The forecast has changed a lot since I took this screenshot. The one thing it did get right was some light rain or drizzle at 7am. The latest revision to the forecast warns of rain or drizzle continuing until 10am, although as I write this it looks dry outside. The latest revision removes any chance of sunny spells, and says that the rest of the day will be dull and overcast. Also the temperature is now expected to be any higher than 15° C. This is all rather disappointing compared to what we we offered earlier. The original forecast for today, as in the screenshot above, has now been transferred to tomorrow (except for the early morning drizzle). Let's hope this prediction actually comes true...or is replaced by something even better !


 Friday was a bit of a disaster on many level, and that meant I had to do something about it yesterday - and I succeeded ! I started the day with my blood glucose level unacceptably high, and ended the afternoon with it very low (by my average, but not in absolute terms) just before dinner. I managed this by both fasting, and forcing myself to walk 3.2 miles. The high blood glucose level made me feel tired, and I had to force myself to go out. It also seemed to cause me to feel quite fatigued - particularly towards the end of my walk. I was hoping I might be able to push myself to 4 miles again, or maybe even more, but I couldn't do it. I was quite surprised that my average speed was 2.48 mph. I seemed to be walking very slowly for the last half mile, maybe even mile, and so I guess I must have been a lot faster at the beginning.

  My original thoughts about this walk were to go to at least the far end of the Pool River Linear Park, and maybe cross the main road to explore a small park near Lower Sydenham station, but I only walked as far as the bow string bridge, near the back of the big Sainsbury's store at Bell Green before turning back. I would end going in the little Sainsbury's Local store on my way back home. I bought a couple of Greek salads in there, but I kept well away from the sandwiches this time. I also bought some flavoured sliced chicken to add to salads, and the latest edition of New Scientist. The final thing I bought was a couple of bottles of Diet Coke. For some reason that shop only sells 1.25 litre bottles, and they look a bit small and silly. Then I noticed the price - £1 per bottle. Tesco sells a 2 litre bottle for £2, and so these silly little bottles actually represent good value for money.
  The duck and ducklings continue to amuse me, although I am saddened that the flock (can duckling form a flock ?) seems to have shrunk. I can imagine a fox has dined out on one or two. Whenever I take a snap of these duckling I am always disappointed with the picture. Yesterday I realised it is because those duckling are sort of camouflaged - the colours of their feathers gives a very vague outline that seem to blend into the ripples on the water, although I guess it does depend on what else is reflected in the water.
  Beware the giant hogweed...actually I think it is cow parsley, but it is growing very thick, and starting to swamp the narrow path through it. From this web page https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/wildflowers/cow-parsley "Cow parsley has large, flat umbrellas of small, white flowers, and large, fern-like leaves. When crushed between the fingers, the leaves produce a strong, aniseed-like scent. One of several common members of the carrot family, this is the most abundant, and the earliest-flowering of the umbellifers.". The next time I pass through there, which could be today, I will crush a few leaves to see if they smell of aniseed.
  I was quite surprised to see the level of the river has dropped quite quickly since the recent heavy rain. Some of the shingle that I walked on last week is now reappearing, and maybe by today I would be able to walk out to the flat rock, that is furthest away in this picture, without getting my feet wet again.
 I am not sure what this is called, but for some reason the name sedge comes to mind. It is a sort of grass or reed, and has these long seed heads. Before seeds come flowers and pollen, and these look like they could produce a lot of fine pollen. It seems odd that down by the river, with these, all the cow parsley in full bloom, and various other plants and trees in flower, what I assume is hay fever is at a minimum. It sometimes seems worse indoors than by the river.

  When I finally got home, with my shopping from Sainsbury's, I couldn't help but have a munch on a few assorted nuts, but I managed to resist the temptation to eat anything else. Just before dinner time the exercise and (almost) fasting had reduced my blood glucose from a morning high of 10.0mmol/l to just 5.2mmol/l. That is a huge drop, and it makes me question the accuracy of the morning reading, although it did seem to follow on from high readings the day before. In the same way, my reading this morning followed on from the 5.2mmol/l yesterday by being a nice low 6.6mmol/l.

  I actually had a semi big two part dinner last night. Part 1 was a sort of salad that was no more than thinly sliced onion, thinly sliced red cabbage, and sliced red bell pepper plus some de-seeded chillies. I dressed that in some vinegar and oil, and ate it with some flavoured skinless chicken chunks. Part 2 was one of the Greek salads I had bought from Sainsbury's with the olives and Feta cheese replaced with more flavoured, skinless chicken chunks (so it wasn't really a Greek salad any more). After that I didn't really eat anything else for the rest of the evening.

  TV was not exactly gripping last night, but I did stop to watch one programme. It was the story of the making of Dad's Army - presented as a TV play. It was quite enjoyable, but there was nothing else that really grabbed my attention after that. It was quite early, perhaps 8.30pm when I essentially went to bed. Initially I was just reading in bed, but it didn't seem long before I turned out the light, turned over, and fell asleep.

  It felt, and feels like I slept well last night, and that is despite waking up more frequently than usual to go for a wee - mostly rather big quantities of it. I am not sure where I had been storing all that water, but it seemed far more than I had drunk during the day. It was evidently the result of some sort of water retention for unknown reasons, because this morning I was happy to note a substantial drop in my weight. I am now halfway there to resuming my weightloss where I left it when a large blip in my weight occurred. Unfortunately there is always the possibility that I will start retaining water again, and my weight will go up again.

  Oh well, the definite positive thing is that I start the day with a very nice blood glucose level. 6.6mmol/l is a good level to start the day. Any lower and I would worry that it could drop too low if I can manage to do what I did yesterday - exercise and fasting. My two other indicators are looking good too. My temperature is it's typical low for for the morning, and my blood pressure is also nice and low (but only on the second attempt at taking it - the first reading was very very slightly high, but actually not much higher than the sort of target I once used to aim for.

  Today I would like to do what I did yesterday, but two things put me off. The most obvious thing is what I see when I look out my window. I don't think it will rain, but it has been quite gloomy outside for some time now (quite a bit of time has passed since I started writing because I was interrupted by another long rambling phone call from my friend Lee. Why he feels he has to tell me the complete life story, and family genealogy going back 99 generations, for anyone he ever mentions in a phone call is beyond me !). I feel far less enthusiastic about going out when it is dull.

  The second thing that might hold me back is how crowded the park was yesterday. The park was like a velodrome ! There were cyclist buzzing back and forward all the time. How there wasn't a serious crash is beyond me. There were little kiddies on toy bikes meandering all over the path while cycle enthusiasts, sometimes in clumps of 5 or 6, would come thundering down the path, and somehow managing to weave in and out of the kiddies, those pushing prams, and family groups who wanted to walk very slowly at 3 or 4 abreast. There was few chances to keep a 2 metre spacing from others a lot of the time yesterday - except by the narrow secret river path which few use.

  There is one important reason why I should go out today, and that is because I probably won't be able to do so tomorrow. With luck I will be taking delivery of a new pair of walking boots tomorrow. All I could find on Amazon was boots described as "medium wide" fitting, and I am keeping my fingers crossed they will be comfortable. I have no idea when they are due to arrive apart from a vague "tomorrow". Hopefully the Hermes tracking number will reveal more in the morning. Ideally they will arrive early morning, or late afternoon.

  At the moment I am still not showered and dressed, but once I am I think I may have a lesser plan. I will still attempt the fasting part, but maybe I will go on a much shorter walk than yesterday. I am thinking of giving the boots I pictured yesterday a slightly longer test walk than just to the shops. I might see how comfortable, or uncomfortable they are for a quick walk to Ladywell and back - just under 1.5 miles.