There have been a few morning when it has been cold enough to give a little bit of light frost in a sheltered position, but this morning it was a widespread deep frost. My thermometer nearest the garden said it was -1.9° C a little while ago ! It seems it is going to be a sunny day except at 10am according to the latest revision which also adds 9am as being sunny. All that sunshine may help warm up my bedroom, but outside the best we can hope for is just 3° C. Tonight the temperature will fall below zero again, and tomorrow will peak at 3° C again, but little sunshine is currently forecast for tomorrow.

   When I finished writing yesterday I was undecided about what I would be doing. I wasn't feeling too bad, but then again I wasn't feeling too good either. While I was under the hot water in the shower I momentarily felt quite good, but it didn't last. I was soon coughing again, and decided it would be unfair to go to the pub and cough all over Angela.

  Before I was finished in the bathroom I put in a few items of clothing to soak in detergent. This time I was determined to not leave them there too long, and certainly not overnight. While I was feeling all nice and warm after my shower I laid on my bed and quietly rested for maybe 20 or 30 minutes before I got up again, and went to the bathroom to finish washing the clothes I had left soaking. I suppose it was the steamy atmosphere that made it feel like it was sort of easy, or that I didn't have to stop to have a good cough.

  I hung that clothing on the clothes horse in the dining room, and used the fan heater on low to blow a bit of warm air at it to speed up the drying. With that done I had another little rest, and started thinking about food. I am unsure whether to describe it as a very late elevenses, or a slightly early lunch, but I used the last two wholemeal rolls. I filled them with cheese and ham.

  It is sad to say that I didn't enjoy those rolls. It was like when I used them for burgers the previous day, or maybe the day before that. They seemed very doughy, very dense, and just didn't seem to taste nice. I can see I am going to have to do some experimentation with Tesco's bakery department. On rare occasions when they have had fresh, and sometime loose wholemeal rolls, in the bakery section they have been very nice, but the two different pre-packed rolls from the next aisle seemed to be very much lacking !

  After my lunch I could easily have ended up doing very little except to fret for not seeing Angela. I think I managed a short snooze, and I read a bit. Both were tricky with the occasional tickle in my throat, and a need for a good exporating cough every now and then. It seemed easier to be sitting upright reading from my PC screen, but the more I did that the more I wanted to lay down.

  It was just gone 4pm when I was saved from this problem by in incoming phone call. It was a friend I rarely talk to, and so each call lasts hours as we catch up on stuff. From time to time I needed a good cough, but less than expected, and my voice seemed to hold up well. It was a little squeaky when I first tried to talk, but seemed to settle down quickly. Despite my throat getting a bit sore once or twice, it somehow felt that I was on the mend, and I would feel that a lot later too.

  It is surprising some of the odd topics of conversation that can come up during these long chats. Things like how many staples did you have ? My friend recently had a major operation to repair a hernia. It sounded like his diaphragm had a major rip in it, and his intestines were all over the place. It seems that like I had after my heart bypass operation, the favoured way of hold the would closed is staples. They look just like the staples you would buy from a hardware shop to staple bits of wood together.

  My friend was boasting that they had used 22 staples to hold his operation incision together. That sounded a lot, and made me wonder how many they used on me. I could not initially find the original photo, but there was one included on my page from 27th September 2013, and although I think that missed a couple at the bottom. I can count 26 staples ! When I finally found the original, uncropped photo, the amount of staples went up to 31 !

  As is typical of the catch up phone calls, it went on for nearly three hours, and my throat was feeling a bit tender when we concluded the call. I had missed most of my usual TV entertainment for the evening. Fortunately I had pre-cooked my dinner earlier in the day, and it just needed 5 minutes in the microwave to warm up. It was a pork stew with brown mushrooms and sprouts. I ate it while watching The Simpsons on Channel 4+1.

  I was going to watch an episode of QI on Dave+1, but after a while I remembered so much of it that I turned off, and my thoughts turned to sleep. I lost track of time a bit, but I think I probably turned out the light at about 8.30pm. It wasn't long before I fell asleep. I had left the heater on full blast, but with the temperature outside dropping towards, and ultimately below zero, it wasn't actually very hot in my bedroom, but warm enough to be able to sleep almost uncovered for over half the night.

  There were a few times when I coughed up half a lung, but it seemed like I was coughing a lot less last night. In my last hour or two of sleep it was almost as if I were over this illness. That conclusion was supported by my blood glucose reading. It was almost back to normal at just 9.0mmol/l. Even my temperature, which has been higher than usual, was lower this morning.

  If it wasn't for the fact that I have had some major coughing fits while writing this, I could believe that was in the last stage of this illness. On the other hand, the coughing I've been doing, now and then, while writing this, does remind of an earlier stage in this illness. I seem to have gone back to where a tiny blob of mucus is irritating to the top of my windpipe, and it is really hard to dislodge it. Until last night I was coughing up big gobs of mucus. It is hard to say that what is happening now is an improvement because it in some ways it is somehow how far more irritating. All I can do is to convince myself it is just the result of things drying up as I return to normal !

  Two things should be happening today. I really need to go to Tesco to buy more Diet Coke, and I can usefully buy a few more things while I am in there. I am hoping a hot shower will bring enough temporary relief to make it a pleasant(ish) shopping trip. Later this afternoon should be a beer tasting session with Jodie. I sent Jodie pictures of the beer I bought via Amazon, and which was delivered on Monday. I was astounded when Jodie said she didn't recognise any of the 8 bottles. I seem to have quite a collection of beer here to see us through the holiday season !