The forecast has been revised since taking the screenshot above. The day is now shown to be completely grey, and completely dry. I would not be surprised if a later revision added at least one shower at some time during the day, possibly many times ! This morning started at 4° C, but now the temperature is very slowly rising to 7° C by 3pm, and it may stay there until midnight. Tomorrow may see 8° C, and it will be much brighter. The Met Office predict a single hour of sunny spells, and the BBC say full sunshine all day tomorrow. I expect reality may be a sort of average of both.

   Yesterday seemed to be dominated by waiting for my Amazon delivery of my fourth blood glucose meter. I didn't do much while waiting, and I didn't do much after it arrived at about 1.30pm. It meant I couldn't go out for my usual Wednesday lunchtime drink.

  Not being able to go to the Jolly Farmers was an annoyance, although there was no reason why I could go out later. I did have a shower in the morning, and although my hair was not perfectly clean, I was presentable enough if I had gone. One oddity about my delivery was that it initially seemed like it would get here unusually early. I had the Amazon tracking page up, and could see where the delivery van was supposed to be.

  It got closer and closer, and then it went along the road with the new flats between the two railway lines here in Catford. I have observed that the drivers, Amazon, and others, often seem to take a bit of time there. It is fairly high density housing there, and some of the blocks of flats are 5 or 6 stories high. That is plenty of reason why delivering there can take some time, but my driver seemed to be stationary for almost a full hour.

  I suggested that there was a "knocking shop" operating there. others suggested he was having his lunch - it was around 1pm. I didn't think Amazon drivers were even allowed to stop for a pee, and so it is doubtful they could stop for lunch. I guess that also makes it unlikely that the driver would be able to stop to visit a lady of "negotiable affection" ! Anyhow, my new, and fourth, blood glucose meter was delivered at just gone 1.30pm.

  I couldn't wait to try it, and as soon as I had unwrapped it all, inserted the batteries (supplied in the kit) I did a comparison against my Sino Care meter. On this occasion they both closely agreed, and they both gave a very high reading of 12.1mmol/l. That is dangerously high ! It was 4 hours after I had my double dose of instant noodles for breakfast, and in that time I would have expected the peak would have passed.

  Such a high blood glucose peak has forced me to revise my eating habits. This morning I only had a single portion of instant noodles, and if i were not drinking later this afternoon I might have tried to not have any lunch.  I shall be drinking (I hope) and I think I will use up some almost, if not actually past it's best before date, grilled bacon as a greasy stomach liner before beer is added.

  Back to yesterday, and after testing the new blood glucose meter I didn't really do much at all. I was feeling a bit depressed to have missed my lunchtime drink. There was actually another mild reason not to go to The Jolly Farmers. I had been told that there was a wake happening in there, and only half or less of the public was open for non mourners. I doubt that even half the pub would be that packed, but most of the seats could have been taken.

  I passed a lot of time quietly reading. I have now passed the halfway mark of the Helliconia trilogy by Brian Aldiss. It is a 1274 page novel, and it is very heavy reading in the literal, and literary sense. The problem is that a lot of it is not a linear story, and instead it is more like history told in discrete chunks. It is also not my idea of SciFi. The background might have a Scifi flavour, but there is almost no science to most of it. I will read it to the end, but I doubt I will ever re-read it.

  Last night was another night when I didn't fancy a hot meal, well, not the diced beef and leeks stew I had cooked, and was ready to serve. This time I didn't order a takeaway. I just had a very simple dinner of rice crackers and sliced German salami. It was almost healthy, but the salami was quite greasy, and I did have a lot of rice crackers. I suspect they are only very safe in moderate quantities - say, about 10 crackers. I may have eaten 20.

  I watched the usual Star Treks, and then channel hopped for a while to pass some time. I did and didn't feel tired last night for some reason. Maybe it was because I knew I would have trouble sleeping. I think I was in bed around 11pm, and I read for maybe another half hour. I was not comfortable in bed, and although it is often at least a minor consideration, it wasn't how hot or how cold I felt. It was lost of assorted aches and pains that kept me awake until nearly 1am.

  It is hard to say just what all those aches and pains were because they varied so much but how I was laying in bed, the angle of the pillows, and other little annoyances. I think I might have hit on what I am trying to say - lots of little annoyances adding up to a big annoyance. Once I finally got to sleep I seemed to sleep fairly well, but when I woke up a couple of hours later I had the old problem of being too hot or too cold. That was about 3am, I think, and I just turned the heater up full, and eventually slept almost uncovered.

  I did have some dreams last night, but I think they were probably re-enactments of some of what I had been reading, but I can't recall enough details to confirm or deny it. My blood glucose readings this morning were 2 good readings, one very good, and one terribly bad. Both the Contour and Sino Care  meters read 8.4mmol/l - a slightly below typical average. The GlucoRX meter read a very good 7.7mmol/l, and the new Vivachek meter read a terrible 9.6mmol/l.

  This morning I concluded that trying to take 4 readings from one finger prick just doesn't work. The sample for the new meter was the last one, and the composition of the blood had obviously changed because the first reading was something like 10.6mmol/l. I pricked another finger and tried again. That is when I got the reading of 9.6mmol/l. That still seemed far too high compared to the others. I have a feeling that this new meter uses a different measurement system.

   The test strips seem to have 4 measurement points. It may be because this meter can give high ketone readings as well, although I must admit I am unsure the meaning of ketone readings - apart from I know they can rise, and it is seen as a good thing when on the the Atkins, zero carbs, diet. All I can do for now is to use the very freshest blood on that new meter, and see how that compares.

  This morning I may go to Tesco for a few bits and pieces. On the other hand that could lead to unwanted temptations. I have plenty to eat here even if it may not be what I want to eat. Maybe the first bit of action today will be beer tasting with Michael and Jodie. I shall definitely eat my ready cooked diced beef and leek stew tonight !