Today is going to be patchy, and not as warm as the previous few days. The current revision shows sunny spells for 8am and 11am. 9am maybe cloudy, and 10am full on sunshine. Of course it is best to take these as approximations, but it seems likely that midday to 5pm will be cloudy with no hint of sunshine. Full sunshine may appear for the last two hours of daylight. That lack of sunshine in the middle means the highest afternoon temperature may only be 13° C - not quite warm, but definitely not cold. Tomorrow may feature an abundance of sunshine, but the maximum temperature is predicted to be slightly cooler - just 12° C.

    The Poundshop not having anything useful in the bird feeding department was a bit of an annoyance. Initially it spoiled my plans for the day - not that I had any concrete plans except to finish off the laundry I had left soaking after my shower yesterday morning. It was a slightly heavier load than I usually do, and I contemplated doing it in two stages (three if you include putting it in to soak while I went shopping). Once I started on it I realised that I wanted to stop halfway through because I was bored of doing it. I ended up not stopping apart from to answer a phone call. I took advantage of that to wash and dry my hands, and put on new rubber gloves because the old ones had started to leak.
  It was good to get the washing on my newly resurrected washing line, and the clothes drying in the sun. While it was sunny the air was fairly still, and then the sun went in a few hours later. By about 5pm the clothes were almost, but not quite dry. I decided to bring them in, and let them finish drying indoors. There is probably a lesson in there - get the washing done earlier, and out on the line while there is still plenty of sunshine !

  While going for a walk in the afternoon was always a small possibility, the predicted gloominess for the afternoon (which turned out to be an accurate prediction) put me off going out. With that being the case I luxuriated in some lunch. I had the other two pieces of cod in batter from the pack of four I had had two from for breakfast the previous morning. As I let that settle down I planned my next amusement. It was to build a bird table.
  It is never going to win any awards. It was done without any measuring - the measurements were partly fixed by the scrap wood I had available. One small reason for it was to make use of that big annoying tree stump. The support pole is screwed to the trunk at a carefully selected point to allow the support pole to be as upright as possible. It is surprising just how many angles to the ground that stump has as it leans and twists at the same time.
  It wasn't all that long before my bird table had it's first visitor - a magpie. It grabbed a few peanuts then flew off. Next came a big crow. I had started taking in my washing at that point, but it flew around once, and then settled on the bird table, and started filling it's beak (and mouth ?) with both peanuts and hazlenuts. It allowed me to get within about a yard of it before it flew off. Ideally I would like some small birds to eat from the table, but I am told they prefer bird tables with a roof so they can't be seen from above by predators.

  My dinner featured something I saw in Aldi on Monday morning, and I was really curious to find out what it was like. It was gammon slices that had been marinated in habenero chillies, and other spices. I gave them a good grilling, and served them with sliced mushrooms and bean sprouts cooked in a spicy chicken stock. Those gammon slices were nice, but not so wonderful that I would definitely buy more, but I suppose if I seem them again I might buy more.

  The nigh before last I had felt very tired, but I had difficulty getting to sleep, and didn't sleep all that well when I did. Last night I didn't feel specially tired, but I seemed to fall asleep very easily, and generally slept OK. I'm not sure when I turned out the light last night, but I doubt it was later than 9pm. I lay in bed awake wondering if I was going to get to sleep, and then the next thing I knew was that I was waking up for a pee near 1am.

  My dreams were a right mishmash of stuff. There seemed to be a sort of narrative that was passed along in different dreams, and now I can't remember where they started or finished. One part of the dream sequence was set in a workplace that was a sort of amalgam of the last two places I worked in. Something preceded the first bit of dream I can remember. It was being in the toilets, and looking at the new orange and blue washbasins - newly installed in the house colours of mt last employer.

  I then apparently left the toilet, and went into the workshop. It seemed very noisy in there, and one of the engineers approached me and started mumbling something. It sounded like he was accusing me of leaving a washing machine on, but after he grabbed a camera he was repairing it turned out that he was asking if I could suggest any reason why the camera was producing very washed out pictures.

  The next bit of dream mixed up all three of the major places I have worked, and threw in some memories of being an apprentice. I was tasked with going to buy some sausages. The workplace was in an area I had never explored before, and so I went out trying to find a place to buy sausages. After walking around a bit I found a Sainsburys supermarket, but it was stupidly busy. I eventually found a butchers shop next door to the workplace, but there was no butcher to be seen. I think I picked up some sausages and walked out without paying, but the end is hazy because I woke up at that point.

  This morning it felt like I had slept well, although I can't think why I thought that. Maybe it was just the absence of feeling like I had slept badly. Once again I didn't seem to have any left over aches from any of my recent endeavours. The best bit was that my blood glucose had fallen to 7.5mmol/l - spot on my target. At that level I can very carefully take a few liberties - I could do, but maybe I won't push it. In an ideal world I want a full month of low readings so I don't scare the nurse when I finally submit to a blood test.

  I seem to have made up my mind that I won't be going for a walk today. That should mean this afternoon will probably be warm and sunny. I have sealed the deal by grilling some bacon for some breakfast - I prefer not to eat before going for walks. I guess that today I will do more stuff in the garden. I hope I'll be able to get enough of that bed by the back fence prepared enough to plant the rotten tomatoes I have kept on the side as seeds for new tomato plants. Maybe I'll try and get some flower seeds planted as well.