After my shopping trip to Aldi, and then writing this blog, or diary, or whatever, yesterday morning, I relaxed a bit by spending a bit of time reading. The greyness outside didn't really inspire me into action, and eating the two packs of chicken wraps I had bought from Aldi left me feeling a bit sedated too. I think I had been thinking along the lines of maybe going out for a walk later, but that didn't seem appealing, and besides, there were a few things I wanted to do at home.

  One of the first things I did was to try and do a bit of tidying up in the front garden. I started by pulling up some weeds growing in cracks in the path, and then went for the big one ! It is not a weed but a tree that refuses to die. At it's peak, possibly 10 years ago, it reached about 15ft high, and there is no space for a tree in my postage sized front garden - specially not one only 3 ft from the house. So I cut it down. At that stage the trunk was only a few inches across, and the bulk of it was just twigs.

  There was no way of extracting the stump that was left behind, and I was hoping it might die, but of course it didn't. Every year (or most years) I would prune all the new twigs back as far as I could, but still the bugger would sprout again. If anyone ever tells you we are killing the planet, don't believe them. Some plant life is indestructible ! Last year, or maybe it was the year before, I resorted to drilling holes all over the ever expanding stump. I thought that would hold it back, but no, it still tries to grow to a full size tree in it's dreams.

  Yesterday I cut off everything I could cut off, and then drilled even bigger holes in the now sort of bulbous stump - bulbous because it just grows round any damage. I think what I should do is to drive in some copper nails, and I would if I had any. For now I just hope that all the holes drilled in it will let some bacteria or fungus in to attack it deep inside, and eventually it will start to rot. The other thing I did to complete my work out there was to water the window boxes.
  Before putting my gardening tools away I had a look around in the back garden. The lawn area is growing well, but weeds out number grass for the moment. There are a few patches of almost nothing but grass, and some patches that are almost all weeds. It is a mystery why grass seed can't grow in these areas, but weed seeds can grow with great lust ! I don't mind a few buttercups among the grass, but I have been warned they can get out of control unless I take care.

  Another thing that could get out of control is what I thought might be a dog rose, but apparently it could be an elder tree. For the moment I am letting it grow, but only on my terms. Yesterday I cut it in half. I am inspired by seeing fruit trees in the countryside that are severely pruned to keep them no more than 6ft high so they are easy to harvest. If it is an elder tree in my garden I intend to make it almost like a bonsai tree by severe pruning if it seems to be getting out of control. I will not let it get higher than the fence it is next to.

  I did a tiny bit of weeding in the back garden, but less than 5% of what needs to be done. With some wet and rainy days coming up I might just rake up the most weed infested parts of the lawn, and re-seed it with grass seed. That was almost my intention anyway. I put the first grass seed down before I had really prepared the ground, and new I would be putting more work into it to eventually get it sort of even and boulder free (well, maybe pebble free).

  I probably rested for an hour or so after finishing in the gardens. My next task would need a bit of energy, and I didn't want to overload myself...or something like that. That next task was to get the hoover out. It was partly inspired by clearing some junk from the little, 6ft long passage from the top of the stairs to the bathroom. Quite a lot of dust and fluff had accumulated on the carpet where that junk had been left along the wall.

  I actually started by doing the stairs, and I think I did an unusually good job of it. What I really need is a sort of big comb like thing for getting hair and stuff out of carpet, but I have discovered that rubbing the carpet while wearing "Marigold" type rubber gloves seems a good way of getting that stubborn fluff out. The carpet on the stairs is so old now that it is never going to look pristine, but it probably looks as good as it has done in the last 10 (?) years now. I used the same technique in that short passage to the bathroom. For a final flourish I gave my bedroom a light hoovering. I couldn't be bothered to pick up everything off the carpet, books, clothes, and stuff like that, but I cleaned around it. I'll have to do it properly soon(ish) but I made it look a bit better.

  I needed a good long rest after that hoovering. Once again it brought me out in a sweat more than a 3 mile walk in blazing sunshine does...or maybe I slightly exaggerate. Anyway, I have a book to read, and feel I don't need an excuse to go back into sedate mode. All these little jobs still consume time, and with a bit of time spent reading, it was soon time to get active again. This time it was cooking.

  After eating the chicken wraps in the morning I did my best to not really eat anything substantial before dinner, although I will confess I did end up eating half a small packet of chilli flavoured peanuts. Dinner was therefore intended to be fairly light, and it could have been. Out of all I bought from Aldi in the morning, the first things I needed to use was the fresh fish. Last night's dinner was grilled cod fillets with peas (and I will confess, a splodge of mayonnaise).

  It was purely guess work, but it turned out I managed to cook that fish to perfection. it was still moist, but crumbled into flakes at the touch of a fork. It went really well with the peas. I had cooked more peas than I needed after they seemed to rush out the bag uncontrollably (they were frozen peas). I shouldn't have, but I ate the second portion of peas as a sort of dessert. As an experiment I gave them a splash of balsamic vinaigrette dressing. That experiment failed. It didn't compliment the peas at all, but at least it didn't make them horrible.

  It was soon after 8pm and I started to yawn a lot. I didn't waste much time preparing for bed, and I was in bed, reading not long after 8.30pm. A little after 9pm I put the book down, turned out the light, and then...nothing. That is "nothing" meaning no sleep. Last night was a bad night. I guess I can blame it on the gardening, and hoovering. I ached ! Not badly, and not in any specific areas, but enough to stop me getting comfortable. On top of that, my pillow felt like a rock, and the bed felt too warm, and the room too cool. It was probably after midnight before I started to get some chunks of poor sleep.

  This morning I still have an assortment of little aches and "twingeyness" (such a word should really exist - it is needed). On the other hand my usual health indicators say I am generally OK. My blood pressure is nice and low, my blood glucose is still higher than I like, but it has dropped again, and now not too far off being more where I would like it to be. Even my weight seemed OK. It is currently a few hundred grams high, but I haven't had a poo yet. I sort of feel a bit constipated, and maybe I won't get a better weight reading until tomorrow.

  I am probably OK to go out, although I don't feel terribly enthusiastic about it. It is more of a need to go out rather than a desire. The weather is still half and half at the moment. It is bright out, but maybe the clouds are looking thicker. The good thing is that it is not gloomy like the forecast made me think it would be - but I guess that could happen before too long. If it could stay like it is now, I would go as far as to describe it as a nice day.

  In the middle of the last paragraph I got up to go to the toilet (it was just wind). After sitting at my PC for over an hour I realised how creaky I am when I got up. I think I most definitely need a walk to loosen myself up, but maybe it will only be a short walk instead of something more adventurous. On the other hand, it is usually the case that once I get moving I feel like I can walk much further than intended. I think I will head out to the River Pool Linear park, and see how I feel. Maybe I'll just walk 2 miles, and maybe I'll walk 4. Before all that I need a shower, and I think a couple of paracetamol tablets are needed to calm my right knee down. That is feeling a bit more stiff and sore than any other bits of me.