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Saturday 18th
January 2020
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09:34 GMT
After some early morning rain, yesterday
was a dry day with some occasional short sunny
spells. The morning temperature was 10° C, but
some occasional gusts of very strong winds made it
feel much colder. By 1pm the temperature started
to drop, and it was a very cold night.
This morning started with a frost,
but also sunny. The frost remains where the sun
has not touched, and maybe even where it has. The
skies may be blue, and the sun gloriously bright,
but today's temperature may not exceed 7° C, and
for the next hour or two it may not be any more
than 3° C. Tomorrow is forecast to be very
similar, but with clear skies tonight the
temperature may drop to 0° C in the early hours of
tomorrow. Despite a colder start, it is predicted
that the temperature may rise to 7° C again
tomorrow afternoon. The next two days after
tomorrow are currently predicted to be similar,
but next Tuesday could be a candidate for snow. It
is going to be a few degrees colder, and cloudy.
At the moment the highest estimate of
precipitation is no more than 4%, but in a few
days times that could change in any direction.
The view
through my back bedroom at 8.45am. In the
foreground steam from next doors central
heating boiler swirls across the picture like
fog. All the shed roofs are covered in frost
while the rising sun lights up the back of the
houses on the left with a golden glow.
Yesterday was a strange day in some ways.
It was actually me feeling strange that was the
cause of the strange day. It seemed like I
was still getting some negative effects from the
illness I had. I say "had" because as I mentioned
yesterday, all the wet and soggy bits (i.e. mucus
generation) seemed to be mostly over after 3 or 4
days - but not completely over, and neither was
the other thing - a feeling of fatigue with a few
aching joints here and there. I feel I was not
suffering from the common cold, but some sort of
viral infection. I guess it is some relief to know
that my infection seems to be mild compared to
what I hear some are going through.
I can't remember what it was that I was
after specifically, but I went to Poundland
yesterday morning. As usual, I came home with
quite a few things in my rucksack. Walking there
and back wasn't what you might call hard work, but
it lacked all joy, and gave me thoughts about how
much nicer it would have been if I had stayed in
bed. Maybe I noticed that my stride was getting
longer on the way back, but that is probably true
no matter where I have been.
(I suddenly remember what it was I
was after - if they had any - seeds and other
gardening stuff - but it seems Valentines day
stuff is taking precedence on their limited
shelving space - why did they close the big shop
in favour of the smaller, more cramped shop ?)
After getting home I put away the stuff I
had bought, and then I went to the toilet for my
second poo of the day. After that I weighed
myself, and it seemed like it confirmed that I was
still losing weight. Maybe rather slow weight
loss, but slow is better than none. Later in the
day I would mess that up, or maybe this morning's
weight was just one of those odd blips.
Having taken a 10 minute breather, I went out
again for another wild shopping trip.
Destination number 2 was Poundstretcher,
and I was definitely going there for gardening
supplies. I bought more seeds, and some
bulbs/rhizomes for dahlias. Most of the seeds are
destined for my front garden, but I think I may
have bought too many, and the rest will be for my
back garden. I did note that I will have to be a
bit careful how I plant those seeds. Having
cleared all the big weeds and stuff from the front
garden I saw just how many bulbs are growing
there. Most will be daffodils, but in the past I
have seen bluebells as well. Normally they are
drowned out by weeds and Michaelmas daisies. The
latter are self seeding, and have been growing
every year since I first moved here. They do give
a bit of colour in Autumn, but probably need some
sort of control. Maybe they will get it this year.
As well as seeds I also bought a selection
of sugar free soft drinks. I noted that the ginger
flavoured Pepsi Max had been reduced in price, and
that the bottles of it were really cheap, but the
bottles are probably going, or even gone flat. It
feels like I am the only one who likes this ginger
version, and even I don't like it that much, but
while it is so cheap..... The one thing I didn't
find in Poundstretcher was any gardening twine. I
hope it appears on the shelves soon because one
crop I'll be planting in the next month will be
runner beans, and I will need to set up some
strings for them to "run" up.
Once this cold snap is over I think I will
sow the flower seeds in the front garden. It faces
south, and in any sunshine it gets quite warm out
there with the bricks soaking up the heat from the
sun, and re-radiating it at night. I am assuming,
but it is only a guess as I learn more about this
gardening lark, that sowing those seeds out there
earlier than the packets recommend, shouldn't end
up as a disaster.
I noticed that my legs were working
much more smoothly on that second shopping trip,
and I thought I was feeling better than I had for
some time. I still didn't fancy putting that to
the ultimate test - a long walk around the park
maybe - but it was enough to make me feel a bit
restless. I killed that off by hand washing a
double duvet cover. It was one of the more
heavyweight covers, and originally I was going to
leave it until I could dry it outdoors, but I
thought I would do it anyway. It was, as expected,
hard work, but I did the whole process in one go,
and busted every rib trying to wring it out
before, and even after hanging it over a clothes
horse to dry it in front of a fan heater set on
low.
The other thing I was going to do, and
actually did some, was to continue trying to tidy
and clean more bits of my back room - aka the old
dining room. It's hard to describe just how much I
did. In some ways it seemed a lot, but in reality
it was probably just preparing for a more
intensive bit of work. I managed to throw out some
stuff I would have liked to keep if I had room,
but now I have revealed more that needs a good
sort, and the good stuff boxed up or something.
Before too long I seemed to reach this impasse
where to go further would need a lot of hard work,
and I gave up.
At least I got something done, and maybe I
might start some of that sorting today...or maybe
I won't. All the hard work I had done just made me
feel even hungrier than I was before. It was hard
on my brain trying to resist some of the snacking
I could do, but the knowledge that I gone
completely over the top earlier in the afternoon
helped put a brake on things until after dinner.
Earlier in the afternoon I had scoffed in one
sitting, something I had thought I could make last
several days. It was a small bag of chocolate
covered brazils and almonds. The ironic thing is
that I didn't really enjoy them. The chocolate
tasted more like American chocolate - lard and
flour plus a bit of cocoa.
I had a choice of two dinners. One was the
rest of the already cooked purple cauliflower,
left from the previous day. I added the rest of a
packet of ham trimmings to it to make a sort of
stew. Unfortunately I am sure the ham, which had
been in the fridge for maybe a week, was starting
to turn, and in the end I didn't want to risk it.
My other choice was some freshly grilled chicken
thighs cooked with Harissa paste plus added
cayenne pepper. I ate them with some "Italian
style" salad leaves with far too much extra light
(and thus not very nice) mayonnaise. It came close
to being healthy.
Later in the evening I kept feeling hungry.
I think it was mainly boredom. I did my best not
to eat anything too outrageous, but in the end I
ate a handful of liquorice allsorts. That would
have sent my blood glucose soaring if anything
would ! I also ended up consuming quite a few
whiskies, but all they did was to make me feel a
bit ill. That was at first. Later they would
contribute to some interesting sleep.
I can't remember what time I finally went
to bed, but I am sure I was asleep by 11pm, and it
could even have been 10pm. I have a vague
recollection of getting up again for a pee just
before midnight, but I was soon asleep again. The
next time I woke up it was after 4am. To sleep non
stop for over 4 hours is a rarity these days.
There were a few times after that when I woke up,
and it seemed like I would not get back to sleep,
but each time I got at least an extra hour. It was
probably during these later hour of sleep that I
had three dreams that were either slightly or very
erotic. Each featured a different woman. One I
knew exactly who she was. Another featured a sort
of composite woman who was like a mix of several
woman. The best dream was actually the one that
was less erotic in a direct sense, but seemed to
have so much potential. I featured a woman who I
can not identify. I suspect it was probably
someone I had seen on TV. It must be something to
do with my age that I found it more exciting that
she radiated warmth more than sexiness.
This morning, after so much sleep, I ached
in all sorts of places - particularly my rib cage
- but those aches have been fading away since
then, although they are not gone yet. I think
yesterday's eating frenzy has caused a small
increase in my weight, but my blood glucose level
is lower than yesterday, and about at the level I
am happy with. My blood pressure remains boringly
low. The combined results of good bad and
indifferent add up to I don't know. "I don't know"
also sums up my plans for today. I think I am
going to force myself to go for a walk around the
park, but only because I think I need to rather
than want to. I did have some crazy idea of going
to the coast, but I think the chances of that
happening are exceedingly slim.
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