home and forgot to
stop the tracker until I took my phone out of
my pocket until I had unpacked the few items
of shopping I had got, and then gone up to my
bedroom to strip off my sticky outdoor
clothes. Some of those errors are partly made
up by the fact that I forgot to start the
tracker until I had walked around a quarter of
a mile. Past experience shows that this walk
is usually 3.25 miles, and that is all I
claim.
I was just about to enter the park when
I noticed this trike coming up the road. Many
trikes, although I have seen many in the
flesh, seem to be one-off designs, but this
one looks like a commercial design. I really
don't know if I like it or not.
I still haven't worked out or
remembered the difference between a dragonfly
and a mayfly. Maybe they are just two
different names for the same thing. Maybe I
ought to look it up before making
pronouncements like that ! What I do know is
that they are fairly common on the river, but
they rarely sit still. This one alighted on a
twig, just above the water, for just long
enough to get this reasonable shot of it. It
was a bit under exposed, and the focus is not
pin sharp, but it is one of my better efforts.
Incidently, I was using my Nikon D80 camera
yesterday. This is the one where I bought a
cheap camera body, and some cheap lenses
because it uses a special focussing motor that
quickly became obsolete. The only problem with
the camera is the comparatively low resolution
sensor. It is just 10.2 megapixels, although
that was pretty good for 2006.
I think this is the original ugly
duckling. It was certainly shunned by the
other ducks. It was all on it's own, and
possibly vulnerable considering it was half
the size of a full grown duck. It was
certainly young enough that it's head was
covered in something more like fur than
feathers.
All this picture shows in green grass
and trees with a clear blue sky above. It was
indeed a lovely day, and it is a shame I
didn't have more time, and was in less pain to
enjoy it more. I felt dead on my feet as I
left the park, but I found the energy to
divert a bit to go into Sainsbury's to buy a
couple of ready made salads, and some other
stuff. Not all of it seemed ideal, but I
wanted to eat it regardless. The posh looking
"Charlotte" potato salad looked and did indeed
taste very nice. The Japanese Bento Box
intrigued me. It mostly looked harmless, but
it was supposed to be Terriyaki flavoured, and
that can contain a fair bit of sugar. It did
suggest heating it in the microwave for three
minutes, but it looked like it might be better
eaten cold as a sort of salad. It was nice,
but not wonderful.
Maybe taking a break going around
Sainsbury's helped a bit because I didn't feel
quite so bad walking the last half mile to
home. Than again, heading towards home is
often easier than going away from home. When I
got home I prepared some lunch. It was going
to be a "classic salad" with Parma ham, and
indeed I did have that, but despite my morning
intention to try and fast for most of
yesterday, I couldn't resist eating that Bento
box.
Apart from "developing" my photos, and
of course eating lunch, I tried to do as
little as possible yesterday afternoon,
although I did keep a close eye on my parcel
delivery. By 3pm they had improved the
estimated time of delivery to be between
3.45pm and 8.45pm. Later on that would be
changed to 5.45pm to 8.45pm. It actually
arrived about 6.30pm. That meant I had had
plenty of time to go to Upminster and Rainham
(Essex), but I am glad I didn't considering
how rough I had felt on my walk.
After my parcel arrived I had some
dinner. I wasn't feeling that hungry -
probably because I was feeling full of chilled
water. It is odd that I don't have to feel
thirsty to want to drink ice cold water. It
just seems to go down so easily, and of course
it is alleged to be good for you. It certainly
flushed my kidneys out ! I had also eaten
several little snack-ettes of Marmite flavour
cheese "coins" (large coin sized disks of
Marmite flavoured cheese). My actual dinner
was the second half of the potato salad with
grilled chunks of skin and bone free chicken.
I watched a bit of TV last night, but
my 9pm I was definitely ready for bed. I
seemed to sleep fairly well last night, but I
had to keep the fan on my all night. I was a
very hot night - I don't think the temperature
in my bedroom went below 28° C last night (it
is still 25° C now). That means that this
morning I ache again, but maybe not as bad as
yesterday....or is it worse ? Is it more than
just because I slept with the fan blowing air
across my almost, but not naked body. Is it
because it was impossible to find a really
comfortable spot without it feeling too hot ?
Who knows, and who cares provided I have
enough painkillers.
Yesterday morning I thought my blood
glucose was a bit too high at 9.3mmol/l. That
is not very high, but high enough to trigger
the desire to take extra care. I'm not sure
that I did take that much extra care, but the
heat made me a bit less hungry, and 3 miles of
walking burnt off a few calories and stuff.
This morning, despite feeling I didn't put
much effort into it, my blood glucose reading
was a very good 7.8mmol/l. That is slightly
higher than my self set target of 7.5mmol/l,
but near enough to deserve a bowl of instant
noodles for breakfast.
Today I shall be getting more exercise,
but not in the format of a long walk, although
walking will be involved. My plan is to get to
Chislehurst Recreation Ground to see some of
the band on before Hell On Tap take to the
stage there, and some of the band on after
them. I might even dare to stay to get a few
snaps of Dread Centre - a reggae covers band.
I am not keen on too much reggae, but if I
have the energy to see their first song or
two, I will take a few snaps.
To get to the Chislehurst Recreation
Ground is a pain in the bottom. There is no
direct way. Basically there is just one bus,
and there are several places I could get it
from. I think the best way is to get a 202 bus
to a stop or two short of Lee station, and
then cross the road to get the 273 bus. It
will only be about 10 minutes on the 202, but
at least half a boring hour on the 273. I need
to get the 202 at just after midday.
There is a possible alternate route for
coming home. I
think it is a mostly
down hill walk from the back of the recreation
ground to Elmstead Woods station where I could
get a train to Lewisham, and then a bus or
train back to Catford. It is good that today
will be cooler, but some nice sunshine on the
stage would make for nicer pictures. It
doesn't seem there will be any sunshine, and
there is a slight possibility of rain - and it
is still too warm to take a coat. Tomorrow all
will be revealed !
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