The weather forecast for today keeps changing. This mostly because of the BBC's fetish for thunderstorms. Yesterday the forecast for today featured loads of thunderstorms.
   Above is a screenshot of the forecast for today, updated at 21:57 (yesterday). Things have changed a lot this morning. Right now it is looking like yesterday's version of the forecast is closer to reality. There was some rain earlier, but that has now stopped, and it is just a bit grey now, although once or twice it looked like the sun might break through. It does seem highly likely that early this afternoon is going to be wet, and there could be one thunderstorm, and maybe three hours of them. The afternoon temperature is very likely to be just 17° C. Maybe the skies will clear by 7pm and we will get a couple of hours of evening sunshine. Tomorrow should be dry, and there could be sunshine in the morning and late afternoon, but the middle of the day may be very dull. It will also be cold. Just 15° C is expected.


  Although I didn't really have any specific plans for yesterday, once I knew I should be expecting a big box of beers to be delivered, I am not sure if anything I did was to any sort of plan yesterday. I seemed to make it up as I went along. I guess it was a fairly good day, although I feel I probably wasted a lot of time.

  I started writing unusually early yesterday, and without a lot to say I finished writing quite early. If I had managed to do what I said I was going to try and do, I could have finished even earlier, but I seemed to find I had more to say about a few things than I had intended. I think it was very soon after I had uploaded yesterday's piece to the web server when I got an email with new about my beer delivery.
  I was a bit shocked to see that the estimated delivery time was between 18:45 and 19:45. That was unusually late compared to anyone but deliveries by Amazon (but even they seem to be arriving earlier recently). It still gave me the rest of of the morning, and all afternoon to do stuff. I could have gone out for my tram photography (that I have threatened to do the last few days), but I didn't seem to fancy walking very far, or going far away.

  What I did do was to walk to the station to pick up a copy of The Metro, and then, almost walk straight home again. One thing about the walk was that being fairly short, although still almost 0.7 miles (there and back) it was short enough for a test walk in my re-laced, for the second time, trainers that I bought, discounted to just £10, from Tesco. I now have some plain white laces, and they allow even more movement than the thick laces I had used to replaced the hard and (almost) sticky laces. With the extra slip from the white laces, they are starting to feel almost comfortable. One day, when I am feeling brave, I will try a test walk to Ladywell and back.
  The previous night I had prepared my Nikon D3200 camera ready to go out Tram spotting. I thought I may as well use it on my walk to the station and back. The first picture had to be of the lovely clear blue sky yesterday. It was not that warm yesterday morning, but I was very comfortable in jeans and a black t-shirt with no coat.
  There are loads of blackberry bushes growing wild by the fence that divides the railway from the road. One thing I noticed was that only a single flower had opened at the end of each stalk. It was as if the blackberry bush was unsure if it was time to start flowering, and it had opened one to see what the weather was like, and if it was good for flowering.
  Once at the station I was lucky enough to be there at the right time to get a snap of 376027 in it's new Southeastern Blue livery. This was the first one I had seen in the new livery, but I didn't manage to get a snap of it. In theory I could have got over the footbridge in time to take a ride on it. I decided not to rush around, and that was the correct decision - probably. I later heard that they have not started the internal refurbishment of this class of train, and so the inside would be the same as even even if the outside was looking all shiny.

  My feet, in the newly re-laced trainers were basically comfortable for the walk home, but my legs felt a bit tired, and I might have had stiff ankles. The significant thing is that although I wanted to stop once or twice to take a breather, I managed to resist the idea. I walked home non stop, even if a little slower than I would aspire to, and I don't think I felt stressed about it.

  I took more pictures than I have shown here. (I took three of the train, but thought the one shown was the best picture). before I did anything else I copied the pictures to my PC, and did the usual selecting and editing. When that was done I went down to the kitchen to make some lunch. Once again it was a couple of Ciabatta rolls with ham, mustard and salad leaves. I then read The Metro I had got at the station.

  It was not exactly a scintillating read, although I suppose a few odd bits were interesting. Next came the crosswords.  I managed all but two of the quick clues. One of those clues was about an actress or singer I have never heard of before. I managed to do all but 6 clues in the cryptic crossword. That was the best I have done for a long time, and it was rather satisfying - doubly or more so considering that there has been the occasional cryptic crossword where I have not been able to solve a single clue !

  There was one other thing I did in all the spare time I had in the afternoon. It was to hand wash a medium sized bath towel. It was very heavy when dripping with water, and it was thick enough to make wringing it out, rather difficult. As usual I had left it soaking in detergent for a few hours before starting all the rinses needed. I think I did 8 or 10 rinses, and in an ideal world I might have done 12 or more, but it was hard work. I took a break half way through.

  During that break I had a snack. I think it was ice cream, but it might have been kimchi on cheese on rice crackers. I'm sure I had both, but I can't remember in what order, and when I had them. Incidently, I can't recommend kimchi on cheese on rice crackers. I have been looking at ways to finish a jar of kimchi I bought, but I can't seem to find anything it goes well with. The cheese and crackers was OK, but......

  I guess it was pretty stupid, but I was on high alert all afternoon in case the DHL delivery van arrived earlier than the estimated time slot for my beer delivery. With a couple of hours to go I would not allow myself to have a snooze after all the manhandling I had to do with the bath towel I was washing.

  As the time approached I managed to get a bit more relaxed, and decided it would be OK to have my dinner. It was similar to the ready meal I had the day before yesterday. This time it was a Mexican "inspired" beef (at least I think it was beef) stew with rice. It was nice enough, although I won't be going out my way to buy any more of them. I was just about to have the last half mouthful of the last bits of gravy, and bits of rice, when the doorbell rang. It was my beer delivery, and it was a little bit early.

  After taking the big, and rather heavy box in, I opened it up and checked to see what I had bought really looked like in real life. Some of the labels looked quite arty, and I think Jodie will like the labels even if she doesn't care for the beers. I suspect that she will not really like most of what I have ordered because they are basic straight beers and lagers without being brewed with added fruit pies and weird stuff like that.

  After going back for that last small bit of dinner I went back down to the kitchen to prepare my dessert of a pear, two mini oranges, and an apple. After that I could completely relax. I was feeling so laid back that I watched most of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine without turning it of in disgust. I then watched an old, but not that old, edition of Have I Got News For You. It was one of the better editions. That took me to 10pm, and I went straight to bed.

  I was going to read in bed for a while, but I read half a sentence and decided that I could probably fall asleep very quickly once I had turned out the light - I did ! I have no recollection of when in the night it was, but I had a rather enjoyable dream. I feel sure I have forgotten the start of the dream because the remainder seemed like there should have been an explanation as to how I had got to the part I remember.

  Putting 2 and 2 together, I reasoned than maybe I was on some sort of holiday, and part of it was a trip up the coast on a small boat. I say small, but it was probably about the size of a single Northern Line tube car with seating along each side. However there was one seat at the front, and not covered with a roof. I found myself sitting there. It gave me a perfect view of what was going on.

  It seemed the reason for this boat trip was that a strong tidal surge meant it was almost free to make because no fuel was needed to power the boat except to get it out of it's small mooring place by a pier. As soon as we neared the end of the pier I could see a really strong flow of water that dragged us along. It seemed to be a grey day, but still warm, and the spray was quite refreshing. The boat was rocking from side to side as the currents pulled at us, and I had nothing to hold on to. It is odd that I felt no fear that I would fall off into the deep, fast flowing water. I just seemed to follow the motion, and didn't fight it. My dream didn't seem to include getting to the final destination, but just before I woke up I had the thought that when the tide came back in we would do the trip in reverse to back where we started.

  I think I can only describe my sleep as "typical". I probably woke an average amount of times for an average amount of pee. When I got up this morning I had one more pee, but a poo came a bit later. I weighed myself after doing that none to big poo, and found I had put on just 100gm. That means my weight is still coded dark green on my weight spreadsheet. My original intention was to try and lose 100gm, or more, but plus 100gm is not so bad.

  While my weight was not changed much, my blood glucose is higher this morning, although for "higher" you could read "sort of high average". The Contour meter read 8.7mmol/l - I would prefer lower, but I don't really worry about any reading starting with an 8. The GlucoRX meter read 8.5mmol/, and for a long time I considered that to be my target (it is now 7.5mmol/l). The Sinocare meter gave a much higher reading until I checked it again, and this time it was 8.8mmol/l. That is higher than I like, but not really anything to worry about.

  The main thing on the menu today is my mostly regular Wednesday lunchtime drink in The Jolly Farmers. The big questions are, how am I going to get there, and what should I wear ? It is currently dry, and while not sunny, it is quite bright outside. It seems almost certain that it will be raining either on the way there, or coming home, and if the forecast is correct, in both directions. I think today I will use the train to cut out a small bit of the walk.

  That leaves the question of what to wear. If I was only going to encounter some light rain or drizzle I might wear my leather jacket. On the other hand it is already 17° C, and that may be a bit warm for a leather jacket. Plus with the temperature being that high it does suggest that yesterday's version of the weather forecast, with it's three hours of thunderstorms may possibly be more accurate than this morning's version. Maybe I should wear my much less insulated, hooded rain jacket. There is actually one more question - do I really want to go out on a day like today ? Some of my joints are aching in this weather, and it may be more comfortable to stay in the warm. I'll make the final decision after a hot shower.