The forecast has changed a bit since I took the screenshot above. The morning hasn't changed much, although I think "sunny spells" is closer to the "sunny intervals" forecast (on the basis that "intervals" sound longer than "spells"). The real change is that the latest revision now says it will rain between 2pm and 6pm. Oh well, it's good for the garden. Another, less consequential, change is that it should reach 15° C an hour earlier than originally predicted (now at 2pm). Tomorrow should start cold and sunny, and the sunshine should continue until it changes to just sunny intervals about 1pm. The temperature may finally reach 17° C by 4pm. It is currently thought that tomorrow will be dry....we'll see !

  It was my intention to go out for a walk yesterday, although I have to admit that while I was going to do it, it was not with any great enthusiasm. Perhaps it is fortunate that two things happened that delayed me, and stopped me walking out to meet quite an heavy shower before I had walked much more than a mile.

  The first thing that happened was a ring at the doorbell. It was the postman, and he had a packet for me that was just too big to go through my letterbox. It was the DVD I had ordered from Amazon. The DVD was of the film "Invasion" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060544/). It is a British SciFi film made in 1965, and based on the script of a TV play. I watched it on, I think, Channel 4 maybe 30 years ago. I remember it is being quite sexy, with nurses going around in their underwear because Aliens had raised the local temperature by erecting a force field barrier around the area (an idea used in several other films, and even in a Dr Who story). I only sampled a few bits of the film, and it doesn't seem as "exciting" as I thought I remembered it.

  Rather than watch a few samples of the film on my TV I watched them on my laptop - it is far easier to skip through the film like that. I hadn't used my laptop for quite a few weeks, and upon turning it on I found there were a heap of updates for it. Fortunately it runs Linux Mint 19.3, and not Windows 10. That means I could choose when to download, and install the updates. On top of that I could continue working while it was going on, and there was no re-boot required at any time.

  Although I didn't watch the entire update process, which probably took 30 minutes in all, I did check it from time to time. By the time it had finished it was gone midday, and the sun was shining brightly. I almost got ready to go out when suddenly the sun went in. Minutes later it started pouring with rain. If it hadn't been for the delays I might have gone out at about 11.30am, and at that time the first rain was not due to fall until after 1pm (if I recall correctly). I expected that I should be OK to go out without a raincoat, but I would have been very wrong. I would have probably had met that heavy downpour while a long way from home.

  At the first sign of that heavy rain I felt rather happy that I had missed out on my daily exercise. It did leave the problem of a few more spare hours to fill with something to amuse me. Oddly enough, the only thing I did that made any difference to the world was to do some laundry by hand - just a couple of t-shirts, some underwear, and a pair of lounge pants. Looking back I wonder what consumed the other hours. One thing is for sure, I was not bored, and in a curious way I couldn't find the time to do a few things I thought I might do.

  Such circumstances can have a bad effect on my eating, but on the whole I stuck to the plan (or whatever path it was that my brain was sending me on). I had another Tesco Greek salad for lunch with added sliced re-formed chicken meat slices plus hot chilli sauce. My dinner was cold chicken shish kebab, and I had few snacks during the day (but "few" does not mean none !). The end result is that I have started the month with a very satisfactory blood glucose level, and maybe my weight is going down again (although I can't put a figure on it until I have paid at least one visit to the toilet this morning - as yet, nothing is moving).

  It was nice to get what seemed like a decent sleep last night. There was one time when getting back to sleep after getting up for a pee, seemed like it was going to be another period of insomnia, but it probably only lasted 10 minutes. I did seem to have many dreams before waking up. One was a comedy ! It was a scene that could have been a sketch in the late, lamented, Dave Allen At Large TV comedy series. I can't decide if I was a passive observer, or actually took part in a race through part of London by a load of priests (and other ranks) to see who could get to meet the Pope first. It was one of those dreams that had no definite beginning, and never reached an end before I woke up.

  This morning I guess I feel about as good as any average morning. The revised weather forecast, saying it is going to rain again, has dampened my enthusiasm to do a bit of exploration today. I noted that beyond the southern limit of the River Pool Linear Park, and across the main road, is another park that is hidden behind houses. Exploring that would mean I could easily do a 4 mile walk without having to muck about taking strange routes home to extend the length of my walk. I don't fancy do that today if it means a race against time to avoid getting soaked. I may do a much smaller walk in Ladywell Fields instead.

  We are now in May, and the results for April are all compiled. I can't remember when it was that I suffered from a high fever, and other 'flu like symptoms that could well have been a mild dose of Covid-19 - mild doses are now emerging as the most common level of infection. At the beginning of April I decided to keep a record of my body temperature several times a day - notionally every 3 hours between getting up and going to bed. It is the sort of record that is easy to make if you can master the most basic functions of a spreadsheet - basically filling in little square to make a list. It was interesting to see that my temperature always starts very low, and slowly climbs through the day until it is just under the old average of 37.3° C. "Normal" body temperature is now usually though of as being less than that, although, as far as I am aware, fevers still start above 37.3° C. I am happy to say that I experienced no fevers last month, and here's the proof.
  I think I have finally finished my evaluation of sugar free colas. My base line is Diet Coke. I like it, and it is my preferred cola. Red label, Coca Cola - Zero Sugar, previously known as something like Coke Zero, and maybe even Coke Life (with a green label) is flavour I have tried to like, but it is just wrong. It is not undrinkable, and I will drink it of needed, but it seems too sweet, and sometimes sort of oily tasting. Pepsi Max does have a slightly tart, almost chemical taste, but I find I am starting to like it. I think that with a few exceptions, or in exceptional circumstance, I have lost anything like a sweet tooth. I have always, even when I was a child, had a preference of savoury over sweet. I think there was some conflict between what I was expected to like, and what I actually liked. I did like chocolate, and still do as an occasional treat, or more often, novelty, but I think I was expected to like it as a kid, and it is hard to disappoint the adults who guide you.

  Once again, today is still an open story. Looking out my window I see more and more black clouds gathering. I am beginning to feel even a short walk in the park may be tempting fate. At this rate I may go no further than the Poundshop ! Fortunately there are many things I could do, and should do here at home. There is cleaning and hoovering to do, and perhaps more importantly, I need to make some backups of all the stuff on my PC. I also have a book to finish reading. None of these things will get me fit and healthy, but at least I won't be bored.