What I did and thought in the month of February 2012

My Diary/Blog For the Month of February 2012

Wednesday 29th Febuary 2012

08:09 GMT

To my, and possibly everyone else's surprise, the sun came out yesterday afternoon. With little wind, and a temperature of around 14° C, it felt rather good as I made my way home from work. During the evening the cloud returned and trapped some of the heat giving a mild night. This morning it is almost 12° C, and with luck the temperature will rise a few degrees during the day. Currently the sky is milky white from horizon to horizon. Maybe some blue bits will appear later on, but the forecast suggests that it will be like this all day.

I didn't feel nearly as miserable at work yesterday then I did the day before. The sunny afternoon helped a lot in that respect, but there were other factors as well. The slightly higher temperature meant that my right elbow that had been aching the day before was OK yesterday, and I also wasn't sufferig from an intermittent headache either. The most surprising thing was that I didn't feel overly tired like I had the previous day. By the time I was half way home from work I was feeling quite good.

On my way home I stopped off at Tesco to buy the cat litter I needed, and I bought some food - but not much of it. I bought some hot chicken that Smudge ate a fair portion of, and a pre-made side salad that Smudge was unsurprisingly not interested in. There was other stuff I ate that I really shouldn't have, but once I had my fill, and the TV news had finished at 7pm, I slowly made my way to bed. Once again I was in bed very early mainly to do some reading, and once again I got carried away and read until gone 9pm.

Ideally I should have been asleep much earlier to catch up with some of my recent lost sleep. Having got to sleep I slept far better than the two previous nights. I slept almost non stop until 4am when I just had to go to the toilet. It was the start of a sequence that ended up with calling in sick at work. This morning I have an upset stomach. I think I am almost empty now, but my stomach still feels a bit tender, and I'll be taking it easy, and not straying too far from the toilet for a couple more hiurs yet. Later on I expect I'll be feeling fine, and I may get a bit more adventurous.

I'm not sure what has caused this stomach upset. It wasn't the stuff I shouldn't have eaten last night. That was just stuff with more calories in than ideal. Maybe it was the chicken, or maybe something else. The something else is quite likely. Though what that something else actually is, is currently a mystery. Maybe feeling lousy the day before yesterday, and an odd feeling in my stomach yesterday was all part of the same bug that has manifested itself in a most physical form this morning.

I guess I ought to be careful how I eat today so I have no troubles tomorrow morning. To some extent I will, but there is likely to be an opportunity for a pint or two of beer early this evening, and drinking beer may not be the wisest thing to. Nevertheless, if the opportunity presents itself I'll be taking it ! Meanwhile I think I'll do some more reading, and quite possibly doze off and get a bit of spare sleep in.

Tuesday 28th Febuary 2012

07:54 GMT

Yesterday had nothing going for it at all. It was dull, and just the wrong side of cool to be comfortable. I fear today will be very similar. All the thick soul crushing clouds kept the temperature up to 11° C when I left for work today, and by this afternoon the temperature might hit 14° C. That is, or should be a comfortable temperature, but a lot depends on the wind, and even more by how I am feeling at the time.

It is now obvious that I did let the sunshine go to my head at the end of last week. A combination of grey skies, a few minor irritations at work, plus a whole load of boredom at work left me feeling very cheesed off. I couldn't even raise the enthusiasm to even think of some scheme that would end up with a written disciplinary warning. The last time I was disciplined it was good fun (though perhaps not for the man who had to do it), and made being at work worthwhile. I guess I must be really depressed to not even be able to raise the enthusiasm to get myself sacked.

I felt happier when I got home from work, but also completely fatigued. After watching the 6pm news on TV I turned off the TV and went up to my bedroom. By 7.15pm I had brushed my teeth and was in bed. I didn't intend to sleep straight away, but to do some reading. Such was the escapism of submerging myself in the book that it was a little after 9pm before I turned out the light and went to sleep.

On the whole I slept reasonably well until I woke up at 3am. From then on I hardly got any more sleep. I fear I may end up very tired again at the end of work today. As far as I know there is nothing happening today that will make my day at work any more interesting than it was yesterday. Hopefully there will be no irritations today, but even so it is most likely to be another tedious day where I have to work hard just to think of things to do to make it look like I am busy.

The one single thing that I know of that I can look forward to today is to do some shopping in Tesco on my way home from work. Since this morning, when I had barely enough cat litter to cover Smudge's morning deposit, I desperately need some more cat litter. I will also try and choose something nice for dinner tonight. In the mood I am likely to be in it will inevitably be something that will not help me when I next do some leisure walking. Stress puts me in a carnivorous mood, and I'll probably end up buying a lot of Tesco hot chicken instead of a salad.

Monday 27th Febuary 2012

08:08 GMT

The top temperature yesterday was about 11.3° C by my reckoning. Until late afternoon it remained sunny, but then it slowly got cloudier and cloudier. Some puddles on the ground suggest there was some rain during the night, but there is no rain now, and none is forecast for today. However it is very overcast this morning, and it looks as if it could rain again. It was 8° C when I left for work this morning, but felt colder than that for some reason. Like yesterday, the high today should be in the region of 11° C.

11° C is not a bad temperature. It seems to be about the point when it stops feeling chilly, and merely becomes not warm. With the sun pouring through my bedroom and living room windows I needed very little heating to remain comfortable. In fact I don't think I had any heating on at all in my bedroom. A few more degrees may have helped to dry the duvet cover I washed yesterday a bit faster, but it was merely damp when I brought it in and put it in front of the fan heater (set on low). This morning it is bone dry. It would be very handy if next weekend, when I am likely to tackle another duvet cover, was even warmer so it can dry completely while outside.

The recent sunny days have most certainly warped my brain. I mentioned yesterday that I had gather up some old magazines and thrown them out. Yesterday afternoon I went much further. I threw out an old Philips VCR that was probably a collectors item, and that left enough space to allow me to go forward with a plan that I started a year or two ago.

I can't remember exactly when it was, but some time back I moved from the back bedroom to the bigger front bedroom. Previously the front bedroom was used as a pirate radio studio, but that became redundant at the end of last century. One thing I have been meaning to do since that move was to transfer a small chest of drawers from my old to my new bedroom. Yesterday I finally did it. Now I finally have my collection of underpants and socks all in one room.

The only trouble now is that they won't all fit in the drawer. I seem to have an awful lot of socks and underpants. Diferent times of year, and different types of shoe demand different types of socks, but I am sure that I have socks that I never use, and these I ought to throw out. The trouble is I hate throwing away perfectly serviceable stuff. Maybe it will be easier when I sort out my underpants, but even then it will be complicated. As my anatomy waxes and wains through the seasons I find I have favourite types of underpants, and when I say types I don't mean styles.

The same basic style from two different manufacturers can fit my body in completely different ways. I am always amazed at just how different some clothing of allegedly the same size can be. For instance shirts made for Asda are designed for men with impossibly small waists and gigantic shoulders. Shirts with the same size marked on them available from Tesco seem to be for men with avaerage shoulders and big beer guts. The same is true for underpants. Size XL can mean room to swing a cat, or the family jewels being cut in two every time you move ! One of my future jobs now is to try and sort out the comfortable from the emasculating underpants, and throw the latter away. One day I'll be able to get all my socks and underwear in the same drawer instead a full drawer and two small piles on top of the chest of drawers !

I wonder if I'll get the urge to do advanced housework type stuff tonight, or if I'll just be lazy until I go to bed very early and read for an hour or so ? Unless the sun comes out today I think I'll be lazy. The same could be true of most evenings this week, but hopefully on one evening I'll finally get a beer in after a fortnight of partial abstinence.

Sunday 26th Febuary 2012

11:47 GMT

Yesterday was a far better day then the forecast suggested it might be. The cloud that was supposed to bring some rain disappeared, and the rest of the day was bright and sunny. It did remain rather cool though. This morning there was almost a frost, but the sun is shining in a fairly clear sky, and the temperature is now up to 8.6° C. With luck we can squeeze another degree or two in before the end of the day.

One of the good things about yesterday, and I am counting on it again today, is that it is good for drying clothes and stuff. Yesterday I washed another sheet, more pillow cases, and a couple of t-shirts. I left them outside on a couple of clothes horses for 2 or 3 hours before bringing them in once the sun went down. By this morning, apart from a tiny spot on one of the t-shirts, they were fully dry.

This morning I have tackled one of the bigger problems - I've hand washed a duvet cover. It did need a fair bit of wrestling, and the use of two bowls in the bath to wash it, but it seems to have worked. It's now outside on the two clothes horses, and with luck it will be mostly dry before the sun starts to go down. Now I am keeping my fingers crossed that a bird doesn't decide to drop something on it, or a cat decide to leap off the fence into the middle of it ! I am now just two duvet covers away from doing my entire backlog of laundry. It would be easier if my washing machine was working, but in a strange way I find doing laundry by hand is quite satisfying.

I came very close to eating healthily yesterday. That's all the more surprising considering I went to the supermarket in the morning. Maybe it comes from the satisfaction of doing my coastal walk on Friday, or maybe it's all the sunshine. It's probably a combination of both, but the sunshine may be the more significant thing. For lunch yesterday I had roast salmon with peas. I did spoil things a bit by pouring on some chilli mayonaise, but I didn't go too mad with it. For dinner I was forced to have some "southern fried" (but cooked in the oven) chicken wings. I intended to have them a few days earlier, and had taken them out of the freezer to make some room in there, and left them slowly defrosting in the bottom of the fridge. They weren't that greasy, and I may have got away with it if I hadn't also eaten half a dozen custard cream biscuits.

The sunshine is doing strange things to me. It's making me want to be unnaturally clean and tidy. This morning, while I was still only dressed in t-shirt and underpants, I decided to gather up and throw out some old magazines and other junk (I did put some trousers on when I took it all out to the wheelie bin !). I've got a feeling that before the day is out I may have done some other housework, although one tidying session and one hand washing of a duvet cover should be enough for anyone in one day !

Saturday 25th Febuary 2012

07:25 GMT

Thursday was a brilliant day. The sun shone all day, and by the afternoon it was definitely warm with the temperature around 17 or 18° C. Yesterday wasn't quite as good, but it came very close. There was a lot of cloud during the morning that stopped the sun shining, and presented a slight greyness to the day. From midday the cloud started to thin, and by mid afternoon the sky was 75% blue, and the sun felt very warm. During the night the cloud came back, and this morning it is rather murky outside. Currently the temperature is 9.6° C and we will be lucky if it gets more than a few degrees higher during the day. At some point today rain is expected. I think it is likely to be long drawn out drizzle rather than a downpour.

The idea of taking Thursday off work was to go out in the bright warm sunshine. If a walk to the 99p shop, and a slightly later walk to Tesco counts then I achieved my plan ! Maybe I was tired or something, but I just couldn't get my act together to go for a country ramble as I had intended. Instead I spent my time doing other stuff. Apart from the two shopping trips I also washed a couple of bed sheets, and I did some reading and TV watching. On the whole it was very pleasant, but I still felt a bit of guilt from not using a rare warm and sunny day for something better.

Yesterday I decided I had to make up for that guilt by going out when it was lightly overcast, and not really warm. I decided I wanted to see the sea, and the nearest bit of sea I can get to is Sheerness On Sea - though technically it's actually still in The Thames estuary. It takes nearly two hours to get there from Catford. I think getting to Southend is quicker even though it means going into central London to get there. I went to Southend with Ruby late last year, and so I chose Sheerness for my first walk of the year.

One of the good things about Sheerness is that it is all on the level. I am so out of condition after a winter of inactivity, and of eating far too much, that I am not ready to tackle any hilly terrain just yet. I walked just under four and a half miles, and to my surprise I found that all but the last half mile was quite easy going. Just as my walk was coming to an end I was getting some nasty pains in my right thigh muscles. Once I stopped walking those pains quickly eased, and after a long sit down on the trains home my legs merely felt stiff (and my feet were a little sore).

In the plot of the route I took it says I only walked 4.32 miles. That doesn't include getting from home to Sheerness-On-Sea station and back, nor does it include the short walk back from the station to a pub in the town after I got to the station to see a train just pulling out. The service from Sheerness is only every thirty minutes at the times I was travelling (maybe more frequent in the rush hour), and I had half an hour to kill before my next train.

Nothing much has changed in Sheerness since my last visit a year or two ago. To make a change I turned left instead of right when I arrived at the beach. There is broad strip of concrete on top of the sea defences that goes all the way until it meets the perimeter of the port of Sheerness which is off limits to the public.

As can be seen in the photo above, no persons are allowed past this point, and that includes the rocks. Why the rocks should want to pass this point remains a mystery !

Adjacent to the port, and also off limits to the public (though there is a big hole in the fence) are these old military buildings. The area is known as Garrison Point, and the first defensive installations there were built in the time of King Henry VIII to keep the French out. I can't find out much about these buildings but they look as if they were built during WW1, and added to in WW2.

Southend in the distance across the estuary

Looking out to sea, across the estuary, lies Southend. I needed full zoom on my camera for this shot. The high rise blocks are very obvious, but Southend pier is lost in the low sea mist (either that or I was not looking in exactly the right direction !).

Just like last time I visited Sheerness it was high tide. That meant no chance of exploring the beach, and no chance of having a paddle - not that I wanted to paddle in what I assumed to be icy cold water ! The little jetty I took this picture from was constantly being lapped with water. At low tide the end of it would have been high and dry, and the waters edge would have probably been several hundred yards out to the left of the above picture.

I can't remember if I took a picture of this old pub the last time I went to Sheerness. The company who once owned it, Flint & Co of Canterbury, ceased brewing in 1927, and completely ceased trading in 1959. I can't find out when it was last used as a pub, but it is currently used as residential premises.

Community support policeman patrols the shore

Oh no ! I took a picture of a PCSO (police community support officer). I'll surely be arrested as a terrorist now !

The interesting thing in this picture is not the ship in the background, but the mast sticking up from below the water. I think, but I am not 100% sure, that this is all that can be seen of the SS Richard Montgomery. Sitting on the sea floor now, it was a US "Liberty Ship" carrying 1400 tons of explosives that ran aground here. The explosives are still down there, and if for some reason they decide to explode it will take half of the Isle Of Sheppy with it, and a tidal wave will give Southend On Sea a really good soaking. So no problem there then !

Just a gratuitious picture taken looking back towards the north west showing how wonderfully blue the sky was.

As I was walking back to the station a small flock of birds landed the waters edge. This is the best picture I could get of three of them. I think they are turnstones in their winter plumage.

It was good to be out, and also good to get home again yesterday. I felt raveneously hungry as I got off the train in Catford. As usual when I go out on days like these I start the day on an empty stomach. So I headed to the fried chicken shop to get some very, very late breakfast. I could have eaten all they had available, but managed to restict myself to some chicken wings, some spare ribs, and a small portion of fries. It wasn't that much of a restriction, but it was the best I could do. It was certainly a small enough meal that I felt hungry an hour or two later.

That was when I was really bad. I had a Tesco apple crumble in the fridge that I had bought the previous day because it was on the reduced price shelf (being on it's sell by date). That mistake certainly piled the calories on, and probably took my blood sugar level up to unwanted heights. Having bought it, it had to be eaten at some point, and maybe yesterday was one of the better days to do it.

I finally got to bed at around 10pm. It was one of those times when I felt too exhausted to find the energy to go to sleep. Of course that is just a myth because the next thing I knew I was waking up again in the small hours for the traditional middle of the night pee.

This morning my legs still feel a bit stiff. I was thinking that maybe I might go out for an inland walk today, but with it being rather dull outside with a good chance for rain, and my legs feeling so stiff, I probably won't be leaving Catford. Maybe I'll take a short stroll in the park, or maybe I'll just go to the supermarket. I'll probably have to do the latter anyway to get more cat food in.

Thursday 23rd Febuary 2012

09:27 GMT

The thing that spoiled yesterday was the wind. The air was not that cold, but the strong breeze during the morning made it feel far cooler than it was. Without the strong breeze the rain would have been mostly ignorable. The rain started around midday, a couple of hours earlier than forecast, and also finished earlier. Most of the time it was quite light, and was just about all over when I left work to go home.

This morning it looked like there had been some rain overnight. After a cloudy start there is now some sunshine, and the temperature is already up to 13.1° C. With luck it will reach 16 or more degrees by late afternoon. It does depend on the amount of sunshine we get. Although the sun is shining as I write this, there is still a lot of white cloud in the sky, and the sun could be obscured at any time.

It felt good to finish work for four days last night. I was hoping to go out and celebrate, but I don't like going to the pub on my own, and I couldn't be bothered to drink at home. Instead I celebrated with food. Just for a change I ordered a pizza. I haven't had any pizza for months, and possibly years. It was nice, but not exciting. That's probably why I don't have them very often !

Another thing I did that was different was to not turn off the TV until 7.30pm ! For the last month or two I have got into the habit of turning off the TV after the news has finished at 7pm. After that I usually go up to my room and do stuff on the computer (apart from one or two nights a week when I do some laundry). Last night I spent far too long looking at a web site about (funny) quotations. There is another page on the site devoted to computer stupidities, and reading through all that is there could take hours !

I finally turned out the light, and fell asleep soon after, at around 10pm. On the whole I slept well last night, and didn't get up until 6am. During the night I woke up once or twice, and on one of those occasions I woke from a dream that I did my best to remember. The dream was most probably inspired by an unusual event that took place while I was going to work yesterday. We had an extremely rare ticket inspection on the train. The dream did involve two ticket inspectors, but was otherwise quite bizzare involving themes that I can't recall dreaming about before.

The background to the dream was that someone had dug up some 18th century papers that showed that officially we were still at war with Spain. I was called up and ended up in the army, and we were sent off to fight this war. It was only a token gesture, and the real war was to be fought by paperwork. To go to war we were put on a train to Spain. Before the train started a ticket inspector came along and said that the train would not be moving until we had proper tickets, and left our guns behind. Our commanding officer rang the manager of SouthEastern trains on his mobile phone and got him to speak to the ticket inspector. The ticket inspector, being a total "jobsworth" only very grumpily agreed that the train should depart after the manager ordered him to let it.

It seemed like only a blink of the eye before we reached the border with Spain (quite how the train was routed from London to Spain is a mystery). At the border another ticket inspector got on the train, and on seeing us he just gave a Gallic shrug and walked away again. Another mystery is why the Spanish ticket inspector gave a Gallic shrug when he was obviously Spanish and not French ! I think we ended up in some sort of palace, but what might have happened there seems to have faded from my memory.

Today I am supposed to be going out to enjoy a bit of sunshine. So far I haven't made much progress in preparing for that. I am not even washed and dressed yet, and I still haven't decided where I'm going. What I have done is to hand wash 3 shirts, some underwear and sock, and 5 pillowcases. That left me feeling like sitting down for a bit, and I am writing this while doing that sitting down. The next step is to wash my hair and shower, put some clothes on, and make a decision about going out !

Wednesday 22nd Febuary 2012

07:47 GMT

It wasn't a bad day yesterday. I was hoping the temperature would reach 11° C, and in fact my thermometer said 11.2° C when I got home from work. Although it wasn't sunny all the time it did stay bright. This morning it was 9° C when I left to come to work, but that temperature was spoiled by a strong breeze. It doesn't like it will be very bright this morning, and this afternoon it will get so cloudy that light rain is forecast. With luck the temperature will rise a little higher than yesterday's 11.2° C.

All yesterday I had a continuation of the stomach upset that started on Monday. All yesterday morning, and then up to just past lunchtime I was passing wind at an Olympic level. Then I sort of exploded, and from then on the discomfort greatly diminished. This morning I thought it was starting all over again, but I think the problem has now passed (in both senses of the word). In fact I am counting on the problem being over if I am to go out for a ramble in the countryside tomorrow. One hint of discomfort is liable to keep me in, or at least local to home.

Bearing that in mind, I doubt I will be doing myself any favours if an earlier plan comes to fruition. It is possible, though by no means certain, that I'll be going out for a few, or more, beers tonight. It mostly hinges on getting a reply to a text message I sent yesterday. Apart from the two halves of beer I had with Aleemah last Saturday while she ate her breakfast in the pub, I've not had any beer for ages. It must be close on a fortnight ago that I had a few beers with Kevin, and with Chain not having played in any pubs I can get to for the last month, I've barely set foot inside a pub in the last month or so.

I am still undecided about where to go tomorrow. One possibility is to review a walk I have done several times now - Eynsford to Shoreham (Kent). Usually it is an easy walk, but maybe not in the condition I am currently in. Another option is from Kemsing station to Otford station. Last night I was checking the map, and it looks like it might be fairly easy going with no steep hills. There are some precipitiously steep hills in the area, but on this occasions I think I can avoid them if I should choose to do that walk. The other option I am considering is a walk along the sea from Sheerness on The Isle Of Sheppy. At least I know that doesn't have any long steep hills on the route (apart from a slight detour inland to The Playa pub that I visited the last time I did that walk).

Tuesday 21st Febuary 2012

07:56 GMT

Yesterday the sun shone brightly during the morning, but from around lunchtime it gradually dimmed as the sky became more and more hazy. It was a relatively mild day with temperatures ending up around 8 or 9° C. Overnight the temperature dropped, but didn't drop too far under a cloudy sky. It was about 6° C when I left for work today. By the end of today I am hoping we'll see the temperature up to 11° C (although more would be better).

Tomorrow is forecast to be wet, but after that things are definitely looking up. Thursday is forecast to be dry and bright with the temperature going up to 16° C. The day after that, Friday, could be interesting. Last Sunday the long term forecast was for the temperature to be about the same. More recently the BBC forecast suggested only 14° C with the possibility of a shower or two. It may be that the radio presenter I heard when in the shop near the station was getting too enthusiastic, but he suggested that London could see 20° C at the end of the week !

It's funny how a problem can turn around to be an opportunity. Last night I was feeling uncomfortable on my way home from work, and I got off the train at Clapham Junction station to use the toilets there. Knowing that the delay would mean I would probably miss my usual train at Waterloo East I decided to catch a train from platform 7. That is the platform where the "fast" outer London trains call at, and it also allows a view into the train depot. Inside the depot I saw a train that I had heard rumours about being there.

That train is VEP 3417 "Gordon Petitt" is, I think, the last electric slam door train certified to run on the mainline. It is currently owned by The Bluebelle Railway, but is being stored at Clapham Junction where it has other electric trains to keep it company. Another sight was this train.....

.....a Siemens Desiro class 444 train. This one is number 444001, and it was one of these rather nice trains (but not 444001) that I caught back to Waterloo. From Clapham Junction they run non stop at quite a fair speed to Waterloo.

I assumed, wrongly as it happened, that I had missed my usual train from Waterloo East, but that was no problem because I wanted to buy a new Network Railcard from the Waterloo mainline ticket office. Another wrong assumption was that the ticket office would be busy, and that I would have to queue for a long time - and that making out the railcard would take a long time. All this was based on my experience of when I bought one in February last year.

How wrong I was ! There was no queue at all, and the ticket clerk issued my new railcard in double quick time. I was then rather astonished when I checked the time and saw that it was 16:20 - 3 minutes before my usual train was due. It is possible, if you are feeling really fit, to race across the link between the stations in three minutes, but I wasn't feeling terribly fit, and I was still suffering from some trapped wind. So I took things at a more leisurely pace, and caught the 16:42 train. Which was what I had intended to do all along !

I have booked Thursday and Friday off work so I can take advantage of the (alleged) good weather we may, or may not, be getting. The general idea is that on one or both days I'll go out for a walk in the country, or if I am feeling exceptionally enthusiastic, a walk by the sea. To further this aim I had the notion that I should try and eat a bit more healthily last night. It was a good idea, but when push came to shove I found that I had an insatiable appetite. Maybe not quite that bad, but I did feel very hungry, and I ate more than would have been a good idea. Maybe I'll do better tonight, but I have an open pack of sausages to use up, and although it won't be quite the sausage feast I had on Sunday, those sausages will probably be the core of a far bigger meal than is ideal. Oh well, there is always tomorrow night !

Monday 20th Febuary 2012

08:14 GMT

The clear sky allowed the temperature to drop quite fast last night, but it didn't drop as low as I thought it might. When I woke up this morning my thermometer was only registering -0.2° C. At ground level it would have been a bit lower, and there was a sparkling frost this morning. The sky remains clear, and the sun is shining brightly. By the time I go home from work I am hoping it will have edged the temperature up to 9° C as the weather forecast predicts.

There could be many reasons for it, but last night Smudge was in a particularly relaxed mood.

Smudge doesn't usually get so relaxed when on me. Usually she will remain standing up, but last night she settled down with her rear on my leg, and her front half on my other leg and ankle. Of course there is always the possibility that it was a revenge position after I ran out of milk to give her. Every so often she would clench her paws, and a load of needle sharp claws would attempt to pierce my ankle !

From one slightly fuzzy photo to another.

When I left for work this morning it was still 45 minutes away from sunrise, and yet in the eastern sky there was a strong glow in the clear sky. It was really rather cheering. In the 7 or 8 minutes it took to walk to the station, the glow spread further across the sky lighting up features that would stay hidden in the dark of night.

By the time my train reached New Cross station it was obvious that daylight was near even through the tinted windows of the train. As we neared London Bridge station I could see all the details of the buildings alongside the railway lines for the first morning since the start of winter. At London Bridge it was to all intents and purposes full daylight, and the sky was wonderfully blue.

It was tricky leaning out over the side of the platform at London Bridge, and I couldn't get my mobile phone camera out far enough to clear the overhanging edge of the latform canopy, but I took a picture of The Shard pointing up into the big blue sky.

Another first for today was being dazzled again by the sun as my train pulled into Earlsfield station. The sun was a good couple of degrees above the skyline, and at right angles to the railway. Unfortunately bushes obscure the view once the train has pulled into the platform, but just before then I was treated to a retina burning view straight intio the heart of the sun as I looked out the windows of the train doors.

Sunday 19th Febuary 2012

16:04 GMT

There was some nice sunshine on the first half of my journey home from work on Friday. With only a slight breeze it felt mild as well. Yesterday morning started off bright but soon clouded over. By midday it was raining. It was mostly light rain, and it stopped again after a couple of hours. From then on the temperature, which had been reasonable, started to drop. By 5am this morning it was down to 3° C. It's been a mostly bright day, and the temperature has now crept up to 5.5° C. That is still rather cool, but when the breeze drops, and when in direct sunlight, it doesn't feel too bad. There will probably be a frost tonight, but with a forecast sunny morning the temperature could rise to 8 or 9° C tomorrow.

Yesterday was one of those days where I must have been very busy because the day seemed to fly by, and yet I can't think what I did that kept me so busy. That's not quite correct because I did do some frantic housework in the moring before Aleemah came over to see me, and hung around for a few hours. It was really after she left that I can't think what I did that made the time go by so quickly.

Today I have a better idea where all the time has gone, but some of it is not so easy to explain. The easiest bits to explain are doing some hand laundry, and a shopping trip to Lidl. The latter was slightly disappointing. I like to check on what offers and stuff they have now and again. This time there was nothing that really interested me, but it was one of those occasions where I spent very little and paradoxically came away with quite a lot by volume. The bulk of that volume was a triple pack of kitchen towels, and a double pack of man sized tissues. Add to that 6 litres of Lidl own brand diet cola, and a pile of cat food, and it filled up my back pack and two shopping bags.

It's how I've spent the rest of the day that is hard to explain. I've been attempting to upgrade the ROM in my spare mobile phone, and that has involved a lot of experimenting, and a lot of just waiting for the computer, or phone to do stuff. Ultimately it hasn't done stuff ! It was easy enough installing a new de-branded ROM, and unlocking the phone, but I just can't seem to install an upgrade that should (I hope) correct a problem with using the onscreen keyboard (all the characters are shifted over by one). It's not fatal, but is annoying. As of this moment I've given up until a later time r date.

Last night I think I managed to get enough hours of sleep in, but it wasn't good sleep. I estimate I woke up nearly every two hours through the night. At 4am I got up and fed Smudge, and checked my emails etc. After maybe an hour, perhaps longer, I went back to bed and managed to sleep for another hour or two, but I had a terrible crick in my neck. Even now it is sore. I don't know if I just slept awkwardly, or what it could be, but it happens far more frequently than I like over the last month or so. Maybe it's one of those things that won't cure itself properly until we are well and truly into Spring. Tonight I think I'll see what a few decent sized measure of Scotch Whisky will do for my sleep.

Friday 17th Febuary 2012

08:01 GMT

It's rather odd that my outside thermometer showed 9.6° C when I got home yesterday. Odd because of that point six. The day before it was 10.6° C. It was almost mild yesterday - in the sense of not too uncomfortable to go outside without a coat on for a few minutes. Today will be very similar, but today I don't think I'll be so brave as to go out in my shirt sleeves. There is a reasonable possibility that there will be more sunshine than yesterday. I seem to recall some yesterday, but I mostly remember the sky being milky white. Tomorrow the weather goes downhill for a while. It is supposed to be a bit cooler, and it is almost certain to rain. If that is right then there is chance that the forecast for Sunday might be right too - lots of sun, but very cold again !

As I was walking towards work an idea popped into my head from out of nowhere. I got the notion that I wanted something I haven't had for ages for my dinner tonight - bangers and mash. It's a good idea with just one fatal flaw. One of the few things I did last night was to pre-cook a chicken stew ready to be reheated tonight. Maybe I will have bangers and mash on Saturday night instead, It would be more convenient that way because I haven't got any sausages or any means of making mashed potato until I buy some, and I plan to do some shopping tomorrow morning and not tonight.

Last night I picked up the latest edition of New Scientist magazine. Like the night before, I couldn't face with wrestling with the duvet cover that I will be hand washing. So I went to bed to read New Scientist. I think I was in bed by 7.30pm, and I stopped reading half an hour later. Minutes after that I was fast asleep. I woke up several times during the night, and it was either the first time, but maybe the second time, that I woke up from a fascinating dream. It was so good that I thought I must try and remember it. Unfortunately all I can remember is having the idea that I must remember the dream. The dream itself has evaporated like dew on a summers morning.

The third time I woke up, a little before 4am I think, I woke up from a dream that I can remember some bits of. In fact I think I can remember some bits from two dream. They both have an unusual common thread. In one I was walking along a road with no idea where I was. It's hard to define what sort of road it was because on either side of it were random fields, factories, houses, and shops. One odd feature was that the road was crossed by three disused railway lines. All three had the remains of stations visible. In the distance there was another railway line, but this one was in use. I didn't seem to worry about not knowing where I was, but I was annoyed that I couldn't think of a town that used to have three railway stations in it. One clue was the distant working railway line. I saw a two car train running on it, and that had a sort of northern feeling to it.

Perhaps at some point I have read, or heard of some town that had three railway lines crossing it's high street, but it's equally possible that it was just my fantasy. The next dream carried the same thread of not knowing where I was. It started with me being at work in an unknown building, in an unknown part of London (or it's outskirts). My work, and the environment was a sort of mixed up hybrid of everything I've done in my life. At home time I had no idea how to get home, or where the nearest station was.

I walked down a long road that started off having factories and lorry parks either side, and almost instantly changed into having big department stores either side. It then opened out onto a riverside setting. Next to the river I found a station that was like a tube station, but apparently run by Network Rail. I descended several flights of stairs to find a single platform which seemed to be at ground level again. This station didn't seem to have a name, and a large map along part of the platform didn't seem to have any recognisable names on it either. It was almost as if I couldn't read the words, but I did partly recognise the pattern of the lines, and thought that I may be able to get a train to a station whose name I can't remember now, but it would have been something like Earls Court, or one of the other big tube interchanges. It was about then that I woke up.

It is possible that pictures of the sun rise over Earlsfield Cemetary are getting boring now, but here's the best one so far !

This morning there was a clear bit of sky on the horizon just as the sun was popping it's head above the skyline. (Skyline is probably a better word than horizon because there are few places in London where you can see the true horizon). I probably took a bit of chance pointing the camera directly at the sun. Had the sun been higher, and far more fierce, it could have damaged the image sensor, but the next picture turned out OK.

The morning sun lighting the tops of the high buildings

Looking from the other end of the temporary footbridge on Earlsfield station there is a nice view of the lighting up the top of the higher building with a golden glow. The view above is almost due north, and towards Wandsworth Bridge.

View Larger Map

Thursday 16th Febuary 2012

07:59 GMT

I measured 10.6° C outside when I arrived home from work yesterday. That is pretty close to the 11° C forecast, and if it hadn't been so breezy it might have even felt close to warm(ish). Today there is hardly any breeze, and the temperature should rise to 9 or 10° C. That should feel fairly fine, but it could be spoiled by a small chance of some showers. There is a lot more cloud this morning. So there was no obvious sunrise. The sky just went from black to grey to slightly lighter grey. Occasionally the cloud does seem to break up, and if it gets it's timing right we might just see a bit of sunshine sometime today.

I felt tired when I got home from work last night, and I couldn't find the will to attempt to hand wash the duvet cover to go with the sheet and pillow cases I washed the other night. Maybe I'll have a go at it tonight, but I fear I will be feeling tired again. I did get to sleep nice and early last night, and I slept soundly until a certain pussy cat decided that it was time for her breakfast. She let me know in no uncertain terms by loudly scratching at my bedroom door. The poor thing was starving ! Last night she assumed she was going to have chicken, and only picked at the cat food I put down for her. So at 3.45 this morning I was putting out fresh food for her.

I never really got back to sleep again after that rude awakening. So another day comes to pass where I have to get by on only 6 hours sleep. That ought to be enough really, and in summer I probably would not be too worried about it, but during the winter I choose to fret about it ! Maybe I should be really grumpy today. That's nice in principal, but it does take far more energy to be grumpy than many believe. I think I'll just resort to falling asleep while reading on my PC - like I did at work yesterday

Wednesday 15th Febuary 2012

08:01 GMT

The sun did it's best to shine yesterday, but all it managed was to make a yellow patch in the milky white clouds. I did see some blue patches of sky, so someone, somewhere would have seen the sun, but not where I was. I think the temperature rose to about 8° C, but there was a cooling breeze a lot of the time, and it still felt chilly outside. I expect better things for today. It was 7° C when I left to come to work, and there was less breeze to cool things off. While I waited for my train at Catford Bridge there was a light sprinkling of rain, but it was almost of no significance. The cloud is fairly broken right now, and that means there could be some sunshine. If there is it will raise the temperature to a respecatble 11° C - or so it is forecast.

I was quite surprised, and rather happy to see some faint light on the eastern horizon when I came out my front door. It's a sign that the seasons are still moving on, and it can't be long before I'll be walking to the station in daylight. Sunrise was at 7.15am this morning, and at that time I was on the train near Vauxhall. When I reached Earlsfield station I was greeted with a nice sight.

Sunrise over Earlsfield cemetary taken from Earlsfield station footbridge

The sun was lighting up the eastern sky brightly as it was just about to pop it's head over the horizon. To the eye the scene was far more vivid than my mobile phone camera seems to have been able to capture.

Last night I called in to to Tesco to pick up a couple of things on my way home from work. What I particularly wanted was some Whiskas cat milk, but they had run out of it. It was only recently that I started buying it for Smudge while she was going through a perion of being off her food. She has taken a strong liking to it, and that is both good and bad. It's good because older cats need to drink a lot to stop them getting kidney problems. She always has fresh water, but only occasionally sips at it. On the other hand she will lap up a complete saucerful of cat milk.

The bad bit is that cat milk is very expensive compared to human milk (from cows !). The important difference is that cat milk is lactose free - or at least I think that is the important difference. Apparently lactose can give cats an upset stomach. Fortunately there is lactose free milk for humans as well. It is more expensive than ordinary milk, but a lot cheaper than cat milk. Fortunately Smudge still seems to like it. Maybe not as much as Whiskas cat milk, but it's OK.

Another thing I did last night was to make my first attempt at hand washing bed linen. The pillowcases were easy, and the bottom sheet less so, but still manageable. If I am feeling brave I may tackle the duver cover tonight. That is going to be a bit of a handful, and I doubt I'll be able to wring it out very effectively. I may have to hang it up over a bowl so it can drip itself towards dryness for a few hours before I put it on the clothes horse in front of the fire. Not having a working washing machine has it's disadvantages and difficulties, but I have yet to come to a hurdle that I can't cross in one way or another - and it's doing marvels for some of my underused arm muscles !

I should have slept well last night. I didn't turn off the light until a bit after 9pm, and I fell asleep quickly enough. Unfortunately I woke up at around 3am wwith agonising cramp in my right leg. I had to leap out of bed and walk around a bit to loosen up the cramping muscles. From then on I didn't sleep very well at all. I gave up trying to stay asleep at 4.30am, and at that time I felt really ill. With the aches and shiver it felt like the start of 'flu. A couple of Ibuprofen tablets and hot shower took care of most things, and now I don't feel too bad. On the other hand I don't feel too wondeful either. In an ideal world I would have gone back to bed again by 6am, slept through to 9am, got up, washed and dressed, pottered about a bit, and at midday be in the pub for a long drunken session of pure hedonism. Instead I am here at work again. There's no rest for the wicked !

Tuesday 14th Febuary 2012

07:50 GMT

The rain forecast for yesterday did happen, but there was a lot less of it than I imagined there might be. On the whole it was very light, and it was all over within an hour. Unfortunately it didn't brighten up, and the whole day was rather grey and drab. Things could be better today. The temperature this morning was 5° C when I woke up, but it had dropped to 4.7° C just before I left for work. Later on today, if the weather forecast is correct, there could be some sunshine around lunchtime, and the temperature could get as high as 8° C.

I didn't feel all that good yesterday, and much of it was due to feeling so cold. It took until lunchtime before my office had warmed up to a reasonable level of comfort. Although it was 6° C when I went home I still felt very chilly. Even the usually hot trains that run into Waterloo failed to get me feeling that hot on the way home. I felt better after getting some hot food inside of me. It did seem to be a good cure because I didn't feel cold for the rest of the night.

It was chilly when I got out of bed, but not desperately so, and I felt very comfortable after a hot shower. I felt a lot hotter later on. Yesterday my train from Catford Bridge felt like an ice box inside. This morning it was like an oven ! When I got off the train it was like that masochistic thing that Nordic types are prone to do - straight out of the sauna and into the snow ! Well, there was no snow, but I could feel everything contract as soon as I hit the cold air !

I managed to convince myself to go to bed early last night. By 8.30pm I had turned the light out, and it wasn't long before I was fast asleep. I slept well until about 3.30am when I woke up feeling hot again. I was not as hot as on Monday morning when I was pouring with sweat, but my chest did feel slightly damp. By 4am I was asleep again, but it was a light sleep, and I woke up well before my alarm was due to go off. I think I feel better for getting more sleep, but tonight I want to try for even more sleep. Perhaps I might even reach the golden amount of 8 hours. If I was really lucky it would be more than that.

As the seasons move on I may be happy with less than 8 hours sleep. It won't be that long now before I can leave for work in daylight. This morning there was some noticeable light when my train was at London Bridge, and at Waterloo it was almost as light as it was at Earlsfield. The grey sky was, and still is, stopping the full potential of daylight. One day I'll come to work under a clear sky, and it will be mild enough that I can just wear my lightweight jacket. I can't wait for that day, but once it comes I'll be eagerly looking forward to when I can come to work with no coat on and wearing a short sleeve shirt - and maybe shorts too !!!

Monday 13th Febuary 2012

08:05 GMT

Although it stayed very dull and overcast yesterday, there was no obvious rain, and yet the ground did look damp. I don't know how high the temperature went, but I am guessing it was in the region of 4 or 5° C for most of the day. It made quite a bit of difference to the amount of heating I needed in the house. The temperature stayed positive overnight, and I saw 3.3° C on my outside thermometer shortly before coming to work.

It's hard to tell just how overcast it will be today. At the moment the sky is a milky white colour, and some of that is just mist. Near the river Thames, most particularly around Vauxhall, it was very misty at ground level. All that mist has left the ground very damp again this morning. The forecast for today is that there will be some rain early in the afternoon, but in part compensation the temperature should rise to 6° C, or maybe even a tiny bit higher. It's not much, but luxury compared to some of the sub zero days of last week.

Yesterday turned out to be quite different to how I imagined it. It all started when I was trying to find a particular computer file that I was sure I had backed up on a CD (or DVD) somewhere. I never did find that file, but I spent hours doing one of those jobs that is always put off to another time. I went through a whole pile of CDR and DVDR disks copying all my back up files onto just one disk - a hard disk in this case. That is like putting all my eggs into one basket, but tonight I will probably make a copy of that hard disk onto another hard disk for safety.

All that file copying, and trying coax badly written, or decaying, 10 year, or older, CDs to give up their files made me late getting to bed, and even once I was in bed I couldn't settle until I had done some reading. It is fortunate that I got in some extra sleep on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and that on Saturday night I didn't stay up very late at all, because I had a very strange night. Once I managed to get to sleep, I slept soundly until just gone 3am. I woke up feeling like I had a fever. I was very hot and sweaty, and sweat had run off my chest making damp patches in my bed. I have no idea what caused it, and perhaps I'd rather not know, but apart from a bit of a stiff neck, perhaps from sleeping awkwardly to avoid those damp patches, I feel reasonably OK this morning.

While I feel OK, I don't seem to feel like I have much energy this morning, but I am not sure if I started out feeling like that. I think sitting on an icy cold train between Catford Bridge and Waterloo East sapped a lot of my energy. I still haven't recovered from that freezing even now. It was made worse by a couple of things. I had undone my coat when I got on the train assuming that it would be warm on there. Then I didn't do it up at Waterloo because I assumed that I would soon be on a baking hot train to Earlsfield. In fact what I found was a complete absence of trains. I never did find out where they all got to, but I had time for a cigarette outside the station before a train arrived, and then quite a long wait before the train finally pulled out the station. Just to add to my miseries it was freezing cold in my office when I arrived here at work, and it will take another couple of hours before the little heater in here can raise the temperature to comfort levels.

Sunday 12th Febuary 2012

12:40 GMT

It eventually warmed up yesterday........if you can call just a few degrees above zero warm ! Most of the day was sunny, but the sky clouded up a bit after dark. That stopped the temperature dropping too low. This morning it was just above zero, but rather misty. There's been no sign of the sun today, but the mist lifted during the morning. Right now the temperature is just 4° C. Later in the coming week the temperature will soar to an underwhelming 9° C, and the price for that is likely to be even duller skies, and probably some rain thrown in just to make things worse.

I achieved all but one thing I intended to do yesterday. The thing I didn't do was the laundry, but it's done now. I did do all the washing up, and even cleaned up the sink with some bleach. Shopping in Aldi was a bit disappointing. I bought all the neccessaries, but there didn't seem to be any offers, or other stuff in there to tempt or excite me. Maybe it's time I had another look around Lidl. Perhaps I might call in there after work sometime in the week.

One important thing I did last night was to finally remember to have several glasses of scotch. Maybe I didn't have enough though because I still felt very sober when I went to bed. On the other hand it might have been enough to give me a sort of hangover this morning. I woke up several times in the night feeling rough, but it wasn't all down to the booze. Some of the discomfort might be blamed on the curry I had. Even more discomfort came from having to sit down in a freezing cold toilet at 3am relieving the first source of discomfort. When I win the lotttery or pools, or inherit a vast sum of money, or successfully rob a bank or post office, I really must invest in a heated toilet seat.

There was stuff I was thinking of doing this morning. I considered going out somewhere, or even going to the 99p shop for more supplies of stuff I probably don't need, or shouldn't buy. I did neither of those. About the only thing I have done so far is to wash 4 shirts and my thermal underwear. Somehow I don't think I'll be doing anything more constructive for the rest of the day.

This just in via email as I was writing.
Government warning said that anyone travelling in icy weather conditions should take:

A shovel, blankets or sleeping bag…
Extra clothing, including scarf hat and gloves...
24 hrs. supply of food ....
5 kgs of rock salt...
Torch or lantern with spare batteries...
Road flares and reflective triangles...
Tow rope, 5 gallon petrol jerry can...
First aid kit and jump leads...

I looked a complete prat on the bus this morning!!

Saturday 11th Febuary 2012

11:01 GMT

I was very wrong about yesterday being dull and grey. By mid-morning the clouds had lifted, and the rest of the day was very cold, bright, and sunny. Inevitably there was a price to pay for that. Overnight, with a clear sky, the temperature plummetted. At 6am this morning my thermometer was saying it was minus 4.7° C outside. I can't be bothered to check my earlier blogs to verify it, but I think that is the coldest temperature I have seen so far this winter. Right now the sun is blazing down, and that has increased the temperature by a couple of degrees, but it is still below zero. Later this afternoon it will probably go above zero, but it's going to remain a bloody cold day ! It seems that the temperature tomorrow will just about be in positive figures for most of the day, but we'll be back to grey miserable skies again.

I showed this picture yesterday.......

.......now compare with this one......

......Same car, same road, and nearly 11 hours later. All the snow has gone, and the sky is blue. I took this second picture as I came home from work. At that point the temperature had just dipped below zero again.

After a rather bland week at work (except for the excitement of a bit of snow) I decided to treat myself to a takeaway last night. After much deliberation I chose to get a curry delivered. I'm not sure if I have used the restuarant before. It did have some shortcomings, but it was good enough to want to try some more from them sometime in the future. The mixed tandoori grill I had as a starter was rather good, as was the nan bread that came with it. I was not so happy with the lamb pathia I had as the main course though. It tasted wonderful, but was really swimming in oil. The restuarant make great claims that the oil they use is cholesterol free, but that is still no excuse for enough oil to power a diesel car from here to Brighton and back.

Until I've assessed another dish to see how that fares I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Meanwhile I have lots of leftovers to taste sometime today. On the menu that dropped through my door, sometime in the recent past, there were some money off vouchers. I took my order up to just over £20 so I could use the £4 off voucher. That bought enough to have two vegetable dishes, and rice leftover from last night to look forward to today. The one thing I didn't do last night was to drink a lot of scotch. I intended to, but somehow I never got around to it. Once again my serious drinking problem rears it's ugly head. I must try harder to get drunk, even mildly drunk, tonight !

Apart from trying to remember to have some booze tonight, I have other stuff to do today. Unfortunately only one thing is semi-exciting. That will be poking around in Aldi to see what's on offer today. Other stuff includes doing some very overdue washing up, and more a few items of hand laundry.

I think I'll be doing the washing up first before I go out to Aldi. At the moment I am only recently out from under the shower, and I am letting my hair dry before I do anything else. Washing my hair was almost painful. It is exceedingly cold in my bathroom, and the shampoo and conditioner were icy cold when I put them on my head - the shower gel was not much better either ! It's also very cold in my kitchen, but I've just put the oven on down there so it will be warm and humid when I start the washing up.

Apart from household chores I think I will end up being very lazy today. I've half of new scientist still to read, and that will "unfortunately" mean laying on my bed in a most relaxed manner, and I may well fall asleep while doing it. Shame :-)

Friday 10th Febuary 2012

08:25 GMT

Most of yesterday was just a clone of the previous few days - cold and grey ! Then sometime in the night it was all change again. The every so slightly warm moisture laen air hit the cold air, and we had some snow. The sky looks as if it could dump some more on us, but I don't thank any more is forecast. Instead it looks like we are back to the same routine of dull grey and cold.

The snow fall was very different in different parts of London. There was not much in Catford, but a bit more in Earlsfield. A friend in Stanmore, on the northern outskirts of London (and a bit to the west) reported that a lot of snow had fallen, and the shopkeeper in the shop by Earlsfield station said Wimbledon had taken a big hit too. Wimbledon is further south west than Earlsfield - though only a couple of miles away. As I left home to get my train I took one snap of the snow.

The picture above was taken with a slow shutter speed (hence the blurring) using just the light from the sodium street lights. There is a good half inch of snow on the car roof, but none on the road and pavement, and none on the house roofs. An hour later in Earlsfield...........

A fast train rushes through a snowy Earlsfield station

There is plenty of snow to be seen on the platforms, and also on the roofs of the distant houses, as a fast train rushes through Earlsfield station. There was no snow on the main road, but the side roads had patches of snow, and all the trees and bushes had a thick cover. By tomorrow a lot of it will have gone, and I expect Catford to be almost snow free when I get home tonight.......unless we do get another fall contrary to the predictions of the weather men.

Last night I went to be very early. This was partly because it was cold. Partly because I needed to try and get some extra sleep, but mostly it was because there were no other distractions other than reading my freshly bought copy of New Scientist. By 8.30pm I was ready to turn the light off and go to sleep, and I fell asleep so fast that I forgot to turn down, or turn off my heater. It was very warm in my bedroom when I woke up nearly an hour early. After a quick pee I went back to bed and managed another 30 minutes sleep, but once again I was up far earlier than I needed to be.

Tonight I think there is a good chance that I'll treat myself to a curry, or some other takeaway. I might even stay up late because I don't have to get up early in the morning. In this context late means after 9pm.. It could even mean after 10pm if I am feeling very daring and bold !!

Thursday 9th Febuary 2012

08:07 GMT

It was cold, it was grey, but it didn't snow yesterday, or at least it didn't snow much. I remain convinced that I saw one snow flake, and felt another hit my face. Maybe I was just unlucky ! It seems there is another chance of a dusting of snow today. Once again it is miserable and grey with the temperature hovering around zero.

I must confess I am getting a little fed up with these grey, miserable mornings. The cloud is thick enough that there is no definite point when night turns into day.It's like someone very slowly turning a dimmer switch from off to half way very, very slowly. This is all doubly annoying while we are at the time of year when sunrise occurs during my journey to work. It gives a sort of feeling of hope to see the sky get lighter closer and closer to the start of my morning commute, but that is not happening now. Last week there was a definite sunrise, and it was just as I reached Earlsfield. By now it should be rising when I am at Clapham Junction, or maybe even earlier in my journey, but all I see is a feint change in greyness, and not a definite transition.

Last night I took my Bluechip Neon mobile phone back to Tesco to get it changed. Once again there was a very long wait while they found one in the stockroom, but eventually it was replaced without any quibble. Unfortunately the second one does not have a working GPS receiver in it either. It is still usable with that receiver, and I think at this point I will just settle with what I have rather than hanging around in Tesco for half another evening.

Looking at some reviews of the Bluechip Neon phone it seems they are very prone to having bits and pieces not work on them. Several people mentioned the 3G modem not working so they couldn't use "3", and having to do multiple trips to Tesco until they found one that worked. Funnily enough, I don't think my phone works on 3 either. No one has mentioned GPS satelite trouble in any of the reviews I've read. I can only conclude that there is zero quality control of these phones before they are unleashed on an unsuspecting public. Nevertheless, I sort of like it as a phone.

I still find it strange that since Smudge caught a mouse a couple of days ago I have heard not a single squeak from any more rodents. There have been no rustlings, no scratchings - not a single sound heard by me or by Smudge (who has very sensitive ears for such sounds !) - and yet quite a bit of the poison I put down has now been eaten. So there are still mice around somewhere, but hopefully not for much longer.

Wednesday 8th Febuary 2012

07:55 GMT

Contrary to (alleged) professional opinion, it was a nice sunny day yesterday. In the middle of the day the temperature seemed a good few degrees higher than the forecast 1° C. It may have been a change of wind direction that ruined that. By the time I was home from work it was -0.4° C and dropping. There were forecasts that some parts of the country could see the temperature drop to -15° C last night, but the lowest I saw was -2.4° C. Thick cloud overnight meant that the temperature was back up to around zero when I left to go to work.

That rise in temperature, together with the thick clouds, could be the heralds of some more snow today. It's not supposed to amount to much if it does fall. At least not around here. Elsewhere in the country that change of wind direction is going to stir together the frigid Siberian air to the east, and the warmer moist air to the west. Where they meet someone is going to have a huge pile of snow fall on their heads !

It was my intention to get to bed early last night, and I almost made it ! I got sidetracked by two things. The first was downloading some more free Sci Fi books, and the second was playing with the Tesco Neon Android phone I bought the previous evening. There are a few things that are not ideal about it, but otherwise it is an excellent little phone, and very cheap for what you get. It has two main problems. The screen resolution is good, but not excellent, and the processor is rather slow, making it a bit sluggish to operate sometimes. The one I bought has an additional problem. Well, it's more than a problem. It is a real fault !

The GPS satelite receiver does not work. In fact it is not even recognised as being part of the phone. Tonight I am going back to Tesco to get the phone exchanged. Hopefully another one will work OK. There is always a worry that online specification does not match the reality of what is actually in the phone. For such an amazingly cheap phone it would not surprise me if costs were cut by not fitting some bits, and no one remembered to tell the man writing the instruction manual.

Since Smudge caught the mouse yesterday morning I have not heard any mysterious rustlings, or scratchings, and neither has Smudge. It seemed highly unlikely that there was just one mouse in the house (though that is what I hoped for), and this morning I saw some evidence that I have, or have had, more than one "visitor". Some of the poison I put down has now been eaten. If it does what it says on the tin (actually a sachet) Smudge will have nothing to stalk and play with for the rest of this winter, and I will be able to breath a sigh of relief.

Tuesday 7th Febuary 2012

08:05 GMT

Yesterday seemed warmer than I had imagined it to be. There was hardly any wind, and the temperature was back on the plus side of zero, and may have been as high as 5° C. It wasn't much, but it was certainly far more comfortable than previous days. Sometimes it seemed less cold outside than it did in my office for the first part of yesterday morning. This morning, although the BBC's weather pages on their website tried to say otherwise, it was 3.6° C when I left for work. That's not bad considering the BBC reckon it is going to be 0° C all day today.

It certainly is a very grey misty morning, and could well stay this way the whole day. So there will be no sunshine to lift the temperature by any small degree, but while it's cloudy like this it should not drop any lower. Apart from where it was swept into big piles, or sheltered under some vegetation, all the snow has now disappeared (another hint that the temperature is above freezing). There is supposed to be a small chance of seeing a few snow flakes today, but if it similar to the rainfall we had yesterday, there will be only about 100 flakes per square mile.

Last night, and this morning, I feel like I have some extra reserves of energy from somewhere. This morning I found myself racing the fastest commuters as we rushed over the link between Waterloo East and Waterloo mainline stations. Quite where this energy has come from is a mystery. I did notice that my trouser belt seemed slightly looser yesterday. Could it be that I ate less at the weekend that I expected to ? That seems unlikely. On Sunday I had roast vegetable roasted alongside a very greasy duck. All that duck fat must have had millions of calories in it !

It is a bit of a paradox that while my legs seem to be gifted with more energy than of late, I expect to be feeling tired, as in sleepy, later on. I didn't sleep all that well on Sunday night/Monday morning, and last night I didn't get to bed until nearly two hours after I should have. I allowed myself to get carried away experimenting with software updates on an Android mobile phone. It's slightly hair raising replacing the entire operating system on a mobile phone, but satisfying when it works. More than satisfying ! Getting rid of all the crap that the mobile phone networks put on their phones can transrorm them from annoying, almost unusable, to very satisfactory to use. Plus, of course, it opens them up for use on any network.

Monday 6th Febuary 2012

08:14 GMT

It would be wrong to say it was warm yesterday, but that was the case for the fallen snow. For most of yesterday, and this morning, my outside thermometer was reporting temperature of between 4 and 5° C. I went out again shortly before midday and found the snow to be very slushy, and in some places it had melted away completely. The sky stayed very overcast yesterday, and that is also true of this morning. In addition to the thick cloud cover there is also some mist this morning. No more snow is expected this week, but today there could be some drizzle around midday.

It wasn't all that long ago that I was probably complaining that 5° C was bloody chilly. After recent days when the temperature had been in minus figures I think I am prepared to admit that 5° C is not so bad after all. Heating up the house was easier yesterday, and with my warmest clothes on I was melting while on the trains to to work. Most pleasing of all was that I could still feel my fingers after walking from the station to work.

I seems unlikely with a resident cat, but I do get the occasional mouse in the house. The usual wisdom is that if you see one there are loads more lurking somewhere. It is very possible that I have, or had, more than one in the house, but there is very little evidence of more. Their droppings are quite distinctive, and I can find very few of them. Yesterday I bought some poison while shopping in Tesco, and during the afternoon I put some down in two likely places in the kitchen where I knew the mouse had been.

This morning none of the bait has been taken, but other events have happened. I lay awake for sometime before getting to sleep last night. This wasn't helped by hearing a disturbance downstairs. I had a good idea what it was, but in case I was wrong I pulled on a pair of trouser to take a quick look downstairs. There were no burglers, no burst water pipes, no walls had cracked or fallen down, but there was a cat in 100% focussed hunting mode staring at one part of the living room. I left Smudge to get on with it, and went back to bed. This morning I found a little present for me in the middle of the living room carpet !

While I was in Tesco yesterday I noticed they were selling an Android based mobile phone for £79.97 that was "sim free". It is called the Neon, and it's specification doesn't look too bad. For that price it is never going to be wonderful, but it could have it's uses. One use I could use if for is for tracking my progress using satnav while out on walks (assuming I manage to start doing some long walks this year). I counted up all my Tesco Clubcard vouchers, and I have enough to buy one without using any cash at all. I think I may end up as the proud owner of a cheap and nasty Android phone tonight.

Sunday 5th Febuary 2012

10:05 GMT

The snow I reported falling last night continued to fall until 3 or 4am this morning. By then over two inches, and maybe close to 3 inches had fallen. At daybreak the temperature had risen to plus 2.5° C, and the snow had already began to melt. The temperature now is a comparatively balmy 3.4° C, and if that continues the snow will have almost melted away before the end of the day. As far as I know, no more is forecast in te coming week.

At around 8am I thought I had better go out and take a few photos while the snow was relatively intact.

looking south towards the centre of Catford

Above is the view from outside Aldi towards the centre of Catford. While the side roads still had a good covering of snow, the main road was virtually clear.

This is the view from the same traffic island outside Aldi, but looking north towards Lewisham.

This boarded up establishment is 75 Rushey Green. In it's time it has been a ballroom, a music venue, a club for gangsters, a snooker/billiard hall, and various religious sects, mainly of the "happy clappy" type have used it as a place of worship. The downstairs shop part was once a Black And Decker centre, and the last use was as an Italian furniture store. Now it looks like it will probably be demolished and the site used for more boxes of flats. I doubt that the religious types who used it cared one way or another, or maybe they would have had they known why the place briefly became front page news famous in 1966. Maybe anyone who moves into the inevitable new "housing" that will be built on the site may like to know just how much blood is under their foundations. Scroll halfway down this page for the gruesome details !!!!

The 99p shop where I spend lots of 99 pees buying a mixture of total tat, and some very useful stuff too.

The Rising Sun pub in Catford closed many years ago, and has lay derelict since then. Some say it still has a future as a pub, or other civic amenity, but inevitably it will be replaced by another soulless pile of concrete and breeze block filled with poky little flats. Once upon a time it was a coaching inn. More recently, but before it was closed down, it was alleged to be a crack house ! More information here.

The London And Rye - the Catford 'spoons.

This is The London & Rye - the Catford "'spoons". It looks like the building at the back is sinking down to the right, but it is an optical illusion. The front face of the pub, and the upper part are at an angle to each other. There may have been one or two intermediate uses of the building, but I remember it as a Curry's showroom - at least I think it was Curry's, but it definitely sold household electrical goods. It's where I bought my fridge/freezer back in late 1983. The first was faulty on delivery. It's replacement is still humming away nicely in my kitchen. With luck I'll get another 10 or 20 years out of it.

No set of pictures about Catford is complete without the Catford cat guarding the entrance of the Catford Centre.

Catford's own bit of post modern exestential brutality - at least I think that is how some describe it. It's The Eros House on the corner of Brwonhill Road and Rushey Green. It was built on the site of The Lewisham Hippodrome after that was demolished in 1960. Eros house was originally built as office space, but 10 or so years ago was converted to housing. Note the pale blue squiggly thing. It's some sort of modern art to make the place look ???????

This picture could almost have been taken in the middle of summer, but there are clues it was taken in the middle of winter. In the background is Tesco's with it's shutters still down because it's Sunday, and not due to open for another couple of hours when I took the picture. In the middle of the picture the bright area is snow. It is exactly the same brightness to be seen when the summer sun is high enough to pour down between the buildings, and illuminate the same area. The building above Tesco's, and probably Tesco's itself, is due for demolition sometime in the not too distant future (depending on the recession and whether Europe plunges into another 800 years of medievalism).

It is possible The Catford Ram pub will be demolished too. This is the front entrance. There is a rear entrance, but that became permanently locked out of use many years ago because of anti-social behavious. The pub has it's own website with a picture gallery that might have some pictures on it one day, and an event list that might eventually list events beyond last October when Chain were playing there !

a train leaving Catford Bridge station proving that some trains do work in the snow

...and finally. To the world's great surprise SouthEastern trains managed to make at least one train work in the snow. This class 465 "Networker" train, having come all the way from Kayes (Kent), has just left Catford Bridge station, and is heading to Ladywell, Lewisham, St Johns, New Cross, London Bridge, Waterloo East and London Charing Cross. It might even make it !

Saturday 4th Febuary 2012

19:17 GMT

The sky was far too clear for any snow yesterday. Although it did start to get cloudy towards sunset. Like the previous coule of days it was cold, but bright. The weather today has been very slightly warmer with temperature just above freezing for most of the day, although it was -2.5° C at daybreak. As I write it is +1.9° C, and it has just started to snow ! The forecast said it was supposed to start nearly two hours ago, but at least they got it right that it would snow. If the forecast continues to be about right it should snow all through the night, but not tomorrow. Tomorrow there is supposed to be fog and mist.

The low water pressure that caused me some trouble yesterday morning was back to normal when I got home from work last night, and this morning, much to my relief, I was able to shower and wash my hair in comfort. Well I say comfort, but with sub zero temperatures outside, my bathroom was freezing cold. Getting under the hot water was a luxurious treat !

I am not sure I can attribute it to anything in particular, but I slept incredibly well last night. I turned out the light at around 10pm, and I must have fallen asleep almost instantly. I have the very vaguest of recollection of getting up for a pee sometime after midnight, but then as far as I can remember I slept solidly to a little later than my weekday alarm is set for (5am). After a visit to the toilet I was going to check my email and stuff, but my bedroom was quite chilly. So I turned the heater on and got back into bed. The next thing I knew it was gone 7am.

I felt tempted to turn over and try for more sleep, but decided against it. Aleemah visited me today, and I attempted to do some housework before she came round. I didn't actually do nearly as much as I intended because I got sidetracked looking at some stuff on the internet. One of the things that sidetracked me was a website called paraffin winter. The website as a whole is about a novel set in 1963, the year of the great freeze. I have no idea about the novel itself, but there is one page about 1963 that explains the backdrop of the story. If you remember 1963, as I do (just) and want a dose of nostalgia, or if you know nothing about it, take a look at http://www.paraffinwinter.org.uk/sixties.html and hover your mouse over the pictures for an explanation of each one. There is also a diary of the big freeze here;- http://www.paraffinwinter.org.uk/63wintertext.html

It was a shame that Aleemah was visiting this morning because I could have had a visit from Patricia who was going to return several freshly laundered bath towels that she washed for me. It is possible that we'll meet tomorrow instead, but I think that rather depends on how the snow goes. It's now been snowing for a little over half an hour, and as yet it hasn't come to much, but there are many more half hours before morning. So who knows what we may wake up to ! Five minutes ago it looked like this.....

The first snow in Catford in 2012 (4th Feb)

Friday 3rd Febuary 2012

07:57 GMT

Yesterday was bitterly cold, but it was also very sunny. There was at least one occasion when the wind dropped to nothing and I could actually feel the heat of the sun on my face, but usually the wind, which was fairly light, just whipped any heat away. While I was in a shop this morning I heard on the radio that last night was the coldest night this winter, but by my readings it was warmer than yesterday. Yesterday morning my outside thermometer said it was minus 2.5° C, and this morning it was a slightly warmer minus 1.7° C. That can be accounted for by it being cloudy this morning. It is possible that it will snow this evening, but I think the day will remain merely dull, grey, cold, and cloudy.

The question of snow is all to do with the battle between two different clumps of air. To the west is moist air from the Atlantic ocean, and to the east is icy cold air from Siberia. When those two meet there is likely to be a fall out of snow. Both patches of air are competing for position, and if they clash over London, as apparently they could do any time from tonight onwards, we can expect to get what more westerly parts of the country already have - snow !

I did two things last night - both of which involved variable amounts of unpleasantness. The first was to empty Smudge's litter tray, and to clear up the newspapers with the misses on it around the litter tray. With that done I tackled some laundry. As well as the back breaking tedium of bending over the bath, the pummelling and pounding, and the wringing out, there was another annoyance. This is only a guess, but with exceptionally low temperatures forecast for the night the water company seemed to have turned the water pressure down to protect some of their aging pipes. The hottest water I could get upstairs was merely tepid.

This morning it was the same. Downstairs I was able to get a thin stream of piping hot water, but upstairs the pressure was so low that my water heater would barely turn on. It took the chill off the water, but it was too cool to shower under in a cold bathroom. I had to resort to washing myself down with a flannel in the tepid water. I could turn the water heater up, but that runs the risk of a rise in water pressure delivering scalding hot water. Now I just hope that the water pressure rises again before too long. It is possible that the pressure has been turned down because of a leak somewhere in the vicinity. In which case I hope it is repaired very soon.

Tonight, with the possibility of it snowing, and even if it's not snowing it will still be mighty cold out, I look forward to turning the heating up and doing nothing ! Actually I will do something, but it is likely to be no more than watching TV or reading. Then I wil try and get an early night with plenty of sleep. I think I probably slept quite well last night, but not so well that I can't remember at least one salient part of a dream. I did make a special point of remembering this little tidbit of dream because on a scale of weirdness it must score a 10. The dream was set in something approximating my house, and there were several people around. Now the weird bit is that one person was there twice - not twice at different times, but at the same time. Despite looking identical, and having identical names, I could easily distinguish between the two. One I was hoping would leave, and the other I was quite happy if he hung around. How's that for advanced schitzophrenia !

Thursday 2nd Febuary 2012

07:51 GMT

It was rather cruel yesterday. There was a lot of bright sunshine, and blue skies, but the sunshine didn't seem to carry any warmth with it. The sky stayed clear overnight which meant no snow, but the temperature this morning was an icy minus 2.5° C outside my rear bedroom window, and probably a degree or two colder at ground level. Apart from it being even colder, today will probably be similar to yesterday. The latest prediction for snow has been put back to the weekend, and with Sunday being the current favourite.

There is a family of wagtails that live in the vicinity of the business estate where I work. I am sure they ought to fly south for the winter, I know I would if I could, but these seem to hang around all year. They are very skitish birds, but by keeping still one of them approached just close enough to get a rather soft image of it yesterday lunchtime.

It's not a very colourful image, and as I said, it is rather soft looking. I am not sure if it a different species, gender, or if they change their plumage in the warmer months, but some I recall seeing have a pale yellow undercarriage. This one seems to be just black and white.

Last night was a very uneventful night unless you count Smudge turning her nose up at some freshly cooked liver, and then proceeding to wolf down some Tesco own brand catfood which was declared to be the worst food ever a mere few days ago ! I always thought that cats were supposed to love freshly cooked liver, but not Smudge it seems. Perhaps I should have offered her it raw or something.

This morning I decided it was definitely cold enough to put on my thermal underwear. Some weeks back I bought an extra set of thermal underwear, and that is what I am wearing this morning. The only problem is that I am finding it uncomfortable to wear. Compared to my first set, which I wore a few times last winter, this new set seems very tight in some places. The top seems long enough to reach right down and almost keep my genitals warm, but it seems very tight across the chest. The sleeves are almost long enough to keep my hands warm, but it is tight under the armpits. This could be proof that aliens walk amongst us - Aliens who design and make clothing for humans, but have no real idea about the shape of the human body - specially mine !!!!

Wednesday 1st Febuary 2012

08:04 GMT

There was no sunshine yesterday, but there was snow ! That's not to say there was much snow. In fact there was very little of it, and the only place it settled was on the arm of my coat when my arm out to check that it definitely was snow and not sleet or rain. Within a couple of seconds half a dozen tiny flakes fell on it, and lasted long enough to be identified. No snow is expected today, but it will be just as cold as yesterday, but a stronger wind will make it feel even colder.

This morning didn't feel it, but it was very slightly warmer than yesterday. It was only by about a degree, but that was enough not to have a frost. Were it not for the icy wind blowing in from Siberia (or somewhere) it could potentially warm up today because it should be quite sunny, The sky looks clear and blue as I write, but earlier on there was a dense bank of cloud to the east that prevented any pre-dawn light. So it was still dim when I arrived at Earlsfield. Tomorrow morning it could be a lot brighter - it seems there is a chance we will wake up to snow on the ground.

On my way home from work last night I went into Tesco. This was partly to buy some stuff for Smudge, and partly to buy another fan heater in case the one that failed yesterday morning could not be revived. Tesco didn't have any so I went into Poundstretcher who had lots, and had quite a few in resealed boxes marked down from £12.99 to £9.99. I bought one of those. Upon getting it home I discovered that it was faulty. The fault was that the motor had broken away from the casing - probably as a result of being dropped. I would guess that most of the heaters that were marked down to £9.99 were similar, and I find myself baffled as to why they dare to sell faulty items like that.

Fortunately repair was very easy, although the repair technically broke safety regulations. All I needed was some longer screws with washers on that ran from the outside of the case, through the original broken mounting bracket, and into the motor. If there is a major insulation breakdown of the motor, those screwheads could become live, but I'll worry about that when it's warmer ! Within maybe 20 minutes I had heat in the living room, and that's all that was important. I haven't done a deep inspection of the old fan heater, but superficially it does look as if it is rather permanently dead.

Another thing I did last night was to do some hand laundry. I washed three shirts, one t-shirt, and two pairs of underpants and socks. I think I am getting good at doing this. Even the dried blood stain came out (don't ask !). It may be hard work, and bending over the bath, where I did all this washing, is taxing on the back, but I definitely get a sense of achievement from doing it. That and the fan heater repair left me feeling rather good last night. Even Smudge made me feel good last night.

I think Smudge is getting old. I have no idea how old she was when she first adopted me. I once thought that she must have been young because she seemed small, but on reflection I think she is just a small cat. Since autumn, or whenever it started to get cold and/or wet, she hasn't been out of the house for more than a few minutes. More recently she has become a very fussy eater, and there are some days when she doesn't seem to eat at all. On Monday she turned her nose up at everything I offered her - including some chicken I specially cooked for her.

Last night, while I was in Tesco, I bought some hot chicken - some for myself, and some for Smudge. I wasn't expecting Smudge to eat more than a bit, but she ate all the amount I had allowed for her, and half of what I bought for myself. This morning I found she had even eaten some lamb flavoured catfood I had put down for her. I put more of that down for her this morning, but she just sniffed it, turned her nose up, and walked away. After last nights gluttony I am relieved to know that she is fully capable of eating - but only if she wants to. Tonight she has a treat in the form of liver. Hopefully she won't turn her nose up at that after all the trouble I have taken to specially buy it, and when I cook it for her.