The sunny spells shown for 9am in the screenshot above have started on time, but sadly the latest revision to the forecast says they will only last for this one single hour. The rain is now shown to start at 1pm, but there might be a dry hour around 9pm - not that that is of any use to us. It is now predicted that after this slightly cool start to the day, almost all the rest of the day will be no more than 8° C. Tomorrow morning may see light cloud followed by some sunny spells in the afternoon. It may also be slightly warmer at 10° C.

   I could probably describe yesterday as being a day of rest. I hardly did anything, but things did happen. One thing that happened was that I was far more careful about my eating, and I don't know how I did it. Somehow I just didn't feel the need to snack much during the day. I did eat a pack of 5 Pepperami for a sort of breakfast, and I occasionally had a nibble at some dry roasted peanuts, but that is all I ate until dinner time.

  Another thing that happened came right out of the blue. It was on Monday evening that I ordered two "crates" of assorted beers via Amazon. The predicted dates for delivery were no earlier than this coming Saturday, and possibly as late as next Monday. It was a bit of shock to hear my doorbell and find a box of beers on my doorstep yesterday afternoon. That was very quick service from Beer Hunter (via their Amazon presence). There were a few beers that I could have bough from a supermarket, but some were definitely weird and wonderful - at least I hope they will be wonderful.
  Sunset was officially at 4.53pm last night, but there was still a fair amount of very red daylight at 5.08pm last night. Weather lore says "red sky at night, shepherds delight", and indeed this glorious display did herald some clear skies, and this morning's short period of sunny spells. The sky was quite clear in the night, and the moon, maybe three quarters full, could be seen shining very brightly even through my bedroom window curtains. We are lucky the temperature did nor drop a lot lower in the night with that clear sky.

  After sunset it was time to prepare dinner. In some ways my dinner was chosen on Monday morning when I bought most of the main ingredients.  The core of it was diced lamb, and it wasn't very lean lamb. I stewed that with mushrooms and vegetables - mostly bean sprouts, but a couple of sliced runner beans. For extra lushness I stirred in some onion gravy granules. I will admit it included a lot of fat. If I had prepared it in the morning I might have left it to cool and scooped of some of the fat.

  All that fat will probably clog my arteries, but that will only kill me. The important thing is that it should not (and didn't) contribute to my blood glucose level. In fact I was so confident that it was good in that latter respect that I treated myself to a low calorie/low sugar ice cream for dessert. It was all rather delicious, and I didn't feel the need for anything else after that.

  I could have been asleep in bed early last night, at least I think I could have if it wasn't one thing. That one thing is both the curse and joy of reading - I was getting near the end of the book where in normal circumstances all the loose ends would be tied up. The trouble is it wasn't a normal book. It was the final "Bill The Galactic Hero" book - "The final Incoherent Adventure". It was all terribly weird, but that was the whole thing about this series of books, and the end was also the beginning of a potential new series of books. Sadly that will never happen - at least not by the original author. This last book was written not long before Harry Harrison died. His last writing was one final adventure for the Stainless Steel Rat. There was no time for any more books about Bill, the Galactic Hero.

  I just had to keep reading until the very end of the book, and in doing so it was almost 11pm before I put the book down, and turned out the light. For maybe 10 or 15 minutes it was a case of "oh no, I'm never going to fall asleep", and that with no warning, I was asleep. I think I probably sleep fairly OK if judged by the fact that there were few times when I was awake for more than 5 or 10 minutes after first falling asleep.

  If I judge my sleep by how stiff my legs are this morning then maybe I didn't sleep well, but I can't think of any mechanism to explain it. One of my little party pieces, except it is obviously never done at parties, or indeed before any audiences, is to flick my feet as I get out from the shower to shake as much water off as possible. It took a long time to build up the confidence to do this. After all, standing on one foot in a slightly slippery tub, and kicking out the other foot, would give 'elf and safety nightmare - doubly so when there are no handles to hold on to, and the potential to fall through an ancient sash window into the garden below. Anyway, trying to flick/kick my foot out caused several muscles to report a lot of pain and stiffness this morning.

  In at least one respect I am good. After my almost unconscious effort to eat carefully, I am happy to report that this morning my blood glucose is down to 7.7mmol/l. That is a wonderful drop from the silly figure yesterday morning, and so close to my target of 7.5mmol/l that it could almost be called perfect (but just under 7mmol/l would be even perfecter). It is rather well times too because today could involve stuff that will probably raise it again.
  One of two more pictures from my walk on Tuesday. I arrived at the Winsford Road entrance to the Linear Park just in time to see Thames Water checking the blocked drain there....Well I assume that is what they were doing. They drove in, and through that huge, path blocking, puddle. Then they turned around and drove away again. At least they can't say they don't realise how bad that puddle is.
  This picture does not do justice as to how startling these bright orange berries looked when I first saw them. I'm not really sure what they are, but they seemed to almost glow against the dull winter vegetation. They are possibly poisonous, but I wouldn't be surprised if something, probably a bird, didn't eat them.

  Back to today, and may plans are.....actually they are quite simple because they are little more than drinking beer this afternoon. Prior to that I will need to spend 10 minutes cleaning up the dining room, but I've hardly done anything in there since the last boozing session, and so a light dusting should be good enough, although f I am really keen I might hoover the bits of cardboard off the carpet - one of the few things I have done in there is cutting up a couple of boxes before putting them in the recycling bin.

  One other thing I have to do is to listen out for the doorbell. I have yet another Amazon delivery on the way. This time it is nothing more exotic that a couple of large bottles of cod liver oil capsules. I just hope the bastard delivering them pulls his finger out - Amazon's advice is that they will be delivered today before 10pm - YES 10pm !!! If I drink sufficient beer I expect to be fast asleep in bed by 10pm. Hopefully it will be quite a few hours earlier than that. The package arrived at their Dartford depot at just before 1am this morning. Any other delivery company would have had it in the van, and on the way before 9am, but I fear it won't leave Dartford until almost midday, and I'll be the last delivery slot. Grrrrrr