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Tuesday 23rd February 2021
Lockdown day 336
Shopping embargo day 88 215

08:38 GMT


  It wasn't nice yesterday. The day was almost unrelentlessly grey, and there were some showers in the afternoon. The best I can say about yesterday was that for a while the temperature reached 12° C. Sadly, it still felt very cool in that grey light.
sunny day
   The latest revision to today's weather forecast says that it should be grey and cloudy right now - it isn't. At the moment there are a few dark clouds in the sky, but there are more light clouds, and a fair bit of blue sky. The sun could come out at any moment, and once it does both the Met Office and the BBC (Meteogroup) agree it is going to be almost all sunshine until sunset. It is a shame that the highest temperature may only be 13° C today. Tomorrow may see a few sunny spells, but most of the day will feature a covering of light cloud. In compensation, the temperature may reach 14° C.

  The main thing about yesterday is that I ate far too much, and nearly all of it was the sort of unhealthy stuff I should really only eat as an occasional treat. In the morning I had two lots of ready made pasta snacks. The second of which included either a certain type of onion, or maybe garlic. Whatever it was it left a really horrible taste in my mouth because of a missing taste receptor (probably). That taste receptor was killed by Covid at the time, last April maybe, when I lost all taste and most of my smell for a week.

  After having that naughty breakfast I could hardly wait to have lunch. That was a couple of fat enriched (sort of) "slices" - one was a peppered steak slice, and the other was a chicken and bacon with cheese slice. It was the latter, being a novelty to me, that drew me to that part of the shelf in Aldi, and somehow induced me to grab the peppered steak slice. Later in the afternoon I had an unneeded snack to satisfy my curiosity.
Dynamite
                                      Marmite
  At least I can say this was a healthy snack (by some metrics). I was fortunate enough to get some of the new, limited edition "Dynamite" chilli flavoured Marmite. I had it on oat cake that I has specially bought for this very reason in Aldi in the morning. I am very much in agreement with a body of voices saying it would be good if they brought out a hot version of this Marmite. I could detect a faint hint of fruitiness in this Marmite, but there was no heat in it. I guess those with a more sensitive palate might detect some chilli heat, but in that respect it seemed bland to me. It was still very nice to have Marmite on oak cakes though.

  My dinner was probably pretty terrible for me, although it was quite tasty (but not good enough to want to buy any more - specially at full price). I can't remember it's full name, but it was chicken, bacon, and cheese in a puff pasty wrapper - the wrapper was scored so it looked more like latticework when cooked. It's fat content was very high - probably mostly on account of the cheese, but the bacon, and the fat used in the puff pastry contributed a fair amount too. I didn't eat any more after that.

  Almost the only other thing I did, beyond getting my weekly shopping in the morning, and failing to get my repeat prescription, also in the morning, was to wash a couple of t-shirts, a hand towel, and a couple of pairs of underpants. It feels like I am doing a lot of laundry recently. I guess boredom is taking it's toll, and I am doing less than a full load of laundry. Actually this is good on two counts. One is obviously because it is something constructive to do, and the other is that it is easier to do it in smaller amounts instead of battling through a big backlog.

  I did do one other thing yesterday. It was an important thing even if it didn't amount to much yesterday. I made a start on repairing a broken dining room chair. The welds of those chairs have all failed over the years - over 30 years to be honest. The repair is to cut a "P" shaped metal strap to replace the weld. Yesterday, after thinking about it since well before Xmas, I dug out my metal shears, and then I found some metal to cut up to make that strap - except that the bit of metal I found is probably about the right size with no cutting. Sometime before the next ice age I will finally repair that chair. Maybe before the end of lockdown might be good timing.

  I had a lousy night, and I am unsure why. Superficially it was because the temperature in my bedroom was wrong. It felt too cool to sleep uncovered, and far too warm to pull the duvet over me. All the thrashing around, trying to reach a comfortable amount of covering ended up with bits of me aching. At one point I thought I was going to have a chest flare up (Costochondritis), but I think I escaped that. I certainly had a few aches and pains in my arms and legs.

  In some ways it was a bit 'flu, or even covid, like. I even kept getting a dry cough. The cough could be calmed down by simply having a drink, and it wasn't completely a dry cough. It would seem that after I stopped coughing there would be a pause of a few minutes, and then a single cough would cough up a very small amount of phlegm (or something). It seemed like I was awake more than I was sleeping, but big chunks of time would pass without me noticing.

  This morning I didn't feel good, but I seem to be feeling semi OK now. The hazy, but growing stronger sunshine helps a lot, and I feel less inclined to go back to bed once I have written this. Most of what I wrote about what I ate yesterday was really a lead up to say that my blood glucose level is pretty awful this morning. It has gone back up to 9.1mmol/l. I really shouldn't have had more oatcakes and cheese for breakfast this morning, but I needed a boost after that bad night - even if just a psychological boost - although I am not sure of that worked after I add on the guilt factor.

  Today's agenda is set by the weather. All the forecast sunshine needs soaking up.  Prior to that I need a shave, shampoo and shower. Now that the worst of winter is (hopefully) over I am going to set my shaver to a closer cut beard. My ultimate plan is to go out for a walk in the sunshine. What I haven't decided is whether to attempt a long walk, or just to do a simple 3 mile walk in the park. It took me all the next day, and maybe a little bit after that, to get over Saturday's 6.8 mile walk. It was great that I could manage it, but I feel I ought to be building up to it rather than jumping in head first. I supect I'll make a final decision after I have already walked a few miles.

  There are a few other things I will probably do today while the sun is shining, and I feel good. I need to pay my BT phone bill, and it would be good to pay my credit card bill. If the latter is not too terrible I might place an order for more booze !
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