Yesterday started nice and bright, but before the morning was over it turned dull, and stayed that way for the rest of the day. I'm tempted to say there was some drizzle around the start of the afternoon, but I think that was probably the day before. The temperature reached 20° C, and it didn't feel too cold.
       

  Today it seemed time to show the BBC weather forecast instead of The met Office. Not only does this mean I don't have to open a different web browser to see The Met Office forecast (some coding change means it displays rubbish on my every day web browser), but the BBC forecast sometimes seems more optimistic....or maybe correct ! For instance there was some sunny spells early this morning - the Met Office's mangled forecast said it would just be very dull. Nearly all today will be very dull, and it seems there could be as much as a 24% chance of some rain this afternoon. It is going to be an almost cold day with the temperature only briefly peaking at 18° C. Tomorrow could start off wet, but from about 9am it should be dry, and cold. Once again the temperature should peak at 18° C, but not until the start of the evening.
 
   Yesterday was good in places, and maybe in terms of my measurable health, it was actually quite a good day. On the other hand there were chunks of the day which were a bit boring, and lacked even a hint of excitement or fulfilment. On the other hand, two things were quite fulfilling.

  When writing yesterday morning I mentioned that I was considering going to Tesco, but probably only if I decided I would not be going for a longer walk. I guess going for a slightly longer walk was inspired by the sunny spells in the first part of the morning. By the time I emerged from the shower, after washing me and my hair, it had clouded over, and there was no longer any reason to even think about a longer walk.

  After I had finished with the shower and bath tub I left some clothes soaking in detergent in one of my big builders style buckets (or trugs as I think they are often called). By the time I had dried my hair it was looking quite miserable outside, although it seemed very unlikely there would be any rain. It was that which made me decide to go to Tesco, and stock up on a few things, and to look out for something distracting from the dull and gloomy weather.

  Before I went in Tesco I went in to Savers. I was after more antacids, and in particular some liquids rather than chewable tablets. I did buy an expensive pack of 24 Gaviscon tablets, but I drew the line at the price charged for Gaviscon liquid. Near that I noticed bottles of a much less known brand (which I can't even remember) of a liquid antacid that was flavoured with aniseed. Before walking away from that area I noticed that old fashioned Milk Of Magnesia still exists, and I bought a bottle of that as well.

  As far as I can recall, the walk to Tesco was simple and painless despite walking medium fast. There were a few things on my imaginary shopping list, and at the top were cans of soup, and bags of croutons, both in assorted flavours. One thing I was particularly curious about was Tesco own brand tomato soup. I hoped it would have a low sugar content, and while it was marginally lower than Baxters (and probably a lot lower than Heinz 57 times the amount of sugar), it was still annoyingly high - although experience suggests it doesn't cause any problems when used just now and then.

  On this occasion I only bought two 2 litre bottles of Diet Coke, and filled the rest of the space in my rucksack with cans of soup. It was still a very heavy load made worse by the addition of the things I had bought from Savers, and which were in a small compartment of my ruck sack. Other stuff bought was some fish, and what I hoped was the special snack/lunch I had been looking for. It was a "reduced price" edgeless cheese and bacon quiche - reduced because the box it was in looked a bit beaten up.

  I was carrying quite a load when I walked home, and I expected angina, or similar pains to kick in any minute, but I felt completely fine - except for a mild need for a pee - when I got home. I managed to put away most of my shopping before giving in, and rushing upstairs to the bathroom. With the rest of the shopping put away I opened my battered box with the cheese and bacon quiche in it. The actually quiche didn't have a mark on it despite the state of the box. Sadly it tasted a bit bland, and I am not sure that if I had followed the heating instructions it would have been any better. I guess loosing my taste is just another well known symptom of old age.

  I had a rest, mostly just quietly reading a book, for about an hour before I went to finish washing my laundry. There was a fair bit of it - two pairs of lounge pants, a single red t-shirt, and three pairs of underpants. This time I did take a break for about 20 minutes during the washing. It was because I seemed to need another pee. Once I had done the fabric conditioner I hung it all up on the big clothes horse, and turned a desk fan on it. It is still running now. I must remember to check it is all dry when I finish writing this.

  There was one other little job I did that was quite satisfying once I had finished it. It was to clean out for re-use (once I have thought something I can put in it) a candy jar style jar that had a candle in it. I think it was the sixth one I have cleaned up. The jars are very similar to the very expensive "Yankee Candle" jars, but these ones are probably Chinese knock off sold off for just £4 in Poundstretcher. There are two problems with them. Most do not smell all that good (although the Maple syrup one did smell very good). The other problem is that the labels on them are stuck on with some glue that only petrol seems to be able to soften/part dissolve.

  Apart from cooking dinner, cleaning up that candle jar was about the last useful thing I did. I mostly relied on reading, and some TV to keep me amused until I went to bed. My dinner needed very little preparation. I grilled another pair of quarter pounder burgers, and added them to a ready made simple crunch salad. Once again, I used the bowl the salad came in as my plate for dinner. It was a remarkably simple meal, but very satisfying.

  My TV viewing last night started with Star Trek: Enterprise, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Both were reasonable episodes. I do not remember seeing that episode of Deep Space Nine before. I could have watched Star Trek: Voyager, but it was part two of the episode I switched off 2 minutes into it last Friday because it was crap. Yesterday I limited it to the first 15 seconds before I turned off the TV.

  I spent a couple of hours mostly reading before turning on the TV again to watch QIXL, and Have I got News For You. Both were pretty entertaining. It was 11pm when the latter programme ended, and I rushed to bed. At that point I felt fine, but once again, as soon as I turned my side to try to sleep, my chest started to ache. Maybe there were hints of it before I turned over. I reasoned that maybe it was not acid indigestion 3 or 4 hours after last eating, but it gave me a chance to try the aniseed flavoured antacid liquid.

  Despite taking a little over the recommended dose, it seemed to have no effect on the pain. That suggested it was a sort of angina. Maybe the weight of my dinner filled stomach was pressing on, and further restricting one of the arteries to the heart. It is odd though - real angina is quite a strong pain. last night, and on many previous occasions, it is a fairly mild pain, but more than bad enough to stop me sleeping.

  The cure, as in quite a few previous times, was to get up, and dissolve a soluble aspirin in water, and drink that down. It take a while until it works, but it is very effective. After sitting up in my desk chair until almost 1am I seemed to be completely comfortable, and once back in bed I fell asleep very quickly. Two or so hours later I woke up feeling quite chilly, and instead of just an arm and leg under the duvet, I pulled the duvet completely over me (except my head), and slept like that all night. I really hate these late autumn nights ! (particularly those autumn nights in July !).

  I didn't seem to manage to sleep late enough to make up for my lost sleep, but maybe the quality of my sleep might have been better or something. When I did get up, maybe half an hour later than usual, I seemed to feel sort of OK - nothing really ached, and my health readings seemed to be good. Even my weight seemed to be down another 100 to 220gms less (and that was without the benefit of doing a poo first). Of course that amount could be just typical day to day fluctuation, but it does seem that there is still a very small downwards trend. In another century or two I could almost look thin !

  My blood glucose readings were back where they should be - all in the light green (although dark green would be even better, but is very rarely achieved). The Contour meter read 7.4mmol/l - just a bit under my desired target of 7.5mmol/l. The GlucoRX meter read 7.6mmol/l, just over the target, and the Sinocare meter read 7.2mmol/l, and that was best of all. The average of all three was 7.4mmol/l, and that is very satisfying.

   My next target would be 6.5mmol/l, but that is currently really difficult to get near, and so I think 7.0mmol/l might be a more realistic target next. My blood pressure this morning is very good, just 107/42, although my puse rate seems a bit higher for some reason. 55bpm seems typical for me, but it was 60bpm when I read it a little while ago. Maybe my good blood glucose readings excited me or something.

  I think today I am going to do more shopping. I have thought of two reasons to go to Aldi today. One is to see if I can find a birthday card for Ayse, my favourite barmaid. Her birthday is in a weeks time. If I waited until next Wednesday I would miss her birth date by a day. Giving her a card 6 days before her birthday is a bit odd, but is the only way to give it to her before here birthday. Once in Aldi I can also buy a 9 pack of toilet paper, and probably loads of other stuff, but after recently shopping in Tesco I ought to try and stick to long life stuff - liked canned soup and similar stuff. That looks like my entire day is now planned !