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Friday 3rd
April 2020
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08:32 BST
I'm not sure why, but I don't seem to
remember yesterday as being quite as dull as the
forecast predicted it would be. Maybe it was just
light grey instead of dark grey. There were a few
sunny spells in the late afternoon, but once again
they seem to have left little impact on my memory.
This is the trouble when you stay at home for most
of the day. The outside weather has very little
impact. One thing that did make a change was the
temperature. I'm not sure it ever got much over
12° C, but I wouldn't dispute that it did reach
13° C at some time. What is more significant is
that it made it less chilly in the unheated back
room (for instance).
Today continues the
trend set yesterday for being a grey day with
a bit of brightness at the end of the
afternoon. It would seem it will be a bit
cooler today. Maybe just 10° C at best. It was
at that point I thought I had better check the
forecast for changes, and indeed it has
changed. The day is now predicted to be
uniformly mid grey with no dark grey, and no
sunshine at the end of the afternoon. Also it
is now expected to reach 12° C this afternoon.
Tomorrow looks like it could be most pleasant
- sunny intervals all day, and the temperature
reaching 15° C.
I didn't feel that wonderful
yesterday, and back in the real world I would not
be too bothered about it, but I wanted to go out
to try and get some shopping, and I didn't want to
display any potential signs of a cold while I was
out. It is a strange world we currently live in
where an innocent cough, or the need to blow your
nose now and again are potential signs of plague.
Fortunately once I was out in the fresh air I only
had to do each once or twice, and I was able to do
both in a discrete fashion. Oh for the days when a
sneeze, after a blast of birch pollen, could be
done with some exuberance.
After my fairly pleasant shopping
experience on Monday I hoped that I might be able
to do a full shop in Aldi, but when I got there I
found a line of people, each spaced by the
regulation 2m, snaking back into the car park.
That was not the shop for me. I walked past Aldi
and starting heading towards the Tesco Express
until I noticed the queue there. It was not nearly
as bad, and possibly there were no more than 8
people waiting to be counted into, and out of the
shop to satisfy the no more than 5 customers
inside at any time.
I maybe could have put up with that, but I
had other possibilities to check. I wandered down
the high street to the shop called "The Catford
Food Market". It is the Asian/Caribbean/other
owned/run shop that is open 24 hours a day, 365
days a year. It is not obvious it even has a door
that can be closed. I have never been in there
before - mainly from a belief their prices would
be quite high. Now I am not so sure that they are
that high, or maybe in these special
circumstances being more expensive than Tesco can
be worth it for the convenience.
When I got there the shop was empty, and I
could just walk in and grab 3 bottles of Diet
Coke. Sadly they were only the 1.75L variety, but
good enough. I also thought I found the fish
fingers that I had been longing for. The trouble
was that I didn't read the packets properly (I
bought two). They were not fish fingers, but
suitably similar fish burgers - more squae than
long and thin, but otherwise the same
construction.
I arrived home having done more exercise
than expected, but barely any more than half a
mile. I did it mostly walking as fast as I could,
and I was starting to tire as I got home. That was
unexpected, and rather unwanted. It felt like it
was something more than just being a bit out of
practice. Maybe if life was back to normal I would
have slowed down a bit, and taken more time to
savour the walk. Maybe it was because I was unwell
without realising it. My blood glucose, while
improved, still indicates I might be fighting an
infection. All my other indicators, including, and
maybe most crucially my body temperature still
show everything is fine.
It was satisfying and have fish "burgers"
for lunch. There are only two in a pack instead of
typically 8 fish fingers, and so it seemed more a
snack than a meal, but it was a nice
snack.....although maybe not quite the nectar I
was hoping for. I seem to recall the last time I
had an urge for fish fingers, possibly a year ago
(maybe it is a seasonal thing) I was actually very
slightly underwhelmed by them.
The next thing I did of any significance,
and for me it was very significant, was to wash
all but the duvet from my recent change of bed
linen. The pillowcases and bottom sheet were very
simple to wash by hand, and so I threw in a
slightly bigger than usual hand towel, and a pair
of underpants. That hand towel was the item that
needed a bit of physical effort to wash and wring
out. Maybe today I will wash the duvet cover. That
will be hard work, and I wont be doing anything
else with it.
There was one other thing I did of huge
significance yesterday, and it's repercussions are
still being felt this morning. I stabbed the
inside of my nose with my sharp pointed tweezers.
Obviously this wasn't intentional. It was all over
before I could say exactly what it was that
happened, but some sort of slip of the hand while
pulling out some nasal hairs and I had a new leak
in my nose - and it was bloody painful doing it !
I didn't seem to notice it last night, but this
morning I frequently get a speckling of blood from
one nostril when I blow my nose. It is like I am
sort of romantic poet dying of consumption.
The best news of all was to finally get a
response from Angela. She had very little to say,
and nothing about her current situation, but at
least she thanked me for keeping in touch, and
also said that she missed me as well. I asked her
to try and send me some more news when she was
able, and she said yes, but I think she will say
very little without face to face contact -
preferably over a drink - and it feels like it
could be ages before that will be able to happen
again. At my gloomiest I can imagine the pubs
never opening again.
Last night I had the final part of my
takeaway from Tuesday night. After being kept
chilled in the fridge the salad was in 99.5% good
condition, but I suspect it would not last a lot
longer. This was a lamb shish kebab. Under the
salad (and added extra hot chilli sauce)
are a lot of chunks of grilled lamb. They were
still nice when eaten cold, but I think the
chicken version is nicer when cold. This lamb
shish kebab was £7.90, and the chicken was £7.50.
It may be just a matter of 40p, but I think the
better flavour when cold is a better reason to
stick to chicken if I am contemplating buying a
few to use over a few nights - which could be
tonight !
As usual I limited myself to under 4 hours
of TV yesterday, and avoided any news programmes.
This might mean I miss the lifting of the curfew
when it happens, but I still see the adverts that
feature the child molester masquerading as a
doctor who reads out our rights - prefer to think
of them as rights rather than things that are
tolerated. Things like going out for essential
supplies, and only going out for exercise once a
day. I feel ashamed that I have not made use of
that to keep my exercise up, but with some warmer
days coming soon (probably tomorrow) I really
ought to force myself to a walk around the park.
Once again, for reasons I cannot work out,
I slept very badly again last night. I am starting
to wonder if I should put some bricks under my new
mattress to simulate the lumps of the old mattress
protectors that I replaced. I seem to recall it
took three nights before I was able to sleep on
the smooth mattress of my hospital bed last
August. Maybe tonight I will start to feel
comfortable again. It should be a comparatively
warm night tonight, and I must remember to turn
the heater off well before going to bed.
This morning I do not feel good. Maybe only
getting 4 or 5 hours sleep is a major contributor
to how I currently feel. Probably the worst thing
is a sort of hangover-like headache that is not
strong, but still intrusive. I also not just how
quickly my legs seem to seize up after sitting at
my PC for an hour or so. They felt quite stiff
when I went for a second visit to the toilet this
morning.
That second visit was handy because it
reduced my weight sufficiently to almost get back
to the lower weight before I had my fish and chip
dinner last Tuesday. There is now hope again that
I am slowly losing weight. My blood glucose didn't
fall as low as I hoped it might by this morning,
but 8.6mmol/L is not that terrible. I was hoping
for 7 point something, but I guess I'll have to be
patient. I did note that the fish burgers I had
for lunch did include sugar in the list of
ingredients. Why fish needs sugar is anyone's
guess ! My temperature taken every 3 hours during
the day (when I remember) has settled down to a
nice pattern. By the evening my temperature rises
to a smidgen below normal (or one of several
possible normals). In the morning it is closer to
a cooling corpse.
I have already mentioned that I will
probably wash the duvet cover today as my big
project, but there are a few other things I will
probably do. The first, after I am washed and
dressed is another shopping expedition. I want to
see how shopping is like in the Turkish
Supermarket near the station. They used to do
proper 2L bottles of Diet coke, and I rather fancy
some smoked Polish pork. The latter is expensive,
but it can be very nice. With luck they will also
have some pots of assorted beans and or pulses
"salads". I found them quite good for weight loss
many years ago, but some of them may not be quite
so good for my blood glucose. If shopping in there
is OK I must remember to get some tomato sauce as
well.
There is one other thing I might do today.
It is a continuation of what I was doing a few
minutes at a time yesterday. In small increments I
almost cleared the surface of my dining table in
the back room. If I can get the last bits off it -
some of which I probably ought to just throw away
- I could move on to giving a good clean to
underneath the table. There is some stuff that I
might be able to chuck away under the table, but
some needs to be kept. I fear there may still be
more mouse droppings under there. I did clean out
quite a pile a year ago (and maybe longer) but I
couldn't get the area completely clear. Maybe
today I will be able.
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