Today's forecast has started wrong ! As I write this there is sunshine from over my left shoulder. It is not constant sunshine because there are thin streaky clouds that occasionally pass in front of the sun. The BBC weather forecast reckons there should be sunny spells from late morning  until sunset. The Met Office says there could be non stop sunshine from midday to 4pm with sunny spells a few hours either side. By 4pm the temperature could rise to 18° C - not hot, or even warm, but it should feel pleasant. Tomorrow morning will probably see a return to thick cloud with the possibility of some rain. The afternoon will be lightly overcast, and so a bit brighter, and there is even a chance that the sun could break through for a few moments. The afternoon temperature could be as low as 14° C.

   Yesterday's grey skies provided no inspiration to do much. More than that, they soaked up any desire to do anything. I guess it didn't matter because Sunday has always been a day of rest, although I actually did very little resting. That's not to say I was rushing around, but I did spent/waste quite a lot of time playing with the old PC I wasted much time on, on Saturday. I did make some progress, but I think I am wasting my time.

  It would be nice to get that old PC in a usable state, and if I installed something like Windows XP on it. On the other hand there are still a possible two things that might make even that pointless. One thing I discovered yesterday is that there could be something wrong with the socket for a graphics card. I had a working installation going, and was doing an update when I touched the graphics card and the screen display wobbled followed by the computer crashing. Software problems can be worked around by trying alternatives, but hardware problems can be the kiss of death.

  The second thing to make it probably pointless to continue to waste time on the old PC is that I have ordered a new PC. I was looking at the stuff in the window of a little computer shop on Catford Bridge. They had some "second user" machines that didn't seem too expensive to my untrained eye. I wondered what the prices might be like if there was anything similar on Amazon. There was, and the prices were almost half ! I have ordered an ex-office Dell Optiplex with an i5 processor, and 8GB of ram for just £118. It's not the fastest i5 processor, but it should be a fair improvement over what I have at the moment. Assuming it can take two hard drives, I believe it should be a fast machine with a solid state drive for the operating system, and a big "spinning rust" hard disk for data storage.

  Other pastimes for yesterday included a bit of reading, and, of course, eating. I had a few snacks, and some lunch yesterday. The snacks included crunchy peanut butter on rice crackers. That seemed very nice, but I wondered how many calories and stuff the peanut butter would add. It would seem the answer to that would turn out to be "not much". My lunch was a bowl of instant noodles (Mug Shots), and a bowl of "instant" spiced couscous. Both of these start off as a very small, and almost weightless pile of dry powder until boiling water is added. That could be significant.

  My dinner was more substantial. I had another go at cooking a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pie. My mini oven does not get hot enough to cook the piecrust to a golden brown. On the other hand the pie is so close to the top heater that it can char the piecrust. The secret, which I am gradually discovering, is to cook the pie for far loner than the recommended time with the top shielded by aluminium foil. At the last moment take the foil off, and be careful.

 I think it would have worked yesterday of I had rotated, and moved the pie about a bit so that it could stay under the heater for a bit longer without any hots spots burning.  Once I had cooked that pie as best I could I served it with "Mexican style" Heinz Beanz. It turned out to be rather enjoyable. I washed it down with two (small) bottles of beer, and a can of Carling lager.

  I went to bed, initially to read for a while before attempting sleep. The book I am reading, "The Puppet Masters", by Robert Heinlien is interesting in that it was written in 1950, but the basic idea in it has been used by other several times. It concerns an invasion by an alien species that acts as a parasite, and attaches itself to the victims body. Many years later the story would be rehashed for an episode of Star Trek. It is possible that it was an episode that was actually written by Robert Heinlien.

  In the Star Trek episode the creatures looked like some spilled latex, and would mould them selves onto the victims back. They would send tendrils into the skin that would entwine with the nervous system. This made extraction impossible without killing the host. In the book the host would be under control of the parasite, but would otherwise appear normal apart from a slight hump on their back. The other variant of this story was a running meme in Futurama where bright green, gelatinous, "brain slugs" would attach themselves to the skull of the host.

  It was 10pm before I put the book down, and turned out the light. I was soon asleep, and I think I may have dreamed a continuation of the book. I can't really remember anything of the dream(s), but I feel sure I was dreaming it as if I was just reading a book, and in no danger. So it wasn't a nightmare. I actually slept really well last night. I woke up a few times for a pee, but fell asleep almost instantly after going back to bed. I even overslept if that is possible when there is no set time to get up. I must admit it was very unusual to wake up and see the clock reading 7.15am. It is usually closer to 6am.

  This morning is also unusual in that I seem to feel fairly good, or even good, but only up to a certain point. Basically, nothing really aches or is stiff. However, it is becoming apparent that my right thigh, and buttock, maybe right knee too, is complaining far too readily while I sit at my PC for any length of time without getting up for a stretch. When I think back, I am sure that the upper thigh and buttock pain only started after I slipped, and sat down very heavily while walking in Brookmill Park (Deptford) several months back. I wonder if I did some sort of damage that has left some sort of legacy. I guess I will never know, but at least it gives some sort of hope that it may heal one day.

  The better news than the lack of other aches and pains, is that my weight seems to have dropped 100, and possibly 200 grams since yesterday morning. I think that quite remarkable considering I didn't do any significant exercise, and the foods I ate would not be the sort of things I would select if actually trying to lose weight. Evidently I really don't know what I am talking about. It seems it doesn't always happen, but this weight loss was also accompanied by a reduction in my blood glucose level. This morning it was an ideal 6.7mmol/l.

  As I write this my bedroom is being warmed by sunshine. The best of the sunshine is not due until this afternoon, or are we getting it early, and will the afternoon now feature rain ? Anyway, I find the morning sunshine inspirational. I need to do some washing up to make the kitchen smell a bit sweeter, but other than that I had nothing special to do. I may waste a bit of time checking that spare PC, but maybe only to put it back together again before consigning it to the bottom of the wheelie bin. I think it highly likely I will be going for a walk today, and if the sun is out it might be a long one.