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 !