My thermometers agreed that it was only 2.5° C at 7am, and it hasn't even risen beyond 3° C yet. We came within a degree of a frost this morning thanks to clear skies in the night. The sky is still mostly blue, and the sun is shining, but it seems it won't last beyond 9am. By midday it will be very cloudy, and there is a 90% chance of rain for the next 4 or 5 hours. Maybe as the last drops fall the temperature may have risen to 9° C. The wind isn't over yet. It seems fairly calm at the moment, and I think it was during the night, but the wind could be gusting to over 40mph by 1pm, and it will only start to get calm by 6pm. It won't actually get calm, even through the night, and tomorrow could see gusts of 40 mph or more. Tomorrow is currently predicted to be dull with quite a few showers, but at least the temperature might rise to 12° C.
  Yesterday was an "exciting" day. The excitement being Storm Eunice. It was indeed extremely windy. One of the first things I did after I had finished writing, and had had a shower, was to go to the little supermarket on Catford Bridge. Walking there was hard work because it was straight into the wind. It was both exhilarating, and unpleasant. After making my purchases I was close to blown home with that fierce wind on my back.
  When I got to the shop I noticed that there were broken fragments of roof tiles on the main road a 100 ft up the road from the shop, and on my way home I had to walk past where some tiles were coming down from another roof.
  When I started out to walk to the shop the scaffolding on this house was covered in a white tarpaulin. When I came bac it had been blown to never never land. From the direction the wind was blowing it could well have ended up on the railway line - possibly even the other railway line that goes through Catford station.
  I later read that all train services run by Southeastern, Southern, Thamelink, and South West Trains were suspended. There was no mention of tarpaulins on the track, but it seems the reason for no trains through Catford Bridge was that there were trees on the line either side of West Wickham.

  Two of the things I bought from the shop. The sun dried aubergine stuffed with rice was sort of nice, but I can't say exactly why. Maybe it was just the novelty of it. All I know was that I threw caution to the wind, and these, along with some slices of (ready cooked and ready to eat) Polish sausage formed my lunch. I stuffed my face with all those aubergines ! I haven't tried the Kohlrabi yet. I bought it because it was the subject of discussion in the pub with Angela two weeks ago. It is a member of the brassica family, and seems to be like a very dense cabbage. I'm told it is very nice eaten raw, and although I didn't try it yesterday, I will definitely be trying it today.

  The main thing I wanted from the shop was more packets of instant noodles. I think the Polish made noodles are far better than the rather tedious Batchelor's packs that Tesco sell. I made sure I got a good selection of them. I also bought a couple of bottles of two different Jamaican style hot pepper sauces. I'm sure there was something else I bought, but what ever it was it seems to have escaped my mind for now.

  Battling through the strong wind almost seemed like I had done enough for one day, but I did more physical stuff. It's genesis was before I went out to the shop. As I mentioned yesterday, one of my PC speakers had finally failed, and I could only listen to one channel of my music. I decided to replace those speakers with a pair of Labtec speakers. They are nasty little things that sound tinny and thin, but at least I could hear both stereo channels.

  During the changeover I knocked over an almost full glass of Diet Coke. Nearly all of it went onto the carpet. All I could do was to grab the hand towel from the bathroom, and use that to mop it up. My afternoon job was to wash that hand towel, and a t-shirt, and get it hanging on the clotheshorse to dry overnight.  With only two items, even if one was a towel, it was a fairly easy job, but it was still worth recording.

  There were two more little jobs I did around that change of speakers. One was to extend the already stupidly short power cord of the desk light I use by my computer. It was slightly less than a yard long from new, and just long enough to precariously balance on the old speakers, but the temporary speakers are too small for that, and now, with it's double length cord, it can sit on the printer. I think I mentioned yesterday that I ordered some new speakers - the same as I use in the dining room. They seem to sound adequate for a small speaker.

  I did two other things yesterday. One was to take advantage of the times when the sun was out. As the wind howled outside, and the food waste bins sailed through the  air, it was glorious laying on my bed with the sun shining through the windows onto me while I read, or just laid there with my eyes closed trying for a snooze. I think it was too noisy to snooze, although I may have dropped off for a few minutes at one point.

  The other thing was to do more CD ripping on the little PC in the dining room. I must admit that I didn't do it very diligently. I would start a CD off, and then go and do something else, and come back to change the CD well after the previous one had finished.

  I could have prepared a proper dinner last night, but after what I had eaten during the day I opted for just a couple of cans of soup. I could have, and maybe should have, gone for a couple of very low sugar soups, but what I did have was fairly low in sugar.  It was really bleak on TV last night, and after watching two episodes of The Simpsons while eating my dinner (although half of one episode was long enough for the actual eating) I started to think about bed.

  Initially I wasted some time catching up on some technology news, and I did consider turning the TV on again at 9pm for an episode of QI, but by 9pm I had been in bed reading for a while, and I think I had put the book down, turned out the light, and fallen asleep.  I seemed to sleep well enough that I felt ready to get up soon after 6am this morning. It was a good and bad idea. Good because 15 minutes after getting up it was starting to get light outside. A bed idea because I really should be trying to get used to getting to sleep a lot later so I can survive going out to gigs in the late evening.

  This morning my blood glucose was down to 7.2mmol/l. That is good because it is under my self set target of 7.5mmol/l, but I think I am now aiming for a figure of under 7mmol/l. I have only achieved that a few times this month, and never for previous months. I was reminded that 9 or more years ago, probably while I was on a really heavy diet in an attempt to reduce the angina pains I was getting prior to my quad heart bypass in 2013, that I was scored just 5.3mmol/l on one particular day.
  This is what is pre-occupying me today. It is the delivery of two spare batteries, plus a charger for my Nikon S6300 camera. The batteries and charger are Chinese specials, but the three items, as one package, are cheaper than one Nikon branded battery ! I know the package arrived at the Dartford Depot at 6.40am yesterday, and usually that would mean it would have been out for delivery some time yesterday, but apparently it will be delivered today, and before 10pm. I should bloody well hope so !!! Previous experience suggests it will arrive some time mid afternoon, but if those lazy bastards* could only get up in time to get to, and leave the depot by 8am, it could be here before midday.

* Of course it is possible that Amazons drivers do two jobs to make up their wages. DPD seem to employ drivers who start work at the crack of dawn, and sometimes deliver stuff to me soon after 8am. They possibly finish at 11am, and then go and do a shift at Amazon - who knows ? But it is bloody annoying to be waiting in all day for one small package.

  It is still sunny now, but the sky is getting hazy. By midday it is supposed to be pouring with rain, and I guess I have no desire to go out today, and waiting in for my delivery will not be too disappointing. On the other hand, I would like to try and get out tonight to see an hour of a Chain gig. They are playing at The Chatterton Arms, and apart from having to get a bus, it is easy to get too. Of course it is a Bromley venue, and there could be several people there I just don't like, and who would spoil it for me. Maybe if I can't bring myself to go out into the cold and dark, it would not be a great loss.