The latest revision of the forecast for today has juggled around when there will be full sunshine, sunny spells, or no sunshine, and also reduced the amount of sunshine. It is bright and sunny as I write this, and it is supposed to be dull right now. It is evidently going to be one of those days when it is just pot luck when a could may cover the sun, and went the sun will shine freely.  The afternoon high, according to the latest revision may be just 13° C. That would have been a luxury a few weeks ago, but today it feels like we have been cheated. Tomorrow could be another very variable day. The BBC forecast a mostly sunny day with the temperature peaking at 16° C, but the Met Office are far more pessimistic. They say the best we can hope for is about half a day's worth of sunny spells, and a top temperature of 15° C - which I guess isn't bad.
 
  I'm starting this very late because I have been selecting and editing photos from last night, but more about that later. I actually had a very boring day yesterday as I was mainly waiting for the evening. It meant that I didn't fancy doing anything that might distract me from getting in the right frame of mind to go out in the evening.

  There was one thing I started yesterday, and that was another attempt to repair the leaking hot tap in the kitchen. Once again I failed to undo the mechanism. It is like it is welded together. I am thinking that the only way of undoing it would be to clamp the tap body in a vice, and then possibly use a hammer to wallop a spanner of the exact size for that nut. I am thinking that I will have to replace the whole mixer tap (with two conventional taps) and that is going to be a bugger of a job that will involve getting the dead washing machine out, undoing a few screws that hold the sink unit to the wall, and swivelling it around, and I don't fancy doing that !

  One thing I did do was to be very careful about my eating yesterday. I didn't want to feel full/bloated when I went out, and so I limited what I would eat. I had my usual bowl of instant noodles in the morning. At lunchtime I opened a single can of soup, and later in the afternoon I had some rice cakes with cream cheese. I felt mildly hungry when I went out, and so I guess I achieved what I set out to do.

 The occasion last night was a a gig at The Honor Oak pub near the boundary of Catford, Forest Hill and Brockley.  I was very much inspired to go by three or four things. It was an early start (compared to a lot of gigs) at 8pm. It was supposed to be a warm evening (it wasn't). It was easy to get to with a choice of two bus routes, and a travel time of little more than 10 minutes. Also, it was Carrie and Steve who are always interesting to see (and Carrie makes nice comments about my pictures, but never seems to use them in any of their publicity).
  I arrived at the pub earlier than needed thanks to only a short wait for the bus. It was quite handy because I got to chat with Steve and Carrie before they started. One good bit of information is that they, and the rest of the band, as Hell On Tap, have been booked for this years Chislehurst Rocks festival. I reminded them to invite me into the back stage area so I have a safe place to keep my camera(s) bag, and also to have an occasional sit down.
  As a (semi) acoustic duo they didn't play the usual hard rock stuff, but played and sung an assortment of music including at least one classic soul song. Last night I used my Nikon D300s camera, and my big Sigma 18 - 24 lens. It was the forst time I have used that lens at a gig. I also used a flash gun with "soft box" attached to it to give a softer looking flash.
  I was very pleased with that lens. I originally bought it as much as 10 years ago, but took it back saying it was faulty because the electronic focus didn't work. It was many years later before I knew why - you need an older Nikon camera for it with the focus motor inside the camera body. I asked for a refund, or for a heavy discount because it was still possible to manually focus it. I got it for just £150, and I think that they normally go for £500 or even more (secondhand).
  I was originally going to show these pictures almost as I had taken them because I was in a rush to finish them this morning. This picture, and the one of Steve, I did darken the background a bit to give a sort of spotlight effect. It was more noticeable on the photo of Steve. Incidently, the sign behind Carrie is intended for people drinking outside in the garden, although if Hell On Tap were playing it could refer to the band as well !
  One thing Carrie is good at is doing dramatic poses, or as some say in the rock business, "throwing shapes". Of course in the picture above it is not a pose for the camera but her typical style when on stage.
  I only stayed for the first set, and I don't know if Steve did any more solo stuff, but I did capture his single solo spot in the firsts set. He sung a Jimi Hendrix song. It might have been "All Along The Watchtower" and so it could be said to be a Bob Dylan song.

 At the end of the first set I decided I had taken enough pictures, and that I would go home again. In the end I didn't go straight away because Steve or Carrie bought me a pint of Guinness. We sat in the garden to drink it, and chatted a little more. It was my first taste of how cold it was starting to feel. That was significant because I only wore my sleeveless denim jacket over a short sleeved t-shirt.

  As I left the pub I checked the times of the next buses. It seemed like I had missed the 171, and then next one was due in 20 minutes. So I walked down to the main South Circular road, and along it for 100ft of something to the 185 bus stop. The app on my phone said the next 185 was not due for 15 minutes. Rather than wait, I decided to prove what I said would be possible - walking home.

  As can be seen in the route map on the left, it was 1.14 miles from the bus stop on the main road to home. I am pretty sure that could be rounded up to 1.2 miles when the walk from the pub to the 185 bus stop is added to the distance.

  I must admit it wasn't long before the cold air was making my chest hurt, and a few other bits also ached. Occasionally I would slow down to look at my progress on my phone, and even come to a complete stop for a few seconds to get my breath back. Nevertheless, I seem to have kept up an average speed of 2.8 mph. I used to reckon that for any sustained walking I would rarely go faster than 3mph. If it hadn't been for the few slow bits, and the couple of complete stops I may have even managed it at 3mph. Maybe I am not as unfit as I think I am - it's probably "mostly" instead of "completely" !

  One naughty thing I did do on the way home was to stop to buy some chicken and chips. Now I have to admit that a few minutes in a warm shop seemed to restore my energy/vitality, or whatever it is, completely. I knew it was a bad thing to get that greasy takeaway, but I did make a point of ordering just two bits of chicken (I would usually order three bits) and I asked for a small fries. What I got was certainly less fries that I used to get there. I don't think they specifically do a "small portion", and so maybe it is just a cost cutting exercise so they can try and keep their prices down during this period of bad inflation.

  It was nice to get home to eat my hot food, although it was not so hot when I came to eat it. before I got my fingers all greasy I transferred some pictures and video from my phone to my PC, and even did a quick and dirty trial edit of the video. Maybe I'll do a shrunken, instead of a full hi definition video, version of a video to show here later. After stuffing myself with now just warm food I brushed my teeth and went to bed. That was about 11pm, and I fell asleep very quickly.

  I slept really well last night, and only got up for a pee twice that I remember. That suggested my blood glucose was quite low, and maybe for some of the night it was because I hadn't eaten much during the day before the chicken and chips, and the chicken and chips were only just starting to be digested. Evidently the process was complete by the time I got up because my blood glucose was well into the red area. It was 11.2mmol/l. That is quite dangerous, or it would be if it was sustained, but I checked again just after 10am, almost 4 hours later (maybe 3.5 hours later) and my blood glucose had already dropped back to the safe side of the red line at 9.5mmol/l. It is possible it will be back to normal at lunchtime.

  I am not sure what I am doing today. It all depends on what I do tonight. I could possibly go to another gig for an hour or so. M.T. Pockets, who I like a lot, are playing in The Railway pub in Blackheath (which I don't really like that much) tonight. It would be nice to take advantage of this sunny weather (it is still sunny despite what the forecast might say). Interestingly enough, the Met Office are getting more pessimistic about the rest of today's weather while The BBC are getting more optimistic !

  There is one factor about what I should do today, and it hangs on dinner. Yesterday I should have eaten a nice stew done in my slow cooker, but I didn't want to eat it before going out, and I didn't want to go to the trouble of heating it up when I got home again (of course I could have used the "warm" setting on the slow cooker to keep it warm for me while I was out). That is something I could do tonight if I go out. Oh well, I'll just have to see how the day goes.