When I started out on my walk the air temperature seemed quite chilly, and so I put on a light coat. It was my black, leather look, coat, and I found it was soaking up the sunshine and converting it to heat ! By the half way point of my walk I was feeling semi-cooked ! I could have carried the coat, but I left it on. In consequence, I was a bit of a soggy mess when I diverted into the little supermarket on Catford Bridge to buy some beers (and nothing else on this occasion). When I got home I had an interesting choice for breakfast !
  I could have a couple of Pink Lady apples, or a cold can of strong beer. Of course there were other options, and rather than go for the healthy option of the two small apples, I put some sausages in the mini oven/grill to cook. Now I have to confess that I did wash those sausages down with the strong beer in the picture - at about 10.45 in the morning !

  The rest of my day could have been very lazy, and I sort of intended it to be so, but a phone call from my friend Lee changed things. I had offered him a JVC camcorder that I had barely used - mostly because it didn't suit my needs. Lee wondered if it was OK to come over and pick it up. He also wanted to offer me some money for it. I didn't want to take much off him because I knew it was not a very good camcorder (once again only for my needs). I said he could give me £10, mainly to cover the cost of a brand new 32GB SD memory card I had put in it.

  I also said he could earn part of it's worth by doing a little job for me - actually several jobs. One was to taxi across a big and heavy transformer to a mutual friend. Another was to dispose of a radio test set that I am sure Lee had originally given to me 10 or more years ago, and that I had never used. He will probably clean it up and sell it on Ebay or something. There was also a suitcase sized case of a black and white Sony TV camera that is a nice piece of equipment, but one I can't ever foresee a use for. He can probably sell it too if he wants to go through all the trouble of putting on Fleabay (ripoffs our speciality). Although only a serious collector would want a 40 year old black and white vidicon camera.

  With several dusty gaps left in my house I had to do a bit of cleaning up, although I couldn't find the energy to push the hoover around later yesterday afternoon. I did move a few things around to completely clear the little bit of hallway that leads to the bathroom, and that definitely needs hoovering now - maybe a job for later today. I also was also able to compact things down a bit in the back room - the room that s slowly heading back to being a dining room again.

  I wasn't even properly lazy after that, although I did have a rest before hand washing some t-shorts and underwear. Then I could do absolutely nothing, or nothing physical. I did do quite a bit of reading, and I did some cooking too. By mid afternoon I was feeling peckish, and it was a funny sort of peckish. I had an irrational desire for some instant noodles. I have a small stock, maybe 3 left now, of some instant noodles that come with a very fierce chilli oil. I cooked up one of those, and thoroughly enjoyed those burning chilli flavour noodles.

  My actual dinner was some mini grilled/ovened chicken fillets with salad. At least one of my meals yesterday was mostly healthy ! I had that dinner a bit later than usual, possibly around 7pm instead of 6pm. I washed it down with a couple more tins of beer, but I stopped after 2 or three beers. I put the last can I was going to drink back in the fridge, and it was mostly because I was planning on going to bed soon, and not because I felt I had drunk too much.

  I seemed to have a fair night's sleep, and woke up at a sensible time - about 6.30am. The echoes of the noodles were instantly seen in my blood glucose reading. It was lower than yesterdays high, but still too high by my self set standards. There was better news when I got on the scales. I seem to have just passed the last little peak, and beginning to come down the other side of the curve (although there is reason to think I am about to have another little bump on the road). My blood pressure and temperature were both absolutely fine.

  My main mission for today was to get to Aldi early enough to avoid queues. Like last time, I was there just after 9am, and it was relatively quiet with no queues outside. I may have go a bit carried away once inside. I had to stagger back with rather a lot of shopping. In theory I should not need any major shopping for a full week now. I may buy some more fresh vegetables during the week, and I'll probably buy a few bottles of Diet Coke or Pepsi Max.

  Even after buying all I did buy I could have bought even more. I have a desire to rebuild my Brexit emergency supplies - mostly of long life tinned goods - not that I have depleted them much during lockdown, but extra cans of soup are always useful in winter as well. I was happy to buy another 9 pack of toilet roll. I was one of the few who didn't strip the shops of toilet paper when this coronavirus panic started - mainly because I had panicked as much as a year early when it bwas predicted that Brexit could cause a paper shortage, and there could be toilet paper shortages. I had plenty while others were scrambling about for it.

  I did buy some good and bad stuff today. The worst was a couple of packs of chicken wrap type things. I don't even know why I bought them because they are not that nice until treated with enough hot chilli sauce. The better stuff was a few packs of assorted fish. My dinner today may well be grilled cod with peas (or some other vegetable). I shouldn't really ahve any lunch after having those wraps for breakfast, but if I give in it may be more fish.

  I was giving a lot of thought of going to the seaside today. It is a rotten day for it, but it seems that face masks will be compulsory on public transport after the 15th June, and I do not want to wear a face mask. From all I have read in New Scientist (a hopefully reliable source of science news and opinion) it seems their downsides can outweigh any good they can do. They are essential when dealing with infected persons at close quarters, but should be discarded as soon as possible afterwards because they collect infection quite quickly, and soon become a source of infection rather than protecting against it.  One general news report said that even the government department who made this new rule admit that the advice the received was that the effects of masks was at best rather marginal, and brought it's own dangers, but they still decided to bring the law in so they could be "seen to be doing something" - even if it was a stupid something. I prefer not to wear a mask, and so public transport is not available to me from the 15th June.

  I might possibly go for a walk this afternoon, but I don't feel it is likely. I think it more likely I will get the hoover out, and hoover the stairs (a hateful job), and more particularly that little passage/hallway that leads from the top of the stairs to the bathroom. I still need to hoover my bedroom. That hasn't been done for far too long - although the chances of anyone ever seeing these places seems highly unlikely. Once upon a time I used to try and improve the place as much as I could for when Angela visited, but she hasn't been here for a couple of years now, and it now feels unlikely she will ever visit here again. The only other person of significance is Patricia, and if travel restrictions loosen she would still like to fly over from Argentina and visit before the year is over, but next summer is more likely.

  One other job I am contemplating instead of a walk is tidying up the front garden. The Michaelmass Daisies are now starting to flower. Ideally they need a bit of husbanding, and some weeding around them. The small stump of an old tree, that I try and mutilate more and more is heavily sprouting again, and definitely needs cutting back. Ideally it needs cutting down, but there is not much of it to get at. Last year I took my cordless drill out there, and riddled it with holes, but even that didn't dent it's enthusiasm to try and grow into a 50ft tree !