Page composed using
Seamonkey composer1
home
site map
December 2019
January 2020


Friday 10th January 2020
08:34 GMT
 
  Yesterday was a day of two halves. The first half was bright and sunny with some lovely blue sky. The second half was dull and heavily overcast, and it included quite a lot of rain too ! The change happened at around 1pm, but fortunately the rain fell a few hours after that. It was a mild day. The sun felt warm, but the air temperature didn't exceed 13° C.
this forecast may not be accurate
   The early version of today's forecast seems to have lost touch with reality ! At the moment it is as dull as ditchwater outside, and the chances of bright sunshine from clear blue skies in 40 minutes seems very remote ! The most recent revision now says that there will only be sunny periods today, and they won't start until 10am. That is a bit of a disappointment ! At least the temperature forecast hasn't changed - not that 8° C is anything to get excited about. The sunny periods, if indeed we do get them, should last until sunset. The best that can be said about today is that it should be dry. Tomorrow is currently predicted to be a little less cold with an afternoon temperature of 11° C, but it is thought to be an overcast day with no hint of sunshine. The cloud will thicken further at sunset, but the day should remain dry.

 

  Yesterday's morning sunshine was a very strong lure to go out and get some fresh air. Before I could indulge in a longer walk, I did a bit of shopping. It was only a short walk, done in the sunshine, and with the air temperature just over 10° C when I went out. I took a chance on just wearing my sleeveless denim jacket instead of a proper coat, and it felt good. It is going to be great when it can be an everyday occurrence - until it is warm enough to omit any coat. That will be greater still !

  I went to Poundstretcher with a few specific purchases in mind. I was crossing my fingers that all the Xmas junk, that had taken up so much space in the store, had now gone, and that gardening stuff might be back on the shelves. I was partly right. Some shelf space is still being used for heavily discounted Xmas stuff. It is a good time to buy strings of LED lights right now.

  What I was hoping for had actually appeared on the shelves, and there was a greater variety than expected. That something was seeds, and even some bulbs that were already beginning to sprout. I bought a selection of flower seeds that I am going to sow in my front garden at the correct time. That correct time, for most of the seeds, is (roughly) mid February to Mid march.

   I may sow them a little earlier than that. My small front garden faces south, and traps the heat of the sun nicely. If all the seeds germinate, and the plants flower, I could end up with a riot of colour out there - the first time ever since moving here in 1983 ! Maybe next year I might try to make it seem a bit less random, but this year I will sprinkle the seeds at random, and hope for the best.
slightly extended walk
  Once my shopping had been done, and my purchases put away, I rested for 10 minutes before getting ready to go out again. This time I would wear a coat in case the forecast afternoon rain came early, and I would wear my best walking boots for extra comfort. I must admit I was doing much of this almost on autopilot because in some ways I didn't want to go out.

  I wasn't feeling all that good yesterday morning. My cough had spoiled my sleep again, and from time to time I was still coughing in the morning. It was actually improving to some extent, but I had become fed up with it. So I had to force myself to try and enjoy a walk in the sunshine. There was also the possibility of bumping into Angela as an extra lure, although I had told her I would not be seeing her yesterday.

  It was either some sort of masochism, or a cunning plan, but I decided to do an extended walk via the Sainsbury's by Catford station. That assured that my walk was going to be more substantial than a simple walk to the pub and back. As the screenshot of my phones tracker shows,  I walked 2.37 miles in total. The real reason for going via Sainsbury's was to buy some of their ready made salads. My blood glucose has been running high during the cold, and I though eating some salads, instead of other stuff, may have been beneficial.

  I am not sure if it was the cold, or the way the cold was responsible for raising my blood glucose level, but I constantly felt a mildly fatigued, and I had ton consciously push myself to keep my pace up. I found it sort of strange that while it seemed harder than usual to walk on the flat, I had no trouble walking up the long spiral slope of the footbridge that crosses the railway in the middle of the park. I guess that is the benefit of all the practice I have been putting in for the last month or so now.
blue sky
  I have to admit that while on one hand it felt like a bit of a slog as I walked through the park, on the the other hand it seemed worth it for the brilliant blue sky, and the feel of the warm sun on my back.
blue sky with some
                          clouds
  There wasn't always sun on my back. Behind me the clouds were starting to thicken, but in front, to the north, only a few fluffy clouds were appearing in the sky.

  I think my subconscious knows the timings of these walks better than I do. I did adjust my route a bit after checking the time, but only to make sure I wasn't too late, or too early when I got to the pub. I actually arrived spot on time ! I ordered a pint of Guinness, and waited, hoping that Angela might pop in. Sadly she didn't. I suspect she used the time for something else knowing I would not be there. I guess I had better warn her I will be there today in case she fancies meeting for a drink.

  I finished my single pint, and left the pub. The first thing I saw was that the sky had changed from still showing large areas of blue to being completely covered by dirty grey clouds. It looked like rain was imminent. It was lucky I was wearing a coat that I could comfortably wear done up. In fact it didn't rain until some time after I was safely home - and that was after taking a chance and taking a slightly longer route to increase my mileage. Maybe that wasn't a good idea because the last half mile did feel like hard work...or maybe that was actually good for me. Who knows ?

  I had a fairly lazy, and in some ways, slightly miserable afternoon. The misery was part not seeing Angela, and quite a lot of seeing dirty grey skies again, and rain. I'm not sure how long it was after I got home - I'm pretty sure it was longer than half an hour - before the rain seemed to be coming down in torrents. It certainly seemed out of proportion to the light rain that was originally forecast. I probably spent a fair bit of the afternoon, and some of the evening, eating "safe" stuff to distract me from eating "unsafe" stuff. In practice that meant eating a lot of salad instead of having a proper hot meal of something or another.

  In another of those paradoxes that confound my brain, and perhaps are a bit schizophrenic, I felt increasing pissed off about how my cold was dragging out, and in particular how my cough seemed never to end. At the same time, a more rational bit of my brain was realising that each cough session was actually getting a bit milder, and the time between any two bad coughing sessions was getting longer and longer.

  One thing I was determined not to do was to have any more cough mixture. The stuff that did seem to help, a mentholated cough syrup, was almost pure sugar, and it knocked my blood glucose level for six. In the end I am not sute I even took any paracetamol before going to bed. Paracetamol probably works better in the long term than the cough syrup, but the cough syrup does provides a bit of help very quickly.

  I was hardly coughing at all until I laid down and tried to go to sleep. I was soon coughing, but not that badly. It didn't seem to take long for it to settle down, and I quickly fell asleep. Every time I woke up I had to clear my throat, and sometimes that meant coughing up what seemed to be a fair amount of mucus. Fortunately I could usually get back to sleep again fairly quickly. This happened every time I woke up, and I was probably waking up every 90 minutes to 2 hours through the night.

  This morning my blood glucose is a lot better, but still not as low as I hope it will be when I see the diabetes nurse at the hospital in just 4 days time now. My weight is still showing the right units digit, but I would have preferred it of the tenths of a kilogram was a much lower number. At this time I have only done what seemed a very small poo. If I bigger one happens later then I will be happier that things are still on target. My blood pressure is still boringly low.

  That just leaves my cough, and maybe other remnants of my cold. My nose is not running, but often feels a bit stuffy. I am finding it hard to evaluate my cough. It is probably milder than it has been, and yet it is not as infrequent as I would hope (although I would hope it goes away completely !). I think it will improve after a shower (because of the increased humidity under the shower), and I think it will improve once I get out into the fresh air and sunshine.

  There is just one flaw in that argument. It looks more like it might rain than the sun breaking through. The weather forecast has been revised again since I started writing. It is still insistent that in 10 minutes (as I write this) the sunny intervals will start. As I look out my window I can see that the clouds may look a little thinner to the west, but the east, where the sun should be lurking behind the clouds, the clouds look s thick as ever.

  Oh well, even if there is no sunshine I will still go for a walk today. In sunshine it might be an extended walk, or if it is as dull as it is now it will be the shortest route between home and the pub, and back again, possible - probably. I don't hold that much hope that I will see Angela, but I will let her know I will be there. As for the rest of the day....I have no idea what I will do apart from one possibility. I have an idea that I will be ordering a takeaway shish kebab or two tonight.

  My experiments have proved that shish kebab, being grilled meat with salad plus a slice of pitta bread that I will discard, is actually a healthy option for me. I tend to lose a bit of weight after having one for dinner, and my blood glucose level likes it too. There is one argument against it - and that is financial. It would be a bit of a luxury, and my finances are dwindling all the time. I checked my bank balance when I withdrew some beer vouchers yesterday, and it seems that since quitting work my savings (in my main bank account) have halved. I am probably doing better than I thought, but I still ought to be careful. My little Post Office Telecommunications pension helps a bit, but my state pension is still 18 months away - assuming our wonderful billionaire overlords in the government do not move the goal posts again so they can steal our money, and hide it in their secret offshore bank accounts.