Summer is taking a rest today. I did wake up to mostly clear sky, and nice sunshine, but it clouded over quite early, and much of today will be dull. Even worse than that is that light rain is predicted for 11am to 1pm (in the latest revision). The sun should return by around 5pm. Today may not be much cooler than yesterday, with 24° C predicted. Tomorrow should start of bright and sunny, but it may cloud over by 1pm, and from then on it will be dull. It will also be a little bit cooler with just 22° C predicted.
 
  Yesterday felt like a busy day. I seemed to have lost the little burst of energy I had on Sunday, and that probably made the day seem busier than it could have been. It almost seemed like I spent the whole day photo editing, but that was not the case. I did rest my eyes a few times, and I did go out shopping.

  After I finished writing yesterday I had a little rest and then got back to selecting and editing some of the photos I took at Saturday's Petts Wood Calling. This web site is very resource heavy, and does not work with older, more simple web browsers, but if you can see it have a look in the gallery section, and you'll see some of my very own pictures being used. Fame at last !!

  I think it was about midday when I stopped to have a shower, and then went out to get some shopping from Tesco. As I predicted it was a bit of a bad move because it would offer some naughty temptations. That is not a good idea when spending the rest of the day, or at least a fair bit of it, photo editing - a job that should distract me from hunger, but somehow still inspires snacking.

  Top of my shopping list for Tesco was 4 big bottles of Diet Coke, but I also wanted some food. My first big temptation was to buy a couple of rolls from the sandwich section. Another silly temptation was a pack of part cooked luxury chips with a reduced price (almost half price !!!) sticker on them. At full price I wouldn't even have considered them, but at half price they were just what I needed to completely ruin my diet/blood glucose level.

  I sort of did, and sort of didn't have the same energy I thought I had on Sunday. The walk to Tesco soon seemed to be a bit arduous, but it never got worse, and I was still pain free when I got there. Walking home again, loaded down with shopping should have been far worse, but in fact it wasn't really worse than going to Tesco. One difference was that I felt much hotter and stickier coming home. It did seem generally quite warm, and probably very humid. It took very little to take me over the edge.

  I arrived home feeling quite sticky. It was nice to put my shopping away, and change into little more than a skimpy pair of shorts.  While I took stock of what I had done, and was about to do, I munched my way through the two rolls I had bought. They were white bread mini-subs, and so of course I didn't scare myself by looking at the sugar content, but I was very sure it must be very high. On the other hand, they were bot tasty, and the egg and bacon roll was particularly tasty.

  After eating I had a short rest, and read for maybe 20 minutes, and then it was back to the grind. Photo editing doesn't need any physical work, but it can demand a lot of concentration - particularly when dealing with several hundred, possibly as many as three hundred photos. You have to try and select the most interesting, and then I do a lot of stuff to try and make them look artistic - and I am not very good at that. The fact that Petts Wood Calling use some of my photos is sort of proof to me that I am at least a competent photographer these days....or so I delude myself.
  A few bands bring extra challenges. The above picture is of Chain, and featured on the left is their new guitar player Greg Hansford. The Challenge here is that Chain is Jo Woodstock's band, and she is the one who organises Petts Wood Calling, and also is responsible for giving me my back stage/access all areas/photographer pass. I have to do my best to make sure I am invited next year.
   Jo usually comes out nicely on camera when the lighting is right. At Petts Wood Calling most of the lighting on the front is natural daylight, but inside the stage area there are many coloured lights.
  The one thing lacking in many of my Chain pictures is some sort of dynamic look. Only Greg does some flamboyant guitarist poses, and I did a picture a bit like a photo strip of him doing quite a dynamic "guitarist in agony" series of poses, but for best effect it needs to be seen on a big screen. On this page it would be a very long, very thin strip, and seeing any details would be hard.
  I think it is something akin to Sod's law that the band I really hated produced some good pictures. The band in question are called The Cockney Knights, and some of what they play is bloody awful "Rockney music" (a contraction of rock and cockney), and much of it is even worse ! It's all "knees up muvver brown", and music to accompany adverts for Courage beer, or music for short scenes in films set in the second world war, and featuring British soldiers having a great time in a pub. In other words it has no relevance to my life in this modern world.
   Of course the challenge here is to try and be a professional while hating what is going on around you. It was some relief to hear from one other person that out of the hundreds who were loving what they heard - many seen in this shot - there were actually two of us who didn't care for it. He went out for a coffee while they were on, and I reduced my exposure to it by going for a pint of Guinness at the local pub in the middle of The Cockney Knights set.
  The lead singer seemed to be the epitome of a childrens villain in some terribly crap Disney movie ! Some sort of child catcher or something.
  The most challenging band to photograph was The Nameless. The singer, seen centre in the photo, is Jamie Bull, and his dad is John Bull - Mr Rockrpix - photographer to the stars, and one of my early inspirations to try and take better pictures. Jamie is a very dynamic performer, and does many dramatic poses. It may well just be my incompetence, but it seems he aims his most dynamic staff at his Dad's camera lens, and it feels like I am left to pick up the crumbs afterwards.
  It is annoying that some potentially good pictures are spoiled by a mic stand getting in the way. On reflection, I don't know why I chose this sub standard photo to show here....unless it was to show how a single mic stand can spoil a potentially good picture. Also being taken from such a low angle was not such a good idea.
  Another cock up ! Had I been able to move along the front of the stage by about 5ft, and taken this picture between Neal Taylor (holding up his guitar) and Jamie Bull, doing has dramatic pose, I could have got a really great picture. Alas that position was already occupied.

  I think I gave up photo editing shortly before 9pm. I had part continued while eating my dinner (the Tesco "Finest" chips with cheese on them), and even during every commercial break while watching TV. I guess I had got about a third of the way through all the pictures of The Nameless, and none of the last band I took pictures of, Dread Centre. I stayed up to watch QI and "Have I Got More 2022 For You" (a special compilation of bits of Have I Got News For You from 2022). I think the latter finished as late as 11pm.

  That was a bit later than I had imagined I would be going to bed, but I guess I wanted a big change to photo editing. As soon as I turned the TV off I went straight to bed (I had brushed my teeth during a commercial break a bit earlier). I read for 15 to 20 minutes, and then turned over to go to sleep. Until then it all looked good - no coughing, and no indigestion/heartburn !

  I am unclear what happened next. I may have breathed in one of my own hairs, or maybe it was a crumb or something, but it tickled my throat, and I started to cough. I thought a couple of sips of water would sort it all out, and it seemed it was working.....until I took a big swig of water, and I think I hiccuped as I tried to swallow it. It seemed to force some of the water up my nose, and I ha water dripping out of one of my nostrils. Not nice !

  As that happened I also partly choked, and that triggered more coughing. I don't know where it was coming from, but for a time I seemed to cough up a lot of mucus. I ended up sitting at my computer desk, and reading some stuff to pass the time until my throat and cough settled down, and that was not unto almost 1am ! It seemed touch and go when I tried to get to sleep. I coughed a few times, but I did get to sleep.

  Maybe it was tiredness from being fairly busy all day, plus getting to sleep so late, that left me unable to remember anything about my night apart from I am sure I got up once or twice for a pee. Even that is not something I am sure about. In the apparent absence of any memorable dreams, just going for a pee seemed like a dreamlike experience. Unlike the previous few days, I did not wake at 5am as if it was time to get up. I did wake at just gone 6am, but fought to get back to sleep for about 20 minutes before I gave up and got up.

  Before I could do much I was back to editing pictures, but it was just making a few small versions on pictures I did yesterday so I could show them on my web pages. As usual, first priority was to check my blood glucose. I was not happy with what I measured.  Those bread rolls for lunch, and chips for dinner really left their mark !

  The Contour meter read a very bad 9.2mmol/l. The GlucoRX meter read exactly the same, and I guess consistency is good. The Sinocare meter read a very terrible 9.8mmol/l - just 0.2 from the red line ! One good thing is that my weight was only 100gm higher, and that is within the normal small up an downs, day to day. My blood pressure was particularly good today, just 102/49.

  Some of my day has already started. Before I had my breakfast I quickly re-edited the pictures I have used today so they fit in these web pages. After a short rest, when I have finished writing here, it is back to the photo editor to finish off the photos I took of The Nameless, and may a part two photo album. I then have pictures I took of Dread Centre. I didn't take many pictures of them so it should not take too long, on the other hand, sometimes black faces need some special contrast balancing to show facial features.

  After the Dread Centre photos I am free to do anything. I have thought that maybe I might go out for a while. I want to test a camera and lens combination to take to Chislehurst Rocks on the 17th of this month. It is a tedious journey to Chislehurst Rocks, and I didn't intend to go until I heard that Hell On Tap were invited back, and they intend to do a sort of memorial gig for the late Paul Newham (who died from a very quick acting, aggressive cancer). I am hoping that my rarely used for some years, Nikon D3200, with an suitable lens may make for a lightweight way of getting some good snaps, and to avoid taking my big and heavy Nikonn D610 and D300s cameras. The chances are that test won't be today, and I'll just end up lazing most of the afternoon away.