This morning has started out bright and sunny, but it seems some clouds may only allow sunny spells for a couple of hours, but there should/could be full sunshine from midday. That should push the temperature up to a pleasant 16° C. Tonight may be a bit cooler than last night. Tomorrow may start as low as just 6° C, but more bright sunshine should get it up to 16° C again by 3pm. There should be at least another week of warm dry weather after this.

  Yesterday started off fine, and it should have been a good day, but by about midday it all went wrong, and yesterday was mostly a fairly miserable sort of day. I was feeling very negative for the afternoon and evening, and that would have consequences that threaten to spoil today.

  While writing yesterday morning I felt quite optimistic about the day. I had hoped it could be a good day, and one of the first good things was indeed good, although a bit tricky. I missed the very start of it, but that was OK because there was almost nothing to see, but by 10:30am the partial lunar eclipse was easy to see - if, and only if you had the right tools to see it safely.
  I had used one of the plastic film lenses from a pair of 1999 eclipse glasses to cover the lens of my camera. It was too small to cover it completely, and I used some black duct tape to both hold it to the lens, and to almost, but not completely, block any small gaps where strong sunlight could get in. Incidently I used a comparatively cheap UV filter to stick the filter film to rather than get sticky stuff on an expensive lens. As can be seen, I did manage to get a pretty sharp snap of the moon just taking a little bite out of the sun.
  The reported time for the maximum amount of eclipse was 11am, but Sod's law dictated that that was when a thin cloud would dim the light from the sun. Fortunately the cloud went away after a couple of minutes, and I don't think I really missed anything. It was only going to be a partial eclipse (as seen from England), and the picture above probably shows the maximum extent of how much the moon eclipsed the sun.

  Thanks to the thing wispy cloud, the second picture is not as sharp as the first. It felt like I was lucky to get even these pictures. That extremely dark film over the lens was blocking so much light that I had to use maximum sensitivity on my Canon EOS 1200D to see anything at all. It made finding the sun through the viewfinder rather tricky. I think it is August next year when we get another eclipse as good as this one, and I can have another go.

  The trouble with that eclipse next year is that it will happen when the sun is very low in the sky, and maybe I won't be able to see it unless I climb to the top of Blythe Hill, or maybe to the top of Mountsfield park - both high spots with a good view to the west (where the eclipse will take place). I expect I will invest in some proper filters for then lens I will use - a Canon 75 to 300mm telephoto lens. I have no idea how I'll lug me to the top of the hill, and even less when carrying a camera, and I feel sure a tripod, which would be very handy, would almost definitely be the straw that broke the camels back.

  After I finished writing I had a shower, but I didn't wash my hair, and I think I should have done so. I then got myself, and my Canon EOS 600D camera ready to go for a walk. I had some sort of hallucination that I might go for about a 3 mile walk in the Linear Park, and possibly more if I was feeling good. That never happened. By the time I had walked as far as Catford Bridge station my legs were feeling stiff, tired and aching. It was mostly my left leg, and my left ankle was not feel too good either.

  I went down to the platform at the station, and waited for the next train. I did consider getting on it, but I had no idea where I might go if I caught that train, or what I might do if I got to wherever I ended up. I did take a picture of the train arriving at the station, and then leaving again. As yet I have not even bothered to see if it was a train I want to add to my big spreadsheet listing photos of each numbered train I have "spotted".

  Spending just 5 or so minutes standing mostly still on the station platform seemed to rest my legs enough to make walking a bit more comfortable again. I decided that I would push myself enough to go home the long way around - via The Metro Food Centre and passed The Black Cat pub. The Metro Food Centre is a bit like the little supermarket on Catford Bridge, and they stock a lot of nice stuff.

  The first thing I put in my shopping basket was some very tasty looking, and actually very tasty, plum tomatoes. They didn't have a very good selection of instant noodles, but I got a few packs. One occasional treat was a can of giant beans with sausage or meat ball. I got a can of each. I found a Nigerian lager I had not seen before, and it may be of interest to Jodie and Michael. I'm sure there were a few other things I bought, but I can't quite remember them now....oh, just remembered, a packet of sliced beef - Turkish style and spiced.

  I hadn't walked past the Black Cat for weeks, and I wondered if they had anything going on in there - they had, but only something that would drive me away - a seemingly regular karaoke night on a Friday night (I think) ! I then walked through the car park, and then to home. My phone said I had walked 0.97 miles. There were a few errors in the trace, like when I walked through the multi-storey car park, and it may have been as little as 0.8 miles.

  I was more than happy to get home, and stop walking. When I got changed I noticed that the bottom of my left leg, and my ankle was looking a bit puffy again. Water retention in that leg has been an on and off problem since the artery was removed for transplant when I had my heart bypass operation. If seeing a doctor was as easy as it was pre-covid, and even possible now, I might ask about it, and possibly ask for another dose of diuretics to make me pee away the excess water.

  It was probably a mistake to have a lunch of beef in two wholemeal rolls. They were not super nice, but at a time when I was feeling pretty miserable, they were the best thing there was. They would lead on to more naughty eating later in the afternoon and evening. Meanwhile I was just moping and feeling sorry for myself. In my darkest fears I may never be able to go on any more nice long walks, and in time maybe even walking to the local shops could become an ordeal instead of sometimes even enjoyable in bright warm weather.

  One thing I did do yesterday afternoon that provided some distraction was to finally getting around to watching some recordings of episodes of The Simpsons that I had topped and tailed, plus removed all the adverts from. I think I watched as many as five episodes. Some were good and some were bad, but none was a complete distraction. I edned up eating some stuff I regret now. The worst was probably a whole small tub of ice cream (selected as being less laden with sugar as some, but still with more sugar in it than I can cope with at the moment).

  Another bad thing was eating the rest of a bag of alleged garlic bread flavoured crisps. I may have eaten a third or more of the bag in small quantities in a restrained way the previous few days, but yesterday I just ate all that was left with no restraint at all. By the time dinner time came around I was trying not to eat much more. Fortunately I had a chicken Caesar salad in the fridge, and that was a much healthier option than other stuff I could have eaten.

  Oops, I almost conveniently forgot I ate a can of giant beans and something like sausages. I didn't even bother to heat it up. I just ate it cold from the can. The very final thing I ate was 4, no sugar, (or no added sugar) butter biscuits. I have a feeling that it was about 7pm when I ate those biscuits. After that I watched a few other things, and then I went to bed, and read for a while. I am not sure when I fell asleep, but I think it may not have been too long after about 8:30pm.

  I'm not sure how to describe it...it was not actually discomfort, but I suppose I did seem to feel a bit of bloat when I went to bed. Fortunately I didn't seem to have any heartburn. That may have been because I didn't really eat anything spicy in the evening, but it is possible that drinking at least a litre of chilled water last night may also have helped. I don't know any rational reason for drinking all that water - apart from the fact I really like ice cold water - but I seemed to think it could be good for me.

  It certainly helped me wake up a lot in the night to pee, although it is now exceedingly rare for that not to happen. It may have been a good reason why I was definitely not constipated this morning. One very curious thing is that I think, although I am not positively sure, that maybe my left leg and ankle is a little less puffy this morning. It does seem to match my other leg and ankle at the moment. Maybe it will swell up if I go for a walk.

  I'm not sure whether to describe my sleep as good or bad. I know that I slept longer than usual. I think that last night, when the clocks changed from GMT to BST, it was said we would lose an hours sleep, but I think I may have gained an hours sleep by getting to sleep early, not having any periods of insomnia in the night, and then deliberately going back to sleep when the clock said I would normally be getting up, but the darkness outside said it was still too early.

  I remember the theme for a few dreams I had, and remember from last night. Broadly speaking the dreams were sort of like trainspotting.  I dreamed I was with someone, and I think it was Jodie, even though I can't imagine her being interested in a railway adventure in real life. I think we were visiting a preserved branch line of a main railway. We got off a train, and then walked back along the track to the main station that also served national railways.

  While on the platform I noticed smoke in the distance, and knew it was a steam train heading towards us. I got out a small pocket camera that seemed to have a very small lens on it. I was very frustrated that the view in the viewfinder was like a strong zoomed view, and I couldn't even get the steam loco in the frame, let along any of the carriages it was hauling. I think we then walk back along the track of the branch line, and got back on the train. We all seemed to get some sort of present or souvenir for being there. Mine was a toasted beef sandwich. It was all cooked on or in the steam locos firebox, and looked delicious. The beef was thick cut and very juicy looking. I woke up before I could taste it.

  It may have been all the water I drank, or it could have been the fruit I had the night before last night, but this morning I had quite a good pee, and quite a big poo when I went to the toilet after getting up. The scales suggested my eating had been diet like because this morning I seemed to be 400gm lighter - the first significant drop in several days. It was not such good news when I checked my blood glucose level.

  This morning my blood glucose was only just short of the red line, but over the "first warning" pink line. The Contour meter read 9.4mmol/l, and that is pretty bad. The GlucoRX meter read 9.8mmol/l, and that is even worse. The Sinocare meter was oddly the same as the Contour meter at 9.4mmol/l. Today I should be fasting, but I can't today....because of booze !

  This morning my blood pressure is a bit high, and by that I mean it has gone up from "Optimum" to "Normal" ! The best of two readings was 124/48. It may be because I don't feel all that good this morning, or it could be the cause of it, but that seems unlikely. Even super high blood pressure is barely noticeable most of the time.  I think I mostly just feel tired, or weary, or just lacking in energy. The latter could be because of my high blood glucose level.

  It is not a good day to feel like this. It is the sort of day when a good healthy walk would be beneficial, and it is perfect weather for it, but.... A lot of the negativity I feel is because I don't feel I can do what needs to be done. Plus add to that some guilt about my wrong eating yesterday, and then the problem that I will be drinking with Jodie this afternoon, and I can't eat on an empty stomach (well I could, but the consequences......). I might try to go for a short walk in the park before drinking today, but I can't imagine walking that far.