This morning has started with a clear sky, and so it is another cold start to the day, but it is sunny, and the latest revision to the forecast says the sun could stay shining until mid afternoon, and from then there should be sunny spells until sunset. The sunshine should raise the temperature to 19° C, and so it should be comfortable, but still not like summer. The two main changes for tomorrow will be that the afternoon will be overcast, maybe lightly overcast, and the temperature may just hit 20° C.
 
  Yesterday was not a great day. I found it hard to motivate myself, and probably the main reason for that was that I was not feeling good. If it was a Covid-19 infection I had back in February, then it could have been the virus having another go at me. I ached in a mild 'flu sort of way, and I had a weak but persistent headache. I even had a touch of that chesty sort of feeling that is a bit like asthma, but isn't. I could breath perfectly OK, and my Pulse Oximeter said my blood oxygen saturation was still in the 97 - 98% region (i.e. as high, or higher than many people who have never been a heavy, or indeed any kind of smoker). The only thing that was a bit higher than my normal low was my blood pressure, but it was still in "normal" range for a fit and healthy person (which must be a minor miracle for someone like me).

  Nothing felt bad enough to need and painkillers yesterday. I just tried to keep moderately warm, and spent most of the morning quietly reading. It is fortunate that the back back pain I had the day before had almost gone, and I was able to lay on my bed in reasonable comfort. Around lunchtime I decided to have a couple of cans of soup. The desire for that was the first thing that got me doing anything. I cleared a backlog of washing up, and cleaned the main kitchen worktop.

  It was after I had a shower in the morning that I put some laundry in to soak. For a while I wondered if I had done the right thing because I was feeling too creaky to bend over the bath washing stuff in a couple of big builders buckets (my manual substitute for a washing machine for the last 10 - 12 years). After I had allowed a bit of time for lunch to go down I felt ready to tackle that laundry. It was only two t-shirts, a hand towel, and some underwear. I was happy to finish it, and get it hanging up indoors on a clothes horse, but it was a less arduous job that I had anticipated.

  After another short rest I went down to the dining room, and spread out the 99p shop shower curtain I intended to use to protect the carpet while putting the top coat of paint on the wall. It felt very chilly down stairs, particularly in the dining room on the north side of my house (the front room, facing south, had got some sunshine that had taken the worst of the chill off). As I laid out the shower curtain, I had to bend over to do it, and bits of me complained about that in the chilly room. That was as far as I got doing the painting yesterday !

  There was one other job I did that warmed me up a bit. I got the strimmer out, and strimmed the lawn. The grass was getting tall in places. I was quite happy to see that some of the bare patches are now filling in since the last time I put some seed down. There are a few more patches to attend to, but more importantly I had to clear two fox poos off the grass before using the strimmer. (I assume they were fox poo - cats usually use the flower beds !).

  It is probably my technique, but that strimmer does not do a good job of cutting the grass. Once again I am thinking that I ought to get a proper mower next year when I am hoping my lawn will be looking good enough to sunbathe on - if I can keep the foxes off it ! My final work in the garden was to get the hose out and give it a good water. It looks as if we will be going through another dry spell for a while, and I had better keep the garden well watered while things like tomatoes are growing out there (possibly more potatoes too).

  My final flourish for what was till a mainly lazy day, was to do some experimental cookery. I invented a simple recipe that would either work or would be a disaster. It only had 4 ingredients, and they were wholemeal pasta, peas, a small squeeze of tomato purée, and two small tins of sardines in olive oil and chillies. It was, obviously, very fishy, but it was very, very edible. If I had stuff like crusty bread, and a side salad it would easily have served two, but I scoffed the lot with great relish !

  The one thing it needed was some sort of dessert, and I was thinking that some low calorie chocolate ice cream would go down well, but alas, I didn't have any. I ate the last ice cream in the freezer a week or so ago. What I did have was some sugar free chocolate chip cookies, and I ate them far to easily. I could have had some beers as well, but I felt too full for beer, although I did squeeze in a big whisky.

  A few hours later I felt ready for bed. I was in a sort of mellow mood, and decided it would be a good time to pay off my credit card. When I first saw it I thought it was quite a lot of money, but then I had to remind myself that for the last 40 days I have not used my debit card for anything. Apart from monthly standing orders for gas and electric, and council tax, my credit card represents my entire spending. On that basis I am doing rather well. I was worrying that my savings would be getting very thin before I get my state pension next year, but I think I may be currently spending less than my small pension from my time with BT. It would seem incredible, but it is possible that my current account may be slightly growing instead of shrinking at this time. The only fly in the ointment is if I paid something towards my credit card earlier in the month. I can't remember when I last paid, but I hope it was about a month ago. If not, I am doomed !

  I didn't consider the negatives last night, and so I went to bed feeling rather full of dinner, but otherwise fairly good. My back felt OK, or at least it was easy to find a position where it didn't trouble me. In such circumstances I seemed to have a good night. Even my dreams seemed sort of soothing, although it is hard to explain why I think that. A little after 6am I woke up ready to face the world again - as awful as that seems.

  I can't seem to work out how I feel this morning. sometimes I feel a bit creaky, and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I feel like I want to go out for a long walk, and sometimes I can't seem to face it. It is perhaps fortunate that the option of going out is on hold for the moment until I am notified of my hour long slot for a delivery today. Until I know when that is I am stuck in, and if the delivery is due mid afternoon then I won't be going out at all.

  If I can manage to put the last lick of paint on the wall of the dining room this morning, and it is dry enough to put the curtains up by early afternoon, I may invite Michael around to drink a few beers with me while I wait for that delivery to arrive. While it is nice and bright out the front of the house, the dining room is still cold and gloomy. I will really have to grit my teeth to do any work in there this morning. I am imagining putting it off for another day, but I can't keep doing that.