There have already been some sunny periods this morning, and with luck more will follow. It is a shame that the afternoon may only be 8° C apart from a very brief excursion to 9° C. At least it should be a dry day. Tomorrow is currently forecast to be lightly overcast, and with the temperature reaching 9° C for most of the afternoon.
  The only really significant thing about yesterday was my cold got worse. That would have other significances that would lead on to more significances (or something like that). The strange thing is that my cold got worse, I was still feeling good in many ways. My nose was starting to run a bit, and my cough went from an occasional tickle to a quite annoying level. Yet it still felt like I had a lot of energy, and those inconveniences didn't seem to be very bothersome.

  Maybe it was a case of feeling that way because I wanted to feel that way, but deeper down there was obviously less cheerful thoughts. The most revealing thing about how I was really feeling was my appetite. It may have started as a desire for something hot while feeling a bit shivery, but which got a bit out of control. I was going to warm myself with soup, as I did the day before, but I thought I could do better.

  I cooked what should have been a healthy lunch of grilled skinless chicken breast with cooked frozen peas. I have to confess I cooked those peas with a very generous chunk of butter on them. It made the meal rather less fat free than it could have been. While grilling the chicken I dosed it with hot chilli sauce - the type with no, or little sugar in it. As a meal it was very nice, and in other circumstances should have seen me through to dinner.

  It was probably less than 2 hours later that I got the munchies. It was really a desire for a distraction away from the discomfort of my cold. I ended up opening up two long life, ready prepared, tune "salads". These salads were less salad and more like pasta. I knew this when I selected them, and I knew that carbohydrate peak would peak my blood glucose level, but I ate, and enjoyed them regardless...although the "Thai" flavoured one was less enjoyable than the "Mediterranean" flavoured one.

  I also added a fair bit of booze to my repertoire. I can't remember how late it was in the afternoon that I opened the bottle of Tesco Special Reserve whisky that Angela had given to me as a Xmas present. I pretended a little sip of that every now and then helped reduce my cough. I have no idea why I thought it would help, and in reality it probably didn't, but you have to try these things every time in case it works one time !

  Just before dinner time I checked my blood glucose level, and as I predicted, the pasta in those so-called salads had caused a spike in my blood glucose. It rather spoils an otherwise fairly good run of reading, but was otherwise of no consequence provided the level drops back to a decent level - as it mostly has this morning (a bit lower might have been nicer, but it was acceptable).

  Dinner was low fat pork sausages with overcooked "no added sugar" baked beans. Once again it was a meal designed to be enjoyed rather than be healthy - although it shouldn't have been that bad. If it sounds like I did little more than eat and drink yesterday, you are probably not far wrong. Apart from one particular thing, it is hard to remember how I managed to fill in all the hours of yesterday, and yet I don't remember being any more than mildly bored for just a few times.

  Probably the most frustrating thing was that despite the cold it felt like I had a lot of energy, and I was torn between going out for a walk, and doing what may have been the more sensible thing of staying in the warm. In the end, and it was very late in the afternoon, I decided to hand wash a couple of t-shirts, some underpants, and a pair of lounge pants to use a bit of energy. I could also say I had actually done something productive yesterday.

  Doing that wash was not quite as easy as I expected it to be, and maybe if I had gone out for a walk I would have quickly found out that maybe I had less energy than I thought I had. I probably made the right decision to stay in - even if it meant eating and drinking improperly.

  Eventually it was time for bed, but I didn't feel sleepy enough to attempt an early night. Not only that but my cough had been getting worse. I think it was probably near midnight when I half got to sleep. I am sure I was hovering between sleep and being awake for a long time. I thought I was awake, but later I would realise I had been dreaming. As I lay in bed, believing I was wide awake, I tried laying on one side, and then the other to see which windpipe was the clearest to breath through.

 it was not until I was halfway to the toilet, going for a pee, that I became fully awake, and realised that like all mammals, I only have one windpipe ! Nothing as bizzare happened for the rest of the night, but there were plenty of other periods where I thought I wasn't sleeping, but large chunks of time went by unnoticed. It was almost entirely the problem with my cough that spoiled my sleep. During the course of the night the nature of my cough changed.

  Until last night my cough had been mostly the result of tickley feelings in my throat, but as the night progressed I seemed to start coughing up more mucus. It probably only really happened when laying down, but a tiny bit of mucus would work it's way up my windpipe until it hit a sensitive spot to give a sort of choking sensation. That tiny bit of mucus, probably no more than a thin smear, just had to be coughed up.

  Since getting up my cough seems to be easing off, although just thinking about it, or writing about it, is enough to make me want to clear my throat - cough, cough cough ! My nose is still a bit stuffy, and needs an occasional blow, but looking back I think it may have been more drippy yesterday. Maybe it will get worse, or maybe it will continue to improve. One thing is for certain is that my nose is not sore and crusty through excessive blowing. I think it could easily have been like after the time since this cold first hit. Fingers crossed that it doesn't happen.

  There is one thing on my side when getting a cold now, and that is since stopping smoking (until the age of 80 years old, when I start again - possibly) I have no suffered the devastating severe coughs I used to get. I am tempted to think that in the last 6 years each cold has been lighter and lighter compared to those prior to my quad heart bypass operation. Of course that is a dangerous thing to say. My cold is not over yet, and it could easily get much worse, but it does feel like I am on the home straight, and it will soon be over.

  As I have already said, my blood glucose level is higher than desired this morning after yesterday's excesses, but it is nothing I worry about. I mainly worry about getting it back to normal. It means I will have to try and be a bit more disciplined about what I eat and drink today. Ideally I should get out for a bit in the intermittent sunshine that should be a feature of most of today.

  The only trouble is that I am not sure that I am very keen to chance going out today. It could have some plus points. I could try out the winter/bad weather coat I bought a week or two ago, and I could try out the Canon camera I bought in Cash Busters (also almost a fortnight ago). The downside is that I am not sure if it is cold enough to try that new coat out. I feel that for any walk longer than 10 minutes I will cook inside it, and end up drenched in sweat. Maybe that could be a good thing for this cold, or maybe not. The other negative thing is that al the coughing, and thrashing around in bed last night, has left my chest feeling rather sore. Exercise could make it worse, or it could make it better.

  I think the truest thing to say is that I have absolutely no idea what I will be doing today - except for one thing. I couldn't be bothered to have a shower yesterday. I will definitely be having one before I do anything else. I guess I will judge what comes next after I see how I feel after the shower.

 Oh, there was one other thing. Last night I was very impressed with my blood pressure. The reading I got was very low, and quite surprising considering to get it that low I would usually do my best to get very relaxed, and sit very still in control of my breathing. Back in the real world, and I don't know why I dared do it, I checked my blood pressure while eating a lump of cheese with one hand, and the other was scrolling through a web page.
  Three or four years ago I could only dream of my blood pressure being this low. I can attribute some of it to my prescribed medication, but I still believe it is is the high strength daily vitamin D tablets I take that is responsible for it. This morning, on my second attempt (the picture above was from the first, and only attempt) my Systolic pressure was just 100mmHg !