The temperature has dropped again after last night's high, and has only now reached about as low as it will go this morning. Later tonight it could drop to 4° C, but it is about 5° C now, and like the last few or more days, the afternoon should see 7° C. The latest revision to the forecast is far more optimistic about the sunshine today. It may be mostly in the form of sunny spells, but they started before 9am, and now look like they will continue until 3pm, although there could be a gap at 2pm. Tomorrow morning could start out at around 3° C, and that could be cold enough for sleet, but no rain is expected until 3pm, and from then on the temperature could rise to 11° C when the rain stops at 10pm.

  One important fact about today is today marks the turn around of the earlier and earlier sunsets. Sunset today is at 15:51pm, and won't get any earlier from today. It will also not get any later until the 16th when it sets one minute later. I think it won't be until the solstice on the 22nd December when the sun starts rising earlier in the morning.

  Yesterday wasn't quite such a good day as the day before, but that day was exceptionally good. Yesterday's highlight was the Thursday afternoon drinking session with Jodie and Michael. I didn't do that much before the drinking started, but I did clear up the dining room table which was covered in Xmas type stuff.

  I don't really "do" Xmas, and for me it is generally a miserable time of year, but I have posted off, and handed over quite a lot of Xmas cards. Some of the dining table was covered with the detritus of doing that - mostly the two opened boxes of Xmas cards, pens and stamps. I also had my collection of battery powered fairy lights out. I seem to have quite a few of those, and they were all bought in the sales after Xmas some years in the past.

  There was one thing that drew me to buying all those strings of lights. It all stems back years ago when red LEDs were a fairly reasonable price, and I used them in some projects, but green LEDs were quite expensive. The first blue LED I bought was not very bright, and it cost something like £15 for one LED. That would have been some time in the late 1980s (at a guess). The idea that I could buy a string of 12 blue LEDs for £1.49 seemed like a bargain I could not resist, plus there were purple and white LEDs for similar prices, and they didn't really exist 10 or maybe 15 years ago. I just couldn't help myself !

  I did put up quite a few strings of fairy lights in the dining room, and although rather random, they did give a nice glow to the room with the main light turned off, but unfortunately we needed full light to inspect the colour and clarity of the beers, and it was not a romantic afternoon. There is no romance with Jodie tapping away at her phone, entering details of beers she was drinking (and that was when she wasn't in Instagram or Twitter). Meanwhile Michael was talking non stop about music, the worries of the world, and other stuff he never gets to say to his deaf wife.

  One thing I didn't do yesterday was to take extra care about what I ate. I should have done considering my blood glucose was well into the danger area yesterday morning. I can't remember what I had for breakfast. It may just have been a handful of peanuts eaten more to check my mouth still worked in the morning than any other reason. My lunch, which I might have skipped if I wasn't preparing my stomach for an influx of beer, was instant noodles.

  I had two bowls of instant noodles, and one was "ramen" flavour. I never knew what ramen flavour was, and I still don't. It was sort of savoury, but the California Reaper chilli sauce drowned any particular taste it might have had. I probably ought to try the other packet without chilli sauce so I can get a better appreciation of any inherent taste it might have. The other bowl was boring, but generally sort of pleasant chicken flavour noodles.

  Noodles, despite fears I had once, do seem to be fairly safe for me to eat. My dinner should also have been fairly safe. It was the Aldi version of southern fried flavour chicken steaks. Their texture and taste is far superior to Tesco's equivalent product, and the Aldi version seemed to be much lower sugar too. I did have two Mr Kipling's "Xmas Slices" for dessert. They are most definitely not sugar free, and are a bit close to being sickly - particularly the icing on top.

  Before I forget, I did do one other thing yesterday that was rather important. I think I related the tale of the day before yesterday, when I was trying to convert my MBNA Visa credit card to a MBNA Mastercard credit card. The only way I seemed to be able to do it was to apply for a new credit card, rather than change the old one. Upon applying my application was turned down.

  Yesterday I thought that just for a laugh I would apply for a Tesco Mastercard crdit card. I asked Michael if he could pick up an application form while he was shopping in Tesco. There are usually heaps of them by the checkouts, but Michael couldn't see them, and when he asked they kept thinking he asking about new mobile phones on credit or something. I am unsure what went wrong there !

  Meanwhile, while Michael was doing his shopping, and before I knew about his ordeal of trying to find a form, I thought I would log on to my Tesco savings account, and see just what credit cards they do. Before I knew it I was halfway through applying for one. Unlike the MBNA website, which I had also logged into the day before, the Tesco site knew who I was, and pre-filled in all the details it knew about me. I just had to fill in the gaps, and hit apply.
  30 seconds later my application was approved, and they even showed me what my card would look like. At no time was the provider behind the card mentioned, but if the picture was representative of the real card, it will be a Mastercard credit card. This morning, at just gone 8am if I recall correctly, I got a text massage to say my new card has been despatched. It seems I will be able to continue to spend money on Amazon, and get Club Card points while doing so (assuming it is a Mastercard credit card).

  Like most nights, I had my dinner, watched some TV, and then headed for bed where I read for a while. Unlike the previous night, I started to feel very sleepy after less than an hour of reading, and In think I was asleep soon after 9pm. I seemed to sleep very well last night. I can remember I had some dreams, but I can't remember a single bit of any of the dreams. As usual, I woke 2 or 4 times in the night, but it wasn't until about 5am that I had more than a few minutes of insomnia. I wish I had stayed awake then just a few more minutes so I could have turned the heater up. It was feeling chilly when I got up at about 6.30am.

  it was also bloody chilly when I went out to feed the birds. Before that I checked my blood glucose. I hoped/expected it to be on the right side of the danger line (10.0mmol/l), but I don't think I expected it to be as low as it was. 8.6mmol/l is very slightly higher than my typical monthly average, but it is going to take a string of readings much lower than that to get the average down to a new record at the end of the month. I am not sure I want to try that hard. I typically don't celebrate Xmas, and don't feast and stuff, but the occasional temptation passes my way, and I may not want to resist it.

  I have no concrete plans for today. It is possible I still have a hangover after yesterday's booze. It is not of the painful variety, but maybe it is making me feel sort of tired and lazy....or something like that. I probably ought to take advantage of the sunny spells, and go for a walk. Alternatively I could dress up warm and do some gardening. I know that I ought to be preparing the garden for spring right now. I have some bulbs (mainly, or just crocuses) that should have been planted by now. The only ones I did plant were in two hanging baskets, hanging on the garden fence, and they are now sprouting. I might even have a bit of colour in Winter ! At this precise point in time I feel like doing nothing. I'll just have to see how the day works out.