It is a nice bright sunny morning - so far. There are lots of small clouds to be seen, but so far none have stepped in front of the sun. Only sunny spells until 3pm are forecast, and I guess that sooner or later the sunshine will keep being interrupted by those clouds. From 4pm the clouds will have thickened enough to block the sun, and it will be rather dull. The temperature should rise to a would-be-warm-if-the wind-was lighter 16° C. Tomorrow could see roughly as many sunny spells, but the dull hours will be among them instead of at the end of the day. It could be a whole degree warmer tomorrow at 17° C. The day after tomorrow should see a run of summer-like weather !

  Yesterday was another day that featured some good bits. It didn't really feature any bad bits, but a lot of the day was quite bland. I did manage a tiny bit of exercise, but it did not feel as good as hoped - or even good at all ! Somehow I seemed to manage my eating mostly OK.

  I got off to an earlier start yesterday, at least in terms of starting to write, but it feels like there was almost an hour I can't account for between waking up and starting to write. I think I must have been writing quite slowly because I didn't seem to finish writing until about the usual time (approx 11am). After that I needed my usual 30 or more minutes rest before having a shower. I had originally thought I might wash my hair, but it didn't seem to feel that bad.

  After my shower I put a little bit of laundry in to soak, and it was still soaking when I got up this morning (I have now half finished it, and should finish it well before midday if all goes to plan. I then got dressed, ready to go out. Getting ready included putting a coat on - it seemed cold and windy outside ! I then set out for a quite small bit of exercise that was a mix of shopping and trainspotting !
  My first visit was to Catford Bridge station where I wanted to pick up a copy of The Metro. I also wanted to just wait on the platform for a minute or two because walking to the station left me feeling a lot worse than expected. It was actually a few more minutes of resting because I was lucky enough to see one train call at the station, and it was a bit special. It is the second class 376 train in it's smart new Southeastern dark blue livery that I have seen, but the first I was able to photograph.
  This picture of 376036 shows how class 376 trains have looked since they were first introduced. I always thought it made them look cheap and boxy. The new livery makes them seem more "grown up". I have still not seen the inside of one, but the were reported to being internally refurbished. They may now have USB charging points, and I thought that they had air con fitted, but Jodie, who has been on one last week when it was hot outside, said it was baking inside. Incidently, 376036 was the rear 4 car unit with 376018, in it's new livery, was the front 4 cars.

  After getting just two snaps of trains I did not hang around, and went to the little supermarket on Catford Bridge. I wanted and bought some fruit, including some nectarines that seemed ripe, but were quite hard and tart inside. I also wanted, and bought a selection of mostly Polish instant noodles (I had a double portion of spicy goulash flavour for my breakfast this morning).

  Like the walk to the station, the walk home from the shop was like hard work. It was almost, with some doubt, the ongoing debility I was feeling after the return to colder, duller and even wet days. There were a couple of time on the way home when I had to blow my nose (a touch of mild hay fever), and I actually completely stopped to do it, and that 15 to 20 seconds of rest helped a lot. I was still very happy to get home.

  Apart from some peppered pork Kabanos in a packet where most, if not all, the writing was in Polish, I did not have anything to eat from my shopping. I had some of the Kabanos later in the afternoon. I almost forgot that I did have a small slice of cherry and almond cake after my lunch because it was fairly small, and I couldn't resist it. My lunch was actually another couple of Ciabatta rolls with fish in them.

  From then not a lot happened except for hopefully one important thing. I went down to the kitchen with my fish smeared plate, and gave it a quick rinse. I heard a sort of crackling noise behind me. Initially I did not pay it much attention because it sounded exactly like an empty Diet Coke bottle taken from a warm room sounds like when tossed into the recycling bin. As the bottle cools and contracts it make such a noise when rubbing against other stuff.

  The only trouble is this noise seemed to go on too long - a cooling and contracting bottle only makes the noise in fits and starts. I listened more carefully and realised it was not coming from the recycling bin, but a blue tote bin that was filled with all sorts of stuff that, I soon learned, included some well past it's use by date food. I can't even remember why it was in there, but it had stayed in there because there was other junk on top of it.

  The only explanation for the noises was a mouse in there. I had known there was a mouse in the kitchen, and had seen in for fractions of a second twice, but mostly from seeing it's droppings here and there. The simplest way to get rid of the mouse was to take the box outside, turn it on it's side, and let the mouse find it's own way out into the great outdoors - where, in my opinion, it should be.

  I didn't actually see the mouse run off, but half an hour later I turned the box upside down, and could then see the chewed up packets, dropping and other debris. It is somewhat ironic that I also saw a pair of mousetraps still in their original wrapping. I salvaged those, but after donning an old pair of rubber gloves, I put everything else in a bin liner, and put it in the wheelie bin. The tote box needs a good scrub, but I have left it outside for now so it might, but probably won't get it's first wash from the rain that is not actually forecast in the next few weeks or more.

  Like the day before, I part amused myself by ripping more CDs that I found, and didn't appear in my mp3 music collection on my PC. Later on, when I had ripped all those CDs I got out my back up hard disks to copy all the new stuff to the master and slave backups. I was surprised to find that I had already ripped all but 2 of those CDs ages ago, but hadn't kept a copy on my PC hard disk. It turned out all that work was a waste of time.

  I think the only afternoon snack I had was some of the sticks of Polish made peppered pork Kabanos. Maybe I had some salted peanuts as well, but I am less sure about that. Halfway through watching an episode from the original (first) series of Star Trek my thoughts turned to lunch. I had a sausages and mash ready meal in the fridge, and it said 30 minutes cooking time in an oven - just right to be ready to eat with the 6 O'clock BBC News (I actually gave it an extra 10 minutes to cool off a bit).

  The news was not terribly interesting, and the ready meal was not very tasty. The sausage looked authentic, but the words "emulsified offal tube" (from an episode of Yes Prime Minister) came to mind. It was not bad, but it was not good either. I definitely needed a dessert after it, and my dessert was some fruit. I had one big orange that had been left on the side for too long, and was starting to dry up (but not go off). I also had a large conference pear and a nectarine. The nectarine was definitely a disappointment. It seemed slightly soft as if ripe, but around the stone it was almost green, very hard, and very acid.

  I amused myself with some reading and some TV before bed. The last thing I watched was a seemingly often repeated edition of Have I Got News For You from 2017. It was still funny in parts, but not as enjoyable as many other editions. It finished at 10pm and I then went to bed where I read for about an hour, but I had some interruptions. As I lay in bed I felt like I might need a poo. It turned out that I did, but it wasn't much, and I was soon back in bed.

  Even before I got to bed again I felt some more discomfort. I thought that maybe it was just a few farts brewing up, and indeed I do one, but then my courage failed and I went to the toilet again. I did far again, but that was followed without pause a rather large poo. It was just one notch away from being diarrhoea - very soft, but not liquid. There was so much that weighed 300gm less afterwards. (I had the presence of mind to weigh myself before and after).

  It was one of those times when you can't be sure if you have actually finished, but I went back to bed, and after a while I seemed to feel OK, and found I could relax enough to get to sleep. I think that was around midnight. My night was dominated by what seemed like a very long dream, but judging from the way the background and the characters changed, it must have been a lot of shorter dreams on a common theme.

  That theme was set just before I had retired. In the dream I seemed to have been sent to a different work location. It was supposed to be a very secure place where everyone was supposed to wear security badges, and all the doors were supposed to be closed and guarded, but it was my first day, and I hadn't been issued with a badge, and all the doors seemed to be open and unguarded. I could, and did, come and go freely.

  The actual workplace was a sort of mix of repair workshop, a telephone exchange, and factory stuff. Despite it being my first day I seemed to have my own bench already set up in the way I like it - a carefully curated mess. One interesting thing was a sort of unofficial dump area where the staff could dump their old electronic stuff like mobile phones so that anyone could take them for re-use or as sources of spares. I found some memory cards there and checked a few out. They were maybe on the small side, but still in good working order. One had obviously been dumped by my old workmate (in real life) Stefan - who came from Germany. I found a video of him with some sort of amateur band playing some rock music with German lyrics.

  I am unsure if it was lunchtime or home time, but I was walking out with a few people, and one of them was my supervisor or manage. He mentioned that I would get my security badge and everything else once I had been checked out and vetted. It was supposed to take a few weeks. By coincidence that was when I had secretly decided I would retire. It amused me to think the company would go through all that trouble only for me to say goodbye !

  I seemed to pee in large quantities through the night, although maybe less frequently than most nights. The reason for most of it was that I had drunk almost a litre of chilled water last night. Maybe it is because it is not fizzy, or maybe because it is chilled, probably both, but I find it a great delight to swig it down in big quantities. I even had a very big pee when In got up. That was handy because when I got on the scales I found I had lost 300gm (the scales were a bit twitchy deciding their final result, and I think they were deciding on 300 or 400gm.

  All that peeing could have suggested high blood glucose, but it seems the litre of water was more likely the real reason. The Contour blood glucose meter said 7.2mmol/l, the same very good reading as the day before. The GlucoRX meter also gave the same reading as the day before, an also very good 7.5mmol/l. I was hoping the Sinocare meter would also show the same as the day before, but instead of being even lower it was a lot higher. It read 8.4mmol/l (and a second attempt read much higher still). That  meter must use some different chemistry, or at least is very differently sensitive to my blood chemistry.

  The main thing on the agenda today is my regular lunchtime visit to the Jolly Farmers pub, but before that there is unfinished business - the laundry I started yesterday. Before I sat down to eat my breakfast, and then to start writing this, I wrung out the detergent, and did two rinses. Maybe that should be one and a half rinses. After winging out that will complete rinse two. There is now one rinse and the fabric conditioner to do before hanging it up to dry. I will dry it indoors.

  It should be 16° C when I go out, and in only a slight breeze that should be warm enough for no coat, but it seems to be, or at least forecasts says it will be a bit breezy, and that will make it feel cooler. Plus it will seem cooler if the sun has gone in - which is happening every now and then at the moment. I think I will wear my sleeveless denim jacket. It will help keep my back warm, plus more importantly it has pockets to carry extra stuff like my small Nikon camera. If yesterday is anything to go by, my legs have lost their enthusiasm again, and so I will probably get the train there and back again - even if that only shortens the walk by around 10 to 15%.