The weather seems to be changing by the minute today. Today will definitely be wet, but when and how wet is difficult to say. The thunderstorm shown for 3pm in the screenshot above has now disappeared from the latest revision, and now just a handful of light showers are shown through the day - unless the BBC is correct. In which case there will still be a thunderstorm at 3pm, and light rain through most of the day. The latest estimate of the afternoon high is 18° C according to both forecasters. Tomorrow could feature mostly light showers through the whole day, and it could be just 15° C. The BBC agrees with the temperature, but they warn of much heavier showers.

   Yesterday was one of those days that was both good and bad. It was good having a purpose for the day, going for my Wednesday visit to the pub, and some of the walking was rather better than expected, but once home again, things went downhill.

  I think I have given up all hope that Angela will ever appear in the Jolly Farmers again, and I am not even sure she is still working. Since her marriage she now has two incomes, and may not need to work for the money now. On top of that is what I believe to be a rift between us. I will probably never be forgiven for not going to her wedding reception. In view of all this I felt it wasn't necessary to have more than a shower before going out - no shave and no shampoo. I think (hope) that my hair looked clean enough, and my need for a shave was very low.

  Various things were good from the moment I left home. There was no more than the occasional drip of rain to inconvenience me, but I still decided to keep my coat done up to keep my chest warm as well as dry. As I have remarked many times in the past, the hardest part of many journeys is just walking to the station. I can't say it was easy yesterday, but it wasn't hard either. I noted that going up the steps to cross to the other platform didn't seem to take much effort.

  These things are notable when I consider that a few days previously, while having a flare up of my operation scar tissue, I was getting chest pains, and walking aggravated it. Yesterday I was almost completely free of any discomfort, although I did feel one or two clicks from my ribcage. Another useful test was walking up the slope, into the park, from Ladywell station. I deliberately pushed myself to see what would happen, and it all seemed oddly easy.

  My time in the pub was not as good as some visits, and it was mainly because about a dozen mourners from a funeral came in, and the banter was turned down a bit. I'm not sure if that was why I felt a bit odd. It was like my brain was a bit foggy. I did most of the quick crossword very quickly, but unusually there were a couple of clues I just couldn't seem to solve. Maybe the disappointment over that meant I couldn't seem to concentrate on the cryptic crossword. I only managed to solve 3 or 4 clues in that. Probably one of my worst efforts ever !

  I just had two pints of Guinness before I put my coat on, and started home. By then there was a bit more rain, and I was glad I had a waterproof coat on. I stayed warm and dry, and although that coat is a bit tight around the chest, it didn't seem to impede my walking. I seemed to keep up a very decent pace as I walked up the slope in the park before walking down the other side into the station. (Last night I was thinking that I could cheat and walk across the grass so I didn't have to go up, then down again, and maybe I'll try it when the grass is likely to be less muddy).

  As usual I was taking snapshots of every train I saw when going to and from the pub, but this time I didn't see any train I didn't already have a picture of. I did get a couple of semi interesting pictures on my travels.
  On my way to the station I saw a beer delivery taking place to The Catford Bridge Tavern. I guess it was nothing unremarkable if you happen to be in the right place at the right time - and this time I was. One thing that was remarkable, but logic dictates that it was not, was seeing the same hatch, leading down to the pub cellars, being used as it I remember it from the days of walking from primary school. I can't put a year on it, but it was probably close to 60 years ago.
  I saw this laminated, hand written sign, by one of the gates leading into The St Mary's Therapeutic Garden behind St Mary's church. I can't believe it is official, but it has been left up. I suspect it is a joke on the official signs saying no dogs allowed in the garden. While I have seen pictures of cats on leads, being taken for a walk, the vast majority of cats go where they please. The garden is separated from any family housing on all four sides - one side being the river. It is unlikely that many cats will be seen in there.

  After getting back to Catford Bridge Station I detoured from the most direct way home to go into the Turkish, or Polish, mini supermarket on Catford Bridge. I particularly wanted more of the instant noodles they sell there, but I was also after other stuff. I fancied something nice (but probably naughty) for a late lunch. I found it in the form of a small flat seeded bun. I bought some beef salami to put in it as a sandwich. I also bought some fairly expensive tins of beans stews.

  Once I was home I was tempted to have one or more of the smallish cans of bean stews, but I have decided to have those some time later when their consequences will be less troublesome. I did cut the flat seeded bun open, and stuff it with salami, plus some mayonnaise. The unfortunate thing was that it was white bread, and it tasted quite sweet. It did make for a yummy roll, but I think it had consequences.

  The other thing I had was one of a five pack of tomato flavour instant noodles. I feel there must have been an error on the till scanner because I was only charged £1.99 for the pack of 5. It was nice having a bit of hot food on a cold, wet and dreary day, and those noodles were almost very nice. It felt like there was something missing, and that left them as just "pleasant".

  As soon as I had got home I turned the heater on. By the time I had checked the pictures in my camera, and eaten my food, it was feeling comfortably warm, and I laid down to read, but after a few pages I closed my eyes, and snoozed. I woke up again maybe an hour later feeling dreadful. It was a sort of hangover-like dreadful, but two pints of Guinness rarely leaves a hangover anything like that - if indeed it leaves any hangover.

  I didn't have to wait very long for the first of the three Star Treks to be shown on TV last night. The first, an episode from the original series was one of the better ones shown recently. I did take a little time away from it as I put the finishing touches to my dinner. It was ready to serve during next Star Trek - a dubious episode of Deep Space Nine. I ate my dinner while watching it.

  Last night's dinner using Aldi diced beef would have been better if I had used to slow cooker to get that tough old beef really tender after hours of slow cooking. it was rather tough the way I cooked it in the microwave cooker. The beef was accompanied by more button mushroom, and more bean sprouts. It was good that I caught those bean sprouts just as they started to deteriorate, but I still have quite a few of them to turn into compost because they wouldn't have lasted more than a few more hours.

  Maybe it was because I had such a good snooze earlier that when I went to bed it took a long time, or at least it seemed a long time, before I fell asleep. Once asleep I seemed to sleep well, but there was one period of time when it seemed too hot under the duvet, and I kicked it aside. Like the last time, I would wake up feeling very cold an hour or so later. It was also one of those nights where force of habit meant that I went for a pee a couple of times in the night because I woke up, but my need for a pee was almost non existent.

  I can remember waking up a couple of times and thinking "that was an interesting dream, I must remember it", but alas I can't seem to recall enough of any dream to describe it. One dream was about my next door neighbours. There seemed to be a door connecting our two properties, and it was easy to wander into their house at will. Part of one dream was showing Jodie the door, and taking her through to meet the neighbours, but it is all hazy after that.

  This morning there was bad news about my blood glucose readings that spoiled a short, but good run of readings. My newest meter read 8.9mmol/l. That is a bit above average, but still just acceptable. The older meter read 9.3mmol/l, and the oldest meter read 9.6mmol/l, and those two readings are not acceptable. Yesterday I wrote about my doubts of how innocent mushrooms and beansprouts are, and maybe this morning's readings are almost proof that they do have more sugars in them than is good for me. On the other hand, maybe that white bread roll can take a good portion of the blame.

  Today I should try and be very careful, and not just because tomorrow I see the nurse for my annual diabetic check up. Unfortunately the odds are stacked against me. This morning I am ideally going to get some shopping in Tesco, although maybe I can hold out, and just have soup for dinner tonight. Being a Thursday, it is also beer tasting day with Jodie and Michael. There is a 100% chance I will end up drunk again, and that could make me eat something very bad !

  Regarding tomorrow, and my appointment with the nurse. I shouldn't have to worry too much about my blood glucose on the day because she has full blood tests (taken about a month ago) to work from. On the other hand, they do say they have a machine to do a full diabetic blood test in the surgery. The last time I saw the nurse it was broken ! Anyway, the full blood test works on a sort of average by doing something that is like, but completely different, counting the rings on the red blood cells.

  It is possible I won't have time to write anything until after I get back from the surgery tomorrow. The appointment is at 11am, and I reckon I'll not be home again until almost midday. Before the appointment I intend to do a complete shave, shampoo, and shower treatment, plus some extra cleaning of my feet for when they are inspected for diabetic damage. I'll also probably have to spend ages persuading my printer to print off things like my blood pressure records.