According to my thermometers it started to slightly warm up in the early hours of the morning. By my reckoning it was plus 1° C by 7am this morning. Right now the frost on the grass is melting, and while the thermometer nearest the grass says 1.8° C, a couple of sensors nearer to the house say 3° C.. It is possible that today's high will still be at 3pm, after almost 2 hours of sunny spells (according to the latest revision), and maybe it might be as high as 5° C. It still means that today is going to be cold and dry, and very dull until just before sunset. Tomorrow could be bright and cheerful, or at least it could be cheerful if the temperature got any higher than 3° C - which apparently it might not manage except for exactly one hour - probably at 3pm. The day to watch out for is the day after tomorrow - Sunday 11th December. The forecast for that day is almost certainly going ton change a lot, but which way ? At the moment the prediction if for thick freezing fog until 9am, and that will be followed by a 50% chance of light snow at 10am. The maximum temperature may only be 1° C !

   Yesterday was another day of variable fortunes. Like today, and probably most days now until spring arrives, it was not a day to skimp on electricity. Fortunately the sunny afternoon took the strain off the heating in my bedroom, but the dining room needed quite a lot of heating during the afternoon. It was also a day where I might be deluded in saying it, but it felt like I felt better more than I felt ill. Maybe there was not a lot in it, but I still convince myself it was progress.

  Having a hot shower probably gave the biggest improvement to my cough - the only really bothersome thing about this illness. It was after my shower that I made the big mistake of the day, but more about that soon. Before I had cooled down too much I went out to get some shopping in Tesco. Like last time, top of my shopping list was more Diet Coke, and more birdfeed. Of the latter it was some fat balls that seemed most important, although the ones Tesco sells are very poor compared the the luxury ones that the birds really love, and come from Aldi.

  Like the previous time I went to Tesco I felt fine walking to and from Tesco.I didn't cough once, but unlike last time, I did have to almost silently have to clear my throat once or twice while in the store. That was no problem. It would have been a different story if I had a bout of prolonged coughing. Fortunately I seem to have stopped ding that now - except for last night unfortunately !

  One little treat I bought in Tesco was a double slice of gala pie (pork pie with an egg in it). I noticed it on the reduced price shelf. It was not a great discount - maybe less than 25% off - but for some reason I thought it would be nice. It looked very nice, but the reality of it was both slices seemed to have little flavour, and when you add on how unhealthy they must have been, they were not a good buy after all.

  A little later I had a proper lunch of something also unhealthy, and potentially very unhealthy. It was while putting some shopping in the fridge that I noticed I had a packet of bacon on there with a use by date of back in November. I was feeling in the right mood for some baconey food, and decided to cook and eat the whole packet. I opened the pack with some trepidation, but no bad smells came out, although the bottom rasher did have a very small whiff of heading towards decay. I cooked that bacon in my mini oven/grill, and cooked it until it had shrunk to about half size. It didn't look like it was such a big portion then. I scoffed it all with no more than a squirt of (reduced sugar) tomato sauce.

  I ate that bacon quite late, and I think it was before that when a message from Michael came through. He was in Tesco, and wondered if I wanted 4 bottles of Diet Coke ? Having just bought 4 bottles myself the answer could have been no, but I said yes please. After all, none of it would be wasted. Michael predicted 15 minutes, but it was more like 25 minutes before he arrived in his car outside. He said he might pop in later, but made no promises.

  I didn't seem him later, and for a while it didn't seem like I would be seeing Jodie. She was due over for a beer tasting session, but she texted me to say she was running late. She had been out to buy a new fan heater somewhere in Croydon, and had waited ages for a Tram back to Elmers End, and then wanted to drop off her new fan heater at her home before getting the train here.

  Jodie arrived about an hour late. Her top priority was to examine the beers I bought from Amazon, and which arrived on Monday. Upon checking her "records" (on the untappd.com website) she became excited because she hadn't ever tried any of the 8 different beers I had. Even more amazing was that despite being beers that more match my palate, she declared them to be good.

  Jodie left to get the 6.18pm train, and I warmed up my ready cooked dinner in the microwave. It was similar to my dinner the night before, and even used the gravy left in the casserole dish from the previous night. It was diced pork, and this time it was stewed with leek and cauliflower. Like the version the night before, it was let down by one thing. Despite what should have been enough cooking to tenderise the pork, it was still a bit tough, and didn't really have enough flavour to compensate for it. Even worse was that considering it was almost scraps, it was not particularly cheap. I probably should stick to beef or chicken.

  None of the beers I had was particularly strong, and there was not enough time to drink that many. The result was that I was still rather sober in the evening. I watched a bit of TV, and that included the 9pm showing of QI, before going to bed. I am no sure when it started, but by 9pm, and maybe as early as 8pm, I started to cough, and cough a lot ! It was like nearer the beginning on this illness when just a tiny drip of mucus would irritate the top of my windpipe. They would be hard to cough loose, but until I did they would just stay there irritating me.

  That was the case last night, but occasionally I would cough up a larger bit of mucus. The big trouble was that I was coughing so much that my throat was getting sore, and that was triggering a desire to cough as well. While watching TV there were distractions, plus I could keep taking sips of drink. I could do neither once in bed with the lights out. I was desperately trying to ignore the need to cough - after all, most of the time it wasn't achieving anything. I had some very limited success, but mostly I just had to give in to it. I have no idea how I ever managed to get to sleep like that, but somehow I did fall asleep.

  The next time I woke I wanted to cough (as well as go for a pee). I think I had been asleep a couple of hours, and that was just enough time to allow my throat to settle down a bit. The first, or second cough I did was very productive, and that sort of felt good, but it was followed by a fair bit more dry coughing.  I did get a lot more sleep after that, but it was interrupted by the occasional productive cough, and also despite the fan heater being on full, it was not feeling all that warm. I don't think I had a fever, but it was that with it being in minus figures outside, the fan heater was having a job warming the room up. I was back to sleeping half covered and half uncovered.

  I managed a reasonable lay in this morning. The first two things I did were to take my temperature and my blood glucose reading. My temperature was a little lower this morning (35.1° C), although I have never seen it any more than slightly higher since having this illness. My blood glucose was still high, but a sort of controlled high of 9.2mmol/l. Either I am learning to control it better (by choices of food) since going down with this illness, which seems a bit unlikely, or it is s sign that I have become a bit less ill.

  I can't say I feel all that wonderful at the moment. I would probably say I did feel better if only I didn't still have a tendency for dry coughing. I do seem to ache less, and that must be a good sign - it certainly feels good ! Although my food intake is not really that much different to usual, it does seem to be good for my bowels. Yesterday, and this morning, it seems I have got most of it done in one rather large deposit per day.

  Today there will be a good test of my belief that I have few aches and pains. To continue the story that was hinted at, at the top of the page....After my shower yesterday morning I started soaking one single item of clothing. It was the the thick pair of what I think should be called sweat pants. In the privacy of my own home I had been wearing them for ages - I started when the weather was just starting to get chilly, but I felt it too early to use any heating. I have to admit they were getting very smell.

  I only had two choices - throw them away, or wash them. Throwing away clothes because they need a wash is something I'll leave to the multi-billionaires of this world. I have to wash them, but that thick material is going to be a bugger to rinse out. I thought I might do it in small stages in odd minute yesterday, but I didn't touch them. They are still in the big builders bucket, stone cold, in the bath. I need to get them if I feel the need for a wash. I think I would like a shower even if it is highly unlikely I will be seeing anyone today. So my first, and possibly only task today is to try and put those sweat pants through at least 5 rinses and wringing out by hand. I don't think I'll use any fabric conditioner. I'll find out later if that is a good or bad thing.