Thursday 2nd September 2021

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Thursday 2nd September 2021

10:24 BST

I could have just edited the temperature in what I wrote here yesterday, and it would almost describe yesterday's weather. Two changes come to mind. I don't think I was aware of any rain yesterday, and the afternoon temperature probably reached the forecast 19° C because it didn't feel quite so cool (it would still be hard to describe it as warm though).

I thought it would be prudent to double check the latest revisions to the weather forecast considering I am writing this so late in the morning. The basic pattern has not changed, but some of the hours shown with grey clouds have now changed to white clouds, and the first sunny spells may start an hour later at 4pm. Also the maximum temperature has been decreased to 19° C. It does seem that better weather may be on it's way. Tomorrow may see a lot more sunshine, and later days may be quite warm.

I did very little yesterday morning apart from a wet shave, a shampoo, and a nice shower. All were due, but doubly so because the highlight of the day was to meet Angela in the pub at lunchtime. Until 5 to 10 minutes before we met I didn't actually know if we would be. I did have some ideas that I might leave home a bit earlier so I could do a bit of extra walking, but I evidently had no real enthusiasm for that, and I didn't leave home until 12:30, or maybe even a little later than that.

I did walk almost all the way to Ladywell before doubling back through St Mary's church. I think it was just before I left the park that I sent a text to Angela asking if she wanted to me to order her drink. She was quite fast with her reply of "Yes please !". Yesterday was our first drink together for 3 weeks, and it was good to see her. Unfortunately it was not as enjoyable as most time because most of the time Angela talked about her recent holiday with him.

The highlight, or perhaps it would be better to call it the lowlight of that holiday was when Angela came very close to drowning ! She had been talked into going in a canoe on the River Severn. It was something she was very reluctant to do. It is hard to say how it happened, but they hit a bridge abutment, and that split the canoe in two, and it sank - taking Angela down with it. She was wearing a life jacket, but was under water a fair bit, and the strong current pulled her downstream a long way before she was rescued.

I was very happy she didn't drown. I was less happy to see a lot of her photos that include him. The holiday commentary took up over half the time we were together, and we did chat about other stuff. I even had a very quick chat with Miranda, Angela's daughter, occasional guitar player and lovely singer. It seems I will probably get a chance to see Miranda, probably on stage, mid October when there is a birthday party gig happening that I think I am invited to as well. It is the birthday of the lead singer of Strange Fashion, and he has mentioned I ought to get my camera along to one of his gigs when I can. This could be that occasion.

After we had two drinks it was time for Angela to get back to work, but she was half reluctant to go. She knew she had to, but was in no rush to do so. It was probably at least 5 past 2 when I said good bye outside her office. Sometimes it is true that pride comes before a fall. I was thinking how easy it was to walk home compared to the last time I had a drink with Angela. On that occasion I felt sort of slow and bloated. Yesterday I didn't and I was walking at my normal speed. I was only just past the park when I felt what seemed like cramp in the back of my left leg. It was a bit lower than the calf muscle. It was painful to walk, but I pressed on regardless. The worst was over by the time I got home, but that muscle still complained a lot when doing things like walking downstairs.

Originally I had some fanciful idea that I might do something productive when I got home. That has never happened in the past, and it didn't happen yesterday. I went for easier options like eating, and "processing" a few photos. I ended up having two cans of soup, and a carton of soup. I had the carton for ages, and I thought it time to use it up. Then I did the photo stuff.

I first noticed this fir tree planted near the entrance of the park as early as winter. I am sure it was someone's Xmas tree, and after Xmas they must have sneaked out and planted it in the park. It doesn't seem to be growing that much, but is evidently still alive. I've heard a theory, about a different tree, that the tops can remain almost dormant as they grow their root system after being planted like this.

I've shown the two pictures above together because they go together. Here is some indication (possibly) of the strange weather we have had this summer. The two pictures were taken a few feet apart. The top picture shows flowers that you might expect to see in late spring, and the bottom picture is what they would become in summer - blackberries (except the ripe ones have already been harvested by people of animals).

I noticed this flower, and many more like it, on the way back from the pub, in someone's front garden. It reminds me a lot of a passion fruit flower, but they grow on vines (I think), but this seems to be on a shrub. I like it.

I've seen this cat on the same recycling bin a few times in the past. It is a pretty little thing, and fairly friendly.

After doing the pictures I had a rest, which ended up as snooze. It was brought to a premature end by a phone call from Lee. On this occasion he seemed calm, and possibly not even drunk, but he still had verbal diarrhoea ! Amongst other things he was dying to tell me that he has met another woman who he thinks he will strike up a relationship with. It seems he has gone off the last one he was going on about for ages because it turned out that she was a lesbian (although the way she seemed to react to him suggested to me she was probably bisexual, and if Lee held his nerve he might have had hos evil way with her !).

After eating three lots of soup, 2/3rds of it known to be very low sugar (and calories) I thought I would keep dinner simple. It was nothing more than some beefburgers with green runner beans. It was nice enough, but after 30 to 60 minutes I decided I would have a late second course of rice crackers and cheese. They did the trick, and I was soon looking forward to going to bed.

It seemed slightly cool when I went to bed last night. I think I made sure I was well covered when I fell asleep. I woke up 2 or 3 hours later to find my pillow soaked with sweat, and I am not sure why. When I went back to sleep I was only 50% covered by the duvet. At 4am it had definitely got to cold for that, and as well as covering myself properly again, I turned the heater on low.

I remember dreaming a lot, but I remember very little of my dreams. At least one seemed to be at work, but it could have been school or college, and it seemed to be about the possibility of bunking off early to go to the pub. There was one dream where I do remember one detail quite vividly - sort of. It is not actually the dream I remember, but thinking about the dream when I woke up to go for a pee. What I remember thinking about was why I might have been wearing grey PVC trousers in the dream. There is some doubt or strangeness about it all because while I thought I was wearing those trousers, in the dream I could see myself wearing them from a short distance away. That suggests it was someone else, but there is still this strong idea that I was seeing myself. Quite where the inspiration for grey PVC trousers came form is another mystery.

This morning I feel good in some ways, and not in others. That muscle that cramped, or maybe I pulled yesterday, is still a bit sore. It didn't affect my sleep, and I didn't really notice it until I walked downstairs. The rest of my feels average, or maybe even slightly above average (but only slightly !). Of course the good news is that somehow I have been controlling my blood glucose better than I imagined again. This morning my blood glucose was only 7.8mmol/l, and not much higher than I am trying, but not very hard, to achieve.

The main thing today s this afternoons boozing session. So far today I have showered and fed the birds, If it was now a bit earlier I might have been going to get just a bit of shopping in Tesco, but the only thing I really wanted was some wholemeal (sugar free) bread rolls. They can wait until tomorrow when they may actually be more useful. I think once I have uploaded all this writing I will lay down, read another chapter in the book I am reading, and then I will prepare the dining room for the drinking session with Jodie, and hopefully Michael too.