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My Diary/Blog For the Month of February 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The links in the calendar above
link to individual pages for each date. |
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| Saturday
29th February 2020 |
| 08:47
GMT Yesterday was one of those rare days when the weather forecast was correct, or very close to it. After a dry start it was raining by 9am, and the mostly light rain then stopped at around sunset. By sunset the temperature had risen from 5°C in the morning to 11° C - a temperature that was maintained until sometime in the small hours of this morning.  Yesterday was a very uneventful day. In the morning I went out into the rain to drop off a double CD of The Shadows greatest hits to my neighbour and friend Michael. To keep it dry I had wrapped it in a carrier bag, and I doubt he could see what it was until he had taken it indoors. Since then I have heard nothing. The grumpy old git hasn't said thanks, or even that he has no use for it. Not much else happened yesterday, but I did seem to write quite a lot about nothing. One such nothingness was a dream I did my best to describe - because I could actually remember a fair amount of it. To read about my dream, how uneventful most of yesterday was (not counting two irritating phone calls), and why my blood glucose level is slowly returning towards a more acceptable figure, you'll need to click HERE. (By the way, once on the archive pages there are buttons to click to go forward, or back a day). |
| Friday
28th February 2020 |
| 08:36
GMT Yesterday started with rain, and snow ! Well maybe not exactly snow. It was probably just sleet, but some of those soggy flakes were quite big. None settled because it was just too wet outside. The "snow" actually only lasted for as little as 10 minutes. The rest of the time it was just (mostly) light rain. By early afternoon the clouds started to clear, and from about 3pm, or soon after, the sky was a lovely clear blue. After dark it was a less lovely clear black - which let all the heat out ! The afternoon temperature may have very briefly peaked at 8° C, but as little as 4° C was more like the average temperature, and the wind chill made it feel like below zero at times.  Yesterday was the day I paid both my BT phone bill, and my Credit Card bill. It broke my heart to do so, and it always has done for the last 30 to 40 years ! The full story of yesterday, and this morning, includes pictures and two videos. Some achievements noted were doing some laundry, and going out for my usual Thursday evening drink. As usual the full archive can be seen by clicking this LINK. |
| Thursday
27th February 2020 |
| 10:02
GMT Yesterday started bright, sunny, and rather cold. Later on it warmed from a chilly 3° C to a still chilly 8° C. The forecast said there would be a splash of rain yesterday, but the predicted time kept changing. I think there was a light splash of rain - it may have only been 37 light drops - but I can't seem to recall when it was, and so it's probably ignorable.  The forecast doesn't show it, but there has been some snow...well I suppose it was actually sleet mixed in with rain this morning. It has only just stopped as I write this, but the dark sky promises more precipitation of one thing or another. The latest revision of the forecast has the rain stopping at midday - which is better than 1pm, but only just, as shown in the early version of the forecast for today. After the rain stops we should have sunny spells until sunset, but sadly not the couple of hours of sunshine shown above. It was also be warmer than shown above. The latest prediction is that the temperature will briefly hit 8° C for maybe 5 minutes at 3pm, but 7° C would be more representative of the afternoon. The first couple of daylight hours tomorrow should be dry, but very cold (3° C), but it will slowly warm up to 11° C by 4pm. It will probably rain, maybe only light showers, from 8am to 5pm. In some respects I had a busy day yesterday. I went to The British Heart Foundation charity shop to buy some CDs. Some I had to decline to buy when I found they had increased the price of a couple of them to £5.99 - that is possibly more than you might pay in a dedicated second hand record shop...maybe. I then took one of those CD to give to Angela when I met her at lunchtime. She was absolutely delighted by it. Later on I had a soup lunch, and junk food dinner. I slept well last night, but still had some vivid dreams. Today I face the trauma of paying my credit card bill, and phone bill. It is the actually paying I hate, and it has nothing to do with the state of my bank balance. Later this afternoon I will be off out for my "Thursday Club" drink. The full details, including a poor description of one of my dreams, can be found in the archive page HERE. |
| Wednesday
26th February 2020 |
| 09:13
GMT The weather forecast for yesterday, issued at 5.27am, was more like a very vague overview of what the weather would be like. Two or three hours later another revision to the forecast was issued, and most of that was about right. I would have described yesterday morning as sunny, rather than having sunny intervals, and it was perfectly dry at 10am when a shower was predicted. The original forecast for the afternoon was thundery showers followed by hail. The later revision downgraded that lot to just ordinary showers, and that was about right. There was a short period of time when the rain seemed a bit heavy, but to be honest I can't recall when that was. After sunset the clouds started to disperse, and later clear skies meant the puny 8° C in the afternoon started to head towards zero in the small hours of this morning.  I'm not sure if the temperature did hit zero in the small hours of this morning, but at the moment my thermometers agree with the forecast, and say it is 3° C as I write this. It could just be heavy dew, but it does look a bit like there could be some frost on neighbours shed roofs. If there was any frost it will soon be burnt off by bright sunshine. Of course sod's law dictates that just as I was starting to write that the sun was blazing through my front windows, a cloud passed in front of the sun, but just a minute later the sun is back to full power again. The latest revision to the forecast say that we should only be having sunny periods at the moment, and that the last of these will give way to overcast skies in about half an hour (or 10am). From 1pm there may be light rain. The forecast says there will be, but then only gives a 12% chance of any rainfall - it sounds like there is a 88% of it staying fine ! Once again, the afternoon temperature will only be 8° C. This is apparently the seasonal average, but feels bloody cold to me. By midnight the temperature could be back down to 3° C again. Tomorrow looks interesting. The original forecast included hail, but that has been replaced by just light rain for the morning through to about 1pm. Tomorrow morning will only be 3° C, and past experience suggests that is cold enough for snow to fall instead of just rain. The truth will be revealed tomorrow ! Yesterday I only did another short walk, but had a very pleasant lunchtime meet with Angela. It was only spoiled a bit when lover boy kept calling her towards the end, but she declined to answer him until she was back at work. I discovered a good source of the annoying spikes in my blood glucose level on some days recently. It was beef jerky bought from Aldi. They must use sugar to dry the meat, and what I was eating was crystallised beef ! I start the day feeling like I haven't got much stamina, but I still intend to go for a walk, and end up in the pub - Angela suggested that maybe we would meet again today, and I can't pass up an offer like that ! The full, or perhaps pertinent details of my day, with pictures, plus some "thinking out loud" can be read HERE. |
| Tuesday
25th February 2020 |
| 08:38
GMT Yesterday was wet, wet and windy, wet and cold ! Maybe the afternoon temperature was 12° C, but it still felt cold. It could have been worse. It could have been like the forecast said in the morning. That included some torrential rain, but later revisions reduced that to just lots of lighter rain - but not that light ! All revisions of the forecast didn't show that reality included a few brief sunny periods early in the morning.  This early morning revision of the forecast is approximately the same as was being shown for today up to 36 hours ago. The latest revision has changed a lot. As I write this there is bright sunshine pouring through my window. It has been sunny for at least the last half hour, and maybe even before that. According to the latest revision there may be a light, passing shower at 10am. Rain is still expected to start at 1pm, but it will be light rain instead of thunderstorms. The light rain will continue until about 8pm this evening. The hail shown in the chart above is now just going to be the continuation of light rain. Unfortunately, the afternoon temperature is still predicted to be just 8° C - so it will be quite a cold day. Tomorrow is currently predicted to be bright and dry, but no warmer than today - in fact the ends of the day could be a fair bit cooler. Maybe cool enough for the day to start with some frost. I felt a lot better yesterday morning compared to the morning before. The painkillers I took before going to sleep were probably instrumental in that improvement by helping me get a far better night's sleep. Of course the positive effect of it being Monday, and a chance to spend a lunchtime with Angela cannot be discounted. On what was a horrible wet and gloomy day (not counting a few brief sunny spells in the early morning) there had to be something positive to motivate me. Being motivated, no matter how mad it was, I put my best foot forward, and went out into the cold rain. To read the rest of my account of yesterday, and see the pictures from it, plus what few plans I have for today, click HERE. |
| Monday
24th February 2020 |
| 09:09
GMT Yesterday turned out better than the forecast predicted. After a splash of rain at sunrise (plus or minus a bit) There were some unscheduled sunny periods. Sometimes the sun was a bit hazy, but even that is better than a fully overcast day. There were one or light showers, and a few times when the sky became very dark, but overall it wasn't anywhere near an awful day. One other thing I almost remember is that the forecast gale force winds in the morning were not as strong as I thought they would be, and that the wind later in the day often seemed to be almost as strong as the morning wind.  Every revision of the forecast shows less and less rain for today. Even the latest revision doesn't say that there will be any sunshine this morning, and yet the sun was out for a few moments just now. The headline forecast now says Light Rain instead of Heavy Rain. That heavy rain was forecast to be right in the middle of my walk through the park to (hopefully) meet Angela at lunchtime. It has now changed to light rain, and there is only a 59% chance of even that. The way things are developing it might be the case that most of my walk will be in the dry ! Today should see the temperature at around 12° C this afternoon, but tomorrow may be much colder - just 8° C. Tomorrow may also feature some extremes - a sunny morning, thunder and lightning in the afternoon, and hail at sunset ! I felt pretty dreadful yesterday morning. I was aching in many places again, but I managed to get stuff done - most of which was photo editing, and which I wrote about yesterday afternoon anyway. I took some painkiller before getting an early night, last night. They seemed to work, and I woke up feeling now worse than usual this morning. My blood glucose was a bit high though, and what was worse about that was that I was expecting it to be slightly lower. I have already done some gardening this morning - all of 5 minutes worth ! Read about the rest of yesterday, and the few plans I have for today by clicking this link - this one HERE. |
| Sunday
23rd February 2020 |
| 15:57
GMT There were some strong winds yesterday, but only occasionally. The rest of the time there were strong breezes ! The wind, whether very strong, or just light, made the day feel cooler than the 13° C that was reached even before midday. Unfortunately it was overcast all day, and so there was no sunshine to make that 13° C feel even slightly warm.  With most of the daylight hours already passed it is difficult to match reality with what was forecast for today. For instance there has been a fair bit of sunshine this afternoon, and I think there was some late in the morning. There were some light showers soon after sunrise, but they wee almost ignorable. There was also a period of time earlier this afternoon when the sky became very dark, and there was a light shower, but it probably lasted no more than 15 to 20 minutes. The current temperature is around the forecast 13° C, but it will soon start dropping. It shouldn't drop that far, and tonight may be only as low as 8° C. At 3am tomorrow morning the temperature is supposed to start rising again. Unfortunately it will probably be accompanied by rain. Tomorrow is forecast to be wet, and maybe very wet at lunchtime - when I will be walking through the park to (hopefully) meet Angela. I did not feel that well yesterday morning, but I improved after I had been up for a while, and managed to do three little chores without any great drama. I went shopping in Poundstretcher. The I went out again to get some shopping from Tesco. The final thing needed a bit of extra energy. I hand washed the towel I use to dry my hair. It seems to be the perfect size, thickness and absorbency. I don't know where I will find a similar one if this one wears out. The good thing is that it is a lot thinner than a bath towel and so hand washing it is not as hard work as a bath towel. In the evening I was not terribly enthusiastic about it, but I went out to work - or as some people say, I went to a gig with my camera. The bad was good, but I thought I had taken sufficient pictures in the first 45 minutes. After that I went home again, and spent a very painful night in bed. You can read why, and see some pictures and video of the band, plus see a picture of one of the very first shoots that have appeared in my window boxes - if I get any flowers in my front garden, I can be almost sure they will be in those window boxes. The whole story, complete with amusing spelling mistakes, missed words, and other grammatical errors, can be seen HERE. |
| Saturday
22nd February 2020 |
| 08:10
GMT Yesterday's weather followed the forecast quite well. The morning featured some sunny spells, and the afternoon was overcast, but dry. The afternoon temperature was around 11° C, but dropped to 10° C after dark. It stayed there all night.  There was no sign of any rain at 7am, and the temperature may have only been 10° C instead of 11° C. The temperature for a lot of the afternoon should be around 13° C, but the whole day is going to be overcast to some degree or another, and so no sunshine today ! There is a small chance of rain at any time, but the forecast doesn't even speculate when any rain might fall. With luck it will be a dry day. One feature that has been added in the last revision is for gale force winds at midday, but the rest of the day should see much more moderate wind. Tomorrow could start almost warm, and very likely wet. As the rain dries up there could be a few hours of strong winds, but the afternoon may be calmer. No sunshine is predicted for tomorrow. I went on another boots test drive yesterday. This time it was an old pair of Regatta walking boots while wearing some thin cotton socks. I walked 2 miles in them, and while they weren't perfectly comfortable, they seemed usable. While on the walk I met Angela in the pub and cheered her up with a couple of gifts because she said she was feeling low. The extra nice hug when we parted seemed to show I had made a difference. That made me feel good. In the evening, and maybe from mid afternoon, I began to feel bad myself. I couldn't be sure if it was physical or mental, but I didn't feel good. I didn't even feel like cooking any dinner, and so had a fairly healthy takeaway. The whole story, with pictures, can be read right HERE.
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| Friday
21st February 2020 |
| 09:37
GMT Yesterday's rain was mostly drizzle. There was some drizzle that finished around sunrise, and it started again around 11am rather than the forecast time of 1pm. By 6pm, when hail had been forecast for 36, or even 48 hours in advance, it was dry, and the sky was partly clear. There were a couple of hours around midday when the wind contained some quite strong gusts, and was other wise strong enough to make 11° C feel quite cool. Later in the afternoon the temperature dropped to 7° C, and then to just 5° C by midnight, and it was definitely feeling cold.  As yet I have seen no sunny spells, but I have seen an intensely bright patch of sky that was strong enough to cast a very blurry shadow. The latest revision to the forecast starts at 10am, and shows no sunny spells. It seems today will be overcast by light cloud, but should stay dry. Most of the afternoon should be 11° C, and the temperature may not drop below 10° C all night. Tomorrow may start with some heavier cloud, but the cloud should get lighter during the day - but never enough for the sun to get through. There is a very small chance of rain at any time. It should be a little warmer than today, and possibly hit 14° C for a short while. My idea of doing most of this writing in the evening didn't seem to be such a good idea upon reflection. It obviously would not work if I was going to a gig in the evening - something I am still not doing very frequently, but intend to do as the days get longer, and the nights get warmer. I have now thought up an alternative idea. I now save a full archive of every day's diary entry, and only saving a précis on the month page. What I might start doing is to write the "today" page in increments during the day, and then save the complete day at the end of the day. One other thing I must do is to add "previous day" and "next day" navigation buttons on the daily archives. At the moment the only way to navigate to a different day is to go via the monthly pages. Anyway..... I gave my new boots a couple of test drives yesterday. The first was a quick walk around the park. The second was when I wore them to my regular Thursday drinking session. The weren't that uncomfortable in the park, and seemed to improve as I walked. I thought they showed promise, but after wearing them to the drink I had some doubts. Once again they were not that uncomfortable, but they seemed to slow my walking down. The full story of my walk, my boozing, and my dinner, plus a couple of pictures taken on my walk can be seen and read HERE. |
| Thursday
20th February 2020 |
| 09:04
GMT A pattern emerges....Like the day before, yesterday started bright, but it didn't last. It wasn't long before the clouds gathered, and it started raining - earlier than forecast if I recall correctly. The rain was supposed to stop after sunset, but I have no idea if it did or didn't. It was a rather cool day. The afternoon started at just 8° C, but finished at 9° C.  The ground was certainly very wet at first light, but there was a period of brightness, although not full sunshine, this morning. According to the latest revision to the forecast it should be drizzling right now, and maybe it is, but it is too fine to be seen from indoors. Once good thing is that the strong winds (shown as white numbers on black circles in the screenshot above) will only blow for two hours instead of three. Just for a change, the morning will be less cool than the afternoon. This morning may be 10 or 11° C, but by sunset the temperature may fall to 7° C, and keep falling after that. One of the features of the headline is hail showers. Each revision of the forecast over the last 36 hours has insisted hail will fall at 6pm, and at no other time. I think the headline is more worthy of a red top newspaper, and not of a serious forecast. Hail or not, it seems most of the afternoon is going to be wet ! y contrast, tomorrow may feature a sunny morning, and be almost warm (but not actually warm). I had hoped that I might be able to get some shopping done, and still have time for a walk in the park, and to meet Angela at lunchtime (if she was available). That didn't happen, but I did go out on two shopping trips. I bought food, and some new boots from Aldi, and I bought wooden boxes and compost from Poundland. My eating turned out to be more controlled than I thought. Both my weight and blood glucose were very satisfactory this morning. There was one sour moment in the evening when I saw a picture of Angela kissing lover boy on Valentines night. That left me feeling very desolate, and the feeling echoed into my dreams. Read all about my whole day, with, as usual, pictures, plus a picture of my breakfast this morning - a formal breakfast is unusual for me ! I have also written how I might start writing these diaries in the evening, instead of the morning. It can all be found by clicking right HERE. |
| Wednesday
19th February 2020 |
| 09:31
GMT Yesterday morning started bright and sunny, but eventually the sunshine gave way to clouds. Initially there were sunny periods, but by 1pm the cloud cover was complete, and by 3pm it was raining. For a few minutes the rain was very heavy with hail mixed in with it. The afternoon was about 10° C, but it felt much cooler in the wind.  Today has started off cold and bright, but like yesterday the clouds are starting to thicken, and we are in for another wet afternoon. With any luck it will only be light rain, and it may finish at about sunset. The start of the afternoon will only see a chilly 8° C, but by mid afternoon the temperature may rise to 9° C. Just after midnight the temperature is supposed to rise to 10° C. The headline feature for tomorrow is hail showers, but they are only shown for 6pm. The day will be heavily overcast, and rain may start at around midday, and if we are lucky it will stop after the hail at 6pm. Tomorrow morning will probably be 10° C rising to 11°C by midday, and then the rain will cool things off again. I initially looked forward to going out in the sunshine yesterday morning, but it turned out to feel chillier than I had anticipated. My first little walk was to the cash machine outside the Tesco Express on the high street, and then to Poundland. I then did some tidying up at home, and found a few things of interest. I also checked what my trailcam had recorded of happenings in my garden during the night. Finally I waited around until I felt comfortable, after two quite urgent visits to the toilets, to rush to the pub to see Angela. There is a picture of a form concerning me in 1957, plus a short video clip of my new resident fox - in colour (it was out after sunrise) - plus a longer description of my day and health in the complete write up for today to be found by clicking HERE. |
| Tuesday
18th February 2020 |
| 08:22
GMT The forecast for yesterday turned out to be wrong for several reasons. The hail, forecast for around sunrise, was just some light rain. Once that was over it was a sunny morning, with sunny intervals until sunset, and it remained dry. The afternoon temperature was 10° C - right on the border between cold and mild.  At the moment the sky seems too clear for anything but bright sunshine, but the forecast, even the latest revision, says we will only get sunny intervals. By midday it should be 10° C again, but it will be overcast. From 4pm we may have some light rain. Tomorrow could be a bit cooler, lack sunshine, and some of it may be wet. I managed a 2.18 mile walk yesterday, and could have done more if I hadn't drunk two pints of Guinness during a lovely lunchtime break with Angela in the pub. The nice walk, the second half in good sunshine, and seeing Angela were ingredients that helped me to control my food intake, and in consequence caused my blood glucose to drop to much more satisfactory levels. Read all about it, and see the pictures HERE. |
| Monday
17th February 2020 |
| 09:26
GMT I didn't go out yesterday and so the weather was of no real concern, but I did note that the rain was not always the heavy rain that was forecast. A lot of the time it was quite light, and may have even stopped now and then. Just as the sun was setting some holes opened up in the clouds to the west, and suddenly glorious sunshine came flooding into my room - albeit at such an acute angle that it didn't really light up anything except the east side of my front rooms. The day started very mild at 13° C, but very strong winds blew any warmth away. From then on the temperature slowly dropped to 11° C for the afternoon, and ultimately to 7° C by midnight.  It seems storm Dennis has passed us by, and for now the extremes of weather are over (but apparently there is another storm leaving that blasted country called America, and will be here later). The ground was wet when I first peeped out the window, but at 8am I saw sunshine instead of hail. The latest revision of the forecast says it will now be a dry day with some occasional sunshine. As I write this the sky is almost all blue, and it looks like the sunshine could continue for a while yet. Later on the sky could get lightly overcast, and we will only get an occasional sunny spell, but everything looks good right now. The temperature should climb from about 7° C to 10° C this afternoon. It will probably be a cold night. At the moment, tomorrow looks to start similar to today, but there could be more rain after sunset.  In some respects, my day was quite boring yesterday. I seemed to spend virtually all day processing pictures and video. I tried to restrain my eating, but I probably nibbled a bit too much, and the premium French lager I drank was not only very nice, but it was quite sweet too - and that was probably instrumental in raising my blood glucose rather higher than I would like this morning. The full report on yesterday includes some picture and a video, and also includes some recollections of some vivid dreams as I struggled to sleep last night. I guess all dreams can be weird, but these seemed strange even by my standards. All the word, and pictures are right HERE. |
| Sunday
16th February 2020 |
| 10:44
GMT It was bloody horrible yesterday...well maybe not all the time. Sometimes it was just unpleasant. The only slightly good thing was that at 12 or 13° C it wasn't chilly, but neither was it warm. The all pervading feature was how dull and grey it was. The occasionally torrential rain was just an added feature in case we weren't pissed off enough.  There obviously has been some heavy rain, and there are raindrops on the windows now, but I couldn't describe it as raining heavily. There seem to be occasional squalls of heavy-ish rain, and perhaps an invisible from indoors, light drizzle at other times. While still very overcast, it seems lighter than the doomy forecast might suggest. The latest revision to the forecast shows some periods of heavy rain are now periods of lighter rain, and the strong winds that were supposed to rattle the tiles earlier, and which I didn't notice, are now behind us. The day is now cooling down, and from a morning start of 13° C it should slowly get cooler and cooler until it is just 8° C tonight. Tomorrow may only be around 8° C, and there will probably be some scattered showers through the day, but it seems like we have got through storm Dennis without any mishaps. The awful weather sapped most of my enthusiasm to do anything yesterday, but I did go to Tesco in the morning, and much to many people's surprise, I went to a gig in Greenwich last night in the pouring rain (although the rain had eased off a lot when I arrived in Greenwich). I went to see two bands. Unusually, Chain had a support band - a 4 piece of young musicians. They were quite good. All the detail of changing buses in the rain, and some pictures of the support band (Chain pictures maybe tomorrow) can be seen HERE. |
| Saturday
15th February 2020 |
| 09:04
GMT I can only think that yesterday's weather was so bland that it left very little impression on me. There was a bit of sunshine in the morning, but it was overcast by midday. The morning started cold enough for a light frost, but by the afternoon it was 11° C, and neither warm nor cold. There was supposed to be some rain starting at 9pm, but I have no idea when it started. All I know was that the ground was wet this morning.  By the look of the ground the overnight rain probably stopped at around 5am, but maybe earlier, and as I said above, I have no idea when it started. Was is more certain is that sooner or later it will rain again today. The latest prediction is that it was start at 1pm, but the real unknown is when it will be light, and when heavy. The forecast attempts to put times to it, but I suspect it will be more random. I'm not sure if there is going to be any benefit to it being 13° C for a lot of today when the rain will make outdoors very user unfriendly. That's not to mention the gale force winds expected that will probably chill to the bone. The current forecast predicts the rain tomorrow will all be heavy until an hour or two after sunset. During the morning there will be more gale force winds. Yesterday was one of those days when I couldn't raise much enthusiasm to do anything. I did do some things, but on the whole I had a lazy day. I didn't receive any Valentines cards, but I did find one in the back of a dusty drawer (posted in 1999), and I also found a silver looking, but probably a base metal coaster in the same drawer. It's history eludes me, but I have some theories about it. There are some pictures to illustrate these things, plus longed descriptions of my day, and what I might do today, in the full version HERE. |
| Friday
14th February 2020 |
| 08:49
GMT Yesterday was wet, sometimes very wet ! The forecast said the last rain would fall at 4pm, but it finished before that. I can't seem to remember when it finally stopped, but I do know that for the last 20 minutes the rain fell like stair rods, and that must have drained the clouds very quickly (sort of). I suppose with an afternoon temperature of 10° C the day could be called mild.  By now the temperature if supposed to be 6° C according to the forecast above, but my thermometers agree that it is just 3° C, and the bright sunshine is only now melting the frost. Eventually the sunshine may give way to just sunny spells, and if the forecast has any credence, those sunny spells will finish before 1pm, but by then it should be 11° C. The temperature is then supposed to stay constant up to 9am tomorrow when it may start to rise to 13° C. Unfortunately the price to pay for tomorrows almost warm temperature is more rain, and gale force winds ! Yesterday morning I missed the few sunny spells, and got drowned going to Poundland where, amongst other stuff, I bought some grass seed. I then had a lazy afternoon until it was time to go out for my Thursday drink. Out of curiosity I timed my walks to and from the station. The pub had some nice 5.1% beer, and I had three pints of it. After that beer I managed to avoid the magnet like pull of the fried chicken shop. Instead I made myself feel bloated with too much Heinz cup-a-soup. Their "Tomato with a hint of basil" still does not taste pleasant on a second tasting. I had a lousy night and had to take some antacid tablets in the middle of the night. Today I am unsure what I will do, but at least I did get a very simple, but very nice message from Angela. All the details of my day, night, and guess for today, can be read HERE. |
| Thursday
13th February 2020 |
| 09:00
GMT Yesterday was another that was "not bad", but also not that good. There was a nice sunny morning, but before midday the sunshine gave way to just sunny spells that got shorter and shorter, but just about made it through to sunset. Indoors, with sun coming through my windows, it felt warm enough to open a window when the sun was at it's brightest, but outdoors it took until 2pm to briefly hit 9° C, but the temperature quickly fell away again afterwards. Although it was originally forecast to start raining after midnight, it was actually raining much earlier - maybe as early as 9pm.  The forecast for today seems to have got it wrong - even in the latest revision. There has been some rain recently, but at the moment the sun is shining (although getting dimmer as I write these words), and the sky only seems to have very thin looking clouds in it. Some areas look blue. It makes me think that today the symbol used in the forecasts that shows a combination of sunshine, clouds and rain, may actually be right - we are going to have all three until, maybe, 4pm, and then it may stop raining, and just be overcast for the rest of the day. Tomorrow may start with some frost, but it should warm up to 12° C. There might even be some sunny spells in the morning, but after that it is predicted to be overcast. Eventually it will start to rain. The current prediction say that the rain will start at 8pm I was quite disappointed to
hear from Angela that she wasn't able to meet me at
lunchtime, and it sort of threw my whole day into
disarray. I still had to wait in for a parcel delivery -
which was delivered late - 5 minutes after the last
predicted time. I then went to Aldi. After that I did
very little, but still seemed to write quite a lot about
it - plus stuff about weight loss, and good and
disappointing blood glucose levels. Also the few plans I
have for today. They can be read by clicking HERE.
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| Wednesday
12th February 2020 |
| 08:20
GMT It was bright yesterday morning, but earlier than expected the sunshine gave way to just sunny spells. I think the last continuous sunshine ended before midday. Then the sunny spells were after fairly short, and there was sometimes a long interval between them. It was a cold day with a maximum temperature of only 7° C, and the wind, which was quite strong in the morning, made it feel particularly chilly.  Today looks like it could almost be a re-run of yesterday, but with two exceptions. The temperature if forecast to rise to 9° C, and with only light winds it may feel more pleasant than yesterday - although still a bit chilly. The current forecast for tomorrow predicts some heavy rain to start the day, but becoming light rain by 7am. The rain may dry out by mid morning, but the rest of the day will be overcast with a temperature of 10° C. I managed a 3.02 mile walk yesterday. It felt OK apart form the buttock clenching part ! I saw Angela in the pub at lunchtime, and so all was well. I gave her an early Valentines card which she seemed to like a lot. After the walk I had a builder in to fix my leaking gutter. It was probably only a temporary fix, but it only cost me £40. A proper job with a long guarantee will cost £600. I am considering it, but I will get at least one alternate estimate, but the quality of the temporary repair may be a deciding factor. Yesterday Angela suggested we meet again today, but this morning she said that she has to go shopping in her lunch break. I now have some alternate ideas of how I might pass the time today. All the details, plus pictures, and even video of squirrels can be found on the page for today. |
| Tuesday
11th February 2020 |
| 08:16
GMT The sunshine didn't last long yesterday. By mid morning it had reduced to just sunny spells, but those sunny spells almost made it to midday. The afternoon started quite dull, and in another hour it was raining - cold, icy feeling rain ! That rain seemed to get a lot heavier, instead of stopping an hour or two after sunset. At approximately 6.30pm there was a loud clap of thunder. As far as I am aware there was just the one clap of thunder. I didn't see the lightning that caused it because it was actually over Shortlands, and it hit the railway signalling centre. That caused great disruption to the trains last night. The gale force winds that were forecast did sort of happen. There were a few strong gusts around the middle of the day, but they seemed almost minor compared to the day before.  Last night the temperature seemed to be dropping quite low, and I was expecting frost this morning, or even snow if there was any precipitation, but this morning was not as cold as it was when the day started at midnight last night. This morning it is probably about 5° C, and the forecast says it should rise to 7° C. At the moment the sky is blue, and the sun is shining. The latest update to the forecast says the sunshine will now give way to sunny spells as early as 11am, but the sunny spells will continue through to sunset. The update also adds a bit of optimism to say the afternoon temperature may now reach 8° C. One other very curious feature is that it now says that at 9am there will be a 53% chance of precipitation while at the same time predicting clear skies, and bright sunshine - which is what I see out of my window. more strong winds are expected for the first half of today. Tomorrow may start colder than today, and the afternoon may reach 9° C, but otherwise seems to be the same as today. Yesterday was another good and bad day. The early sunshine made me determined to get a decent walk in, and I managed 2.55 miles. It ended with me getting wet from icy feeling rain. Eating a hot Iceland "Slimming World" ready meal warmed me up, but it came at a price - it had lots of sugar in it. I never saw Angela in the pub, and the price of Guinness had gone up by 10p. Dinner was a healthier skinless chicken and cabbage meal, but the cumulative effect of all I ate yesterday was to keep my blood glucose level higher than I hoped (but still around my current average). Some good news this morning - it seems that my weight has passed a recent peak, and may be on it's way down again. All this on long form, illustrated with pictures, can be read HERE. |
| Monday
10th February 2020 |
| 08:26
GMT The rain wasn't quite as forecast for yesterday. Most of the rain was often quite light, and there may have been some periods when it didn't rain, but there were times when the rain came down in torrents ! The wind was not quite what I expected either. It often seemed quite calm, and then the peace would be shattered by a powerful gust of wind - or several of them. In such conditions the temperature was almost irrelevant, but it was probably somewhere near the 14° C that was forecast for the afternoon.  There are still some medium strong gusts of wind, but this morning is in complete contrast to yesterday. At the moment the sky is blue, and the sun is shining. It seems that that the sunshine will give way to just sunny spells by 10am, and by midday the sky will be cloudy once again. That may produce some light showers until gone sunset, but the rest of the day should stay dry. It is going to be a cold day with an afternoon temperature of just 8° C. Maybe it could be less because the temperature is currently a degree less than the 7° C forecast for now. Tomorrow should see sunshine or sunny intervals from dawn to dusk, but once again it is probably going to be quite a cold day with a maximum of just 8° C. I could almost say that being a Sunday, yesterday was a day of rest, but I think a day without much going on would be a better description. I spent most of the afternoon playing with another old laptop, this time with quicker success, while waiting for a parcel delivery. I tried to eat a bit more healthily yesterday with mixed results. My blood glucose was about average this morning, but I had hoped it might be a bit lower. I tried to get to sleep early last night so I could be up early enough to possibly go out for a quick visit to the seaside to photography some stormy sea. All I actually achieved was to wake up from a dream about a woman that was heading in a romantic direction before I woke up and had to face reality again. The long version of this can be read HERE. |
| Sunday
9th February 2020 |
| 09:02
GMT Once the early morning rain was finished, yesterday turned into a fairly nice day. Some of the sunny spells predicted for the middle of the day turned out to be quite longs spells of sunshine - that is to say, far longer than a "sunny spell". I didn't go out in the afternoon, but I would imagine it would have felt nice during one of the hour long, or more sunny spells. The afternoon temperature probably did hit the forecast 11° C. During the evening the temperature fell a bit, and then started to rise again.  The forecast for today keeps changing, but maybe only in minor details. The overall forecast is that it is, and will continue to be a wet and very windy day. It is possible that the next two hours may only involve drizzle, but that will soon turn to light rain, and sometime later, possibly 1pm, we will have 6 hours of heavy rain, maybe more. One (very) slightly positive thing might be that the rain will be slightly warm. The afternoon temperature should be around 14° C, but the gale force winds will probably still make it feel cold. Tomorrow is almost an unknown. The forecast has changed a lot in the last 24 hours. It seems that more gales are likely in the morning, but there could be some long periods of sunshine. By the afternoon there could be a mix of sun and showers. The maximum temperature may only be 8° C. Most of yesterday would have to considered as bad, but there were a few good things too. The badness included going to Aldi at the busiest time ever experienced. It also includes wasting loads of time trying to do something on a semi obsolete laptop while using a Poundshop mouse with a faulty left click button. That caused enough grief to need some booze, and ended up with me being too late to go out to a gig. This morning there is some good news. Despite taking a few chances, my blood glucose is in the good-ish area (lower would be the icing on top - but no icing today). The weather dictates that I will spend today indoors - probably. All the details of my adventures in Aldi, plus the booze I bought there, the time wasted on the laptop, and some thoughts about today, can be read HERE, together with pictures. |
| Saturday
8th February 2020 |
| 08:54
GMT Yesterday's weather was good, bad, and indifferent. The day started with a frost, but there was glorious sunshine as soon as the sun had risen high enough. There was very little wind, and that sun felt very warm when soaked up by my blacker leather (look) jacket. That inspired me to go for a walk in my sleeveless denim jacket at midday. As I opened the front door the sun was eclipsed by a cloud. From then on there were just sunny intervals, and the wind started to pick up. The afternoon temperature was probably around 8 or 9° C, but during the evening the temperature rose to 10 or 11° C, and that seemed quite mild because the wind seemed to have dropped again.  There was some rain in the small hours. I'm not sure when it stopped, or even if it has stopped now. It still looks very damp outside as if there might be some very fine drizzle. The forecast insists it has stopped now. It also says it should brighten up enough to give sunny spells from around midday until sunset - now at 17:02, and getting later every day !! During those sunny spells the temperature may rise from a mild 9° C now to what might be pleasant in a bit of sun - 11° C. Until midnight it looks like the day will be inoffensive, and occasionally nice, but tomorrow sees a big change. Gale force winds are still predicted, as is plenty of rain. Most of the rain may be light rain, but the current prediction is for about 4 hours of very heavy rain around the middle of the day. Yesterday was one of those days that was both good and bad. Fortunately the bad was only mildly bad, but then again the good was only mildly good. My day probably started properly with a walk to Iceland (the supermarket). I then went for a short (1.5 mile) walk around the park. Sadly I did not meet Angela as I hoped to. In the evening I went to my second gig of the year, and came straight home again - the pub was packed like a short formed rush hour train. All the detail, plus loads of pictures to illustrate many of the details can be found by clicking HERE. |
| Friday
7th February 2020 |
| 09:08
GMT The sky was clear blue for all the daylight hours yesterday, and the sun was shining brightly. Indoors, where it was shining through my front windows, it seemed like a summer day. Outside it was rather different ! It was still very much like winter with the temperature possibly not reaching much higher than 6° C. The forecast said it would be 8° C.  After the clear sky it is no surprise that this morning has started with a thick frost. I currently have three working outdoor temperature sensors, and they can't agree on the temperature. They say 1.1°, 1.6°, and 2.5° C. All of them say that it is currently colder than the 4° C in the forecast. The forecast gets one thing right - it is gloriously sunny again. It should stay sunny at least until mid afternoon, and then gathering cloud will reduce it to just sunny intervals until sunset. The cloud is apparently going to get thick tonight, and that will keep some heat in. From just after midday the temperature is supposed to be 9° C. After a small dip it will rise again to 11° C by midnight. That was supposed to be the start of the gale force winds and rain that was blowing in from across the Atlantic ocean, but the weather warning for those winds is now only predicted to be on Sunday. Tomorrow may only see light winds, and light clouds. There might even be sunny intervals in the middle of tomorrow. I didn't go out for any exercise yesterday, but I did go out in the late afternoon for drinking purposes. I spent most of my day, prior to going out, doing just two things. One was to finish the job, as far as I can, clearing, cleaning, and tidying the bookshelves, and under the bookshelves in the back room. The other thing was possibly wasting time playing with an ancient Dell laptop. I had a nice drink last night - three different ales. The long, detailed version of my day, plus accounts of a few strange dreams last night can be found here. It includes video showing what a lovely clear blue sky there was as I waited for my train to the boozing venue at just gone 4pm. |
| Thursday
6th February 2020 |
| 09:17
GMT The forecast for yesterday, even the later revisions, seriously underestimated how much sunshine there would be. The sunshine started out quite hazy, but hardly ever dimmed, and as the morning passed the sun became clearer and clearer. I'm not sure if my memory is accurate, and of course I wasn't looking outside all day long, but once that haze had dissipated the sky seemed to be clear to beyond sunset, and the sun was shining all day. The downside is that it was a very cold day. I'm not sure that the temperature reached the forecast 8° C, and it may have been no higher that 7° C.   This morning has started with a frost. All the cars I can see in the road have a rime of frost on them - and it is not just on their roofs. It is starting to warm up now. Before I rushed upstairs to get a camera my thermometer, as seen on the left, was showing 1.1° C. By the time I went back downstairs, and took this picture, the temperature had risen to 1.2° C !! The screenshot of the forecast was of the 6am revision. It has been revised, and now says there will be sunny intervals during all the hours of daylight. It is possible some clouds will come along and spoil it, but at the moment the sky looks completely clear, and with luck, today may be as good as yesterday - but still bloody cold, or maybe not. The latest revision says the afternoon temperature could be 9° C today. Tomorrow may possibly start with a frost, but once again it should be sunny, and the afternoon temperature is predicted to be 9° C again. It is much later tomorrow that a seemingly peculiar thing happens - the temperature rises even higher in the night. It is the first touch of a storm that is coming in from the Atlantic Ocean - warmer, but very wet air is racing towards us to bring rain and high winds. Yesterday was one of those days where I felt like I was very busy, but I have little tangible evidence to show for it. I did do some laundry, and I did a bit more cleaning/tidy of the back room, but a fair amount of time was swallowed up playing with old laptops. The full story, with pictures, is right here. |
| Wednesday
5th February 2020 |
| 08:47
GMT Early forecast predicted that yesterday would enjoy some sunny spells from morning into the early part of the afternoon, Later forecasts said the sunny spells would end earlier. In reality the last glimpse of the sun was possibly as early as 11am, and even that was only hazy sunshine. It was also a bit cooler than earlier forecasts predicted, but only by a degree or so. The highest temperature was probably only just 9° C with 8° C more typical for the middle of the day. During the night the temperature fell low enough for some frost this morning.  I didn't feel as bad yesterday as I did the day before. It meant I could get a modicum of enjoyment out of my walk, although I still didn't feel like rushing around. Nevertheless, I went out for a short walk, took some pictures, and had a very nice lunchtime with Angela in the pub. In the evening I ruined my blood glucose level by eating too much rice, and washing it down with some sweet tasting beer. To see the pictures, and read more details about my day, and what I might do today, click HERE. |
| Tuesday
4th February 2020 |
| 09:10
GMT Yesterday started out as if it was going to be bright, and there were even a few short periods of hazy sunshine, but the forecast sunny intervals didn't seem to happen. The temperature during the middle of the day was 11° C, but there was quite a cold wind blowing that made it feel a lot cooler (there may have also been another reason why I thought it felt cooler than 11° C. During late evening it did cool down a lot, and for a while it seemed like we were heading for a frost in the morning.  I didn't feel too good yesterday. A walk to Poundstretcher felt like hard work, and I could only push myself to walk 1.5 miles for my daily exercise. Not seeing Angela at the half way point probably made the homeward bound half of the walk even harder. although later on some shivery feeling suggested I may have been suffering from some sort of bug - probably the ever popular Corona Virus. While in the park I took some pictures that show the spring is not too far away now, and after the park I ended up eating two pints of soup to try and warm up. The full story is, as ever, available by clicking this LINK to take you to my diary, or blog page, or whatever it is called for Tuesday 4th February 2020. |
| Monday
3rd February 2020 |
| 09:18
GMT There were a couple of times when a bit of hazy sunshine appeared from between the clouds in the morning, but yesterday was generally overcast. It was also quite mild with the temperature hitting 14° C for a short while in the afternoon. Once again, the clouds kept the temperature up into the night - it was 11° C until gone midnight.  Yesterday was another day dominated by just two things. The first of those things was a shopping trip to Tesco, and the second was a three hour session in the pub with friend Kevin. I also watched some Star Trek. If you want to read the complete details, including two rants about how crap the movie Star Trek : Into The Darkness, and the TV series Star Trek : Discovery are, then click here. |
| Sunday
2nd February 2020 |
| 11:39
GMT Once again the weather forecast undersold the amount of sunshine there would be yesterday. The sunshine was just the occasional short spell of hazy sunshine, but before the "official" time of the first sunny spell at midday, the sun got stronger, and the sunny spells got longer and longer. By mid afternoon it could have been described as sunny. The temperature only rose to about 12° C, and if it wasn't for a rather cool wind it could have felt nice in the sunshine. Indoors, with no wind, the sunshine was getting my front rooms nice and warm. I even had the windows open for an hour or so ! In some ways it wouldn't have been bad for an April day, and probably rather excellent for the 1st of February.  I ended up doing just two things of note yesterday - I sowed some flower seeds in the front garden, and I did some laundry. I also went to the corner shop to buy a couple of magazines. Apart from that I mostly read except for the time I was ready to rush to the toilet with am explosive stomach upset - at first I feared it would end in projectile vomiting, but it was expelled the normal end. All the gruesome, and more pleasant details of the day can be read HERE. |
| Saturday
1st February 2020 |
| Foreword:
Today marks the change from the dates on the
calendar at the top of the page pointing to the daily
sections of the monthly page. Now they will point to the
full version of the day, rather than just to the précis
of the daily pages. 09:54 GMT It was fairly mild yesterday with the afternoon temperature around 12° C. During the morning the clouds were thin enough to let through an occasional flash of hazy sunshine, but it wasn't long before the clouds thickened up. As I suspected, there was more rain that the forecast predicted. Some was very light, and almost ignorable, but from as early as 6pm, and maybe beyond 8pm, there were some periods of heavier rain.  Yesterday was another day where I was saving myself for late afternoon/early evening. I went to meet my friend Aleemah at West Hampstead station, and then on to a Czech restaurant/bar. When I was back home, after enduring an uncomfortable 42 minute ride on a train that was too crowded to get to the toilets, I ended up watching the film "V For Vendatta". It seemed most appropriate for the night that the UK left the European Union, and the shackles came off out government, and made way for Boris to become dictator for life (which I am sure he aspires for). The full story, complete with pictures of beer, and links to breweries can be found here. |