Clear skies through much of the night allowed the temperature to hit 0° C early this morning. Sunny spells and sunshine should raise the temperature to 4° C by midday. Full sunshine should shine from midday, but even before sunset the temperature will drop a degree, and like yesterday, it will be down to 0° C again by midnight. Tomorrow is currently forecast to be very similar to today, but tomorrow the maximum temperature may only be 3° C !

  Yesterday turned out to be quite a good day, and although the goodness sagged a bit later in the day, it was revived just before midnight. One highlight of the day was the delivery of what turned out to be 2/3rds of one of my two beer orders. It came in time to report on it before I finished writing yesterday.

  The other third will be a smaller box from the Chiltern Brewery, and it should be five bottles of Oatmeal Stout that, fingers crossed, should be very nice - provided it doesn't seem to be tainted possibly with bleach. That was the impression I got from my first sip of the bottle of Chiltern Barley wine that I sampled yesterday. The hint of bleach seemed to go away after a couple of sips, but there was something, that I can't describe, that made it less nice than hoped for. It is very optimistic, but I hope I just stumbled on one single rogue bottle.

  Time seemed to be slipping away after I finished writing yesterday, and so I never did have the shower, and shampoo I thought I might, but I did have a flick with a damp flannel, and that seemed good enough to carry out a sort of masochistic plan to go out and stretch my legs.

  I put on what I keep describing my thickest, hooded, winter coat before stepping out into the light rain. That coat is blue, but I have a similar coat that is orange, and may be equally thick and warm. One subtle difference is that the orange one not only does up with a zip, but it also has press studs to hold down a small flap that make an even more waterproof seal over the zip.

  Either could have kept me warm and dry when I went out into the murky outside world. None of the rain was very heavy, and sometimes it was no more than drizzle. Unfortunately I shrunk the picture of me doing my Nanook Of The North impression down too small to easily see that I am covered in raindrops. The picture was actually taken just as I was almost home from my short walk.
 I am unsure if the policeman driver of this police car thought that popping into the coffee shop was of sufficient urgency to park in the middle of a designated bus stop. He would be most surprised if he came out of the shop and found a double decker bus sitting on top of his car.
  The prime reason for my walk was to test out my winter coat, not worn since last winter, and possibly not even then. My last memory of it was that it was a bit tight. Yesterday it seemed a trifle tight as I pulled the zip past the worst of my belly, but it seemed to be almost roomy at chest height, and that was much more important. It made it a lot more comfortable to wear than I last remember it.

  It wasn't another reason for the walk, but it was a handy time to do it, and it was to test a pair of jeans that I have rarely used in the past. I am sure they are over 10 years old. Yesterday they slipped on very easily, and seemed very comfortable to wear. The second main reason for going out was to pick up a copy of The Metro so I could attempt the crosswords, and maybe read a bit of news.

  Of course while I was at the station getting my copy of The Metro, I also took the picture of the train above. It was taken on my mobile phone because I had forgotten to take a proper camera with me, but I wonder if that mattered. It was pretty good photo considering it was taken on a very dull and wet day. I am not sure a real camera could have done any better. Unfortunately this picture and the other two coming up soon, were not of any trains I needed to complete my set of pictures of the whole fleet.
  My walk to the station took me close to the limit of my current range. Being in a warm coat did help to reduce some of the pains I would get, and the minute or two I spent at the station allowed me sufficient rest for the mild hints of oncoming angina to fade away.  I knew that even starting out like that on the way home would not be enough to get home still comfortable.

  What came to my aid was hearing another train call at the station. My walk home took me as far as just passed the end of the platforms, and also at a spot where it was easy to hold the phone up to take pictures through the gap between two stands of barbed wire at the top of the fence.  Once again my mobile phone excelled itself when I took this snap - once again under a very sullen sky, and through some very light drizzle.
  When I took this snap of the rear of the train in the previous photo, the train had picked up a fair speed. I was a bit amazed, and very happy that the phone's camera had seemed to use a fast enough shutter speed to stop any motion blur. It does make me question why I need to take a proper camera with me when taking snaps of trains. The answer is that I usually take more than just pictures of trains, and real camera allowed better and smoother zooming, and just more control over various parameters.

  At just 0.63 miles, it was quite a short walk, and yet it felt very satisfying, and also there was no time when I felt anything more than some mild, quick to fade, discomfort. I was quite surprised I kept up a reasonable speed. I will admit I paused the tracker while I was on the station so I wasn't measuring while I was effectively stationary.

  I didn't pause the tracker while I was taking pictures through the fence, and I must have been standing there for over a minute waiting for the train to pull out of the station, and a shorter period of time waiting for the train to pass me so I could get a picture of the back. Had I paused the tracker there as well, my average speed might have been a bit higher.


  I got home and indoors feeling rather good. The feeling of having done the daft walk in the cold and rain, and come through it unscathed completely offset any small discomfort. I was aware that I was breathing quite hard when I got home, but it was far from feeling short of breath in any way. It was definitely a good thing that my coat had get me almost completely dry, and also warm without feeling too hot. I had no desire to take off my coat as fast as possible - as often happens after lugging heavy shopping home.

  I came away with the feeling that provided I stopped for frequent rests/photographic breaks,  I could comfortably attempt some longer walks in atrocious weather. There is one caveat about this idea, and it is relevant to taking photos. While my body was warm while I was out yesterday, my fingers were getting very cold by the time I was on my way home again. I should have worn gloves as well, but while I think I could just about operate a big camera with gloves, I don't think I would stand any chance of operating the camera in my mobile phone.

  When I started out on the walk I expected to feel the cold a lot more than I did, and I was looking forward to a nice can, or probably two, of hot soup. The reality was that I felt warm (but not hot) when I got home, and I had a cold lunch. It was one that seems to be almost safe - safe even of not stopping weight loss. It was a couple of wholemeal baps stuffed with cheese, tomatoes and sliced gherkins. The two used different cheeses - one was an ordinary Cheddar, and the other was an Italian semi hard cheese that had been matured in wine. The later was interesting, sort of good as a one off experiment, but not a cheese for every day use.

  It was enjoyable filling my face with those baps, and they were quite filling, without being over filling, too. They enhanced my smugness about doing that walk in adverse conditions, and yet still enjoying it. I didn't have anything special to do, and I was quite happy to pass much of the rest of the afternoon quietly reading and having a snooze. As dinner time approached I decided I would have a couple of beers.

  The first beer was a 330ml bottle of Bodger’s Barley Wine from the Chiltern brewery. After pouring it I brought it up to my nose and mouth. I detected a slightly strange smell that seemed to resolve itself as a hint of bleach when I first sipped at the beer. That was a right turn off. After a while that tasted seemed to fade away, and what may have been the true taste of the beer came through, and it was not that good.

   I am hoping that it may have been a rogue bottle of something, and the other nine bottles will taste more like I expected them to taste. It will be interesting to taste one of the bottles of Oatmeal stout, also from my order to Chiltern Brewery, and expected to be delivered today. Oatmeal stouts have always seemed to be a good taste previously, and I will be terribly disappointed if the first one I try from the Chiltern Brewery tastes "funny".  The other beer I had before dinner was a Harvey's Old Ale. That was nice.

  My dinner was along the lines of a recipe I had thought up to use some of the chicken from the ready roasted chicken I bought from Tesco last Saturday. I pulled a lot of the meat off the bones, and then after sprinkling it with some chilli sauce, I roasted it in the mini oven/grill for about 15 minutes. I had it with two tomatoes (the type that are artificially ripened, and have little taste, and hardly a hint of any sweetness from natural sugars), plus some sliced gherkin and iceberg lettuce. Of course it needed a good splash of mayonnaise on it all. It wasn't wonderful, but was still very enjoyable.

  Last night was quite similar to the night before. I watched all of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and half watched some of Star Trek: Voyager. The latter was another tedious episode, and looking at stuff on the internet, and laying on my bed reading my book was far better. At 9pm I turned the TV on again to watch bother Have I Got News For You and QI. The latter ended at 11pm, and so it was another late night.

  Last night thing were different to the night before. It took until almost midnight until I had read a bit more, and got myself comfortable enough to sleep. I lay there with my eyes closed, and just before I fell asleep at the midnight hour my phone bleeped at me. I was a message from Angela. I was more than happy to read and react to it, although my first thought was that it was going to be another very emotional message about pain.

  It was partly emotional, but it was quite a positive message. Angela was obviously feeling positive to admit what we have all been telling her, that she is very brave to go through all the cancer treatment. Other positive stuff that I was not aware of before, is that she has been provided with a nebuliser. It is a lightweight mask that passed slightly warmed damp air to sooth the throat. I used one for a short time when I was in hospital in 2013 for my quad bypass operation, and was suffering some cigarette withdrawal symptoms - mostly a dry tickle throat that was making me cough. I have to say it was useful for a couple of nights, but only marginally.

  I think we turned the phones off at about half past midnight, and I was probably asleep a bit before 1am. This morning I got up at just gone 7am and a fairly good, albeit quite short night's sleep. the first thing I did was the traditional visit to the toilet, and then onto the scales. I didn't have a poo, although I did go twice yesterday evening for some unknown reason. That may have helped the fact that I seem to have last 200gm in the last 24 hours, That is 6 mornings in a row, and although the losses have been quite small, they do add up to a quite useful loss, and while I still have a bot of a way to go, I am back into the sort of area where I am once again hoping to drop to the next kilogram down again.

  My blood glucose was all over the place again - although it was consistent for my two most trusted blood glucose meters. The Contour meter read 8.7mmol/l. That is a bit higher than I would prefer, but a very typical reading. The GlucoRX meter read 8.5mmol/l. That was once my target until I found that one good weeks I could do a fair bit better (but maybe only in warmer months). The Exactive meter really blew a gasket with a reading of 10.1mmol/l. That is over the red line, and in the land of danger, and hopefully also in the land of pure fiction. If that meter actually tells something like the truth then I am in big trouble.

  The next thing I did was to send another message to Angela. I suggested that was once known as Vick's Ultracloraceptic, until they dropped the Vick's part of the name, might be good for numbing her sore throat for short periods of time. It is a contact anaesthetic spray. I have used it with limited success a few times, and it might work for her, but I did suggest she should ask her doctors if it would be safe for her to try it.

  She did reply to say had had been supplied with something similar by the hospital. Apparently it does give some short lived relief, but only after getting over the stinging sensation when first sprayed on her delicate throat. Apparently her spay contains Lidocaine. The Ultra Cloraseptic spray uses Benzocaine, and maybe she might tolerate that better, he reply didn't say so exactly, but she did say that on Wednesday's she sees more of the support staff, and I think she was thinking of asking them about it. She is definitely sounding even more positive this morning, and I hope this means she slept better, and has suffered less pain recently.

  This morning I thought my blood pressure was up a little bit, but a second reading showed it to be right back down to my monthly average. I did expect it to be slightly higher this morning because I have some special difficulties. The first is that I am expecting the third box of beer from my order from The  Chiltern Brewery, and I have no way of knowing when the courier will arrive. Yesterday it was just before midday.

  The problem is that I would like to be leaving to get the train to Ladywell for my Wednesday lunchtime drink in The Jolly Farmers, soon after midday. The next problem is that I don't know if I will ever have time to have a shower and wash my hair before going out. I dare not have a shower if the courier is going to arrive in the middle of it. The next big problem is that I don't know if I can have a shower at all. With the temperature being close to zero for much of the very early morning, it is possible, maybe even probable, that the waste pipe from the bath may be frozen like it did a few times last winter. I can foresee me not getting to the pub until something like 2pm, and by then it may not be worth rushing to bother to go there.