There was some rain in the very early hours of this morning, and maybe a light shower around 8am, but I think it has been dry since then, and indeed the latest revision to the forecast says it should now remain dry all day. There is no change to the very dark clouds that will cover the sky from 1pm, and although no actual rain is now shown, the chance of rain for most of the day is 10%, and that rises to 20% for 2pm. The highest temperature today is expected to be no more than 5° C, and it is about that now. At 2pm it may fall to 4° C, and just 3° C at 9pm. Tomorrow morning may feature sunshine or sunny spells, but it will be a very cold day with the temperature rising to no more than 4° C.

  Yesterday was one of those days that turned out like nothing expected, and was a far better day than I could imagine. I was very slow getting myself together in the morning. It was gone midday when I finally had a shower, and was just starting to get dressed to pop out to get some shopping when a message came through on my phone.

  To my surprise it was from Angela, and it simple said "fancy a drink". Well of course I did, and I had to quickly change my choice of clothes and shoes. I also found that I needed to go to the toilet, and that took 10 minutes or something. In the end I left myself just 10 minutes to get to the Jolly Farmers to meet Angela.

  I set off as fast as I could walk, but three quarters of the way there I found I couldn't sustain that speed, and had a to slow a bit. I actually stopped for just lone enough to send a text message to say I might be 5 minutes late. I think it was about five past 1pm when I arrived, and I found I had actually arrived first.

  Angela arrived 4 or 5 minutes later to find her drink already waiting for her on the table. I did wonder if there was any special reason for our drink together, but it seems Angela just fancied a drink with me - which is good ! Some of our chat was about her recent stay in Seaford, and we compared notes about walking along the cliff path towards, but never actually getting as far as Beachy Head. Angela also wanted to say that she had had her first state pension payment, and had spent it all on new cushions ! It wasn't a full payment, but an interim payment to get her on the 28 day cycle the government uses.

  I did wonder if it was going to be an extended drink being as it was a Friday lunchtime, but we just had two drinks each, and Angela was back at work quite close to 2pm. She only has to work another hour or two before leaving for home (she is an early starter like I used to be when at work). I walked Angela back to work before continuing home via the slightly longer route through the park. I didn't actually stop to measure it, but I estimate it at about 1.5 miles total.

  I'm not sure how I managed to keep up the pace walking to the pub after the substantial breakfast I had. When I got home I decided I wanted something hot to warm me up, but didn't dare to have anything more than two cans of Tesco cream of chicken soup which has an extraordinary low amount of sugar in it. Later on I would mess everything up by having far too much cheese on toast.

  The trouble was that the nice sliced bread I had bought from the Polish shop was starting to dry out, and it was also starting to run out. It seemed like a sensible idea to use it up before it got too stale, even if it was actually a stupid idea. It was also a stupid idea to say "ooh look, the last slice, I'd better eat it even though I have probably had too much already" ! That very last slice I toasted on one side, and then grilled a cheap and nasty steak on it. The idea was that the bread would soak up some of the nice juices. Probably the biggest problem was that the steak was far too lean, almost completely fat free, and so it had few juices, and very little flavour.

  I stayed up very late watching TV last night. That was chiefly because I noticed Have I Got New For You was on at 9pm (or was it 9.20pm ?) and that didn't seem too late. I think I enjoyed it. After that finished I went to bed and started reading. I didn't seem to feel that tired, and so I read until gone 11pm. I seem to be destroying my credibility as an early person - early to bed, early to rise.

  Once I put the book down I seemed to fall asleep very quickly. I didn't seem to wake up as often in the night, and that was strange when considering what I found this morning. My blood glucose had shot right up to 10.1mmol/l, and that is in the danger area (although to be dangerous it has to stay up there for days on end - I hope it is just a brief blip). The thing with high blood glucose is that by tradition it is supposed to make you thirsty and to pee a lot - neither of which happened, and maybe it was more the opposite.

  I have already taken steps to get that blood glucose down. I have shunned any breakfast despite feeling rather peckish, and I have done some exercise. While I was drinking with Angela yesterday I missed a parcel delivery. This morning I had a brisk walk through the frozen air (about 4° C) to the sorting office to pick up my parcel.

  I couldn't think what it could be, and wondered if maybe it was a Xmas present or something. As keen as I was to get home to open the parcel, I wanted to pop in to Poundstretcher to get the bird seed, and other stuff I was going to get yesterday before I got diverted to the pub.

  Once I got home I opened up the parcel and found it was the bar towels I had ordered 6 days ago. I must admit I had almost forgotten about them, and I sort of assumed they would come via a courier service instead of Royal Mail, and also that I would be at least notified they had been despatched.

  One of the bar towels, as shown in the picture, is for Smirnoff vodka. Had I thought about it earlier I would have ordered one for Angela as a Xmas present, but the postage for one towel would be almost three times the price of the towel itself. I could give her the one pictured (Smirnoff being her favourite drink), but my plan was to keep that ready to put out in the unlikely event that Angela ever allows herself to visit me here (she probably worries I would seduce her - and maybe I would).

  My original plan for today, albeit a very loose and flexible plan, was to go to Petts Wood and get some pictures of the bands on the live music stage as part of the Petts Wood Xmas Carnival. Two main things put me off. One was the weather. It might have been OK if it was cold but bright, but it looks like it will be very dull, and possibly wet there. The other reason is that "the committee" have put almost zero effort into advertising what we might expect, and that annoyed me. It wasn't until about an hour ago that someone posted their own list of the bands. There are none that I know that would make it worth standing around in the cold for. Maybe I am missing out on something wonderful, but today I have opted for an afternoon beer session with Jodie.