There was some
sunshine at 7am, but I think it was more sunny
intervals than actual full sunshine. That has
passed now, and the weather seems to be
following the forecast (including the hardly
changed latest revision). Until 4pm it is
likely to be either grey or very grey. From
4pm the skies will open and we can expect
almost non stop rain until midnight, and then
on to 2am tomorrow morning. Much of the rain
could be heavy. On a day such as this I
don't think the temperature being a couple of
degrees higher than yesterday, at 13° C, to be
anything to be excited about. Tomorrow is a
mixed bag. The day will be various shades of
grey until the end of the afternoon when there
may be sunny spells until sunset, but the
temperature could reach 18° C !
There were some very significant,
very enjoyable highlights to yesterday, but
averaged over the whole day it was a sort of
average day. Of course the huge highlight was
seeing Angela for the first time in 10 (?)
weeks. The problem is that like a drug, the
high of seeing her is wonderful, but the
coming down from that high is not good.
I got a text massage from Angela saying
she was leaving earlier than expected, but I
still thought I could get to the pub before
her, and to help her off the bus when she got
there. I set out extra early to Catford Bridge
station. I thought I might get to the pub so
early that I could make a start on the
crosswords, and also Ayse, the barmaid, loves
it when I get her a copy of The Metro.
I walked to the station as fast as I
could, but I must admit I couldn't seem to go
faster than 3mph. That is actually the speed I
used, or used to use, to estimate things like
how long it might take me to walk to work, and
stuff like that. What is more significant in
the screenshot is that the walk was exactly 6
minutes long, and there was a special reason
for it. In point of fact I walked onto the
down platform (for trains towards Hayes) about
15 seconds before I stopped the clock, and I
could have walked another 10 or 20 metres. It
is also worth noting that the last bit of the
walk to the station is up a long shallow slope
that slows me down a bit. This is all relevant
to what is known as the six minute walk test.
I discovered the six minute walk
test in 2019, and decided to give it a go. On
that occasion I walked on perfectly level
ground, and I didn't stop walking at full
speed until the clock hit 6 minutes. In 2019 I
was able to walk 620 metres - far exceeding
the 365 metres minimum for the test. Yesterday
my speeds was slower, and I only managed 491
metres, but that was still a lot more than the
365 metres minimum (and I have given some
reasons why yesterday was a bit slower).
It would seem that for "an older person" I am
still doing quite well. There is another bit
of the official test that I didn't bother
with, and that was to assess, on a scale of 1
to 10 how breathless I was.My score for that
would be very good because I was not really
breathless at all, and I could have talked
perfectly normally. Having said that, from my
perspective, it is disappointing that I can't
seem to push myself to the point of becoming
breathless. It always seems that my legs just
can't go fast enough to consume enough oxygen
to get me panting.
I was lucky enough to "spot" a train at
Ladywell, which I took this snap of, that I
later found to be one I had never taken a
picture of before, and so it got added to my
huge spreadsheet of photographed trains. As
soon as I took this picture I had to rush to
the pub because Angela sent me a text to say
she had just arrived at the pub. As I rushed
to the pub the thought occurred to me that if
I called Angela when I reached Catford Bridge
station there could have been a fair chance to
get the same bus that she was on.
When I got to the pub I found Angela
had bought me a pint of Guinness, and had
bought half a pint of Guinness for herself.
She confessed that while she used to drink
Guinness some time ago, she hadn't quite got
the flavour when she started her half. Once
she did get the flavour the glass soon
emptied. It was really wonderful to see
Angela. She still has some pains from her
broken, but mending fast, bones, but she says
they are worst first thing in the morning. In
that respect they are similar to many of my
aches and pains. Like Angela's they fade once
you get moving.
There were so many questions I wanted
to ask about Angela's injuries that I forgot
most of them, but on the other hand, probably
most were answered as we talked. I have to say
Angela was looking really good. I know that
stress make Angela look a lot less beautiful,
and he injuries provoked some extremes of
stress at first, but yesterday she looked
really radiant.
One oddity was that Angela wanted to
try drinking Ales. Maybe she has been tempted
by tales of all the weird stuff that Jodie,
Michael and myself drink. Unfortunately the
Jolly Farmers has no working hand pumps
because they don't shift enough beer to be
able to keep it fresh. They do have keg beers,
and when I bought the next round I asked Ayse
for a taster of Beavertown Neck Oil. yse also
suggested that Angela should try Gamma Ray
because it is stronger.
Angela tried the Neck Oil, and declared
that she liked it. So I ordered her a half of
it, and I drank her half of Guinness as well
as my pint. Angela didn't like the Gamma Ray,
and neither did I, but I finished off what was
almost a third of a pint. It got to 2pm, when
by tradition Angela would be going back to
work. She is still signed off work and so
didn't have to rush back, but I guess old
habits die hard.
It was my intention to walk Angela to
the nearest bus stop, and see her onto a bus
towards home. There were two problems at this
point. There is no direct bus to her home, and
like when she leaves work, she decided to walk
to Catford to get her bus from there. It is a
basically flat walk with no busy roads to
cross. I felt I should go with her, but the
second problem reared it's head - I needed to
have another pee (I had one in the pub
earlier). Angela assured me she would be fine
on her own, and I headed back to the pub. As
we parted she told me she loved me - which was
very nice to hear.
Once inside the pub my need was not so
urgent that I could stop and have a double
Jameson's whiskey before going to the toilet.
Not only had I been most happy to see Angela,
but Ayse was very happy to see her as well.
She thinks we make a great couple, and for
ages has been very aware of how happy we are
when together. Like me, she thinks it a shame
that Angela will be getting married to someone
else (now in September). I worry that after
that Angela will finally quite work, if indeed
it doesn't happen sooner, and then there may
be very few times when I will see her....on
the other hand....apparently it was lover boy
who part encouraged her to see me yesterday !
On the walk back to Ladywell
station I had plenty of time to take a few
snaps in the St Mary's church "Therapeutic
Garden". The top picture is a general view
looking approximately north across the
width of the garden. The middle picture is
a close up of one of many deep purple
tulips that should be opening soon.
Finally a squirrel did a very nice pose
for me on one of the old tombstones.
At Ladywell
station I was lucky enough to spot two
more trains I had never photographed
before. These 4659xx trains were once
modified to have first class sections
and a better toilet for use on longer
distance routes while newer, dedicated
trains were waiting for delivery. I
think they were then put in store
until they started to be used on the
routes they were originally designed
for. So even some lowly commuter
trains from, for instance, Hayes
(Kent) to Charing Cross gained first
class seating which could be used by
anyone because no first class trains
officially run on the route. Of course
"First Class" on these, and indeed all
of SouthEastern's trains is more by
name than style.
When I got home I soon tucked
in to a sort of late lunch. It was a
couple of Yorkshire's (or Lancashire's
- I can't be bothered to go down to
the fridge to check the packet) potato
and meat pies. They sounded delicious,
but even though cooked perfectly
(after remembering to cook them on a
lower shelf in the mini oven/grill)
they were really quite underwhelming.
They mostly seemed to be filled with
mash, rather than chunks of potato, as
illustrated on the bag, and it is more
a matter of faith that there was
actually meat in there somewhere.
After eating I started the
usual sinking into a morose sort of
state. All the excitement was over,
and all I had left was a mild
hangover. I would have had a lie down,
and probable snooze, but I wanted to
deal with the pictures I had taken,
and I wanted to look at the crosswords
in The Metro. The quick crossword
stopped to make me think for a minute
or two once or thrice, but it didn't
take long to fill in every answer (and
hope they were right). The cryptic
crossword was very cryptic ! I
only managed to solve 7 clues, and I
have doubts about my answers for 6 of
them !
It wasn't long before I felt
hungry again. It was partly boredom,
or was it ennui ? I did have a few
peanuts, and a few small bits of
cheese before dinner time. When it
came to dinner I had a cunning plan to
make what looked like a rather light
dinner into something more
substantial. It was supposed to be a
slow cooked stew of minced meat, plus
shredded cabbage and leek. I made the
mistake of adding far too much water
for some unknown reason.
I decided to cook a medium
quantity of chunky oven chips, and
tray and scoop mostly the solids from
me stew on them. It was a partial
success, and it was rather nice, but
when I tipped the gravy down the sink
I found there was still a fair amount
of meat and vegetables in it. It felt
like a bit of a waste. During and
after dinner I watched the usual Star
Treks, and and then I took a short
break to do some more tidying up work
in the dining room. It was a
continuation of the stuff I have been
doing filing stuff like receipts and
similar away in named file pockets.
Despite it being cold in the
dining room, I did a bit more than
expected down there, and missed the
start of QI on Dave. Despite it having
Johnny Vegas as one of the guests, I
did watch the last half hour of it.
While watching that, and Have I Got
News For You, which followed QI, I
treated myself (not that it was really
a treat) to two large whiskies to
finish the day off. I was in bed
trying to read at 10pm, and because I
felt sleepy I gave up reading after a
page or two. In another 10 minutes I
think I was fast asleep.
I could list many reasons why I
slept so well (compared to normal
these days) last night, but I think
the temperature was the biggest
reason. I did leave the fan heater on
low, and the temperature did not seem
to high to make using the duvet too
hot, and it wasn't too cold to sleep
partly uncovered. I know I had
many dreams, and In think most could
be called at least "interesting" but
of course now, some time since a I
woke up (nearly 5 hours ago now) not
enough details remain in my memory to
try and write anything interesting
about those dreams.
Yesterday I had a double dose
of instant noodles of breakfast. Pies
for lunch, and some assorted nibbles
here and there. On top of that I had a
medium serving (or small by some chip
shop standards) of chips with my
dinner. Surely my blood glucose must
be very high this morning. It wasn't !
It was a very respectable 8.2mmol/l -
just enough to pull my average down a
bit. It seems very unlikely I'll be
able to get the average down to a
decent level by the end of the month,
but it will within a percent or two of
average.
Today is starting to be a rush.
I started writing late, and I've had
so much to write this morning that I
will have to omit going shopping. Very
soon now I need to have a shower, and
then rush out to the pharmacy to pick
up my repeat prescription. I had
considered going to Aldi straight
afterwards, and I guess I probably
still could do so, but I think I
prefer to relax a bit, and do a little
housework in preparation to a boozing
session with Michael and Jodie. In an
ideal world I would do what Jodie
often does, and keeps her drinking
light enough to go to a gig
afterwards. If I were able to do that
I could go and take some more pictures
of Caz And Steve playing at their now
regular Thursday residency at The
Honor Oak pub. I can't see myself
making it tonight.
1
