I'm not sure I would agree that 7am only had sunny periods, but from 8am onwards, the Met Office forecast (screenshot above) agrees with the BBC's offering. Today should see non stop sunshine, and at 27° C it is going to be very warm. Tomorrow gets even better. Once again the two forecasters are in agreement that it is going to be hot. Possibly as high as 33° C ! The only thing that has changed in the latest revision concerns this coming Monday. In the screenshot above it is shown as light cloud with light rain, and 20° C. It is now shown as a black cloud with heavy rain falling from it. amd just 19° C. Summer didn't last long did it ?

  My beer delivery was originally scheduled for between 10:22 and 11:22 yesterday, but it actually arrive early at about 10am. I was lucky I heard the courier rattle the letter box as I was coming in from the garden. At that point he had only put one box on my doorstop, and had gone back to his van for the second. Maybe he would have used the doorbell when he had set down the second box, but I was there waiting as he came back from his van.
  I must say that 24 bottles, in their cardboard crates, does not look like a lot of beer, but by the end of the day I had drunk two bottles, and somehow managed to get 10 bottles in the fridge for later today. The two beers I tried were the "Viceroy", India Pale Ale, and the "Grasshopper", Kent Red Ale. I was hoping that the Viceroy would be really good because I bought a box of 12 bottles, plus there were three bottles in the mixed box. Rather sadly I am not keen on it. It is another beer that leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth. The Grasshopper was better, but I am beginning to doubt the wisdom of buying from The Westerham Brewery.
  I took this picture before my beer delivery. It shows two of my Campanula flowers soaking up the early morning sunshine. These flowers seemed to take ages to get started, but now they have they seem to be flourishing, and I think I will see many more flowers on them. It is a shame the flowers only seem to last a couple of days.

  With my beer delivered I was free to do anything. That could have included a walk, and possibly a walk to see if I could spot Angela in the pub, but I decided to stay in and do some stuff at home. That stuff included doing two lots of laundry. I started with a sheet and two pillow cases. The sheet is sadly now beyond it's useful life as a sheet, but it will have a brief new use. I intend to use it as a dust sheet for my next bit of painting - probably the back wall of the dining room.

   With that washing hanging on the little line outside the kitchen door I turned my attention to the garden. A plan had been forming in my mind. It was a very simple plan. First of all I would test my newly wired, extra long extension cable, by getting the strimmer out, and strimming the lawn. I hoped my strimming action would be a bit better on my second attempt, and it was, but still needs more refinement. It probably doesn't help that my lawn was seeded with two types of grass. One was a very course grass, and the other a very fine grass....although maybe, on reflection, the difference could be a difference in the state of the mud they were sown in.

  I managed to get the strimmer too low in a couple of places, and made another couple of bald spots in the grass. I probably had more luck with decapitating weeds in a few places where I couldn't strim at ground level. In one place the strimming wire managed to flick a pebble, or something. It ricochetted off the fence, and made a small cut in my bare leg. It was like being hit with a bullet....well, maybe not a bullet, but it did hit me very hard. Perhaps it is just as well that it skimmed off the surface of my leg, and didn't attempt to penetrate.

  It was early afternoon when I concluded that the sunny periods would carry on all day, and the second part of my plan was to put the clothes horse on the lawn after I had strimmed it. I would then do some hot sweaty work hand washing three towels that I would hang on the clothes horse to dry in the sunshine - which they did.

  I guess I was feeling masochistic yesterday, or maybe I just had fantasies of Angela visiting today. If nothing else I was pretty sure that Michael would be coming to drink my beer today. It inspired me to do more work in the garden. Mostly it was loads more weeding. I ended up clearing loads of weeds. In doing so I revealed another self seeded tomato plant (although it could be another potato plant - they look very similar when young). There was another, more mature, tomato plant growing by the potato plants, and once that had been cleared of weeds I put a few support sticks for it.

  I think I should have a small crop of potatoes ready to dig up later. I could do it now for small, "new potatoes", but I think I will leave them be until the tops are really wilting. With luck I may have tomatoes one day. At least this year they are nearly all well spaced out, and I should be able to see them as they grow. Most will be miniature varieties, but the new plant I found among the weeds may grow normal sized tomatoes (finger crossed). If my chilli plants really are chilli plants, and not weeds, I maybe have home grown chillies by the autumn (fingers crossed again).

  I spent a lot of time in the garden in the afternoon, and it was all bending over. After coming in I could feel lots of aches and pains developing. I also felt quite tired. Too tired to make dinner for myself. Yesterday I did have a lunch, and I guess it was not as small as intended. I ended up finishing a pack of rice cakes - maybe 6 of them. I had them with a generous amount of sliced cheese stuck on with mayonnaise, and adorned with sliced, pickled green chillies.

  As I said, I didn't feel like preparing dinner, and I wanted some nice. The answer was kebabs ! It was a silly answer considering how much I have spent on beer this week, but I did it anyway. One of the places I order from was doing a 10% discount for orders over £20, and so I padded out my order for two large chicken shish kebabs (one for last night, and one for tonight). I padded it out with something that I was curious about - a donner meat burger !

  My food order arrived early, and I started eating while watching Star Trek. To satisfy my curiosity I opened the donner meat burger first. I found it was a huge burger bun filled with a heap of sliced donner "mystery" meat, and loads of salad. I found it was both very nice, and a meal in itself. My original plan was to eat it and a shish kebab, but I decided I didn't need to eat any more. That is probably just as well for health reasons - that donner meat is very greasy.

  Later on, before going to bed, I took some painkillers. I was not in any particular pain provided I didn't move in some ways. I hoped, and it may be that I was right, that if I took painkillers before bed I would be able to sleep through any muscles that might complain. I did ! I can barely remember anything from the moment I fell asleep until I got up at some silly time this morning. The best bit is that I only suffered from very familiar aches and pains, and nothing I could ascribe to yesterday's work in the garden.

  I have to confess that while I am delighted that there seems to be no long term effects, I am mystified by it. I had plenty of warning signs yesterday evening ! Also to my delight and mystification I found my blood glucose level had fallen to a very nice 7.4mmol/l this morning - right on my realistic target (which is a whole point higher than my fantasy target). I haven't dared to weight myself this morning after all the cheese and greasy meat yesterday !

  So far this morning I have showered, and washed my hair. I have also watered the garden, and watered the two window boxes on the front windowsills. One looks like a cat has tried to dig up one corner. I am sure no cat would try to use it as a litter tray when it is up on the windowsill, and exposed. I am wondering if both window boxes are jinxed ! I have also transplanted one of the plants I hope is a chilli plant directly into the garden. It will give the rest a bit more room in the pot, and also I will be able to compare how well they grow in each.

  The rest of my day should be simple. At 3pm I will be opening the first bottle of beer for Jodie and Michael. If Jodie is late again she will miss out on some beer. I hope that Angela will join us later, but I doubt it. Prior to everyone's arrival I will be scurrying around making sure as much as possible is neat, tidy and clean. I will also be doing more waiting. I have to confess that I ordered still more beer. I have completely blown my budget for this month at least twice over with all the extra food I bought before the masks on in shops order became law. This second order of beer is of two more boxes of beer, but from a different company, and is of a big variety of beers. It may even arrive today !