There has been no revision to the forecast since I took the screenshot above. Today is one of those odd days when the Met Office forecast (as above) broadly agrees with the BBC (Meteogroup) forecast. On that basis it seems fairly certain that today is going to feature a lot of sunshine. Unfortunately it is going to be cold sunshine, or at least that is how it will feel when outside. Behind glass it may well feel warm. Today has started off bright, and some of that brightness is the thick frost on the cars outside. My garden thermometer says it is currently only 1° C outside. As sunset nears it could be 7° C - which is still not exactly warm, but tomorrow may be even colder. It is also shown as being dull and grey. Sunday could be colder still, and while tomorrow may be dry, the BBC reckon sleet may fall on Sunday.

  I described my brief bit of activity yesterday morning, yesterday morning ! I showered, and then I went out to buy some food and drink. The drink included beer ! After that I didn't really do much until the afternoon. While generally relaxing I heard a thump from downstairs, and it was the final book I had ordered from Amazon landing on my door mat. I now have two more unread "Bill The Galactic Hero" books to read, plus about a quarter of the book I am currently reading.

  I think there are two more in the series if I can track them down, but I may not bother. I am getting a certain amount of fatigue reading them all in a row. I am thinking that maybe their zaniness is probably best appreciated in less frequent doses. I am almost wondering if I should set aside the two unread books for some time later. I do have other books to read that I could start once I finish the current book.

  It was about 2pm when I started my frenzied preparations for an afternoon's boozing session. That is a small exaggeration because it wasn't frenzied at all. On this occasion there wasn't much that needed doing. Perhaps the most intensive thing was finding a couple of bar towels that I had stashed away, and use them to supplement the beer mats that I scatter over the dining room table.
  These 4 beers were my main contribution to the boozing. They are the beers I had bought in the morning. One of them was nasty. It definitely had a hint of dog pee in it (or so I imagine). I think it was the one with the green label - the session IPA. Two of the others were notable for being fairly normal tasting beers - pleasant, but nothing to get excited about. That leaves the "Raging Bitch" Belgium IPA. That was really delicious, and I don't think it was just because it was 8.3%, although that undoubtedly helped !

  I guess we were enjoying ourselves because Jodie got an even later train last night (the 7.18pm if I recall correctly). I was feeling rather hungry after that beer, but I started pre-cooking my dinner well before Jodie left. My dinner had some positive health attributes to it, and some negative ones. It was a big baked potato smothered in butter, cheese, and baked beans. The beans were actually two "snap pots" of beans. One was a no added sugar baked beans, and the other was mixed beans that I think had a far higher sugar content.

  I had a sort of dessert after that quite big dinner. I didn't need it, I shouldn't have had it, but I was just drunk enough to lose some self discipline. Fortunately it was only some ham, mustard and rice crackers. In the grand scheme of things, I don't think that "dessert" would have contributed much to some later bad effects. The first bad effect was an annoying stomach ache when I went to bed quite early (soon after 8pm I think). It was partly trapped wind, and so low down that it was not a result of anything I had eaten in the previous 12 hours or so.

  At this point I can't remember the order of event. I can't remember if I went to the toilet before or after my first period of sleep. I ended up having to go to the toilet twice, and it wasn't just wind, before I felt comfortable enough for more sleep. Despite getting to sleep quite early, and not getting up as early as I could have done (or even would have liked to have done), I feel I didn't sleep well last night.

  I probably had many dreams through the night, but one, or maybe a few related short dreams, partly sticks in my mind. It was a sort of futuristic dream because it featured an electronic book that was actually a book. It had over 100 pages, and each page was touch sensitive, and you could navigate through them in a similar way to using a phone. I think it was two events that stuck in my mind.

  One was a demonstration about how flaky modern technology can be. If you swiped a page in this book the wrong way (although I can't remember what "wrong" actually meant now) all the pictures in the book would suddenly go very low resolution - all blocky, and just a range of 8 colours. The only cure was to close the book (equivalent to turning it off) and then re-open in (equivalent to switching it on again - nothing ever changes !).

  The other incident was when I couldn't here the sound that was supposed to be coming from the page I was looking at. There was a volume control, and I turned it up. The sound I then heard had no relation to what was on the page. It sounded exactly like one or more foxes shrieking (as they do a lot in the mating season). At that point I woke up because the sound was the real sound of one or two foxes almost outside my bedroom in the road. They (or maybe he) was making a right racket, but it slowly faded as it/they moved up the road (and probably around the corner).

  This morning I don't feel good, but I am starting to feel better. I guess it was mostly a mild hangover - the type that isn't painful, well not much, but just feels like your brain is wrapped in a wet blanket. A potential cure would have been a pre-dawn walk. It was something I had been thinking of doing since sometime yesterday when the weather forecast was saying this morning would be dry and eventually bright. I was thinking that I might have another go at trying to meet Angela on her way to work.

  Unfortunately reality intruded. The most negative reality was that my guts still felt a little turbulent, and I didn't fancy going out if I suddenly needed the toilet. There was also the reality that I didn't expect a thick frost this morning. That might have been OK if it would have been comfortable to wear my thick orange, winter coat. I would have been snug in there, but it does put some pressure on my chest, and my chest was playing up in the night.

  There was a short period of time between two bits of sleep where if I lay on my right side my chest hurt. Curiously enough, if I laid on my left side my back would hurt. That was quite a novel experience. If I laid on my back lower back would complain a bit, and I was generally uncomfortable. I have no idea how I got to sleep again, but I did. This morning my chest is not hurting, but it seems to have the potential to do so if mistreated. I will definitely have to keep it warm if, as I intend to, I go out for a walk in the sunshine today.

  I suppose I have just revealed almost my only plans for today. As well as going out for that walk I want to wash a couple of t-shirts, and some underwear. I think my plans include doing that before going out so I don't come home to ice cold clothes in slimy soapy water. Today's walk is actually very essential. My blood glucose has gone even higher, and is on, but hasn't crossed the notional danger line. I need to fast until after I have racked up at least 3 miles of walking, and maybe more, and then eat very carefully for the rest of the day if I am to get a more reasonable blood glucose reading tomorrow.