Yesterday included some good and bad things. The bad thing was what the postman brought at approx 12:30. It wasn't a Valentines card, and nor was it any of the parcels I am waiting for. It was a letter from the taxman. That always brings a shiver of horrors, and this time was no exception. It seems my tax free allowance will be reduced a bit for the tax year starting this April, and presumably it has probably been carefully calculated to mop up the very small "pay rise" I will be getting - the net result being that this stingy government will not have to pay out a penny more. The "pay rise" is 3.1%, or just 5% of the rise in fuel prices.

  Most of the good things of the day happened before the morning was over. I had some laundry waiting for me as I was writing yesterday morning. Once I had finished writing, and had a short rest I completed that, and had in hanging up to dry on the clothes horse. It was after that when I decided it was high time I changed the linen on my bed. I knew it was probably very smelly because it had been on all winter, but what decided me was that the duvet cover was getting unpleasant in a physical sense.

   The cotton weave was fraying, or something, and the surface was getting covered in little bobbles that felt very rough. I decided I would change it and just throw away the old one. Once I started that I decided I might as well change all the bed linen, and so last night I had the little luxury of sleeping in fresh sheets. Meanwhile, I decided I might as well wash the pillow cases, plus the hand towel I put over the pillows to protect them from those occasions when my head gets a bit sweaty. I washed those three things, and hung them on a smaller clothes horse.

  The weather was looking very miserable outside in the afternoon, and that didn't inspire me to do anything at all, but after just reading for an hour I had it in mind to do some more CD ripping. It was only recently, although I can't remember when, that I realised there were quite a few CDs at the end of one of my stacks of collections that I had not ripped. I don't own a "Hi Fi" system any more, or at least I don't have one wired up, and so the only way I can play any music is on one of my PCs. I think I ripped about 8 or 9 CDs yesterday afternoon, and there are still as many as a couple of dozen that may still need doing.

  I had my now usual one bowl of instant noodles for breakfast, and I was going to have a can of soup for lunch, but for some reason I didn't fancy that. I ended up having what would usually count as snacks for an extended lunch. I had a couple of packets of crisps, and then a bit later I had two small apples and a chunk of cheese. I also consumed a small bag of peanuts over the course of the day.

  Like I did the day before yesterday, I started cooking my dinner early so I wouldn't be distracted and eat something different, and possibly less healthy (although potentially more healthy). That dinner, that I ate close to 7pm than the usual 6pm, was similar to the previous day, but it was leeks and runner beans cooked with diced lamb. Once again the lamb was not that nice. I am thinking it was possibly too lean to have a good flavour even if being lean was better for me.

  I was quite looking forward to getting under those fresh sheets last night, but as usual I watched a bit of TV, and then read for a while before turning out the light, and pulling the duvet over me. It did feel rather nice, but I am not so sure I slept any better for it. Some of my memories of the night are starting to fade already, as if they were dreams, but if it was reality than I think I had a short period of insomnia around 3am.

  One thing I did remember, as a concept rather than small details, is the theme of what must have been a long series of little dreams. I was dreaming I was back at work (or more likely, I hadn't actually retired). As well as doing my normal stuff I had been promoted to "Imagineer". I was inventing uses for our core products (CCTV cameras), but lacked the technical skill to do the complete design. One such idea was to mount a camera on a small tracked vehicle, like a miniature tank, and attached it to a long power cable and fibre optic data cable. It would be like a miniature, and more agile version of the machines bomb disposal people use to remotely view the bomb. In the cool light of day I realise I was almost "re-inventing the wheel", but it seemed a great idea in the dreams.

  I was up slightly before 7am again this morning, and it was just starting to get light outside. The first thing I did, after a visit to the toilet (only for a pee) was to check my blood glucose reading. It was a tiny bit higher than yesterday, but 7.1mmol/l is still very good, and it takes my running average down a little bit more. I can almost believe I am in with a chance of a new record low this month.
  It was useful being up early this morning. It must have been as early as 7.45am when the Royal Mail parcel delivery man rung my doorbell. It was my long awaited secondhand Nikon S6300. This will be the second one I have owned. The first I gave away when Patricia needed a good camera. I liked it so much, and it's replacement, a second hand Nikon S3500, is really a rather poor camera. Ignore the dust in the picture above. It wasn't apparent as I took the picture, but the flash on the phone camera I used seems to have highlighted it.

  The camera is almost in good condition, and seems to take good pictures, but it has an annoying, but not fatal fault. The lens cover mechanism is broken. You can see that below the dust in the picture above. Just one leaf seems to get stuck and obscure a bit of the picture when it opens. It seems easy to push out of the way, and fortunately it is immediately visible in the view finder display, and so there will no excuse to forget to push it out of the way. I am tempted to try and rip it out, but I suspect that will cause even more damage. I think I will just have to live with it as it is.

  As well as getting my parcel, that was another bit of early morning goodness this morning. It was around 8.45am when I had a call from Angela to thank me for the (anonymous) Valentines card I sent her. As I think I wrote last Friday, it was not a lovely-dovey, red heart plastered card, but a more subtle one for a very dear friend. I was worried that Angela was going to say that lover boy had found it, and that it had caused trouble, but no, it was a call to think me, and to emphasise that Angela looks forward to out lunchtime drink tomorrow.

  Now that the parcel delivery man has come I am free to go out this morning to Tesco to pick up a few things for a few forthcoming dinners, but I need to be back before midday when the ordinary postman could potentially have a small packet for me. I have a few Jimi Hendrix t-shirts on order, and they are all due before the end of the week. Unfortunately Royal Mail tracking tends to only acknowledge they have the parcel, but doesn't say how far it has come, and when it might be delivered. Grrr !

  It seems to be a certainty that this afternoon is going to be cold, dark and very wet. I shall be doing something indoors today, but as yet I have no idea what that can be apart from more CD ripping. That has it's rewards once it is done, but is a bit boring....actually it is a lot boring ! Maybe I'll do some more train photo cataloguing, or maybe ??????