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Saturday 15th
February 2020
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09:04 GMT
I can only think that yesterday's weather
was so bland that it left very little impression
on me. There was a bit of sunshine in the morning,
but it was overcast by midday. The morning started
cold enough for a light frost, but by the
afternoon it was 11° C, and neither warm nor cold.
There was supposed to be some rain starting at
9pm, but I have no idea when it started. All I
know was that the ground was wet this morning.
By the look of the ground the overnight
rain probably stopped at around 5am, but maybe
earlier, and as I said above, I have no idea when
it started. Was is more certain is that sooner or
later it will rain again today. The latest
prediction is that it was start at 1pm, but the
real unknown is when it will be light, and when
heavy. The forecast attempts to put times to it,
but I suspect it will be more random. I'm not sure
if there is going to be any benefit to it being
13° C for a lot of today when the rain will make
outdoors very user unfriendly. That's not to
mention the gale force winds expected that will
probably chill to the bone. The current forecast
predicts the rain tomorrow will all be heavy until
an hour or two after sunset. During the morning
there will be more gale force winds.
Yesterday was one of those days when I
couldn't raise much enthusiasm to do anything. I
did do some things, but I couldn't be bothered to
do more than the minimum. Generally speaking I had
a very lazy day. The weather was one reason for
it, but with the benefit of hindsight there could
have been another reason, and a reason that I
think I have experienced before.
There was one thing I just had to do
yesterday morning, and that was to finish washing
the double duvet cover I had started the day
before. As expected, it was a nasty experience
until I had wrung out the cold soapy water, and
started the rinses, and fabric conditioner in warm
water. It was a relief to get it hanging over a
clothes horse in front of a fan heater turned to
the low setting.
With the bath clear of laundry tubs I
should have taken a shower, but I was not
expecting to see anyone, and so I just washed
myself down quickly with a flannel. That seemed
good enough for the one time I went out. That was
the next thing I did once I was dressed - going to
the corner shop. I wanted the latest New
Scientist, and a couple of bottles of Diet Coke. I
also bough a ball of twine. I had been looking in
places like Poundland for some string or twine to
use in the garden, but it was the corner shop that
had it.
Yesterday was St Valentines day, and I
guess it was entirely appropriate that I should
find a Valentines card at the back of the drawer I
was clearing out yesterday. I didn't get any
current Valentines cards this year, but through my
life it has been rare to get any. The card above
was sent by the mum of an old flame (Yes, I had
mum and daughter !), and it was more sexy than the
sender. It was also partly sent in jest...at least
I think it was.
The picture above is of a coaster, about 3
inches across, and made from a silvery metal that
could almost be silver, but probably isn't (no
hall marks visible). The back is like a soft, or
perhaps padded plastic. If it is marked as silver
it could be under the padding. I wish I could
remember how I acquired this coaster. It was at
the back of the drawer with the Valentines card
plus other detritus and all covered in a film of
old cigarette ash. It is probably I acquired it
when I was working in the behind the scenes
service department of a well know high street
shop.
One possible scenario was that it was found
inside a VHS video recorder. From time to time VHS
machines would come into the workshop where some
kiddie had posted stuff through the tape loading
slot. Food was quite a frequent thing. Such
machine were usually considered a write off, and
if the customer had succumbed to the shop selling
insurance they would get a new machine. They were
the lucky ones who had not just wasted their
money, but actually got a bonus from it. Thousands
more would waste their money - it was considered a
very important part of the companies revenue
stream.
One of the things I could have, and
probably should have done yesterday was to do some
work in the garden. Having purchased my ball of
string from the corner shop, I could have marked
out where I will be re-using a lot of the bigger
rubble as edging stones for borders between the
lawn-to-be, and the beds where I hope to have some
plants and vegetables some day.
I did get as far as going out to consider
what I was going to have to do, and I could have
actually started work out there. It wasn't
terribly cold, and it wasn't raining, but the grey
sky drained some enthusiasm. I then made excuses
like "the ground is still too wet" to start raking
the lawn area free of stones and stuff. As can be
seen in the picture on the left, some of my garden
looks more like the beach at Southend after the
rain has exposed so much rubble.
Perhaps the best excuse of all for doing
very little, and absolutely nothing in the garden,
was that I had a brand new, crisp New Scientist to
read. So I lay on my bed reading except when I got
up to spend a few minutes here, and a few minutes
there to clear out the desk drawer that revealed
the Valentines card and coaster. I also had to
take a break to polish the coaster with metal
polish, and to take pictures of the coaster and
card.
There was one other important thing I did
yesterday, and that was to be very careful about
what I ate. That is careful in a blood glucose
way, and not really in a weight loss way. My lunch
was a lot of park sausages - and nothing else
unless some mustard and reduced sugar ketchup
count.
Those sausages were from Aldi, and they
could, and maybe were from their "everyday" range.
They were cheap, and almost nasty. They didn't
taste that bad, but their texture was awful. It is
probably worth spending another 20p for their next
range up. It is only rarely do they have anything
that could be called a premium range. My
neighbour, upon hearing about these sausages, says
I ought to go with him to the sausage shop in
Beckenham. They apparently sell excellent sausages
there. Maybe I will go there some time.
As dinner time approached I knew I wanted
something basically healthy. My wealth is slowly
evaporating as I wait for my state pension in the
middle of next year (I hope), and so takeaways are
starting to become a bit of a luxury, but I found
I wanted a kebab - grilled meat and salad has
proved itself to suit all aspects of my diet
before, and that is what I had. I tried yet
another semi-local restaurant, and I was not
entirely pleased with what I got. The meat was
good, but the chilli sauce on it was sparse and
rather tame. The salad seemed like it had been
prepared in the morning, was past it's best. The
worst thing was one of the green chillies (just
one per kebab) tasted awful. It looked OK, but ugh
!
I felt nice and replete after my kebabs (no
pitta bread), and found that I wanted to go to bed
before all TV options had finished. So I went to
bed not that long after 8.30pm, and read for a
while. I think I then fell asleep for possibly an
hour, but it could have been less. I had been
feeling a bit uncomfortable when I went to bed,
but not in any dramatic way. My belly felt a
little full, but other bits of me seemed to be
uncomfortable. When I woke up again (assuming I
did go to sleep - it was all a bit vague) I
thought I ought to go to the toilet.
There was absolutely no urgency about it at
all, but I just had this idea it would be a good
thing. It was. It was like uncorking a bottle of
beer. Once the cork came out everything just
frothed over. Over the course of the next 30 to 60
minutes I made about 5 visits to the toilet, and
all but the last were "dramatic". I felt so much
thinner after that. I also slept a lot better, but
only after taking a couple of paracetamol because
my right shoulder was feeling very painful when I
tried sleeping on my right, or even on my back.
This morning my right shoulder is still
rather sore. This blows my theory that it is
either painful at night, or during the day, but
rarely both, right out of the window. One other
negative thing is that despite emptying more
content than my torso could possibly hold, my
weight seems slightly higher this morning. There
is good news too. My attempt to get my blood
glucose level down did work. 6.8mmol/l is not as
low as I really want to aim for, but it is the
first time it has been under 7 in the morning for
a week or more.
One thing I may well do today is to go to
Tesco and carefully buy some stuff that may help
my blood glucose go lower still, although it is
possible that might be a waste of time for today.
The one other thing I hope to bring myself to do
is to go out - in the rain !!! - to see two bands
play in The Pelton Arms in Greenwich. it is a bit
of an awkward place to get to. It may mean two
buses and a walk through the back streets of
Greenwich. The two bands are Haze - a young band
who are opening for Chain. Haze should be on at
8pm, and so I had better leave early. It is almost
worth going because it is rare for a gig to start
at a sensible time.
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