There was most definitely some heavy rain around 3am, but more about that later. The problem with the early version of today's weather forecast, as shown above, is that it is very wrong. Since just before sunrise, and continuing now, the sky has been almost clear, and although there are plenty of puddles on the road, it is definitely not raining now. The latest revision to the forecast now shows no rain until 10am, but after that the rain will continue, at various strengths, until 6pm. I have doubts it will happen, and it may just be a way of the forecasters trying to assert their self belief of being all knowing, but 6pm is currently shown as being not rain, but hail ! The clear sky has meant that the temperature was only just 7° C earlier, but for just one single hour, at 11am, the temperature could rise to 11° C. It is going to be a rather cool day today. Tomorrow may be cooler still, just 8° C, but it may be dry, and there could even be a bit of sunshine in the late afternoon.

  In a curious sort of way, yesterday was rather a good day. I had no idea it would be good in the morning. At that time it seemed like I might be heading for another boring day. For a while I did think that maybe I would go shopping either in Aldi or Tesco. Then I had a quick think about what I might need, and I realised that although I would be running low of many things, I had enough for at least another day.

  One of the things I should have done was to have a shower, and to wash my hair. I didn't wash the day before, and so a shower would be the minimum needed to go to the shops, and washing my hair as well would be needed if I was going out in the evening to a gig. I'm not sure when I made a firm decision that I couldn't be bothered to go out - it was probably when I saw it was going to rain again in the evening (and this time it did).

  After I had finished writing yesterday morning I relaxed by laying on my bed reading. I can't seem to remember what time it was, but at some point the postman rang my doorbell. He had a little package for me. It was another lens hood for one of my Nikon lenses. I was unsure of the correct lens hood for this particular lens, and so I ordered the three most likely. The first, which came a couple of days ago, seemed to fit, but was very slightly loose. The lens hood that came yesterday was a perfect fit. The next delivery is coming direct from China (or so it seems), and is a different, and probably a more universal design that might be used on other lenses.

  One of the things I was trying to do yesterday was to fast until dinner time. This was to get my blood glucose back in the safe area. I did have a small instant noodles for breakfast, but I was trying not to eat any more until maybe 7pm. I can't really remember the trigger, but it may have been an effort to distract me from my rumbling tummy that I decided to stop resting, and to hand wash a couple of t-shirts and some underwear. That was not all I did.

  Once again I can't remember what the trigger was, or even if there was a trigger, but after hanging that washing up to dry in the dining room I got the hoover out. Before using it I did another little job - slicing up the big box that an order of beer came in last year. With that bit of clutter cut to recycling bin dimension, and put in the bin, I did a tiny bit more to get my front room looking slightly less cluttered.

  It wasn't worth going very far until Jodie takes away three beer advent calendar boxes that are cluttering the front room. If Jodie doesn't shift them soon I may just dispose of them. What I did do was to slightly declutter the front room coffee table by putting the BluRay/DVD player back under the TV, and tidy some loose cables. The other end of the coffee table is covered with assorted candles. I am not sure where I am going to tidy them away yet.

  Finally it was time to switch the hoover on. I started in the dining room. It is where I cut up the big box, and several other boxes over the last three of four months, and if for nothing else than the little scraps of cardboard, the dining room was well over due for a hoovering. I didn't stop there. I did the hall and all but the top step of the stairs (the cord does not stretch to the top, and that has to be done working from the top). I didn't do a good job on the stairs because even with the lights on (quite low power LED lights) it was not bright enough to see what I was doing, but at least it was a start.

  After that burst of unpredicted housework I went back almost into relaxation mode, but instead of relaxing completely I started to think about dinner. Dinner was still 3 or 4 hours away, and my stomach was grumbling. I gave in to just two slices of sourdough bread, some mustard, some mayonnaise and some corned beef. I really enjoyed that sandwich, and it took some will power to stop making a second one.

  I stopped myself by promising to myself that I could have an Indian takeaway. The last Indian takeaway, over Xmas, did marvels for my blood glucose. I ordered similar dishes for last night from the same restaurant. Last night I had a lamb Madras with pilau rice. One complaint about it is that I thought it was rather mild. I had expected it to be much hotter. I should have left it at that, but I had bought a few vegetable side dishes. I ate one of them last night as a treat. It was a Chana Masalla - curried chick peas. I enjoyed it, but it might have spoiled my chances of getting my blood glucose as low as hoped.

  Last night Sky Arts were showing three different programmes about The Who. Two were concerts, and the other I mostly missed, but I had seen it before. It was about the recording of their album "The Who Sell Out". I must admit I mainly just listened to the concerts, and I also admit that I turned off The Who playing the whole of Quadrophenia. That was going on too long, and I fancied getting to bed by 9pm.

  I think I managed that, but I did read in bed for at least half an hour, and possibly more before trying for sleep. Last night was another struggle to relax enough, and get comfy enough to get to sleep. I think I barely managed to fall asleep properly before 11pm. Once asleep I did wake up several times, but managed to get to sleep again easily enough until about 3am this morning.

  A little before 3am there was a very heavy fall of rain. It sounds stupid to say I knew what it was before I knew what it was. What I mean to say was that my subconscious had worked it out, and inserted it into a dream. In this dream there was a flood, but with some sort of foresight we (I have no idea who "we" were) had built a quite substantial tree house. We were in it, completely dry, while water swirled about underneath.

  It was at about that point in the dream when I woke up, and the first thing I heard was a sort of roaring sound. My first thought was that it was a plane passing quite low overhead. The sound quickly receded, and for some unknown reason I decided it wasn't quite right for a plane. It took a few more moments to realise it was raining thundering down on the roof. I can't recall hearing rain like that in my bedroom before. I needed a pee, and so when I got out of bed I took a quick peek out the window. It was probably still raining lightly at that point, but the puddles told the story of much heavier rain slightly earlier.

  It took at least half an hour, an felt like it could have been double that before I got back to sleep, but I was now in that part of the morning when I never seem to sleep that deeply. It was probably around 5am when I needed another pee, and after it I turned the heater up full before I went back to bed. I think I managed to fall asleep before the room had started to warm up much. The next time I woke the room was warm enough to get a bit more sleep totally uncovered.

  I could probably have tried to get even more sleep when I woke up just after 6am, but I decided to get up. I think I was keen to see what my blood glucose was doing. I was reasonably confident that it would have gone down back to a more safe reading. It was 9.3mmol/l, and while I was hoping for even less, that was a good drop, and maybe, if I am careful today, I can get it back in the more average eight point somethings. I haven't had a decent poo yet this morning, and maybe that is part of the reason my weight has gone up a bit this morning, but it is still so close to the average that I will only worry about it later in the year when hopefully some warm sunny weather can finally draw me out for some proper exercise.

  Today should end with another curry, but before than I think today I will go to a supermarket to get a few things. I think it is likely to be Tesco, but it could be Aldi. After that the next event should be in the middle of the afternoon. There are trains running today, and so Jodie will probably be over for a beer tasting session even if it is raining. At the moment (9:42am) it is still dry, and the sun is still trying to shine through one of several blue patches of sky.

  That was almost it for today's diary scribblings, but I've just remembered one thing that I had better do this morning - a pile of washing up ! I've already had to wash up one bowl, and a spoon, for my breakfast this morning, but there is still a lot to go yet ! Now I remember something else - a picture. This is what the sky to the east looked like at almost exactly sunrise. There was a lot of red sky this morning, and that predicts bad weather today !