I think the BBC
weather forecast yesterday wins the prize.
Yesterday evening they were predicting just 2°
C this morning. The Met Office said 4° C. This
morning started with frost ! The temperature
now (09:19) has now risen to 5° C, and by 3pm
it should reach 12° C thanks to non stop
sunshine until sun set. Once again it
will be a cold start tomorrow, but only as low
as 3 or 4° C. The rest of tomorrow is a
mystery. The BBC predict a sunny morning, and
sunny spells until midday. Then sunny spells
for the rest of the afternoon. The Met Office
deny there will be any sunshine tomorrow,
although they do not predict any rain. Both
forecasters agree on a temperature of 12° C. I
suspect that there will be a sharp boundary
between the two different weathers, and the
sunny version may pass over us, or pass a mile
away.
This morning got off to a slow (or
different) start because my Virgin Media
internet connection was dead when I got up. I
suspect they were doing early morning
maintenance (adding more government taps to
their data centre), and once that was done it
came up all by itself. Meanwhile, I had to
twiddle my thumbs, have breakfast, and read
some internet new stories that I had
originally got up as separate tabs in my web
browser yesterday....but back to yesterday.
Yesterday could be described as a bit
of slow start too, but that was on account of
waiting for the temperature to rise, and the
sun to come out properly. Although I
considered two possible options to make use of
the eventual sunshine first thing yesterday,
it didn't take long before I decided a walk in
the park would be the best option.
I was not sure how I would feel on the
walk. I started it quite late compared to my
usual start times (typically soon after 11am),
and at that time (12:49:29 according to the
Simply Walking app on my phone) the sky was
still quite cloudy, and the sun and shade were
taking equal turns. As in all walks or
outings, the worst bit is always the walk to
the station. I didn't actually use either
station, but I did walk past both. By then my
legs would usually start to move freely, but I
still felt quite stiff.
I guess my legs did free up later, but
not long after other bits would start to ache,
and my thigh muscles were aching a lot ! I
didn't really expect that, but maybe I should
have done, because now I think about it, when
I was practicing for longer walks even before
lockdown, I can remember my thigh muscles
aching until I was well in practice.
I hadn't actually been in the River
Pool Linear Park since July last year, and
that was the longest walk I recorded for the
whole of 2022. It felt sort of good to see it
again after such a long time, and I was
looking forward to seeing some of the hard
work by the Friends Of The River Pool that I
had read about.
My pictures start from before I got to
the park. I had been meaning to take this
photo for ages, but many times I just forgot
about it, and at other times the bridge was
too busy to stop and take pictures. This sign
is almost opposite the stairs from Platform 2,
at Catford Bridge station, that lead up to the
main road. The relevant part of the picture is
where it points to Catford Stadium. That would
be the old greyhound track that was demolished
over 10 years ago, and now built over with
loads of blocks of flats.
As far as I know, there is just one
shady bit of the park where there are some
clumps of bluebells. They were just one of
several signs that we are now truly in spring.
It wasn't long before I saw the first
bit of work done by the Friends Of The River
Pool. In the areas known by it's old name as
The Vineries, there is a pool that last year
was really clogged with weeds. It has now been
cleaned, and looks quite picturesque. Not only
is the pool itself clear, but the ground
around it has been cleared of thick weeds and
low lying brambles. In all my years of walking
in the park I have ever been able to take a
picture from this viewpoint.
Not only is this pond clear, and the
ground around it, clear, but a lot of the
vineries has been almost mown to take it back
to almost, but not quite grass. It makes it
far easier to see the other 4 ponds. For the
first time three of them have water in them,
but the fifth remains dry. Maybe if the water
continues to flow from the spring that fills
the one in the picture and then onto the other
ponds, they will become good breeding grounds
for things like frogs and newts.
A regular feature on some parts of the
riverbanks - water hyacinths - looking
brilliantly yellow in the bright sunshine.
It was only after looking at my
pictures when I got home that I wondered why I
could not have taken a better, more
symmetrical, picture of the big pond. Last
year, and indeed most summers, this large pond
was almost full or reeds and the water was
stagnant, and very smell. The Friends Of The
River Pool have done a fantastic job clearing
the pond, and have revealed it's true size.
The original reeds, which I guess may grow
again, but perhaps be controlled, were used be
some birds, and there were reports of tadpoles
in one of the clearer bit of the pond.
The Friends Of The River Pool are
generally all volunteers, but they are guided
by wildlife experts in various disciplines. I
would think that rather than destroying the
pond for wildlife they have made it more
attractive, and provided it is managed
properly in the future it should have all
sorts of life in and around it.
It would seem that this drake and hen
duck have already adopted the newly cleaned
pool as their home, although I am not sure
where they can nest near it. The hem was first
out of the water, and walked towards me as if
expecting food.
The drake of that pair of ducks was
very tame. He was quite happy for me to get
within 4 or 5 ft so I could squat down and
take his photo. Ideally I would have kneeled
down to get an even lower angle, eye to eye,
shot, but I was wearing my freshly washed
jeans and the ground was quite muddy where I
was.
The main subject of this picture is the
bright blue sky, but I guess the scattering of
fresh leaves just starting to grow on the tree
is also another good sign of spring.
Another thing I was looking forward to
seeing was the new artwork on the railway arch
that is Opposite the Wickes store, and is one
of the ways into the park. Seen from the park
side is this magnificent picture of a
kingfisher, and there is a mural on the right
that I could only have captured if I had an
ultra wide angle lens for my camera. (With
hindsight I think my mobile phone camera could
have done the job).
Once again a wide angle lens would have
captured this mural under the railway arch in
a better shot than this one. As much as I
applaud all the hard work that must have gone
into this, I still felt a little underwhelmed.
I had expected something even bigger, and
grander than this...although I am not sure
what or how.
My aim was to walk in the park, but I
happened to pass Catford Bridge station at the
right time on my way home. I saw the front and
back of this train as it called at Catford
Bridge, and the front unit, 465923, just
happened to be another one that I had not
record in my big spreadsheet of train
pictures. It was also nice to wait a few
minutes at Catford Bridge while waiting for
the train to arrive. I needed a few minutes
rest even if it was rest standing up.
I was very glad to get home. This first
long walk, the longest since last July, even
if a tad less than 3.2 miles can be called a
long walk compared to my many, many longer
walks during lockdown, really took it's toll
on me. My feet were mildly aching, but as I
said near the top of the page, my thigh
muscles were really complaining, and the rest
of my legs were not entirely happy. I am happy
to say that although my knees made themselves
aware, they could probably have been ok for a
few more miles.
The first thing I did when I got home
was to have a pee, and the second was to weigh
myself. I had been mildly sweating at times on
the walk, and with the pee for a bit more
dehydration, I dared to get on the scales to
weigh myself as the second thing. It was not
good. I was still 1kg (2.2lb) above my
"official" weight. Hopefully, with the
unlikely cooperation of the weather, I will be
able to do something about that as summer
approaches.
Of course it didn't help that the next
thing I did was to scoff a bag of those thing
chip stick type things that I have referred to
as micro chips in the past. I ate the whole
bag as a sort of late lunch (at almost 3pm).
Maybe in terms of calories it could have been
worse. It could have been a load of cheese on
rice cakes. Cheese is good because it doesn't
affect my blood glucose level, but of course
it is loaded with calories.
I had a lie down, and I think I snoozed
for a bit before I did anything else. In this
case anything else was transferring pictures
from my Canon 600D camera, and starting the
selecting and editing of the ones I would use.
I had to break off that for a while to finish
cooking my dinner. I had precooked the chicken
the day before, and so I just had to add the
shredded cabbage and leeks plus some extra
broccoli. For extra flavour I also added a
teaspoon full off smoked chipotle paste. It
contained a fair amount of sugar so I used it
a bit more sparingly than I would have done.
I was too busy to see the first hour of
Star Trek, but I did see the next two hours.
While watching I ate my dinner, and I have to
say that the addition of the smoked chipotle
paste made it all rather delicious. I think I
know what will be in my dinner tonight ! When
Star Trek: Voyager finished I turned off the
TV, and lay on my bed reading until I turned
the TV on again to watch Have I Got News For
You. I could have watched an edition of QI
afterwards, but it was already 10pm, and I was
feeling tired.
I brushed my teeth and went to bed. I
read for maybe 15 minutes, maybe 30, and then
went to sleep quite quickly. After all the
fresh air in the afternoon it is probably not
surprising that I slept rather well last
night, or almost. I can't remember when it
was, and maybe it was a dream, but I am sure I
had a period of insomnia that lasted 20 or 25
minutes. I can't seem to recall any reason for
it.
I could have got up earlier this
morning, but with a light frost on the cars
outside I thought I would allow another 10 or
20 minutes for the heater on full power to
warm my bedroom up more. An hour later I woke
up again ! I was curious to see what my blood
glucose would be like this morning. I felt I
had controlled what I had eaten quite well,
although I did have that bag of chip sticks
things mid afternoon, and that might have had
some effect.
Evidently it did, unless I can somehow
blame the smoked chipotle paste, for the fact
that y blood glucose had risen compared to the
previous morning, but on the other hand there
are too many times these days when I would be
deliriously happy to get a reading of
8.2mmol/l. That is just under my average on
some of the best months, and definitely under
my average average for the last few years
which currently stands at approx 8.6mmol/. Of
course it is only the odd low reading like
this morning that keeps my averages down to
more sane figures.
I would like to take advantage of the
sunshine again today, but it is already late,
and I have to get a bit of shopping in from
Tesco today. I didn't think I would be out
walking today, but I did sort of hope I could
go out and photograph a few trains in the
sunshine. I might actually do something even
more radical today - gardening. If yesterdays
walk didn't cause enough pain, then I suspect
that gardening will do the trick - with bells
on !