I thought it would be good to show both the Met Office and BBC weather forecasts today to show that they broadly agree with each other. Both show a dry morning, and then a very high probability, almost certainty, that this afternoon is going to be wet. In the case of the Met Office, very wet ! Today the temperature peaks at midday when it could be 19 or 20° C, but it seems it will fall to just 16° C late in the afternoon. As I suggested yesterday, it's like we are still in April ! I wouldn't be surprised if it snowed in August ! Tomorrow could be mostly dull, but also generally dry with an afternoon temperature of a much more pleasant 22° C.

  I really hate this not-really-like-summer weather. It ruined a potentially good day yesterday. During the morning I was slowly building up to going out around midday, and maybe taking a walk along the River Thames - possibly from Rotherhithe to Greenwich.

  I selected a camera, my Nikon Cybershot P500, and topped up its very low battery. I also checked a few pairs of long trousers to make sure they fit OK. They did*, although this was based on an earlier idea that I might walk through the Linear Park along the overgrown river bank path. Long trousers would be essential for pushing through nettles and brambles.

* One pair of trousers I rarely seem to wear seem to be a weird shape. They do up round the waist perfectly - just tight enough to not need a belt (although I would still wear a belt with them. Their strangeness is that they seem tight around the knee. If they were thin denim, maybe with some stretch in it, that would be fine, but it feels like I am wearing drainpipe instead of denim. I think some like it like that, but I don't. I'm not sure which would be worse - walking a long distance in them, or sitting down in a pub. Maybe they would loosen up if I wore them more - which I will attempt to do once the weather is a bit generally cooler. Of course today the weather is going to be much cooler, but I have no intention of walking in heavy rain !

  With camera and trousers sorted out I had a shower. When I started showering the sun was out, and everything looked wonderful. By the time I was towelling myself dry it was so dark outside I could barely see my own body. There was only one thing for it - abandon all plans and put some sausages in the mini oven/grill to cook. I was intending to try and fast for a lot of yesterday following my high blood glucose readings.

  Fortunately Tesco frozen pork sausages are not only quite nice, and sometimes nicer than their "fresh" sausages, but also seem to contain almost no sugar. I enjoyed eating my five sausages with just some brown sauce on them. I am sure they would be even nicer with some fried onion and mashed potato, but I had enough control to not go that far (and I don't have any potatoes).

  After eating I spent the afternoon being lazy. For some of the time I lay on my bed, with both reading lamps on because it was so dark outside, and just quietly read. I think I had a snooze too. I managed to distract myself enough that I felt no temptation for any snacks. Eventually it was time for the usual three Star Treks, and at 6pm, time for dinner. My dinner was in three parts.

  The first two parts were known to be very safe, or gentle on my blood glucose level. They were Tesco cream of chicken soup fortified with some Harissa paste for some extra spiciness. With hindsight I think just plain chilli sauce would have been a better addition to the soup. My initial idea was to stop after the two tins of soup, but I decided to chance a tub of the ice cream I know I can usually tolerate. It made for a nice dessert, and I never felt tempted to have anything else all night.

  There was the usual gap of an hour with nothing on TV after the three Star Treks. I passed that hour catching up on some technical news on the internet. At 9pm I watched QIXL. This time I did recognise the episode/edition quite early, but it seemed worth watching again. When that finished I went to bed to read for half an hour.  I didn't seem to have much trouble getting to sleep last night, but I am not sure how well I slept at first.

  For the first couple of hours of what should have been sleep it seemed that I kept waking up, and considering what I had been dreaming about. With hindsight I now wonder if I was actually dreaming I kept waking up. My memories of it have that sort of insubstantial quality that might indicate they were just dreams about dreams. I do remember having lots of seemingly very short dreams, but I can only recall, and part describe just one bit of one dream.

  I can't quite work out if the bits of dream I remember I saw in first person, or watched on dream television. It did include a few changes of viewpoint like an edit in a TV sequence. It was set in Ongar, near the old Central Line tube station, but now part of the Epping-Ongar heritage railway. The one short sequence was off a few people crossing the railway on an official foot crossing at rail level.

  By itself that was not terribly exciting, but the inspiration for it was very exciting. I've just missed the anniversary of my longest walk ever. It was on 17th July 2010 that I did my longest ever walk. It was 10.35 miles between Epping tube station and the, at the time, disused Ongar railway station.
  Unfortunately the tracking app I was using didn't overlay the time and distance on the map, but presented as a list of statistics on a separate page. The map above shows the route I took, but not the route I wanted to take. I wanted to cross the railway on an official foot crossing near Ongar station, but the footpath leading to it was so overgrown that I couldn't be sure I was still on it after walking little more than 30ft. I backtracked and used a bridge across the tracks.

  I feel certain my dream was inspired by knowing the foot crossing was there, but not being able to use it myself. The full(ish) story of that day is documented, with lots of pictures, here HERE.

  The rest of my night seemed OK, and I probably gut a fair night's sleep. In fact I seemed to wake up earlier than needed, and after a pee I managed to get another half hours sleep. Then it was time to check my blood glucose readings this morning. I was hoping my careful eating yesterday would have brought my glucose level down to a reasonable level - and it did ! My new meter said 8.1mmol/l, and the new meter said 8.4mmol/l. If I hadn't started yesterday with such high readings I might have even got a reading under 8.0mmol/l if I had stuck to the same diet yesterday. Maybe I might manage that tomorrow - but today is probably going to be a miserable day.

  It is already getting very dull outside, and the breeze coming through the bathroom window feels quite chilly. The rain could start in another couple of hours. The BBC still says we will only get light rain, and The Met Office still says heavy rain all afternoon, and into the evening. In fact both forecasts say the rain will continue into the early hours of tomorrow. That could have consequences for tomorrow, but more about that later.

  It could be useful to go to Tesco today, and maybe I will if I am ready early enough, and the rain hasn't really got going, but other than that I am going nowhere today. I have enough food without going out, although none of it is very exciting. However I have got a £10 voucher from Just Eat that I might spend on a nice tasty shish kebab for dinner tonight. If I keep that in mind I may be able to regulate my eating today. I have no idea what else I might do today. lots of reading and snoozing sounds good, but limited.....

  Tomorrow should see the "Food, Folk, 'n' Fun in The Fields" day in Ladywell Fields. I suspect it is probably too late to cancel it now, but after a day of heavy rain it could get like a quagmire in there - particularly with the funfair vehicles driving all over the muddy grass. The good news is that it is currently looking like it might not rain tomorrow, although it could still be rather dull. Let's hope the forecast tomorrow are a bit more optimistic.