This morning started with a frost, and that was a big clue that the temperature was lower than the forecast 4° C. My thermometers said it was just a tad over 2° C, and maybe it was even lower earlier in the morning. As the sun was starting to rise the sky lit up in pinks, oranges and yellows. That is the traditional warning (red sky in the morning, shepherds warning) that we can expect horrible weather, and yet the latest revision to the forecast predicts sunny spells or sunshine until sun set. The temperature should rise to 11° C by mid afternoon. The temperature should stay up to at least 9° C overnight, and tomorrow could see 12° C, but it seems it will be a rather dull day with no sunshine at all forecast except by the BBC who say sunny spells in the afternoon, and a possible temperature of 14° C !

    Yesterday was another moderately good day. I did two notable things, plus a bit of washing up and dinner preparation, and cooking. Actually there could be three notable things, and that last minute third was to have a shower before going out into the big wild world to get some shopping.

  I was not sure if I really wanted to go out yesterday. I was feeling neither good nor bad, and I wanted to stay that way. On the other hand there were a few things I wanted from two shops, and so I put on a warm coat, but didn't zip the front up before I went out (or at any time while I was out). It seemed mild enough to not need zipping up, and I didn't want to overheat. With hindsight I would have been comfortable in a much thinner coat.

  The two shops I went to was Savers and Poundstretcher. There were a few vitamins I wanted to get in stock before the previous ones ran out, and I also wanted to get some more shampoo and conditioner. One thing I have never bought from there before was some detergent. I have been buying that from Aldi for countless years or more, but I found a bottle of Surf that seemed like it was probably cheaper than Aldi's own offering. It was tangerine and cedarwood (or something like that) scented, and that could be good or awful - I'll find out the first time I use it.

  Then it was over the pedestrian way to Poundstretcher. I think I was mainly going there to buy food - particularly a couple of boxes (of 3) of the bitter orange chocolate biscuits I discovered a fortnight ago. They are very nice, and although their sugar content is not very low, just one doesn't seem to make much difference. With only three in a box there feels less temptation to eat just one more, because doing that twice would finish the box. That may be weird psychology, but it seems to work.

  Other food I bought was some assorted instant noodles, and a packet of tomato flavour baked puffballs. Their sugar content was a lot higher than expected, but even after eating the whole 70gm bag, I seemed to get away with it. Another purchase from Poundstretcher was a couple of neoprene  wrist support bandage things.  I know why I bought them, and I also know why I didn't need to buy them. In the morning I noticed that the neoprene support bandage I was wearing was getting smelly. I thought I should buy new fresh ones while at the same time as that thought I had placed the one I was wearing in with some t-shirts I was washing.

  While I was in Poundstretcher I got a text message from Michael to say that he had 4 bottles of Diet Coke in his car, and he had a spare 5 minutes to drop them round to me. I walked home as fast as I could - which was not terribly fast because the shoes I was wearing don't seem to be fast. However, I kept up the fastest pace I could manage, and got home with no special pains, and only breathing moderately fast/deep.

  Yesterday was the first time I had seen Michael in person for a fortnight or more. It was my first opportunity to quiz him about what was going on. He confirmed that he still spends most of his day at his wife's side in the hospital, but does come home to go to sleep. Apparently, after lots of tests, his wife condition is a sort of dementia, but is apparently caused by something akin to sepsis from a urinary tract infection. She is being pumped full of antibiotics, but there has been no change.

  No change except for one thing - Michael is considering leaving the hospital this coming Wednesday to take a breather, and maybe a quick drink (possibly non alcoholic) in the pub with me. It would be unfair to encourage him to have more than a minimum of booze if he is going back to the hospital, but it would be good if he joined us here on Thursday, and had a few strong beers before going home to bed.

  After Michael had left I put my shopping away, and had some lunch. It was just going to be plain rice crackers and "Seriously Strong" spreadable cream cheese, but while that stuff may have a bit more of a taste similar to cheese, and far stronger than terribly bland Philadelphia cheese, it is far from "Seriously Strong". I am not sure it is even mildly strong ! I hadn't intended to do it, but I could not resist trying the tomato flavour baked puffs, and I scoffed the entire bag. The ironic thing was that I did so because I was desperately trying to find the full tomato flavour. They did have a hint of tomato, but I found them rather disappointing in that area.

  After laying down to read for a while, I found the enthusiasm and energy to wash the two t-shirts and neoprene wrist support gizmo I had left soaking after I had my morning shower. It should not have taken long, but it seems even the t-shirts needed two extra rinses before I was happy that the water was running clear enough. I am wondering if out water is softer or something, and that is the reason it is so hard to rinse stuff. Anyway, I hung it all up to dry, and returned to lazy mode.

  Later on I put the finishing touches to my dinner of a pork casserole with pak choi, broccoli, onion, and a single sliced red chilli.  The last ingredient, and added just before the last 7 minutes in the microwave was Chinese five spice.  Putting it in late didn't work as well as when I added the five spice after the meat was just about cooked, and before I added the vegetables.

  I ate dinner while watching the first of 4 (I think) back to back episodes of The Avengers from the Diana Rigg/Emma Peel days of the series. One episode was curious in as much as I seemed to recognise so many faces in it. One actor was Paul Eddington who went on to be Jim Hacker - the minister, and then prime minister in "Yes Minister". Many of the cast would be almost regulars in the great TV entertainment churned out by ITC.

  I think the last of the back to back episodes finished at about 9pm, and I went to bed to read my book. I didn't seem to read much before I started to feel very sleepy. I hardly remember anything after putting the book down, and turning out the light. I must have fallen asleep very quickly. That set a precedent for the rest of the night. Although I woke up a few times, usually for a pee, it seemed like I fell asleep very quickly after going back to bed. The one time it took a bit longer was when I was feeling cold, and turned the heater up full. I think that may have been 3am.

  The quality of my sleep was such that I was out of bed at about 6.10am. I haven't been up that early in a long time, and surprisingly I seemed to feel moderately good, or not bad, or without any serious complaints, but maybe a few of the usual ones at a very mild level. One thing spoiled the goodness, and that was I didn't, and still haven't, had a poo. I think I should need one, but nothing is stirring yet - a casualty of being careful about what I have eaten recently, and still maybe an effect of the day before yesterday's 24 hour fast.

  After being a bit more liberal with what I ate yesterday (it did include a couple of minor snacks) I was not expecting to get very good blood glucose readings this morning. Fortunately they were not bad. The Contour meter actually gave a very good reading of just 7.1mmol/l, but the other two almost agreed on a higher reading. The GlucoRX meter read 7.9mmol/l, and the Viva Chek meter did it's usual of reading the highest, but not by much this morning. It was 8.2mmol/l - which is still lower than my typical average.

   My running average for the month, which includes all the silly high readings from the Viva Chek and Sino Care meters is still only 8.38mmol/l, and that is lower than the averages of the previous 3 years. I seem to be doing something right, and that is almost reflected in my weight. This morning, without having a decent poo, or indeed any poo at all, is equal to the lowest reading I have had so far this month. It is a shame I cocked up twice this months and had two little peaks. Without them I could have seen the lowest reading since the days when I was doing 5 mile walks for exercise.
  One of two other surprises this morning was that very colourful sunrise. I took the picture at 7.34am, or 11 minutes before actual sunrise. Ideally I would have been outside with clear horizons all round, and with a super wide angle, panoramic lens, because all the clouds in the sky were tinted red or pink. Only to the east was there a huge yellow and orange glare from the rising sun.

  The real surprise about the sun rise is not how glorious it looked, which indeed was a pleasant surprise, but how it contradicts the weather forecast. "Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning", or one of several similar bits of weather lore, say that a red sky in the morning warns of coming storms, and possibly heavy rain, and yet today's weather forecast is still predicting a very sunny day. it is indeed sunny as I write this.
  Another surprise this morning was seeing a Royal Mail parcel delivery. I sort of knew this could happen, because The Royal Mail have to compete with courier companies, some of whom, but not all, deliver on a Sunday. I don't think I have ever seen it happen before, but it was probably a bigger surprise for the recipients of the parcel who may well have had to get out of their warm bed at 08.12am, on a Sunday morning, to answer the door ! (Nice bit of parking !).

  Today there are a couple of things I have to do, and one of them I need to do quite early. It is to empty the waste bin in the kitchen because it is getting very whiffy. I'll empty the recycling bin at the same, ready for an influx of more bottles and cans this afternoon. Other than that, I can be quite lazy today, and save my strength for another late Sunday afternoon beer tasting session with Jodie.