The latest revision to the forecast shows more sunny spells through the day. It might just be a long sunny spells, but as I write this it could be described as "sunny". I don't think the brightness has dipped for over half an hour, and possibly longer. More of this afternoon will be 20° C today, and for a while it could be 21° C. It will be another dry day, and so I had better water the garden. Tomorrow could see full sunshine from 11am until sunset, and the the temperature should rise to 23° C.

  My options yesterday were limited by the fact I had a parcel coming at some unknown time. The tracking information said it had arrived at the Dartford depot at just gone midnight. From there it had to wait until a driver was available - or so it seems. Sometimes parcels leave the depot as early as 8am, but 10am is probably more typical. My parcel didn't leave the depot until almost midday, but amazingly it was delivered around 3pm. I was expecting it to as late as 8pm after that late start.

  If I had a better idea of when I needed to be in I could have gone for a walk, and indeed there would have been plenty of time for a walk, but only with the benefit of hindsight. Instead of walking I had to find other ways of amusing myself, and ideally distracted enough to not think about food. I think that idea backfired. All the while I tried to think of distractions from food I just thought of food more. It didn't end well.

  Apart from reading, which I did a fair amount of because I wanted to finish a book, and move on to a better book, I only had one major distraction. I got the hoover out, and hoovered the dining room carpet, the living room, the hall, and the the first 4 steps of the stairs. I also got out the polish and a duster to clean and polish the mantelpiece in the front room. I also cleaned and polished around the TV in there as well.

  The real need in all this frenzied housework was the dining room carpet. It had bits of cardboard from cutting open big cardboard boxes of bottle of beer on it, plus more usual fluff and stuff. I doubt that carpet will ever be good again, particularly with some of the paint stains on it, but it is slowly coming up as I get more and more matted hair out of it. In most places that is a battle I have won, but some places still produce hair when scrubbed with a stiff bristled brush. I find it amazing that I could have lost so much hair over the last 20 or 30 years. I can't remember when the room became so cluttered that I could not effectively hoover it, but it was a long time ago, and now I am catching up on all those years.

  The parcel I was expecting  was a screen for my video projector. It was a bit of an anti-climax when it arrived. It was no more than a white sheet with a black surround, and eyelets for mounting it in any way that fitted. For some reason I expected it to be a metallised fabric for greater reflectivity, but I guess that sort of thing starts happening in the next price range upwards. I think I will be hanging mine from the photographic back drop stand I bought a few years ago (and never used for what I hoped to use it for).

  Another reason for thinking about food too much, and in consequence snacking too much, was that I was looking forward to my second dinner from my Indian meal takeaway the previous evening. The idea that knowing that I had a good dinner coming up, and so didn't need the snacks I ate, doesn't seem to work for me. My dinner last night was quite big, and I still have enough left from that takeaway for another dinner tonight.

  What I ate last night was a sort of kebab followed by a rice dish. The main part was naan bread with chicken tikka on it, and after warming that in the microwave I piled on the salad. I topped the whole thing with the mystery green stuff based on yoghurt. It was really nice ! After that I had a small portion of rice, which was nice-ish, but soon became bland with no curry over, or with it.

  I had also had some beers in the afternoon, but not actually with my dinner. It should have all added up to a pleasant evening, and an early night. That all went wrong when, just before going to bed, I went down into the kitchen to get more chilled water. As I turned the light on I heard a noise. Not a good noise. It was the noise of a mouse rushing for cover. I didn't see it, but it seems I have a new visitor - a very unwanted visitor.

  I didn't want to do anything about it last night, just before going to bed, but I will have to today. Thinking about the mouse kept me from getting to sleep as early as I thought I would. Fortunately mice did not feature in my dreams, but I did have two very weird dreams. I am not sure if I can remember the later one now, but the essence of the first comes to mind easily.  With hindsight I think my dream may have been about trying to make fizzy milk. I (we ?) were filling old oxygen cylinders with milk, and trying to pressurise them with Carbon Dioxide - like in a soda syphon. I can't remember the outcome of this experiment, and maybe I woke up before there was an outcome.

  I probably slept mostly OK last night, but my measurements were not good this morning. My blood glucose is a very high 9.8mmol/l - that's very close to the danger zone. I ate and drank a really bad combination of stuff yesterday. My weight would have appeared to have gone up by a whole kilogram, but it is probably less than that. This morning I am constipated again - which is the opposite what traditions says about eating curry the night before, although my dinner was not a red hot, highly spiced dinner.

  It is obvious that today I should really go on a long walk to burn up some of yesterday's excess, but I will be reluctant to do that until this constipation breaks. I think there are hints that may happen before the morning is out. I can usefully spend the morning cleaning up the mousetraps, and putting them out in the vicinity of where I heard the mouse last night. I shall also clean up that area, and check for any holes I can plug. It is not a job I enjoy.....