It was a cool night, but not as cool as the previous night. Until about 10 minutes ago it was fairly bright, and there was even a bit of sunshine, but it is looking grey now as the weather prepares more rainfall. According to the latest update to the forecast the first rain could fall at 10am. More will fall at midday, and by 1pm it could be heavy rain. More showers, some heavy, can be expected for the rest of the day, but the chances of even the first rain being at the predicted time is very slim, and I suspect it will just be pot luck when more rain falls. The only certainty, but perhaps by a slim margin, is that today will be wet, and with the current high predicted to be just 19° C, and that for maybe only one hour, it is going to feel a bit cool today. Tomorrow may be slightly warmer, but it too may well be a wet day - which is unfortunate because it is the first day of Chattfest (more of which later).

  Yesterday was a good day, except for one minor disappointment. I guess the day started with a walk to Poundstretcher. I wanted to buy more bird food, which I did buy. I also wanted a couple more of the solar powered spot lamps for the garden. I'm guessing other people thought they were good too, and there were none left for me. I did by a couple more multicoloured "crackled" globe lights, and I also bought a couple of plain solar powered lights which were similar to the two I have in the plant pots on the front windowsill, but these new ones seem a bit better.

  After feeding the birds, and "planting" the new solar powered lights, I did some laundry. I seemed to have a lot of face flannels that needed a good wash, plus some other light coloured stuff that I thought it better not to wash with black t-shirts. When I had finished the washing it seemed very dull outside while I hung it on the washing line to dry. I was starting to wonder if I had made a mistake, but the sun broke through just as I put the last peg on.

  At about 2.20pm I set out to walk to Catford station to get the train to Shortlands. It was the first "Thursday club" meeting in a pub since February 2020. Although I have met Angela in the Jolly Farmers quite a few times since covid were first starting to be eased, it was my first drink in a "big pub" since last year (I also have to ignore going to the gig last Friday for this wonky statistic). Perhaps the only accurate thing is that it was the first visit to a pub since February 2020 just for drinking !

  If nothing else, it was the first time I've caught a train from Catford station since last July (last friday it was from Catford Bridge station), and so that was a bit exciting too. It was bright, but slightly cool in the breeze as I walked to the station. One of the first things I saw was a sign showing things are getting back to normal, albeit a twisted and mildly loathsome normal.
  It seems That Catford Bridge Tavern is starting Karaoke sessions on Friday nights. Now Karaoke may be fun for drunken Japanese business men, but I can't say I care for it (or can even stand it !). Oddly enough it does seem quite popular among the masochists and sadists among us !
  As I waited on the station I was wearing my pink/orange tinted sunglasses, and they probably increased the contrast between the white clouds and blue sky (making the blue look deeper). Plus in real life it was in 3D. It made the sky look rather wonderful. The clouds really did look like cotton wool - solid, but not solid. It made it feel like a nice day somehow.
  When I got to the pub I found Chris and Steven already there, but presumably only a third of the way through their first pints. There was a choice of three ales available, but sadly there was no CAMRA discount on them. I presume that after being shut, or partly shut for a year or more, the pub wanted every penny they could get. I can't remember how much the beer cost before lockdown, but Chris said it had gone up to £4.50 a pint. I think that might be an increase of 50p, but I really can't remember how much it was before.

  There was no getting away from Covid in the pub. There were beer mats on the tables all advocating getting vaccinated. There seemed to be four in the set, and I seem to have acquired one of each.

  I was in the pub at, or just before 3pm. At 4pm we were joined by Jodie, and then shortly afterwards, much to my surprise, Michael. Later still we were briefly joined by Mark, but he had come straight from work, and didn't want to hang around. What he did want to do was to use my bathroom to clean himself up before he and Jodie went to get something to eat, and to visit another pub. Mark had been in contact earlier in the afternoon to ask if he could have a wash at my place.

  I had already drunk my usual three pints, and then one for luck (!) when it was time to leave. Jodie, Michael, and myself got into Mark's car, and he drove us back to Catford. While Mark had his wash I contemplated what I was going to have for dinner - and it was about dinner time at this point. After four pints, two of which (and possibly a third) were quite weak session beers, I sort of fancied a takeaway, but I was evidently still sober enough to have something much more sensible.


  For speed I started dinner with a can of Sainsbury's Minestrone soup. It seems to have far more stuff in than other Minestrone soups, and so it's calorific, and sugar content is a bit higher than, for instance, Aldi's own brand soup. I followed that with a can of Aldi (Bramwells) Pea And Ham soup. While I was heating and eating soup I was cooking a couple of "southern fried flavour" fish burgers (like square fish fingers), and I had those with some crinkle cut pickled gherkins for my final course.

  After dinner I half watched some assorted TV, and then did the usual of turning it off at 8pm, and turning it back on 20 minutes later to watch an old repeat of QI on Dave. I think that finished at 9pm. It was just about dark by then, and I could check my new solar powered lamps were working correctly. I discovered on the "crackle finish" globe lights was not multicoloured, but just plain white. That was a bit disappointing, but nothing to worry about. The two new plain white lamps, that were similar to the pair in the window boxes on my front windowsill, seemed to be a bit brighter, and a bit nicer than expected. The only trouble, although "trouble" is not really justified, is that they are still not producing enough light to trick my CCTV camera into staying in normal colour mode. I can't seem to disable "infra red night vision" on the CCTV camera. That is a shame because there is enough light in the garden (and beyond) to show very grainy, but real colour images at night.

  As usual I took a book to bed, but I barely managed to read one of the very short stories (3 pages or so) before it felt time to turn the light off, and go to sleep. If I remember correctly, I did go to sleep very quickly last night, and I seemed to stay asleep for longer periods - which was surprising considering I was full of beer and soup ! I do remember having loads of dreams. I think some may have been connected, but all I can really remember is just a jumble of images, and a few seconds of moving images. There was no context to this jumble, and so I can't even attempt to describe anything that would make any sense - even to me !

  Once again there was good news this morning. My blood glucose was even lower than yesterday - but just 0.1. This morning it was 7.7mmol/l. It doesn't feel like I have done anything special to achieve this. If I was really trying harder I would have not drunk the beer. I can only conclude that I have been "doing the right thing" for quite a long time now, and that this is confirmation that my the readings I was getting during this month, and maybe some of last month too, were the result of dehydration after a hot sweaty night distorting the reading. Last night, and the night before it was cool enough in the night that I spent the whole night under the still empty duvet cover. If the temperature drops a few more degrees, which should be impossible in August, I will have to put my lighter duvet in the duvet cover.

  This morning I feel moderately OK, and certainly well enough to do all I think I intend to do today - which is very little ! Today's weather looks very grim, and as I write this it is dark enough outside to need the lights on to read, or do anything else that needs good vision. I think it highly unlikely I will be going out today. I hope that I can replace the machine heads on my guitar today, but other than that I will just sort of potter around, or just lay down and read one of my books.

  Tomorrow could be "interesting". I am, or maybe was, hoping to go to Chattfest - the afternoon to evening music festival in the huge garden behind The Chatterton Arms in Bromley. To get there I intend to walk the 0.8 miles from Bickley station to the pub. Obviously I do not want to walk in the rain, and watching bands play in the rain will not be great fun at all. I think one of the things I will be doing today is watching tomorrow weather like a hawk (and I must remember to make sure it is the forecast for Bromley, and not Catford !).