It was very chilly this morning, and even as I type this the temperature is only a tad over 10° C. Later today, by 4pm, the temperature should climb to 21° C thanks to a lot of sunshine. The sad thing is that the sunshine may be reduced to just sunny spells by 6pm according to the latest revision to the forecast. Tomorrow should start bright and sunny. That should help raise the afternoon temperature to 22° C, but the afternoon loses the sunshine to a light grey sky. Late in the evening may see rain, and that will lead on to a dull and wet day the day after.

   There didn't seem to be a lot to say about it yesterday, but yesterday was my birthday. It is a pretty meaningless this these days, and nothing special, in a birthday sense, happened. However the lack of rain, once the early morning showers had passed, and the lighter grey sky, did get me feeling a bit active, but only a bit. I didn't for instance, actually leave my house unless a few brief visits to my back garden count.

  The most physical things I did were to do two lots of laundry by hand. The first, just a single t-short, a hand towel, and some underpants was not really remarkable, although I did decide to dry it all indoors. The second lot was another hand towel, and my best pair of shorts. It ended up as being remarkable because the towel was from the kitchen, and I left it far too long before washing. It was, I am ashamed to say, rather smelly, and somehow it was made smellier by washing it in Bio detergent. I would have thought the bugs in the Bio detergent would have a field day, but I find myself doubting that.

  The worst thing is that smell was transferred to the shorts. They just needed a light freshening up, but they were smellied up instead. It was after midday when I did that washing, and it seemed safe to hang stuff on the washing line to dry. After maybe 4 hours it was mildly damp, but the sky had grown a bit darker by then, and it seemed safer to bring that towel and shorts indoors to continue to dry. It was then that I noticed how smelly they both were. I will have to wash them again, and I may well do it today so they can dry in strong sunshine.

  I wanted to fast for most of yesterday, but I didn't try hard enough. Early in the afternoon, maybe around 2pm, I gave in and had some rice crackers with hot pepper salami. It was while eating that, that I had a little accident. I was trying to push a sharp bit of rice cracker away from the tender gum where I lack several back teeth. I don't really know how it happened because it was all over in a split second - I managed to bite the side of my tongue. it is still a bit sore this morning.

  One other thing I did yesterday was to continue to rip some of my CDs to mp3 files. The CDs I was ripping had been in a "dusty corner" (which wasn't really dusty), and the good thing about it was that I found a few CDs I had forgotten I had, and that I think, or at least I hope, I like. On the other hand there was one that I listened to, and I can understand why it got tucked away in a dark corner. It was the Golden Earring album called Seven Tears. It does have one excellent track on it, but the others are very forgettable (and best forgotten).
  I did do one semi-special thing for my birthday. I had a steak dinner. It was two peppered beef steaks from Aldi on a thick bed of rocket with tomatoes, pickled red jalapeño peppers and Greek olives dressed with oil and vinegar. It was good, but only up to a point. The steak was a bit tough. With hindsight it is a shame I went for quantity over quality. Aldi do sell some very nice steaks, but these were not them ! The clue was that they were peppered - a way of dressing up lower quality stuff. If I had realised I would have wanted steak on my birthday, I would have bought something like their rib eye steak when shopping on Monday morning.

  I didn't have any beer yesterday, although I was tempted. However I did have a couple of whiskies before bedtime. I might have had more, but I didn't have any nice whisky to drink (except for my special reserve of whiskies that are not for everyday use). I really must get some Tesco Special Reserve whisky sometime - I can drink that to excess easily ! At least last night featured a bit more watchable TV than usual. At 8pm there was an episode of Yes Minister on BBC 4. At 8.30pm I started preparing for bed - which basically meant brushing my teeth.

  I read in bed for about an hour, but before that hour was over I was yawning fit to bust, and my eyelids were drooping. It didn't take long to get to sleep after that. The thing I can't remember about last night was when I turned the heater on low. I knew it was going to end up as a very chilly night (it was forecast to be just 9° C by 4am), and I didn't want to wake up cold. I think I probably turned the heater on just before I fell asleep.

  With the aid of the heater I seemed to sleep well last night, although the quality of my sleep is getting debatable as I sit here yawning - probably because I am writing about yawning ! The real good news about this morning is the blue sky and sunshine, although I am a bit worried about the clouds that seem to be bubbling up. Only slightly good news is that my blood glucose has dropped from 9.6mmol/l yesterday morning to 9.5mmol/l this morning. At least it is a drop, but I was hoping for more.

  I really need to get out for a walk today, although I feel that after a week of inactivity it would be foolish to try and tackle any long or difficult route. On the other hand I will try not to assess my capabilities until I try them. Mostly I will treat today as a typical Wednesday (of the new-ish variety) and hope to see Angela in the pub at lunchtime. Last week she spent a day at the seaside with lover boy. Hopefully she is at work today, and not too busy for a lunchtime drink.