Friday 3 November 2023
It’s 07:29 in southeast London and the sun rose at 06:58 (07:20 around Selkirk, Scottish Borders) and will set at 16:30 (16:28). This is my usual up-and-about time and it is significantly lighter now than I know it would be in Scotland, seemingly more so than the twenty-two minutes’ difference. Or maybe it just helps that there are streaks of blue sky here and I don’t think there’s been any blue sky in the mornings around us in Scottish Borders since the clocks went back an hour.
No one told me that when we moved out of London, I would become fascinated by sunrise and sunset and, to a slightly lesser extent, the moon phases. Or, most pertinently, that those things would affect my everyday life.
Yesterday’s Storm Ciaran did not massively impact us in Lewisham, it was ‘just’ very wet in the afternoon and maybe a bit windier than normal. My friend Duncan and I walked from London Bridge to Lewisham via a bakery, coffee and Surrey Quays shopping centre. I bought my favourite Borodinsky bread (Borough Market before I met Duncan), drank coffee, bought a pastry and a brownie from a fancy bakery, bought two things I needed from Boots and had a fab long walk and catch-up with a good friend. I love coming back to London and being able to do and appreciate things like that, all elements of that walk. Every time I wander around London, I see changes. Surely it’s never changed so much so fast in the twenty years I’ve been largely living in London? From shops/restaurants changing to buildings being knocked down and built.
I put on the fourth and final wash of this trip last night and it’s already almost dry. It’s a long way to travel to do your laundry. But at least if we break down or get stuck in bad weather on the drive home on Sunday we’ll have plenty of clothes and bedding to keep us warm.
Later this morning, I’m going to Kent to visit my mum. She’s the main reason I came back this week. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to suffer any storm damage yesterday and I think last night should have been okay. I have realised I will need to do a bit of shopping before we head back to Scotland. I haven’t actually been in a supermarket since I got back on Tuesday, just as I probably wouldn’t have been had I been in Scotland, though I’ve walked past numerous supermarkets here.