Today has started mild compared to recent days, but it is a bit dull. At the moment I would say the cloud is a lot lighter than the grey clouds depicted in the forecast. The good news is that the latest revision has moved the first sunny spells to 3pm. After that it should be nice, and fairly warm at 22° C. It should be a dry day. Tomorrow may be a lot brighter with quite a lot of sunshine, but the temperature may still only rise to 22° C.
 
  Yesterday was another satisfactory day. It started with washing the very sweat ingrained hand towel that I had left soaking overnight. Just washing the one hand towel was fairly easy going, and it didn't seem long before it was hanging on the line to dry. I was about to say hanging in the sun, but it wasn't for another hour or two before the sun had risen high enough in the sky to shine over the fence. I was very happy when I brought it in, later in the afternoon, the long soaking in bio detergent and stain remover, seemed to have removed all the sweat grease from it, and it was dry, warm, and fluffy when I brought it in.

  That washing took a small part of the morning, but I am not sure what consumed the rest of the time. It seemed I had done very little before I realised it was midday, and I hadn't shaved, showered, and shampooed ready to go out to meet Angela in the pub. It all seemed a bit of a mad dash, but it wasn't really. The big trouble is that there was no time for me to cool off after a quite warm shower, and then a hot blast from the hair dryer. On top of that it was a fairly warm afternoon, and I had to rush to get to the pub on time. I arrived there feeling very hot and flustered.

  I managed to mop my brow several times before Angela arrived, but my face was still feeling quite damp, and despite the hair dryer, my hair still felt damp. Ultimately it didn't matter. I had a very nice drink with Angela that was only spoiled a bit by the news that she is on holiday next week with lover boy. They are visiting his parents in Shropshire. I think the last time they went there was OK, but it wasn't that long ago that they drove home after such a visit in total silence, and their relationship was precarious.

  There is a minute chance that I may see Angela tomorrow at a gig, but I'm not holding my breath. My walk home from the pub was double bad plus one good....Let me explain. I first went to the cash machine outside the Tesco Express store on the high street. Once again it was out of service. That could be something to do with the building work going on next door, but who knows ? Then I walked a bit further to Cash Busters. I was curious as to what they might have in there to waste my money on, but they were closed.

  Things were better when I crossed the road, and went to the pharmacy to collect my latest repeat prescription that I had ordered last Monday. To my surprise it was made up, and ready to be taken away. What's more is that it was all correct. Soon after I got home, and had some sausages in my mini oven/grill I called the phlebotomy appointments number to see if I could book an appointment to get my blood samples taken.

  I was expecting to hang up after being told I was 50th, or some other silly big number, in the queue, but no ! Not this time. I was 7th in the queue, and it seemed worth hanging on. That queue seemed to get smaller very quickly. I am guessing that some people just got bored and hung up. I only waited about a minute before I was answered. I was surprised how easy it was to get an appointment at the vampires nest above the group practice and pharmacy, and at a good time. My appointment is for 7.55am tomorrow morning !  I would guess that about a week later I will have to face the wrath of the nurse at the group practice.

  Once my sausages were cooked I managed to leave them for about 10 minutes to cool them down, but eating them. After that I think I had a snooze. Later on I would have a safe dinner of a couple of tins of soup. There was one other thing I did after my snooze, but before my dinner. It was to change all my smelly bedding. After over a week of cold night I decided I would put a duvet in the duvet cover. I'm sure I have a lighter one somewhere, but the duvet was a 10.5 tog one, and maybe a little heavy for this time of year, and definitely too heavy for the first warm night we have had in what seems like ages.

  I was quietly reading in bed at around 9pm when I got a phone call, and unfortunately it was gas bag Lee. He was in an extreme talkative mood. I think he was very drunk. He spent an hour ranting and raving about my friend Sue, and her friend Toni. To cut a very long and boring story short, he now doesn't like them - in the extreme. For quite a long while he and Toni (who I have never met) were apparently good mates, but that cooled off a lot, and since the disaster that was Lee's party, it's cooled to below sub zero !

  The last 20 minutes of Lee's call, before I finally managed to get him to hang up, were rather less manic. He tells me he is seeing a Polish girl now, and it is love ! I can foresee that ending in disaster. Alcoholics do not make good partners, and I have a suspicion that the Polish girl may be using him. It could all blow up in his face, but maybe that could be a good thing in the long run provided he gets the treatment he needs.

  Getting to sleep after all that ranting and raging was hard, and it seemed to be getting on for midnight before I managed to fall asleep. I was hoping for that "fresh sheets and freshly plumped up pillows feeling" that usually feel so good to get me to sleep easily. Sadly it didn't happen like that, and the seemingly heavy duvet (heavier than an empty duvet cover) didn't lend itself to easy sleeping. After many morning of putting the heater on for an hour or two before getting up, it actually felt too warm to pull the duvet over me.

  The good news this morning is that my blood glucose has dropped to below my monthly average, but I would still like it lower than 8.3mmol/l as it was this morning. With my blood tests in the morning there is a feeling that I ought to try and get it much lower for tomorrow. It would be sort of nice, but the important blood test does something like counting the rings around the blood cells (or at least that is the nearest analogy to it) to give a sort of average reading over the last 2 or three months.

  During those months I have had a few big peaks, but my average is still around 8.5mmol/, and assuming the blood test confirms this, it should ward off the worst wrath from the diabetes nurse at the group practice. She will reserve her full wrath for the state of my feet. I can foresee her packing me off to the podiatry department at the hospital for a goof feet pounding or something.

  I have several possible things on the agenda for today. I might wash the bed sheet, and pillowcases I took off my bed yesterday. I am not sure of today will be good drying weather, but maybe it might not need to be that good. Cotton sheets and stuff tends to dry fairly easily. The next maybe will be to possibly go and see what the walk is like between Bickley station, and The Load Holmesdale pub, and back again. There is a gig at The Lord Holmesdale pub on Friday night that I might go to if the walk seems reasonable. Today would be a good day for rehearsal of that walk because Bickley station is on the same line at Shortlands station, and I could do it before going to The Shortlands Tavern for the "Thursday Club" afternoon drink.