Today should be even better than yesterday. If the forecast holds there will be blue sky and sunshine non stop until sunset.  Yesterday did include a few fluffy clouds that occasionally passed in front of the sun. Maybe today the sky will be truly cloudless. The afternoon temperature should reach 14° C. Tomorrow could see the same amount of sunshine, but the temperature may only reach 12° C.

   The weather was wonderful yesterday, but by mid to late afternoon I wasn't feeling so great, and I am not really sure why. In the morning I felt quite good enough to hand wash a couple of towels, and hang them on the far end of the washing line where they could dry in the sunshine - and they did dry very nicely by the end of the afternoon.
  It was really nice to dry washing in the sunshine, and it was really nice to see how far along the line the sun crept during the day. Maybe a month ago the sun was barely able to reach the top of the back fence, but I noticed it almost on the right hand flower bed late in the afternoon. I am hoping that it will help perk up the seeds and stuff I have growing, or hopefully about to grow in the flowerbed.
  It was indeed a lovely blue sky yesterday, but as can be seen in this picture, there were a few fluffy clouds in the sky, and now and then one would drift in front of the sun giving a few minutes of dullness. I was so inspired by the towels starting to dry in the early afternoon that I did another lot of laundry. It was only two t-shorts and some underpants, but I got it on the line by about 2pm. That didn't give it long to dry, but the sun had moved along the line far enough to fall on the t-shirts, and by almost 6pm they were 99% dry. It was a very cheering feeling.

  It was mid to late afternoon that I began to feel rather washed out. I seemed to have an excess of aches, and sometime my throat felt a bit tickly. The aches were not new, but it was unusual to have so many of them at the same time. None were bad, but together they were annoying. It did occur to me that maybe I had caught the latest variant of Covid, and maybe I did, but I doubt I will ever know. I am certainly not going to the bother of getting, frequently inaccurate, test kits.

  There were a few things that contributed to feeling off colour yesterday. It is possible that doing a double load of laundry by hand might have contributed to a small ache here and there. Another contribution might have been that I was trying to fast after my very high blood glucose reading in the morning. I couldn't completely fast because yesterday after was a beer tasting session with Jodie, and I didn't want to drink on a completely empty stomach. I had two cans of Tesco's very low sugar content cream of chicken soup.

  To add to the mix there was a fair bit of stress involved - I had to restrict what I was drinking because some beers can contribute a fair bit of sugar (many other are as good as gold), and also because there was a plan to go to a gig last night. What I decided on was that instead of Jodie and I having half each from a can or bottle, I would have a third, and she two thirds. She had more drinking to do after drinking with me and so she was not keen to drink to much. I had to fill in the long dry spells with some alcohol free lager (most of which I tipped down the sink because it was both sugary and revolting), and a large can of sugar free Irn Bru.

  As 6pm approached, and Jodie was getting ready to get the train to meet with her friends, I made the decision that I just felt too rough to go to the gig I was thinking of going to. In an ideal world I would have met Michael and Angela (with lover boy) in The Black Cat for the gig, but once I said I wasn't going I think they both decided not to go themselves. It was probably all for the good because the gig featured a band called The Pinheads, and I didn't really enjoy what they did the last time I saw them, but worst of all was that it was something to do with St Patricks day, and I have never felt very Irish in all my life.

  I had to be fairly careful about what I ate for dinner last night, but I thought I didn't need to be ultra strict. I ended up having two lots of an approximation of chilli con carne. I added hot chilli sauce, and half a can of mixed beans in water to a can of stewed steak. The latter is almost a soup. It was pretty nice, and I used the other half of the beans in another make of stewed steak (or beef ?).

  Hot "soup" and a few whiskeys had me feeling pretty good, but I still felt very tired. There were a few things I watched on TV before going to bed. I read for a a fair time, but I found it quite hard to concentrate at times. It was lucky I was only reading short stories. I think I finally fell asleep very close to 9pm - maybe even a minute or two before then. I can only describe my sleep as lumpy. Sometimes it was good, and sometimes bad.

  I suffered a few bits of assorted pain while in bed. The worst was some cramp, and the most worrying/annoying was a short period of time when my right knee was feeling quite painful until I completely change the position I was laying in. It was very evident that a lot of my sleep was very light sleep because of the amount of dreams I remember having. Of course sods law means I can't actually remember any describable content to most of those dreams, but one left a bit of memory.

  I dreamt that I was at a University (even though I've never been at a university in all my life), and that I had a female companion (who didn't seem to have a name). We had been told there was a special dinner that we were invited to in dining room two. When we got there it was a small room with only a few table. There was one table with six suited and tie wearing people around it. We went to a smaller table Every time I looked around the room seemed to become bigger.

  Towards the end of the dream it was the size of a ballroom, and there were hoards more people in it. They all looked rather posh to a pleb like me. Despite being there for a dinner there was no food during the dream, but there were games starting. One such games was run rabbit run (is that a game in the real world ?). Everyone would run from one end of the hall towards the other end, but at a signal that sounded like a gunshot everyone would drop to the ground - often on top of each other. I guess that is one way to break the ice at parties !

  My female companion decided to join in, and I never saw her again. As I scanned the crowd for her I saw people putting on robes, and the event turned into what I think was some sort of masonic meeting. Maybe it all got too complicated at that point, and I woke up for a pee....I think....it might have been when I actually got up. I didn't feel all that wonderful when I got up, but there have been plenty of times when I have felt far worse.

  The encouraging thing is that my blood glucose had dropped to a more sane level. 8.6mmol/l is higher than I would like, but at least it is well clear of the danger zone (which I was in yesterday morning when the reading was an insane 10.5mmol/l). This morning I have rewarded myself with just one single bowl of instant noodles for breakfast. My plan is to try and skip lunch, and have a reasonably sensible dinner.

  My original main plan for today was to go to a Chain gig tonight. They are playing in the Bromley Bricklayers Arms for the first time, and it would be good to record the occasion with a few pictures, and there is still a tiny possibility that I will get there. My main aim today is to try and get in at least a 3 mile walk in the warm sunshine. That may well sap all my energy, and I'll be too tired to go out tonight. It will also be a good stress test for my body. There is still a possibility that my maladies could be Covid related. In which case it would be polite to steer clear of potential victims of any disease I might have.