There was a real frost this morning - white on shed, and even a few house roofs, and a a rime on cars outside. I didn't actually see 0° C on any thermometers, but I did see 1° C. Today's warmest time will be after 9pm when warm and moist air sweeps over us bringing rain from as early as 2pm. Tonight should see 9° C, but the afternoon will only be around 4° C. After 6pm the rain could become very heavy. It is worth noting the alternative view of the BBC weather forecast. They give similar temperature predictions, but say drizzle could fall from midday, and there will only be light rain this evening. Tomorrow will probably be grey all day, and with rain in the morning. The day may start at 9° C, and fall to 5° C by late evening.

   Yesterday was quite a hectic day, but I did manage to do one small task before I got on to the hectic stuff. I collected and posted off a poo sample to the NHS bowel cancer screening labs. Between collecting and posting I had a shower, and got dressed ready to face a long afternoon standing around in the cold.

  My afternoon destination was the Petts Wood Xmas Carnival, and specifically the live music stage. To get there I took my usual route to Petts Wood - a train from Catford station to Shortlands station where I changed train for one calling at Petts Wood. At some times in the day, only during the early part of the afternoon/evening rush hour, there are direct trains from Catford, but usually it means changing trains. Luckily it is only a 4 minute wait for the next train at Shortlands.

  Of course because I was travelling by rail I took pictures of every train I saw. I had my big camera with me, but getting that out while travelling didn't feel like a good idea. I used my mobile phone camera, and I have to admit most of the pictures I took were quite good enough for train spotting. Only one picture, of the front of the train that took me to Petts Wood, was of a train I hadn't photographed before, and will be added to my big spreadsheet.

  I arrived outside The Daylight Inn, where the live stage was sited, just as the first band I wanted to see were doing a sound check. With the sun shining very low in the sky, too love to shine anywhere unwanted, it was nice and bright for photography. The only problem is that the stage lights seemed very weak compared to the sun (obviously). I did have one problem with my photography - all my pictures seemed to be a bit pink. I'll reveal why a bit further down the page.
  I haven't had time to select and edit any of the photos I took yesterday, but I did manage one picture of each band. This is the first band I wanted to see, and oddly enough, they wanted to see me. As soon as I was spotted one of the band thanked me for the photos I took at Chattfest back in August. Before I even had time to think of it they asked if I wanted them to line up for a group photo. This is one of four slightly different shots of that group line up.
  Second on my list of targets was Jamie Bull. He was just doing a solo act playing and singing at his electronic piano. I took extra care over this posed shot, and did some special editing because Jamie's dad is John Bull the now professional photographer who was good for giving me a few tips in the past, and whose pictures I once tried to emulate. I no longer try and emulate him because he applies so many artistic effects that his photos look more like art than photography.
  This last picture is of The Coyles on stage with the moon shining down from the top right of the picture (hence why I needed a very wide long shot. It was during the time they were setting up behind the organiser giving her usual speech, and counting down to 5pm (which they missed by a few minutes) for the official lighting up of the Petts Wood Xmas lights, that I realised why all my pictures looked pink.

  While I was walking to Catford station, as I set out for Petts Wood, I was walking directly into the sun, and so I put on my pink sun glasses to give some relief from the glare. I had totally forgotten I had put them on. Several hours later I suddenly remembered, took them off, and my pictures were the right colour again !

  It was during the build up to the lights countdown that one this I suspected would be a problem came to a head. Since the summer The Daylight Inn has had a marquee up in their carpark for extra shelter for those drinking outside. It was still up yesterday, and it takes up a lot of space - space that in past years has made the crowds less hemmed in. As 5pm neared it seemed like every pram in the south east was shoved, not pushed, but shoved into the very crowded space. I got hit by a pram several times.

  Once the lights were on, and the band had started, some people started drifting away, but it was still too crowded for me. I tried to get a fair selection of photos of the band, but after 10 minutes or so I left to get the next train towards home. I just missed a potentially good train. That train would (I think) have taken me to Lewisham station where it would be a very quick change of trains back to Catford Bridge. The next train meant a wait of around 10 minutes, and was the one where i would have to change at Bromley South or Shortlands.

  I chose Bromley South to change trains. As I mentioned about, when going to Petts Wood it is only about a 4 minutes wait to change trains. However, going back the other way is something like a very boring 18 minute wait - on a freezing cold night. I eventually arrived home at about 6.15pm, and the first thing I did was to warm up some soup. After standing around for three or more hours in the freezing cold at Petts Wood, it was good to get some hot soup inside me, and have a rest.

  It wasn't much of a rest because I wanted to initially copy the photos I had taken during the day to my PC. I then found and edited the three pictures I have used today. I didn't have too loon to spare before I was off out again. This time it was to see The Cygnet Committee playing in The Black Cat, and their poster suggested an 8pm start. In fact they probably started closer to 9pm after having some dinner in the pub.

  I guess I was so psyched up that it seemed easy to go out again despite feeling tired. It was like a personal challenge. I was joined in the pub by Michael. He didn't seem to think much of the band. One complaint was that the lead guitarist was playing chords instead of rhythm, and the other guitar was playing rhythm instead of chords. The only difference between the two was that one of them was also the singer. It was a technicality which went beyond me. To me it all sounded fine, but it irked Michael.

  What irked me an awful lot, and also irked Michael a bit later was the drunk sitting behind me. He kept blathering on, and I could only barely make out what he was trying to say. It seemed to be that he thought it was disrespectful for a band to be playing, for me to take photographs, and for the people dancing when one of the regulars had just died (or been buried). He seemed to think it was his pub, and hat the whole pub should have been in mourning.

  I had already intended to probably leave after the band had played their first set, but the drunks ranting just made it a very good idea to leave then. Towards the end I had almost tuned the drunk and his rambling incoherent speech out, but Michael kept responding, and provoked the drunk to get worse. He was telling Michael he was an outsider, and should never have come into "his" pub, and that he should "fuck off".

  The band finished their firsts et, we drained our glasses and left. On the way out, while taking our empties back to the bar, I suggested to the barmaid to keep an eye on the drunk because he was getting very obnoxious. Once outside the pub we found what I think is the manager outside having a cigarette. I can't think what his name is, but I did recognise him on the way in, and he definitely recognised me because he said hello, long time no see, and shook my hand - which was a nice touch.

  We told him the story of the drunk, and how he made us want to leave early. He knew exactly who we were talking about, and once Michael told him the drunk had told him to "fuck off" (possibly adding "out of my pub) the manager said Right ! and rushed back into the pub. We didn't stand around in the cold to watch the outcome, and so we don't know if the drunk was told to go home, or maybe even barred from the pub.

  Once I got home I had another can of soup to warm me up. I seemed to be past the point of being tired, and was sort of on my second wind. I felt I needed a bit of time to slow/calm down before I went to bed. I passed a bit of time editing a single video I shot of the band singing a Levellers song. Unfortunately I didn't do a small version I could show on these pages. Maybe I'll do one for a later date.

  I don't know what time I got into bed. By then I didn't fancy trying to read in bed. For one thing it felt too cold for that, and that was despite having the heater on low. I think it was one of those times when it was first "I can't sleep" and then suddenly, "oh, it's gone 2am !". I think it was only a little past 3am when I decided to turn the heater up full for the rest of the night. Even so, it was not particularly warm when I finally got up.

  I do remember dreaming quite a lot, at least I think I do. I can only remember fragments of what was quite a "sexy" dream, but I can't think of a way of stitching those fragments together to describe anything coherent. I think I'll just leave it by saying it was a dream that was unusually pleasant - I think.

  Maybe two cans of soup yesterday was enough to drive my blood glucose levels up a bit. My readings were still low, but not as good as yesterday morning. As seems usual, the Sino Care meter gave the highest reading, but it was only 8.2mmol/l - which is better than average. The other two meters said 7.8mmol/l, and that is not far off the Sino Care meter, but even better ! If I could manage similar readings every day until the end of this month, my end of month averages would be looking pretty good even after some atrociously high readings in the middle of the month.

  I heard from Jodie last night, and she reckons she has got over her head cold, and will be ready to taste some beers this afternoon as usual. I would not blame her if she decides not to go out in this afternoon's rain. Maybe we will be drinking, and maybe we won't. If not, I could go to the open mic at The Catford Bridge Tavern this evening. I will be filling in much of my spare time today photo editing. I have quite a lot to get through !