08:56 BST

  The good thing about yesterday was that there was no rush to do anything, and I ended up doing very little. I did stick on the rubber sheet patch over the crack in my bathtub, but I never got any further with it because I wanted to allow plenty of time for the glue to dry. I'll have to do the rest of the job today.

  With the bathtub temporarily out of commission, I couldn't have a shower yesterday. I had the briefest of "cat lick" washed using a flannel on the worst bits, but I was mostly relying on the power of the "48 hour protection" of another spray of deodorant to keep me smelling fresh when I later saw both Jodie and Michael. Of course I also put on clean clothes as well.

  There was one thing I did that gave me some good satisfaction yesterday. It was to take my new, cordless strimmer out into the back garden, and with no sense of any finesse, I strimmed my way along the garden path, and around where the brown, garden waste, wheelie bin was standing in what should be a lawn (instead of dense weeds).  Having cleared the way, I moved the wheelie bin closer to the back door.

  After it's washing out a month or two ago, and the bottom covered with some genuine garden waste, the bin no long stinks. Of course, unless I add a lot more garden waste, it will start to stink again because the whole point of yesterday's exercise was to put compostable kitchen waste in the bin as part of a quick clean up in the kitchen. I think I only had to wash up the bowl I had used for breakfast, and wipe the work surfaces down.

  After that I could get really lazy again. I spent some time reading, and I probably had a quick snooze. I don't actually remember a snooze, but I find it incredibly easy to let my eyes close when laying on my back reading. Even my lunch was very lazy. It was just the remains of a big-ish bag of crisps - possible about half the bag. Then there seemed nothing to do but wait for Jodie to arrive for another beer tasting session.

  Once again, Jodie arrived with the remains of another hangover after a good session the night before, but she seemed to be in a good mood - despite catching one of the rain showers on her way here. She shied away from some of the very strong beers seem to be stuck in the fridge(s) waiting for a good day, but was happy to try a couple of Abbey style beers around 5 to 6% (actually at least one beer we had was closer to 7%).

  Once we started drinking I sent a reminder to Michael to say he was very welcome to join us. At about 4.45pm he messaged me to say he was just leaving the care home where his wife now lives. I think he arrived here at maybe 5.15pm. He said that his wife was in a very difficult mood, and it was obvious that he enjoyed coming here so he could unwind and have to people to speak to.

  One special treat for the drinking session is that I turned the heater on low for a couple of hours before we started, and had mostly kept the door shut so by the time Jodie arrived, slightly damp from the rain, it was pleasantly warm in the dining room. I turned the heater off once we started drinking, and it seemed to stay comfortable in there all the time we were drinking.

  It was my intention to not resort to using any heating until we were well into autumn, but there were times yesterday when it felt closer to winter starting.  At least the heater was only on for about 2 hours, and only set to 1kW instead of 2kW. It was really only because I had visitors here, and I wanted a nice comfortable room for drinking in. I don't think 2kW-hours would really dig too far into my reasonably good built up credit on my electricity account.

  After Jodie and Michael had left (Jodie first) it was time for dinner. I am sure I mentioned yesterday that as a result of my bad eating on Wednesday, I thought I had better just have some soup for dinner yesterday. That had the advantage of being relatively low calorie and relatively low sugar content while still being hot and filling - particularly after eating three cans of soup - a bit more than I expected to have.

  Having three cans of hot soup was almost needed because my bedroom was quite cool last night. As soon as I had finished watching a bit of TV I was in bed, under the duvet while reading for half an hour or more. I must admit that with three cans of soup sloshing around in me, along with all the beer too, I was not feeling terribly comfortable in bed. One thing was particularly nasty for a short while.

   I had forgotten to take my early evening pills until I was just about to get into bed. I usually take them before I have dinner for the same reason I now always have breakfast when sometimes I might not. I took those pills, which included a large cod liver oil capsule, just before getting into bed, and minutes later I could taste the cod liver oil - and it is such an unpleasant taste. Fortunately it seemed  some mouthfuls of water seemed to wash the taste away.

  Once I had finished reading I think I managed to get to sleep easily enough. It only seemed like it was a single hour of sleep before I had to get up and go for a pee. I guess after three cans of soup, and all the beer I drank it was not really much of a surprise. I woke up another couple of time until 3am when I felt distinctly rather cool, and positively cold in the bathroom, where the window was open, as I had a pee.

  I went back to bed, but I felt too cold and too uncomfortable to sleep. I was suffering from a few well known "winter aches". For the first time since last winter, my right elbow was feeling very sore. I wasn't exactly shivery, but no matter how tightly I pulled the duvet around me I just could not seem to get warm. I reached the decision that I would have to put the heater on, and burn over 3 hours at 1kW. By the time I got up it was only 20° C in my bedroom, still a few degrees below what I consider comfortable in a state of undress after getting out of bed.
  All this was not surprising. Look at how clear the sky was at 7.50am, and what a great shade of blue the sky was. That clear sky came close to giving us a frost. It was  close to just 6° C this morning. I turned the heater off soon after I was out of bed because once I had been to the toilet, and weighed myself I put on long lounge pants and a t-shirt. The sun is not quite at the right angle yet to really warm my bedroom, but it is already enough to keep the temperature stable at just warm enough. I am really hoping that nearer to the afternoon may see it get quite warm in here.

  I actually had to make 2 visits, about 10 minutes apart, to the toilet, where I both peed and pooed, before I could weigh myself properly, and then get dressed. The double visit to the toilet was good because it finally showed I was about 400gm lighter this morning. My weight is still nearly a whole kilogram higher than at the start of the month, but at least it is heading in the right direction again now.

  My blood glucose measurements were perfectly OK this morning, but I was hoping for even better (like every morning). I feel sure that even 3 cans of soup should have been OK, but maybe one more of the beers might have had a high sugar content. I tend to blame the Abbey brewed beers. The Contour meter said 8.4mmol/l, and at least that is just under my old target (8.5mmol/l). The GlucoRX meter read a better 8.2mmol/l, and the Sinocare meter read an even better 8.0mmol/l. It seemed I only just missed having a least one blood glucose meter in the light green area, or between 7 and 8 mmol/l.

  I don't feel all that good this morning, and I think it is almost all due to typical cold weather aches and pains. My right elbow seems to have freed up some time ago, and my main complaint now is lower back pain. I am not sure if it is stiffness in the lower spine, or if it is aching hips. I seems like it might be both sometimes. I have taken a couple of Ibuprofen tablets to see if they help. I might also take a couple of paracetamol if still needed a bit later.

  I have no particular plans for today. There are two things I might do. One is to go shopping in Aldi, and the other is to do a bit more strimming in the garden. The recent rains have made the weeds shoot up all over the place. Ideally I want to chop their heads off before they produce any seeds, and try and stop a new growth - maybe next spring. Of course the first priority is to finish the patch over the crack in the bathtub so I can have a shower, and maybe wash some clothes as well.