All the icons featuring the sun peeping over a raining cloud want to suggest that it could brighten up by 10am, but while it might be a bit brighter, I do not believe we will see the sun until mid afternoon. The latest revision shows white cloud from 10am until sunset, but it still shows a 60% chance of heavy rain at midday (in the latest revision) despite the white cloud with the sun peeping around the side of it. Today should see 14° C, and that may feel OK in the afternoon sunshine. Tomorrow may feature a few sunny spells, several gloomy hours, and just 13° C.

    Yesterday's gloom induced me into a melancholic sort of state. Maybe that is the wrong word for it, but it still meant I had no get up and go, and very little desire to do anything. It even altered my eating habits ! I spent some time just cleaning the lenses, topping up the batteries, and checking the date and time on the rest of my cameras.

  Once again, playing with my cameras, while it could be considered essential maintenance, left me feeling very disappointed that all I could do was to take pictures of the wallpaper instead of real views outside, with a blue sky, and golden sunshine....or maybe in the semi gloom of a pub gig with my flash gun bouncing off the ceiling.

  There was just one more obviously useful thing I did yesterday, and it was to hand wash a pair of black sweat/jogging/lounge pants. I never know how to describe them apart from saying they were quite a thick pair, which makes them handy when it is cold indoors, but makes wringing them out and interesting bit of exercise. They dried overnight, and I guess I should put them on and turn off the heater, but that would be too sensible.

  It was hard to fight off the idea of comfort eating yesterday, and I almost managed it. I had at least one snack of rice crackers and cheese. At lunchtime I scoffed a pair of cheese and onion  slices - a sort of vaguely cheese flavoured good, with the merest delicate hint of onion, in a puff pastry roll. I only bought them because they were reduced in price, although not exactly a bargain, because they were on their sell by date. They didn't seem to have much sugar in them, but maybe more than would have been ideal.

  My dinner was supposed to be a chicken salad. I had cooked (but not overcooked this time) the chicken with an assortment of herbs and spices (many of which would loose their tasty flavours during cooking). All I had to do was to prepare some salad ingredients, but I just could not be bothered. I wanted some "nice" to brighten my life up. In the end I had a chunk of cheese plus the last third of a bag of ready to eat Iceberg lettuce. Oddly enough it was very satisfying.

  I might even have left it there, but I had earlier decided that I was going to have a tub of low calorie, and also low sugar ice cream. If I had not left it out of the freezer to soften up, I might have no bothered to eat it. I couldn't even try to refreeze it because it had been defrosting long enough to become partly runny around the sides, and I doubt that would refreeze as ice cream. The annoying thing is that some of the melted parts seemed to have concentrated the salted caramel flavour a bit too much, and spoiled the flavour.

  There was another block of 5 back to back episodes of The Avengers last night, and that did for my daily TV entertainment. After the last one finished I went to bed, and read for a while, but I was probably asleep very soon after 9pm. The outside temperature was about 11° C last night, and it took only low heat to keep my bedroom warm enough to throw the duvet aside, and sleep comfortably.

  The one dream I can part remember seemed to be influenced by Star Trek and the book I am reading ("Starman Jones" by Robert Heinlein). The first bit I remember was being on a crowded bus, and I seemed to have a girlfriend (or girl friend) with me. I can't seem to remember her face, but she was dressed a lot like T'Pol from Star Trek: Enterprise. She unexpectedly got off at the bus stop before the one I was going to get off at.

  The bus stop I got off at was on a road called Wandsworth High Street, although it looked nothing like the real one. I was heading for a college for a training course, although I didn't know what it was about. I can't remember consulting any maps or other information, but I seemed to go directly to the right classroom where I introduced myself, and signed in. Once it seemed everybody was there, the tutor/lecturer introduced herself, and announced that the course was about the care of cows !

  I think I woke up soon after that. It was time to check my blood glucose readings. I had hoped that eating the cheese and onion slices early in the afternoon might have been long enough for my own feeble supply of Insulin to have dealt with the worst of the sugar from those. I also hope that past experience with Oppo, low calorie ice cream would still hold good. It did. The Contour meter read a good 8.1mmol/l. The GlucoRX meter read a very good 7.7mmol/l, and once again the Sino Care meter read a sane 8.3mmol/l.

  One problem I had yesterday and today, and quite a lot in the recent past, might possibly be linked to the Turmeric, Ginger and Black Pepper tablets I have been taken. Yesterday I was constipated, and didn't go at all, although I was quite comfortable. This morning I was no longer constipated, and made a rather large deposit in the toilet. Missing the occasional day is not particularly unusual, but the result of it has seemed to become quite painful because of "hard stools".

  I should have recorded when I started taking those Turmeric, Ginger, and Black Pepper tablets, as recommended by Michael, who has had many bowel problems. I should also have recorded my bowel movements to see if they became troublesome since taking those tablets. Of course it is easy to say that after the fact. This morning, and for at least a week, I have omitted to take those tablets, and I'll see if it makes any difference. If not than it must just be ordinary bowel or prostrate cancer.

  The amazing thing at the moment is there is some weak and water sunshine just squeezing through a crack in the clouds. Just that little bit lifts the spirits a bit. The latest revision to the forecast shows only sunny spells from about 3pm until sunset, and now only a single shower at midday. It also now shows a couple of hours at 14° C. This is all a whole lot better than the early forecast.

  I doubt I will be making an use of the improved weather - except that it does raise the spirits a bit. A few minutes later and it is dazzling 99% pure sunshine - even better ! The main event today will be a visit from Jodie to taste a few more beers. In the meantime I hope I can enjoy an hour of laying on my bed with sunshine pouring through the windows, and looking at the sky, which has lots of small patches of blue, it is starting to feel like it might be possible !