The latest revision to the forecast has brought the sunny spells forward to start at 1pm now. The single hour of full sunshine now says just sunny spells. This is almost the forecast for yesterday ! Today's temperature may peak at  19° C, but perhaps only for a single hour (4pm), and 18° C will be more representative of today's temperature, and even that only for maybe 3 hours. Tomorrow could see a return to summer. The best guess the forecasters can make is full sunshine from 9am, and a temperature of 20° C.

  Yesterday was a day of action and adventure...sort of. It took until gone midday before I felt there was a chance that the sun would finally break through the gloomy clouds. I thought it might have been a bit earlier, but it seems I caught the 13:20pm train from Catford Bridge heading towards London Bridge where I could change train for a train to Canon Street station.

  On the whole I was lucky with the trains all day. At London Bridge I had to change from platform 9 to platform 3 for a Canon Street train. I hadn't planned it, but by the time I had emerged from the top of the escalator to platform 3 there was a train standing there about to close it's doors. I hopped on, and the short journey to Cannon Street started 30 seconds later.

  At Cannon Street I took a tube, on the circle line to get to Liverpool Street station. Apart from one specific route, that being the Thameslink route under the middle of London, travelling from the south to the north entails a lot of changing trains. I found it rather annoying, although I am sure I used to just take it in my stride once up a time. Fortunately it was only about a 4 minute wait for the circle line tube, and I managed to use the shortest route out of the tube station into the mainline station.

  I knew the train I wanted should have been from platform 1 at Liverpool Street, but the customer information display was blank. I later realised this was probably because a train had just departed. I spent a few minutes taking a few snaps of trains in nearby platforms. Greater Anglia, who run most services from Liverpool Street, have several new fleets of trains, and all of them only display a 3 digit number on the front. It makes finding their full 6 digit number a guessing game.
  This was the first train I snapped. On the front it just says 110, but nowhere does it say it's class number. It could be 745110, but that is apparently a Stanstead Express train, and the airport express trains usually plaster the name all along the sides. It may be 755110, but the lowest numbered class 755 trains start in the 300 series. I am confused.
  Fortunately this train has that distinctive grill above the coupler, and although very similar looking to the 745 and 755 trains, it marks it out as 720546. If I had chosen a better angle for the photos the full number can be seen on the side by the drivers door. This is actually the first train I got on at Liverpool Street. It's ultimate destination was Hertford East - well beyond the Freedom Pass limits. I only went one stop to Hackney Downs station where I changed to a London Overground train to go to Cheshunt station.
  Travelling on the class 720 train was typical of an almost brand new train. It seemed all clean and spacious, The seats were in 3 + 2 configuration, and were about as comfortable as modern, non sprung seats can be. From Hackney Downs all my travel was on London Overground trains with their infernal transverse seats. They may be fine for trams for journeys of just a few close stops, but for longer distance travel, and it took at least 30 minutes to Cheshunt, you want proper forward (or rear) facing seats that line up with the windows so you can see outside easily without having to stare past a person opposite you, or getting a crick in the neck.
  The class 710 trains that London Overground use are very new, and don't even have any number at the front. The number is just by the drivers door, and it is tricky to photograph it if then train is even moving slowly. I did manage to get a blurry snap of this one, and it is 710120.
  This picture shows an interior shot, and I find it looks more tram or tube like than mainline railway. One thing I will say is that the customer information screens are used better than the screens on, say, those on Thameslink trains. The only thing they don't do is to show the time except on rare occasions - such as waiting to depart at the start of a new trip.
  It feels like a very long journey to Cheshunt station, and indeed it is a very long way out of London. Travel to it is free on a Freedom Pass only because travel is free (except in the early morning) on all London Overground trains, and they travel all this way because it was the first place with a siding where they could "park" the train between services. Like I found when I went to Shenfield station on my 60+ Oystercard, the gates were not programmed to accept Freedom Cards, even though they are valid, and at Cheshunt I had to be let through by a gateline attendant.
  One thing I didn't know before yesterday's visit was that there is a level crossing by the station. There are no level crossings on either line that goes through Catford, and so I regard them as a bit of a novelty. When I walked around the corner from the station entrance I saw the barriers down, and a minute or so later a train, which I managed a fair snap of, came through.
  I also noticed a very conveniently placed name board for the level crossing - Windmill Lane Level Crossing. I spent so much time outside the station, or at least that was how it felt, that I feared a very long wait for the next train, but the train I had come in on was still there, and it was a good 10 minutes later that it departed. I was slightly delayed at the ticket barriers again when going in, until the man who let me out made me aware that one gate had been left open. I have no idea why I didn't notice it before he pointed at it.
  I travelled as far as Edmonton Gree station where I got off, went down the subway to come up on the opposite platform to wait for a train to Enfield Town station. This was one of the longer waits, but it was actually little more than about 12 minutes.
  Once again it was a class 710 train (710108), but fortunately it is not many stops to Enfield Town station, and so I was less pissed off about the interior seating, although because of it I did miss a fairly rare foot crossing - like a level crossing, but for only those on foot. I got a very slightly, although still crap, look at it on the return journey.
  This is Enfield Town station, and it does look like it is in the middle of the town (although I was never more than 100 yards from the station, and didn't go exploring). It does make me wonder what crumbling heap used to be here before London Overground refurbished it to their own standards.
  After Enfield Town I had to endure a long ride back to Hackney Downs station. From there I could experience the remarkably long (half a mile ??) walkway that connects Hackney Downs station to Hackney Central station. I was heading towards Stratford station, which is just 4 stops away. Hackney Central is on what was once The North London Line, and I think it was an early convert to London Overground, and uses the older, but still pretty crap trains that London Overground first started with.

  I hadn't quite realised how late it was getting as I travelled to Stratford. I suddenly realised I was in the thick of the rush hour. I had intended to have a short look around at Stratford, but I ended up rushing to the DLR platforms. I am most happy to say that my journey through the bowels of Stratford station was very straightforward. I went down the staircase at the London end of the platform, and then headed for the Elizabeth line where I chose the stairs up to the west bound platform. That is the platform that has a small bridge over to the DLR platforms. It was as simple as I hoped it would be.

  When I got onto the DLR platform there was a DLR train due to depart in 2 minutes. I jumped on, and to my surprise it wasn't as crowded as I expected it to be, but I think it was a longer train than used to run, and more of the line on the  Stratford branch has been doubled so that train frequencies have been increased. For Lewisham you have to change at Canary Wharf, and it was just a one minute wait for a 6 (?) car train, and although full, it was not rammed compared to the days when it was often just a 2 car train.

  At Lewisham I considered myself lucky again in that it was only a 10 minute wait for a train to Catford Bridge. It was about 5.30pm when I arrived home, and I was very happy to be there. I was fortunate that Enfield Town station had some fairly reasonable toilets where I could have a pee, and when I got home I seemed more than ready for another. I had my pee and then got changed into my slobbing around indoor clothes.

  I could, and maybe for economic reasons, I should have constructed a nice salad, but somehow I just couldn't be bothered. I ordered yet another double shish kebab. It arrived soon after I started to watch Star Trek: Enterprise. After eating I started to transfer the pictures from my camera ready for editing. I actually started the editing during a commercial break during Star Trek: Voyager. Voyager has never been my favourite Star Trek, and I ended up listening more than watching it as I selected and edited my photos.

  I must admit that I initially was concentrating on those new Greater Anglia trains - trying to work out if they were class 745 or class 755. I'm still not sure even now. Eventually I went through all the pictures, and prepared those I used here, and half a dozen of so to add to my ever expanding spreadsheet of train numbers photographed - if indeed I ever manage a definite identification of some of them.

  It was gone 9pm when I went to bed. I tried reading but I only managed about a page. All that travel and fresh air seemed to leave me very tired. I am sure I was fast asleep before 10pm. I think I only woke about three time for a pee. The first time, around 1am if I recall correctly, was when I turned the heater on. I had woken up mostly uncovered, and I was feeling very cold. One odd thing about klast night was that I don't even remember dreaming, although I guess I probably did.

  Maybe one reason for not remembering any dreams was that I woke up at around 6.15am in rather a hurry. My right leg was racked with cramp, and my left arm was almost numb where I must have been sleeping on it. I leaped out of bed, furiously trying to keep my balance as the cramp drained from my leg, and my left arm slowly regained it's usual feeling.

  Once I could walk without falling over I could go to the toilet. Fortunately I was not in any desperate need to go - it was habit more than anything else. I then checked my blood glucose. I was very disappointed that it was 8.6mmol/l. At any other time I would could consider that satisfactory, but not this morning. I didn't eat from after my usual breakfast until I had what has been proved in the past to be a very low sugar shish kebabs. I was sort of hoping I might have go a reading under 8.0mmol/l, but no such luck.

  My plans for today are basically very simple. At some point I need to fill in my spreadsheet of train photos taken yesterday. I need to do a lot of washing up. I need to go to Tesco for food to save me from buying another takeaway, and at 7pm I am meeting a couple of people I haven't seen for over 30 years. We are meeting in the local Wetherspoons pub, and I expect I'll be getting a bit drunk while I can !