This morning has started quite mild with the temperature almost reaching 16° C (my thermometers seem to agree on 15.8° C). I am still waiting for the first sunny spell. Over to the west there is a fair bit of blue sky to be seen, but in the east, where the sun should be, it looks rather grey. Assuming the sun eventually breaks through it should be a day of nice sunny spells, but may only warm up to 18° C (according to The Met Office). A clear night will let the temperature drop down to 10° C, and according to the BBC there will be mist and fog from the early hours until late morning. The Met Office say no mist of fog !). Tomorrow may be dry, and sunny spells once the fog lifts (if it ever happens) should take the temperature up to around 16° C.

   I have no idea why I think/thought it, but it seemed like yesterday may have been exciting. The alternative explanation is that in between a lot of boredom I did things that I couldn't wait for today so I could explain them, and/or show some pictures.

   One of the things about yesterday morning was I was wondering if I was going to have a beer delivery sprung on me at short notice. It was possible, although unlikely. I meant I didn't dare go out, and I didn't dare get stuck under the shower in case the doorbell rung. It also meant that I would not be attempting to go to the pub at lunchtime. That would have been unlikely anyway because my favourite barmaid was on holiday, although I did consider walking to the station to pick up a copy of The Metro, and maybe ending up walking further into the park.

  I seemed to have a lot to say yesterday, even if most of it was just trivia to make the previous day seem more exciting. I also started writing a bit late, although only just after 9am, and the end result was that I finished writing late enough that I only had time for a short rest, and a bit of reading before it was lunchtime. My lunch was another bowl if instant noodles. It was a big (100gm) pack, but that is not as big as the double portion I had this morning. That totalled 120, or 130gm.

  During the afternoon, as I waited for any news about a beer delivery, I started to generate some pictures to show here. I have always liked to have the tools to measure stuff - whether sophisticated electronic stuff many years ago, or simple stuff like my blood glucose  measuring meters, blood pressure meters, thermometers (clinical and non clinical), plus scales to weigh the big and small.
   I have always known that when weighing myself it is necessary to at least take your shoes off (if I am on my own I will always strip down to my underpants). Yesterday I weighed a pair of favourite trainers, bought from Aldi, and they seem unusually comfortable. They weigh 0.67kg, and when clutching at straws that small amount seems very significant.
  These are a pair of Lee Cooper, Converse look-alikes, and once again they are favourite, and well worn, almost to the end of their life, comfortable pair of trainers - particularly now they are well worn in. They weigh 0.883kg, and leaving those on while weighing myself would make quite a difference when every milligram is counted. Incidently, this weigh also includes typical socks I would wear with these trainers. The socks are tucked inside them.

  Like a few days ago, I seemed to spend quite a lot of time finding and editing old photos I had taken of tube trains to add to my spreadsheet of Underground/Tube trains. Yesterday I was reaching back as far as 2003, and some of those old photos needed some work to make them presentable. There were probably more unusable photos than usable. The problem in those days is that shutter speeds were often slow in low light, even light on a cloudy day, let alone in a tube station, and getting sharp pictures was really hard.
  This picture was obviously taken in the open air, and I think it was taken at Rickmansworth. It was taken in 2015, and I used my Canon Powershot SX40 camera. It was actually quite a good camera at the time, but was soon superseded by Cameras like my Nikon P500, or for more demanding uses, one of my DSLR cameras. Anyway, it gave a nice sharp picture, although the camera had quite a powerful zoom lens, and zoom lens shots always foreshorten to view. It makes an 8 car train look as if it is only 50ft long.
  I don't think I've shown a Central Line Train in these recent series of tube train pictures. This shot was also taken using the Canon Powershot SX40. It was taken at Greenford on the central line. A less well lit picture would show some old semaphore signals over to the left of the picture, and I think one of my pictures does show them.
  One more from 2015, and again taken using the Canon SX40. This is a Bakerloo line train photographed at Queens Park station. It was not intentional, but it seems I have taken very few Bakerloo line trains. It is probably because I have mostly ever used them in the large underground part of their line. I must do something about that in the future.
  Back to 2006 now, and a picture of an A60/62 stock train, the predecessor of the Metropolitan line train shown two above this picture. The picture was taken at New Cross station, the combined National Rail and East London Line station. When used on the Metropolitan line, these trains run as an 8 car (2 x 4 car) train, but on the East London Line they run as just a 4 car train. For a while they set some aside and gave them some special branding, but otherwise they could run on the East London or Metropolitan line.
  I must admit I thought this picture was a lot older, but once again it was taken in 2015 using the Canon SX40 camera. It shows an old District Line D78 stock train at Barking. It was not too long after this that the D78 stock was retired, and replaced by S7 stock that is almost identical to S8 stock used on the Metropolitan line. The big difference being that S7 stock is formed into seven car trains, and S8 stock into eight car trains. Many of the old (1978) D78 stock trains were bought for further use, with modifications on the National Rail network. One experiment was a completely battery operated train for short branch line use. I think it may have gone experiment now, and is now in full use somewhere.
  This picture does go back to 2003, and was taken on my first ever digital camera - an Olympus C-100.  Once again it shows a D78 stock district line train at Barking station. The obvious difference is that this train is in almost original livery. Most of it is in unpainted aluminium, but to satisfy later safety considerations it has the red panel on the lower half of the front. I think I am correct in saying that was a later addition.

  It was about the time I was starting to finish going through my old photos (and there were more than shown here) that I finally got an email to say DHL had picked up my box of beers, and that it would be delivered some time today. I hoped it was would be this morning some time, but that is not the case much to my great annoyance.

  It was also time for dinner, and I had a three course dinner. That may sound a lot, but it was not supposed to be, and maybe actually wasn't. My doubt is the result of weighing myself this morning. My first course was cheese and Marmite on a dozen small rice crackers. The second course was two small Jazz apples with a chunk of extra mature Red Fox (Red Leicestershire) cheese. The third course was just 4 "no added sugar" biscuits.

  TV was a bit dismal again last night. While eating I watched Star Trek, and I think it was mostly Star Trek: Enterprise. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was another of their "what the hell do we write about for this episode" episodes. It was a tedious script about tedious Klingons and their honour and traditions. I can barely remember what Star Trek: Voyager was about. As I try and remember I seem to see bits of old episodes, and nothing stood out about last night's episode.

  I did watch an episode of QI last nightg, and it was one of the better Sandi Toksvig episodes. I think very few of them matched the standard of Stephen Fry's episodes. At least last night some of the guests were interesting. There was a period of time when Sandi's guest panelists were chose not for their knowledge or entertainment value, but for being her lesbian friends.

  QI finished at 10pm, and I went straight to bed. Maybe half an hour later I was fast asleep. I think I woke an hour later to turn the heater on low, and it was on for the rest of the night. Maybe, being able to sleep half uncovered was the reason I seemed to sleep so well last night. At least I think I must have slept well because I can't seem to remember much about the night. I know I got up maybe twice for a couple of small pees.

  I also know I woke up just a few minutes to 6am, and had to get up to pee. I decided it was just a bit too early, and went back to bed (after my pee). I laid there, and was just about to give up because it seemed I would not be able to get back to sleep, until suddenly it was about 7.15am ! That was definitely time to get up, and I went for another rather small pee, but sadly, despite a lot of wind, I could not poo, although it seemed to feel like I should.

  I was very disappointed when I weighed myself. It seemed like I had put on 300gm, but like the morning before, a decent poo would probably have taken care of most of that 300gm. Several hours later and I keep thinking I am ready to poo, but still nothing happens. I am no more than very mildly uncomfortable, but still sort of annoyed that nothing has happened yet.

  The lack of big pees in the night, and knowing what I ate yesterday, lulled me into a false sense of security before I checked my blood glucose readings. They were nothing to be cheerful about....except maybe one of them. The Contour meter read 8.8mmol/l. That is not terribly high, but I had hoped it would be better. The GlucoRX meter was different with a reading more like I hoped for at 7.8mmol/l. The Sinocare meter, on the second attempt, after opening a brand new pack of test strips, read exactly the same as the Contour meter, 8.8mmol/l.

  This morning my blood pressure, specifically the systolic pressure is higher than usual. It is 117mmHg, and 106mmHg is more typical. It is still in the optimum area, and the diastolic pressure, of 47mmHg is very close to my typical average. My pulse rate, 53bpm is also very typical. I think the high systolic pressure is because of some stress I am currently under having now found out the expected delivery time of my box of assorted beers.

  This afternoon the main entertainment is the first day of The Catford Beer Festival happening in The Catford Bridge Tavern. I think it starts at 4pm (when I think they open), and I am meeting Jodie and Alan there at about 4pm. Michael may join us around 5pm. It is possible Kevin my join us as well, although he hasn't responded to any of my messages. The big annoyance is that my beer delivery is due to take place between 17:32 and 18:32. That means I will have have to leave the pub at about 5.10pm, and rush home, wait for the delivery, and it could be a long wait until maybe 6pm, and then rush back. Typically DHL deliveries are a bit early, although it depends on the driver, but I feel being home very soon after 5pm would be prudent.

  The good news is that as in the last 5 minutes, I am no longer constipated. It feels so much better, although getting that way involved some discomfort. It was at least 300gm worth, and I suspect I'll be depositing more in the next hour or two !