The curious thing about this morning's forecast today is whether 6 and 7am were supposed to include sunshine or rain. As far as I am aware those hours included neither. Like right now, and possibly for the rest of the day, it is just completely overcast, and very dull. The cloud is not thick enough to make it gloomy, but it feels like it could be heading that way. Maybe from later afternoon it might brighten up. Having just checked the latest revision to the forecast I not that it should now be raining, and the showers should now continue until 11am ! My personal observation is that there is a slight chance of a brief sunny spell coming up, and that the clouds do not feel quite rain for rain at the moment. Today should mark a turning point for the weather. Tomorrow may have many more sunny spells, and be a degree warmer. The day after, Sunday, might start with a brief shower, but could otherwise feature lots of sunny spells. The day after that, Monday, could be the first day of a lot more sunshine, and it getting much hotter.
   If the weather forecast had been accurate, and correctly predicted that yesterday afternoon would be dry, and tending to be bright (even if the first sunshine would not be until the afternoon was ending) I might have prepared myself to go out for a walk. I stupidly believed the forecast....although maybe not stupidly because on average next day is usually the same as the day before, and the day before was very wet. So I went into a mode similar to depression, and resolved to stay in, and not do much at all.

  I did go out into the front garden very briefly in the afternoon to check on the progress of a couple of plants. The Cornflowers, planted in the wooden boxes, are still just tiny seedlings, but a few more have sprung up. I feel optimistic that my microwave sterilised soil is behaving as intended. That intention being a weed free box of flowers. I think I can see three plants where I put down some seeds at the side of the garden. I feel reasonably confident that they are potential flowers instead of weeds. They definitely do look different from all the common weeds that seem to thrive in my garden.

  I think the thing I did more of than anything else, was reading. It is a very enjoyable thing to do, but with one slight problem. It is a very sedate thing to lay on my bed quietly reading, and while my room was not actually cold, I began to feel almost chilly. I did wonder if I might be suffering from a fever, but my clinical thermometer said no. Some hot food turned out to be the complete, and lasting cure, but that was not until dinner time.

  I did have a breakfast yesterday, but it was so late in the day, actually after midday, that I guess it was actually lunch. It was far from healthy, but it seemed to be what I wanted. It is a shame that it was not as nice as hoped for. It was a small pack of burgers with a reduced price sticker on it that I found in Tesco. Amazingly enough the price reduction was almost to half - extremely generous for the Catford branch of Tesco. The main problem with them is that they tasted rather greasy. If they had been half cremated on a BBQ they may have tasted much better.

  My dinner was potentially healthier. It was a sort of chicken stew using the chicken I had pre-cooked the day before because it was just about to go off. I cooked it with mushrooms, some sliced spring onions, and some cauliflower, with a couple of chicken stock cubes to make up a thin gravy. It wasn't the greatest of recipes, but it was pleasant, and it was what warmed me up after feeling so cold from laying down, and not moving for a couple of hours (there may have been a snooze in the middle of reading too).

  After dinner I had two bottles of beer before going to bed. One was a bottle of Doom Bar. Once upon a time it was made in a small brewery in Cornwall, and as a long term guest beer in The Catford Ram it was a pleasant alternative to Youngs beers - which I have never really warmed to. It is now brewed in a huge beer factory owned by the Moulson conglomerate, and while not actually nasty, has lost any charm, and after this recent check to make sure it hadn't changed for the better, I will avoid it for a few more years.

  My second beers was Harpers Amber Ale. It is specially brewed for Aldi, and so is a bit cheaper than their other bottled beers. I thought it had a slightly weird taste, and after a while I realised that what I could taste was a soapy disinfectant taste. I have a theory that the bottles had been washed - maybe to remove stickyness after an accident involving some broken bottles, or maybe as some sort of Covid-19 precaution. I was drinking straight from the bottle, and that is where the soapy taste seemed to come from. That may have been true of the Doom Bar bottle as well, but that's problems were deeper than a bit of soap. I shall have to remember to either rinse the bottles from Aldi, or use a glass in future.

  While reading in bed I noticed that it was just a few minutes to 10pm, and decided to put the book down, and turn out the light. I think I was asleep in less than 10 minutes. I slept well until sometime around 1am, possibly a bit earlier. I awoke with a bone dry mouth, and it felt like my teeth were stuck to the inside of my cheeks. A couple of swigs of drink sorted that out, and after a pee I thought I was comfortable enough to go straight back to sleep, but apparently not. It was not as bad as the previous night, but I seemed to spend ages trying to find the most comfortable position to get back to sleep.

  Finding the most comfortable position turned out to be very complex. It wasn't just adjusting the pillow to avoid the lumps that weren't there the previous night. It wasn't just trying to smooth any kinks out of the bed sheet. It was also trying to find how much body to expose to be not too warm, and not too cold. Then there would be silly things like a stray hair suddenly tickling my face when I thought I was comfortable. I have no idea how long I was awake for, but it was a lot less than the night before, when I didn't seem to feel sleepy for a few hours, but quite long enough to be annoying.

  Quite what inspired a complex, and rather strange dream is anyone's guess. I am not even sure I can remember any of it in the correct order. It seemed to start with a visit from several American presidents - not including Trump, and possibly all fictional (there were two past presidents and the current one - whose name escapes me, assuming I knew it in the first place). The event was to take place on a huge truncated pyramid made from heaped up earth. It was about 20ft high, and maybe 100 yards by 100 yards at the base.

  I can't recall anything actually happening at the event. No speeches, or anything like that. Once that even had happened the earth mound was very quickly transformed into a stage for an open air gig. I evidently had a back stage pass because I was able to wander around the preparations. I have no idea who was officially playing, but I seemed to bump into many musicians I have known over the years.

  I woke up before any music started. I felt pretty lousy when I woke - all stiff and creaky. I also felt slightly bloated. It was the feeling of having had a very lazy day instead of doing some exercise. Even my blood glucose was rather high, 8.5mmol/l, and it seemed I had out on almost a kilogram. The latter might improve with another visit, or three to the toilet. I am now faced with trying to convince myself to go out and walk at least a couple of miles today.

  The dull weather does nothing to entice me out the door, and my skinned toe is still rather sensitive, although only if prodded the wrong way. It actually didn't give me too much trouble yesterday. I now face a bit of a dilemma. I definitely would like to go the the Sainsbury's Local shop by Catford station to try and buy today's new edition of New Scientist, but I don't want to leave it too late in case they sell out like last week. The logical thing would be to go in there at the start of a walk to the River Pool Linear Park, but then I would have to carry anything I buy, which would probably include a couple of heavy bottles of drink, on the walk. I don't fancy doing that. Maybe I'll come up with a sensible plan a bit later.

  Some good news...sort of. One distraction yesterday was a text message from Chris (guitarist from Chain, and possibly founder of the Thursday night drinking club). He was wanted some ideas about investigating season ticket prices in view of a potential move further out of London with his girlfriend. I suggested a few ideas, and tried one to make sure I knew what I was talking about - I did. This messaging had taken place on WhatsApp, and I attempted to send him a picture of my PC screen with the info I had found. Initially I clicked the wrong button - the button to instigate a video call rather than take, and send a picture. His phone started to ring, and I quickly hung up. A few minutes later he called me back, and we had a nice chat about music, beer and pubs.

  This morning I had another phone call, and one that surprised me in one way, and maybe a bit less in another way. It was from Angela, and apart from her acknowledging the picture I sent her yesterday, we have had no communication since mid April. It was less of a shock because I knew her mood had changed by the nature of stuff she had been posting on social media. I seem to be quite sensitive at picking up clues about her in that way. I knew she had troubles from back when we used to meet a few times a week in the pub at lunchtimes. It seems that apart from after shocks, her greatest problem is resolved - at least for now. I felt very honoured that she chose me as someone she could tell her story to. Even when apart, and when otherwise seems impossible, we still seem to have a strong bond between us. It gives me no real hope for my future, but it was rather wonderful to hear from her.