The most recent revision to the forecast correctly shows full sunshine at the moment, but apparently that ends in 15 minutes, and the rest of the day will be overcast. It will only be lightly forecast until after sunset, and that does give a bit of wriggle room for the sun to possibly break through the clouds at some time, but from 6pm the cloud will thicken, and from 7pm it may well start to rain. Of course by 6pm it will be dark, and the outside world doesn't exist then. Today's temperature may peak at 15° C very early in the afternoon, but it will start to cool off by 3pm. Tomorrow does not look nice. The morning may be lightly overcast, but the cloud will get thicker and darker in the afternoon. By 3pm it may be raining, and by 6pm it may be absolutely teeming down. Curiously enough, in the middle of the rain, the temperature  may hit 16° C by 3 or 4 pm.
   You may notice that my "shopping embargo" shows tow figures now. One in green, and the other in red. The figures start from when face masks became compulsory in shops, 92 days ago now. It probably seemed like a good idea, but since it was implemented the figures for Covid infections seem to have gone up faster. Don't blame me. For 88 days I didn't go into any shops, and I haven't been in a pub for 214 days now. It was on the 88th day that I broke my embargo by going into the little Turkish/Polish supermarket on Catford Bridge - without a mask. They seem completely relaxed about masks, and their only concern is taking your money.


  Yesterday I went to that little supermarket again, and this time I spent quite a lot of money in there ! It was just before I went out that the morning shower I mentioned at the top of the page took place. It was still quite dull outside, with some black looking clouds in the distance, when I went out, but I came home again, with my shopping, in hot sunshine. I was surprised just how hot it felt.

  There were a few things I specifically wanted from the supermarket. They were some fresh vegetables, and some beer. I bought some nice sweet tomatoes, some bell peppers, some chillies, and a rather strange "Turkish cabbage". The latter was similar to a white  cabbage that someone had sat on. Apart from being flat, it seemed that the leaves were less tightly packed.

 I bought several cans and bottles of beer, plus two bottles of Diet Coke. When I got to the counter I noticed "High Commissioner" whisky. I had only heard of this stuff via apocryphal tales of one of my friends probably having half a bottle on his cornflakes before driving to work. Every report about him suggests he is now a full alcoholic, and many times when he phones he sounds slightly drunk. High Commissioner is a cheap, but fairly nice whisky, and is the whisky equivalent to "Glen Vodka" - a cheap vodka favoured by alcoholics.Having seen it on the shelf, and noting that it was only £14, I thought I had better give it a try. It's not bad, but I think Tesco Special reserve whisky is much nicer, and actually cheaper when bought in the 1.5 litre bottle.

  It was almost midday when I got back from my shopping, and one of the first things I did was to have some lunch. Ideally, considering my weight and blood glucose level recently, I would have had nothing, but later on I would be drinking beer, and having something in my stomach was a wise idea. Not only that, but I wanted to try one of the big, sweet, and juicy tomatoes with some cheese and rice crackers. They were very nice !

  Apart from a modicum of tidying up in the dining room, I did very little for a while after lunch. I even dozed off for 5 minutes. With warm sunshine streaming through my bedroom windows onto my bed it felt really good to close my eyes, and let myself drift off to sleep. If I had nothing else to do I could have laid there for a lot longer. Of course a bit later on the sun went in, and the rain poured down. That would have got me up if nothing else did.

   I think it was about 3.30pm when Jodie and Michael turned up for another beer drinking sessions. There is some doubt about the legality of three people gathering together during the current Covid restrictions, but we all needed to meet for our own sanity. I believe it is called a "support bubble", and without it, it would be like being in solitary confinement. We got through a fair selection of beers. I don't think any were particularly notable, although once again Jodie and I had conflicting views on some beers.

  Not too long after 6pm Michael, and then Jodie went home (or actually I think Jodie went to Bromley to visit her favourite pub). I started preparing my dinner. It was a peculiar dinner in some respects. It was a smoked Polish sausage salad. The "salad" was probably the more peculiar thing about it. Salad usually makes you think of lettuce and maybe cucumber, but my salad was tomato, bell pepper, chillies and cabbage. (Correction: It was just one chilli that was sliced up, but not de-seeded). It was very tasty, but I probably should not have eaten all 4 sausages. They were fairly big, and 2 would probably have been enough.

  By 8pm I had watched the second episode of Star Trek on TV, and I was feeling tired. It was early, but I went to bed with a book. By 8.30pm I was fast asleep. This was a good thing because I probably slept through any hangover. I do remember waking up again just before midnight, and like the last time I did this (only a day or two ago) I was surprised that it was till the same day. I had some problem getting back to sleep after that, and I may have been awake for as much as an hour, but after that I seemed to sleep quite well. I woke up a few times for a wee, but ultimately I slept until just gone 7am. If it hadn't been starting to get light than I may have slept even longer. Even subtracting the times when I was awake during the night, I must have got a lot more than my "eight hours".

  This morning I feel.....actually, how do I feel ? Nothing really hurts, and this morning I probably got all my toilet needs out of the way quite early on. Sadly that only improved my weight a bit, and it is stupidly high compared to how well I was doing a month or so ago. I seem to have put on a couple of kilograms in an autumn frenzy of eating and lack of exercise. I hope that now I have access to fresh food again I can do something about it. At least my blood glucose has dropped a very small amount this morning. It is still higher than I like it, but headed in the right direction again. That too should be helped by having more fresh vegetables.

  I think I am going for a walk today, but the weather is of some concern. If today ended up like yesterday the prediction of it being overcast could easily turn into rain fall. I do not fancy walking in the rain - particularly when it should be mild enough not to need a coat (although I may wear a long sleeved t-shirt). If I don't go out I do have one important thing to do, and one part of it that I should do regardless. I haven't changed the sheets on my bed for too long, and they are probably very stinky by now. The bit I might, or might not do today, is to start washing the old sheets.