The forecast for today has changed many times over the last 24 hours, and generally it has changed for the better.  There has been some rain this morning, none of it what I would call heavy, but it might have stopped now (or is too light to be seen from indoors). The very latest revision to the forecast shows 9am as just cloudy, and the cloud may continue until 4pm when sunny spells resume. 5pm is currently shown as full sunshine. 6pm shows a 30% chance of light rain. The temperature should reach 24° C this afternoon. It is worth remembering that this time yesterday thunderstorms were forecast for this afternoon ! Tomorrow will be a bit cooler with only 20° C currently forecast. It should start, and maybe end with sunny spells, but of course, as adequately demonstrated by the revised forecast for today, those men with all their supercomputers, can barely forecast if the sun will rise in 24 hours time.

   Yesterday was neither good nor bad, but it was pleasant enough. The really good thing was the weather - hot and sunny - but I didn't expose myself to it for long enough to really appreciate it. A long walk, maybe on the beach, would be the only way to really soak up the goodness.

  The only thing I did yesterday morning was to take my time getting ready to go out for my Wednesday visit to The Jolly Farmers pub where I enjoyed a couple of pints of Guinness, and attempted the quick, and cryptic crosswords in The Metro. One other thing I did before I went out was to cook two small chicken and mushroom pies.
  As usual, I was suckered into buying these two pies because they were almost half price, and so seemed fair value. After the prescribed 30 minutes at 190° C in my mini oven the tops turned almost, sort of, golden brown. I looked forward to trying them after I got home from the pub.

  I made no arrangements to try and contact Angela about meeting me in the pub. As I said yesterday, and probably a week ago, she knows my routine if she wants to join me. Evidently she didn't, and I didn't see her. However, I did see a train I had not photographed before when I went to the station to collect two copies of The Metro, and then get the train to Ladywell.
  This train was one I hadn't photographed before, and hadn't even seen before. For the first time, the strong sunshine made the grey stripe at window level, the entire length of the train, so easy to see. Until yesterday I hadn't noticed that grey stripe. Upon checking my other snaps of these class 707 trains I was unsure if any others had it. On some of my pictures you can just about make it out, but on others I am not so sure they have it or not.
  This is the same train, but photographed almost end on to show it's number, 707029. At this angle, as most of my train photographs would be taken, the grey strip is more or less invisible. I guess maybe they are all the same, but it was only the strong sunshine on the side of the train that made it so obvious.
  A reminder that this Saturday, and on the 1st and 2nd of September there will be no trains running, although some Thameslink trains may be running on Saturday from Catford station.
  When I got to Ladywell station I was slowly walking up the platform, waiting for the Hayes bound train to see take a snap of it's numbers, when I thought I spotted movement further up the track. I didn't have my long distance glasses on, and I had to rely on the zoom lens in my little Nikon S6300 camera. At full zoom I just managed to take a snap of this fox sitting by the track.
  Before I had left the station the Hayes train arrived, and I took a snap of the front and back. The back unit, 465018, I later found to be another train I didn't have a photo of. Last week my luck was to finish both crosswords, but I didn't spot/photograph any new trains. Yesterday my only luck was getting photos of the two trains I had not photographed before.

  After walking from Ladywell station to The Jolly Farmers I ordered a pint of Guinness, and shared some news and views with Ayse my favourite barmaid. I then sat down at my favourite table and found the crosswords in The Metro. I was only about 2/3rds through my first pint of Guinness when I finished the quick crossword. Sadly the cryptic crosswords baffled me like it usually does. Being able to complete last Wednesday's cryptic crossword was a very, very rare fluke !

  With nothing to celebrate I had just two pints of Guinness before saying my goodbyes and leaving the pub. I was in two minds about whether to walk home or get the train. Upon seeing there was a train due in 10 minutes I decided to go home via the station. That gave me a chance of a bit more train spotting, but sadly I saw nothing new on my way home. Oh well, it was worth a try.

  Once I got home I grabbed the two pies I had cooked, and after getting changed into more relaxing clothing I tucked into those pies. By that time they had cooled to room temperature. Maybe they might have been nicer if a bit warmer, but I doubt it. They definitely tasted better than Tesco own brand individual steak pies (that could well be made in the same factory). However, better is still not delicious. I think I would describe them as "acceptable".

 I next transferred the pictures I had taken from my camera to my PC, and then I selected the ones I would be using, and did the usual editing/scaling to fit on these pages. That didn't take long. I next laid on my bed to read, relax, and ultimately to have a long snooze. Like the day before (I think) it was getting close to the three Star Treks time on TV, and only about 90 minutes until dinner time.

  My original plan for dinner was for a pile of grilled bacon plus some green beans, but I had an urge to go for a simpler, and known safer dinner - shish kebabs. I wish I could afford to do this several or more times per week, but it is a luxury in times of financial stress for the whole country. I ordered one large and one small shish kebab from a restaurant I had never tried before.

  The one problem with the kebabs is that the salad was more Greek than Turkish style, and the cucumber was in small dices rather than big slices. I am still averse to the taste of cucumber since Covid altered my taste buds, and it was a pain having to pick out the small bits of cucumber. With the cucumber gone, it was a very tasty meal. This morning I found it had the desired effect.

  After watching, or part watching, the three Star Treks I watched an episode of UFO before turning off the TV and going to bed. My bedroom was about 28° C last night, and it was rather sticky - even just laying on my bed quietly reading for half an hour or so. I used a small desk fan to move the air over my face, and I eventually fell asleep like that. Contrary to expectations, I awake several times in the night to pee - suggesting a high blood glucose level.

  Maybe waking up to pee helped my remember the salient facts of a couple of dreams. One was quite early in the night. In this dream I was sitting at a table with several other people, and that included two young women. One was Carrie from Hell On Tap, and I have no idea who the other was, but she had quite big breasts, and was almost flaunting them. I had my camera with me, and down a hallway was a big sofa. I suggested she should lay on that and pose topless if she really wanted to show off. Unfortunately Carrie said there was no time for that, and we had to get to the gig - and the dream ended.

  The other dream was not long before I got up, and was very strange. I seemed to be in a school of mixed ages that was inside a telephone exchange. I think I, or someone, had given a big plastic bag of liquorice allsorts, and other sweets to a young boy who seemed quite similar to the Simpsons character Ralph Wiggam. Unfortunately the school bully had stolen the sweets, and was taunting the kid with them. I don't think I could actually do it in real life, but I marched up to the bully, pulled the bag of sweets from his hand, and gave them to the kid while saying they should be returned to their rightful owner. Being fantasy, rather than the real world, the bully was too stunned to react, or at least to react violently.

  I must admit it was good to wake up from that dream before it turned into a possible nightmare ! One thing that was not a nightmare was my blood glucose readings this morning. In complete contrast to my need to pee a lot in the night, my reading were both very nice and low. The new meter said 7.2nnol/l, and the old meter gave a higher, but still very good 7.7mmol/l.  I note that the rolling average for the month is now quite biassed towards the new meter showing a distinctly lower average, although only by a few tenths of a mmol (Milli Mol per Litre).

  Two things could happen today. I did have a desire to go to Aldi today, but after my takeaway last night it is less important. I may still go, but I think I regard it as optional. That makes the main event for today is an afternoon boozing session with Jodie and Michael. Hopefully we will open a few more of those nice and strong Varvar beers from Ukraine.