One thing is almost certain today, and that is that it should reach 16° C, and stay there for most of the afternoon. Both forecasters say it will be, and is, a sunny morning. The Met Office says the afternoon will feature white cloud, but will stay dry. The BBC predict a lot of mostly light rain in the afternoon - some of which will turn in to thunderstorms. Tomorrow could be bright and dry with lots of sunny spells in the morning, and the temperature should reach 17 or 18° C. The day after tomorrow, the bank holiday Monday, the day of the Petts Wood May Fayre (usually good for a few bands on) may be a slight, or complete washout !
 
   Yesterday was quite a good day, but it did have a few negative moments. Actually it did have a huge negative, 3 to 5 hours long, negative moment - the copious rain, and very dull skies ! I had to find things to do indoors, because there was no way I was going out in that !

  There was a second reason for not going out, and that was the terrible sleep I had had in the night. It made me feel very lazy, and wanting to snooze. After writing this electronic diary I laid on my bed to rest, and read, and hoping to have a long snooze. If I remember correctly, I didn't actually have a snooze. Things like a text reminder, reminding my data allowance on my mobile phone had ended, and to buy some more, woke me up just as I was slipping into the arms of Morpheus.

  One very important thing I did do before the morning was over, was to log onto my bank, and my two credit cards. My current account was looking rather healthy - at least up to the time when I paid my credit cards. The thing I most wanted to check was that my pension "pay rises" had happened, although the last state pension payment was not for a the full amount of the new rate, but only half of it because the rise came between payments.

  One of my credit cards was owing a fairly small amount of money because I have been using the other credit card for most things. That second credit card was owing a rather higher than usual amount of money because I had bought the new camera lens on it. It is all paid off now, and possibly overpaid because I always pay the full amount shown, and not the amount on the monthly bill, but it all works out the same in the end.

  As well as paying the bills, I also wanted to check what TFL had charged me for my train ride to Waterloo East when I went for my MRI scan. I saw the initial charge, just a small amount taken the first time I had ever shown an Oyster reader my credit card, just 10p,  that appeared in my transaction list the same afternoon, but the full charge only appeared some days later. I hadn't checked again until yesterday, and I saw the charge was £4.40. I guess the full charge would have actually been £4.50, but the initial 10p was subtracted from the full charge.

  I can't help but feel I have forgotten something because the only other thing of note that I did yesterday was to finish washing the towel I had been using as protection on my pillow when either the heat, or consuming hot chilli, or other spices, made my head sweat. I had started the job the day before, and yesterday it just needed 4 more rinses, and wringing out before I could hang it up to dry - in the dry, indoors !
  There was one other important thing I did, although it didn't take that long, and was not very taxing - except for some backache because I was working standing up. It was to do a bit of washing up, and then prepare my dinner in the middle of the afternoon so it would only need 15 or 20 minutes to finish cooking prior to scoffing it in the early evening. That dinner was inspired by a special shish kebab.

  I filled what is really a pie dish with ready diced beef, a few cut up mushrooms, 4 or 5 baby tomatoes, and a single red bell pepper. I finally sprinkled on a bit of salt, some black pepper, and chilli powder before grilling/roasting in my mini oven/grill. The final bit of cooking may have over cooked it a bit, but it was still very nice, and formed the inspiration of more similar meals.

  Ideally it could have been served with a big side of chips, but I wanted to try and keep it mostly healthy, and had just what you see in the picture. Much earlier in the afternoon I had a sort of lunch of rice crackers, and Greek aubergine dip. I had never tried aubergine dip before, and I found I didn't like it. It was not exactly horrible, but I just couldn't bring myself to enjoy it's slimy texture.

  I felt strangely good and bad yesterday. The good was mostly my mood. I was very satisfied with my finances when I did my banking, and that made me feel happy. Yet there was something that made me feel physically a bit off colour, and I had no idea what it was until much later in the afternoon/early evening. During the start of the morning I was satisfied that my bowels seemed to be operating very normally - several medium sized stools that were not too hard, and easy to pass.

  I thought my guts were in good form then, but later in the afternoon I started a lot of farting, and some of them were really eye watering ! It smelled like something had died - by schoolboy tradition is was obviously a rat ! I can't remember if it was 5, 6, or even 7pm when I was just starting to pass another fart when I realised it was not just gas. I had to rush to the toilet where I did a very big, wet and sloppy poo, but worse than that is that I found a substantial "skid mark" in my underpants. For the last 68 years it has been a very rare occurrence in the extreme that I have had to change my underwear during the day !

  I must admit that after that incident I did start to feel quite good, or even better. Skipping forward a few hours, and passing over that I watched two episodes of "Secrets Of The London Underground" before going to bed, and then maybe an hour after that, I laid down to try for sleep, and didn't get any heartburn, or angina, in fact nothing to stop me falling into a deep sleep.

  I think I was probably asleep by 10pm, and maybe even earlier, and I slept so soundly that I can't seem to recall waking up until about 4am. That is a definite record - at least for the last 3 to 10 years ! I needed a very large pee when I woke up. On the way to the toilet I turned the heater up full because it was feeling a bot cool in my bedroom. As the room warmed up I fell into another deep sleep, but at a few minutes after 6am I woke up in a "hooray, it's time to get up" sort of feeling.

  Unsurprisingly, after such a good clear out yesterday, I have not "been" this morning, but I don't feel constipated, although I have a feeling that something may happen in the next hour or two. Maybe that good clear out was good for my blood glucose readings too. The Contour meter read a very nice 7.2mmol/l. The GlucoRX meter read a nice 7.6mmol/l, while the Sinocare meter initially started with a backfire. It read 9.2mmol/l, but I tried again with a fresh test strip, and then it read 7.8mmol/l, and that roughly fits with the other two meters.

  Last night I forgot there was a gig I was really curious to attend. It was G Force, who I have seen, and enjoyed several or more times, playing in The Fellowship pub (next door to Bellingham station, and so very convenient to get to). The Fellowship got off to a good start, and then went a bit crap after they reopened following years of closure and refurbishment. Then Covid 19 just stopped everything. It seems that the pub, who have a very decent stage, with full theatre lighting (if anyone is there to operate it), are maybe now trying a new slant for a new season of entertainment. Quite how it will pan out is anyone's guess, but it would have been good to see G Force on that great stage.

  Tonight there are two gigs I would like to get to, and yet I wonder that when the time comes if I will be in the right mood to go out. Some of it depends on the weather. There is a bigger chance I will be going out if the dull but dry Met Office turns out to be correct, or if the BBC's thunderstorms happen. If the latter then it is highly unlikely I will be going out. If I get keen in the extreme then I can get a train to Hayes where Caz and Steve are playing in the pub opposite the station, and then after taking half hour of steps there I could get the 314 bus to Bromley, and se if I can squeeze in what is probably going to be a really rammed Partridge pub where MT Pockets are playing. If I do make it there, and it is as busy as expected, it might be an in and out, with 10 minutes of frantic photography before I am on the bus home.
        







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