I think today is another day where the weather can't really be predicted. The first clue was the thunderstorm shown for 2pm in the screenshot above. Sitting there all on it's own seemed like the forecasters way of saying "something is going to happen, but we don't know what". This is further confirmed by the latest revision to the forecast. It now says heavy rain at 1pm, and light rain at 3pm. 2pm is now just shown as cloudy - just white cloud. As I write this it has been sunny for the last hour, and so that bit of the forecast was mildly wrong. The only constant is the temperature which is forecast to be 23° C. Tomorrow could be bright with many sunny spells, and even full hours of sunshine, but once again the temperature will only be 23° C.

   Yesterday was a good day with 3 or 4 useful things achieved. The first achievement was going to Lewisham Hospital's Covid-19 vaccination centre, and asking about the 4th, booster shot. The first person I spoke to was a bit disappointing. She didn't seem to know what I was asking, but her (possible) colleague, sitting 10ft away, understood instantly. She confirmed that, yes, they would be starting the booster shots on the 12th September, and it would be a walk in service.

  I must admit I left it get a bit close to midday, when I think the place closes for a lunch break, before I went to the Hospital. I had to try and walk fairly fast, but I slowed down a bit when the rather warm and humid air was raising a sweat.  After a few minutes getting the information I wanted I set off for home at top speed, but that only lasted a few minutes. It may have been my high glucose level, but I seemed to tire quickly.

  I got home feeling very damp, and say down for half an hour with the fan on me. Once I felt nearly cool enough I went out again to get the shopping I was going to get from Tesco the day before. I hadn't gone very far before I bumped into the postman. I asked him if it was me, or was it really very close. He agreed that it was close, and he was getting damp sweaty patches on his shirt.

  When I said I had recently rushed to and from the hospital, and that I had been enquiring about the Covid booster shot, he remarked how silly it was that his GP Surgery wanted him to go all the way to the same community centre my surgery wants me to go to near Grove Park. We compared messages, and the frequency they were sent, about getting the booster jab, and they were identical. It seems his surgery is part of the same ever expanding group that mine is a member of. My postman said he lives in Lee, and I recommended he go to Lewisham Hospital as well.

  There were several things I wanted from Tesco, and among them were bird food, Diet Coke, whiskey, a large onion, and some wholemeal rolls. They didn't exactly have the latter, but I did buy a 4 pack of "ancient grains" rolls. They did include the sugar content in feint writing on the back, and it didn't look terribly high, but still higher than I would have liked. I bought a few other bits and pieces, and lugged the whole lot home.

  Once again I got home rather damp and sweaty, but this time I could shed my outdoor clothes, and just laze around in a pair of shorts. It was just after I got home when a text message appeared on my phone. It wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but at least it was a start. It was from the nurse, and she said she had entered my blood pressure, and blood glucose readings, that I had left at reception last week, into my official medical record. She did remark that my blood glucose was still looking good - which was a surprise. She finally asked me to call the surgery to make an appointment.

  Before I went through the (probable) trauma of phoning the surgery, I made the subject of a recent dream a reality. I think it was probably the day before that I mentioned I had had a dream, and that had left a single tiny memory that was no more than the words "tuna and onion roll". I made up two rolls with tuna and onion, and they were rather nice, but nowhere near as nice as the tuna and pepper baps I used to buy from a bakers in Beckenham when I was working there prior to 1992.

  Having eaten both rolls I gritted my teeth, and called the surgery. I got through first time, which was amazing, and after a load of prerecorded blather I got the receptionist. She seemed in a cheerful mood - which was strange. I started my call with "the nurse has asked me to call to make an appointment......". Obviously this triggered the idea that a member of staff actually wanted me to be there, and so the receptionist was quite helpful.

   It seems the nurse is very busy, and the first appointment that could be offered was on the morning of the 16th of September. In one respect that is ideal. In theory that gives me a fortnight to maybe lose a kg or two, and try and get a good run of blood glucose readings. One other thing from the text message the nurse sent me was that it seems they now have their own machine for doing the full lab version of the diabetic blood test. It gives an average of the last 2 or three months, and is the real figure they work from. I now know how unreliable the simple finger prick blood tests I do are. Fingers crossed that the real test will show the real reading during the times when I was getting high readings due to dehydration. It is possible, although maybe too much to hope for, that my official blood glucose count has not risen like it seems to have done in the last couple of months.

  After speaking to the surgery I felt the need for some psychic relief, or some old twaddle like that. It came in the form of giving in to the idea of eating the other two "ancient grains" rolls. This time it was cheese and onion. They were very satisfying, but I could taste those onions into the evening. I would have more onion when I had my dinner, but this time it was a much milder onion as part of the salad with a chicken shish kebab - eaten cold after being chilled since it came as part of my takeaway order on Thursday night. It was nice, but I did wonder if it might give me the runs.

  I did feel a bit of bloat during the evening while I whiled away some of the time watching TV. I turned off the TV at 8pm, and got ready for bed, but I wanted to resume watching TV at 9pm. It actually turned out that 9.20pm was the time that David Gilmour, from Pink Floyd, was being shown on Sky Arts with a concert from Gdansk in Poland. I waned tp watch it anyway, but I particularly wanted to watch it because the listing for the programme said it would include the song "Fat Old Sun". It is a particular favourite Pink Floyd song, from the Atom Heat Mother album.

  I don't know if I missed it, which was highly unlikely, or if it was edited out of the concert when Sky Arts possibly cut what was probably a 3 hour gig to fit in a 2 hour time slot, or even more heinously, cut it to make room for all too frequent commercials. The programme finished at 11.20pm, and I never heard that song, but I did hear many great Pink Floyd songs. Many were special arrangements using the Polish Symphony Orchestra - and it all sounded rather splendid (although I think the sound recording was often slightly distorted).

  I didn't try for sleep straight away after the programme finished. I read until almost midnight before I turned out the light, and fell asleep very quickly. I seemed to sleep very easily last night. I know I got up to pee a few times, but they were very dream like. I must have fallen asleep again seconds after getting back to bed. The only dreams I can vaguely recall seem to have been almost like watching a TV version of the book I had been reading. I feel sure I was just watching, rather than taking part.

  There is sort of good news this morning. My blood glucose reading is still higher than desired, but has dropped a fair bit compared to the morning before. It was just 9.0mmol/l, and I thought that was very good after eating those 4 "ancient grains" rolls. It is possible that if I had drunk another half pint of water, and waited an extra half hour, I may have got a better reading, but heading in the right direction is better than nothing.

  I don't really want to, but today I should be trying to make improvements to my weight and blood glucose in preparation for my appointment with the nurse in just under a fortnight's time. The very thought of it makes me hungry, but ideally I want to fast now until dinner time. (I have already had a small bowl of instant noodles for breakfast). The easiest way of fasting would be to go out, but I don't really fancy that either.

  I could go for a walk in the park. hat will only use up a couple of hours if it is a long walk, and will just make me feel very hungry. It is possible that is what I will end up doing. A possible alternative is a bit of rail exploration with some train spotting thrown in for good measure. I'll have to think about that, and research what lines are running today. I don't think strikes are a problem right now, but engineering work can always mess up the best laid plans of mice and men.