Today is going to be a very cold day. The maximum temperature may only be 5° C, and it will soon drop again to end up at 0° C at 10pm. The latest revision has got rid of the rain shown above for 3 and 4pm. That is just as well because it would have been so close to falling as sleet, or even snow. At the moment it looks very dull outside, and most of the day could be like this - very cold, and very dull ! Semi clear skies overnight will all ow the temperature to drop to -2° C by 6am tomorrow, and while it should be a sunny day, the highest temperature could be an agonisingly cold 3° C - and that may only last for a single hour.

  I must have slept even better than I described yesterday morning because I seemed to be very alert yesterday morning. After I had finished writing this diary I washed, and then went out to shop in Tesco not much later than half an hour after they opened. It was nicer shopping in a less crowded store. The only bad thing, or maybe it was a good thing, was that the reduced price shelf was almost empty, and had nothing of interest.

  I bought some diced lamb (expensive !) and a couple of skinless/boneless chicken breasts for a few future dinners, plus another white cabbage, and a pack of runner beans. Although I have plenty of booze, and more would be delivered later in the day, I felt sorry for the last bottle of special edition (rugby or football or something) Jameson's Irish whiskey. They were on Clubcard special offer with a £5 off the full price.

  It was very cold walking to Tesco, and almost as cold walking home again. I took a chance and didn't bother zipping up my coat because I hoped that carrying my shopping would warm me up a bit - and it did, but the cold air on my chest could easily have triggered off aches and pains from my old operation scar tissue. Sometimes you have to draw a balance between safety and comfort. This time comfort won.

  I had a terrible elevenses soon after I got back home. It started with a bag of pork scratchings. It was a make I hadn't seen before, and of course it promised the Earth, but in reality it was not that good at all. I followed that with an entire pack of fish sticks. It was one of those spur of the moment things as I was passing the shelf they were on, and just grabbed a pack as I walked past. It is a shame they don't make a half size pack. It always seems that after starting off rather wonderful, they start getting a bit bland after eating half the pack. Of course I should have stopped half way, but....you know, I was just a sort of automaton at that point, shovelling in one after another.

  A couple of hours passed where I did little but read, but with an afternoon drinking session forthcoming I felt it might be good for something that might "line my stomach". I chose to cook some oven chips. It was possibly fortunate that all that was left in the opened bag was only about 3/4 of a plateful. It was bad that the mechanical timer on my mini oven/grill got stuck again, but it was actually good that I caught the chips just as they were getting really crunchy, but not burnt. I enjoyed them a lot !

  Jodie turned up at around 3.30pm, and I started on a beer without her as she fussed around in the kitchen preparing her dinner. I had the 8% version of the Rochefort Trappist beers. We would have another half a bottle each later on in the session. It was an unusual session in that I don't think any of the beers were nasty. One was a bit marginal, and it was one I thought Jodie would like, but she didn't like it at all. As I say, I thought it was a bit marginal, but not that bad. I ended up drinking most of her share.

  I think I slipped in another beer all to myself while Jodie was being boring by playing some new game on her phone. We ended on a new Irish whiskey that had been delivered quite early in the afternoon - much to my great surprise.  It was  Kirker & Greer, Shamrock, Irish whiskey, and it was rather nice. I think I may have poured myself a second shot. Jodie then left to get the 6.30pm train, and I started getting my dinner together.

  My dinner was supposed to be an experimental potato and cauliflower cheese. It was pretty nice, and I may make another sometime, but maybe one using the whole head of a small cauliflower. I didn't think my first attempt was all that filling - it didn't feature any white sauce, as is traditional in cauliflower cheese. It was just potato, cauliflower, cheese and a bit of seasoning.

  It is perhaps fortunate that I had a beer fuelled bit of inspiration. Sitting in the bottom of the fridge was a twin pack of smoked Polish sausage. It was well past it's sell by date, but seemed to be OK. It seems I was was waiting for some special mystery day when I would eat it. It could have been eaten as it was, but I grilled it for a while. It turned out to be very smoky, and rather nice. Although I ate it separately from my potato and cauliflower cheese, the two did sort of compliment each other.

  While I ate my dinner I watched the tail end of a documentary on Sky Arts about Pink Floyd's best albums. I had seen it before, it it was still worth watching. When it finished I checked the electronic programme guide for any more entertainment, but I could find nothing that would keep me awake, and I ended up going to bed before 8pm. For some reason I thing it was 7.30pm, but it must have been a bit later. I read a few pages from the book I am reading, and then the combined effects of the booze and dinner made me feel very sleepy. I turned out the light, and I must have fallen asleep almost instantly.

  I really don't know when that was, but it probably was not far off 8pm. The next thing I knew was that it was almost 11.30pm. I woke up feeling like I had had a full night's sleep. I had a pee, and tried to get back to sleep, but I just didn't seem to feel sleepy. I got up, and read some stuff on the internet for 40 to 50 minutes, and then tried for sleep again. It took some time, but I did get to sleep again. I never expected to get that much more sleep, and my periods of sleep were little more than an hour at a time, but somehow I managed to sleep through until just gone 7am.

  One thing I noticed in the night was that there was some heavy rain, and it would seem it lasted for hours, but although looking quite damp outside, it was not raining when I got up. This morning my excesses pushed my blood glucose up a little bit more. It was 0.1 higher at 8.7mmol/l. Once again that is fine, but the upward trend is something I feel I ought to fight. The only problem is that on a very cold, and very dull day, the temptation to over eat is huge ! I shall just have to try and be careful with what I eat, rather than how much of it.

  Tonight I will probably have chicken with heaps of white cabbage, and that is usually very safe. Of course these very high vegetable fibre meals can have very variable results. This morning I was far from constipated ! I judge I am now close to empty, and that could possibly be good for a lowered blood glucose reading tomorrow morning. I might even lose a few grammes of weight if I am very lucky.

  I wish I could raise some sort of enthusiasm to go out and get a bit of exercise, but I jst can't seem to do it in this weather. I can wrap myself up nice and warm (except for extremities), and if needed I can keep dry, but nothing short of a blindfold can keep that deadly, depressing, grey daylight out of my brain, and feeding straight into my brain. It is quite hard walking down a busy main road, or near a river, with a blindfold on ! I guess I will be staying in trying to find ways to amuse myself again today.