It was cold enough for a frost that took until 9am to thaw - except where the full power of the sun fell on it. With the sun very low in the sky there were, and still are plenty of dark shadows, but the sky is a brilliant blue, and the sun will shine all day. Sadly the temperature may only reach 5° C today. Tomorrow should also feature sunshine from dawn to dusk, but the morning will start even colder, although the temperature may peak at 6° C for just one hour at 3pm.

  The main thing yesterday was going to meet Angela for a drink at lunchtime. I left home at about 12.30. That was almost as late as I dare leave it in the hope the postman might arrive before then with a small packet for me. Unfortunately he came later, and and that meant some exercise this morning to collect it from the sorting office. However, it was still early enough to not have to rush to the pub, and to go via the cash machine by the hospital, and several squirrels !
  This squirrel did a very nice pose while holding an almond, and a roasted hazelnut - which is what it was munching on. The hazelnuts were another thing I bought when I went shopping in the little supermarket on Catford Bridge on Tuesday.
  I almost had this squirrel eating from my hand. It would get almost with inches before it's nerve went, and it ran away.
  This was another squirrel who came close to eating from my hand, but this time while it was still in the tree, but once again t would get very close before running to the other side of the tree. All the squirrels got their rewards in the end.
  I took this picture on my way home from the pub. I was trying to throw a couple of nuts to another squirrel, but siddenly I was mugged by a million pigeons. I find it odd that pigeons are never scared of me anywhere except in my own back garden. The pigeons in this picture were no more than a foot from my feet, and yet if I go out to my back garden to top up the bird table the pigeons immediately fly completely out of sight to the other end of the road or further.

  My drink with Angela was very pleasant, but not very remarkable. It was very warm, very friendly, and there is a sort of closeness. I can't really remember the words, but as I walked Angela back to work we chatted about this that and the other, and somewhere along the way there was something we said that was a roundabout way of saying that we should be together. It was meant to mean right then. I don't think I can ever pull her away from lover boy though.

  Some time after I had got home, and had a small bite to eat, and a lie down, I pre-empted what Angela had done last week. I sent her a text to say "thank you for a very pleasant lunchtime". She replied with a very curious reply - "Thank you too. You really are my very best friend, (and) help me get through this sometimes very difficult life xxxx". I almost wonder if life with lover boy is losing it's appeal, or maybe he just can't provide the sort of support he should be.

  That small bit to eat I mentioned above really was no more than a handful of nuts while I was checking the few pictures I took in the park. By about 4pm I was feeling quite hungry, and I was going to have a couple of cans of soup, but I ended up just having a single can of stewed steak as soup. Just the one did the trick, and I decided I would have nothing else for dinner. I did have a couple of snacks though.

  One snack was some cubes of banana flavour Turkish delight. I washed all the sugar off before eating them, and I think that removed a very large percentage of the sugar content. The remaining flavoured gelatine didn't seem too sweet. The other snack was some salted mixed nuts. I think I was eating them too fast because I had a terrible thing happen. A tiny bit of nut managed to go the wrong way, or something like that. It caused me to cough so violently that I almost threw up. I ended up with a cupped handful of chewed nuts and saliva. Fortunately it didn't come from all the way to the stomach, and so there was not nasty bile or stomach acids in it. It was still very unpleasant though.

  I was going to have another couple of strong beers while I watched a bit of TV last night, but I opted for just a couple of whiskies. Like every night for ages and ages, I read in bed for a good hour before trying for sleep. I had less trouble getting to sleep last night than the previous night, and once asleep I think I slept quite well. If I had started writing this at 8am I could have probably recounted an interesting dream, but I think it faded from memory hours ago.


  This morning I was happy to get another low blood glucose reading. It was 7.7mmol/l - not quite as good as yesterday, but still plenty of good enough to keep driving that running average down to a potential new record low at the end of the month. I think the best last year was about 8.3mmol/l for one of the months, but around 8.5mmol/l is more typical.

  It would have been nice not to have to had to go for a walk in the icy cold (literally - there was still frost here and there) walk this morning. In fact I didn't need to. It was to collect a parcel from the sorting office, and with one phone call I could have got it re-delivered today, but I thought the exercise might be good...or something.

  I didn't take the shortest walk possible, and got the walk up to 1.7 miles. I did that by including a visit to Savers to buy a few odds and ends on the way back. Most importantly was to get two tubes of Arm & Hammer sensitive toothpaste. I am currently using some Wisdom sensitive toothpaste. It does the job, but it leaves my mouth unpleasantly tingles for ages afterwards. That tingle, if in the wrong place, can make me start coughing.

  I was also lucky enough to buy more "Sweet Strawberry" shampoo and conditioner. I like the stuff - probably more for the nice strawberry smell rather than anything good it might do for my hair. Another thing I found in Savers was some cans of my favourite deodorant spray. I don't know why I don't see it anywhere else. Maybe I just don't go to the right shops or something.


  With my back to the sun the sky looked wonderful and blue. Sadly it may have looked like summer, but it still felt very much like winter. Today was the first time I put on my gloves when I went out, although it was not the first time I wished I had put on my gloves. When I got home I felt freezing and overheated at the same time. My face was icy, but under my coat I was starting to sweat. It was good to get home, and have a couple of bowls of instant noodles as a hot, but very late breakfast.

  The main feature today, or perhaps that should be the second feature after my walk to the sorting office, is another Thursday beer session. I think both Michael and Jodie will be here, and once again I expect that Michael will only have a few sips of the exotic beers, and mainly stick to basic lagers. That leaves more for me and Jodie !