There is a weather warning this morning for more, and possibly thicker mist or fog, but this morning there is only a barely perceptible haze in the far distance.  Today is forecast to be a very dull day, but no rain is forecast. This afternoon may only see a high of 11° C, and with no supporting sunshine that is going to feel quite chilly. Once again a cold night is expected, although possibly not as cold as last night. The latest revision to the forecast shows some drizzle for 1 and 2am. From sunrise tomorrow there could be some sunny spells scattered across the day, and they may help the afternoon to rise to 12° C - which may feel OK during any sunny spell that comes along.

  Yesterday, to my surprise, was a good day. It was a day when I finally, after saying I might do it for weeks and week, felt in the right state of mind to take my newest camera for a walk in the park.

  After the usual morning stuff, eating breakfast and checking my health readings, I decided that the bright sunshine was so enticing, and I had to do something with it. More importantly, I could not think of a good reason to not go for a walk. It was not going to be a race, and there was no aim to walks some arbitrary amount of miles. I could turn around and come home at any time I felt like it. With the pressure off, I just went and did it !

  I would have liked to have washed my hair and had a shower before going out, but I knew the chances of being in close contact with anyone, more so anyone I actually knew, was close to zero. I did have a flannel wash, and that felt good enough, as well as actually feeling good. I then got dressed, and grabbed my new Nikon D700 camera, and took it for a walk in the park.
  I got an instant boost once I turned the corner, and I was no longer in the shadow of the big school. The wonderful blue sky and sunshine made me wonder why I had ignored some previous sunny days. In the sunshine it felt warm enough, although in the shade it was getting a bit close to some discomfort because I went out in just a t-shirt and shorts.
  I thought I had missed the best views of autumn, but here and there I could see some pretty sights. This tree had stunning bright copper coloured leaves, and it was just in the right place to get a strong shaft of sunshine to make them glow. It is a shame that the tree was not hemmed in, and that there were not whole rows of these trees. It is good the park has a diversity of trees, but a few stands of tree like the one above would look so much better.
  Maybe it was the way the light caught them, or maybe they needed to lay on the ground for a while to get so vividly yellow, but these leaves laying on the ground looked so much better than what was left on the tree they came from.
  This tree also had some nice dark copper colour leaves still on it, plus a lot laying at it's base. It is another case of one tree alone not making a great picture.
  I am fairly sure this is a Plane tree, and it is loaded with it's fruit - it is not exactly fruit, but I can't think of anther word that describes it's spiky seed pods.

  Further along the river, and across the next bridge lie what I think is now called the Ladywell Physic Garden. It is a triangular piece of land bordered by two paths and the river, and it's use had never really seemed defined, but it looks like it is now under care, and being planted with herbs and stuff that were originally used for herbal treatments. One very obvious new addition is what I think is a bird bath, and it looks like it may be partly made from old gravestones and stuff, I never crossed the grass for a better look, but is seems the top is hollowed out to catch water, and give the birds somewhere to bathe.
  This photo looks duller than the view did in real life. The tree in the centre was catching the sunshine, and seemed to be glowing a slightly greenish yellow.
  A walk in the park would not be complete without at least one picture of a squirrel. I could have got more, but it was so dull under the trees, where I saw most squirrels, that it was too dark for good photography.
  In the triangular "Physic" garden there were some tiny flowers close to the ground, but this was the only big flower I could see, and it seemed to have just a small amount of petals hanging on after (presumably) most had fallen off. They are strange petals that don't seem to match what is presumably a seed head. I almost wonder if it was some sort of orchid.
  I am unsure if this picture of Ladywell station was taken at 3.30 or 4.30pm (approx time of sunset) - I'll have to check if my camera is correctly set to GMT, and not still showing BST times. One thing is certain is that the sun is low in the sky, and the trees and buildings have left the platforms in shadow - a shadow deep enough to convince the platform lights to turn on. I had intended to stay at Ladywell station long enough to get a few snaps of trains, but the next train seemed like it would mean a long wait, and with the sun setting I decided to continue walking towards home.
  I had seen the posters saying that the cafe had applied for a booze licence, but I never imagined that this outdoor bar was what was intended. I can imagine it won't be doing a lot of business at this time of year, but next summer it should do well - provided it isn't overwhelmed with drunken yobbos. It looks like the current prices are £6.50 for a pint of Amstel, and that seems a fair price these days. A Vodka and Lemonade, or Gin And tonic is £5.00. I can foresee having an occasional "swift half" from this bar on odd occasions.
  I thought there would be no need to wait at Ladywell station because no train of any great interest would arrive. I was wrong, and I was also right in so much as the best place to see the train that did arrived was through the railings near the park toilets, about 2/3rd of the way along the platform. I got a great side on shot of the part of the train with the "Celebrating Railway 200" writing. This particular train was selected to be restored into it's original livery, and possibly original interior, to be an exhibit at the big 200 year anniversary of railways in Britain that was held at Derby (although don't quote me on the exact location). I have seen and photographed this train twice before this, but taking this photo where I did (not while on the station) gave the best view of the message on the side. It was worth not waiting at the station after all.
  With the maternity wing of the hospital behind the trees, this pictures shows two more trees in their coppery red colours across the playing field.
  One road away from home, and my thoughts about Halloween nicely illustrated by the carved pumkin with it's look of misery and complete disinterest.

  It was nice to get home again, but it was also very nice to have achieved a bit of exercise even if it was just 1.738 miles. I started of with some aches from my legs, but they went away during the middle of the walk, On the last bit of the walk towards home I was most definitely feeling tired, and sort of aching, but that aching was all over. If I had needed to I could probably have walked another half mile, and maybe even a full mile, but only if I stopped every now and then to take a picture (always a good reason to stop for a minute or two). Incidently, I did not pause the tracker every time I did stop to take a picture, and my walking speed would have been shown as a bit higher if I had.

  I guess I also wanted to get home because I was feeling hungry....actually, I probably was not feeling real hunger, but I had a plan..... I planned to have ice cream for lunch. One of the ice creams I bought when I went to Aldi was a very rich, very sweet ice cream, and I soon realised it was not good for me. Now because I check my blood glucose when I get up it would be useful to eat any more of that ice cream as early in the day as possible so my body could have dealt with that sugar overload before I checked it in the morning. My plan was pretty stupid, but it was to have that ice cream when my body would have a small demand for sugar after the walk, but to eat the whole lot to get it out of the way. It almost worked, and maybe scoffing it all has put me off buying it again. I really should stick to plain vanilla.

  After the gluttony of my late lunch (I think it was as late as 4pm, and maybe later). I did my photography tasks - copying all the picture I had taken to my PC, and topping up the camera batteries (in fact the one battery lasted the whole session with charge to spare, but while I had the charger out I topped up the spare batteries as well). I then started "processing" the best pictures. While doing so I noted that the Nikon 55 to 200mm zoom lens was not perfectly suited to a full frame camera like the D700 I was using. Some pictures, and I think it was those taken as full zoom, had a grey shadow around the outside of the picture. In every case, this time, I could easily crop it off, but it is another thing to think about.

  My work, which fortunately was almost all done, was interrupted by a phone call. It was not the usual culprit, but the other culprit who can make a phone call last for hours. I gently got rid of him afte about 90 minutes, and by then I was looking forward to my dinner. It was to be far less reckless that eating a way to generous amount of ice cream.

  I started dinner with two cans of soup. One was mushroom soup, and the other oxtail soup. I then filled two white bread rolls with ready cooked and sliced spicy chicken. If I had not already had had several or more days worth of ice cream I might have had some ice cream as a dessert, but I resisted it.

  Saturday night TV is almost as bad as Sunday night TV, but I did find enough TV on to amuse me for some of the evening, but once again I was in bed reading by, and maybe even slightly before 9pm. I am fairly sure I was fast asleep by 10pm. I woke a few times in the night to go go for a pee. I am sure I had a dream, and I think it had something to do with pubs, but all the real details have evaporated now.

  This morning it seemed I did not eat enough solid food, or food with fibre in it, to need a poo, but I did have another quite big pee when I got up. After that I weighed myself. After a walk I would usually expect to have lost a little weight, but not this morning. I can probably blame the ultra rich ice cream for actually gaining 300gm since yesterday. Fortunately it is still in between the limits for it to stay coloured light grey on my spreadsheet (the colour changes for every change in whole kilograms).

  My blood glucose is a bit higher this morning, but still acceptable. The average of all three meters was 8.9mmol/l - a bit higher than yesterday's 8.63mmol/l. These are all OK readings, but nothing to feel good about, At least I can be pleased with my blood pressure this morning. I expected it to be high because I took it just now, and while I ave had some ominour gurgles from my guts, suggesting a visit to the toilet may be coming soon. Through all that my my blood pressure was a remarkably normal 123/79 with a heart rate of 79 bpm.

  Today there is a normal Sunday service on the trains at Catford Bridge station, and I feel very sure that Jodie will be over to inspect, and drink some of my new beers that were delivered on Friday. Prior to that I had intended to have a shower, and go shopping in Tesco. I am not sure if I have time for anything but a quick flannel wash now. As I write these words it has just gone 1pm ! Oh well, plenty of time tomorrow....maybe.