There was some sunshine until a little while ago, but now it is getting a bit dull as it gears up to start raining. Both the BBC and Met Office, who had very divergent views a couple of hours ago, both agree it will start to rain at midday, and some of the rain could be quite heavy. The last rain could be around 3pm, and after that it should brighten up with sunny spells until sunset. The temperature could reach 19° C (BBC) or 20° C (Met Office). Tomorrow could be bright with sunny spells and even full hours of sunshine. It may also be a degree or two warmer.

  In terms of the weather, yesterday was a rotten day, although the morning was dull but tolerable. I took a chance on the rain, and went shopping in Aldi. It often looked threatening, but the first rain was hours after I got home - maybe 4 or 5 hours !

  I chose Aldi over Tesco with the thought it would be less tempting. Actually I think it was probably the other way around. I definitely bought food that I then ate later with a strong feeling of guilt. I think it has been the case all year, maybe more, but I don't think I have put on record that there is now no fuss about finding a manned checkout. The previous time I shopped in Aldi (a month or more ago) it was quite busy, and they had two manned checkouts in operation.

  I started off my shop with the best of intentions. I bought a couple of bags of salad, but things started to go wrong a few feet further down the isle in the meat section. Meat is getting close to becoming an expensive luxury - even in Aldi. One of signs of the impending meatapocalypse is the increasing amount meat diluted by other stuff - such as "Moroccan Style" burgers. They were quite nasty, and I'll say more about them soon.

  One thing about Aldi that is getting boring is the centre aisles. Once upon a time they seemed to have loads of fascinating stuff that was very tempting to buy, but for ages it has seemed that half of it is stuff for babies and youngsters. having said that, I saw a label saying mens all over wet suit. So they are still doing some weird stuff in there. I'm trying to think if I was actually tempted to buy any non food or drink related stuff, and I don't think I did.

  One annoyance in Aldi is the air conditioners (or whatever they are) in the checkout area. They seem to rattle the tiles in a way that is easy to mistake for heavy rain falling. It was pretty dull outside as I was about to leave the store, and it really did sound like I was about to walk out into a heavy rain storm despite not seeing any rain outside. Apart from being dull, my walk back to home didn't feel too bad. It was just warm enough for comfort, and cool enough to not generate any sweat.

  After putting my shopping away I started to cook those Moroccan Style Beef burgers. The cooking instruction were very useful. It said cook for the indicated time, and turn over halfway through the cooking. That was fine, but despite scanning the packaging most carefully I could not find the fabled cooking time. I just cooked them as if they were ordinary burgers. I then had them for my lunch.

  I wondered what Moroccan Style actually meant. I thought that maybe it had minced apricot mixed with the minced beef (probably reclaimed meat slurry), but no, the meat was heavily diluted with ground chick peas. It was the bastard child between burger and falafel, and it was not very nice. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was horrible, but I definitely never want to eat one again.

  After I gave the burger style things time to settle I tackled a job I had started after my shower. It was to hand wash a hand towel, a t-shirt, and 2 pairs of underpants. It was provoked by the towel seeming to be smelly when I last used it, and only after being in use for less than a week. I added a lot of disinfectant to the wash and and left it soaking for maybe 4 hours before I did all the rinses, plus fabric conditioner for all except the towel*.

* I have concluded that towels that are treated with fabric conditioner become less absorbent, and this is confirmed by one housewife I know well.
  There was so little light coming through the front (south facing) windows that I had to use flash to take this picture of my washing on the clothes horse. With all the items being dark coloured I really had to turn up the brightness in my photo editor. You may question why I bothered to take the picture and show it here, and on reflection I wonder why too.

  Once the washing was dealt with I found myself feeling peckish. It was a purely artificial feeling brought on by thinking of other stuff I had bought. One such item was an instant noodle pot. I saw it in Aldi, and I had never seen the make before, and I had never seen Green Chicken Curry flavour before. Evidently it was supposed to be a Thai inspired flavour. I gave in and made it up. It was sort of nice, but like the Moroccan Style burgers, it had nothing about it that made me want to go back and buy another.

  I'm sure there was something else ill advised that I ate as well, but I can't think what it was. Fortunately I had a snooze to distract me from reality for 30 to 60 minutes (in other words I have no idea how long I slept. Perhaps more then 5 minutes would be more accurate). I'm not sure where all the time went because it wasn't long before the first of the three Star Treks was about to begin.

  I felt that 5pm was a bit soon to think about dinner, but maybe the right time to test another thing bought at Aldi (to be exact I bought two, but only had the one yesterday. It was a can of alcoholic ginger beer - although 2.8% alcohol would almost be classified as a soft drink once upon a time. It was quite nice, but I think it really should have been described a beer and ginger beer shandy. It did sort of say that in the small print around the back of the can. The one thing it didn't show was the sugar content. It seemed like it was made with full sugar ginger beer, and it even tasted a bit sticky sweet.
  It is a shame about the uncertainty of the sugar content because I could have been happy to open the second can. I can't describe it as delicious, bit I think pleasant describes it well enough.

  By the first commercial break after 6pm (during Star Trek: Enterprise) I felt it time for dinner, but I wanted something I hoped might be safe. The obvious answer was to use some new multigrain rice cakes with cheese. I had four of them, and I have mixed feelings about the multigrain rice cakes. They were very rustic, and maybe not quite my preferred taste. I followed them with 3 balsamic beetroot rice cakes with some smoked ham on them. Apart from an occasional extra crunchy bit (not good for a sensitive tooth) those rice cakes are rather good.

  After the three Star Treks I was able to switch channel to Dave where a one hour edition of have I Got News For You was being shown. It was an excellent, really sarky edition, with heaps of condemnation for out corrupt government. It was so good that I felt exhausted after an hour, and ready for bed. Before turning out the light I read for a while. I might have read a little longer, but the last few stories in the SciFi omnibus I am reading have been rather more weird than I find enjoyable. The current story is providing very little pleasure.

  Once I went to sleep I started dreaming. What was notable about last night was that every dream was like an episode of a series. Some "episodes" were a bit like a revue of previous ones. I can't recall every one of those "episodes, but I can remember enough highlights to seem to show they were all on a common thread. I must admit that some of it I have made up from a synthesis of odd bits, and what happened earlier from bits learned later.

  The dream opened with me in a hospital near the head of a queue of people waiting to see a nurse. The initial idea was that we all had to give a urine sample in sight of the nurse (a bit like I believe athletes have to do during drug testing). That turned out to be wrong. The nurse was after poo samples, and there was a cubicle with two very thing blue plastic sheets at the front as a privacy screen. I was not happy with this. I didn't think I could do it it on demand, and if I could I would do more that the small container I was given could hold. The dream faded out before the critical moment.

  The next dream was set on the moon, and I was an astronaut. One other astronaut had managed to skip the urine test, and the nurse was not happy about it. She sent two space suited orderlies after that astronaut, and in the low gravity of the moon they had no trouble picking him up, and taking him into an air lock. It was during this dream I realised that the first dream was about being selected for pilot and astronaut selection.

  In subsequent dreams the man who had dodged the first urine test turned out to be an ace pilot, but rather undisciplined. During several more dreams he seemed to breaks the rules that "there are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots". It is curious that in the later dreams I was usually a passive observer, and maybe because of that I remember very few things about the later dreams.

  On the whole I did seem to sleep quite well, and even almost got up fairly early, but with some effort I managed to sleep a bit more until about 6.15am. It was then time to see how well I fared after eating stuff I was convinced was not terribly good for me. Maybe the rice cake dinner was my saving grace because this morning both my blood glucose meters gave an identical, and rather splendid figure of 8.2mmol/l.

  My intention today is to go to The Jolly Farmers for a couple of pints of Guinness at lunchtime. The fly in the ointment is that the rain that might, or might not fall just as I want to be leaving home. The latest revisions to the forecast has slightly lessened the chance of rain. The Met Office says a 40% chance of light rain at midday, and 1pm will now be dry. The BBC gives a 35% chance of light rain at midday, and 22% at 1pm. There is a chance it could actually be dry while I am heading to the pub.

  There is no chance that Angela will be going to the pub. I have finally found what she meant by not seeing me for the foreseeable future. It seems that she is now going for a full kitchen refit, paid for my lover boy as the price for him moving in with Angela. All the work is rather chaotic and I think Angela has taken a pessimistic view that it will never be finished, and she will never be free to come out at lunchtime ! However, she says she is back at work at the beginning of August, and not July as I thought. I doubt she will hole out long once she is back at work, and will be meeting me in the pub at lunchtime maybe as early as her first week back at work.