I had a moderately active day yesterday. I wrote yesterday that I was out to collect my latest repeat prescription from the pharmacy. It was all complete when I got there, but it did seem to take a minute or so to find it. After that, and after writing yesterday's stuff, I slipped into lazy mode for a while, but not for all that long.

  I finished writing yesterday with the rather vague idea that I might, or might not, go out again to Poundstretcher. I think it was a little too early to be inspired by any sunshine, although maybe the thought of eventual sunshine spurred me on, and I did go out. There were several things I wanted from Poundstretcher, and one of the odder one was a packet of crisps. I felt the urge for some crisps, and in fact I bought two bags. One was a 6 pack of ready salted, and the other was "Spicy Corn Rings". The latter were quite tasty in a weird sort of way. Like many snacks based on corn they were quite low sugar.
  The main thing I wanted from Poundstretcher was this wonky looking bird feeder. I did straighten it up after taking the picture. It is in very soft soil where soil actually equals a foot deep layer of ancient clay based cat litter. I think I am going to have to add a couple of stakes to try and keep the support pole upright. It is much nearer the kitchen window, and I hope to get a closer look at the small birds who it is designed for. I expect I'll have to wait several days before the first birds feel confident enough to see what is on offer.

  The other significant thing I bought from Poundstretcher was three more solar powered floodlights . There are three visible on the fence in the picture above. The new ones seem to have extra high efficiency LEDs in them, and seem to be much brighter. One them must have had a very good condition battery in it because it was still shining just before sunrise this morning. I may have to angle them down a bit because last night I found they were bright enough to cast a shadow onto the back bedroom wall.

  After I had installed the bird feeder, and the new solar spot lights, I reverted to lazy mode - laying on my bed reading - and almost snoozing, but I don't think I actually fell asleep, although I did have my eyes closed for a while. I was next disturbed by Michael asking if I wanted bottles of Diet Coke from Tesco. I said yes please, and Michael replied that he might be a bit later than usual.

  When Michael did text to say he would be outside in a few minutes time it was about an hour later than he would usually come back from Tesco. He told me that he has had a relapse of his bowel condition, and he was feeling a bit unstable. It is a feeling I know well, but in my case it is only now and then. When it hits Michael it can go on non stop for weeks. In the past he has had colonoscopies, but apparently he is too old now to have them. I don't think there is a physical problem with having one, but a NHS cost saving reason. It seems once you have hot your seventies you are no longer worth saving.

  Jodie turned up half an hour or so later, and we started on some beers. Typically enough, Jodie was more interested in communicating with her phone than with me, and so I was sometimes a bit bored until her friend Alan turned up. At least he had a lot more to say.  The trouble with being bored is that I ended up drinking a lot more. Jodie was drinking so slowly that I had a can of Guinness, and one other beer in between the "official" beers we were supposed to be tasting.

  I think it was around 6.30pm when Jodie and Alan left to get a 320 bus up to The Star And Garter pub in Bromley. I felt quite drunk enough, and had no desire for any more booze, but I had a strong desire for my dinner. I had already pre-cooked some sausages. In fact they were almost over cooked, and I didn't want to cook them any more to heat them up. I had those sausages with mashed potato. I hardly eat any potatoes, and mash even less (crisps don't count, but I rarely eat them anyway).

   I had a packet of onion (cheese and onion ?) flavoured instant mashed potato that had been in the cupboard for a year or more, and yesterday seemed like the time to use it. If the sausages had been hot, and the mashed potato real mashed potato, it might have been an excellent meal. It may not have been perfect, but it was still very nice, but maybe a little too filling. After dinner I watched a little bit of TV, but I was feeling too much like laying down to watch much TV.

  It is at this point things become a little hazy, or more specifically, the time became a little hazy. I read for a while, and then it felt like a good time to put the book down, and go to sleep. I have absolutely no idea when that was, but it might have been before 9pm. I slept solidly until around 1am when I woke up feeling terrible. I had a headache, which was probably just a hangover, but other bits of me ached. I was also feeling hot and cold at the same time.

  I turned the heater up full, and went back to sleep partly uncovered. I seemed to sleep OK like that, but I was waking up quite frequently. Most time I got up for a pee, but I didn't always seem to need one, at least not with any hint of desperation. Some of it was more a bloated feeling. It could have been trapped wind, except that wind definitely wasn't trapped !
  I got up just before 7am, and one of the first things I did was to go to the toilet. I can understand the reason why I was feeling bloated. It was a bit of an explosive experience, and 10 minutes later I was back on the toilet for a small amount more. Considering it must have been mostly based on what I ate yesterday, I was concerned what my blood glucose might be this morning.

  It turned out I had nothing to fear. This morning my reading was 7.8mmol/l, and that was lower than yesterday mornings 7.9mmol/l. Both are well under my average, and took this months average down to another record low. To put things in a better perspective I averaged all the reading from last year to end up with an average of 8.67mmol/l for the whole year. Back in October, last year, I saw the nurse for my annual check up.

  The proper blood test gave a figure that she said was good, and more than that, "showed good glucose control", and at the end of October my average was 8.37mmol/l. The months before that were mostly even higher. It seems I am doing really well recently. The trouble is that I am not sure exactly what I am doing to achieve this. Could it all be because I have been having a breakfast of instant noodles. I had another two bowls this morning !

  I still feel a bit rough this morning. I can blame some of it on a hangover, but maybe more on a bad sleep. I am starting to feel quite tired now, and I am yawning a lot. The worst thing for what it may imply, is a sore throat, and maybe an odd tingle in my nose. I was tempted to blame the sore throat on too much snoring in the night, but I am think more on the lines of some sort of infection. I can't wait until early afternoon when I can have a gargle with some whisky.

  The sun is now out, and the day looks nice, albeit still bloody cold (there was a frost this morning). I feel I ought to go out and make use of that sunshine. I was considering taking a good camera for a bit of trainspotting, but if I do go out it feels more likely I will go for a walk in the park. I have been waiting for such a day to do some test shots with my Nikon D80 camera to try and get a feel of how much to over expose the pictures (according to the inbuilt light metering) to get nice bright pictures. I think the first thing I will do is to go and read the final chapter of the book I am reading (Isaac Asimov's "Foundations Edge").