By now we should be having sunny spells, but there is a thick bar of dark cloud across the eastern horizon where the sun is rising. Maybe we will get some sunny spells soon, and maybe a long period of full sunshine later. The BBC forecast is very optimistic with almost full sunshine shown for most of the day. The Met Office, as shown above, and hardly changed in the latest revision, is a bit more conservative. Assuming the sun finally manages to break through, we can expect 23° C today.  Tomorrow might possibly be even sunnier, and the temperature could hit 24 or 25° C (the BBC predict the higher figure).

   Yesterday was quite a good day.  I took it slow and easy during the morning. It was getting on for midday when I had a shower, and washed my hair. It took a while before I cooled off after that, and it wasn't until I went out into the fresh air that I stopped feeling warm and sticky.
  Being a Wednesday I was heading to the pub for my usual two pints of Guinness, and as usual I went to Ladywell by train so I could pick up two copies of The Metro at the station - one for me, and one for Ayse the barmaid. The picture above is what I saw when I got to the station - Lime/Uber bikes scattered everywhere. These bikes seem to be slowly taking over the streets. There were three I could see from my bedroom window before I had even left home.
  I got to the station just in time to see the above train that I photographed from the footbridge. It is one more picture of a train bearing a number, 465185, that I had never photographed before, and so added to my ever expanding spreadsheet recording, and linking to, pictures of every individual train I have photographed over the years. In total I snapped 10 trains, but only this one had a number I had not seen before.

  It was a very pleasant session in the pub, but not one of the great times there. I indulged in a little banter, but mostly I tackled the cryptic and quick crosswords in The Metro. I finished the quick crossword before I had finished my first pint of Guinness. I got off to a good start on the cryptic crossword. I solved three of four clues very quickly, and then things slowed right down. In the end I may have only solved about 10 clues. That was very disappointing after the fast start.

  I had considered walking home from the pub because it seemed sort of nice out, but before I left home I had a message from Patricia. I had expected some earlier warning, but as she said she would do, she had arrived in London after a flight from Italy. I will admit I was totally unprepared for this, and I changed my plans to go home via Tesco where I bought some essentials - Jaffa Cakes, milk, and a couple of curry ready meals for out dinners.

  Somehow the air did feel sort of good yesterday - cool compared to a few days ago, but far from cold. I found myself walking far faster than I seem to manage a lot of the time these days. That included the walk to Catford Bridge station, the walkes to and from the pub for Ladywell station, and the walk from Catford Bridge station to Tesco. I didn't have much to carry, but I think holding a bag shopping just slightly slowed me down - just a tiny bit.

  It did feel like I had enough time to do things like hoover the dining room, and other household tasks I might have done if I had been given 24 or more hours warning, and I didn't even bother to try. I had my lunch of a pair of Tesco "Finest" Scotch Eggs, and then I laid down and read until I had a short snooze. I think Patricia arrived here just before 4pm. We sat down for a drink, and nattered away until dinner time at 6pm (actually it may have been 6.30pm).

  I had bought Patricia a "complete" Indian meal from Tesco. It was chicken tikka massala  with rice, vegetable curry, and a couple of tiny onion bhajis. To my faulty memory, it seemed to look a lot like the chicken tikka massala meal served in Wetherspoons pubs - which I know Patricia likes. I went for the simpler, and much lower sugar content, lamb rogan jhosh. It was nice enough, but I think that it lost it's richness when they tried to make it a healthier meal.

  It was dark at 7.30pm, and Patricia said she was going to bed because she was tired after all her travelling. In fact I soon because aware that she spent maybe an hour messaging her brother, and she may have also done a translation job before she went to sleep. I stayed up to about 9pm looking at stuff on my PC before going to bed. Last night I did something while in bed that I haven't done for ages (stop sniggering at the back !) I slept under my duvet for almost the whole night.

  I didn't need any fans blowing over me, or the window open, to be perfectly comfortable - not too hot, and not too cold - while in bed. I seemed to sleep quite well last night, and I don't recall having to get to pee more than a 2, maybe three times. Even then I think I could have ignored one or two of those times because I did it more out of habit than strong need. It felt like that maybe my blood glucose was nice and low, but maybe I was just dehydrated.

  I didn't feel any strong thirst like I might if I was dehydrated. I did need a sip or two every time I woke up, because I had a dry and sticky mouth, but I don't regard that as being the same as thirst. Once again it was looking like my blood glucose readings this morning should have been good. They weren't ! They were almost bad. The new meter said 9.0mmol/l, and the old meter said 9.1mmol/l. Those are still safe figures, but highly undesirable, and also bloody annoying because I can't recall eating much during the day, and only the small (by my reckoning) of curry ready meal was the only thing with any significant amount of sugar in it. I should have got away with it in my own estimation.

  Today I shall try and do a fraction of the housework I would like to do. Patricia will try and get here in time for a beer tasting session with Jodie and Michael, although she will probably just have single gin and tonic. I'll be able to show off my new fridge, and hopefully Jodie will marvel at my recent beer delivery (although experience tells me she will be saying "had it before" many. many times when she sees what I have bought.