Both the BBC (as in the screenshot above) and The Met Office predicted sunny spells this morning. The BBC probably came closer to reality because at first it was rather dull, and damp looking, possibly from overnight rain, but suddenly the sun burst through, and it hasn't stopped yet.At the moment a lot of the sky is blue, although there are also some thin looking, streaky clouds. Maybe this sunshine might last a lot longer than forecast. The forecast actually predicts light rain at midday, and more form 2pm for 3 hours. The temperature should climb to 17° C, and while the sun is out it should feel like a nice day. Tomorrow could be a wetter day than today. Some sunny spells are shown in the forecast, but there is also a lot of rain shown. Most of it is light, but the evening may see heavier rain. Once again the temperature should rise as high as 17° C.

   The grim and grey, and cold day yesterday provided no inspiration to do anything, and I did come close to doing nothing yesterday, but "close to" is not the same as nothing at all. The most simple to describe, and one thing that was definitely hard work, was some laundry.

  I had said I was intending to wash my hair, and have a shower yesterday. I certainly needed to do both, or at least I would have had I had any notion that I might go out or receive any visitors, but both seemed completely unlikely. Apart from cleaning my teeth, and my hands, I didn't bother to get anything else clean. I must confess I was mildly put off by the difficulty of trying the get the water temperature reasonable since I moved the thermostat on the water heater.

   If it didn't start to leak for a few weeks every time it was moved, I would fiddle with the thermostat, and gas pressure to get the water temperature perfect. Sometime soon I will have to take the bull by the horns, and adjust that thermostat again. I'll just need to leave a bucket under the leaking gland until the limescale plugs the leak again. Maybe the urge to do it will be enhanced by the colder days coming soon.

  I included so many pictures in yesterday's electronic diary (this thing you are reading now), and had so much to say about them, plus starting to write late, that it was only a few minutes before midday before I had finished the job. It felt like lunchtime, and my choice of lunch was a can of Tesco's own brand chunky vegetable and beef soup. I think it was the first time I had tried the beef flavour, and it seemed quite nice. It is also low calories and has only about 1.5gm of sugar in it.

  After lunch I laid on my bed, and read for maybe an hour. I possibly had a snooze too. I don't specifically remember having a snooze, but it is still highly likely I did. When I decided I should be active again I went down to the kitchen where I washed up a few things from the sink, and started to prepare my dinner. I first cleaned up some small potatoes, and then cooked them with a couple of cut up chicken breasts and some chicken stock cubes.

  Finally it was time to do the laundry I had felt would be a good idea to do, and it definitely was a good idea because I didn't realise how much was in the laundry basket. It may have only been two t-shirts, and pair of lounge pants, but also 5 (or was it 6 ?) pairs of underpants. It felt like I had reached the full capacity of the big buckets I used for washing clothes and stuff.

  I felt really creaky bending over the bath to do the washing, and my chest was giving strange pains very near the top of my sternum. I think it was nothing sinister - just some sort of muscular ache, but still very annoying. By the time it came to the third rinse I wanted to take a break. I would have toughed it out, but fortunately I was getting close to having a pee with some urgency. I needed to take off my rubber gloves for that, and once I had washed my hands my hands were too damp to pull on the rubber gloves, and I took a 15 minute break, possibly longer.

  After that break, where I had sort of fortified myself with a naughty snack of very low calorie puffed rice and just enough salted caramel fudge to hold the rice together (and so fairly low sugar too), I got back to rinsing out the final rinse, and doing the fabric conditioner. There was only just enough room for everything on the clothes horse without letting any item touch any other item. As usual I used the desk fan to blow at the clothes to help speed up the drying, but it is quite cold in the front room, and this morning it still feels slightly damp. I am hoping the current sunshine will warm the room a bit.

  The next useful thing I did was to complete the preparations for my dinner. I intended to add some broccoli and cauliflower to what was essential a chicken and potato stew. What I didn't realise was that the bag of ready to use broccoli and cauliflower had been in the fridge so long that half of it was unusable. Fortunately there was plenty of bits I could pick out the bag that were still in good condition. I added those, and gave the stew another 10 minute blast in the microwave. It was still a bit early for dinner, but it would only take a couple of minutes to warm it up when the time came.

  When the time came I decided I didn't want that dinner for dinner, and I am not sure why. It may have been that it would have been quite a big dinner, although by no means huge. I made a split second decision that I would have two portions of instant noodles for dinner. That was quite a change, but I did check that together they had quite a low sugar content, and also a semi low calorie level.

  I thought I would be in bed early last night, but I ended up watching an episode of QI and of have I Got New For You on "Dave". I think that ended about 10pm, and I then read in bed for maybe half an hour before turning over, and getting to sleep very quickly. Apart from waking up around 3am with my left elbow aching after I had slept with most of my left arm uncovered, I think I probably slept well last night. I can remember dreaming a fair bit, but I can't quite remember what the dreams were about.

  I woke up just as I was starting to get the first feeling of cramp in my right leg. That was at about 6.30am, and that seemed like a suitable time to get up - even if at that time it was still dark outside. After a pee, and a small poo, I weighed myself. I didn't really know what to expect, but I hoped I had not put on too much weight after eating a bit more than I thought might be good for me.  Unfortunately it seemed like I put on 500gm yesterday. On the other hand, I have just come back from a visit to the toilet, and what I just dropped in the pan might almost have accounted for much of the 500gm.

  My blood glucose measurements were good, good and bad. The Contour meter read an ideal 7.3mmol/l, and the GlucoRX meter was only a tad higher at 7.4mmol/l. Both readings slightly under my latest target. The Sinocare meter seems to be going through a bad patch. This morning it initially said my reading was a terrible 9.1mmol/l. I tried again with a fresh test strip, and blood from a different finger, and this time it read 8.7mmol/l. That is still a lot higher than the other two meters, but at least is not a terrible figure. The big question now is whether the meter has gone faulty, or if I am using a bad batch of test strips.

  As usual (these days) my blood pressure is a very good 101/49. I'm not sure I feel all that good though. One problem may have just mostly cured itself. I did have a bit of a stomach ache, and at east I know why now, although I have an idea it is not completely over. I must say that this morning sunshine is making me feel good mentally, although it is not feeling hot enough to cure some assorted stiffness, creakyness, and other signs of aging bones, muscles and joints.

  I have feeling I know what I will be doing for a good few hours today. I had a message yesterday evening to say that Sue was going to phone me today. Her calls can last many hours, and often straddle the line between interesting and boring. If there was any good proof that this sunshine might last a lot longer I could be tempted to go out for a bit - with the other stipulation that I feel confident this stomach upset is now all over....and as I write these very words I have a feeling another visit to the toilet is on the cards !  5 minutes passes.......just back from a run to the toilet !!