So today is the first day of autumn according to the weather forecasters, and the weather will be very appropriate for autumn. The latest revision to the forecast adds rain, possibly heavy rain into a long run of dull weather. That could be at 10am. There is also a 30% chance of ran at 5, 6, 8 and 9pm. Curiously enough some sunny spells are now shown for 2pm. I guess 22° C is more like late summer than autumn. Towards late afternoon the temperature could reach 25° C tomorrow, and the afternoon should feature sunny spells. Maybe today is just a practice run for autumn, and the real autumn weather is still a bit further away.

   Once again I will describe yesterday as another strange day, but it was a different sort of strangeness. The strangeness was possibly my reaction when I saw Angela at lunchtime, but before that the only strangeness was to do with getting a lot of stuff done in the morning earlier than usual. I guess my unusually low blood glucose reading was a bit strange, although there was a sane reason for that.

  It wasn't long after 9.30am that I did a small load of laundry, just two t-shirts and three pairs of underpants, and got them on the washing line to dry. It would be another 5 hours before the sun had moved far enough across the sky to shine on the drying clothes, but the air was reasonably warm, and the wind probably had then dry before the sun could gently bake any remaining moisture out. They were all warm to the touch when I brought them in at about 5pm.

  I was quite apprehensive about meeting Angela at lunchtime after her announcement that she was engaged on social media. I had to make a little detour before I went to the pub to see how it went. I popped into the hospital to see if their Covid 19 vaccination centre was open. It wasn't, but it should be on Friday morning. I'll go there then to see if I can get my 4th Covid booster shot there, and if possible make an appointment for it (although walk in would be fine).

  I got to the pub nearly 20 minutes early, and had drunk over half my first pint of Guinness before Angela arrived. She was 5 or 10 minutes late, but did send a text message to say that she had to deal with a work phone call before she could leave for lunch. Despite my apprehension, it was a very normal lunchtime drink. She made no mention about the engagement. One very peculiar thing I didn't realise, until I thought about it later, was the engagement announcement didn't mention who she was engaged to, or even show a picture.

  I had an extra half pint of Guinness over the usual two before we left the pub, and I walked Angela back to her office. I was still expecting some sort of comment, but the only time that lover boy was mentioned was in relation to the hosepipe ban, and how it might effect him as a gardener. When we got to Angela's office no hug was offered, but that seems to be the new normal.

  I think it was after Angela came back from her first camping holiday, maybe 4 weeks or more ago, that I thought that the close intimacy we had faded. I guess now we are no more than "normal" friends. That is a shame. Something as simple as an occasional brief hug can be so good, but I guess the only physical contact I can look forward to now is a diabetic foot examine by the nurse - if I ever get to see her again. Maybe I'll give it until the end of the month, and if I still haven't got a call from her to arrange an appointment I will try and phone the surgery to make one myself, but I have doubts I'll get an appointment that way.

  I didn't feel too bad coming home from the pub, but I did have a probable artificial hunger, and wanted some lunch. I had another bowl of instant noodles (Kimchi flavour). I ate those, and then laid on my bed to read. It wasn't long before I had a snooze. I lost all track of time, but it seemed like that snooze lasted for well over an hour. I remember waking up once or twice, and deciding I would leave, or re-close, my eyes for just another 5 minutes.  I'm sure I thought I had had a rather good night's sleep the night before, but maybe I didn't.

  It was after 4pm when I finally woke up properly, or an hour and at least 40 minutes after I got home from the pub. I shouldn't have done it, but I couldn't resist have 4 Marmite race cakes with cheese on them. After that I kept my dinner very simple. It was just very well grilled bacon with some Tesco low salt and sugar tomato ketchup. Apart from the bowl of noodles for lunch I feel I ate carefully enough yesterday.

  It does seem my TV viewing has changed a lot in the last week or so. Once again I watched two lots of Star Trek, an episode of The Simpsons, and another tedious half hour of "Abandoned Engineering". I actually turned that off early when what was probably the last item was about the old concrete sound mirrors near Denge on Romney Marsh - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Denge. As usual the presenters described them initially in all sorts of weird and sinister ways. I think they even used the words "prehistoric monsters" and "alien artifacts".

  Having seen those sound mirrors, albeit from a moving train, possibly 20 years ago, I instantly recognised them for what they were originally used for - a pre-radar way of detecting enemy aircraft crossing the sea by the sound of their engines. Apparently it was very effective until radar rendered them obsolete. To hear those presenters waffle for ages until actually saying what they were and how they were used, almost as an after thought, just pissed me off.

  I started to watch QI last night, but the episode seemed so familiar that I turned off, and went to bed to initially read. I didn't read for that long before I tried for sleep. Maybe that was around 9.30pm. It seemed to take ages before I fell into a fitful sleep. I didn't feel comfortable. The temperature was all wrong, and for some reason both my elbows seemed to ache. The bigger reason for discomfort didn't make itself apparent until probably after midnight.

  I became aware that my guts were making a lot of noise. I think it was about 2am what I passed some wind, and I expected everything to calm down, but if anything it got worse. Sometime after 3am, and maybe a few odd minutes of sleep here and there, I went to the toilet, and it became apparent that I was heading to another session of diarrhoea. Initially not a lot happened, but I knew that there was more drama on the way. At 4am (at least I think it was about then) I paid another visit to the toilet, and this time a lot happened.

  I didn't want to go back to bed after that. I had visions of the attack of food poisoning I had a week or two ago, and assumed that I would be rushing back and forward to the toilet for the next hour or more. After half an hour passed with nothing further happening I did go back to bed, and managed a couple of hours of sleep. Soon after getting up, a lot earlier than I thought was sensible, i did make another small "loose" deposit in the toilet. I can't think of a single reason for this episode, but it was almost very minor compared to that food poisoning I had a week and a half ago (I think that was when it was).

  Although most of my sleep was crap I still seemed to dream, and I do remember two little bits of those dreams. In one dream, that probably happened in my first hour or two of sleep, I was in a classroom by myself wondering where every body was. I thought that maybe they were in a room up the corridor. It seemed like some time passed, but time when nothing happened, before my classmates and teacher left a room down the corridor, and came into the classroom. The teacher said I had missed "games" (aka as PE, or PT). I said sorry, but as an OAP (old aged pensioner) I was exempt.

  All I remember from the other dream is really no more than a concept. I have no idea what the situation was. It was like a few words just appeared in my head, and those words were "tuna and onion roll". I'm not sure if I have ever had, or seven seen a tuna and onion roll, but provided it has a good squirt of mayo in it to make it moist, it sounds like a good idea. It is even possible that if I get to Tesco this morning I might see if they have any proper wholemeal rolls (which tend to not have added sugar in them) , and if they do to buy a couple and a nice big onion.

  One problem with such a roll is that my blood glucose is very high this morning. I got a reading of 9.9mmol/l. That is an awfully high reading to start a fresh month. I decided it was the result of partial dehydration. When I was on the toilet at 4am a lot of it was liquid, and I didn't drink enough water, and wait long enough before I checked my blood. If I hadn't had a big bowl of spicy instant noodles for breakfast I would take a second reading, but now I have eaten that is pointless (and probably scary).

  The only probable definite thing today will be a beer tasting session with Jodie this afternoon. She did say she was free to come over today, but she could be sick, or the trains may not be running. Hopefully she will make it OK. I don't very inspired to do a lot today. It is very grey out at the moment, and the 10am did fall, and it continues to fall. Maybe I'll make it to Tesco if the rain stops, but the only definite thing I will do is the washing up - which includes the beer glasses for this afternoon.

  Finally a bit of nostalgia from the 1990s (I think). I was inspired to seek out these two books of matches from the short lived Marquee Cafe - a side project of the famous Marquee Club - famous for all the amazing bands they used to have on (plus some awful bands !). I saw a picture someone had posted of a box of Marquee matches. I can not recall ever buying any of those, but I did swipe a couple of books of matches from the table when I once ate in The Marquee Cafe.