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July 2022 August 2022

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Tuesday 23rd August 2022
 08:41 BST
  
  After a sunny start to yesterday the clouds gathered, and the sun was no more. There were many times when it looked like it might rain, and the forecast did say rain with several possible times for it, but there was no rain during daylight hours. It did look like there might have been a shower in the night. It was forecast to be a cool day, but I feel sure the temperature went a little higher than the forecast 22° C.
  a bit
                              like yesterday
  The latest revision to the forecast adds a few more sunny spells to the early morning version shown above. The reality is that there are a still a lot of clouds in the sky, and the sun only finds a gap through them now and then (we just had a 47 second sunny spell !). In the latest revision it is shown as white clouds from midday until the end of the day except for a possible sunny spell at 8pm, just before the sun sets. The temperature is now shown as reaching to 24° C today. Tomorrow is currently shown as having lots of sunny spells, or even sunny periods, and the temperature could reach 27° C.

  Yesterday morning was a productive time, but from then on not a lot happened until 4am this morning - and then a lot happened ! My morning plans included going along to the surgery, and then go to Aldi to buy some stuff that is either cheaper, or not available from Tesco. Alternatively it is just that I prefer the Aldi version - mainly through ignorance of the Tesco equivalents.
new barriers to
                              the sick
  When I got to the surgery I found there was a new barrier to the sick. The inner door now has a remote release lock on it. I followed the instruction, and pressed the intercom button once, and waitet, and waited, and waited. Maybe five minutes passed before a young woman with a pram came in. I suggested she try it because they might like her face more than mine. She pressed the button once, and we waited, and waited, and waited.

  After a few minutes she became impatient and gave the button two long pushes. That must have woken someone up because after a minute the door opened. I then waited patiently while the single receptionist dealt with a long phone call. There were other staff in the reception booth with her, but they seemed more interested in doing nothing. Eventually the receptionist finished her call and beckoned me over to the slit in the window. Once she had finished filling in some paperwork she looked up at me.

  She actually seemed quite pleased that all I wanted to do was to give her printouts of my last three months blood pressure and blood glucose readings for her to pass on to the nurse. I felt I had to add that maybe the printouts would remind the nurse that twice she had sent me messages to remind me that my diabetes checkup was due, and to respond if I wanted her to call me to make an appointment (evidently showing as much faith in their booking system as I have), but despite asking for that call, no call came.

  The receptionist apologised that the nurse was off on a weeks holiday, but I said that didn't explain that the first reminder message was sent last May ! I was told that there is another nurse who does diabetes checkups, and she would see the printouts first in case it seemed urgent. It is possible I will get a call today with an offer of an appointment, but I am not holding my breath ! I really do get the impression that the place would rather they didn't have ill people cluttering up the place, and that the best way to book an appointment is by seance.

  Shopping in Aldi was a almost a pleasant experience - particularly when I only had to wait 15 seconds before a member of staff noticed me standing my the checkouts with a trolley full of stuff. A manned check out was opened for me after that 15 second wait, and the entire procedure was done twice as fast as it could be done through a self service checkout.

  It could be said that the entire reason for my shopping in Aldi was to buy some man sized tissues. I feel sure that Tesco have some equivalent, and maybe it is even price matched with Aldi, but I don't where in Tesco they are, but I know exactly where in Aldi. Other useful things I got there were big packs of fat balls for the birds, and also bird feed peanuts. I believe both are cheaper than Tesco, but I really ought to check the receipts to be sure of that statement.

  I had hoped that maybe I might hear from Jodie about moving Sunday's cancelled beer tasting session to yesterday afternoon, but I heard nothing from her. That meant there was not a lot to say about the rest of yesterday afternoon, and even the evening. One possible thing is that later on I did wonder if some of the alleged "washed and ready to eat" salad leaves I ate yesterday really were washed, or washed in clean water.

  I watched a bit of TV last night, but was probably in bed by 10pm. I didn't feel good, but I wasn't sure why. I found it hard to get comfortable, and it took quite some time before I fell asleep. There was a clue as to the reason for my discomfort, and it was some gurgling noises from my stomach. At the time I dismissed it as a few farts brewing. it would turn out to be a lot more.

  It all kicked off at 4am this morning. I was a bit concerned that what seemed to be a fart brewing could be a little more than just gas. For safeties sake I went to the toilet, and very soon all hell would let loose. I strongly suspect that even hell does not smell as bad as my bathroom did last night. it seems my entire digestive tract had turned to 50% or more, liquid. On average I don't think I stayed partly comfortable for more than 5 minutes before having to dash to the toilet again.

  As 5.30am approached my time away from the toilet did get a bit longer than 5 minutes. I thought it might all be over, but I was wrong. It was time for the grand finale, and this time I didn't make it to the toilet with a clean bottom. I clenched my bottom cheeks together as hard as I could, but still there was a tiny bit of leakage. Oh well, I have plenty of clean pairs of underpants !

  It may not have been the best of sleep, but I finally managed to get more sleep, and in fits and starts I slept through to 8am - which is a fair lay in for me. I needed a wee, but otherwise I seemed to be stable. My gut was still sore though, and I couldn't decide if it was just hunger or not (I don't seem to be very good at diagnosing my own hunger, or otherwise). One thing I did notice was that my body temperature was slightly high this morning, although 35.9° C is not unprecedented for 8am. Eventually I started to write this.

  Three paragraphs ago I had drunk about a pint and a half of chilled water, and dared to check my blood glucose reading. It was 8.8mmol/l, and I thought that was OK, and maybe even a little lower than expected. I lost a fair amount of water out of the wrong orifice during the night, and I was not sure I had rehydrated enough.

  It seemed a reasonable reading to allow myself to eat a bowl of instant noodles, and so I went down to the kitchen to "cook" the instant noodles. While down there I fed the birds. Upon coming back up to my PC, with the instant noodles, I realised another visit to the toilet was needed. This time it was not so violent, and didn't even smell so awful, but it was still extremely runny. My stomach either feels better for that, or the hot instant noodles. I would not be surprised if those noodles didn't trigger some more unpleasantness later.

  I can't really predict what I am going to do today. I still feel tired after my awful sleep last night. While it isn't aching t the moment, my guts still feel tender. On top of all that it seems the morning sunshine is probably over, and there are a lot of dark grey clouds to be seen. The outside world is not looking attractive at the moment. It is possible it will stay as dry as the forecast predicts, and I might do a bit of laundry today. Initially I think I intend to lay on my bed quietly reading and snoozing.
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