As per the forecast, it is definitely very dull as I write this. The latest revision says it should brighten up any minute now.... There could be some sunny spells later, but from 8pm we can expect heavy rain for the rest of the day. Once again, the highest temperature we can expect is 14° C. Tomorrow sees the start of November, and traditionally colder mornings featuring fog, but not tomorrow. The day could start (6am) with the temperature up at 14° C, and heavy rain. The middle of the day could see hours of light showers. The highest temperature will be before midday, when 14° C can be expected. By late evening it could be down to 11° C. The day after tomorrow could be notable for very strong winds.

   On a scale of 1 to 10, I think yesterday was about a 5. There were good bits and bad bits, but they probably cancelled each other out to give a day that could be described as, on average, bland. It is hard to describe the day in chronological order because so many bits of it were just like other bits, but I'll see what I can do.

  One thing I did yesterday was to look on Amazon for new taps for my kitchen sink. There was a huge amount of them, and many looked almost identical. I saw a couple that looked like they might be OK. I had a preference for single taps rather than a mixer tap, but may I've changed my mind, and maybe I am now considering an identical copy of the mixer tap I already have, although my opinion of it is that it is pretty crappy.

   I also looked up various things like flexible tap tails, and service valves, but I didn't order anything. One thing I noted was that Amazon offer "professional" fitting for replacement taps. The service, on the face of it looks cheaper than I would have imagined, but the service does come with a long list of reasons why you could be charged more. I don't think I would avail myself of the fitting service, but I haven't ruled it out yet.

  I checked Amazon again after doing some more research about what was actually under my sink. It didn't seem obvious until I looked more carefully yesterday, but the bottom of the tap is between the sink and the back panel of the cabinet to sink sits in. That dispelled one fear I had. I thought the bottom of the tap was behind the back panel of the cabinet. That does make to job of changing the whole tap far simpler, and if I could kneel down, and had long arms that didn't ache, it would make doing the job myself possible.

  However, I just can't work in such restricted places, and will have to involve a professional to do the job. I think I have no decided, that for the sake of simplicity, I will buy an identical mixer tap to the useless one currently on my sink. The only small change I will ask the plumber to make is to fit a service valve to the hot water feed. There is one under the water heater, but that stops the hot water to both the sink and the bathroom. Being able to shut off just the kitchen sink seems a better idea. There is a service valve on the cold water feed, and that should be sufficient for when the tap is changed.

  For the time being I have found that if I do things like washing up I only do a couple of items, it is easy to mop up the leaking water. It will be a bit tricky on times like Thursday afternoon when I may need to frequently rinse or wash glasses during a beer tasting session, and also tricky if Jodie needs to wash up her food containers (she usually has a late lunch, or early dinner while we are supposed to be drinking). For my own needs I can tolerate the odd way of working for ages !

  I wasn't intending to go out, but I had a good look through my trouser pockets yesterday. Initially it was because I thought I had lost my little Nikon, pocket sized, camera. I had it my jacket pocket when I went out on Sunday night, and assumed it was still there - it wasn't ! It seems I had probably been working on autopilot, and taken it of the jacket, and stuffed it into my jeans pocket and promptly forgotten it was there.

  The point of that long ramble is that while I was searching my trouser pockets I thought I would lighten the load of the rear pocket by taking out all the loose change I had accumulated in there. In these days of so many people just making card payments, it is unusual to get anything exciting in your change, but I found on Sunday night I did get something almost exciting.
  It was a World Wildlife Fund 50p. I can't say it was the prettiest coin I've seen, far from it in fact, and it wasn't in that good a condition. Nevertheless it seemed great that I had it, until I went to put it away with my other "special" 50p coins. Then I discovered it was far less exciting because I already had one that I had forgotten about, and it was a lot brighter and shinier, and a lot less scuffed.

  During the day, and indeed in the evening, I did my best to moderate what I was eating. I have to admit there were a lot of unexciting time yesterday, and with no distractions the temptation to snack or nibble was rather high. I mostly resisted, but "mostly" is not the same as resisted. One distraction from snacking was lunch, and almost but not quite proper lunch. It was about half a small roast chicken.

  I bought the ready roasted chicken from Tesco on Sunday, and it was reduced price because it was on it's sell by day. I pulled off the legs and wings, plus a little extra meat, and gave it 3 or 4 minutes in the microwave. I was hoping to say it was delicious, but in reality it was too tender, and almost watery. I probably should have given it 10 or more minutes in the mini oven to crisp it up a bit.

  My snacks between meals should have been quite safe. They were all stuff on rice crackers, where "stuff" was either cheese and/or German salami (Aldi own brand), and some had some sliced tomato on top. The big unknown, because I didn't check, was the Salami. Very often sugar is used as part of the curing process of meat, and I have no idea if that salami had loads, or no sugar in it.

  I didn't watch much Star Trek last night. I could swear blind that the episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, was a repeat from only a few weeks ago. It is as if they only have one season of that Star Trek, and they just repeat the same dozen episodes over and over again. I am probably wrong, but that is how it feels.

  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was, at least, an episode I hadn't seen for ages, but like over half of Deep Space Nine episodes it was pretty tedious. After a few minutes I turned over to Channel 4 who were showing an episode of The Simpsons that had far more entertainment value - even if it was also a repeat, but the last time it was shown was probably years ago.

  When The Simpsons had ended I switched back to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but it was so tedious I went away and prepared my dinner, and then concentrated more on eating that then watching the TV. It was a double helping, in one bowl because they were small helpings of instant noodles - chicken and paprika flavour from Poland. Star Trek: Voyager was a typical tedious episode, but I did watch most of it.

  I have usually been going to bed, initially to read, after Voyager ends, but last night I turned over to another channel (possibly "Yesterday") and watch an episode of "Abandoned Engineering". It seems the newer episodes have toned down all the not really existing "Wow" factor, and are doing more explaining. They still string out what could be a 5 minute segment to 20 minutes or more, but it is far more watchable.

 When that finished I did go to bed. I think it was at 9pm. I read for a while, and then seemed to fall asleep quite easily. I had let my room cool off before going to bed, and so the duvet felt pleasantly warm instead of roasting. I still I sweated a bit in the first part of my sleep. My sleep seems to have been almost dreamless, and although I think I had one dream, I cannot remember a thing about it.

  What I do remember is waking up for a pee around 1am, and turning the heater on low for the night. It was not until an hour or so before getting up that the room seemed warm enough to almost discard the duvet. I think I can only remember getting up twice for a pee, and the second time was probably around 4 or maybe 5am. When I finally got up I had another pee, but it was more habit than need. It was almost as if my blood glucose was very low.

  Sadly it wasn't very low at all ! My newest and older blood glucose meter said 8.7mmol/l and 8.6mmol/l respectively. That is not untypical, but still a bit higher than desired. The oldest meter said 9.4mmol/l. and that is definitely too high. Oddly enough the readings on that meter for the last 4 or 5 days have been higher than the other meters. I wonder if it is because the test strips are now aging, or if it is just the order I have been taking the measurements. Tomorrow I'll will try and remember to use that meter first.

  Today brings a slight excitement. I am expecting Alan, Jodie's boyfriend (and possibly Jodie too) to pop around at about 2pm. Alan will be picking up a rucksack he left here last Thursday, and he will be dropping off an interesting toy for me. It is an iMac that has been doing the rounds of a few people because, although modern to my eyes, it is too old for the latest Apple software updates. It had (to my eyes) a relatively modern Intel 2 or 4 core processor, and if I can install it, it should run Linux like a dream. I think Alan said it is an all in one device with the processor and stuff built in behind the screen. I can't wait to see what it is all about, and hopefully use it to replace the chunky PC on the dining room table.