I seemed to be suffering from two thing yesterday, and the worst of them was the most ephemeral. The real, sort of medical, problem was nothing more exotic than constipation. It wasn't painful, but constantly reminded me that sooner or later I would need the toilet. Although I did "go" once in the morning, the real relief was not until late evening. The other problem may have has some bearing on that constipation, but it was much more complex than that.

  I don't know when it started, it could have been 50 years ago for all I know, but I think it is worse now that I don't have to go to work, and so there is no need to fight it. It is quite simply the weather changing. It is not something I check, maybe I should do so, but I believe that the recent very good weather we have had was caused by, or caused, high pressure. The cold and wet rainy weather today is the result of, or causes low pressure. Yesterday I was caught in the change, and I don't think my body liked it.

  I had a constant quite low level headache - the type you can forget about and ignore if something exciting is happening, but otherwise it gnaws away at your mental health. As well as typical dull, wet, and cold weather depression, I also had a few muscular/joint aches - nothing like 'flu intensity, but just a gentle ache that stops nothing, but also discourages anything. The combined result of these things meant that once I had done some early morning shopping, I didn't go out again.

  One thing I was going to go out for was to buy a garden hose. One look at the weather forecast for today and a garden hose suddenly shot to the bottom of my wants list. Yesterday turned out to be the sort of day when I did lots of almost inconsequential things. Things like washing the other kitchen windows, and sewing up a loose buttonhole on one of my pairs of shorts. Despite feeling "depressed" (for want of a better description) I still have some optimistic ideas for things I hope I will be able to do in the summer if lockdown, and travel bans are lifted. I still want to do some coastal walks, and scare people with my naked knees !

  One sort of obvious consequences of getting through the day without any positive drive to do any grand things was to eat unhealthy stuff. It was reflected in my weight and blood glucose this morning. Both have gone in the wrong direction, and once this dreadful cold, wet and gloomy day is over I hope to get them moving in the right direction again. Last night I had a plan for an early night so I could go out early today. That was scuppered by my constipation coming to an end. It was more with a whimper than a bang, but it kept me awake longer than intended.

  I didn't seem to sleep terribly well last night, but I did manage to get up semi-early this morning.  I managed to have a shower, and to wash my hair, and to blow dry my hair in time to walk to the shops a few minutes before 9.30am. I had a cunning plan that might have involved a walk through the park. I'm glad it didn't because it seemed so cold that I put on my thick winter coat, with hood, to keep out the cold and rain.
  Had I been driving I could have been annoyed at this point, but I was walking, and the sign didn't say footpath closed. I carried on walking, and passed a big hole in the road near Aldi.
  This big hole in the road was why the road was closed. I am not sure what the point of the hole is. Some work had been going on much closer to the kerb for some time, and I thought that was something to do with the electric supply. This big hole just reveals two water pipes - one seems to be mains pressure drinking water (the big pipe with the tap off point), and possible a storm water drain (the smaller blue pipe).
  I had a theory that it was so cold and wet that few people would be queuing outside shops, and I seemed to guess right. There seem to be just four people waiting to get into Aldi. The lady with the blue umbrella on the right edge of the picture is the last in the queue. There are two others who may have just come out - one of them obviously - on second thouts the man facing the wrong way may be getting a shopping trolley rather than putting one away. If I had brought my other rucksack, with the Aldi bags in it, plus a £1 coin for a trolley, I might have even joined this queue.
  I carried on around the corner. My plan was to see how bad the queue was outside the Tesco Express, and if it was bad to carry on walking, via the park, to the Sainsbury's Local shop by Catford station to see if I had any better luck there. As can be seen, there was just one person waiting to get into the Tesco Express, and I quickly crossed the main road, and joined the queue. A few minutes later I was in, and five minutes later I had finished my shopping, and on my way home again. I did consider extending my walk, but I was feeling hot inside my thick winter coat, and my shopping bag was filling up with rain !

  There were 4 specific things on my shopping list for Tesco's. One was 2 litre bottles of Diet Coke. I got those, although I was peeved that they seem to have dropped the two bottles for £3. Two other items were bacon and sausages. I bought those. The last was Cheddar cheese - and I totally forgot that ! I did notice that Tesco have now copied Sainsbury's and now sell ready assembled Greek Salads. I bought two of those. I also bought a couple of reduced price pasta based "salads".
  I noticed that the sugar content for the Greek salad is not insignificant - on this Tesco version, and the Sainsbury's version. For the Tesco version it is 6.1gm per pack. It seemed odd that the pasta has less sugar - 5.4gm per pack. It is hard to believe that all the stodge in the pasta pack is healthier than what is mostly green vegetables, but there is more to it than that. Once all that pasta gets in my (or anyone's) gut the enzymes will convert all that carbohydrate into pure sugar. I have eaten two pasta packs for lunch (the other was tuna and sweetcorn), and I would not be surprised to see a nasty spike in my blood glucose level later, and probably tomorrow morning too.

  I have two ideas for what I might do later. One idea is to do nothing, and the other is to go to the Sainsbury's Local shop to get some Cheddar cheese. I might also be able to get the latest New Scientist magazine, as well as more soft drinks and assorted stuff. The other option is to do that tomorrow, and do nothing more today. I could have, and I must admit I do fancy having a snooze (or siesta) soon. I could follow that up with another episode or two of Star Trek : Picard.

  One thing I have been meaning to write is the results of my taste tests of Pepsi Max, and Red Label, sugar free, Coca Cola. I found that the Pepsi Max was better than the red label, sugar free Coca Cola. The latter tastes too sweet - particularly if it has been left for a while, and has warmed up, and lost some of it's fizz. I think I am starting to enjoy Pepsi Max now. It has a distinctive tang that initially seems odd, but it is growing on me. I think I'll stick to Diet Coke when it is available, but Pepsi Max seems a via alternative now.