Today is almost going to follow the same pattern as the last few days - nice sunny spells in the morning, and several hours of dullness in the afternoon. The temperature should reach 27° C as we build up to another mini heatwave at the end of the month. Once again it will be a cool-ish night. Tomorrow could start at a fresh 17° C at 6am, but most of the day will feature full sunshine, or sunny spells. The afternoon should reach 27° C again, but tomorrow it could feel warmer thanks to the sunny afternoon

  Yesterday was a sort of busy day. I didn't manage to finish writing yesterday's diary in the morning, and had to write a rushed ending at 7pm last night. Maybe the day being busy was good, or maybe not. I think I prefer my usual. more relaxed, more lazy days.

  Maybe the core of yesterday's busyness was having to get showered and dressed ready to go out to sit in the park by midday when I told Margaret I expected to be there. I actually rushed a bit too much, and was there much earlier. That did give me time to concentrate on some photography, but I can't say the result were better than when quickly grabbing my camera in the middle of a conversation.

  Rather then rely on my little pocket Nikon camera, which was struggling under the shade of all the trees, I took my Nikon D3200 camera with the Nikon 18 to 200mm lens. I found I was always using it at full zoom, and one of my 300mm lenses would have been a better choice - except I don't think I have a 300mm lens that will work on that camera. Most pictures I took were of dragonflies, and they were pushing the limits of the camera and lens, but I got a few pictures that were just acceptable by the skin of their teeth (and a bit of imagination).
  This picture was taken before I entered the park. These blackberry bushes poke through the  chain link fence between the road and railway. Like those in the park, these blackberries are looking quite small because of the lack of rain. I have not picked and tasted any, but I wonder if the flavour is concentrated because of the lack of water to expand them. I can't say I really like blackberries, but I may pick some before the season is over and give them a taste.
  One of the better pictures of a dragonfly - or at least a lot better than my pocket camera could take. What I was really aiming for was a picture ten times the size....
  This was a bit more interesting - I caught the dragon fly opening it's wings, but it is still not the close up I wanted. To get that close up I would have had to wade in the river, and even then if I allowed the slightest shadow to fall on the bug it would have flown away. It is ironic that the best photographic position would have been with the sun over my shoulder, but that would almost certainly cast a shadow over the dragonfly.
  This picture is more the sort of picture I wanted to take, but once again it would be better if I had a more powerful zoom lens, or was kneeling down in the river !
  I don't know if sporting places are exempt from the hose pipe ban that has just started, or if maybe they have their own well that is exempt. I have a feeling they may have their own well, and large storage tank for water.
  She was not happy about it, but I did get one snap of Margaret. I would have to agree with her that she is not very photogenic.

  It has been nice sitting in the park with Margaret, but I wonder if there is any future in it, or even if I want any future in it. Now we have exchanged a reasonable subset of our life histories, there seems little more to say. I guess I'll meet her a few more times by intent, and will probably sit with her if I bump into her.

  Spending a few hours in the park, for two days running, meant that I was getting behind in things I ought to be doing. I have already mentioned in the pre-amble at the top of the page that I ended up doing a rush job to write a very brief diary at 7pm last night instead of the full, and more detailed description I would have written if I had had time to finish writing in the morning like most days.

  I never got the time to clean the kitchen yesterday before Michael joined me for some beers, but Michael does not use the kitchen, and so that didn't matter that much. Fortunately I had washed the beer glasses earlier, and so when I got a phone call from Jodie to say she was coming over for some beer tasting, and was bringing Alan, it caught me by surprise. I had assumed they were busy.

  I had forgotten that they were not going to a gig, but going to some specialised beer bar in Brixton, and they had decided they would have enough time to pop in for a couple of hours to get the train to Brixton. In fact there is no direct train to Brixton from either of the Catford stations (Catford and Catford Bridge) even when the train are occasionally diverted to Victoria like they were last weekend. There are a couple of possibilities that involve a change of train, and the quickest involved a short walk.

  The quickest route is to get a train from Catford Bridge to Clock House station, and then a 10 minute walk to Kent House station. I think that would be my choice, but Alan has an artificial leg, and that would have stretched his walking tolerance. The alternative was a train from Catford station, itself a bit of an extra walk, and then travel away from London to Shortlands Station where it is just a matter of crossing the platform for a Victoria train.

  Michael was quite surprised to find Alan and Jodie here to help celebrate his birthday (the day before) with a few beers. It was quite a good session, and yet it was also a fairly light session. Only one of the beers Jodie selected from the fridge was a nasty beer. I selected a few Spanish (or similar) lagers to top up my intake, but it was a silly idea because those type of lagers have a high sugar content - as I noticed this morning.

  After everyone had gone I had my dinner. I had had a few odds and ends to "line my stomach" before drinking, and my dinner would hold it down nicely, and it matched some of the beers. It was a Tesco "Finest" Paella - the type that I discovered has a surprisingly low sugar content. That made me feel stupidly optimistic about this morning. I watched some TV while eating, and I kept the TV on while I tried to write what I should have written yesterday morning.

  I was feeling quite tired and sleepy last night, and I think I may have given up on TV by 10pm and gone to bed. The fact that I only have a very hazy memory of the details suggests I was very drunk, but I don't think I was, or that I was/am suffering from brain rot, maybe, but I hope not. Maybe after such a full day (by my standards) I was just so tired that I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. I am not aware that I woke up again until about 6am this morning. I almost would have got my full 8 hours sleep.

  I definitely had a big pee when I got up, but there was no movement from my bowels even if it felt like there should have been. I did have a bowel movement an hour or so later, and I was sort of surprised how small it was. It seemed to back up my memory that I did not eat all that much yesterday.

  Maybe I can blame the beer for putting on a very surprising 1.4kg since yesterday. I can also blame the beer for my blood glucose being rather high this morning. The average of all three meters was a rather bad 9.97mmol/l. That is under the red line by the skin of it's teeth, but one individual reading was 10.3mmol/l, and that is definitely in the danger zone. I have decided not to eat any breakfast, and if I can I will try and have the leanest lunch possible.

  One thing I feel I need to do is to get to Tesco this morning. That could provide a multitude of ways to sabotage both my weight and/or blood glucose. I will do my best, but I doubt I will eat as little as would be ideal. Going to Tesco probably rules out going to the park to meet Margaret, but I did warn her that I was not sure if I would have time today. I might possibly go a bit later and see if she is still there. If I do I might take my big Nikon with big lens to try and get the sharp close up of a dragonfly that I want to get.

  What ever is left of this afternoon I will use for some intensive laziness. Tonight I would like to get to sleep early. Tomorrow is a big day, and one where I may not have time to write much. It is the first day of Chattfest, and this year I hope to get there just before it starts. It means getting a bus through Bromley - crowded with Saturday shoppers, and then do the short, 5 or 6 minute walk to The Chatterton Arms for an afternoon, and evening of live music all for just a £5 ticket, and the ticket money goes to charity. Sunday will be part two !