I almost agree with the forecast minus 1° C, but two of my thermometers said -1.5° C. There is some lovely sunshine this morning, and the latest revision to the forecast shows full sunshine at 11am, but it seems the clouds will quickly draw in after that, and initially cover the sky with white clouds. By 4pm the clouds will be thicker, and if there was any daylight left they would be medium dark grey. Rain may fall at 5pm, and continue until 9pn. Of course no forecast more than an hour or two ahead, and often not until after the event, can predict the exact timing of these things, although the temperature forecast is often correct even a few days ahead. Today, once the thick frost has gone, the temperature will soar (!) to 7° C. Tomorrow should see thin enough cloud for some more sunshine in the morning, but the highest temperature may be no more than 4° C.

   Yesterday was basically centred around seeing Angela at lunch time. Apart from having a wet shave, washing and conditioning my hair, and having a shower, I didn't really do anything else before or after seeing Angela. I made the wise decision, albeit partly in hindsight, to not go out too early. Even with one of my warmest coats on I still felt cold, but also hot. I'll explain: The sun was feeling hot on my back almost all the way to the pub, but my hands, and face were going numb in the cold.
  I think this picture shows how nice it looked yesterday. The sky was blue, and the low in the sky was casting shadows.
  Many squirrels were wisely staying in to keep warm, but this one was out checking on his, or her, buried nuts. What he/she actually gathered was a handful of leaves.
  I wasn't fast enough to get a snap of that squirrel entering it's drey.  This ragged ball of leaves and twigs is where it lives, and will raise it's young. I guess it was feeling draughty in the cold air, and it was gathering dry fallen leaves to thicken up the walls, and make it more cozy.
  I would very much agree with you if you said this was an absolute terrible picture - or even worse than that - but I include it to give a sort of out of focus reminder so I can explain what was going on. What you see is some sort of shrub that is producing yellow/green coloured flowers. It is similar to, but probably not honeysuckle. Now the most significant bit is the dark blur in the middle of the red circle. It is a bee collecting nectar from that shrubs flowers. I saw two of them, and they were like small furry bumble bees. It seemed so unlikely that they would be out on such a cold day, but I guess if there was nectar available they had to go for it.

  I arrived at the pub a little earlier than needed, but I think Angela also arrived a little early, and so I didn't have long to wait until I saw her. She was looking happy and radiant, and would soon look happier. I had taken a bag with three things in it that I knew she would like. The first was a couple of printed sheets that was tucked into a Xmas card my younger sister had sent me. There were a couple of pictures of her and her husband, and a brief description of their current life.

  Angela enjoyed looking at those printouts, and remarked that she could see some sort of resemblance between me and my younger sister. I see no semblance at all ! The next thing out of the bag was a bottle of Caribbean hot pepper (chilli) sauce. I had promised Angela a bottle when my order of 12 of them finally arrived - which as I noted yesterday morning, arrived at about 8.30am.

  The third and final thing was a double CD of Gordon Lightfoot songs. Angela is a huge fan of him, and as soon as she saw it she gave me a big hug, or as big as you can when sitting next to each other in a pub. She was so happy that I could see the tears of joy in her eyes. It seems I found a double CD with a lot of songs that weren't on her other CDs (and I think her vinyl collection). I bought it for one song in particular - "The First Time I ever Saw Your face" (look it up - it is on You Tube). I asked her to think of me when she plays it because it sends shivers down my spine or something. It perfectly describes my early days with Angela - until lover boy got in the way.

  Despite starting early we must have been drinking slowly because we had to rush the last of our drinks when I noticed it was already 4 minutes past 2pm, and Angela should really have been back at work. It was yet another occasion when she declared she could have spent the whole afternoon with me in the pub if there wouldn't be consequences to it. I walked her back to work where we parted with another warm hug, and a few blown kisses.

  I walked quickly home, but the cold was starting to affect me,  as were a few other things. I hadn't really eaten before going out, and I was really looking forward to some hot soup when I got home. Both the cold and the hunger were making me feel negative, but there was one of thing that started playing on my mind. During one of the hugs Angela said she loved me. That was wonderful, but also bad because it is all so hopeless while lover boy has such a hold over her.

  I am not sure when the idea formed in my mind, but it quickly took hold, and I felt very depressed about it. It was the idea that I had just had a gourmet meal, but I wouldn't get fed anything at all until a whole week had passed. I should have felt happy after seeing Angela, and also very happy that I was able to make her feel so happy, but I just felt very sad for the rest of the day, and into the night. I guess I sort of feel sad now, but in a different sort of way.

  When I got home I had two cans of soup, and then I laid down to read, and I fell asleep. I felt cold when I woke up. After the walk, and then the hot soup I think I didn't bother to turn on the heater. That was a big mistake because then I felt cold and miserable. Dinner might have cheered me a little bit, but not that much. It was a couple of small lamb steaks with spinach. It was nice, but left me wanting more.

  I did end up having more while watching a bit of TV after dinner. I was feeling too miserable to fight my food desires with any strength, and I thought "bugger it" and opened a tube of Pringles - kebab flavour. It then became a dance between desie and being sensible. In the end I didn't eat more than maybe a third of the tube of the Pringles, but that still loaded guilt on top of the sadness.

  After TV became boring I did my usual of taking my book to bed. I read until just gone 9pm before turning out the light, and waiting for sleep to come. It was a very long and lonely wait. I didn't get to sleep until almost 1am this morning. From then on I slept mostly OK, but with the heater on all night because it got so cold last night. I can't remember if it was 3am or 5am when I turned the heater up full. It as warm enough when I got up at 7am, but only just.

  I was sure those Pringles would have ruined my blood glucose this morning, and so it was a pleasant surprise to see it was only 7.7mmol/l. That is not as low as my personal target, but lower than I thought it would be before I ate the Pringles. Unfortunately it was not worth weighing myself this morning because after not eating that much I am sort of constipated again. It is not really constipation, but just a delay until later in the day.

  This morning I have been shopping in Tesco. I walked boldly in with no face mask, and just like in Aldi, no one paid any attention to it. I felt compelled to go because Tesco seems to be one place that tries to keep a stock of bird food for my bird table. I also bought some meat and green vegetables - and some "lightly dusted" haddock which I have just eaten for breakfast - that I didn't really need because I ate the rest of the Pringles for an early breakfast this morning !

  The main thing on the agenda today is the usual Thursday afternoon beer drinking session. I have to say I am not 100% looking forward to it. It will be a miserable affair if Jodie is still in a sulky mood. I expect Michael will be along too, and he will want to talk the hind leg off a donkey. Apart from a few interesting beers, I have my doubts I will enjoy this afternoon.