The forecast for today seems to be a bit of a mess. No revision of the forecast mentioned there were sunny spells before 9am (we are having one now !). Comparing revisions of the forecast the best prediction seems to be that there could be sunny spells at any time today. Like the last few days forecasts, the initial prediction of the afternoon temperature has been throttled back. The latest idea is that we can expect no more than 16° C today, and that may only last two hours or less. It looks like it should stay dry - that is one thing that has been consistent through the various revisions. Tomorrow may actually feature some long periods of sunshine, and there should be sunny spells before and after, but the temperature may only be a disappointing 13° C.
 

Before I forget again, here is the video I meant to show yesterday. It has a title - "Moorhen Going Cheep". Turn the sound on, and you'll see why this short video is not as boring as it seems if played silently !

  Despite feeling a strong need to go for a walk, I couldn't translate that into action, and I stayed at home all day. It was a still a productive day if you count doing stuff on a PC as productive. In fact it was on both laptop and PC. The laptop is useful for doing stuff like making backups of backups because I very rarely use it for anything like web browsing or email. It rarely matters how long it is tied up performing a simple task because for more interactive stuff I use my desktop PC. Yesterday I set the laptop making a backup of my picture/photo archive to a portable USB hard drive. The archive itself is a copy of what's on my desktop PC hard drive. Transferring something in the region of 650GB between old USB1 connections is a very slow process that by the time it has finished over 24 hours will have passed. That doesn't matter provided I have two back up copies of my precious photos !

  I did do a few small physical tasks yesterday. I possibly spent another 20 - 30 minutes tidying up my drinks cabinet, and stocking it with booze that has been taking up space in the kitchen. In some respects it was a bit of an odd job - doing it seems very inconsequential, but it would end up being done anyway if I can ever claim the job of rehabilitating my back room is complete.

  My blood glucose has been well controlled for the last 36 hours. I did aspire to try and fast as much as possible yesterday, but by lunchtime I had a strong urge for a bite to eat. Ideally I wanted something that would be mostly safe to eat. I could have had the last Sainsbury's Greek salad, but my eyes alighted on the Cumberland sausages I had bought from Sainsbury's at the same time. I could not resist the urge to cook them, and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

  One curious thing about those sausages is that at first glance it would be easy to think they were made by the same people who make Cumberland sausages for Aldi. Both package describe the sausages as "the peppery one", and yet the Aldi version never seems to be very peppery, or even lightly peppery. The Sainsbury's sausages did taste peppery, and were obviously far superior. It make me wonder why the Aldi sausages are so insipid. Pepper is, as far as I am aware, a very cheap spice, and adding more (maybe even some) would probably cost less than 1p !

  I'm not sure if there was some sort of guilt in play, but I made sure my dinner was very healthy. Once again I could have eaten the Sainsbury's Greek salad, maybe as a second course, but I stuck with a home made salad based upon red cabbage and other vegetables. I ate it with the last pack of skinless flavoured chicken chunks. It was very nice, but maybe getting less nice after using the same basic recipe (if a pile of thinly sliced raw vegetables can be called a recipe). Today will feature a new combination of stuff.

  I had intended to try for an early night last night, even if the first hour in bed was just for reading, but I had another call from an evidently bored Lee, and he evidently wanted to bore me. He did have a sort of question to start our chat off, but was soon going down weird tangents, and typically mentioning his "mates" by their full name, inside leg measurement, the names of their children, and relatives going back 44 generations.....and all he wanted to say was that he had borrowed a drill off that mate, or something equally of little interest.

  There was a good reason to try for an early night - I wanted to get up early this morning. I hung up the phone at 10pm, at least an hour after I had originally meant to turn the light out to go to sleep. I may have finally got to sleep a little before 11pm - rather later than intended, but I still managed to get nearly 7 hours sleep. Last night's sleep was probably as good as it gets these days. I woke 3 or 4 times in the night for a pee, but I was asleep again very soon after getting back into bed.

  The reason I wanted to be up early this morning was because I wanted to go shopping while it was quiet outside. I probably didn't do that bad. I was up, showered, dressed and ready to go out before 8am. At that point I had measured all me health indicators (except my blood pressure - I must do that soon). My blood glucose was at a very nice 6.8mmol/l, and my temperature was it's usual low figure for early in the morning, 35.5° C. Even my weight seems to have very slightly reduced thanks to the wonder properties of raw onion and raw cabbage (for instance) in keeping me "regular" !! I still desperately need to lose a few more kilogrammes before I can be happy that I am back to heading in the right direction.

  Despite all my health indicators indicating that I was still alive, and mostly functioning OK, I did not feel all that wonderful when I walked to the shop. It felt a lot like walking to the station to go to work. It is a similar distance, and on that past experience it would be an hour later, when walking from Earlsfield station to work, before my body seemed to feel like it was in fair working order.

healthy fresh vegetables, and the other half was possibly less healthy. The two cans of beer I bought (pictures left) are an unknown quantity - mainly because I can't see a word of English on the can. The pictures on the can suggest it is a honey beer, and so it is possible it contains a lot of sugar. If I had realised that before getting it home I might have selected a different beer.

 Pictured on the right is an old favourite of mine. I thought the shop had stopped stocking them but it seems I just might not have recognised the new cardboard sleeve these chick pea "salads" come in now. I used to eat these at work as part of my diet when I was doing well losing weight in a desperate attempt to cure then angina pains I was getting prior to my quad heart bypass operation in 2013. They certainly worked as part of that diet, although when I look at the nutritional figures now I think I would ignore these if it were not for that positive past experience. I have eaten two for breakfast !

  Walking back from the shop was easier than walking to it. I think my muscles were starting to warm up by then, but on the other hand, it still felt like hard work in a different way. Carrying two 2 litre bottles of Pepsi Max, plus the two cans of beer, along with some heavy vegetables, did weigh my down a bit on the way back. Anyway, all that is over, done and dusted. Now I can be very lazy...but I can't relax !

  Sometime today I should be getting a parcel delivery, and I need to be alert for that ring on the doorbell. This is doubly, or more important, because the courier is Hermes, and they derive their name not from the speed of delivery, but from the speed they will run from your doorstep after giving just 2.3 seconds to answer the door from the first and only time they ring the doorbell. I think they usually send a text message once they can estimate the delivery time to within an hour slot. That will help a bit.

  I am expecting a new pair of walking boots. They are described as being medium wide fit, and I hope that means they will be comfortable when I come to test them. I also ordered them one size bigger than the minimum I can wear. That might help too. My best guess is that I really need a half size between the two sizes, but that is a very rare thing to find except in certain trainers made in far off foreign places where they have translated local, or American sizes a little too literally. I have one or two pairs of Converse trainers that claim to be a half size, and their fit is rubbish !

  Obviously I won't be going for a walk today unless those new boots arrive some time this morning. If they do I shall take the opportunity to take them for a "test drive", but I will take a route that it is easy to expand or contract depending on the comfort of my feet - probably just a walk in Ladywell Fields.