As I write this the sky looks more grey than white, but maybe that is just nit picking, and the Met Office Forecast was right - except it has now been revised to say sunny spells at 10am, and also at 5pm, but no other time. That is less than the clump of sunny spells shown in the early version of the forecast. It still predicts a peak of 19° C. This time the BBC have got off to a very bad start. Their latest version of their forecast shows full sunshine for 9am. It is 9am now, and it is very dull outside !  They do predict some sunny spells later, but maybe their boldest claim, and one that feels like it could be right, is for light rain from 9pm until gone midnight. They also predict a high of 19° C today. Both forecasters predict a mix of sunshine and sunny spells tomorrow, and say the afternoon high will be 19° C (Met Office) or 20° C (BBC).

   Yesterday was quite a good day - one of the best recently - although it did end on a sort of disastrous way. The latter was because my head was distracted by alcohol, and hunger. It was a day, as I said yesterday, when I could be as lazy as I liked providing I was washed and dressed, ready to go out soon after midday.

  It was around mid morning that I got a message from friend Kevin that he thought he could probably join me in The Jolly Farmers. Maybe it was the enthusiasm for that which seemed to hasten my getting ready, and going to the station about half an hour earlier than usual - if indeed there is a normal time. It allowed me to get a train to Ladywell that got me to the pub at about half past midday, or half an hour earlier than I used to get there when meeting Angela at lunch time.
  Maybe being a little bit earlier than usual allowed me to get a snap of the train in the picture above. 376020 was a train I had not photographed before, and so it and it's picture got added to my spreadsheet recording these things. (I acknowledge that all these class 376 trains are identical except for the number, but they still have to be photographed because..........).
  It was also the first time I had seen, and photographed, this train, 465910. These trains whose number start 4659xx were converted to have a first class section (and possibly a better toilet) from lower numbered class 465 trains. They were meant as a stop gap for longer distance services before Southeastern tamed their new class 375 trains. Once the class 375 trains came up to squadron strength the 4659xx trains were put in open storage for years, and never seemed to be cleaned before being put into service on inner suburban routes. They always seem filthy.

  I managed to do about 2/3rd of The Metro quick crossword before Kevin arrived. He is pictured on the left rather blurred because it was dim enough in the pub for my mobile phone camera to do a long exposure. You'll know that the bar behind him is in sharp focus.

  I have to say Kevin was looking a lot healthier than last time I saw him (possibly as much as a year ago). The last time he was covered in slimy creams and ointments for his psoriasis, and skin was flaking off everywhere. Yesterday he hands seems dry, and not flaky.

  Of course, after such a long time since seeing him last, there was a lot to catch up on, and I think I had three pints of Guinness (one more than Kevin because I had almost finished my first before Kevin arrived) and at least three double Jamesons, while we caught up on each other's news, although.....typical Kevin, particularly after a few drinks, he couldn't stick to the subject, and got distracted to another subject before the first was finished.

  Kevin had to get home for 4.30pm when he was due to have an online face to face consultation with a doctor or consultant. In our enthusiasm for gossip and drink he cut it very fine, and had to resort to getting a bus back to Catford to shave 10 or 15 minutes of the journey time home. I walked home, and it was a fairly pleasant walk. I paid no attention to the time, but I think I managed to keep up a reasonable pace all the way home.

  I was far too early to think about dinner when I got home, but I did have a bag of (alleged) hot Bombay mix to keep my mouth amused. What I should have been doing was finishing off some laundry I had left in soak after having my shower. At that point I thought Kevin only intended to stay for possibly just a single pint ! I didn't exactly feel drunk, although obviously I was, and mucking about with rubber gloves and lashings of wet and soggy clothes was not appealing.

  One curious thing happened at about 6pm. It was call that I initially thought was a scam message, but it turned out to be a call from the GP's surgery to say that now I had had my blood tests, I could see the nurse for my annual diabetic check-up on the 10th October at 11am. I readily agreed to that because trying to book a different day or time would probably take more patience than I am capable of. The peculiar thing was that there was a suggestion that the results of my blood, and presumably urine tests too, had come through in a mere 24 hours since giving the samples. That seemed rather quick.

  At that point it was definitely time to think about dinner. I had not prepared anything, but I could have had a couple of cans of chicken soup. It would have been most beneficial to have done so, but the booze gave me a strong yearning for a takeaway. I knew it would be playing with fire, but I felt I wanted the extremely rare treat of a Thai takeaway. I am not familiar enough with Thai food to know exactly what I want, and so I went for a wild mix of stuff.

  Apparently if my order came to over £30 I would get 10% discount, although I am not sure if I did, but I needed one more thing to take it over the £30 level, and what I ordered was very silly, but only with hindsight. It was Korean style BBQ chicken wings. I can't deny they were not very nice, but I could not fully enjoy them once I realised they were covered in a sort of sticky jam. Their sugar content was horrendous !

  The other stuff I ate last night was a rather thin, but tasty Thai red curry plus half a portion of a mixed rice dish. It all left me feeling rather bloated. Unfortunately I was constipated yesterday, and it was only shortly before I started eating that I felt some hints of discomfort. After eating I felt bunged up at both ends. It made for an uncomfortable night. It was not helped by the excess sugar, plus salt or MSG making me feel thirsty. I really wanted to guzzle lots of chilled water, but that just seemed to make it feel I was close to throwing up.

  I can't fully describe my night, but "rotten" sums it up nicely. I didn't have any proper insomnia, but every time I woke up, usually for a pee, but at other times too, it would take 20 minutes or more to fall asleep. Sometimes it was only my dreams that confirmed I had been sleeping. I am sure at least one dream was worth describing, but all details seem to have just faded away now.

  I got up at just gone 6am - mainly because I didn't seem to be able to get back to sleep again. I was expecting a complete and utter disaster when I checked my blood glucose this morning, but it was just an ordinary disaster. Actually it was not as bad as I feared. My new meter said 9.6mmol/l, and while definitely very high, was still reasonably clear of the red line (10mmol/l). The oldest meter said 9.8mmol/l, and that is close to confirming the new meter's reading, but even closer to the red line. The older meter said 10.2mmol/l, and that is in the danger area.  The average of all three was 9.9mmol/l, and that is at least just under the red line by a gnats whisker.

  One sort of problem is that I have enough leftovers for a meal and half. This morning I have eaten the Singapore noodles. I didn't realise they were thread noodles. They are OK, but I prefer thicker noodles. It was quite a nice breakfast, and eating it so early in the day may lessen it's impact on my blood glucose tomorrow morning. I think the final meal may be relatively safe, but I will not be too shocked if I get glucose readings up in the nines again tomorrow. One particular annoyance is something I have just seen on the bill for that takeaway. There was a discount for spending over £30, but what I didn't realise was that I had already earned the discount, and I was trying to get the final price to go over £30 when I added on those very naughty (but nice) Korean BBQ chicken wings. had I realised that, and not ordered them, I may have got lower blood glucose readings this morning.

  Apart from finishing the laundry, as mentioned near the top of the page, the only other important thing today is this afternoon's beer tasting session with Michael and Jodie. I haven't spoken to Michael since last Saturday afternoon at Angela's wedding. I expect he will rant on about how naughty I was to not go to the reception, and how much I missed. Still, once he has got it out of his system......