Christmas day started dull, damp and miserable, and it is only going to get worse. The latest revision to the forecast predicts 3 hours of light rain starting at 11am. The sky may be brighter, but still cloudy during the last hour before sunset, and then more rain might follow starting at 6pm. Some of it could be heavy rain.  The latest revision says it will now be a constant 10° C from 11am until midnight, and maybe beyond. Tomorrow could be bright and sunny, but rather cold. The predicted maximum temperature is shown as just 7° C.

   If I ignore the hangover I think I can declare that yesterday was a good day. My day followed my prediction I made yesterday morning, although there were a deviations to it. It felt like quite a relaxed morning. I washed my hair, and had a shower, and still had time to waste before I went out.

  I did contemplate getting the train to Ladywell - mainly because they were running, but ultimately I knew that my main excuse, that of going to the station to pick up a copy of The Metro, was pointless because The Metro is not published on a Saturday (at least I don't think it is). I ended up walking to the pub. It was a bit dull in the park, but it seemed mild enough to wear a lighter coat, and that made the walk far more pleasant.
  I didn't think it worth taking a proper camera because I didn't expect to see much in the dull and damp park. I was wrong. Using zoom on my phone camera I got this almost reasonable snap of a parakeet up a tree. In the next tree along there were half a dozen of the noisy buggers, and it could have made for a good picture with a proper zoom lens. I could have tried with the phone camera, but I had no expectation of a decent shot, and so didn't bother.

  I think it was around 12:40 when I got to The Jolly Farmers. I surprised Asia the barmaid because she didn't expect to see me (although I had mentioned last Wednesday that I might pop in). In turn she surprised me by saying the first drink was on the house for regulars. It was nice to be thought of as a regular considering I generally only go there Wednesday lunchtimes when I meet Angela.

  I suppose the thing about any lunchtimes in there is that it is rarely busy, and that allows more time for banter so we get to know Asia (or Emma the other barmaid) better, and she gets to know us better. I gratefully accepted my free pint of Guinness, borrowed Asia's copy of The Sun, and sat down to try and do the crossword. I can't recall ever trying to do The Sun crossword before. It was hard going because there were so many contemporary references to things like film starts or holiday destinations that I know nothing about.

 I may have managed nearly half the crossword before I gave up. Maybe I might have done more, but I was also chatting with Asia and a few other the other regulars, and gradually that took preference over the crossword. I had a second pint of Guinness, and when that was finished I might have gone home, but I was enjoying myself too much. I didn't fancy any more pints, and went onto double Jameson's whiskey. I would have four doubles before I went home.
  I took this picture at 2.50pm according to the filename. The crossword can just be seen on the table with Sid the Sikh, and Asia's mug of coffee. Asia was outside having a fag, and another man who I was talking to was selecting some awful Xmas songs on the Juke Box - on Asia's orders ! I'm guessing I may have only had the first two double whiskies at this time. I got home before sunset, and so I'm guessing I left the pub about half an hour later.

  The last thing I did before leaving the pub was to wish Asia a merry Xmas, and I boldly put my arms out. I don't think I really expected it, but I got a nice hug. It was a very nice way to leave the pub, and made me feel warm all the way home. The first thing I did when I got home was, unsurprisingly, to go for a pee, although I have to say there was no special urgency about it. After that I cooked some lunch. Once again it was cheese on toast - once again cooked in the mini grill.  I think I may have put beans on it, but I might be confusing that with the day before. I was fairly drunk, and would soon be suffering from a hangover.

  Things were a bit vague for the next few hours, but I think I managed to avoid the worst of the hangover by having a snooze. I think it was just coming up to 6pm when I went online and ordered my dinner, Xmas dinner, and maybe boxing day dinner. It was an expensive order of Indian takeaway. I ordered it from the same place where I noted that their food made almost no impact on my blood glucose level. Also they are a little cheaper than many other places, they deliver quickly, and the food is very nice.

  My dinner last night was just a chicken pathia with an aloo chilli (Bombay aloo with green chillies). It was very nice, and enough that I was not tempted to any more of the order except for the poppadoms. I ended up watching a fair bit of TV last night. The first thing was an ancient (1972) "Carry On" Xmas special. I watched one some days ago from 1969, and while not excellent, it was enjoyably funny. The one they showed last night was real bottom of the barrel stuff.

  By taking advantage of Dave and Dave+1 I was able to watch two episodes of QI, one after another. Unfortunately one was a Xmas edition, but it wasn't too awful. I think the second one finished at 9pm, but it could have been 10pm. I went straight to bed straight after the second, and then fought to get to sleep. Once again I just could not get comfortable. Some of the problem was feeling very slightly too warm under the duvet,but nowhere near as bad as it has been in the past. The bigger problem was that bits of me ached, but only one bit at a time - and that particular bit, being an elbow, shoulder, back, knee, wrist, chest, thigh, of foot depended on what position I tried.

  With hindsight I wonder if the biggest problem was that I just didn't need the amount of sleep I was trying to get. If there was some suitable distraction I could have stayed up much later, but I was bored. That could be a big problem tonight as well - particularly if I pass a lot of time today snoozing. By about 6.30am I just could not force myself to sleep more - probably a good indication that despite thinking I had slept poorly, I had in fact slept enough.

  Like the night before, I know I must have been getting more sleep than it seemed because I can remember dreaming. Only one dreaming is worth mentioning here because somehow my brain managed to dream up (sic) another bunch of absurd ideas. This one dream featured a tint micro chip circuit that may have been something to do with a hearing aid. I know that conducting sound through the bone structure of the face was involved somehow.

  This micro circuit chip was little more than 1mm (or maybe 1/16th inch) square. Now the scary thing is that it was soldered directly to the top of tooth. I didn't remember how I did it in the dream, but I mentioned in the dream that I had done the soldering myself aided by a dentist. The main subject of the dream was a now microchip which was an upgrade to the original. I just could not imagine any way I could solder it to a tooth in my own mouth. Fortunately it was only thinking about how it would be impossible to do. That was bad enough, but had I attempted it, it would definitely have been a class A nightmare !

  Once again the charm of a curry, maybe only a curry from the Baburchi restaurant, worked again. This morning my blood glucose had actually dropped from three days at 8.7mmol/l to 8.5mmol/l. Now I just hope that today is not so boring that I end up eating too much. With luck my blood glucose will be a similar amount, or perhaps even less tomorrow. At this point in time I have no idea what I will be doing today, although one possibility is to hand wash my bath towel. It looks too horrible to go outside, and so I will be staying in reading and maybe reading, and probably not watching any crap on TV, and trying not to amuse myself with food.