Today's forecast actually says full sunshine and not just sunny spells. If we are very lucky it will last until sunset. It was a cold morning, 3° C, but should warm to 7° C in the afternoon, but will fall back to 3° C by 10pm. Tomorrow could see heavy rain in the morning, but from 1pm it may stay dry until the end of the day. The temperature may still only reach 7° C in the afternoon, and then drop down to 5° C by 10pm.
 
  Yesterday was a day when I tweaked the dragon's tail (or whatever the saying is) and survived, and survived much better than could be expected. I can't really say that it was a good day, and I guess I was often feeling mildly depressed....or was it just bored ?

  One good thing about yesterday morning was that it started a bit earlier than some, and I never really felt rushed to do anything. I finished writing yesterday's piece, and could afford a short rest, and I think I probably had a short snooze as well, although maybe I just closed my eyes for a a few minutes without falling asleep.  I then had a very simple shave using my bear trimmer without the guard/height adjuster on it. The result looks OK, but doesn't feel smooth.

  Once I had shaved I had a shower. I was feeling quite enthused at this point because of the bright sunshine. The sun was still shining when I got dressed, but by the time I was ready to go out the clouds were starting to thicken, and the sun went behind a cloud. Suddenly the world was not such a nice place. I still put a pair of sun glasses in my coat pocket - just in case. I wore my best leather jacket, but because there was almost no wind it felt just mild enough to not need doing up. That felt nice because it felt freer.

  I set off for the station, where I would pick up the usual two copies of The Metro. At first I thought I was feeling quite good, but as I neared the station the old problems started... actually it was more like different problems. I didn't get any angina pains, and I didn't get breathless, or at least nothing above a medium need to breath a bit heavy. If anything I felt sort of tired. It was handy having plenty of time to wait a few minutes before crossing the footbridge.

  I really did have plenty of time. Maybe I had managed to walk a tiny bit faster to the station, although I doubt it would be fast enough to save any more than a handful of seconds. The train I caught was the 12:19. My more usual train is the 12:34. I did my usual of photographing every train I saw - front and back when I could. None of the photos were needed for my collection, but I did capture one interesting thing.

  I have mentioned before that I often see a 4 car class 465 train running empty towards and then back from Hayes (Kent). Yesterday I saw 465925 at Catford Bridge heading towards Hayes. Later on I saw the same train at Ladywell also running empty to Hayes. The latter time was a couple of hours later on my way home. It obviously did two runs from somewhere, possibly New Cross, and it made me wonder if it might have done more. I still don't know what these runs are for. It could be a test run after some heavy maintenance, or it could be testing new equipment.
  On my way to the pub I saw the first signs of approaching spring. In the slightly sheltered triangle of land behind St Mary's church I saw snowdrops had come up - the earliest of the spring plants. I also saw some stands of daffodils starting to emerge. It could be a month before they flower.
  A close up of anther, smaller, patch of snowdrops. One other sight was not really a spring sight, but when a squirrel poses a photo has to be taken !
  It was another quiet start to my visit to The Jolly Farmers. There were few people in there, although it was slowly filling up as I had my two pints of Guinness. There was some banter, but I didn't add much to it. I was scratching my head over the quick crossword in The Metro. One or two have been the old "quick" style, and while not exactly easy, I was able to complete, or almost complete them in well under half an hour.

   Once upon a time I could easily finish most of them in under 15 minutes. Maybe that didn't stretch my brain as much as might be good for me, but it did make me feel good. Yesterday's crossword reverted back to the really tough type. One thing this compiler seems to like is (so called) popular TV and films. I had to cheat to get the answers to three clues - each about actors and actresses who I have never hear of. It was no pleasure doing crosswords like that, and it made me feel depressed.

    I just had my usual two pints of Guinness yesterday. It was mild enough that I felt no desire to even have a whiskey to keep me warm on the way home. Maybe it was just me, but my experience in the pub seemed different, and I did wonder why I keep going there. I did my best to remind myself that I go there because most times it is good fun, or at least enjoyable. I suspect that some of the problem at the moment is the hangover from the Xmas and new year celebrations, and a crazy idea called "dry January". The hangover I refer to is not literal, but a state of the soul.

  I might have possibly walked home from the pub, but I am glad I didn't. The main reason why I didn't was because I wanted to buy more fruit, and other stuff from the little supermarket on Catford Bridge.  I bought some Mandarins, and couple of Conference pears, a few of their very nice Golden Delicious apples, and two quite big Persimmons. I seem to be eating bread regularly lately, and so I bought a loaf of Polish, sourdough, 0% sugar bread.

  Two other purchases were a few tomato flavour instant noodles - a few individual packets, and a pack of 5. The real madness was to buy a pack of sliced angel cake. I have been looking out for some plain cake for a while now, but most seems like it has sugar or some sort of icing on top, but the angel cake was almost plain, even if it did contain a lot of sugar.  I used it as part of a dangerous/foolhardy experiment later in the day.

  The main reason I was glad that I didn't walk home from the pub was that I felt really tired by the time I had walked home from the little supermarket. It is a similar distance as walking from the station. It almost felt like one of my legs was going to give way before I got home. It was all a bit ridiculous, particularly because it felt so different from any of my more usual weaknesses.

  The silly thing is that after getting home, putting my shopping away, and making a simple sandwich, which couldn't have taken more than 5 minutes in total, I went up the stairs with not a hint of stress. While I ate my sandwich I transferred the pictures from my camera to my PC. I then made a bap filled with beef and horseradish, plus some babyleaf salad leaves. I was going to select and process the photos while I ate that bap, but it was a slightly messy experience, and so I waited until I had finished it, and had washed my hands before using the PC.

  With lunch eaten, and photos (digitally) processed, I felt very weary. I laid on my bed, and read a few pages before having what I think was a long snooze. It may have just been a short snooze. I was not watching the time, and so I can't say one way or another with any certainty. Once awake I took the easy way out, and started watching TV. By switching channels there are four diferent Star Treks that can be watched almost back to back (except for blood adverts).

  I think it was just after 5pm that I thought it must be dinner time. I still have some diced meat in the fridge that I must cook and eat soon, but yesterday I decided I would do what I did the day before and just eat fruit followed by a little bit of ice cream for dessert.
  I had two Mandarins, and they were nicer than expected. The large Conference pear, that can be seen in the picture above, was nice and crisp, although if a bit riper it would have been a bit tastier. There seems to be a very small window when these pears are perfect, but I still enjoyed this one as it was. The fourth fruit was quite a big Persimmon. It was nicelt ripe and was sweet.

  As intended I followed the fruit with ice cream, but what was not intended was that it was more than "a bit" of ice cream. It was quite a lot, and to make matters worse I ate it with two slices of Angel Cake (my second and third for the day). That was a huge influx of sugar, and I was quite worried what the outcome would be. At 9pm I checked my blood glucose using the Contour meter, and it read a very dangerous 11.7mmol/l !

  I was in bed straight after doing that reading. I read for maybe half an hour, and was probably fast asleep a bit before 10pm. I think I had barely slept for an hour before I was awake and going for a pee. Later awakenings were less frequent, but each time I seemed to be passing more pee than usual. That need to pee even crept into my dreams. All that peeing was a very bad sign for my blood glucose level.

  I can only remember bits of one dream, but I remember it as a series of fragments rather than a smooth narratives. I think I was on Mars with a few other people. In reality it could have been anywhere, but there were no windows to look out, and it seemed to feel like it was a new Mars colony. At first everything seemed fine. We were doing whatever we were supposed to be doing, but then things started to change.

  There was an influx of visitors or new colonists, and space and privacy started to get a lot worse. In the core of the building it became like a shopping centre on a Saturday afternoon - people milling about everywhere. To accommodate them we all had to double or treble up in out previously personal cabins. One very peculiar thing was that when I wanted to go to the toilets, for a pee, I found the communal toilets were very 1930's style - all glazed white tiles, and cracked pans. I woke up then, needing a pee of course, and went to my own toilet to have it.

  It was just after 7am when I got up, and as usual I went for a pee, but unusually it seemed a bigger pee than usual. As is the case maybe 50% of the time, I didn't have a poo, but that was not that surprising because in the end I did seem to go for a poo many times yesterday. I expect yesterday's fruit will have it's expected result a bit later this morning. Even with a poo, all that peeing meant a good weight drop this morning, and good today meant a full 800gm drop. That is quite a lot for one 24 hour period.

  It was mainly due to all the pee I had passed during the night. I wondered/feared what it would all mean to my bolood glucose readings. They had gone up, and after all the fruit, ice cream and angel cake, it was not a great surprise. What was a great surprise is that the readings were still very acceptable. The Contour meter read 8.3mmol/l. The GlucoRX meter read 8.7mmol/l, and the Sinocare meter read 8.6mmol/l. Until the run of better readings recently, I would have judged today's readings as pretty good.

  Today I face a sort of dilemma. I have meat in the fridge (not freezer) that should be used soon, but I would like to continue with this fruit diet I have been trying recently. It seems to work OK, and for anyone too lazy to prepare dinner, which I guess many of us are from time to time, preparing fruit is so quick and simple. What I might do is to try something I don't think I have ever done before. I may cook the meat, as a stew with some vegetables, and then after cooling it, I will freeze it. With the increased space in my new freezer it should be easy to do.

  One reason why that might not happen is today is boozing day with Jodie and Michael. After lots of strong beer I will almost certainly end up with no discipline, and wanting to eat the said of a cow or something. Maybe fruit just won't cut it after boozing. I guess I should stop making predictions, and just see what happens.