Yesterday was a great day, although it ended as a bit of a disaster. What made yesterday great was the nice warm and cheerful weather, and that gave the opportunity to go out for my longest, almost non stop, walk than I have done since last autumn, and possibly even last summer.

  I was not sure if yesterday would be good for a walk because of a little problem. That little problem was another constipated morning. As I noted yesterday, it didn't feel uncomfortable, and it was more a case that I knew I should "go", but nothing seemed to happen. I think it was late morning when I took a couple of laxative tablets, and a little later I took another couple because when I thought about it, it seemed that first ones I took didn't seem to work in the past. My experience now is that both worked !


  On the left is the actual walk I did, and it is almost what I thought I would try and do. The main difference between the intended and the actual is that I did a small diversion to the down platform of Ladywell Station, and I went around St Mary's church instead of not crossing the river to go towards the church. Both diversions probably only added about 0.2 miles, and funnily enough that is about the same distance that was just a bit too long to be comfortable.

  On the whole it was a comfortable walk, although it was not none stop because as I suggested yesterday, I took my big and heavy Nikon D300 camera with me. I was hoping for some great pictures, but quite a lot were only mediocre. Mostly that was my misoperation of the camera, or maybe just expecting too much of it. The big improvement over using my pocket Nikon was that I used a 200mm telephoto lens on it to get better long shots of some wild life.

  Most time when I stopped to take a photo, and even when I didn't even take one, I did not pause the tracker. That made my speed look a bit slower than I was probably walking for at least some of the walk. That 1.728 mph may have been closer to 2.5 mph, which is still a bit slower than I should manage. I think I was still holding back for fear of getting chest pains. I should have more confidence in my new heart valve.

  I never did get any chest pains, and the only legacy pain I did get was from my right wrist. It is where a small catheter entered during the heart valve replacement procedure. The incision seems to be fully healed, but I suspect there may be some muscle damage. I predicted that holding a heavy camera might stress is, and it did. It make me wonder why I still used it. The other, far bigger incision was at the top of my right leg, apparently in the groinal area. That was where the heart valve was pushed in, and up a big artery to the heart. That is still a little tender, but I seem to do very little that provokes it. It is ironic in that was the incision that I expected to give the most trouble, and it hasn't.
  My first photo opportunity came when I was not too far into the park. This dandelion was looking straight into the sun, and seemed to be begging for a snap. The picture is not as detailed as hoped, and probably for two reasons, One reason was that I was using the camera hand held, and so there could be a tiny amount of motion blur. The other was that I was using too wide and aperture, and the focal depth was too shallow. Many of my pictures have a very blurred background 0 which can look good when used properly, but for this photo a bigger depth of field would have been better. Maybe if I hadn't been taking all the pictures on the fly I might have thought more about the camera settings I was using.
  Most of the seagulls that hang out on the playing field are black headed gulls. This one seemed to be a grey headed gull.
  These look like apple blossom, but I think this is a hawthorn tree. It is next to the path that leads to the down (towards Hayes) platform of Ladywell station. It is not unusual for apple trees to spring up from discarded apple cores by the entrance of a station, but I am sure I would have noticed apples on the tree in the past. On the other hand, I can't say I have noticed any fruit on it in previous years. Anyway, the flowers look sort of pretty.
  This picture was taken in the graveyard of St Mary's church. I didn't know that primroses were an early spring flower, but the evidence was in front of my eyes.
  Just by the entrance of the graveyard from the main road is a big holly tree/bush. It gives a scene that seems to suggest Xmas. If I remember I have taken this snap, I may use it as a background for an electronic Xmas card next year.
  This is where I show my horticultural ignorance. This could be called a white daffodil, and maybe that is all it is, but it may be a narcissus, although they may be the smaller daffodils with a sort of orange "trumpet" in the middle.
  A whole host of daffodils, but I note even these seem to have slightly different flower heads as if there is more than one species here.
  I like robins, but maybe only because they are a small bird that can hold a pose for more than a millisecond. This one looks more orange than red.
  This is the same robin doing a side on pose on a different branch.
  Sometimes even squirrels will hold a pose long enough for a slow fumbling cameraman to get a good picture.
  It was hard to get a clear view of this bird. I knew it was a rare bird to see in the park, and I could not remember what it was until the name Jay came to me while sitting on the toilet. I then checked online and confirmed it was indeed a jay. It is only the second time I have seen one in the park. The first was standing on some grass so I got a clearer shot. It is quite possible they are not rare, and it is just they usually spend most time high in the trees where they can't be seen - particularly when the trees are in leaf.

  I managed to get the picture of the jay near the basketball court as I was heading for the exit of the park past the arena (or running track as we used to call it). It was possibly when I first started to feel a hint of fatigue. As I exited the park the feeling of fatigue got stronger. The fatigue was from my ankles, and to a lesser extent my knees, although in more general terms "my legs" would do. The last 5 minutes of walking to home was quite uncomfortable. In a way that was good because I had judged my current limit correctly, and was able to stop soon after I reached it.

  It was nice to get indoors, and rest my legs a bit. I was also looking forward to some food. I finished off the last of the sandwiches I had bought from Tesco the day before, and the "triple cheese" pack of sandwiches was the most tasty. After eating, and my hands washed to avoid getting any food on my camera, I copied the pictures from my camera to my PC. My memory is a bit hazy at this point. I think I made a start on selecting and editing the pictures used here, but at some point I felt a strong urge to lie down, and have a snooze.

  I was very surprised to see it was about 5.30pm when I woke up, and it was getting dark outside. I guess it was the fresh air and exercise that made me still feel hungry. I did have a grand plan for a dinner, but something similar to common sense, but probably completely unlike it, made me throttle back my plans to something not that healthy, but seemed like it would be less filling. It was a medium sized plate of sweet potato chips sprinkled with grated cheeses (I think it was from the bag of Tesco ready grated three cheese types - cheddar, red Leicester, and mozzarella.

  I had more apple crumble ice cream than I should have, and then made everything worse by having a chunk of Madeira cake with cherries for my dessert. I ate my dinner while watching TV, and TV would sort of amuse me for another three hours. By then it seemed like my bed was calling. Unfortunately the toilet was calling louder. The laxatives I had taken late in the morning seemed to be working, although it could have been some sort of stomach upset.

  At one end I think it was the Madeira cherry cake that was making me feel a bit sick, and at times I did wonder if I would throw up. At the other end my constipation ended like opening a bottle of champagne - with a bang and a whoosh. I had no problem passing the blockage, and from then I had more trouble keeping what followed under some sort of control. Laying in bed just seemed to make things worse, and for a while it seemed too dangerous to be in bed. Things were very out of control !

  The only good thing is that I did not throw up, but on the other hand if I had, that would have been one less thing to worry about. I certainly made many trips to the the toilet where it felt my entire digestive system was being drained down - and the last of it was almost all liquid. I have no idea beyond well gone midnight when it felt safe to try and get some much needed sleep - and it didn't come easy.

  I can't remember if I had to get up to pee, or to poo in the night, but I seem to think I probably did. I certainly needed both when I first got up, and then went straight back to bed again. I started writing this at 10:05am, and that was only about 10 minutes after I finally got up. I was still feeling horrible, but some of that was actually hunger - I was pretty empty ! It was my intention to just drink water, which I am still doing, and fast for as much of the day as I could. I actually gave in and had a breakfast of a chicken and jalapeno cheese sauce wrap (another thing from Tesco's sandwich shelves) just before midday.

  I must admit it was a bit of daring choice of breakfast, but possibly I seem to feel OK for now, and at least it has stopped the hunger pains. Time will tell if it is going to race through me. One thing seemed certain, I would not be going out for a walk through the park for my usual Wednesday lunch time assignation with a couple of pints of Guinness. I fear that a couple of pints could trigger my bowels again, and it is a long way to walk clenching your buttocks. Not only that, but as I write this I should have started walking to the pub.

  My main plan for today is to lie on my bed after I have finished writing this, and see if I need to catch up on any missed sleep. Some nice sleep would help make me not notice that my guts still feel a bit raw. It is possible, although very unlikely, that I may go for a walk later if the promised sunshine happens. At the moment it seems to be getting duller outside.  I can't see a single break in the clouds out my front windows.

  The worst aspect of this revolt in my gut is that week after next  I'll have to do it on purpose. That will be for my Colonoscopy. I will have to take some mega strength laxative that is supposed to completely clear me out. I think it is the days leading up to that when I will have to improve my fasting technique to make it a little dramatic. I definitely would not like to be walking through the park today in my current state, and after the mega strength stuff I think I had better build, and take with me some sort of mobile commode (and spare underwear) !!