07:49 BST

  The forecast for today looks rather better than yesterday. If it turns out to be correct we may have some nice sunny spells from about 2pm onwards. This morning only light rain is shown (apart from the unlikely thunderstorm at 11am), but as I type this it is almost dark outside, and it is bucketing down ! The afternoon should se the temperature rise from 16° C now, to just 18° C - which is not much of a rise at all ! Even from 2pm when we should get sunny spells, there is still ass much as a 20% chance of rain. It is going to be a very cool night, and at 6am tomorrow morning it may only be 11° C. It should soon warm up because tomorrow may start with full sunshine, and be followed by sunny spells for the afternoon until sunset. No rain at all is forecast for tomorrow, and the afternoon should see a pretty fair 20° C. The day after, Saturday, should see much more sunshine, and the temperature rising to 21° C.

  I had a fairly good day yesterday, but I am not sure why I think that because some of yesterday was quite wretched. The highlight of the day was my visit to The Jolly Farmers for my usual two pints of Guinness, but the walk to and from there was very arduous - and very wet on the way home.

  I seemed to feel OK yesterday morning, or so I managed to convince myself. Of course there is a subtle difference between "OK" and "Good". It turned I had mixed the two up, and later I would realise I didn't feel good at all. Even worse was that not feeling good made me feel worse still.

  On reflection, I think some of my mix up about how I felt was because my health readings, weight, blood glucose and blood pressure, were all better than I feared they were. That felt good when in fact it should have felt bad because if I know I could have controlled my eating the previous day rather better than I actually managed - and that was not good at all ! There was one other factor to confound all this, and it was the effect of the cold and very damp weather, plus the effect of falling atmospheric pressure, on my age ridden joints and muscles.

  Yesterday, as almost all Wednesday's are, was a special day that demanded a full wash including washing and conditioning my hair. I must admit I only had a very basic shave instead of a fuller shave. It did feel good to get under the warm (but not hot) water, and it felt to be nice and clean after not bothering to wash the previous day (or two !).  By the time I had blown dry my hair it seemed later than I thought it was, and I realised I would have little time before I had to start off to go to the pub.

  The rain seemed very intermittent, and most of it was fairly light when I was about to go out. I wondered if I dared go out without a coat, but then I remembered that even if I got to the pub no more than slightly damp, I might have to face much worse rain walking home again. I still stuck to wearing shorts, and I found my Postman's recommendation of shorts in the rain, was very valid. Legs dry off much faster than soggy trousers. I felt I had to put on a coat, and it seemed cool enough that I thought I might get away with my best leather jacket.

  There was no heavy rain as I walked to the pub, and so I didn't have to zip my jacket up, but even with it open I was starting to feel far to hot inside it. The walking just made it feel hotter. I decided I would do the shorter walk of going via the Hospital where I can usually find copies of The Metro, instead of walking via Ladywell station. I am glad I chose the shorter route because I found the walking to be very hard going.

  For one thing I was getting far too hot in my jacket, and the other thing is that my legs, knees, ankles and other bits felt really stiff and ached a lot. I also couldn't seem to raise enough steam to walk very fast. The picture on the left shows the walk home at the top, and the walk to the pub at the bottom - the opposite to the logical way of showing it. On the walk to the pub I did manage 2.262 mph, and that is not that bad, and probably faster than it seemed to be.

  The walk home, which was sometime in heavy rain, and so with my jacket zipped up, felt really horrible. I felt far too hot in the jacket, and the two pints of Guinness swilling around inside of me seem to be like dragging an anchor behind me. I felt terrible when I got home.

  I can't quite remember where this was - there are loads of brambles along the river bank - but these red leaves really stood out. I seem to think it is semi rare to see bramble leaves go so red, although I don't think it was anything more than autumnal stress.
   Maybe some parts of the country are still suffering drought, but after all the rain we have had, the river was running very deep - deep enough to almost cover all the rocks that make the weir at the back of Lewisham Hospital. This is good because our tap water around here is sourced from boreholes that are fed by river water percolating through sand, gravel and rock that filters it - although the river is remarkably clean since Lower Sydenham Gas Works, a prime source of pollution, was closed down 30 or 40 years ago.

  I crossed over the bridge by the weir, and went through the hospital to the main entrance when I picked up my copies of The Metro, and then walked along the main road to the pub.  I have to say it was not one of the best sessions in the pub, but it was still very nice to be there. The thing that was lacking was some of the banter. That is not to say there were no banter, but it did seem lower key than many sessions.

  One bit of banter concerned what used to be the main entrance to Lewisham Hospital. It was originally an arch, and it sort of still is. On top of the arch is a plaque, and as Kevin reminded me as much as a year ago, it shows one important thing. I thought I had a picture of it on my phone, but I probably used one of my real cameras to get a snap of it. It made me decide to go home past it, and definitely get a snap of it on my phone for future (almost certainly next Wednesday) use.

  As I walked toward the hospital it started to rain, and it was quite heavy when I was outside that entrance to the hospital. I had to take the picture in the pouring rain, but fortunately my phone is rated for brief exposure to rain.

  The important thing on the plaque is the prancing horse. It is the "trade mark" - I can't thing of any other word except maybe "symbol" for Kent, and in 1883, before the borders were changed, Lewisham was in Kent. Note also that the painter who restored the plaque didn't cross the "T" of Invicta. Maybe the painter didn't speak English well, and thought it was some shortened version of "Invincible". There also seemed to be two words missing, and they may have referred to the fact that in the past the place was a workhouse, and then a military hospital during WW1.

  I had done the short walk to the plaque with most of it it done with my jacket zipped up because of the strengthening rain. It felt like wearing a straight jacket, and I was getting so hot in it. I unzipped the front, and just had to accept the rain - and although it did lighten a bit, it should not have made much difference. However I did not seem to be very bothered by it. My arms and back were still kept dry, but the rain did not seem cold, and I think I would have still be comfortable with no coat on at all - but only because I knew I would soon be in the dry, and could change out of my wet clothes.

  After I had passed the hospital I cut through into the park again via the entrance in Albacore Crescent. When crossing the first bridge over the river I saw two things to take a snap of. The first was the picture above, and I think it shows elderberries, but I am not positive about it. I am not sure if they are edible by humans, but I feel sure I have heard of elberberry wine. It would take a lot of these berries to make wine, and collecting more could be very precarious with half the tree out over the river !
  The needles on this tree make me think it is an evergreen, but I can't seem to remember if it had needles on it in winter. The trunk of the tree is on the far right of the picture, and for some reason I don't think it looks like fir tree bark. I think my next project is to visit this tree in the middle of winter and see if it really is an evergreen. If I could reach some of the needles I could rub them and give them a sniff to see if they remind me of pine trees. I hope the ivy climbing up the trunk doesn't kill it before I can do these things.

  There was more heavy rain as I continued to walk towards home. I didn't zip my jack up because I was feeling pretty rough by then. When zipped up I could feel it pushing at my chest, and what with the beer inside me (despite going for a pee twice when in the pub) I could feel the start of chest pains. It didn't get so bad as to need a squirt from my magic TNG spray, although with hindsight, that would have been the sensible thing.

  I arrived home feeling quite bad, and also (falsely) hungry. The most significant thing I had was more of the "Dubai Chocolate" ice cream with all the pistachio paste in it. That stuff is so nice it should be made  illegal like a class A drug. One taste and you are hooked on it ! On the other hand, in terms of bad for my health, maybe the 4 pork, bacon and cheese sausage rolls I scoffed were almost as bad - but without even the excuse of being so delicious that they could be called the nectar of the Gods like the ice cream was.

  I had a long lie down and rest after that naughty lunch. At around 5pm I started to prepare my lunch. It was to be a whole (small-ish) packet of Aldi mini Chinese BBQ style spare ribs. They needed 25 minutes of cooking, and then maybe 10 minutes to cool down before I scoffed the lot around 6pm.  The thing that made them very bad was the thick, syrupy, pour on sauce. It was full of sugar, but needed to give extra flavour to the ribs. They were nice enough, but I don't feel inclined to buy more of them.

  My even was pretty typical - watching a couple of episodes of Star Trek (Deep Space Nine and Voyager) before Have I Got News For You. The latter was not a great episode, and I was glad when it finished so I could get to bed. I think I went to bed at 10pm, and I seem to think I was fast asleep almost instantly. I know I woke up at just after midnight, and couldn't work out why it was not light after what seemed like a whole night of sleep.

  it took maybe more than 30 minutes before I got back to sleep, but once asleep I seemed to sleep well until I started dreaming in the last hours of the night.  As far as I am aware, I only had one dream last night, and it was one without some sort of beginning that might have explained where I was was, and what I was doing, and it seemed to just fade away with no final conclusion reached.

  In the dream I was a civil servant working in some job to do with security - possibly secret service, but not the glamorous part of it (if such a thing, like James Bond, actually exists). In the dream I was working with a female friend, but I had joined a month or two before her, and so had seniority. One of my little jobs was to initial her tools book - detailing all the tools she had been issued for her work. It was because of security I was not told what these tools were, although it seemed obvious that some were communications devices and others probably cypher devices.

  I was not allowed to know what she had been issued, and she could not tell me, and I don't think she even knew herself. All I could do was to tick off the little plain brown cardboard boxes she had with the "tools" in each of them. Somehow none of this seemed surprising - even if it did seem to be a bit stupid, but civil service stuff never seems to have to to make sense. Much of it is probably tradition going back hundreds of years. I don't know much I have left out/can't remember, but the dream did seem to last alot longer than my 5 minute explanation.

  This morning I got up earlier than many morning, and I am not sure why. I don't think it was because I was busting for a pee, or bursting for a poo, although both did happen when I got up. I was fully aware that I had not controlled my appetite properly yesterday - mainly on account of feeling so bad from time to time. I knew I was going to see some negative aspects of my health measurements, but nothing was actually that awful.

  My weight had gone up but after a second pee, and maybe a second very small poo, I found I had only put on a single 100gm since yesterday morning. Maybe I did control my eating better than I thought, although in a fair and just world, my struggle to walk to the pub, and even bigger struggle to walk home from the pub, and particularly if the pain I was in counted for anything, I could have lost several kilograms in blood (except there was none) and sweat, of which there was plenty.

  My blood glucose measurements were not good, but also not terrible. The Contour meter read 8.4mmol/l, and that was under my old target before I dropped it because I was hitting the old one too often. The GlucoRX meter read 8.7mmol/l, and although no real problem, it was getting a bit close to where I should show more concern. The new GlucoFix meter read 8.9mmol/l and that is higher than I am happy with, although still in a mostly safe area. My blood pressure is one thing that is good this morning. Just now I measured it at 113/49.

  After I have had a rest, the first thing I need to do is to finish washing a small hand towel that has been soaking in detergent since after my shower yesterday morning. It is only a single small hand towel, and apart from probably needing at least a dozen rinses, it is easy to handle even when weighed down with water.  I must admit I am not looking forward to it, but it probably won't be as bad as I fear, and once done I can almost rest until mid afternoon.

  I will need a quick rinse under the shower before Jodie arrives for another beer tasting session at approximately 3.30pm (plus or minus half an hour). I hope she is going to be in a more talkative mood because Michael probably won't be joining us today. He has to transport his wife from Hospital, and get her settled back into the care her she resides in now. I expect any tears will be involved. I told Michael he is still welcome to drop by even if it is just for a quick one around 6pm. I can imagine him arriving earlier than that, and completely frazzled.