08:57 BST

  The early morning forecast for yesterday showed loads of sunshine. It wasn't long before revisions appeared that changed some hours to just sunny spells, and a few to no sun at all.  That still meant that there was a lot of nice sunshine, but at time it did seem that it was all over for the day before the sun popped out again. I would say the afternoon was more sunny spells rather than anything else. It was not a very warm day with the temperature peaking at 21° C, and a gusty wind to blow it all away again.

  It may be nice and bright now, but it seems certain that this afternoon will feature at least some rain. Having said that, the latest revision has reduced the chance of rain to just 40%, and that often means it will actually be dry. It is interesting that the BBC weather forecast has increased the hours of rain since it was revised recently, although their highest probability is just 23% which sounds like there will be no rain at all. It will be a cool day. Both forecasters continue to agree that the best we will see will be 19° C. Tomorrow may see more sunshine, and it should be a few degrees warmer.

   The good thing about yesterday was that I ended up doing more than I thought I would, or maybe there was less to do than expected, or some things were quicker and simpler to do than expected. I didn't finish all I intended to do, but then again I didn't expect to finish everything until (probably) minutes before Patricia arrives today. I am expecting her a little before 8pm if her journey goes smoothly.

  The first thing I did yesterday was not part of the master plan, but it was to wash a few items of clothing plus three bar towels. The bar towels, being small, were easy. The pair of shorts I thought could do with freshening up took a bit more effort. I think I had everything on the washing line just before midday (I wasn't exactly rushing yesterday morning). It seemed quite dull when I hung them out, and I had visions of having to finish drying everything indoors, but the sun came out just as I was hanging the last item. By 4pm everything was bone dry, and warm from the sun when I brought it all in.

  The next thing, after the washing was to take down the old and stained shower curtains, and hang brand new ones. It was interesting that despite the bathroom window facing north, and rarely seeing any direct sunshine, enough ultra violet must have been bouncing off the clouds, or even just off the air, to leave the top of the shower curtain by the window brittle and flaking. One of today's jobs will be to try and pick up some small flakes still on the bathroom floor.

  Before hanging the new shower curtains I gave the bathtub a bit of a scrub. The water around here is hard water, and not only does it leave marks on glasses if they are not dried properly, but it builds up to something like a brown scum in parts of the bath were it dries undisturbed. Fortunately it doesn't need de-scaler, and it comes off easy enough with just a sponge. Apart from a quick polish with a "magic sponge" around the hand basin, everything I can realistically do in the bathroom in the time left is now done.

  My attention turned to the kitchen next. I did no more than clean all the work surfaces, do all the washing up, and scrub/polish the inside of the sink. I should have tried to do something to the floor. It looks terrible in there, but with the almost 40 year old cheap lino tiles starting to break up, there is no chance of getting it in "show room" conditions. The big job today will be cleaning the inside of the fridge. It needs little more than a good wiping with a damp cloth, but having to bend down to reach inside makes it a job I do not enjoy !

  My other plan for the day was to try and limit my eating to correct the high blood glucose reading in the morning. Apart from one mainly inconsequential thing, namely a bag of (alleged) cheese flavour corn balls, I seemed to succeed in my plan. Those corn ball things are almost all air, and while the carbohydrate and sugar content might seem slightly high per 100gm, the big bag only weighs 80gm. Each ball almost dissolves on the tongue.

  I was really looking forward to my dinner last night. It was the two kebabs I had ordered along with the stuff I had for dinner the night before. It was a chicken, and a lamb, shish kebabs. The excellent thing is that the place I order them from puts the salad in a separate container. That means it is easy to re-heat the meat and pitta bread in the microwave (although I discard the pitta bread).  The only problem is that I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have done. I'm sure there was nothing wrong with it, and it was just me.

  I watched quite a lot of TV last night. I started off with about 3 episodes of a series of 5 (I think) about the Apollo Moon shots. I felt sure I had already seen the series once, and not that long ago, but I still found myself glued to the screen. I almost wondered if it was a different edit to what I saw the previous time. There seemed to be a little less footage of behind the scenes at Mission Control, and the addition of a museum curator showing actual technology used on the mission - including the very clever bodges that kept the astronauts alive on the ill fated Apollo 13 mission.

  The end of the last programme of the series overlapped with the next thing I watched - which was the last 20 minutes (or something like that) of QI. That was followed by an old repeat of Have I Got News For You. I didn't catch exactly when it was originally broadcast, but it was definitely before Covid - so maybe almost three years ago. The amusing thing is that it was still very topical - Brexit problems, and Boris's blunders etc.

  I think it ended at 10pm, and I went to bed. I read for maybe half an hour so I could relax, but that didn't help me get to sleep. I think some of the work I did yesterday helped stir up a few traditional (for me) aches and pains. I just couldn't seem to get comfortable. I ended up taking a couple of Ibuprofen tablets, but that may have been after I did finally fall asleep. It was only for an hour, and it was probably while I struggled to get to sleep that I gave in and took the Ibuprofen.

  Those painkillers did the trick, and after a while I felt a lot more comfortable, but not completely comfortable. I could have taken some Paracetamol to kill the pains that the Ibuprofen didn't (Ibuprofen is mainly and anti-inflamatory drug. Paracetamol is actually a pain killer). Overall I still had a rough night, and it was probably reflected in my dreams. I barely remember those dreams because any of them didn't really seem to be about anything. One seemed to be about long lists of stuff that I couldn't read. One other dream is a classic nightmare for me - being in some sort of building where none of the toilets work. In fact in some cased the cubicles were empty with all the plumbing removed !

  The curious thing about the non working toilet nightmare was that at no time did I wake up needing to go to the toilet desperately. Of course I did wake up several times to go for a pee, but there was no urgency to it. Even when I got up I refreshed the weather forecasts, and took screenshots before going to the toilet. Having done my business in the toilet I scrubbed my hands to remove some hand cream put on last night. That was to avoid contaminating the little bead of bood for my blood glucose meter.

  There was two lots of good news, and one bit of bad news this morning. The first good news is that my blood glucose had dropped to just 8.0mmol/l this morning after yesterday's rather high 9.5mmol/l. That was a very welcome reading. The bad news is that I seem to have now run out of test strips. I feel sure I had an unopened box of them, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. I'm not due another prescription for about a fortnight, and so I have ordered two boxes from Amazon for £30. Until they come I do have some test strips for my old blood glucose meter. They are well past their use by date, and will not be accurate, but they will give me some idea of my blood glucose for the next few days until the new test strips arrive (or I find the box I thought I had).

  The other good news is that I opened a different drawer in the bathroom, and hidden under some rubber glovers were the two spare packets of shower curtains I hoped I had. They are only 99p shop quality, but so were the ones I have just replaced. They lasted nearly three years, and I only replaced them because they looked grubby. They would have been fine for my personal use. The new ones came from Poundstretcher, and were much more expensive - maybe 3 or 4 times the price ! I expect them to last for a good few years ! I'll have to find out how to clean them in situ if they get stained.

  My day is pretty much mapped out already. I think I'll just have a quick flannel wash before going to get some shopping from Tesco.  The next thing after that, although it would actually be better the other way round, will be to tackle the fridge cleaning. If I had planned things better, I could have also defrosted the freezer, but that will have to wait for another day. After that it will mostly be waiting for Patricia to arrive, but well in advance of that I will have a shave, wash my hair, and have a scrub under the shower.  I can also imagine quite a few slack hours when I will be laying on my bed reading and dozing.