Today could see non stop sunshine from clear blue skies until maybe a few hours in the evening when maybe only sunny spells might be expected. Once again the temperature forecast is 29° C (Met Office) or 30° C (BBC). Tomorrow should be a bit cooler. There will be fewer hours featuring full sunshine, and maybe some hours with no sunshine in the afternoon. In other words a lot like yesterday, but tomorrow's temperature may only be 23 or 34° C. Looking further ahead, and it seems Tuesday could see little or no sunshine, and possibly a shower or two, as well as being almost cool compared to today and yesterday.   Yesterday was a good day, albeit with a couple of caveats. There things I intended to do yesterday, and they should have been enjoyable. That made me far less sluggish in the morning, and I was washing my hair, and having a shower much earlier than usual. I think I managed to get to Tesco just before 11am yesterday - which is earlier than usual these days.

  Tesco was the first disappointment of the day. Their refit has continued, and now things are being seriously moved around all over the store. For the first time in ages I left the store with a lot of space in my shopping bag because there was stuff I couldn't be bothered to search for. If it wasn't for the fact that there are some things I can't get from Aldi I would be using Aldi a lot more until Tesco stabilises, and I slowly learn the new layout.

  One positive thing is that I found the sort of bottled water I wanted - 500ml bottles of plain water with a screw top. The last bottles of water I bought from Tesco were the type with a flip up top with a nipple below. Now I have to admit I like a nice nipple (on a lady), bottles with them are a pain to refill with tapwater, and refilling them is the only way to justify the price of them. Fortunately the bottles I bought yesterday had screw tops, and are simple to refill.

  My goal for the afternoon was Manor house Gardens where there was a festival/fete type thing happening, and it included a live music stage. There was only one band I wanted to see, and even then it was "a nice idea" rather than essential. They were The Entourage Band, and they were due on at 2.40pm. My initial idea was to walk there. I have walked there and back more than once in the past, but on hot day I would have been boiling hot, sweaty, and half worn out when I arrived there.

  For a while I thought that walking was the only way to get there until I realised the 202 bus sort of circles around and passes close to the far side of the place. I thought allowing 40 minutes to get there should be more than adequate, but it nearly wasn't. There was one long traffic jam on the South Circular road, and that delayed me enough to only arrive at the live stage with three minutes to spare - which was plenty because as is usual at these things, everyone was over running.

  After what seemed like an eternity, but may have been as little as 5 minutes. the band Hootini finally finished making a racket by blowing down brass tubes in various shapes and sizes (mostly trumpet and tuba shapes), and slowly left the stage. The Entourage Band seemed to take a long time to set up, but eventually they started. For most of their set, Dik, the guitarist kept to what he had rehearsed, and didn't make a mistake until he decided to show off during the last song.....
   It seems odd that my first picture is of the drummer. I have no idea of his name, and I have never seen him before. I am unsure if he was just "borrowed" for the day, or if he is likely to become a member of the band. This wasn't the first picture I took, but prior to this I think I would classify what I took as test shots.  It is an odd thing that if I am in a hurry, such as a venue I don't like (often because it is far too crowded) I can rattle off a dozen shots and somehow most of them can be usable, and even good (after some post production work). Yesterday I spent some time getting the feel of the stage and it's (mostly natural) lighting.
  Dik (aka Richard), sporting a green dyed beard and mustache for some reason, is the driving force behind The Entourage Band. It is probably true to say that he, and his mate Steve Cox,  are The Entourage Band along with random guest players and singers.
  Vocals were handled by Abby Harte - who I did not recognise in the long dress, and cropped hair. She was a fairly regular visitor to the open mic sessions in The Catford Ram 10 (?) years ago. In those days she was quite shy and retiring, but was most flamboyant yesterday.

I only videoed the bands final song, a cover of The Kinks "You Really Got Me". In this, Dik is at his best, but also makes his worst mistakes, although they are not too obvious on a quick listen.

  I have many more photos of The Entourage Band already processed at full size, and many more to do today. It did seem that I got a bit "shutter happy", and kept snapping well after I should had taken a representative sample of the band, but I suppose I get bored just standing around. Unfortunately, at these gigs there is often a lot of standing around. The next band due on was Mahogany Souls. I don't care for them at all, but John Sutcliff who drums for them, has been urging me to take some pictures of them for ages.*

  *It does seem that I have gained a reputation as a good photographer, and I am warmly welcomed at most events. I still rate most of my photos as pretty average, but there is the occasional one I am proud of. One thing that stands out is that on some peoples "social media" pages I frequently contribute to over half of their photos. Fame is an odd thing, and it is good and bad. I don't like to let people down, but photography "on demand" is no fun, and I think I do it more for fun than anything.
  There was a long wait for Mahogany Souls to get on stage. For me it was an infinite wait because they didn't show up on time. The deny it, but the popular opinion is that they thought 18:00 meant 8pm and not 6pm ! As we waited, Michael, who I met there, went for a sit down on a nearby park bench. rather than startle him, I called out to him, and asked for a big smile this time (instead of the far more common grimace). The lighting was a bit funny under the shade of an overhanging tree, but I got a wave and a good smile !

  The original plan was for me to take some snaps of Mahogany Souls, and then after maybe 15 to 20 minutes to leave the park and grab a beer in a nearby pub. We went for a beer to pass the time until the next band were due on. The pub we went to was The Duke Of Edinburgh, and unless I was mistaken it is owned by the same man as The Jolly Farmers. It was probably a good pub, but we chose the wrong time - when the Saturday horse racing was on the TV, and quite a few were watching it, ad getting very loud as they cheered (or booed) their favourite horses on.

  The band I wanted to see more than Michael did were The Ukadelix. Their name suggested they might be a punk band, but it turned out they were an all woman band (with a stand in male drummer) who play a variety of instruments including a ukelele and squeezebox.....hmmmmmm. I can't deny they were good, as in competent, but not really my thing at all. Michael gave in first, and went to walk back to his car parked near Hither Green Station.

  I stayed for maybe half an hour - some of which was chatting back stage to people I know, including Matt who has been hiring out the same stage for years now (one of several small stages, plus he has the big one mounted on the back of a big lorry trailer). After a while i walked back to the bus stop. I found that my legs, particularly my calves, were aching when we walked to the pub. The walk to the bus stop seemed really hard, and I was very glad I hadn't opted to walk there and back. I don't think I could have made it.
  One amusing fact is that the bus I used to go home was the exact bus I had taken to get to the gig. I was even sitting in the same seat. I know this because on both the journey to the gig, and from the gig, the seat in front had the same sandwich wrapper on it. I guess the bus had done one or more Crystal Palace to Blackheath, and back trips between me arriving at the gig, and going home.

  The walk from the bus stop to home was as arduous as the walking earlier. The problem was partly (or more) the fault of the shoes I was wearing. On a hot sunny day I thought my white trainers (looking like Converse, but actually Lee Cooper) would be good, but like the last time I wore them it was obvious they are not good for walking, and particularly after standing up a long time. I should have worn my hiking boots - rather clumpy, but far better for walking. Of course, being so out of practice hardly helped.

  I had bought all the ingredients for a nice salad while shopping in Tesco during the morning, but I felt an urge for something even nicer. I was tempted to buy some fried chicken as I passed right by the shop on my way home, but I resisted that. I decided it was time for an experiment I have been thinking about for some time. "Just Eat" is a good way to check out the possibilities of a multitude of takeaway, but there is always the worry/annoyance that you are paying over the odds when using them.

  My experiment was to to a direct order to the shop/restaurant for some shish kebabs. I had a printed menu, albeit a year or two out of date, for a kebab place. It might even have been naughtily slipped in to an order via Just Eat. I thought I would give them a go, and phoned in an order for a large chicken shish kebab, and a large lamb shish kebab. It turned out that it actually cost me 65p more than a similar order to another place done via Just Eat. It was still worth it though. I think the delivery was quicker, and both kebabs had a very generous amount of meat in them. I do have suspicions that with all the competition among such places, they do their best to be very generous with a first order.

  I think I spent most of last night just editing photos and the one video, although I did watch a bit of TV while still photo editing. The only thing I could find on TV last night was a 45 or 60 minute documentary about the TV comedy "Dad's Army". By 9pm I was feeling quite tired, and stopped working at my PC. I did read on my bed for maybe half an hour before turning over and eventually going to sleep. I think it was just dark by the time I fell asleep.

  I'm not sure how to describe last night's sleep, but I do remember why I was not in bed earlier. A bit earlier in the evening I had a really bad stomach upset. Even as I walking the last few hundred yards towards home I was starting to fart a bit. By 8pm or so my guts were in convulsions of gurgles and similar digestive acrobatics. I am so glad that it didn't happen while I was out. I had to hurry to the toilet for nothing to happen.....for a few moments. First there was a little bit of wind, and then I just sort of exploded.

  I had to make two more visits to the toilet for "after shocks", and I was not convinced it was all over then. Now the mystery about all this is "where did it all come from ?". I am sure I went normally in the morning, and also for at least the previous day, but evidently that was not enough. I believe, rightly or wrongly, that unpredictable guts is another symptom of old age.

  There were a couple of times in the night when I seemed to be awake for long periods of time - perhaps 20 minutes or more - but I think I probably got some fairly solid sleep in between those times. I was certainly feeling awake enough to part get up early enough to take screenshots of the weather forecasts while they were still showing 6am (which meant taking the screenshots a few minutes before the hour). Now a couple of hours have passed I am not so sure that I am still feeling wide awake !

  In theory I should have had a very low blood glucose reading this morning. I only had a single bowl of instant noodles for breakfast yesterday, and then nothing until last night's kebab - which are usually very safe. The reading I got this morning was 8.2mmol/l, and that is indeed nice and low, but I was expecting/hoping for an even lower reading. I think it would be fair to blame partial dehydration this morning. I took 4 chilled 500ml bottles of water to bed last night, but I only drunk two of them, and it was a very hot sweaty night. I did feel quite thirsty after getting up, but I didn't do anything about it until after I had read my blood glucose level.

  Today is going to be very hot. Two of my weather displays include barometers to make weather predictions, and both say, in direct opposition to the "official" forecast that it is going to rain today - possibly heavy rain. It doesn't matter one way or the other because I have work to do indoors today. I still have a lot of pictures to select and edit, and I wouldn't mind spending some spare time just laying on my bed reading with a fan on full. There is one outdoor thing I would like to do today, and that is to wash a duvet cover (indoors) and dry it on the line outdoors. If I find the energy, and the first duvet cover dries fast enough, as it should under very hot sunshine, I might even attempt two on one day. That will truely knacker me !