I was expecting to see that the early prediction of sunny spells later to be changed to cloudy when I refreshed the forecast to see the revised forecast, but no, they still say they will happen. However the start time has been moved back to 10am now, and now they finish an hour later at 2pm. It is trying to be sunny as I write this. There is a dazzling patch of cloud, but it is too thick to let the sun through. It is going to be another of those days where the weather is in a state of flux, and is almost impossible to forecast. They usually get the temperature right though, and this afternoon could rise to 11° C. If that coincides with one of the mythical sunny spells it could feel nice. Tomorrow could be a bit like today, but with sunny spells starting at 2pm, instead of ending then, and they could continue until sunset. It might also get to 12° C.

   Yesterday turned out to be rather different to expected. It all changed when Jodie phoned me up around 11am to ask what I was doing. I believe the partner of the friend she was going to see had had her covid jab the day before, and was feeling poorly yesterday - a very common side effect. Jodie asked me if she could bring some beers over in the afternoon. Boozing three days running seemed a bit excessive, but I said yes.

  As I predicted yesterday morning, I didn't do much in the morning. I did do the one job I predicted, but went a little further. I gathered up all the cans and bottles that had escaped from the bin I collect the recycling stuff in, and took out all that, plus some cardboard to dump in the green, recycling wheelie bin. I also cleared a small backlog of washing up and (drinking) glass polishing, and finally I started pre-cooking my dinner for later. That was a lot later than I would usually do it, but by then I knew I would be bosy drinking with Jodie in the afternoon.

  Jodie arrived almost on time yesterday. It was forgiveable that she stopped to buy a few things to eat on her way here - stuff to be cooked in my microwave because she has no cooking facilities at home (for reasons far too complex to explain). She arrived bearing 4 cans of beer and one bottle. The bottle was a decant from a bigger can that she had started at home, and didn't think much of the beer. It was alleged to be black forest gateau flavoured beer, but it was nothing like it. However, to my taste buds it tasted like a very thin version of the Samuel Smiths chocolate stout. It was quite chocolatey, but it wasn't sweet, and nor did it have any hint of cherries about it.

  I think two of the can that Jodie brought ovr were of the very sour beer that she likes, and I don't. One of theme even pushed her limits a bit ! One beer, a chocolate and mint flavoured beer was very nice. I put a few of my bottles on the table - a few more Samuel Smiths beers, and one from the Pohaalla brewery (that I can spell properly, and left as it seemed to come out as I typed it). That latter beer was a 10.5% stout, and it was surprisingly nice. It too had undertones of chocolate, but not the nasty flavour of coffee that some porters have.

  Maybe it was because several of the beers were quite strong that Jodie seemed ready to leave a tiny bit earlier than the bad habits she has got into over the last 3 or 4 months. She left to get the 6.48pm train at just gone 6.30pm. On a weekday that would allow me to watch a whole half of Deep Space Nine, but being a Saturday all TV is different. Fortunately it was different in a good way. I watched a couple of episodes of Red Dwarf (series 11) as I munched my well cooked pork belly slices and mushy peas. Once Jodie had gone I just had to warm it up for 4 minutes in the microwave before tucking into it. The only negative thing is that my jar of mustard, that stuff that has been used as a preservative for things like pickles, was well past it's best. I shall try and remember to buy a new pot on Monday morning.

  There was other stuff I might have watched on TV, but it wouldn't be until at least an hour after the last Red Dwarf episode had finished. I opted to go to bed even though it wasn't quite 8pm at that point. I read for sometime, but I think I was fast asleep quite some time before 9pm. I thought I had slept quite well the previous night (at least I think I thought I had), but evidently I hadn't because I had a couple of snoozes before Jodie arrived. In fact I was fast asleep when she started wringing the door bell.

  Once again I think I slept OK last night, but I am not sure... I recall having some rich dreams, but I can't really recall enough of them now to describe them. One thing I did do in the night was to bite the side of my tongue. I guess I might have been doing some extra powerful snoring or something. All I knew is that the pain woke me up, but it subsided enough in maybe 5 minutes that I fell asleep again. An hour or two (or three ?) I woke up again for a wee, and while in the bathroom I spat out a lot of blood, and washed my mouth out with mouthwash.

  This morning I have to deliberately find the sore bit of my tongue, but if I leave it alone it is painless. My initial thoughts about how I felt seemed to be that I was possibly feeling better than usual. After sitting at my computer for an hour my legs had seized up, and I felt like a really old man as I limped across the room. One good thing is that I seem to have very little hangover after yesterday's boozing. It is probably good that my blood glucose remains unchanged at 8.8mmol/l. That is once again a fair bit higher than I would like, but good after a boozing session and all the temptations that might bring.
  Before starting writing this I went to the government census website, and was shocked that it actually worked, and seemed to be quite logical. It has a few quirks, but they could be ignored. I think they were so you could skip a section, possibly log out to go and find some details (like finding out if you were man or woman), and then come back to it later. It was all pretty straight forward, and it probably took the estimated 10 minutes to complete. It seemed so professional for a government website !

  Another important online job for today is to order some more beer. I probably have spent my budget for this month already, but I seem to be managing my budget rather better than I imagined when I made the decision to quite work, and so as my pension age races closer and closer, I have a few more pennies available than I thought I would have.

  I suppose I am a little surprised about it, but the sun has now come out. In theory I could forego having a shower, puts some clothes on, and go out for some exercise now, but I think I prefer to have a good wash first, and allow time to cool off after a hot shower.  There is also the thing that the temperature outside doesn't reach it's maximum of 12° C until about 2pm. That is according to the very latest revision to the forecast. It also says the sunny spells continue until 3pm (and maybe a little longer) now. Going out later would be good, but involves a conflict of interest. I should be getting an Amazon delivery today. If I were to assume the bastard driver won't be here until sunset or beyond, he would probably turn up at 1pm or something equally good, but annoying of I am a couple of miles away in the park ! I think at the minimum I will have to wait until Amazon provides more information before doing anything rash.