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My Diary/Blog For the Month of April
2011 |
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| Monday 25th April 2011 |
| 05:45 BST Unlike the day before, there was no rain yesterday. It was also a degree cooler, but it was still a very respectable 24° C. If anything spoiled the day it was a slight haziness. Clear sky overnight has allowed the temperature to drop to 11° C this morning, but with luck it will climb again to 23° C by late afternoon. It seems that the temperature will drop a few degrees everyday during the course of the week. It has been said that the weather we have had over the last week or so has been very unseasonal, and yet I am not so sure. When I look back at what I was doing a year ago I see that it was hot enough for me to complain of sunburn. It was the occasion when I achieved my second longest walk so far - 9.7 miles from Birchington On Sea to Herne Bay. Rediscovering that is slightly annoying. I thought that what I achieved yesterday was rather good for so early in the year. My achievement yesterday was to do a 5.08 mile walk. I thought I was building up my endurance for longer walks later in the summer, but it seems that last year I was able to do much more at this time of the year. Mind you, I do recall that long walk almost "killed" me. The last mile or so was really quite painful, but it seems that I recovered from it quite quickly. Yesterday I walked from Eynesford station to Otford station. That was more than I planned, and while that still falls short of what I achieved this time last year, it was across undulating land instead of a flat coastal walk. The main goal of my walk was to visit The Hop Shop.  As I recall it was 1.75 miles from Eynsford station, and a slow climb from the bottom of the valley. Having reached there and bought some stuff I had two choices - either to go back to Eynsford station, or to press on to Shoreham station. I chose to go on and do the reverse of a walk I did on Sunday 27th June last year. When I reached Shoreham village I thought I deserved a beer before getting a train home. As I drank a rather nice pint of Kentish Red ale from The Millis brewery in Dartford (Kent) I took a look at my map and saw there was a footpath from there to Otford. It looked to be a little under two miles long, and over a quite gentle hill. It felt like I had some energy left, and so I went for it. It took the grand total up to 5.08 miles of walking. During my walk I took a few snaps. I wanted to take more photos of wildlife, but everything seemed to be in constant motion. I did manage a couple of good shots of a ladybird, and some unidentified butterfly.   It's a shame I can't identify this butterfly because I think this photo came out rather well. I'm not sure if horses count as wildlife, but I took two pictures of horses as well.  This horse was in a field near the Lullingstone Roman villa visitor centre.......  .....while these two, wearing eye protection masks, were taken using a lot of zoom in a field near Castle Farm and The Hop Shop. Just a little further along the road, and by the entrance to The Hop Shop, was this strange bit of technology.  This miniature windmill (maybe 10 - 15 feet tall) is not powered by the wind, but by the water wheel in the river below it.  Just past the shop there are the fields where hops are grown, and in the far distance, in the centre of the picture, are the fields where lavendar is grown.  Along the footpath from Shoreham to Otford you pass under this magic arch. I am not sure why it should be magic. Maybe it mysteriously makes your feet feel a little bit heavier.  After walking for about a mile towards Otford the footpath crosses a road, and I found one of the old stone footpath signs mostly clear of vegetation, and facing onto the sun. There was a similar one pointing towards Otford as I left Shoreham, but that was partially obscured, and in a very shady position.  At the peak of the hill, just before it drops down into Otford, there is a classic view of the rolling Kent countryside. In the foreground is meadowland full of daiseys and buttercups, and then across the valley lies more rolling hills in the hazy warm air. The purpose of my visit to The Hop Shop was to buy some of their lavender, lavandin, and rosemary oils, and also to try some of their lavendar flavoured food. The idea of lavendar as a food flavouring seemed a bit strange, but it does work. I bought some lavendar flavoured fudge, and some cookies. While waiting the 15 minutes for my train home at Otford station I decided to try some of the fudge. It was very nice. Too nice in fact. After the long walk the sugar rush made me go a little mad and I ended up eating all the small (100gm) packet of fudge, and then I started on the cookies. I managed to stop eating the cookies after a couple of them, and I have some left for today. It was a mistake to eat before getting home. For one thing, scoffing all that fudge in an uncontrolled manner, replaced all the energy I burnt off while walking. Leaving with nothing more than sore feet to show for it. Secondly, after the initial rush, it left me feeling totally exhausted. When I first arrived at Otford I could have almost walked for another mile or two. When I arrived back in Catford it seemed a major struggle just to walk home. I needed a really healthy dinner after my earlier indulgences, and it came in the form of an ostrich steak salad. I had never tried ostrich meat before, but I bought some marinated frozen steaks while I was in Lidl the day before. They didn't have a strong taste, and I wouldn't go out of my way to get any more, but they were pleasant enough. The excellent thing about them is that they were almost perfectly fat free making for a very healthy sort of meal. I had a vague idea that I might go to the seaside again today. I think it most unlikely that I will, but if I did I would be heading back to Leigh-On-Sea with the idea of buying some fresh seafood. Further thought suggests it would probably be a waste of energy. It feels unlikely that the fishing boats would have been out on a Sunday (in the middle of Easter), and any fish on offer would probably just be frozen fish rather than fresh. Maybe this will be a plan for next weekend. The only thing of significance that I will most probably do today is to go for an afternoon pint in the pub with Jodie and/or Kevin. I thought I would save the best bit to last. While walking across the fields yesterday I spotted, and picked up a gold coin. The fact that it is gold plated plastic, and says 1p play cash on it is irrelevant. It is still a gold coin ! |
| Sunday 24th April 2011 |
| 06:10 BST Yesterday had much in common with a summers day. After a cool start it quickly warmed up to around 25° C, and then the cloud bubbled up. As the sun started to set the rain came down accompanied by some thunder and lightning. By mid evening it all dried up again, and with the clouds almost gone the temperature dropped a lot. This morning has started off slightly misty, and the temperature is 13° C. As the sun rises the mist is clearing, and it should get quite warm again. Then we are in for a repeat of yesterday with rain expected at around 6pm. Perhaps it will be a little lighter than yesterday, and without the thunder and lightning, but maybe it will be just as sticky as yesterday afternoon. Yesterday turned out to be almost nothing like I planned it to be. Reality diverged from imagination after I had done some shopping in Lidl. I managed to buy quite a bit of stuff while I was in there, and it was hot sweaty work lugging it all the way back home (Lidl is twice as far away as Tesco is). I bought food, drink, ice cream and a new toy. That new toy is a radio controlled weather station. By radio controlled it actually means it has a receiver/decoder for the German DCF time transmitting station to display "atomically controlled" time. A secondary, though not terribly accurate, use of the description of radio controlled is that it has an external, radio linked, temperature and humidity sensor. It is currently saying that the external temperature (outside the rear bedroom window) is 13.5° C (up 0.2° C since I first started writing), and the humidity it describes as comfortable at 44%. Indoors, in my bedroom, it is 22° C. That toy cost £9.99, which I didn't think was too bad for something built to German Chinese standards. I am of course using racial stereotypes here to suggest that the Germans, with their love of precision engineering, would have held a whip hand over the (presumed) Chinese manufacturers to ensure it was all calibrated, and built to higher standards than some of the dodgy stuff that appears in other shops. (Lidl is, I think, German owned, and some of their stuff even has barely decipherable German labels on it). I was feeling hot and sticky after lugging all my shopping home, and worse than that was that I had bought some very tempting food items - including some chocolate ice cream. I was also feeling rather tired after another night of poor sleep. I put on my hiking gear, and with my back pack filled with cameras, and all other sorts of paraphenalia for a long walk, I got to the front door before deciding that what I really wanted to do was to have some breakfast and a lie down, and that is exactly what I did ! I spent a pleasant afternoon reading, eating, watching TV, and probably eating again. Somewhere in all that I managed to doze off a couple of times for a few minutes. As the evening approached the rain started to fall, peels of thinder could be heard rolling around the sky, and lightning began to flash towards the north east. Meanwhile I was feeling hot and sticky, and rather well fed. By the time I should have left to go and see Chain play in Blackheath the rain had probably done it's worst, and with a bit more effort I could have forced myself to go out, but I was feeling quite comfortable as I was (if you can call being hot and sweaty, and over fed "comfortable"). So I stayed in, and by 10pm I had turned out the lights, and a few moments later I was fast asleep. I slept solidly for four hours before waking up to go take a pee. Once back in bed again I think I surprised myself by falling back to sleep so quickly again. I then slept well intil 5.30am. I woke up from a dream where I was trying to stand fully upright against something that was holding me down. One of my feet was at an awkward angle somehow, and I was struggling to get it in the right place so I could push up properly. It was all a little confused, but predictably enough, I woke up with the duvet tangled around me, and feeling rather stiff and sore. That stiffness is now dissipating, and I hope, possibly after a bit more sleep, that I will feel like going out for the walk I was to have made yesterday. The plan is still to walk from Eynsford to Shoreham (Kent) taking in a farm shop on the way. In some ways the farm shop is my destination, and I might just turn around there and go back to Eynsford station. That would cut maybe a mile of the total walk. The farm shop is actually named The Hop Shop, and they specialise in both hop related stuff and lavender related stuff. I am curious about their lavender flavoured cookies. I suspect they are rather tasty, but I have never considered lavendar as a food flavouring before. |
| Saturday 23rd April 2011 |
| 06:07 BST Yesterday was hot. Not steaming hot, but a bit more than warm. With practically all blue skies, and continuous sunshine, there was nothing to complain about. Today there could be a couple of rogue clouds roaming about that could rain on someone, but for the most part it is supposed to be another bright sunny day. After clear skies overnight it has started off fairly cool. So the top temperature today could be a degree less than yesterday, but still in the high twenties. I was intending to go for a ramble in the countryside, and specifically between Eynsford and Shoreham (Kent) yesterday. Out of curiosity I checked the times of the trains for the destination of where I thought I might go today - Whitstable in Kent. Going there today would have added an extra 30 minutes to what is already a moderately long rail journey. So I chenaged my destination and went there yesterday. The only problem in doing that was one I badly underestimated. On the journey out the train was packed with people and their bloody noisy kids. Had one little brat shouted out "mommy" one more time there may well have been a murder on that train. Not only was the train crowded, but the town and beach were full of slowly moving people who were just in my way. Maybe it was worth enduring that visit to hell of the train journey, and the slowly shuffling crowds I found at my destination. Once I had walked a mile and a half along the beach I finally found room to breath, and it was rather glorious as this video shows. Whitstable As the sun shone down the boat enthusiasts took to the calm sea, and the waves gently lapped the shore. If the beach was of golden sand it could have been quite idylic. The reality was the beach at Whitstable is a mixture of shingle, stones, and gravel. The good thing was that it was quite firm to walk on unlike the loose shingle at Pevensey that was so unpleasant to walk on last week. The best bit was that the water was almost warm. For the first time since the end of summer last year, I went for a paddle. To keep my feet safe and comfortable on all the stones I had taken my old pair of black canvas shoes with me, and in them I walked a fair distance in the water. One useful thing about there being little sand (or mud) there is that those shoes did not fil up with abrasive debris. Along the way I took a gaggle (!) of photos.  There were people in canoes on that wonderful blue looking water....
 ...and even water skiers.  While I was there I didn't neglect the wildlife. I can't identify the plant above. Until I examined the full size photo closely I thought that the spikes were salt crystals. Some plants growing near the sea, where there is a lot of salt, extrude the excess salt as crystals on the leaf surface, but these are obviously defensive spikes.  One plant I think I identified correctly is this sea kale.  It seems I keep seeing sci fi references when I go to the seaside recently. The legend etched into the glass of the front door is "Tardis House". I presume that it is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. (see here)  Have I stumbled upon something here ? Is The Bakerloo line being extended all the way to Whitstable ? I think we should be told !!!!
My journey home again was far more civilised. I left early compared the the majority of people, and my train was less than half full, and more significantly free from kids and quiet. After spending a couple of hours in the early afternoon sun I was beginning to get some sunburn. It was probably about the ideal exposure to keep building up resistance to the sun without actually burning. If anything was going to get burned it would have been my legs. Yesterday was the the first time since last summer that I have exposed the world to my legs by wearing shorts. It must be some measure of some sort of good that my shorts still fitted perfectly upon trying them on. I don't think they would have gone on so easily a couple of months back ! So I must be doing something right. It is debatable if I did the right thing when I arrived home. It was a bit early for dinner, but I was feeling remarkable hungry after not eating anything since the previous night (and that was a bit on the sparse side). To "keep me going" until I could arrange dinner I ate a couple of packets of greasy crisps (allegedly now 30% less grease than "normal" crisps). After eating those I delayed my dinner for a couple of hours, and had it later than is usual (for me). I had a combination dinner of varying virtues. The chicken shish kebab with salad was fairly safe. The chicken is skinless and grilled so mostly fat free. The large beef burger (I told you I was feeling very hungry) may also have not been that bad. Like the chicken it was grilled - so theoreticaly low in fat. That just leaves the bun it was in, and the sauce on it. In all probability both of those were not that bad either. My walk was only 3.86 miles, and that is a relatively short distance compared with my better efforts, but considering I may well go out again today it was probably better not to push things too hard. I did feel a bit tired yesterday evening, but I felt no rush to get to bed early, and even when I did turn out the light and try to sleep it did not come easily. I actually slept quite badly last night. We are going through that phase where it is too hot under the duvet, and later in the night, too cold to not to be under it. I woke up many times in the night, and it is only because I gave up trying to get back to sleep that I am up so early this morning. I'll probably get back into bed soon and try to add another hour or two to the 4 or 5 hours I got in the night. Once I do get up and dressed I face some difficult decisions. I probably need to get some shopping, but I would also like to get away for my walk in the country a lot earlier than I got out yesterday. Then I have to consider that I want to go out tonight to see Chain play in The British Oak on the far side of Blackheath. I am wondering, particularly bearing in mind going out tonight, if I really should go on a long walk today. Like many things, I guess I'll just make it up as I go along. |
| Saturday 16th April 2011 |
| 19:19 BST Much of yesterday was dull and gloomy, but it was less cold than the other days of the week. Then in the late afternoon the cloud began to break up, and finally the sun broke through. The early evening turned very pleasant. It was warm enough for shirtsleeves, and bright and cheery. Today started off the way yesterday finished. There was still plenty of clouds in the sky, but there was also a fair amount of sunshine, and it was just warm enough to go out in shirtsleeves. During the afternoon the clouds thickened up again, and several times it has seemed to be on the point of raining, but up till now it has stayed dry. After that dull and gloomy week it was great to end the week on a high. The relative warmth, and brighness were very good, but good beer, and excellent music lifted things to a higher plane. Once I got home from work I quickly cleaned myself up as best I could before rushing out to The Catford Ram for beer and great music. The pub had Bombadier beer on, which is rather tasty, but of course the highlight of the evening was another excellent gig from Chain. Last night was unusually excellent for reasons I will come to soon. I took along my camera as well as my new "toy"camcorder. It was unfortunate that the battery pack went flat in my camera during Chain's first set, but after a week where I felt almost permanently knackered I suddenly found hidden strengths. A combination of some beer (not much at that point), good music, and the vastly improved weather combined to help me almost run home to get my spare battery pack. I didn't actually run, but I did use about my fastest walk possible, and seeming did it with ease. With my spare battery pack in my camera I seemed to get quite "snap happy". I haven't processed any of the pictures for upload yet, but it is one of my tasks for maybe tomorrow. What I have processed is a video I took on my JVC Experio camcorder. When I put up a picture of it on Thursday (I think) it didn't really give any idea of just how small it is. So one picture I did process was this one.  I've pictured it here next to
an ordinary packet of Marlboro cigarettes to give a better idea of just
how small it is. Being so small it is difficult to keep it steady when
using any amount of zoom. Under daylight it can give some excellent
pictures, but under the dim lights of The Catford Ram it struggled a
lot. The colour balance was not that good, and the focus was rather
soft. Yet after a lot of messing about with the video I did get one
song that looks almost passable, Even the sound, though hideously
compressed, does not sound that bad. I never did quite get the picture
aspect ratio right, but it's close enough to 16:9, as the camcorder
claims to take, as I can get it by eye.
Chain - Rehab The song is Chain's cover of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab". I have come to think of this version as the definitive version of the song. The curious thing is that some songs I have suggested Chain could do a good cover version of have been rejected because they contain keyboard parts, and yet Amy Winehouse's original version does contain several keyboard parts ! The ultimate highlight of the evening was hearing a song that Chain revealed they had been rehearsing (along with some others). Before the gig started they said I would have to wait until the next gig before I could hear these new songs, but they evidently were keeping one song as a surprise. I late saw their set list and it was on it. That song was Black Sabbath's "Paranoid", and they did an absolutely stonking rendition of it. It was "loud, proud, and in our faces" ! Everything they played sounded really good, and that included Free's "Alright Now", a song that when the first attempted it sometime last year was a minor disaster. Last night it came out excellently, but Paranoid just blew me away (as it did to a few others). I came home feeling on top of the world (and fairly drunk too !). Such was the good feeling that I almost had a very healthy sort of meal. I had a pile of green leaf salad with tomatoes, cucumber and chargrilled peppers (bottled in brine) with flakes of Parmesan cheese. that was drizzled with some very high quality olive oil, and some balsamic vinegar. Of course I slightly ruined things by eating too many greek style cookies. Most of the "Mediteranean" style food was bought from a speciality Greek importer who is based in the same business estate where I work. On Friday afternoon he set up a "taste and buy" stall, and everyone on the business estate was invited to try his stuff and buy it at wholesale prices. I bought a few bits and pieces, and those included the top quality olive oil, and a big slab of Parmesan cheese. I had never really tried real Parmesan cheese before, except for the ready grated stuff you get from supermarkets. The real stuff is just so cheesy that you don't actually need much of it in a salad. In theory that should have made my salad quite healthy, although the olive oil probably had millions of calories in it. I have no idea what was in the Greek cookies (which I had been given for free), but I do know that they were really nice, and that I ate far too many of them. I don't think it was the cookies that gave me my hangover this morning. I expect it was all the beer I had. For a while it was a little painful, but I managed to shake most of it off before I started to tidy up the place for Aleemah to visit. She brought along a DVD of the film "Made In Dagenham". I have to say it was a rather good film, better than some of Aleemah's offering, and in a way rather moving. On the way from the station with Aleemah we bumped in Patricia. I learned that instead of dealing with some foreign students in Catford, like I thought she would be doing last night, she was actually somewhere in London. So I guess I can forgive her for not turning up in the Catford Ram. It was such a good night that if she had turned up it would only have added a few percentage points to my total enjoyment, but I am still slightly saddened that she has yet to experience what make me feel so good, and is missing out on something that potentially she could enjoy just as much. |
| Tuesday 12th April 2011 |
| 07:45 BST Most of yesterday was bright and sunny, but it all started to change around 3pm. A lot of cloud bubbled up, and an hour later it was looking a bit grim as I made my way home from work. At 6pm it started to rain. It was not very heavy, and didn't last long, but it was enough to get Smudge (who has now decided she is an outdoor cat) quite damp. Before the sun set the clouds started to break up again, and there was a brief bit of weak sunshine before the sun sunk below the horizon. The sky was mostly clear first thing this morning, and that combined with a cruel wind means that it feels remarkably cold this morning. The temperature must have been little more than 5 or 6° C as I came into work this morning. I wore a long sleeve shirt and my very lightweight jacket and still felt cold ! It seems that temperatures are returning to something more like their seasonal average. The best we can hope for this afternoon is forecast to be as little as 14° C. Later in the week the temperature is supposed to pick up a bit, but it feels like it will be a few more weeks before we see lovely days like last weekend back again. It may be the cold, or it maybe the lingering effects of overdoing the booze on Sunday, but I don't feel that wonderful this morning. I think in an ideal world I would have stayed in bed until the day had warmed up a bit more. I think I ate well last night, but maybe I ate too well. My dinner was a huge pile of salad. I had a plate piled high with salad leaves, tomatoes, other assorted vegetables, plus some potato salad and beetroot salad. I doused that lot with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. In truth I could have just eaten that, but on top of that I piled some mixed seafood. For an extra snack (or maybe it was "pudding") I used some fingers of cucumber to scoop up some rather tasty red onion flavoured humous. Just 5 days ago (the 7th April) I put up a picture of some blossom about to open on an apple tree. Yesterday I went back to the same tree, and it is now in full blossom.  I think I have taken a picture of the same branch, but as spring works it's magic, the background foliage is now much denser.  The picture above was also
taken yesterday. I was a bit surprised to see a full seed head, almost
ready to blow away, on this dandelion on the banks of the River Wandle.
Before yesterday I would have said that it was a mid summer sort of
thing, but evidently this dandelion couldn't wait for summer to spread
it's seeds.
|
| Saturday 9th April 2011 |
| 20:33 BST It is difficult to say whether yesterday was better than today. Both days have been warm and sunny. If I had one complaint to make it would be that the wind felt rather cool, but that was only probably because of where I've been today - by the sea. This morning, after much deliberation as to my destination, I set out to go to Pevensey And Westham, and then walk to Normans Bay. Getting to Pevensey And Westham means taking a train to Sevenoaks, and changing there for a train to St. Leonards Warrior Square (near Hastings). Then changing trains once again to finally get to Pevensey And Westham. It is a long journey that takes around two and a half miles, and of course the same comimh home again. I am not entirely sure it was actually worth it. The beach along that entire bit of coast is just shingle that is very tiring to walk on. So much of my walk was actually a little way from the sea along the roads. The entire walk was 4.83 miles, and I doubt that I walked more than a few hundred yards actually on the beach. The first part of the walk was inland as I crossed fields to get from the station to the sea. Along the way I took in some of the sights. There is a ruined castle at Pevensey, and that was interesting for a quick glance. (I may put up a few photos of it later when I find time to edit all my photos). I passed by some livestock as I walked across the fields. First it was some bullocks, and then a field of sheep with their lambs.  A
bit further along and I came across some peacock butterflies. One
stayed still long enough for an awkwardly angled photo.
 Finally I found the sea.
 Pictured
above is Pevesey Bay with it's rotten shingle beach, and a group of
people sheltering from the strong onshore wind.
After trying to walk on that
shingle for a little way I gave up and went back to the coast road. For
most of the way the sea was out of sight. So occasionally I would
follow a short path between the houses and just have another quick
look. Walking inland was not always that exciting, but sometimes the
scenery was quite good, and on one occasion I saw something most weird !
 Someone had decorated some sort of shrub with brightly coloured feathers. Although I had ony walked 4.83
miles I thought I had walked enough for one day. The walk took me to
Normans Bay station, and from there I could commence my long, arduous
journey back to Catford. My timing was very fortunate because I only
had to wait five minutes for the train back to St. Leornards Warrior
Square. I then had a 10 minute wait for a train back to Sevenoaks, or
at least I thought I had. So I nipped across the road and quickly
glugged back a half pint of beer. In fact I could have drunk a whole
pint because my train was delayed.
My train actually left about 15 minutes late, and then travelled quite slowly. It arrived at Sevenoaks over twenty minutes late. This was both good and bad. It saved me from a long wait at Seveoaks, which was good, but did not allow me enough time to smoke a cigarette outside the station, which was bad. By the time I arrived back in Catford I was gasping for a fag. I was also feeling a bit thirsty. So it was lucky that on the way back I had arranged to meet Kevin in the pub for a quick two pints. After those two pints it was a relief to get back home for some breakfast and dinner ( as usual I went out without eating a thing). I must admit that I am feeling rather tired now, and I am looking forward to my bed, but I have one other task to do before I go to bed. I think I am going out again tomorrow, and need to do a little planning before hand. If all goes to plan I will be heading out to Tonbridge Wells with Kevin to take a ride on the recently extended Spa Valley Railway. I am not exactly sure where I'll find the energy for it considering how knackered I feel right now, but hopefully I'll be fresh again in the morning, and hopefully me feet will be feeling fresh too. From time to time they have felt a little sore, but probably a lot les than I imagined they might be. The only other problem is that I think I have a bit of sunburn. My arms feel a little tingly right now, but I don't think it is bad enough to affect my sleep. |
| Friday 8th April 2011 |
| 07:45 BST I have to confess that coming to work in a short sleeved shirt and no coat may have been pushing things a bit, but it wasn't that bad. The reason is that another day of warm sunshine yesterday has started to drive out the cold of winter, and to warm the world up. It was helped by some overnight cloud that kept some of the heat in. So this morning has started out the closest to slightly warm that we have experienced since last autumn. Today is not forecast to be quite so warm as yesterday, and indeed may be a degree cooler, but that is still rather good. Yesterday afternoon I came very close to turning on the air conditioning in my room at work. Another thing that is rather good is that the warmth should continue into the weekend. Saturday is forecast to be sunny with temperatures of around 18° C. That's a couple of degrees cooler than yesterday's best, but still warmer than last Saturday. Sunday is supposed to get cloudy, but in compensation the temperature may hit 20° C. This morning is another morning when I feel rather good. Feeding my body with sunshine contributes to that, but I also managed to eat fairly well last night. My principle meal was mixed fish with cabbage and leek "stew". In theory I should have had it as it was, but I spoiled the goodness while enhancing the flavour by sprinkling some crumbled Welsh "Y Fenni" cheese on it. Cheese is, of course, totally evil stuff, but it is oh so nice, and Y Fenni cheese is extra nice. It's basically cheddar cheese with mustard seed and ale in it. It goes particularly well with smoked foods (and some of my mixed fish was smoked fish). As well as spoiling the healthfullness of my dinner with cheese, I also had some rice cakes with smoked ham pate on them. I didn't even dare look at the ingredients of that, but I am sure it was something best avoided. It was very tasty though.... While I can't seem to get myself into the semi starvation mode I would like to be in, I do seem to feel my half baked efforts are having some sort of useful effect. It is even slightly possible that my blood pressure, and blood sugar levels are returning closer to what doctors declare to be normal than at any time since the end of last summer. Tonight comes a troublesome time. I need to do a bit of shopping on the way home from work. There is always the temptation to buy what I want rather than what I need. The last time I was in Tesco I actually managed to err on the side of caution (mostly !). If I manage that tonight, and then save the less cautious purchases for later, I could be feeling rather good for a long walk tomorrow. There could be the added bonus of Patricia joining me on the walk - although thinking that may be just a little too optimistic. |
| Monday 4th April 2011 |
| 08:03 BST The whole weekend had rather good weather, but I think Saturday was better than yesterday. Most of the sunshine was in the morning yesterday, but there was some in the afternoon. I think it was also cooler. This morning started off grey and misty, but the sun seems to have burnt all that off already. There is now blue sky and sunshine, but for the moment it feels rather chilly outside. Apparently it is not due to get that warm today, and it is supposed to get cloudy again. Much of the week is forecast to be cloudy, but here in the south east of the country it should stay dry, and later in the week there could be a few very warm days. I had a nice time yesterday with only one minor complaint. That complaint was that my feet, mainly the left one, were still rather sore after my walk on Saturday. It wasn't bad enough to stop me rushing around in the morning. After a long time just sitting dormant, I have decided to start using my Tesco "Instant Access Savings" account again. My last card expired a couple of years ago, but I knew my account was still open with its £5.99 in it because I recently had a statement through to that affect. I am reviving the account so I can close down my Nationwide savings account and move the money to Tesco. If Nationwide can close their Catford branch I don't see why I shouldn't close my account ! I phoned up Tesco (Bank) to explain all this and asked them if they could send me a new bank card. This they did, but they decided, for some reason that bankers can't explain, to give my card a new number (though the underlying sort cord and account number remain the same). I had some suspicions about this, but still went charging round to a cash machine to try the card out.......It was rejected with Incorrect PIN displayed. Those silly bankers (and for those with a cruder mind feel free to substitute a W for a B) couldn't keep any continuity going, and now I have had to go through the procedure to "activate" a new card. Maybe next weekend I will finally be able to get some cash moving into my new account - if the postmen really pull their fingers out and deliver everything in double time ! After rushing to the cash machine, then rushing to the post box, and then rushing to the corner shop I decided that what I really needed was a more sedate walk in the nice sunshine, and a pint of beer. Wetherspoon's have their spring beer festival running at the moment and I was able to sample a pint of a very hoppy American ale. I found the initial kick from the hops to be a bit strong, but by about half way through the pint I warmed to the flavour. Unfortunately my second pint, brewed in Sweden, initially tasted really wishy washy after that American brew. Once again, as I drank more of it my taste buds recovered, and I found it was really rather pleasant. After just the two pints I went home again to watch a rather good film. It was the sci fi comedy "Paul". I must say it was a very funny film with lots of little humourous references to other sci fi stuff (and probably even more that I didn't catch). After watching that I had a lie down and did some reading before getting some food together. When I look back, if I remember correctly, the amount I ate yesterday was broadly similar to the excess amount I am tending to eat on a weekday after work. For a Sunday, when the kitchen is usually only a few paces away, that was not bad. The odd thing is that I didn't plan it that way. It can only be the result of my walk in the sun, and by the sea, waking up my body to spring time after a cold dark winter. If so then I may be able to look forward to better health, and the capability for much longer walks in the not too distant future (maybe August 2213 AD !). Right now my back feels stiff going on sore, but everything else seems in pretty good order. Even my feet seem to have substantially, but not completely, recovered :-) |
| Sunday
3rd April 2011 |
| 05:47 BST Yesterday was a rather lovely day. It was warmer and sunnier than the weather forecasts suggested it would be. Today may be very similar until very late in the afternoon when it will cloud over, and eventually pour with rain. Within an hour, perhaps a bit longer, after writing yesterday I made a firm decision that I had to get out and enjoy some of the susnhine. I decided to go for the easy option and take a walk along the coast, and further decided on the easy option for travelling and headed towards Southend. Despite living not too far away from the borders of Kent it is far quicker to cross part of London and get to Essex than it is to get to the other side of Kent. I had some crazy notion that I might have been able to walk 6 or 7 miles, and bought a return ticket to Thorpe Bay. The idea was to get off the train at Leigh On Sea, and then walk all the way to Thorp Bay where I would get the train back to London again. Starting at Leigh On Sea was a good idea. I hadn't visited there before, but walking all the way to Thorpe Bay was not a good idea. Leigh On Sea is rather quaint and picturesque. There is a small beach there, but mostly it is about fishing, and the small high street has lots of fish shops and resturants along it's narrow road. I should have taken some pictures of the shops, but didn't this time. I did take some other pictures though.  The first picture is of
some assorted boats on the mud flats almost outside the station. In
retrospect it seems odd that the mud flats were not under water. I was
sure it was close to high tide.
 I found several sci fi
themed boats during my walk. Whether this one is named in honour of Blakes
7 spaceship The Liberator is probably something I'll never know.
 This boat was evidently
named after a sci fi comedy song !
 I thought I would be doing a bit more wildlife photography on my walk, but there was little to see except some Brent Geese.  The tide definitely seemed to be quite high after I had been walking for around 30 minutes. I have no idea just how high it gets, but there is very little beach left here near Chalkwell, and that sea wall is only a metre and a bit high.   When I had walked as far as the Southend "Cliff Lift" I had a choice to make. The last time I saw it I found it closed for major maintenace. This time it was open and running. I could have walked past it, and attempted to carry on to Thorpe Bay, or I could admit that my feet were getting too sore and take a ride in the lift. From the top of the lift, technically a funicular railway, it is only a short walk to Southend station. I opted to take a ride in the lift and go home a bit earlier. The ride is actually very unspectacular, but in the days before the more conventional lift was installed a little bit further on, it must have been a Godsend to anyone who wanted to go back to the railway station from sea level.  From the top of the cliff
there is a good view out across the estuary. In the picture above the
Kent coast, technically nearer home, but more tedious to get to, is in
the background beyond the end of Southend Pier.
It took very little more than 90 minutes to get back to Catford from Southend. It's about 45 minutes to Limehouse by national rail. Then 20 minutes on the Docklands Light Railway to Lewisham, and then 10 minutes on the bus to Catford. Unlike the tedious journey through Kent, to get to the coast there, I was able to light up a cigarette at each change of transport. It makes for a far more pleasant, and less stressfull journey. Back in Catford my feet still felt very sore, but I gritted my teeth and did some shopping. I went into Peacocks and bought 4 new t-shirts. I hardly need them except these are subtly different to the usual ones I buy. They have a few (false) buttons on the neck in the style of what were once called "grandad shirts". Sometime later in the year I want to make a lurid tie dye shirt for a particular gig I am going to. So I bought a couple of white "grandad shirts" for a more authentic 1960s look. The other two were a black and a dark grey shirt. After Peacocks I went and had a rummage around the 99p shop. Sadly they seem to have run out of jars of a very nice chilli sauce they had in recently, but I found other stuff to buy. It included a new line for the shop - 99p sandwiches. As I later found out they were what I expected for 99p. Not bad, but not good either. When I got home I felt exhausted. After getting my boots off, and changing my clothes, I was able to have a nice sit down and eat my sandwiches. The 99p cheese and onion was fairly conventional, but the 99p ploughmans was seriously lacking in the salad that you might expect from a ploughmans sandwich. It was reasonably tasty though. I had a very lazy time for the rest of the day. Mostly I did some reading, but I also caught the last hour of a really great film on TV. That film was "Galaxy Quest". I own a copy of it and have watched it several times, but I just had to watch it on TV. If you like Star Trek, but not too much to see the funny side of it, then Galaxy Quest just has to be seen ! |