It is a shame that the latest revision to the weather forecast says the sunny spells will finish at 10am, and there will be none this afternoon. A fair bit of the sky is blue at the moment, and maybe some sunny spells will happen after 10am. It was quite a mild night, and the afternoon temperature should reach 11° C.  It is possible that it might actually feel like that today because it seems we will have much lighter winds today. From 7pm the clouds will probably turn a lot thicker and darker, and the chance of rain is shown as 10% - that usually means dry, but not always ! Tomorrow is shown as starting at 9° C, and it could rise to 12° C by the afternoon, but although the clouds are predicted to be white cloud, no sunshine at all is predicted.
 
   On the whole, yesterday was a very disappointing day. It was the sort of day where one bad thing triggers another. The core of it all was a message from Angela saying she wouldn't be at the pub. She gave no explanation why. I don't think she was ill, but I did wonder if she was feeling under the weather.

  I think I have detected some feint clues that her love affair, and intended marriage to lover boy this coming June, may not be running smoothly. I base that wild theory on very small things like an odd word, or some action. Of course there are two perfectly possible explanations that are far simpler. One could be that yesterday was the day that she had to change the room she work in to another room in a different part of the hospital. I know she was quite upset about that happening.

  All the trains were on strike yesterday, and it is possible that Angela had been staying at lover boy's house/flat near Clock House station, and with no trains she didn't think she could make it into work on time. It is possible that she thought thhat a bus journey would be too complicated. It would actually be simple for her. The walk from Clock House station is all downhill, and I could do it even in the dark days before my heart bypass operation, and really suffering from angina. Once in Beckenham she could have caught a 54 bus, and that would drop her off right outside the hospital. The other option would have been for lover boy to drive her to work. Maybe not getting to work now seems unlikely.

  I initially decided I would still go to the pub, but I would want some spare entertainment in the form of The Metro and it's crosswords. I could only get that from a railway station, although some buses have them. I didn't even know if Catford Bridge station was open. With no trains that could have shut all the gates, but on the up side (London bound) of the station one of the ticket machines is on the platform, and I guess they feel some obligation to leave access to it for people to buy travelcards for use on buses and tubes.

  It was bright and sunny when I started to walk to the station, but even the thermometers said it was still not warm outside. What they didn't tell was that their was a significant wind chill factor making it feel very cold. I was wearing my second warmest winter coat, and while my face was going numb in the cold wind, the sun was heating up the dark coloured coat, and I was starting to cook inside it.

  I don't know if that was the reason it was feeling very constrictive around my chest. By the time I got to the station I was feeling short of breath, but not in the sense that I was gasping. It felt hard work just breathing normally. It is hard to describe it because it seems to defy explanation. Once I got there I saw the station was open, but there were no trains and no copies of The Metro. I turned around and walked home again. That strange feeling of being slightly short of breath didn't get any worse, and disappeared within seconds of taking my coat off.

  I guess I felt pretty miserable in the afternoon after not seeing Angela, and not getting my pint of two of Guinness in the pub. I could bring myself to do anything constructive, and just lay on my bed reading, and also snoozing. It was about 2pm when I decided I would do something useful, and that was to go shopping in Tesco. I had originally planned to do it this morning. My thermometers were telling me the temperature was now up to 12° C, and I thought I would get away with a lighter coat, but that was a mistake. That wind still felt icy.

  The walk to Tesco is not that different to walking to the station, but maybe the lighter coat was the reason I didn't get that sort of short of breath feeling. On reflection, I think the root of the problem is that my chest muscles are very weak since my operation in 2013 (almost 10 years ago now !!), and fighting the extra resistance of a coat, or even a tight t-shirt, make it feel like I can't draw in as much air as I would like.

  I tried to shop carefully yesterday, but I did give in to two temptations - neither of which were reduced price, although some stuff I saw on the reduced price shelf, but didn't want, drove me towards the other end of the store where I picked up a pair of Tesco "Finest" Scotch Eggs, and a packet of hot Pepperami. Mostly I bought stuff like meat and lots of vegetables for my dinners. I deliberately only bought two packs of diced meat because I want to get into the habit of only using half the meat in my dinners.

  When I got home I couldn't face waiting until 6 or 7pm for dinner, and had a later, and sort of unhealthy lunch. First of all I ate both Scotch Eggs. I have to say that those "Finest" Scotch Eggs were rather nice, and rather better than Tesco ordinary Scotch Eggs. I did manage to hold off scoffing the 5 hot Pepperami sticks for a short while. I thought I would have them with some late afternoon beers.

  I selected just three bottles from my recent beer delivery. I am pretty sure they were beers that Jodie would not want. All were small, 33cl, bottles, and all were medium strength - maybe averaging about 7%. The first beer, an Abbey beer, definitely did not go with the Pepperami sticks. In fact I don't think they went with any beers at all, although maybe they might not be too bad with something like a light pilsner.

  In view of my extra eating, I put off dinner until 7pm last night. It was meatballs cooked in stock with bell peppers, some finger chillies, and a lot of cabbage. It was not the first time I used a half portion of meat, 6 out of the 12 meatballs, but it continues a few days of it now, and should be the pattern for the indefinite future. I must admit, I was feeling guilty about my extended lunch, but there was nothing I could do about it at that point.

  I watched my usual ration of TV up until the end of the first QI on Dave, and then I went to bed. I was starting to yawn a bit, but read for half an hour or so before turning out the lights. I think I may have been asleep by 10pm, or if not, not that long after. On the whole I slept well until 4am when I had a half hour or more period of insomnia. I can remember my brain getting stuck considering something I think had been triggered by a dream. It seemed terribly important at the time, but I don't seem to be able to remember anything about it now.

  I almost wondered if that period of insomnia was because I had had sufficient sleep by 4am. In other circumstances, if I had important things to do, it is possible I had had enough sleep by then, but I got to sleep again, and then after another chance of getting up at 6am I went back to sleep, and overslept until just gone 7am. It wasn't long before I got two acceptable results. My blood glucose had risen slightly again to 8.3mmol/l. However, without waiting for a decent poo, or indeed any poo at all, something that still hasn't happened, my weight was almost spot on my current average.

  Later on I got another good reading - that of my blood pressure. 100/60 is pretty good for me, and particularly in the morning when I tend to get higher readings. I think my doctors would be most happy with that reading. Even the nurse might grumpily say it was good, although sometimes I wonder if it is not a little low. I can't say that with all these healthy readings I feel healthy, although there have been plenty of mornings when I have felt considerably worse !

  My main project this morning is to worry about whether Jodie has recovered from her illness enough to join me for a beer tasting session. Hopefully Michael will be joining me too. Actually, apart from having a shower, I have no idea what else I will do with my time this morning. I am even contemplating a short walk in the park if the sun can stay out. Both The BBC and The Met Office deny any possibility of the sun shining like it still is as I write this !