While yesterday didn't quite
reach "hot", today should be. The latest
revision to the forecasts the temperature has
increased the afternoon temperature to 31° C !
Needless to say, it should stay dry unless all
that heat manages to brew up a thunderstorm.
That may actually happen on Friday, but today,
and tomorrow should be dry and sunny, although
tomorrow the temperature may stay just under
30° C.
I'm not sure when it was, or even why,
but in the end I decided not to go out for a
walk yesterday. Instead of walking I started
doing some fairly productive things at home.
One such bit of work was to wash a
t-shirt, some underwear, and a hand towel.
With my lawn starting to resemble an actual
lawn (but only just if you could see it
carefully) I could put the clothes horse
outside so my washing could dry in the hot
sunshine - and it did, in just a few hours !
I don't know how long it will be before
I see any flowers, but my cornflowers are now
coming up nicely.
I forgot to mention it yesterday, but I
had a delivery of a big bag of potting compost
yesterday. It all started when I asked Lee if
he could pick up a bag or two the next time he
took his mum and dad to a garden centre. On
Monday he phoned (right in the middle of my
meeting with Angela) to say he was in B&Q,
and could get me a bag of compost from there.
He did mention it might be a 125 lire bag. It
was hard to visualise that until I found it
behind the wheelie bins yesterday morning. He
had apparently dropped it off the same day.
Yesterday I filled a large plastic,
fake terracotta, plant pot, and two smaller
wooden pots with compost, and planted some
assorted seeds. They are for the side of the
lawn, as pictured above. I also filled a round
pot, and put in a couple of tomatoes that had
got squished (probably by putting a beer
bottle on them in the shopping bag). This year
I will make sure that the tomato plants are
kept thinned out. I'll leave one or two in the
pot, but I'll plant a few spares directly into
the ground - assuming that any germinate in
the first place.
My first lot of washing dried so
quickly that I decided to wash the sheet, and
pillow cases from my bed. I have to say it was
rather hot work on a hot afternoon. I was
probably dripping more than the laundry was
when I hung it out to dry. For some strange
reason, probably masochistic, maybe a
psychotic desire to do more gardening, I then
spent another 10 to 20 minutes in the blazing
sun weeding. Actually the last reason is
probably the real reason. Now that the worst
of the work to rehabilitate my garden is over,
and I am beginning to see results, it inspires
me to try and do more out there.
I can't seem to remember what I had for
lunch yesterday, but I know what I had for
dinner. I had been looking forward to
finishing all the sweaty work I was doing, and
be able to relax and eat a tasty dinner of
grilled salmon with salad. It was indeed very
nice, and rather more tasty than the Sea Bass
I had the previous day. I couldn't completely
relax after dinner because I received an email
from my younger sister.
It all started when I replied to a
"happy birthday" email from my older sister.
We exchange an occasional email, and in my
reply to thank her I included some pictures of
my old Junior school taken on 9th June (and I
showed them here a day or two after). I was
not sure if my older sister had gone to the
same school because I didn't know how old she
was when we moved from Blackheath to Catford.
I was little more than a babe in arms at the
time. It transpired that she had joined the
school in the 3rd year (out of 4) after the
move.
I suggested that she might like
to show them to my younger sister who I knew
had gone to the same school. My older sister
said she would, but that I could send then to
my younger sister directly. Until yesterday I
never knew she had an email address ! I wrote
to her in the morning, and by early evening I
had a reply that included a few photos from
her own collection.
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The was Ben, on the left, and Vicky
on the right. They were two cats we
rescued from a builders yard where
they were living wild with their
mangy old mother (who we also
adopted for a while) They were
completely wild, and it took a lot
of patience to domesticate them.
Vicky held out longest, and never
really like to be handled.
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I hardly recognise myself in this
picture, but I am fairly certain it
is me - I recognise the glasses, and
the jumper with the fraying arms.
The cat I am holding was out first
adopted cat. He was fully
domesticated, but we had no idea
where he came from. He adopted us,
and was free to go anywhere he
wanted, he stayed with us.
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This picture
surprised me. I do remember when the Queen
Mum visited our primary school, but I had
no idea any pictures existed of the visit.
I have no idea when this was, but I seem
to recall I was probably in the third
year, and that would make the year 1965.
The young lady looking at the camera,
instead of the Queen mum was my younger
sister. All three of these pictures
benefited from a little work in my
favourite photo editor The Gimp. The
picture of me, in particular, had a
strange colour cast, but with a few tweaks
I probably look a little more human !
It was a hot night last night, but
I seemed to sleep through it quite well.
At about 4am I was starting to feel cool.
When I had put fresh sheets and stuff on
my bed I left the duvet out of the duvet
cover. The empty duvet cover was just
right to allow me to warm a bit without
cooking me. I woke up again around 5am,
and while I thought I should have had
adequate sleep I managed to go back to
sleep for another 90 minutes.
That last time I woke up I felt
fairly good (for ranges of "fairly good"
that pertain to my current state of life).
I was pleased to see my blood glucose was
down to just 7.1mmol/l. This morning I
looked back at the readings I had showed
the diabetes nurse, and when he had said
showed good control. He described it as
typical pre-diabetic levels. In other
words, if a doctor had seen it for the
first time he would take no action, but
note to keep an eye on it in the future.
Although I have had some annoying peaks in
my blood glucose, none have been terribly
high, and my monthly average is slightly
lower than my the monthly average when I
saw the diabetes nurse in January. I guess
I am doing something right.
My weight is staying stable with
the merest hint of a downwards direction.
I did get more evidence that even if my
weight is not going down as fast as I
would like, my body shape is improving.
Yesterday, when I was changing my sheets,
I opened a box that I thought had bed
linen in it. It didn't ! It had 4 pairs of
jeans in it. Three of these pairs of jeans
I think I set aside because they had been
getting too tight. The other pair was very
much bigger, but had some unpleasant blood
stains on it (my own blood !). I probably
set that pair aside for gardening duties
or something. The other three pairs, which
were all quite nice looking jeans, now fit
perfectly - and even have a little spare !
This morning I have already been
busy. I have been to Tesco to buy more
socks - hopefully the type that feel
comfortable in my walking boots - plus a
load of salad stuff. Together with some
drinks, it was enough to fill my new,
rather big rucksack. I felt distinctly
warm when I got home with it all. I didn't
stay in long before I went out again. This
time it was to Poundstretcher where I
bought some assorted stuff, but
particularly another three big round plant
pots. I also found some plant support
sticks. I may need those for my tomato
plants - assuming the seeds germinate.
There are three more things I want
to do today. I have already started
washing the duvet cover I took off my bed
yesterday. At the moment it is just
soaking in detergent. The next thing I
intend to do is to go out for a short walk
to hopefully meet Angela in the park. I
doubt I will extend the walk to anything
more than straight there and back.
Finishing washing that duvet cover this
afternoon will be quite enough effort for
one day - except I also want to fill the
noe pamt pots, and put some seeds in them.
I have some spring onion seeds I'll try in
one of them - maybe to be transplanted out
once they start. I may do a bit more
weeding two. I would trim the lawn again,
but not today when I should have the duvet
drying in the middle of it !
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