There are a few extra hours when no sunshine is expected according the latest revision to the Met Office forecast, although the BBC forecast still shows a lot more full sunshine, and sunny spells for a few hours without full sunshine. Both forecasters agree that today will be nice and warm, and maybe even tickling the bottom end of hot with an afternoon high of  22° C.  The first hours of tomorrow may start dull, but by mid morning the sun should break through for another sun filled day that may take the temperature up to 23° C.
 
   Yesterday was another good and bad day. The ending was annoyingly bad, and the morning was hard work, but that brought it's own rewards. The afternoon wasn't bad.

  With the possibility of a parcel delivery (of beer) in the morning, I tried to speed things up a bit. I started writing fairly early, and didn't have a great deal to say. That meant I finished writing early. I didn't have my usual rest after writing, and ended up under the shower a lot earlier than most mornings. After my shower I put quite a few bits of laundry in to soak in detergent because I had "a cunning plan". This time the plan came to fruition.

  Not being caught in the shower when my parcel delivery arrived was a reason why I did the above so early. By the time I was dry, clean, and dressed, I still hadn't had any notification that my parcel would arrive. I still couldn't be sure because I was under the impression that the beer company did their own deliveries, and they may not be fully set up to send advance warning like most courier companies do. On the other hand, there were a few things I needed, and so I went shopping in Tesco regardless.

  The stuff I wanted, or bought from Tesco, included a couple of ready made salads. I know they do some fairly nice salad, including their own take on a Greek style salad, but I have never seen them in they Catford store. I bought what I hope is a nice red cabbage as an ingredient for home made salads to go with mock shish kebabs. I bought two packs of diced chicken for those mock shish kebabs.

  This time I remembered I wanted to buy a can of Bicarbonate Of Soda, and dropped one in my shopping basket. I had a chance to try it last night, but more about that further down the page. Over in the drinks department I bought two bottles of genuine Diet Coke, and two bottles of Tesco own brand sugar free cola. I also noticed, and bought, another one litre bottle of Haig whisky. It was on Clubcard special offer, and although the price is creeping up, it was still cheaper than buying the 70cl bottle that has no Clubcard discount. If I had felt I could have got a full 10 litres of drink in my rucksack I could also have bought a discounted bottle of Bushmill's whiskey.

  Walking, in just shorts and t-shirt, to and from Tesco seemed generally painless, although with 9 litres of drink in my rucksack, and a fair bit in a shopping bag, the walk home took a fair bit more effort. I was quite glad to get home again. At that time it was too early for lunch, and so I only had a short rest before I got back to the laundry  had left soaking after my shower.

  It was only two t-shorts, although one was of thicker cotton than the other, and maybe 5 pairs of underpants, but it didn't seem to leave that much room in my big builders buckets. It would have been easier to take a break halfway through doing it, but I stuck to it, and did all three rinses, and the conditioner in one operation. Then I had the pleasure of hanging it on the washing line to dry in the sunshine.

  I did feel very tired after all that work, but it may have been the fault of more than the hard work. In the first hours after I got up I had to visit the toilet several times. The latter visits were just one step removed from diarrhoea, but it all seemed to have settled down before I had my shower. It would return in the evening in a big way ! By the start of the afternoon I felt tired, but otherwise OK.

  I still had a few hours before I expected Jodie to arrive for a beer tasting session. I used that time for a quite read, and also to have some lunch. In theory I should have been trying to fast because of my high blood glucose readings in the morning, but I had bought a reduced price "special summer" salad. It was basically bulgar wheat/tabooli with mostly spinach leaves and pomegranate seeds. It was almost quite nice, although I did spoil it with rather more chilli sauce on it than was wise (and that may have contributed to a stomach upset last night).

  Jodie arrived more or less on time, and we proceeded to make our way through about 5 small (330ml) cans of beer shared between the two of us. They were all from Beer 52, who coordinated many small brewers to produce/label their beers on the theme of London Underground. Some of them seemed to have no more than the London Underground roundel on them, but others had names that were sort of relevant, and one, just to buck the system, was named 188, and that is apparently the number of the bus that passes their brewery.

  At least one of the beers was biassed more towards Jodie's tastes than mine, but fortunately that one was still almost enjoyable.  It was actually a fairly pleasant session. As usually happens now, Jodie brought me a copy of The Metro, and while she lost herself on doing stuff on her phone, I could do the quick crossword, and even solve a whole three cryptic clues ! I also read some of the news. One item was about the Astra Zenic Covid 19 vaccine causing blood clots. I shall ask the cardiologist, when I see her next Wednesday, about this because I had two Astra Zenica jabs, and it might be possible that my angina is caused by blocked arteries - blocked by blood clots. My interim treatment has been blood thinners and clot busting drugs.

  Before Jodie left I spent a bit of time in the kitchen making up my dinner. It was a sort of homage to a shish kebab using meat balls with baby tomatoes, mushrooms, and a small sliced onion, all grilled/roasted in the same pan. It was all ready to eat once Jodie had gone home. I have to say it was rather nice, and didn't obviously seem too rich, but maybe it didn't help what came a few hours later.

  Like, it seems, every evening lately, I watched Secrets Of The London Underground. It finished at 8pm, and there was nothing I wanted to watch later. I was feeling quite weary, and so I went to bed to read for possibly a full hour. I felt fine at first, but while I was laying in bed I could here sinister gurgles from my lower insides. It was soon after that I played the game of "Fourteen".

  The game is named after the maximum time allowed to rush to the toilet. Fourteen and a half seconds is playing very dangerously. Fifteen seconds and you earn a forfeit of a clean pair of underpants. The very first time was actually 14 and three quarters of a second, and I realised that the fart I thought I was about to do seemed rather dense for a gas. I have to confess that for the second time in the last 6 weeks, I ended up with a thin "skid mark" in my underpants, and had to change into fresh underpants.

  I lost track of how many times I did that 14 second dash, but sometimes I had barely made it back to my bedroom before I was rushing back to the toilet. That went on for a good few hours, although in the end it was usually no more than a small splash of "rusty water". The odd thing is that I felt generally OK when I wasn't actually rushing to the toilet, or just sitting on it for long periods. It was rather nice that the temperature outside was still very mild, and I didn't feel cold sitting on the toilet with the window open.

  I said I felt generally OK, but towards the end when I was actually trying to lie down in bed (earlier on I had given up on my bed because it was easier to rush from my desk chair). I started getting heart burn. It was my chance to try out my newly bought Bicarbonate Of Soda as a cure for heartburn. It was an unusual situation to do a proper test, but I think it helped. It certainly gave me some of the most powerful burps for ages.

  It was probably about midnight when I felt OK to lie in my bed, and to go to sleep. Midnight does not seem exceptionally late until I realised it was three hours after I thought I needed to get some sleep. I didn't sleep well for the first hour, and that was partly because I was feeling a bit cool when I woke up. Until then I had not had the heater on since the morning, but I turned it on low, and seemed to start sleeping better after my room reached a more comfortable temperature - warm enough without the duvet, but too hot without it.

  I woke up at 6am, as usual, and did a few of the usual things, like checking my blood glucose, but then I went back to bed. It didn't feel like I had more than 5 minutes sleep, but all of a sudden it was 8am. I decided I ought to get up, and get ready enough if the parcel of beers was sprung on me with no forewarning. Fortunately I now have a predicted time of delivery between approx midday and 2pm, or probably at 1pm !

  I am happy to say that my blood glucose readings were far better this morning after the blip up into the danger zone the day before yesterday. There was no similar good news about my weight. I had hoped that after a complete empty and flush through, I ought to weigh at least a little less, but my weight has hardly changed a bit over the last week or two. On the plus side, I may feel my gut is a little less bloated this morning - which should be no surprise after all the trips to the toilet, both in the morning, and in the late evening yesterday.

  This morning two of my blood glucose readings were boringly normal, but one was a bit good. The Contour meter read 8.2mmol/l, and the Sinocare meter read 8.4mmol/l Both reading would be slightly below last years average, but particularly for the last few months I have done a lot better - as good as the GlucoRX meter read this morning, 7.9mmol/l. I should still try and take extra care today, but I did allow myself a double (small) portion of instant noodles this morning. They did seem to help fill an echoing cavernous hole in my guts !

  At the moment I can think of two things I will do today. The most important is to be near the front door when the beer delivery arrives. If I think I'll have time I will have a shower before I wash the small towel I will use to dry myself. With luck I will have the energy and enthusiasm to get the washing in detergent,and the endless rinses done, to get it ready to hang on the washing line in the sunshine. I have to say it felt great to bring in yesterday's washing all nice and warm, and bone dry, after hanging in the sunshine.

  In theory I could have time to go out for a walk in the sunshine this afternoon, but I don't know if I will - even if I should. Although I don't seem to feel tired now, I still have it in the back of my mind that I have a large sleep deficit. A nice afternoon snooze could feel nice, and I could spend a lot more time trying to catch up with editing all the TV programmes I have recorded over the last few months.
        







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