Once again, the Met Office weather forecast is showing mist from the beginning to the end of today. There is no mist, and this morning, from what I can see in the early morning gloom, the road and pavements look dry, and so "Mist" is evidently not an euphemism for fine drizzle today. It is a cold morning, and maybe it has been as low as 4° C instead of the forecast 5° C. This afternoon may reach 7° C - which is still very chilly ! At least it should be dry.  Tomorrow may finally include some sunny spells, and they should push the temperature up to a slightly less shivery 9° C.

   I think I could describe yesterday as a good day, although I don't know why because a lot of it was a bit boring. There were some good or useful bits, and despite thinking otherwise, it seems I once again managed to have some control over my eating.

  There were three useful things I did yesterday, and the first, done after my usual morning writing, and a rest, was to have a good wash. That included a full wet shave, washing and conditioning my hair, and a shower. It felt rather good to have done that, and it may save a bit of time today, but two out of the three things were a bit more than needed for the next thing I did - going out shopping.

  I don't think it felt that good walking to Tesco, but I blame that on the cold damp air, and the dull light, for it not being enjoyable in any way. Maybe I should look on the positive side - the walking did not have any adverse effects of my legs, or chest. I must admit my feet were not always comfortable because I was testing out a pair of boots I have not worn for maybe 10 or more years.

  Those boots were a sort of cross between trainers and a proper boot. They were, and are a good fit, and I think the trouble lay with my feet and not the boots themselves. I did notice that my feet were becoming accustomed to the boots when I took them off. I probably should wear them more often because they were only mildly uncomfortable, and if there was any distraction I didn't notice them being uncomfortable.

  I did my best to be careful about what I bought inn Tesco. There were a few things I avoided on the reduced price shelves because they did not seem healthy for me, but I did buy two mini pork pies because I have a special use for them tomorrow - a nice greasy stomach lining before I start drinking beer with Jodie. One thing I haven't bought for a long time is soup. When carefully selected, because soups are far from equal, they can have remarkably low amounts of sugar and calories  in them - I bought 4 cans.

  I probably bought more cooked and sliced meats than I really needed, but I did use the whole of none pack yesterday. I was very happy to see that Tesco has got in more, but still limited, stocks of Vifon instant noodles. They are made in Poland, and can be very tasty. I bought 4 packs of tomato flavour, and had 2 for breakfast this morning. They were nice, but Amino, also a Polish brand, make nice tomato flavour instant noodles, but I haven't seen them anywhere for ages.

  One thing I didn't buy was any drinks. That is most unusual. I usually buy four 2 litre bottles of Diet Coke to carry in my rucksack - which makes it pretty heavy ! Yesterday I weighed my ruscksack down with cans of soup, bottles of chilli sauce, jars of sliced pickled gherkins, a jar of horseradish, and a jar of Dijon mustard. One other thing I crammed into my rucksack was a double pack of Kleenex, large, man sized tissues. That double pack was £3 with Clubcard discount, and I think that makes them cheaper than Aldi own brand man sized tissues - if they had any, which they haven't for a long time.

  The walk home from Tesco was pretty miserable. I was not in any discomfort except for mental anguish. The light reminded me of coming home from work, and rushing to get indoors before the last light left the sky. It was actually 2.40pm when I got home from Tesco, and the light outside was as if the sun had just set. As I write this it looks like the sun has got stuck rising. It is so dark still that I need both my bedside lamps on to read a book.

  Once I had put my shopping away I had a very late lunch. It was a single bap filled with sliced beef, horseradish sauce, and some iceberg lettuce. It might have taken all my will power not to have two of them, but I seemed to have become used to only having one, and resisting a second was almost second nature. Besides which, I knew it would not be long before I finished the rest of the beef in the packet.

  I had a rest, and read my book after that lunch. It is possible, maybe probable that I had a snooze too, but I don't actually remember having one. After about an hour I returned to something I had started after my shower - putting some clothes in to soak. It was just one t-shirt, one pair of lounge pants, and 5 pairs of underpants. In theory I should have been able to finish the whole lot, and had it hanging up to dry before the first Star Trek of the day - an episode featuring the New Generation on Sky Mix at 4pm.

  I think the gloomy weather was making me feel a bit down, and once I had all those clothes in the third rinse water I took a rest. I don't think I felt particularly tired, and it was more a case of being bored. I did come back and finish the job during a couple of commercial breaks on TV. I didn't fully watch all 4 Star Trek episodes that were on TV yesterday evening. The Star Trek: TNG and Star Trek: Original Series had story lines I could remember enough to fill the missing bits in.

  I also shifted my attention to sort of snack I had in advance of real dinner time. It was just crackers with horseradish and the rest of of the sliced beef. It was almost a nice snack, but I had to spread the beef a bit too thin to get the full flavour and texture, and also to slightly dilute some of the bite of the horseradish (I could not seem to spread it thinly enough for some unknown reason).

  I did the very last bit of the laundry, hanging it on the big clothes horse, during the first commercial break of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It was one of many episodes I have never watched before because it was during a period when the writers were really scraping the bottom of the barrel. In a later commercial break I had the main part of my dinner - a single can of Tesco Scotch Broth, fortified with some Scotch Bonnet, extra hot chilli sauce. I think I had something after it, and it may just have been a small handful of salted peanuts.

  Star Trek: Voyager was such a terrible episode that I can't remember a single thing about it. It was almost as if I didn't watch it, and maybe I didn't bother to watch some or most of it, but my mind seems to have a big blank in it for that hour.  When it ended I couldn't see anything worth keeping the TV on for, and I ended up reading in bed by about 8.30pm. I can't be sure, but I think I was fast asleep by, or before 9pm.

  I seemed to sleep well last night. I had no indigestion, although at one time I wondered if I might need to get up for a poo. I think it was just wind. I did get up to pee every 2 to 3 hours, but each time except the last, I ell asleep again within minutes of getting back to bed. There were several times when I got on the scales after having a pee, and the results looked very encouraging.

  All I can remember (in theory) of my dreams is things like odd sentences or sights. There is not a thing that could be described as a story, and so I seem to barely remember the bits I thought I could remember. There is no point in stretching my imagination to try and describe anything. Oddly enough, I am surprised I can't remember anything of the last half an hour of sleep. Maybe that was because it often felt like I was awake, and maybe that was the dream !

  Once it seemed like it must be time to get up I went to the toilet both for a pee and a poo. That was rather satisfying because I knew that I was most probably going to see some weight loss even before that. What I saw on the scales was rather better than expected. I seem to have lost a whole 600gm since yesterday morning. That puts me 100gm less than my best this month, and only 600gm more than the very best of the year, and that looks like it was a bit of a fluke. It is a whole 3kg lower then the worst this month, and that was nearer to my average for the whole year.

  After that I wondered what my blood glucose level would be like. It was good enough, but not that good. The Contour meter read 8.6mmol/l. The GlucoRX meter read  8.8mmol/l. The Sinocare meter read 8.9mmol/l, and while that is still in the OK area, it is getting a bit too near the not so OK area. I wonder if I might have been slightly dehydrated this morning. Did I pee more during the night, or was it fairly typical ? Was it the fruit I ate that pushed the sugar level up. I often suspect so called healthy fruit as having a hidden evil side !

  One reason for a slightly elevated blood glucose level is disease. For a few days now I have had something like a mild cold. I have had episodes of a dripping nose lasting an hour or quite a few times during the day, and even an occasional cough - sometime a slightly wet cough.  It could be an allergy, but there seems nothing new to be allergic to, unless is it cold air ! Maybe it is just the very dull weather, and maybe it is the weather which seems to be dulling, or worse, and feeling of get up and go.

  Maybe if it was a mild cold it might be over today. I don't seem to have had any nose dripping events so far today, and another possible indicator is that after quite a few days when my blood pressure has been very slightly higher than usual, it is back down to just 104/47 this morning. It has never been a lot higher, but I can see this very small drop form a brief peak in my spreadsheet easily.

  Today could be an interesting test of my intentions. I told Angela, in the hope of tempting her, that I wanted to go and see MT Pockets playing in what I hope is a not too crowded The Partridge pub tonight. That pub, only a 25 minute bus ride away in Bromley, can get absolutely rammed when a good band is playing in there - and MT Pockets is an excellent band. I am relying on the idea that many people will be taking a rest between Xmas and New Year's eve, and will not be going tonight. That is the sort of promise I made Angela. I know she would like to go, but I think she will feel too ill to go. That is a pity on two counts. One is that I would very much like to see her, and second that I think some of her feeling ill is that she does not have enough distractions, and things to stop her dwelling on the troubles. I live in hope that I will make it tonight, and Angela going would be the cream on the top !

  The one problem about me going out tonight is that I seem to have got into my usual winter rut of going to bed, even if I don't actually sleep, very early. Last night I was just about in bed before the time I would have to walk to the bus stop, and I was quite possibly asleep before then band would start the gig. It is going to take a lot of will power to stay up so late tonight.

  One other thing I may do today is to go to Poundstretcher, and I am not sure why. Maybe I am just thinking there could be some post Xmas discounts on Xmassy sort of things - things I probably don't want anyway....although half price strings of LEDs always have some attraction. Maybe I might buy foodstuffs in there, but I should probably not allow myself to be tempted. Oh well, it might just be an excuse to stretch my legs.