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Wednesday 8th
January 2020
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08:08 GMT
There were two things the forecast never
mentioned for yesterday. They were sun and rain.
Until around 1pm there were some nice sunny
periods, and although they were all but gone by
1pm, there had been some nice areas of blue sky
earlier. The air seemed very still while the sun
was shining, and it actually felt like the sun had
some heat. Sadly, sometime after 1pm the weather
reverted to the forecast heavy clouds, and for a
short while one of those clouds was leaking. It
was only the very lightest rain, and probably only
lasted for 10 - 15 minutes. Overall it was a mild
day with an afternoon temperature of around 11° C,
and and even warmer evening temperature of 13° C.
This morning has started off very
mild at 12° C, and the cloud is sort of thin. At
the moment the cloud is like piles of pillows, and
I think that once the sun has risen a bit further
we might be able to see blue between those
"pillows". Maybe we will even get a sunny period
or two. This afternoon the cloud will thicken, but
the temperature will remain stable at 12° C until
4pm when it will start to drop, but only by 2°
before rising again. The latest revision to the
forecast says the rain may not start until 8pm,
but I'm guessing that 7pm may be more
realistic. Tomorrow may be another mild day
with a similar temperature profile as today, but
it is going to be mostly wet.
The trouble with these mild days is
that all the bugs that give us colds, and the
like, plus the weeds in the garden, are not being
killed off by some good frosts. Maybe a bit of
snow might be good too - well at least it will
mean I won't have wasted my money on my new winter
coat ! For now I guess we just have to find
reasons to enjoy some of this mild weather. I must
admit that I did enjoy feeling the sun on my back
yesterday.
I wasn't feeling too wonderful yesterday. I
hadn't slept well during the night, and it felt
like my cold had come back as bad as it had even
been. Nevertheless, I definitely wanted to go out
for a walk. There were three reasons for wanting
to do so. The first was that I thought some fresh
air might make me feel better, and it did.
While out on the first part of this walk,
the bit between home and the pub, my nose seemed
mostly clear, and I hardly coughed at all -
something I had been doing all through the night !
Once again I came up against the paradox that
walking seemed to be uncomfortable, but also very
easy when it came to the harder bits. For
instance, walking towards Ladywell seemed to be a
bit of a slog, but going up the final little hill
at the north end of the park seemed effortless.
Another reason for wanting to get out was
the sunshine. It seemed more precious than ever
considering the forecast said there wouldn't be
any. Most of the time I had the sun on my back as
I walked towards Ladywell, and it felt deliciously
warm. I couldn't help but yearn for the return of
days when I can do that walk in just shirt
sleeves, and gradually get back a bit of colour to
my pale white winter body.
The third reason for wanting to go out was
because there was a fair chance I would be able to
meet Angela in the pub during her lunchbreak.
There was one extra reason why I wanted to
go out, and it was because until yesterday I had
not given my new (secondhand) Canon SX420 camera a
test in daylight. I discovered one minor problem
with the camera, or in reality, the fault is with
me. The camera has a built in x42 zoom lens, and
at full zoom I found it hard to keep the camera
steady. Fortunately this crow allowed me to get
quite close as it was rooting around in the rotten
wood of an old tree trunk. I assume there were
lots of juicy bugs and maggots in that totting
wood. The camera automatically set the exposure
for this picture, and although the crow looks to
be more grey than black, the detail of the
feathers, and even the eye is rather good.
I think it took the sun being out to bring
into the full contrast between these evergreen
trees, and the leafless tree around them. I think
the sun may have been partly obscured by a cloud
when I took this snap. That would be why it looks
a bit flat instead of sparkling. On the other
hand, it does make those evergreen trees look more
green.
This robin was in the graveyard of St
Mary's Church, and it's red breast seemed to
almost glow.
I think I am quite happy with my new
camera. It was a good buy for just £75. I think I
would benefit from more practice at using it, and
exploring some of the settings, but it should be
good on days out. If it has one downside it is
that in low light the pictures can show some low
level noise which shows up as slightly soft edges
on some pictures.
I arrived at the pub at exactly 1pm, but I
was halfway through my first pint of Guinness
before Angela arrived. I was beginning to think
that she was not going to arrive, but she did, and
was happy to see me. She said she still felt a bit
weak after her cold, but it seemed she got over
the cough faster than I did - I'm still waiting to
get over mine. I thought that after not smoking
for 6 years I would have the edge over Angela (who
is a light smoker), but apparently not.
I always have a certain amount of
apprehension when seeing Angela for the first time
in what seems like ages, but was probably no more
than a fortnight. Of course that fortnight was a
holiday period, and a time when relationships can
be strengthened or weakened. I have no idea how
much time Angela spent with lover boy over the
holiday period, but I have a feeling it wasn't
that much. Some of it would have been because of
Angela's cold, but I knew that unlike last year,
there were no plans to visit his relatives. I
still think that Angela stays with lover boy out
of loyalty rather than desire.
There is potential to test those loyalties
in the future. I have already mentioned that
Angela was thinking of having me as a partner for
a pub quiz, and despite a good chance of
humiliation, I am looking forward to it - maybe in
just a few weeks time. Yesterday I mentioned that
it would be nice if Angela could join me for one
of my country walks when the weather had improved
a bit. I explained how the walk between Eynsford
and Shoreham, as I did not so long ago, could be
very pleasant in the spring. Angela didn't say a
definite yes to the suggestion, but then I don't
know when the weather will be good to do it. I
think there is a 50% chance that she will go. It
was about then that Angela said she still had 9
days of annual leave to take before the end of
March. Maybe she is thinking we could do it during
the week, instead of the weekend.
When we left the pub the sky had turned
very grey, and we could both feel little spits of
rain hitting our faces. Fortunately the rain was
so light that I didn't seem to notice when it
stopped. After saying goodbye to Angela, as she
went into work, I felt slightly odd - in probably
a good way. Under the grey sky, with the threat of
more rain, it seemed like a long way to walk, and
I didn't feel I had that much energy. I guess I
was elated to see Angela, and with my spirits
lifted I somehow ignored the feeling of fatigue,
or lack of energy, and walk home faster than
usual.
Maybe that fast walk was not wise. When I
got home I suddenly felt quite drained, and rather
surprisingly I was feeling a bit cold. It had been
my intention to try not to eat anything until
dinner time. The intention was to get a good blood
glucose reading, but I threw that aside and had a
couple of cans of soup - albeit ones I knew to
have low amounts of sugar. After that I lay on my
bed and tried to snooze. I think I probably did
drop off to sleep once or twice, but my throat
felt so sensitive that anything could trigger a
cough - even yawning !
I couldn't wait until 6pm for dinner, and
there is no actual rule to say I have to. So I had
a 2 part dinner. The first part was a salad with
some ready made flavoured chicken (mango and lime,
or something like that). I was a bit generous with
the chilli mayonnaise, and so it was less healthy
than it might seem. For part 2 I had a bag of
sprouts with bacon and chestnuts. That was nice,
but not as nice as I expected. I waited for about
half an hour after eating before I took my evening
blood glucose reading. It was, not unexpectedly, a
bit higher than I would have liked, but possibly
quite low considering all I had eaten.
My evening was not very pleasant. I was not
feeling all that good. It was like my cold had
come back full strength. In fact in some ways it
was possibly the worst bit of it. As well as
giving into more food as a sort of distraction, I
also gave into using some cough mixture. Low or no
sugar cough mixtures exist, but I don't have any
here, and the stuff I do have is almost pure
syrup. It might have been worth the horrendous
blood glucose level this morning to get a slightly
better sleep. It is hard to know if those cough
mixtures do any good at all. I think that last
night it did help. Unlike the night before, I
wasn't awake for half the night.
This morning my weight is good enough, and
these is still hope of managing to be half to one
kilogram lighter when I see the Diabetes nurse in
6 days time - but only if I am very careful from
now on. If I am very careful I might get my blood
glucose down to a sane level before dinner time
today. Even my blood pressure has gone up from
very low to quite low. I don't feel very confident
that I will be over this cold by the end of today.
My throat is still on a hair trigger, and it takes
very little to trigger more coughing. I can tell
this is going to go on for some time before I
suddenly realise it has stopped.
There are two things I want to do today.
One is to go out for a walk in the fresh air, and
conveniently stop off for a pint or two of
Guinness halfway, at around 1pm. With luck I'll
see Angela again. The other thing is to do some
gardening. On this occasion it could be pulling up
some weeds and dead plant tops from my front
garden. It should be relatively easy to do, and
will make the garden look a bit more cared for.
More importantly it will give a layer of real
garden waste above a layer of stinking kitchen
waste in the brown wheelie bin. It would make the
neighbourhood a bit more fragrant if that bin was
emptied tomorrow !
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