After yesterday's gloom it is very nice to see bright sunshine today. Unfortunately a most clear night means this morning the temperature is low enough for a thick frost. By 1pm it should reach 5° C. From then on there will only be a dip to 4° C, and then by 11pm it will be back at 5° C. Tomorrow should also be dry and sunny, and it will be warmer too, with the temperature peaking at 9° C.

  Yesterday was a great day, but it was another that ended in disaster - and it was of my own making, aided by a fair bit of booze. I decided to give the carpets and mats in the bathroom another day to dry out after getting quite wet when my patch over the crack in the bath started letting water through again.

  The upshot of letting the carpets and mats drying out is that I only had a flannel wash before going out. I didn't even have the wet shave I had promised myself. I am not sure why I didn't have that shave because it would only have been a bit of an extension after washing my face. I seemed to feel relatively presentable when I went out for my lunchtime Guinness, but I would have made more effort if, for instance, I was meeting Angela, but I have doubts that will ever happen again.
  The walk to Catford Bridge station, where I picked up two copies of The Metro (one for me, and one for Ayse), seemed OK, and until I slowed myself down a bit as I neared the station, I seemed to be walking fairly fast. As now fairly usual, I reached the station with enough time to wait a minute before going over the footbridge to the other platform. It almost seemed like I didn't need that minute, but also as usual, going over the footbridge just tipped me over to the point where I was starting to feel some tightness in my chest.

  It was not until I got home again that I realised I had been cheered up (or something) by the train that arrived to take me the one stop to Ladywell. It was 707024, as pictured above, and prior to yesterday I only had a picture of that in red SouthWestern Trains livery, and so it was a new addition to my spreadsheet in blue Southeastern livery. There were only 30 of these trains built, and the only one I have not got a picture of is 707030, and it might still be with SouthWestern Railway for some reason.
  As I walked from Ladywell station I saw the above banner on the railings in the park. I think the banner clearly says everything I know about this event - because I read it from the banner. I don't think there is anything there on offer that would attract me, but if I have nothing better to do, and if the weather is kind, it could be an opportunity to go along and take a few pictures (before popping into The Jolly Farmers for a quick warm up.
  After all the rain we have had recently it should not have been a surprise to see The River Ravensbourne running so deep, wide and muddy when I crossed the bridge from the park to the back of St Mary's church. I couldn't speculate how deep it was, but in drier times you would often see ducks in the river, and in some parts they are standing on the bottom, and the water only comes up to their knees.

   After having missed the previous Wednesday, it was sort of good to get into the pub. I was told that the previous Wednesday was a bit quiet, and I didn't miss anything exciting. I had barely drunk half my first pint of Guinness, and had a flick through The Metro when Kevin walked in. In that instant I knew it was going to be a long, and most enjoyable session. By the end of it I had drunk 3 pints of Guinness, two double Jameson's Irish whiskies, and one single.

  It would have been too easy to drink even more, but after remembering the last time we had a super session, and I fell down twice walking through the park in the dark, I managed to restrain myself somehow. This time, as well as being slightly less drunk, I walked with Kevin down the main road. I was certainly drunk enough to do a fast walk with no heed of the consequences, but fortunately it was a bit too fast for Kevin, and he suggested we slow down a bit.

  It was an excellent suggestion. By the time we reached the end of my road I was still feeling good. Normally I would need to have a short rest there, or even before there, but I felt like going on. It was time to try something I had been wanting to try, and it was to go in to the Tai Won Mein Noodle House, and order some food to takeaway. It is a bit daunting to go into a place like that for the first time.

  Fortunately it all seemed simple enough, and I spotted the sign saying "cash only", and checked I had sufficient cash before making my order.  I ordered what I knew to have be really tasty - Singapore fried noodles. I had had them a couple of times when ordered via Just Eat. I had to wait in the shop for maybe as long as 20 minutes for the food to be cooked, but that was the only downside.

  The upside was the price. When ordered via Just Eat one portion of Singapore Fried Noodles was £11.90. When ordered in the shop it was just £8.80, and I didn't have to pay a delivery charge of 49p, and a service charge of £2.49. It is a huge incentive to give up using Just Eat, but sadly some places are too far to walk to, and getting the food delivered is almost essential - or starve !

  The downside of this takeaway was that it was too delicious, and I was too drunk to control myself, although I did seem to find enough control to go through the few pictures I had taken, and select and edit the three I've shown here. I had ordered two portions of Singapore Fried Noodles, and one should have been enough. I couldn't seem to stop myself trying to eat both portions, and I all but managed it.

  Once I stopped shovelling it in I realised I was feeling very stuffed, and I knew that would be big trouble on several levels.  The first was I was feeling uncomfortable enough to hinder sleep, but there was worse. I had some terrible acid indigestion last night, and it only partly responded to antacid treatment. It was enough to get to sleep around 11pm, but I woke up again just after midnight, and the acid indigestion was back, and I was almost burping up neat acid.

  I was surprised that I didn't throw up. I would probably have been good to do so - not at the time, but for what I would find in the morning when I checked my weight and blood glucose. I had first chewed on a couple of Gaviscon tablets, but on this second occasion I had to glug a mouthful of "Acidex". That did work, and work quite well, but it did take what seemed like a long time to work, but even then it did not seem a 100% cure.

  I can't really remember much about my dreams last night, but I know I had a couple that seemed to bridge sleep and being awake. I think there were two occasions where I seemed to feel OK until I dreamed I tried to pull three duvets over me, and it was pulling the third one that seemed to wake me up with some mild acid indigestion, although it was more a case of burping a lot, and tasting fried noodles and a hint of acid.

  One dream much nearer the time I got up, featured a toilet overflowing. It seemed like a symbolic way my body could telling my brain that I was busting for a pee, and once I woke up it felt like I peed a full gallon into the toilet ! The only other significant thing in my sleep was turning the heater up full when the temperature outside dropped low enough for a frost to form, and that was quite early in the small hours. Even with the heater going full blast it was not that warm when I got up at just gone 7am.

  It was a bit of shock when I weighed myself after getting up. I seemed to have put on about 700gm, but after another pee, and also after having a semi decent poo, it seems I only put on 200gm. looking back over the readings I have taken every day this month, I see that for every small triumph there has been a matching disaster, and a few disasters, like this morning, have trashed the best triumph.

  The worst was yet to come. My blood glucose has crashed through the red line, and well into the danger zone. The Contour meter read a fantastically bad 11.4mmol/l. The GlucoRX was a slightly less complete disaster with a reading of 11.1mmol/l. The Exactive meter went to heights I have never seen before with a reading of 12.50mmol/l. I didn't even have a colour code for readings that high, and all I could think of was black.

  This morning I didn't even dare to think of breakfast, and maybe I will have to skip lunch as well, although I have a wild theory I might see quite a drop of blood glucose by midday. If the readings of the two trustworthy meters (the Contour and GlucoRX) have dropped below 10.0mmol/l I will have a lunch. I hope that is the case because lunch, although it could be a couple of hours later, will be essential.

  Later this afternoon I should be having a beer tastings session with Jodie and probably Michael too.  It would not be good to drink on an empty stomach. My lunch will possibly be a couple of greasy burgers, and nothing else. I will rely on the grease buffering some of the alcohol so I don't get too legless ! All I have to do before that is to see if I will take a chance on a quick shower without trying to re-patch the crack in the bath. I think the worst of the leaking last time was actually when I was doing laundry, and pouring big buckets of hot and sometime soapy water into the bath. I know that was lifting the edge of some of the duct tape used as part of my temporary (for ever) repair. A quick shower may be OK-ish !