09:09 BST

  This morning the forecast said the day would start dull, but as far as I am aware, it started with sunny spells, and those sunny spells continue even now (09:30), but it is getting very cloudy. Maybe it will start to rain at 10pm, and continue until midday. After another dull three hours we may get some sunny spells followed by full sunshine until the end of the day. It will be a bit cooler than yesterday, but 25° C is acceptable. A lot of tomorrow should see full sunshine, although much of the afternoon may only see sunny spells. Once again it should reach 25° C.

   Yesterday, except for one annoyance, was a very good day. It was good-ish news from the doctor, and my lunchtime session in The Jolly Farmers turned into a full, but not over the top, drinking session. The annoyance happened soon after I got home, and that will be explained later.

  I managed to describe all of yesterday morning, and how my doctors appointment went well, before I finished writing (in quite a rush) yesterday. After I had uploaded the new pages to my server I did not have all that much time left before I had to leave to walk, initially to Ladywell Station to pick up two copies of The Metro, and then to The Jolly Farmers.

  My visit the the pub got off to great start. Ayse (my favourite barmaid) knew that I had recently had my 70th birthday (although she still finds it hard to believe I am that old), and so I got my first drink on the house - a pint of Guinness !

  I was expecting friend Kevin to join me at about 1pm, and I had to be on my guard to not let it become a messy occasion - as in too drunk and falling over in the park like one session ended sometime last year (or maybe the year before).  Kevin did not actually arrive until about 1.30pm. I was ordering my second pint just before that, and ordered one for him, but told Ayse to "leave it in the pipe" until he arrived.

  That was the start of a very enjoyable afternoon, although I have to admit that being lectured on what Dulwich telephone exchange was like was rather dull because I had visited there at least 3 or 4 years after Kevin had left British Telecom (or was it still Post Office Telecommunications then ?).


   Kevin had brought me a very nice birthday present. It was so well wrapped that I didn't open it until I got home. Inside the tightly wrapped box, wrapped in traditional brown paper, was a presentation set of Rebreast whisky miniatures. There was a 15 year old, a 12 year old, and I assume the third miniature was of the current version. I also got one more birthday present. To my great surprise it was from Ayse, bought out of her own pocket. It was something I had never tried before, but I had probably said I was curious about it. It was one of her own favourites - Red Rose Tequila.

  It was sort of nice, although I think more of a girls drink. It tasted a lot like melted strawberry ice cream.  When I got the round before the final one, I told Ayse to take for a drink for herself even if she didn't want to drink it until the end of her shift (about 6pm I think). That last but one round was two double Jameson whiskys. After that Kevin wanted one more, but I stuck to my guns and said no more alcohol for me. We compromised on a can of 0% Guinness. I once had a sip of it, and it didn't seem awful. Yesterday's can was drinkable, but where I can I will stick to the full potency stuff.

The tracker says we left the pub at 5:12pm. I walked with Kevin until the end of my road, where we went our own ways. You'll note that the tracker info (on the left) says I only walked at 1.043mph. That is not literally true. I think we had walked to after the hospital, and a bit more when Kevin suggested we slow down because he was over heatiing. I am not sure who was leading who. I think I was trying not to walk too fast, and was taking my cues from Kevin. I suspect he was doing the same to me. When was stopped for a minute before resuming as a slower place I noted that we had been walking at nearly 3.5mph.

  That was more like the speed I could do while commuting, as an example. I was not aware I could still do it, but maybe it was the booze spurring me on, or maybe something else. Referring back to the previous tracker map of my walk to the pub, you will note I was managing 2.5mph, and that was pretty good for lately. It may have been because the weather seemed nice, or maybe it was because of the latest small weight loss, or maybe it was my new secret weapon.

  I mentioned yesterday that the doctor prescribed me a GTN (Glyerol TriNitrate) spray. It's usual use is to provide relief from Angina, but the doctor said it would also help the breathlessness I tend to get instead of angina now. When I had the regulation two quirts under the tongue I noticed it as a sort of fizzing in the veins and a slight buzzing in the head, but it didn't seem to have any immediate effect. It was only with hindsight that it had reduced the feeling of being short of breath (and it is more a feeling than actual), and somehow it also seemed to stop my legs aching as much. Keeping an average of 2.5mph for 0.9 miles was probably the best I have done in ages. Also getting to the pub in 21 minutes, and going via Ladywell station was pretty good. Once upon a time I seemed to be able to do it in 15 minutes, but that was by the most direct route.

  What spoiled my average speed on the way home was several long stops without pausing the tracker. When we go to Aldi we stopped and chatted for quite a long time. One of the things Jodie had said to me, possibly last Sunday, was that she had seen a sign to say Aldi was closing until 3rd of July for refurbishment. Neither Kevin or I were actually aware that it had closed until we saw it. It had closed just a few hours earlier in the afternoon.

  It was amusing watching a stream of cars all stopping to gawp at the barrier put up across the car park entrance. This caused several short lived tail backs, and some angry hooting. We must have been outside the place for 10 or more minutes (probably more), and it was sort of nice in the full sunshine. Finally we said our goodbyes, and I walked towards home, and it felt like I was able to walk fast again, but it was probably not that fast.

  I got as far as the crossroads between my road and Michael's road, and I saw him just getting out of his car. I detoured a bit to speak to him. He seemed in a very distracted mood, and I sort of wonder how he could drive safely, but maybe once behind the wheel, maybe years of experience means he is on sort of automatic mode. I think I was less than 6ft from him, and saying hello several times before he looked up and noticed me. I guess we spoke for maybe 10 minutes before I got home.


  Once I got home I stripped off my outdoor clothes, and then checked my email. There was an email from Evri to say they had delivered mt next item from Aliexpress. There was a photo of a hand seeming to post the little packet through my letterbox, but there was nothing on my door mat, and nothing dangling out the letterbox.

  It is possible the courier had left it only half through the letterbox, and some passer by had stolen it. A lesser possibility was that one of my neighbours might have spotted it, and taken it to their place for safety. That latter is unlikely because they could have pushed it through the letter box, or would have rung my doorbell when I had got home to give it to my in person.

  At the very minimum it was the couriers fault for not making sure it was fully pushed  through my letterbox. There is also the feeling that it is possible the courier actually stole it once he had taken the picture of it part through my letterbox.

  The actual item only cost me £14.49, and so I am not going to bust a gut over it. I couldn't seem to report the problem on the Evri website, and the phone number they gave was some automated AI thing, and it claimed it had no record of my packet. I subsequently realised it relies on my phone number as part of the authentication. I had actually noted my Smarty phone number when I did the order on Aliexpress, and if I had made my call from the phone number I may have been correctly identified.

  I could not bother going through that rigmarole again using my other phone, but I did give the courier a one star review, and said why (in 300 character or less). I could have said a lot more. I will report it to Aliexpress as a no delivery, and they may send a duplicate order.  On the other hand, my packet is now, this morning, shown as being at the delivery depot, and will be out for delivery some time today. Maybe the courier took it back to the depot, or maybe it was something else. Maybe it was the booze, because I have to admit that the notice of delivery, and the picture is now looking like the packet I did get a few days ago. Oops !!

  The only thing to say about last night is that I thought I ate too much, and some of it was not a good idea.....or so I thought. My fridge is looking a bit bare at the moment, but I have quite a bit in the freezer. I had to decide between two similar ready meals among others in the fridge. Both were shepherds pies (or maybe one was a similar Cottage pie). One was a calorie controlled ready meal, and the other was not. The uncontrolled one did not have many more calories, but it did have a lower sugar content. I went for that one.

  The only problem is that the described cooking method was 45 minutes in the oven. That meant I had a long wait for dinner, but the alcohol effects were calling for food NOW ! I started with a snack. It was "German Sausage" slices and some chilli and mustard mixed pickle. That pickle had a frightening amount of sugar in it, and I had quite a lot of it. A bit later I added the sugar from the shepherds pie. I had feeling of doom as I waited to check my blood glucose in the morning.

  I finished my dinner watching Star Trek: Voyager, and after that I watched Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Both were "OK" in the loosest sense. It seems Dave has swapped around QI and Have I Got News For You, with QI now on first at 9pm. I didn't fancy that, plus I was feeling a bit tired. I went to bed where I read for quite a short period of time. I had finished my latest book, so I read the leaflet in my GNT spray. It seems to say don't drink alcohol while using the spray because it might increase the negative effects of the booze. I only expect to use the spray once I have walked far enough to justify it, and then probably only once. I think I'll wait for evidence of some sort of interaction with alcohol.

  Reading the leaflet may have taken less than 5 minutes, and it may have only been 5n minutes after that before I was deeply asleep. It was quite a sticky night, and the towel on my pillow was very damp with sweat, but I still managed to apparently sleep really well. I may have even got up to pee once less time in the night. Despite, or maybe because of sleeping so well, I do seem to remember an overview of two or three dreams.

  I don't remember much of what I think was the first dream. That is probably a good thing because it involved Donald Trump. All I remember was being in what might have been a beer garden. I was sitting at a table when Donald Trump passed holding a bottle of some exotic beer or something. I showed him zero respect when I said I want to taste that. I seemed to have startled him because he instantly said yes, and tried to our some of the beer in my glass, but his hand was shaking and he managed to spell beer on me.

  The next dream was set in what must have been Soho. I have no idea why I was there, but it was back in the time where there were many shops selling government surplus electronics. I found a video unit in one shop and picked it up to examine it. It seemed to be missing something that may have just been some exotic connector, and I carried on walking with it looking for this missing something. I think my intention was to go back to either return it or pay for it.

  During that walk I passed several fascinating places. The most fascinating place was a huge building, like one of the very big cinemas in central London, but viewed from the back so most of it looked like very dense brickwork. It also seemed to have a lot of portals or doorways, and they all had escalators inside. Some went up to a proper cinema, and one went down below road level, and the garish advertising outside of it said it was a jazz and strippers club. In my dreams within dreams I would like to have visited that - but not for the jazz !

  The third dream was set in a sort of hybrid of several places I have worked. It had been decided (by management) that it was time to go through stores and get rid of unwanted stuff - some might be sold, and other stuff would just be disposed of (at a price) as electronic scrap. I decided it would be good of me to "liberate" some of the stuff that would have cost money to dispose of as scrap. It included some old Germanium transistors, which are a novelty in this day and age, and some actual good stuff for an electronic hobbyist. The dream ended before I had made a full selection and squirrelled it away.

  When I got up, probably a bit later than the last few days, I seemed to think I had not peed much in the night, but when I came to weigh myself I was quite surprised to see I had 300gm, and that was after all yesterday's booze, and quite a substantial, and seemingly far from healthy dinner. For only the second time this whole year, my weight was shown in the next colour down in my colour coding scheme. The last time it was this low was last Sunday, and after my birthday celebrations I managed to put on 600gm the next morning, It has taken me since then to get back again. Hopefully I can manage to keep it slowly going down for enough slack to allow the odd bump with having to change the colour up again.

  This time, seeming to pee less in the night may have actually indicated a lower blood glucose level. I was quite shocked to see the Contour meter reading 7.4mmol/l, or just slightly under my rarely achieved current target. The GlucoRX meter read even lower at just 7.2mmol/l. Even the Sinocare meter tried to act normal with a reading of 8.2mmol/l. That is still more than the other two, but at least if that was the only reading I had I would consider it to be quite good.

  The other measurement worth noting is my blood pressure. Today is the first day of not taking an Indapamide tablet - the blood pressure control tablet that has the least effect, and so is a good candidate to stop to try and stop my blood pressure getting too low. Yesterday I was getting the first hints of white coat syndrome before I had even left to go to the surgery. It was quite odd because I didn't have any negative feelings about the appointment, and in a way I was looking forward to it. Yesterday my blood pressure was 119/49. This morning it was 115/49 - so actually lower, but this morning I think I was truly relaxed, but that again I thought I was fully relaxed when I took it yesterday.

  I don't actually know what I am doing today. Depending on information I hope to get in the next hour or two, I maybe staying in, n high alert, as I wait for the packet that I thought was going to be delivered yesterday. At a suitable time I think a shopping trip to Tesco would be a very good idea, but I still have fair supplies in the freezer so I would not starve if I can't get out. There are two things I must do today. One is to do a backlog of washing up that is cluttering up the kitchen sink.

  The other thing is to arrange a visit to the vampires to give a blood test sample. It is one I am surprised I have not had more frequently - only when visiting A&E with chest pains. It is a NT-PROBNP test. In very simple terms it could be described as the result of problems in the heart. In A&E it is used to check if it is likely that chest pains were really a heart attack. In my case it is not to detect a heart attack, but as an indicator of the heart being started of oxygen in some places. This has already been confirmed by the MRI scan I had last year, but the real unknown now is which small arteries are restricted. The MRI scan confirmed the quad bypass operation I had in 2013 is still working perfectly, and most of the heart has a very good flow of oxygenated blood. In theory the tests and stuff this new doctor is setting up should all be being done by the hospital cardiology department, but they would seem to be months behind in their work, and this stuff outside of the hospital may be a way of getting for the head of the queue if bad things are found.
  I did take one useful picture while at Ladywell station yesterday. It is of 376020. This picture is the fifth picture I have taken of these class 376 trains in their new Southeastern blue livery. I am sure I have seen more of them, but have not managed to get a decent, or indeed any pictures of them. Like I hoped to get, and did get pictures of all 36 of these trains in their original white livery, I intend to get all 36 of them in the new livery.