This video, if you
can play it, gives a better idea
of the violence of that fast
flowing, deep water going over the
weir,
One unusual aspect of
my walk was that I went around the
park anti-clockwise for a change.
After reaching Ladywell station
(which I didn't visit after a last
minute realisation that it was a
Saturday, and The Metro is not
published on a Saturday) I started
walking towards home. After
passing the Café and toilet block,
I saw a shrub that has attracted
my attention before. The last time
because all the bees and other
pollinators it attracted.
This time the most striking
thing was the bright orange
leaves. I assume that was because
the shrub was stressed in the hot
dry weather. This close up shows
that there are even some red
leaves. With the bight blue
berries, it is quite a riot of
colours.
It was about at the quarter
mile point of this walk that I
began to notice some stress that
might lead up to angina pains, and
I stopped for a minute to have a
couple of squirts of my TNG spray.
Like almost every time before, it
is quite a slow improvement rather
than a big difference, but it was
enough to keep me going well until
I was almost home. Two minor
discomforts were getting a tiny
bit of flint in my shoe, and the
laces coming undone on one shoe.
Bending down only as far to reach
my foot which was up on a bench,
was hard work with my coat on, and
my belt done up tight.
Generally I felt pretty
good. The humidity, and wearing a
coat made it a very sticky walk.
The rain was still mildly annoying
even if I kept dry in my coat.
Otherwise it was no worse than any
walk to Ladywell and back, and in
some way I can't really define, I
felt it was better than similar
walks in the dry. Maybe it was
just the exhilaration of
overcoming all the negative
aspects of walking in the rain
under a dreary sky.
I was really looking
forward to a pee when I got home.
Once I had finished that I
stripped off my outdoor clothes,
down to just my undperpants, and
got on the scales. I know that it
was just part dehydration, and
some of it was still dripping off
my as sweat, but the scales showed
a really low figure - almost as
low as some the great readings in
the last weeks of last month.
Once I was indoor clothes
(actually no more than a pair of
shorts) I had a fairly light lunch
of rice crackers and cheese. It
was not as healthy as it could be
because I was fairly generous with
blobs of sandwich pickle on the
cheese. That pickle has a lot of
sugar in it. I then selected
and edited all the photos used
today. After that I laid on my
bed, and maybe read a page or two
before having a snooze.
It got to about 4pm, and I
started to have thoughts about
finally getting the shopping I
wanted from Tesco (it being a bit,
but not much, closer than Aldi). I
could not think of any good reason
not to go, and so I put on my
outdoor clothes, although by that
time it was dry outside, and I
didn't bother with a coat, and off
I went. It was a lot harder going
than I expected. I didn't exactly
ache, but I felt weak and stiff
after my earlier walk.
Going to Tesco was bad
enough, and I did feel pretty bad
once I arrived there. I wondered
how I would fare when I had to
carry heavy shopping home ? I
found most of the things I wanted,
and I also found quite a few
bargains on the reduced price
shelf. Most notable was a sushi
type thing. I had had something
similar some time ago, and it sort
of straddles that imaginary line
between nice and not nice. I think
the main problem is that it looks
far nicer than it actually was.
Other bargains, and to my
surprise they were all close to
half price, were two triple packs
of sandwiches, and an emmenttal
and meat sandwich pack. With all
these things, and a lot more, I
headed to the checkouts. Only 3 or
4 staffed checkouts were open, and
two of them had people waiting
with big trolleys stacked to the
brim. I found a queue that was
quite short, although the person
being served was very slow to pack
her stuff away.
As expected, the walk home
from Tesco was really hard work. I
found I had to stop for a quick
breather twice along the way. It
wasn't my usual reason for a
breather, but more to do with my
legs aching, although I was
slightly short or breath by the
time I got home. If I had felt
like it earlier I could have a
spray of TNG, but it didn't feel
like the circumstances were bad
enough for that.
It was not long to dinner
time when I got in. I should have
waited before eating anything, but
I could not resist tucking into
the rainbow trout sushi type salad
thing. I think it would have been
a lot nicer with more fish in it,
and probably a lot more rice wine
vinegar in the dressing. It seemed
to be a bit bland when it seemed
like it should have been a lot
more lively.
I almost waited for an hour
before I actually started on my
real dinner, although "real
dinner" was the sandwiches I had
bought. They were enjoyable, but I
knew they were very bad for me -
too many calories and too much
sugar, although only the latter
was particularly bad. I ate while
watch the BBC News channel. It was
not terribly interesting. I found
it hard to believe it was a
weekend, and so all the usual
things I might watch were not on.
One thing I watched almost
out of desperation was the last
half (maybe last third) of the
film "The Night Of The Big Heat".
A sort of movie mangled SciFi
story about aliens being drawn to
Earth by radar scanners and high
power TV transmitters. Among the
stars were Peter Cushing and
Christopher Lee, although I think
Peter Cushing was killed off
before I started watching.
I think I gave up on TV
around 9pm, and was soon reading
in bed. It was tricky preparing
for sleep. It was quite warm in my
bedroom, but the fan made my body
feel cold because the humidity
(and as I was to learn later, high
blood glucose) made me feel
sweaty. I ended up with the fan on
low, and not pointed directly
towards me. I still ended up with
a very damp pillow.
The most significant thing
about last night was the amount of
peeing I was doing - both in
frequency and quantity. I knew my
blood glucose was going to be a
bit high, but that amount of
peeing suggested it was extremely
high. I think there is actually a
different reason for so much
peeing, but I am at a loss to say
what.
All that peeing was good
for two things. The first was that
my swollen legs and feet were
almost back to normal, and the
second was that I lost a lot of
weight. Yesterday morning I had
lost a full kilogram, and this
morning I was another 1.3kg
lighter. I was back to where I was
in the middle of last months,
before I went down another
kilogram or so to some very good
drops in weight.
When I came to check my
blood glucose I was not horrified
like I expected to be. The Contour
meter read 8.2mmol/l, and that was
almost quite good. The GlucoRX
meter read 9.2mmol/l, and while
that is definitely higher than I
would like, it is still some way
from the red line where things
start to get dangerous. The
Contour Plus meter read 9.1mmol/l,
and that was once again higher
than desired, but lower than the
GlucoRX meter.
After all the peeing I was
expecting blood glucose reading of
10mmol/l or worse. It is the fact
that it was a lot lower than make
me think there is something else
going on. Some of that pee last
night must have come from drying
out my swollen legs, and that
suggests something like an
improvement in blood flow. Quite
where, and why is something I
can't answer, but I am sure it was
not just because I ate some
sandwiches.
Today is going to be
different from originally thought.
I have just heard from Jodie.
Problems with trains last night
meant she ended up staying with
Alan last night, and ongoing
trouble with trains - both from
Alan's local station, Norbury, and
also Croydon Trams not running on
some routes, means that Jodie will
not be over this afternoon for a
beer drinking session. That does
suit me to some extent. I seem to
be taking longer to get over these
beer sessions lately, and I am
having a lot of trouble
controlling my eating when drunk.
Of course there are still
problems. Today may be drier than
forecast, but it is still dull and
depressing, and it feels cold. If
I was out walking, and it is
possible I might be, the humidity
would probably make me feel it is
very warm, but when just sitting
here typing it feels too cold to
open the window.
There is one thing I may do
later. If the crap weather has not
put off the film crew, they may
still be spending several hours
filming less than one minute of
action (maybe), one road away from
me. I intend to grab my biggest
camera and go and take some snaps
of mainly the "back stage" stuff,
but also of "the set". This has
even been approved, and sort of
welcomed by the location manager
when he called here a week or two
ago when it was still intended to
also film outside my house, and
the location manager was making a
personal call of every house who
would be affected.
