08:23 BST

  There were predictions for rain, and even light snow at one time for yesterday morning, but I think it was basically dry except for a couple of brief moments when some exceedingly light rain fell. Much of the day featured light cloud, but there was also some sunshine. The strongest feature was a bitter feeling wind. It did get quite gusty at times, and with the air temperature being no higher than 8° C, that wind was really biting !

  

  Today is also going to feel very cold. This morning all my thermometers agreed it was less than the 2° C forecast, and the lowest I saw was just 1.1° C. The best the afternoon can offer will be just 8° C, and then maybe only for one single hour at 4 or 5pm. The latest revision to the forecast shows rain for 4 and 5pm. As I write this the sun is shining, but the latest revision has changed most of the morning hours of full sunshine to just sunny spells. One thing definitely wasn't shown on the forecast - it was not long after 7am when I saw snow falling here. It was only about one and a half flakes a second, and of course it didn't settle, but it was real snow ! Tomorrow may feature a little less sunshine that today, but basically it will be the same as today.
  I don't have that much to say about yesterday. Apart from the afternoon drink with Jodie, nothing much really happened. I did pop out to Tesco for a bit of shopping, and that was almost the highlight of the day. My dreams last night were far more interesting (to me).

  I didn't want to buy too much from Tesco, and on the whole I tried to only buy stuff that I knew, or thought, would be "mostly harmless" to my blood glucose. There were a few exceptions though. I am not really sure how cider will affect me (beyond getting drunk), but I bought a couple of bottles of cider to add to a selection I am getting ready for a possible summer cider tasting session, instead of beer. It will probably end in some sort of drunken disaster, but that's part of the fun !

  The almost definite exception to buying hoped for low sugar food was an individual beef and stilton pie. It was on sale for about 2/3rds the usual price, on the reduced priced shelves. It intrigued me, and I just bought it out of curiosity. I had it for lunch, and it was nice, but not wonderful (as I was hoping for). I might possibly buy another if I saw it at a reduced price, but the full price version does not tempt me at all.

  The afternoon beer tasting session was better than some, and not just because I added a couple of vodkas to the mix. It all started when Jodie decided to try some Lime flavoured vodka I had on an avocado she was having for her lunch (or dinner). It didn't work at all, and she concluded only real lime juice works. I decided to try a lime vodka and (slimline) tonic, and that was OK, but I won't be making a habit of it. Anyway, we had a few nice beers, and Jodie was a bit more talkative on this occasion.

  Maybe I had anticipated getting a bit drunk, or maybe it happens every time, but I prepared almost all my dinner before drinking. I had cooked some new potatoes, and some mange tout. The latter I prepared, breaking off the ends, and puling the stringy edge off, while I was drinking. Both the potatoes and the mange tout seemed to go well with the peppered smoked mackerel that formed the core of my dinner.

  There was only one problem with that dinner - fishy burps all evening. I probably made matters worse when I stuffed my face with some jalapeño cheese flavour coated peanuts. They were one other exception to my desire not to buy anything too harmful to my blood glucose readings that I forgot to mention a few paragraphs above (I don't think I have forgotten anything else).  They were very moreish, and I am sure they were not good for me, but the alcohol had reduced my resistance.

  Thanks to the booze I was able to go to sleep within a few minutes of 9pm, and initially I slept very well, but I was still burping fishy burps, and feeling uncomfortable. I slept until just before midnight, and I woke up wondering if I was going to throw up. I was definitely not feeling good ! I partly got up for a hour before I thought it was safe to try for sleep again. Once I got back to sleep, which probably took 10 to 15 minutes. I slept quite well again.

  One important thing to note at this time is that I haven't really haven't had a holiday since 1968, and that was in a caravan. That means I have no first hand knowledge of hotels or holiday camps. I seemed to have a lot of dreams about being on holiday last night. One dream was set in a small hotel. I think my brain must have used Fawlty Towers as a background for one dream.

  Rather than the eccentric Basil Faulty being the hotel owner, it is owned and run by an extreme penny pinching spinster. She rarely paid power and water bills, and so even the water is on a pre-payment meter. The only bit of my dream that I recall with some clarity is where I have just been to the toilet, and I as I am washing my hands the water stops. A few seconds later there is a thunderous roar from the owner "has anyone got a shilling for the meter". Although I only heard it that one time, I was aware that it was a regular thing, and that it was always the guests who had to find the coins for the pre-payment gas, electric, and water meters.

  The next holiday dream was a bit vague, and I am not sure if I was supposed to be on holiday, or possibly just visiting someone who was. It was set in a holiday camp, but because I have never been in a holiday camp it all had to come from my imagination. The place was next to a nice sandy beach, and there were structures for swimming there like diving boards, and a rope swing. The only building was a huge dining hall. I don't recall anything happening beyond walking through that dining hall, and looking out of a window as the beach.

  I remember one other dream, and it was a variation on a theme I often dream about. I was back working in a telephone exchange, and at the start of the dream it was a very familiar situation - racks of equipment, and most of it was painted battleship grey. Like many of the telephone exchanges I did work in, this one had an extension built on it for a modern type of exchange to replace the old equipment. In the dream they didn't stop building with just the extension, and eventually the place became surrounded by workshops and a shopping mall containing mostly fast food stores. When I needed a break from the work I was doing I went exploring, and soon became lost in the vastness of the building. There was no urgency or worry about it, and in a way I was sorry to wake up because it was interesting.

  My feeling of bloat, and possible vomitting last night had completely passed without incident by this morning, and I felt perfectly normal (which is not great these days, but normal is normal). I started this new month with a blood glucose reading of 8.1mmol/l. I would obviously prefer a lower reading, but I still regard it as perfectly satisfactory, and maybe even good when I consider I had potatoes as part of my dinner last night, and I am fairly sure those jalapeño cheese coated peanuts were not ideal for me.

  While it may be bright for a fair bot of today, it still seems too cold for any outdoor activities today - except one. Possibly the main activity today may be to meet Kevin in the local 'spoons for a beer. There is a strong degree of uncertainty about it. While I know Kevin is keen to do it, his body could be less keen, and hold him back. We'll just have to see what happens when and if it happens.