It feels like today could be a pleasant day. There may be only a scattering of sunny spells after a sunny morning, but it should feel warm with an afternoon temperature of 22° C. The wind should be no more than a light breeze, and that will help it feel warmer. Incidently, the BBC says all of today will feature sunny spells. Tomorrow may start and end with sunshine or sunny spells, but the middle may be cloudy with the temperature down a degree to 21° C.

   I did not feel good yesterday. Some of it was depression brought on by not feeling good ! In the morning I was still suffering from a few aches and pains brought on by weeding bit of the garden two days earlier. If more bits ached I might have thought it was the result of 'flu, or even Covid, but every ache was very familiar. The problem was that they were all happening at the same time. It has to be said that each ache was quite minor, but all added together was very annoying rather than very painful.

  It is a fine example of how dwelling on it made it feel much worse, and the proof of that is during just one distraction I felt fine. It was almost midday, when I went out to get some shopping from the little supermarket on Catford Bridge. It is sometimes known as the Turkish supermarket, but the best things it sells seem to be east European - such as Polish instant noodles, and Polish smoked bacon.

  I felt fine on that walk (apart from the usual, and expected, initial stiffness). As well as the instant noodles, and the rather expensive chunk of smoked bacon, I bought some other stuff to amuse me. I bought several little pots of bean salad, and couscous. I bought a large packet of "forest mushroom" flavour crisps, three large oranges, and a 2.5 litre bottle of beer !

  When I got home again I started to roast that chunk of smoked bacon. I think it is probably already cooked, but I'd rather not take chances, and the thick layers of juicy fat taste much better hot after a good roasting. Once cooked to my satisfaction I sliced of a generous amount of thick slices, and served them with a scattering of forest mushroom flavoured crisps and some English mustard. It made for a very nice, but terribly unhealthy lunch.

  I would eat more of those crisps in small amounts during the day, until the bag was empty. During this time I had been conscious that I must still be partly constipated, although that was not technically correct. I had been in the morning, but it just didn't seem enough. I knew that sooner or later I would be making a series of visits to the toilet. To help the process I had a good dose of fibre in the form of the little pot of 3 (or 4 ?) bean salad. Even the large orange I ate may have provided some extra fibre, although oranges do not seem to be fibrous.

  I did very little for the rest of the day. One thing that I did in a half hearted way, was to add just another 30 or 40 songs to my new "Pseudo Radio" playlist, but I couldn't, or wouldn't concentrate on the job for more than 20 minutes or so. It was quite early in the afternoon, maybe before 3pm, that I opened the 2.5 litre bottle of beer.

  I had sent Jodie a picture of it, and she said it was "minging". I quite liked it. Incidently, I have almost forgotten to mention that while walking to the little supermarket I had a call from Jodie confirming that she wouldn't have time to come over for a beer tasting session. The possibility of one was a second reason for not going to see a couple of bands playing at the South Norwood Family Fun day (or whatever they call it). The other reason was because I could not predict what my guts were going to do. Anyway, Jodie may not like the beer, but I did. I do wonder if the bottle version tastes different to the canned version. I am extremely bad at remembering all the beers we have drunk, but maybe I have a hint of a memory that suggests the canned version did indeed taste a bit "tinny".

  I spent a lot of the rest of the afternoon and evening watching TV - either live, or more old recordings of Sherlock Holmes. I have now watched 3 of the 5 series made by Granada TV of Jeremy Brett playing Sherlock Holmes. On live TV I watched the last 3/4 of Dr No, the first James Bond film, and also half an episode of QI, and a full episode of an edition of Have I Got News For You (originally broadcast in October 2021).

  That took me to 10pm, and it definitely felt very close to bed time. I still had a few aches, particularly from my ribs and scar tissue on my chest. As a precaution I took a couple of Paracetamol tablets. They seemed to do the trick. For most of the night I was able to comfortably lay, and sleep turned onto my right hand side. Whether sleeping on that side had any bearing on it is difficult to say, but I did seem to sleep quite well last night.

   I thought that the almost 4 pints of beer (2.5 litres) I had finished drinking mid evening would make me wake up more frequently, but it didn't. I can't say what times I woke up, but I have a feeling it is almost at regular times now. All that beer did was to make me pee larger amounts at the same 3 or 4 times in the night. By this morning the Paracetamol must have worn off, but I still felt comfortable enough to sleep late - which was a rare treat.

  I remember dreaming a lot in the night, and my dreams were inspired by what I may end up doing today. That is to go on another of my quests to visit it all the most distant railway stations that I can travel to for free using my Freedom Pass. What I hope to do today is to visit the northern ends of the London Underground Metropolitan line - Amersham, Watford, Chesham, and Uxbridge. The frequent services should make it easy to visit the four stations. If I get really enthusiastic I could visit another station or two.

  After all I ate yesterday, particularly the big bag of crisps, I expected my blood glucose to be high this morning, and it was ! On the other hand, maybe I was surprised that it was not a lot higher than 9.3mmol/l. I was steeling myself for a figure in the dangers zone - over 10mmol/l. It means I have to take it easy today, and that makes going out very desirable. I don't fancy doing that on a completely empty stomach, and so I have had some breakfast this morning.

  Breakfast was a single bowl of instant noodles. What was interesting about them was that the little sticker on the back that has an English translation on it, says they were cucumber flavour instant noodles. I still don't care for cucumber afer Covid "modified" my taste buds, but the illustration on the packet showed what looked like sliced gherkin. I took a chance, and while it was a strange taste, it wasn't bad.

  Without those noodles I could be almost literally be travelling on an empty stomach. It seems my tendency towards constipation is over for now. This morning I made two quite substantial deposits in the toilet, and 2, or 3 (?) much smaller deposits. I hope that in the next hour or two I will feel perfectly sound to go on a series of train trips to the outer reaches of North London. All being well, and there is a 50% chance it will be, but only 50%, I may be able to adorn these pages with some pictures again tomorrow.