28.10.2022 Gorgeous dawn!

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 Friday 28th 51F/11C. Slightly misty. Two forecasts today. One offers sunshine and record temperatures for the end of October. The other says cloudy and no mention of high temperatures over much of Europe. Choose one.

  Indoor temperatures remain stable at 64F/18C upstairs and 60F/15C downstairs. No stove or greenhouse required. Though I am wearing a fleece jack indoors when I am sitting still. 

 Deciding what to wear for my morning walks is increasingly difficult. I usually get far too hot on the way back. I left my jumper off yesterday and was still sweating in just a T-shirt under my winter jacket. I need a lighter jacket. Perhaps I should try just a fleece jacket over a T-shirt.

 Up at 5.30. Weird dreams and constantly reliving the past with my wife. I have a bottomless reservoir of 55 years of random memories to dredge up. I should be grateful but haven't been able to convert these memories to feelings of happiness.

 I still struggle to add any real meaning to life. With, or without her. It just feels as if we [all] hide from the absolute certainty of death with our pointless activities. It doesn't stop me from being happy and cheerful when in company. Though, once it is over, I am left wondering. Why we two could not have had a reasonable social life. One outside the confines of our mutual and hideously dysfunctional families.

 7.40 and the sky is brightening in the east. I can begin to think about escaping to the over-familiar roads and lanes. I could travel further afield but have no desire to cycle in the rush hour. Nor leave the trike unattended while I walk new ground. Cycling is a very different pastime to walking. The first achieves far greater distances but lacks some of the therapeutic advantages of walking. 

 I am extraordinarily lucky to have the countryside all around me. For miles or kilometres in all directions. Covering most of it would take hours on foot. Only a mountain bike would take me to the quiet places away from the roads. There are remarkably few public paths.

 I got rid of the mountain bikes I had picked up over the years for small change. They were all far too heavy to enjoy the experience of riding them. Buying new and lightweight, with full suspension, would cost a small fortune. Adding a battery and motor even more so. 

 Trikes are uniquely unsuited to off-road use. Due to the very limited capacity for lean without toppling. Not to mention the need for three free wheel tracks. Though that hasn't stopped me trying in the past. I have ridden typically deep grooved, forest tracks made by motor vehicles. Dragged the trike bodily by the scruff of the handlebars. Where I could not ride.

  8.15 Light enough for a walk.  I went south for a change. Wearing another fleece jacket over a jumper. To be greeted by a gorgeous orange dawn. With orange beams shining into the thin mist. I kept snapping away with the TZ7. Not all my pictures were equally sharp. Nor captured the amazing light with a suitable landscape. 

 I climbed up to the forest by the steep, field track. Where a small herd of deer was grazing on a grass crop. Several made a run for it. Though seven were left. Standing their ground and watching me from their safe distance. The thin mist may have been hiding all of us from each other. My snaps of them came to nothing. 

 I made the descent back home by the direct route. Beside the fully regrown, field hedge. My boots picking up wet mud. Despite my deliberately seeking out and brushing though the stubble. My jumper had been tied around my waste since reaching the forest.

 I keep thinking I should find a cloth shoulder bag in a charity shop. That would give me far greater flexibility in my choice of clothing. I could discard jumpers, hats and gloves into the bag. To be easily stored with my hands still free for photography. Or moving impeding brambles aside. I haven't found a suitable canvas bag yet. Despite frequent searching.

 Spent some time in the observatory until it clouded over. Gave up and went shopping.

 13.00 62F/17C. Returned from the shops with a huge tub of white, wall paint. It had been discounted to below the price of the half sized tub I bought last time. I  also have enough architrave to complete framing the last of the doors. Inside the bathroom and beside the meter in the front hall. .18.30

18.30 57F/14C. After lunch I wasted more time watching clouds in the observatory. Then gave up and went back indoors to do lots of filling of cracks with a new cartridge. I had the greenhouse door open all afternoon and ended up with 67F/19C upstairs and 65F/18C downstairs. It is still the same temperature up here at 18.30.

 20.00 Dinner was poached eggs on toast. They were absolutely perfect. The trick is to lower the eggs individually in small cups facing the side of the saucepan. Then to wait and only very slowly tip out the eggs into the boiling water and gently remove the cup.

 This avoids the whites exploding into a horrible mess. I turned off the ring and let the water boil to a standstill over a couple of minutes. The yolks were perfect too and the taste was wonderful. 

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