Last night seemed quite cool, but I am not sure if it fell to just 14° C. It is currently about 18° C, and we are having sunny spells instead of thunderstorms. The weather forecast (screen shot above) looks grim, but while there are a few dark clouds in the sky, there are possibly more blue patches. It is dry now, and maybe dry later as well. It is already warmer than the forecast for the afternoon temperature (just 16 and later 17° C). The Met Office forecast shows no thunderstorms, but it does show the sunny spells we are having now (or had, because it has just gone a bit dull). It does show a fair bit of rain, but most of it looks to be light rain. If it can be trusted to be anything like reality, the BBC forecast for tomorrow shows sunshine and then sunny spells until mid morning. After that it will be dull, but no rain is forecast for tomorrow. Tomorrow afternoon's temperature may only reach 17° C.
 
  Yesterday was a fair day. Getting one of my new Sigma lenses early was great, and after a wash I could go out to walk to The Jolly Farmers without having to worry about rushing before the estimated delivery time of my parcel.

  My walk through the park to the pub was not the most comfortable walk. I was expecting to meet a lot of rain on the way, and because it didn't seem like it would be very warm, I wore a hooded winter coat. I never need the hood at any time, and because it was not as cold as expected, I was feeling too warm under the coat - even with the front undone, and my t-shirt covered chest open to the elements. I think I would have been far more comfortable without a coat - even if there wqas a shower.

  I was essentially going to The Jolly Farmers as part of my Wednesday routine (although I will admit I have missed several Wednesdays with the attraction of Ayse being behind the bar). I was particularly going to meet up with Dik, the Polish guitar player, and to give him an unwanted analogue TV to digital converter/interface. We were going to meet at midday, but Dik was maybe 20 minutes late.

  While waiting for Dik I found out some information. The barmaid depping for Ayse is also called Ayse. She was recommended to Fergal, the owner of the pub by Ayse because the two of them once worked together in another pub, and she knew that her namesake was a good barmaid. Now I have seen her a couple of time now, something of her personality is coming through. I don't think she could ever replace the original Ayse, but Ayse mk2 could be entertaining now we are getting to know her.

  I did find out a bit more info about (the original) Ayse. Her husband has had radio therapy and chemo therapy for his cancer. It has destroyed his immune system, and until it recovers he is in quarantine at home, and Ayse has to stay in quarantine as well in case she catches something to infect him. It seems like it is still going to be some time before we see her again.

  My drink with Dik was not exactly scintillating, but some of it was informative, and it was far better than sitting there silently. I bought my first pint of Guinness when I arrived, before Dik was there, and he bought me two more pints. Now three pints of Guinness is not enough to get drunk, but it seems it is plenty to make the walk home seem a lot harder than the walk to the pub.

  I felt really sluggish walking through the park. It is lucky there were a few photo opportunities available so I could have a few brief rests. Oddly enough, I still walked about the same distance, to very near the exit of the park, before my ankles seemed to start getting sore (and a few twinges from my right knee). Maybe the alcohol had a positive effect in so much as my aching ankles were not really bad enough to stop me walking more than once or twice, and then for maybe just 30 seconds at a time.
  I must admit I am not sure if this was a rat or a water vole. There are subtle differences between the two that I cannot remember. It is unusual to see either in the middle of the day. They, or at least rats, prefer to scout for food near dawn or dusk.
  I am not sure why I felt the need to take yet another picture of a duck....maybe it was the way it was standing there posing. Sometimes when an opportunity is offered you have to take it.
  The same could be said about squirrels.....if it strikes a nice pose you have to snap it. These three pictures were taken with my Nikon Coolpix S6300, pocket sized, camera. When one of my big DSLR cameras is too big, too heavy, or just inconvenient, the little Nikon S6300 camera is my first choice.
  This should have been the first picture to show here. It was the first picture I took on my way to the pub. Half an hour, or maybe a bit longer ago there had been quite heavy rain, and there were eve distant peals of thunder to be heard. That emptied the kiddies playground - which is understandable enough.

  My entire walk was 1.6 miles, and that seems enough to be called exercise, even if the Cardiac Rehabilitation (who thankfully has not crossed my path for many years now) would say it was just a walk inn the park, and not exercise at all. It seemed like exercise to me ! Notice how much faster (albeit still a bit slow) my walk was walking to the pub. I was struggling on the way home with three pints (minus a medium sized pee) of Guinness swilling around in my gut.

  It was a great joy to get home, and ready to devour some sort of food. However, food had to wait. There was something more important. I found I had an email from DHL to say my parcel, with my second Sigma 24 to 70mm zoom lens had been delivered. There was no card through my door to say they had missed me, but when following the link on the email I saw there was "proof of delivery to somewhere". It was a picture, and I was sure my package was being handed to my next door neighbour. I quickly put my t-short and trouser back on and when an knocked on his door. To my great relief he had taken it in, and handed it over to me.

  My thoughts about food were once again set aside as I ripped open the package. This was the lens that had come all the way from Japan. It was well packed, but didn't include the original Sigma box the lens came in - not that it mattered. What did matter was whether it worked OK. It was the lens for Nikon camera. I was slightly disappointed that it was the same as the other Nikon fit lens I have - one that needs the focus motor in the camera body. I know it could be otherwise because the Canon version on the lens, which is identical except for the way it attaches to the camera, does have the focus motor in the lens.

   Maybe I should try it on my one Nikon that does not have the focus motor in the camera body - my Nikon D3200. That was my only Nikon camera when I bought my first Sigma 24 ton 70mm lens from a place like Cash Converters, but with a slightly different name. That lens did not work on the Nikon D3200, and I took it back to the shop, with my camera, to show it was faulty (it didn't auto focus). I managed to get it for half price, and that was quite a bargain, although I didn't realise what a fantastic bargain it was until much later. It lead me on a path where I bought a very old Nikon D80 camera, and it worked perfectly on that. That lead me on to buy my best Nikon, a D610, and it works perfectly on that.

  The lens that arrived yesterday, the one from Japan, was essentially a spare in case anything happened to the first lens, although I do have three cameras it will work on. I was very happy that the new lens worked perfectly. If I didn't mention it yesterday, the Sigma lens for Canon cameras also worked perfectly on my Canon 600D....well, almost perfectly. The zoom ring on the lens is a bit stiff. I believe it is a known fault, and possibly easy to fix. I'll look into that. At the moment it is only a very minor annoyance, and doesn't affect the picture quality at all - which is the most important bit.

  Apart from playing with my cameras and new lenses, I had a very usual afternoon of being lazy apart from stopping to cook my dinner. My dinner was similar to the ribs and stuff that comes in a sealed plastic bag, but this one was chicken instead of pork or beef. It had a name something like (but not) "Sharwnana" - I can't remember the exact name, and I am not even sure how to pronounce it anyway. I have to say I didn't enjoy it the same way I enjoy the spare ribs from the same makers.

  It seems very unlikely, but I can't remember having a dessert after that main course, although I think I did have a chunk of walnut cake a bit later in the evening. My evening was another typical evening of watching select TV programmes, and then bed at around 11pm if I recall correctly. Sleep came a bit later because I spent 20 to 30 minutes reading before turning out the light.

  I am almost forgetting one thing I did yesterday evening. Based on my positive experience of the lenses I had ordered from Ebay, I checked out Sigma 18 to 135mm zoom lenses. I had noticed them last time, and they are not as expensive as the lenses I have just bought. I found one being sold by someone in North London - so no worries about import taxes. It was just under £70, and seemed worth taking a chance on. It has a very desirable zoom range for pub gig photography. 18mm is quite wide angle, and 135mm is enough zoom for close ups provided the subject is not far away (as would be typical on a pub stage, or "performing area" of the pub once the tables have been pushed out of the way.

  I think I fell asleep easily enough, and there is almost nothing to say about my sleep except last night I had a dream that I remember what may only be a tiny bit of. In the dream I seemed to have a black (or possibly Indian) nurse sitting on my lap, and things were heading in an erotic direction, but never actually got there before I woke up. I am not sure if that was sad or a blessing.

  This morning my weight has dropped by 400gm, and it could be more because I have had about 3 poos this morning. All three have been perfectly normal in size and consistency. Sadly, it is not worth weighing myself again after I have had breakfast. It was a single Aldi brand version of a pot noodle. It was not as good as most instant noodles, but it was edible, and sort of enjoyable. One oddity is that the "traffic light colours" nutritional panel shows most things in the red except the sugar content which is coded green. I regard 12.7gm of sugar to be very high, and the other stuff not that high. Maybe the printer has red/green colour blindness.

 The main thing on today's menu is a late afternoon beer tasting session with Jodie and probably Michael.  That means I will have to clear quite a backlog of washing up in the kitchen sink, as well as washing and polishing the beer glasses. The kitchen surfaces need the usual wipe down before Jodie makes her own mess preparing her vegetables. The dining room table is covered with packing from my last lens deliveries, and that will have to be cleared into the recycling bin alongside the recycling bin in the kitchen which is full of beer bottles and cans (plus other stuff).