There is a lot of blue sky visible as I write this, and the sun is just peeping over the top of nearby houses. It is obviously one of those days which cannot be properly forecasted because the latest revision has split up the sunshine and sunny spells, shown in the early screenshot above, and scattered them across the first half of the day. Meanwhile, The BBC has filled in the spaces between sunny spells with light rain. At the moment it is looking like the original Met Office forecast could be good for a few more hours. The highest temperature today could be 11° C, but tomorrow could see just 9° C. Tomorrow could see sunny spells (BBC) or white cloud (Met Office), and from sunset there could be light rain.

    A lot of yesterday could be described as bloody miserable, but there were a few highlights during the day. It was a day when I part failed at some of my ideals/targets, but I think I might have mentioned yesterday morning that they were not set in stone (or words to that effect).

  It seemed so cold, gloomy and wet, that it seemed unlikely I would go out, but I did ! On the grand scale of some of my exercise walks it was not a very long walk. On the other hand, it was a long walk for a simple shopping trip. By luck I seemed to find a time when the rain had turned close to drizzle for much of this walk. It was, of course, still unpleasant, but better than battling through some of the driving rain that fell (sometime sideways) earlier, and most definitely sideways during the gale force winds later.

  The most important stop on my little outing was to the cash machine outside the Tesco Express store on the Lewisham end of the high street. When I got there I found the front glass of the machine had been part shattered. It was toughened glass and gone sort of crystalline rather than completely broken. I could barely see what was showing on the display, and did my transaction by a mix of guesswork and a very poor memory. It worked ! I got the £200 out I wanted.

  I say it was the most important stop, but I really meant it was the one reason to go out. I still had adequate "beer vouchers" in my wallet, and I could have waited maybe another week before getting more cash was almost essential. While out, and passing by the secondhand shop anyway, I called in to see if they had anything good in. They did. They had three decent looking cameras, and a couple of lenses.

  The best camera was probably a Canon 550D. It was pretty old, but in good looking condition, although I think it was a bit expensive. They had a Nikon D40....at least I think it was a D40. It is a fairly elderly camera, 2006, and about the same age as my Nikon D80. One difference is that the D40 (or it may have been a D40X with a 10.2mp sensor instead of 6.1mp) is listed as an "entry level" camera, and my D80 is an "enthusiast" camera (just below "professional).

   I think the other camera was either a Sony or Panasonic, but I paid it much less attention. They also had a a few lenses. One was of marginal interest, but I am certain I know a cheaper secondhand place for lenses. I know that place has much cheaper cameras, although the cheapest are sold as "body only" and you have to have your own lenses to put on them. While perusing their website I noted that my favourite lens (a Sigma 24 - 70mm) for my favourite Nikon (the Nikon D610) is now listed for £179. I originally bought mine for £150 ! A more modern version of the lens was listed at £1059 - GULP !

  I didn't buy anything from the secondhand shop. I continued to walk in the same direction, without crossing the main road to go home, until I came to the Polish shop. In drizzling rain, with my coat done up tight, it seemed to be quite a long walk, but it isn't really. I went in the shop to see what instant noodles they had, and what beer they had. I found a whole heap of instant noodles, and quite a few were of flavours I had never tasted before. I half filled a carrier bag with them. I also found one beer I had never seen before, and bought two bottles of it.

  I then headed for home in the miserable drizzle. Despite having a carrier bag of goodies, I felt rather cheesed off when I got home. Fortunately my bedroom was still slightly warm, but I turned the heater on low as I dried out. In theory I was going to fast between breakfast and dinner, but I could not resist trying one of the new instant noodle flavours for lunch. It was "ramen flavour", and it had a sort of seaweed hint to the taste.

  With some warm food in me I turned the heater off, and kept it off for about the next 4 hours. I couldn't really think of anything to do for the rest of the afternoon. I passed some time reading from my book, and also some technology news stories from https://www.theregister.com/, which has started publish stuff again after a long lull over the Xmas holidays. At 5pm it was time to watch Star Trek: The Original Series. It was one of those episodes that was "so good" that I can't even remember what it was about !

  During the first commercial break I rushed down to the kitchen to prepare my dinner. It was a very simple affair - roast/grilled bacon and sprouts. I didn't even bother with any seasoning, except for a splash of hot pepper sauce halway through eating it. What I forgot to confess was about the same time I turned the heating back on, maybe about 4pm, I had a snack of rice crackers and Cheese.

  I ate my dinner while watching Star Trek: Enterprise. It was also not a great episode. The series has got to the point where it is all about tracking down The Xindi. It is a sad plot device for the writers to churn out variations on the same thing episode after episode instead on new and exciting plots. Oh well, at least we got to see T'Pol topless (although she did cover her boobs with her hands).

  One little thing I did after Star Trek was to go to the Royal Mail website to track my latest Amazon order. It is a sort of Xmas present to myself.
  It was (hopefully) good news. I felt optimistic that it would be delivered at least halfway between the two times shown, and that would mean I would still be able to go out for my Wednesday lunchtime drink as usual (catching a train sometime after 12.30).

   There was no Star Trek: Voyager on last night, and so I had half an hour to kill before I could go to Channel 4+1 to watch The Simpsons. It was not a great episode, but it was still pretty good, and raised the odd smile. I think I followed that by an episode of QI....or did I go back to reading while waiting for that ? Anyway, I watched QI, and I could have stayed watching to see an episode (or maybe edition ?) of Have I Got News For You, but it seemed like it should be bedtime.

  I read in bed for 20 to 30 minutes before trying to go to sleep, but nothing happened. It may have been around 10.30pm that I got up again, and looked at some more stuff on the internet. I ten tried for sleep again, and this time there were hints that I was beginning to feel sleepy. It was probably near midnight before I fell into what seems to have been quite a deep sleep.

  I only have a very vague memory of getting up for a pee in the small hours, and I think I woke up some time in the very early hours to adjust my pillow, but most of the night is just a blank until 3.30, which I misread as 5.30am, and briefly got out of bed to turn the heater up full - rather earlier than intended. It took a bit of time to get my room nice and warm, warm enough to partly kick the duvet aside, and re-enter deep sleep.

  It was just after 7am when I got up. I felt sort of rough, but I can't quite decide how, or indeed remember what was so bad about it. once I got moving I only felt 3 steps away from death instead of 1, or something like that. What was significant is that I was quite keen for a pee. As far as I am aware I only went once in the night. It had been a long time since that happened, and it bode well for my blood glucose measurements.

  The Contour meter read a nice 7.7mmol/l, and the GlucoRX meter read a similar 7.9mmol/l. The Sino Care meter showed a typical for that meter, odd reading of 8.4mmol/l, but even that is good, particularly compared to some of the terrible readings towards the end of last month. Before I went any further I weighed myself. It was before I had a poo 9although even when I did manage a poo it was tiny). It showed another very small drop in weight, although not so good as some readings prior to the battery in the scales going flat. The first reading with the new battery was very bad, but doing the calibration procedure improved the reading by half a kg !
 
  I took a break from writing after my first paragraph or two so I could wash my hair, and have a shower. This was so I would be ready to rush out after my parcel was delivered. After doing so I checked the Royal Mail website again....
  This was not great news. It suggested there was a chance I would have to stay in all day, on high alert, waiting for my delivery, but I usually see the Royal Mail parcel van around here semi early in the morning. I was lucky it didn't come while showering !


  It was just after 10am when my doorbell rang, and it was my parcel. The parcel had my Xmas present to myself - a new leather jacket.  I ordered the second largest size, 4XL, and assumed that if it was a t-shirt it would be a very baggy fit. Sadly it is a very snug fit, but unlike my last, and still wearable (just about) leather jacket, bought 30+ years ago, I can do this new one up. As I say, it is a very snug fit ! With luck it will stretch a bit like wearing in a new pair of shoes.

  The great unknown now is .... do I dare wear it to the pub today. In theory it should be dry, and so I won't have to worry about zipping it up, but if it does start to rain it could be a struggle to get that zip done up  (although no problem as it gets nearer the top).  With luck I shall slightly decrease in size if I can keep up my current eating regime, and with luck the jacket will be hard wearing enough to last 20 years (or enough to be buried in it). It is genuine leather, but only sheep's leather instead of probably stronger cows leather.

  So the plan for today is to go out in another hour or so. Buy a couple of Turkish delight treats for Ayse, my favourite barmaid. Do a tiny bit of train photography on my way to Ladywell, and then have a couple of pints of Guinness in The Jolly Farmers. I may possibly walk home from the pub, but getting the train for a bit more train photography is more likely.

  Once home I will have to fight the temptation of putting the heating on for a few hours, and the temptation for a snack or two. If I give in to that it will only be rice crackers and cheese, They seemed to be OK yesterday. Tonight's dinner will be roast lamb with more roast sprouts !!