09:07 BST

  Yesterday started rather wet, but the rain dried up around midday. Unfortunately the sun didn't manage to break through the clouds, and although the afternoon was not as dull as the morning, it was still rather grey. The only good thing is that the temperature climbed to 13° C, and it only dropped a degree or two during the night.

  

  This morning is not quite as dull as the forecast suggests, but there is definitely no sign of the sun. To make matters worse there has been a big revision to the forecast since I took the screenshot above. All the sunny periods shown in the early version have gone except for 7pm, but I would not be surprised if that disappears soon. On the other hand, it might be that a version of the early forecast might be re-instated, and we will have sunny spells this afternoon. The remaining good thing, 15° C, this afternoon may now only be 14° C. Tomorrow could be mild at 12° C, but it will be grey and raining for the first couple of hours, and the afternoon may feature more showers. The forecast for tomorrow shows that very ambiguous weather icon showing the sun peeping out above the clouds, but rain falling out the bottom of them. Apparently they show the sun purely to say the rain is falling during the day, and not after dark, but you can tell that from the times. It is all very ambiguous.

  Yesterday was one of those days when I was constipated, but worse than that was that I often felt constipated rather than just knowing I hadn't been to the toilet. It was mostly a mild, to very, very mild discomfort, although later in the day there were a few more uncomfortable times. The worst thing was that it dampened my enthusiasm to do anything. I ended up have a mostly lazy day.

  It wasn't all lazy. I did manage to do a few things like pay my credit card bill, and also to check the state of my bank account. The latter was partly inspired by a letter arriving from the Department Of Work And Pension saying my state pension was increasing by a whole £22 per 4 week period. That and a whole lot more is just going to be swallowed up by the huge prices rises for gas and electric (and they will end up increasing the prices of stuff in the shops in due course). I suspect many people will be driven into extreme poverty over the next few years. I'll have to start being bloody careful, but my state pension and old BT pension should keep me afloat until I die - I hope !

  My bank account is still looking OK for now, and I ended up buying some more booze online via Amazon. I bought an Irish whisky, what is probably something like rum from Brazil, a liqueur type spirit from Ceylon, and a bottle of Metaxa Ouzo. That should keep me amused for a while. Fortunately all these bottles were around £20 each. I did see some booze that I would like to try, but maybe never will because it was over £100 a bottle ! The only annoying thing about this order is that t seems it is going to be delivered rather earlier than originally predicted. It now should arrive tomorrow - hopefully not while I am out have a lunchtime drink with Angela. Usually it would arrive much later in the afternoon, and sometimes mid evening, but I have had stuff arrive in the early afternoon.

  The final bit of productivity was to finish the laundry that I had started the previous day. It had been soaking overnight because I couldn't raise the enthusiasm to do it all the day before. It came close to not being done yesterday, but I knew I had to do it so I could get all the stuff out the bath, and then have a shower prior to going out shopping. In the end I never did have that shower, and I never went out shopping.

  I guess I was showing symptoms of depression yesterday, but I didn't feel depressed. It was generally just a reaction to the dull and wet weather. When I was still working I couldn't allow the weather to disrupt me too much, but now I think I tend to revel in it ! I even allowed it to affect my eating in a very negative way. I had a fair bit of junk food in the middle of the day, and then realised I had to limit myself to just a couple of cans of soup for dinner, and one of them was Tesco's own brand, extremely low sugar, cream of chicken soup.

  I could have been looking forward to an early night last night, but I made a bit of a mistake. Before that mistake I had a pleasurable time watching an old, 1942 made, film called The First Of The Few.  It was the story of R.V. Mitchell designing the famous Spitfire fighter plane, and finalising the design just in time for it to go into production for use in The Battle Of Britain. The film contained a lot of accurate stuff, but Mitchell's life was romanticised to make for a better film. Apparently in real life has was a bit boring. In the film he died from overwork just after he had finalised his design for the plane, but in reality he died from rectal cancer.

  After the film ended, probably around 7pm, but I can't remember exactly (it may have been 8pm) I decided to phone Sue. Sue is a complete dental phobic, and has suffered agonies in the past rather than go to see a dentist. Some recent troubles have evidently been so severe that she did finally make an appointment to see a dentist yesterday afternoon. I was curious as to how she had got on. She was hoping to get a letter of referral to a dental hospital where she hope for more complete anaesthesia. She did get that letter of referral, but was warned they still won't knock her out for the treatment - it is considered too expensive for NHS patients. She may still get her wish because the dentist she saw said her teeth were in such terrible condition that they would all have to be pulled out !

  I think Sue was relieved to get the first move over, but she now faces a lot of waiting. The referral to the hospital may  not get an appointment until later in the year, and apparently it could take half a year of more before getting a set of false teeth. I feel rather glad that I have managed to keep most of my teeth in serviceable condition - they ain't good, but then again they ain't bad.

  Of course the trouble with speaking to Sue on the phone is that she will just keep talking all night if not stopped. Sometimes it is hard to find a convenient, and sort of polite way of saying good bye. That time didn't come until 2am this morning. That was rather later than I thought I would be going to bed last night ! It was one of those occasions when you think I'll never get to sleep, but seconds later you are asleep. I did get some good sleep, but just not enough of it.

  After doing my usual early morning stuff I tried going back to bed, but I didn't seem to get any more sleep, although it did seem that more time had passed than it felt like - maybe 45 minutes when I only thought I was thrashing around, trying to get to sleep for maybe 20 minutes before giving up. The usual morning stuff included going to the toilet. This time I "went", but it seemed like it was only a job half done. However, I do feel almost comfortable now.

  The other important thing was checking my blood glucose. I was not sure what to expect after eating dodgy stuff in the day, but maybe my two cans of very safe soup for dinner saved the day. The reading was 8.4mmol/l. That is higher than I am continually aiming for, but very typical, and around my usual end of month averages for all but a few months in the last 18 months. I think I am going to make it to Aldi today, and finally get some shopping. I shall try and buy mostly safe stuff, and if I do buy wisely, and thus eat wisely, I may score a lower reading tomorrow. Of course sods law says it will be the same or slightly higher because I will have seen something I just have to try......