The early version of the weather forecast (above) doesn't show any rain, but since then heavy rain is now shown for 2 and 3pm. The BBC concurs with this forecast, but adds light rain for 4pm. Earlier this morning they threw in a thunderbolt for 7pm too. The BBC are a bit more optimistic about the afternoon temperature. they say 21° C, but the Met Office say just 19° C, and that just for a couple of hours in the early evening. Tomorrow might feature the odd sprinkle of rain, and it could be 21° C.

   Yesterday can be summed up by one three letter word - WET !  However it was generally enjoyable at the main attraction for the day - Chattfest. I was there for about five and a half hours, and took a stack load of pictures of the 6 band/solo performers I saw. The pictures may have to wait a day or two, but I will eventually show some here.

  When I went to Purley on Friday night it took something like an hour and fifteen minutes door to door. Going to the Chatterton Arms pub, where Chattfest is held in their huge back garden, took just under (by a few minutes) an hour. It is a very tedious bus journey, although I suppose that if I felt generous I could allow myself to admit that the train journey, when it was dark outside, and there was nothing to see, was actually more tedious.

  I got to The Chatterton Arms in time to see the very last minute or two of the general sound check of the stage, and a minute or so of sound check when Jo took to the stage to open the event. She performed solo for about 45 minutes, and didn't have any prompts to remember all the words to all the songs she sang - and some of them were songs I have never heard her sing before. I find that talent remarkable.

  Jo was followed by "From The Workshop" another solo performer was was a singer/songwriter. He came across as slightly Scottish - which could have been good, depending on what he sang. Nearly everything he sang was his own songs, but he did do one cover that I almost failed to recognise. It was a very slow, deconstructed dirge of Yellow Submarine. It was awful !

  Next up were The Retro Rock Icons. I was sure I had seen them before somewhere, but I couldn't remember a thing about them, and I was not sure what to expect. It turned out they were excellent, and only dropped a few points for a poor cover of a Bruce Springsteen song. Maybe I'm just not a fan of Bruce Springsteen, and maybe they were sounding a bit tired because it was the last song on their set. They did a cracking version the Sex Pistols "Pretty Vacant".

  Retro Rock Icons were followed by Thursday's Child. I was told that they had started as a two piece, but had recruited a bass player and drummer prior to yesterday (maybe a lot prior to yesterday). That wasn't enough to excite me, and I just seem to have a blank spot in my memory about that hour. I was not too happy about the next band on - Vince Lightning (and probably the Thunderboltz, but not listed as such on the official running order).

  Vince is a great chap, but he does have one major failing - his love of 1950's style rock-a-billy. I find it awful. I guess it is my age. When as a 5 or 6 year old child I became aware of pop music the music scene was exploding with all the wonderful new (and non American) bands of the 1960s. Until we taught them what was good, and hip, the Americans were very backward and puritanical.....or so it seemed to a very young boy, and the new British music just blew away all the hill billy stuff that the Yanks were doing. They soon caught on, and in another 10 years they were making good stuff, but that old rock and roll stuff deserves to be shut away in an airtight box and forgotten.

  I dutifully took 20 or 40 pictures of Vince Lightning, with guest guitar player Chris Mayer (from Chain). The rain, which had been quite heavy just a little earlier, had almost stopped as I slunk away to walk to the bus stop. I was lucky that I only had about a 5 minute wait for a 320 bus to take me home to Catford. The bus ride in the homeward direction always seems quicker, and because it was late enough for most of the shoppers to have gone home, it was also an actual faster journey.

  Thanks to the days now getting shorter and shorter. It was dark when I got off the bus by Catford Bridge station. That made it feel much later than it really was. After not eating anything since breakfast time, I was feeling justifiably hungry. I did give some thought to making up some sort of healthy meal when I got in, but then thought "sod it" I'm going to get a takeaway for dinner. The only real option without going a long way out of my way was to buy three pieces of fried chicken, and nothing else, from the fried chicken shop on my way home.

  It felt great to get home, and out of my still quite wet clothes. I then tucked in to the fried chicken. The first two pieces were great, the last piece not so great because I felt like the first two pieces were almost enough. Had I not had that third piece I am sure I would have been craving for something more - possibly something even more unhealthy. I could almost have gone straight to bed after eating, but I had a few things I needed to do. The most important was to open my camera case so my camera could dry off. I also charged the battery, and transferred all yesterday's picture to my PC (for whenever I have the time to go through them).

  It is only an estimated/guess, but I think I was finally in bed around 10pm. At first it seemed like I would not be able to get to sleep, but then, almost suddenly, or so it seemed, I was waking up for a pee around 1am. After that I had definite trouble getting to sleep. I was finding it difficult to get comfortable. Last night the temperature seemed in that no mans land of too warm to sleep under the duvet, and too cold to not be at least a bit covered by the duvet. On top of that I was suffering from assorted aches and stiffness after being cold and wet for long during the day. I eventually got back to sleep, and I think I slept until almost 5am. After another pee I tossed and turned, getting what seemed like occasional snatches of sleep until almost 7.30am - rather later than usual.

  This morning I can still feel the results of getting cold and damp into my joints, but it is not a lot worse than many mornings, and so I do my best to disregard it. I was worried/interested about the result of my late dinner of fried chicken. It was not as bad as feared, and in term of the new blood glucose meter it was good. It read a very good 8.0mmol/l. The old meter was a fair bit different, but still perfectly acceptable 8.8mmol/l. At this rate I could almost be losing a bit of weight !

  I made a terrible mistake yesterday - I bought a ticket for today's Chattfest, and so I have to go ! I do want to go anyway, but I can't help but think about all the stuff I need to to here at home. as well as selecting and editing the best of yesterday's pictures, I still have loads of work to do to make my house look reasonably clean and tidy for when Patricia gets here to probably stay one or two nights - and she will be here sometime tomorrow afternoon  !!!!