As I write this the sun is too low in the sky to provide proper sunshine, and the sky is a bit cloudy. If the latest revision is correct, there should be full sunshine from 9am, and it will continue for 10am. After that there will be sunny intervals until 6pm when there may be full sunshine until sunset. The temperature should peak at 27° C. Tomorrow is currently forecast to be non stop sunshine from sunrise to sunset, and that should take the temperature up to 32° C.
° C. 
   Two things influenced my whole day yesterday, and maybe it was only those two things combined that meant I didn't do much at all yesterday, and what I did do was not a 100% success. Those two things were the gloomy weather, and the long wait for my postal delivery.
  Now I must admit that I did get plenty of warning about when my parcels would be delivered, although a 4 hour window is a bit vague. There was stuff I could have done while waiting, and the simplest would have been to take a shower, but I didn't. I just slipped into lazy mode, and didn't do a thing until lunchtime when I ate some rice crackers and cream cheese. Meanwhile the nasty grey sky was getting at me.

  My parcels, or I suppose they were just packets arrived at about 2pm. To my delight, it was actually two of the Kayak CDs I had ordered from Amazon. There is still one to arrive, and that is coming all the way from Belgium, although why that should take a lot longer than the one that arrived from Switzerland is a mystery. The last tracking information showed it had made two moves in Belgium, and was probably waiting for clearance for shipping to the UK.
  The first thing I did once I opened the packets, and got the cellophane protective wrapping off the disks, was to start ripping the disks to mp3 files for easier playing on my computer. I was a bit worried about the first disk I ripped on my main PC. The disk drive seemed to be having difficulty, and so I also ripped them on the dining room PC. I needn't have worried because the first rips on my main PC didn't seem to have any audible errors.

  Kayak, a band from Holland whose lyrics are all in English, have changed personnel many times over the years, and even had a long holiday between 1982 and 1999. Only one person has played on every one of their albums, and that is Ton Scherpenzeel. That should provide some continuity, but the later albums are quite different to their early albums.

  My first listen to these albums, Anywhere But Here (2011), and Out Of This World (2021), has not really impressed me. They do sound like Kayak, but nothing on them seems "exciting" - except maybe one track that did feebly shine out. Maybe that will be the hook that gets me to start to enjoy at least the album it came from - and as I write this I can't even remember the name of the track !

  I hadn't sat down to listen to the albums by 3pm, but while they were ripping on the computers, I did start the laundry I said I would do when writing yesterday. Once the disks had been ripped it seemed that my laundry had had enough soaking in detergent, and I then went on to finish the job. It was only four items - a pair of shorts, a single t-shirt, and two pairs of underpants. I seemed to finish the job quicker, and more easy than I thought. The only trouble was drying is all on the washing line.

  In theory I should have had a shower before doing the laundry, but I could have had one after doing the laundry. I could have then gone out to Tesco to buy a new kettle (if they had a suitable simple one), but I wanted to, and did lie down and listen to the two new albums.  With very few exceptions, I always have a hard time listening to new music for the first time, and I think I almost fell asleep while listening.

  One thing that kept me awake was eating a small (450gm ?) tub from Iceland's "My Protein" range of foods, of chocolate ice cream. It was supposed to be moderately low calorie, and like other stuff from that range of foods, it was also had a very low sugar content....or at least it didn't seem to have a negative effect on my blood glucose measurements the next morning.
  My dinner, which was the next event in my day, was another of Iceland's "My Protein" range. It was Tandoori Mixed Grill with rice. Like the ice cream it does have a bit of a watery taste, but bits of it seemed OK. It is nothing like the illustration on the packet. The biggest discrepancy was the shami kebab (like a lamb sausage) was sausage shape instead of being sliced as per the picture. I was tempted to have something for dessert after this, but it seemed strangely filling enough.

  Maybe not having a dessert after might have been a good thing because when I went to bed, after watching three episodes of "The New Avengers", and then reading for half an hour, I had no indigestion, and no discomfort to stop me getting to sleep quite quickly. Incidently, The New Avengers seems to have started as a semi serious series instead of the silly comedy that the last series of the original Avengers was.

  I'm not sure what time it was that I fell asleep, but I think it was before 10pm. I seemed to sleep well with only a few interruptions such as getting up for a pee. One curious things is that I seemed to have "episodes" of the same dream theme all through the night. All concerned being in outer space, and all were more like watching stuff in outer space - maybe on a TV, or maybe just from a distance. I can't recall feeling weightless, or even having to wear a space suit.

  Much of the dreams were about considering stuff. The first I can remember was about assessing the possibilities of sending fish from one spacecraft to another in a plastic bubble like container. I have no idea where this idea could have come from, or even why anyone would want to do it, but it did lead on to an interesting question. Can you make a bubble of air in space ?

  It turned out that you could, but it was so unstable that it would dissipate in seconds. I think the original question was whether it could be sustained long enough to transfer a man without a space suit from one craft to another. The answer was  definitely not ! Something like this question, and then variations on saying no seemed to crop up in short dreams through the whole night. The most weird of the dreams was about being outside a pub that was floating in outer space, and once again involved oxygen bubbles. I can't seem to remember any point to that last dream.

  It seemed like I must have had a good sleep because I woke up just after 6am feeling just about wide awake, and feeling sort of OK....maybe almost good ! I did need to go to the toilet though, and once there I did a pee and poo, albeit a rather small poo considering I don't think I remember going at all yesterday. After getting back to my bedroom I got on the scales, and saw my weight was exactly the same as yesterday. In one sense that is good, but ideally it would have been a bit lower.

  It seems my hope that the ice cream, and dinner I ate both contained small amounts of sugar was rewarded this morning. Both the Contour and GlucoRX meters read 8.0mmol/l. I would have liked a little bit less, but that is still a good reading. The Sinocare meter was only a little higher with 8.2mmol/l. That gave the lowest daily average this month of 8.07mmol/l. If, and maybe it is a big if, I can continue this trend, I should be back on the lower readings before the end of the month. My blood pressure this morning is still in the "optimum" area with 105/52. A diastolic pressure of 52 is a little bit higher than usual, and my pulse rate of 59 bpm is also a bit higher than usual (for the morning), but still in a very safe area.

  I think I have plans for this morning that I am likely to carry out. I most definitely need a shower, and washing my hair would be very good too. Once I am dry, and have cooled own, I still want to go to Tesco to see if they have a cheap, basic, electric kettle to replace my leaky kettle. I'll also get some bottles of Diet Coke as well, and I would be surprised if I didn't get some food too.

  Depending on the time, either before or after lunch, I may wash a bed sheet, and possible some pillowcases too. With today being hot and sunny it would be a shame to waste it. The trains from Elmers End seem to be running today, and so this afternoon I should have a visit from Jodie for another beer tasting session. That means I won't be going out to frolic in the sunshine, but tomorrow, when it should be very hot and sunny, I somehow need to force myself out to enjoy the hot sunshine. I just wish I was fit enough to go for a 6 mile walk over Blackheath. That was fun, in a sort of masochistic way, in 2020.