The cloud is starting to break up as I write this, and the idea of sunny spells is starting to seem very possible. The latest revision to the forecast predicts sunny spells from 10am through to 3pm. The temperature should have risen to 12° C by the time he sun comes out, and provided the wind stays light, it should feel slightly warm in the sunshine (and possibly very warm behind the windows of my front rooms). Curiously enough, the BBC (Meteogroup) weather forecast denies there will be any sunny spells, but says the temperature should rise to 14° C. Both forecasts agree it will rain tonight from around 7 or 8pm. Tomorrow will probably only reach 10° C, as everything cools down again after this brief bit of warmer weather. Tomorrow is likely to be a grey day - sometimes dark grey, and the morning may feature more rain.

  It was probably because it was warmer yesterday that I felt a fair bit better. I still feel it is strange that the outside should affect me so much when I am indoors in a more controlled environment - at least in some rooms. The kitchen is unheated, and it can end up being painful being in there too long when my chest is having a flare up. Yesterday it was almost OK in the kitchen, although I didn't spend long periods in there.

  The big thing about yesterday is that I didn't feel the need for any painkillers, or booze. It would be premature to say this flare up is over until next time. I did have a twinge or two when I got up this morning, but quite a few bits ached when I first got out of bed. More about that later. The important thing about yesterday is that I felt more inclined to be productive. The most taxing thing I did wasn't particularly taxing at all yesterday. I hand washed two t-shirts and some underwear. I kept expecting to feel bad, some way through the procedure, but I seemed to be fine - almost normal.

  The best bit of productivity was to finish a job I had half heartedly started the day before. It was to try and improve the dining room a bit more. I still have a load of stuff in boxes, and also quite a few empty boxes ready to put stuff into once it has been sorted. There is a lot of stuff that should probably be thrown away, but there is a lot of stuff I feel very reluctant to just throw away. However, I did manage to grit my teeth and throw some stuff out.

  Nearly all the stuff I threw out was in a collapsing cardboard box, and had been tipped there from the drawers from the old desk that used to be in the dining room. I had already thrown some stuff away at the time I emptied those drawers out. After yesterday's throwing out the remains easily fitted into a box smaller than a shoebox. I sliced the collapsing cardboard box up, and it is ready for the recycling bin. Slowly, slowly, oh so slowly, the dining room is becoming less cluttered. The task that is going to be really hard to do will be throwing out a big box of old CD Roms, and floppy disks. I really want to keep some of the historic stuff (you never know when you might want to install Windows 95 again !). Ideally some of the stuff on the floppy disks could easily be copied to a tiny corner of a hard disk. One of my laptops has a working floppy drive - I could do that copying on some rainy day soon....maybe.

  Although I felt generally OK yesterday, I still felt a desire for a hot lunch. I ended up having a can of minted lamb, chunky soup with some toasted bread. Then curiosity got the better of me, and I decided I would try a sachet of a vegetarian equivalent to chilli con carne. I thought it was just beans and rice with some spices when I bought it from Aldi, but it contained lump of "vegetable protein". They were probably tasteless, but their texture was rather unpleasant. It was like chewing on expanded polystyrene. Unfortunately I bought another of the same make, but Thai flavoured. I expect hat to have strange texture lumps of nothingness in it.

  My dinner had a hint of the orient about it. It was stewed steak, that I had 90% cooked from raw the day before. Yesterday I added some spices, plus bean shoots and "tender stalk broccoli". It was, or should have been fairly low in calories and stuff, although it was quite a large portion. On the other hand I didn't eat it with anything else to bulk it up like rice of potatoes. If it hadn't been for some of the snacks I ate earlier in the day, one of which featured quite a lot of cheese, I might have declared I had eaten very healthy yesterday.

  I had thought I would be in bed early last night, but I hadn't counted on getting to a section of book that I am reading, where the action steps up a pace. I was tempted to keep on reading on well after midnight, but I think I managed to fall asleep before midnight. Apart from waking up earlier than desired, I seemed to sleep quite soundly again last night. Once again I remember dreaming a lot, but I have no real memory of what those dreams were. One tiny bit of dream I do remember is very vague, but seemed to be about taking water sample from a river somewhere. The only bit that sticks in my mind was that the water sample were being taken in "tupperware" like boxes rather than bottles.

  This morning I seemed to feel quite creaky. Much of that has gone since having a hot shower, and washing my hair. My back, and some of my front felt stiff and sore as I leaned over the bath washing my hair, but not so sore as to raise any difficulties in washing my hair like that. Like yesterday, I still feel my chest is just waiting to start aching again. I have had a few minor twinges, but if it is like yesterday then I should mostly feel OK.

  The real big test of my chest, plus other bits of my body, will come around midday. I am expecting a delivery from Star Bargains. It will have quite a lot of sugar free drinks in it, and the box will be bloody heavy. If I can get that from the door step to the dining room table without my chest bursting open then I will be very relieved. Getting all my goodies, some of which I will have to be very careful of because they are anything but sugar free, will be highlight of the day part 1. Part 2 should be a now traditional Thursday afternoon boozing session.