A few rays of sunshine did escape the cloud cover earlier, and maybe some will again soon, but today is likely to be dull. Curiously enough, the latest revision to the forecast says there should be sunny spells this hour and the next, but the sky looks solidly packed with cloud at the moment. It almost looks like it could rain ! With little or no sunshine it will be a degree cooler than yesterday - just 21° C. Tomorrow is predicted to have sunny spells in the morning, and then in the early evening. It should be dry, and the temperature could rise to 23° C.
 
  Yesterday was only partly a good day. All my plans changed in the morning when I found out that the new lens for my camera would be delivered yesterday instead of today. I could still have potentially gone out provided I was home again by about 1pm, but I felt no desire to go out. I could have washed the sheet and pillowcase I was thinking of doing, but it looked so dull outside I was convinced it might rain despite what the forecast said. As I mentioned above, it did indeed rain, but it was just an insignificant sprinkle. I still have doubts the washing would have dried outside on such a murky day, and also on a day that felt quite humid later in the afternoon.

  In the end I just did some reading, both from a book, and from the internet, to pass the time. Sometime between 1 and 2pm Michael popped round with some bottles of Diet Coke he had bought from Tesco for me. At 3pm my new lens arrived - somewhat earlier than expected, but the driver had left Amazon's Dartford depot before 11am - which is a record ! Once I got the parcel, and the box inside open I could inspect and fondle my new lens - except in a way it was not that new to me. It was identical, apart from the mounting, to a lens I have for my Nikon camera.

  The lens for the Nikon camera was actually attached to my Nikon DSLR camera, and although it is hard to remember such detail after a year and a half of lockdown, I think I used that lens on the Nikon camera quite a lot at gigs. Hopefully the Canon version will be just as useful on my Canon camera. The lens is a telephoto lens that goes from a medium wide angle to medium zoom. It would have meant a lot less lens changing when I was at Petts Wood Calling - although there still would be an occasional need for extreme wide angle, or extreme zoom.

  At about 3.30pm Jodie turned up for a hastily rescheduled drinking session. I didn't want to take the chance of my expensive new lens being left on the doorstep, or something, and so I couldn't go for the Thursday drink in Shortlands.  Half an hour later still Michael arrived for a few beers with us. It was a bit of strange session because I was on a mission to keep my sugar intake as low as possible. That meant I just had a small taster of some the drinks that Jodie brought over, and drank a few cans of Guinness for my main refreshment. Experience has shown that Guinness hardly affects my blood glucose.

  I explained to Jodie we would have to finish a bit earlier than usual because I needed to have my dinner early last night. The reason for the early dinner was in case I was supposed to be fasting prior to having blood samples taken this morning. Jodie agreed because she had originally planned to go to another of her friends houses after we had finished at Shortlands. For all that, Jodie did not leave that early. I think she got the 6.18pm train.

  My dinner was to be a very low sugar meal. I had a can of bacon and lentil soup, a can of pea and ham soup, and a can of steak and kidney that was not supposed to be soup, but was almost indistinguishable from soup - mostly gravy with some random bits of meat floating in it. I then had quite a wait until it was time for bed. In theory I would have been asleep early last night because I wanted to get up early, but I think it was at least 11pm before I went to sleep.

  I don't know if I slept well or not. Maybe it wasn't too bad, but of nothing else I did have a rather "interesting" dream. In this dream I seemed to have a bed on a well kept lawn. That was weird, and I have no idea what the symbolism of that might have been. What needed no explaining beyond what someone I had the hots for appeared in my bed 35 years after I last saw her. I think all I can say is that in the dream I fulfilled a 35 year old fantasy or two !

  This morning I had an appointment with the vampires at the group practice at 7.55am. That meant I had to get up sufficiently early to get ready to go out at about 7.45am. That meant going to the toilet sufficient times to relieve any stress all those lentils might have had on my digestive tract, and also have a good shower before getting dressed. I actually got up just after 5.30am. It was purely by chance I woke up then. It felt a bit too early, but I dared not risk trying for another 10 minutes in bed.

  It seems I must have done everything right yesterday, even when mildly drunk, because when I tested my blood glucose it was a nice low 7.7mmol/l. That won't affect the more important part of the blood test. That gives a sort of average over the last few months, but I think the report does include what the figure was when the blood was taken. I hope it does because it will show that I can control my blood glucose even if there are occasional lapses that give readings that distort the average figure.

  My appointment was for 7.55am, and I got there at 7.50am. I was back out on the street at 7.54am - one minute before my appointment time because tey were running really smoothly at that time of day. By mid afternoon they used be up to half an hour behind schedule. The phlebotomist I saw was really good, and unlike a certain nurse putting a canula in my arm, while in hospital in 2019, she managed to get that needle in with almost no pain at all. I think the nurse in the hospital had been trained by the Spanish Inquisition on uses of a needle to cause intense pain. I was only saved by a phlebotomist who had come up to the ward to take a blood sample from another patient. She took over, and had that big canula needle in with almost no pain, and in 2 seconds flat !

  I really don't know what I am doing for the rest of the day - apart from washing a couple of towels that I left in soak after I had my shower this morning. I have doubts they will dry properly, and I can foresee that I will be bringing them indoors to dry while slightly wet. There is another thing I was thinking of doing today, and that was to have a small treat of some food I would generally try to avoid. I figure a one off spike just after my blood sample was taken will be lost in the mists of time by the time for my next blood check. I was thinking along the lines of something like icecream, rice pudding, or maybe just some nice sandwiches. Unfortunately I seem to have had my treat so early in the day. I opened a packet of liquorice allsorts that I have had in the cupboard for maybe a year now. Having opened the pack, and had three pieces, I will have to be extra careful how I finish the pack off - maybe no more than one piece every two days. They contain a lot of sugar !

  At the moment I am feeling like I don't have the enthusiasm for it, but tonight I could go to a gig. The Zorbs are playing in The Lord Holmesdale pub. I think it is a reasonable walk from Bickley station, although I do have a nagging feeling that it is uphill in one direction. It supposedly starts at 8pm, but I bet it is actually a bit later. I guess I will just have to see how I feel nearer the time. I think I'll go and have snooze soon, and that may help....or hinder.