Today will be a lot like yesterday. It is cold dry this morning (cold enough for a light frost at sunrise), and it is only mildly gloomy. That will all change this afternoon when it could get as gloomy as night, and possibly torrential rain will all afternoon, and into the evening. Today, unlike yesterday, the afternoon temperature should reach 8° C for 3 or more hours. The weather warming is for wind, and not rain. As far as I can see, in Catford, the wind will mostly be quite light, but there could be occasional gusts of 40mph. Even that does not seem to be exceptionally high. The predictions for wind look only slight less tomorrow compared to today, and yet no wind warning is issued. The thing about tomorrow is that it is almost going to be 6° C from midnight to midnight (maybe 5° C at the edges). The morning may see a brief sunny spell, and the afternoon a couple of hours of light rain.

   I felt very different yesterday, but I can't really explain why it was different in a positive direction to the day before when I felt very miserable. Maybe getting out to go shopping in Aldi was a positive action that felt good, or maybe it was just that having no trouble at all not wearing a mask - no looks, no threats from "security" - felt very positive. Maybe it was just that the "exercise" of walking to and from Aldi felt OK, although if you read yesterday's scribblings you'll see it wasn't exactly pure pleasure.

  Maybe it was reminding myself of Angela's uplifting words, as I wrote the important sentences yesterday, continued to make me feel good. Of course getting a fairly good sleep after a few nights of very poor sleep was instrumental in feeling better. It was also a fact that I ached a lot less yesterday compared to the previous few days. I still wonder if I had a touch of infection or something.

  For all that apparent positiveness I still seemed to waste a lot of the day, although, having said that, I'm not sure what I could have done that would have made the day very worthwhile. Going out exploring somewhere new, maybe combining that with some photography, or just photography by itself, could be about the most worthwhile thing I could have done these days, but it just wasn't the right weather for it.

  I must admit I have seen some very nice photos of London streets in the rain recently, and I would like to get some shots with a similar feel, although some of the photos I saw were taken in the 1960s when everything was bright and beautiful even in the rain. If it wasn't for the travel restrictions, masks and stuff, I could almost consider going out in the rain for a while. More on this later.

  One useful thing I did yesterday was to do a bit of laundry. It was only 4 items, but it seemed best not to let the pile grow. I didn't expect to do it all in one non stop sequence, but that was what I almost did. The last two bit of laundry I did I did in a couple of stages, with a rest between them. I thought I was going to do that yesterday, but it seemed no problem to not stop once I got started. That is another indicator that I seemed to have got over something that slowed me down.

  There were a few other minor things I did that I wasn't in the mood for a few days earlier. One was to write a few xmas cards. I had actually diverted via the pillar box on my way to Aldi to post some cards I had written a few days earlier. At the moment only one of the cards I wrote yesterday needs posting. The others can be handed over face to face. One thing I must do today is to email my older sister and get her to remind me of my younger sisters address. I feel sure I did that last year, but I can't recall getting the address for some unknown reason.

  There was one other thing I did yesterday, besides a lot of book reading, and it was a sort of silly thing. It all started when I found some old till receipts. One was from back in the day when Catford had a branch of WH Smiths (2003 ?). That one was looking a bit yellowed, and so I decided to scan them into my PC before they got worse. Then I decided I ought to scan more till receipts so I could look back at them in the future, and wonder, or otherwise, at the prices. All I really needed was an occasional example, but how can I decide which one is a good example ? The only answer was to scan them all, and that is what I do now and then. Maybe a dozen at a time. One day I will get up to date, and only have to do the scanning each time, or few times I go to the shops.

  One thing I knew I ought to do yesterday was to be careful about what I ate. I got off to a bad start by buying, and then eating for breakfast, two packs of ready made sandwiches from Aldi. My lunch was a bit simpler. It was a small apple and some "easy peeler" (satsuma sized) oranges, but I also had a couple of cheese sandwiches later in the day. My dinner was a two part fish dinner. Part 1 was an individual fish pie ready meal. It was fairly nice. Part 2 was some small bits of cod in an alleged beer batter. I had to cook them in the oven so they were nice and crispy, but the batter didn't bubble up like when deep fried.

  My evening was similar to the last few evenings. A bit of TV, and a fair time reading in bed. I managed to get to sleep a bit earlier last night. I think it was not long after 10pm. As far as I can recall I slept quite well last night. Even my dreams, that I can barely remember seemed sort of positive, although why I think that when I can't remember them is anyone's guess. I do remember part of one dream, and it is hard to say if it was good or bad. I was at work, and a new boss had some ideas for improving efficiency and running costs. One thing he wanted was for the workshop to stock far less electronic components.

  That was rather negative, but the very positive thing about it was I was in the same financial position as when I quite work for real 3 or 4 years ago.  That allowed me to tell the boss that he had no clue about what we did, or how we did what we did, and all his ideas would kill productivity, and at the same time make everyone miserable. I then said "just to show you how strongly I feel about this I am now resigning". The dream, or my memory of it faded out there, and so I have no idea what the reaction was, but it felt good to be able to say it.

  This morning I woke up and 7am, and didn't waste time getting up (although as I write this "getting up" has not involved having a wash, or putting on new clothes (except underpants). The reason for this haste is that I am expecting a parcel delivery from DPD, and they are often here very early. The last one was at 7.50am ! A little later I got the email and text message to say the deliver would take place between 1 and 2pm.

  This morning my blood glucose has gone up to 8.7mmol/l. I knew it would after eating those ready made sandwiches, and maybe the fish pie was not that innocent. I was expecting it to be a bit higher, but hoping it might be a bit lower, because te delivery I am expecting this afternoon will contain a few things that will be difficult to resist despite them not being very good for me !

  I do have an idea of what I might do today, although there is a very high chance I won't do it. It would be handy to go to a cash machine to get some cash today. Just to be awkward, while many people now don't use cash since Covid, I only use cash when doing face to face transactions. I guess I am weird, but my argument is that it is easier to control your finances when you see the bank notes literally disappearing into a shops till.

  In theory I still have plenty of time to go out soon, and still have plenty of time to get back before my parcel arrives. Having said that, it won't be long before it is forecast to rain, and it looks pretty grim out there even now. I was thinking of an experiment. I have a very good raincoat, but it's fabric is thin, and it has little lining. It feels cold in this weather, but if I do a lot of walking it gets sweaty inside the coat, and particularly down my arms. I have yet to try wearing it with a long sleeved shirt. I was thinking I might be brave and trying that raincoat with a fairly thick long sleeved short under it, and see how it feels. The reality is that I will probably look out the window. See how disgusting it looks outside, and go back to reading my book.