08:47 BST

  We have already had some torrential rain, but that stopped an hour or two ago, and as I write this it seems fairly bright outside, but like yesterday not a single ray of sunshine has been seen, and probably won't be seen any time today - except for maybe 8pm, but even that shows a 17% chance of rain. The temperature is going to be a bit cool today with only 21° C forecast. It is possible that there could be some sunny spells tomorrow, although they seem more likely from early evening. It should stay mostly dry, and dull, and the maximum temperature is currently shown as 21° C again.

  Yesterday started in what felt like a mad rush, but in retrospect it was semi relaxed. Lots of things happened yesterday, and most were good and/or enjoyable, and one thing was some good news. To some that one good bit of news may sound like bad news. I shall explain that later.

  After I finished writing I decided to have a shave, wash my hair, and have a shower without having my usual rest first. Having done that I realised I still had plenty of time left before I expected a phone call from my doctor. I contemplated the idea of having a rest then, and maybe even a snooze, but I was already half dressed to go out, and resting didn't feel right like that. The obvious thing to do was to get back to my photo editing, and I managed to get two bands finished.
  The first band on at Chatt Fest, on the Sunday, was Ryans Rednecks. I can't say I enjoyed them that much. I once liked the cowboy motif when I was a kid, but these days it all seems to reflect the worst aspects of American culture - guns and maybe some sort of misplaced nostalgia for an era that only existed in the movies.
  Some of the songs they played were familiar to me, but not done in a "western" way. At least songs like "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" by Creedance Clearwater Revival, have never struck me as "Country" or "Western". That song definitely has no "hey yows" (or whatever) in it ! Although I don't think Ryans Rednecks added any, but a few did creep into other songs. My other complaint was the light. Later in the day the light mellowed a bit, bit while not sunny, it could still be a bit harsh.
  Next up was Sisters Of The Moon. They were Jo from Chain joined by her friend on electro-violin. It was not a sound I enjoyed at first, but later on they did cover a led Zepplin song or two, and the violin was a fair accompaniment for those type of songs.
  I can't remember how the weather had changed when I took this snap, but Jo's face is lit up nicely, and even the background is catching some light.  It may have been during one of the showers, or maybe just after a shower. That tends to give a mellow light for a while.

  I had just started editing the next band on, The Badger Band, when I had to stop everything when my phone rang. It was from my doctor, and the first thing I did was to accidently reject the call instead of answer it. I waited and about 10 minutes later the doctor phoned again, and this time I answered correctly. The call was inform me about the findings of the echocardiogram I had last week.

  The doctor seemed to creep up on the important detail - probably in case it shocked me. I was not shocked at all, and was looking forward to some sort of definite answer. My problem, or perhaps the significant one at this time, is that I have a faulty heart valve. It is not letting enough blood through, and is also leaking.  It was not what I was expecting, but it was a sort of definite thing, and that was what I was hoping for.

  With that the doctor finished the call, and I went for a pee before going for my walk through the park to get to The Jolly Farmers pub. I had just finished, but with my shorts still down around my ankles, the phone rang again. It was the doctor, and she asked me to describe my semi breathlessness again because she had forgotten to write it down. I told her that after about a quarter of a mile, walking at a fair speed, I would start to feel a bit short of breath.

  It is an odd thing because it is more like feeling shorter of breath than I would expect, but still far from gasping for breath. I re-affirmed this when I was walking to the pub later. I walked from home to where I (now) normally stop for a quite breather. I had walked 0.275 miles at 2.3886 mph, and I could still just about breathe through my nose. So I was not that short of breath, but as I say, it felt I was breathing far harder than I thought I should.

  If I had walked much further without a short break I might have started to get angina pains. I had my TNG spray with me, but I didn't use it. After that short break, not really much longer than it took to take a screenshot of my progress on my walking tracker, I continued to walk. I had two more brief stops before I got to Ladywell station (where I would pick up two copies of The Metro), and I had a longer rest there before going over the footbridge to the other side.

  Obviously I could not tell the doctor this extra detailed stuff, and nor could I tell her that my walk felt marginally easier yesterday.... Actually I could have told her because soon after I sat down in the pub my phone rang again, and it was the doctor. She said she had consulted with a heart specialist, and confirmed my heart valve could be repaired with an operation, and that the prognosis was for it curing most, if not all my troubles. That was excellent news. I know some who feel squeamish about heart operations, but I can't wait to have it done if it is the cure I need.

  I had worn my new Catford t-shirt to the pub. It uses a different font to the one I like, and also Ayse likes. I think I mentioned ordering it on line a week or so ago. I may not have mentioned that I also bought one for Ayse (and correctly guess she wanted a medium sized one). I entered the pub, and put the spare copy of The Metro on the bar for Ayse, and said you better have this too - and put a small blue carrier bag on the bar. She took the t-shirt out, and once again came running around the bar to give me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
  I suggested she going into the cellar to try it on, but I am not sure she heard me because after pouring my Guinness and being paid for it, she said she was going into the cellar to try the t-shirt on. She reappeared beaming ! I sat down at my table, and started looking at my paper, and then suddenly Ayse was sitting very close to me saying she had to take a selfie of us together. I think she got a sort of picture, but the field of view was not enough to get the full name in on both t-shirts (plus the photo her phone took looked pretty poor).

  I suggested she wait a minute, and we would get Sid, on of the regulars, and well familiar with mobile phones, to take a better picture of ourselves. I later cropped the picture, which had been taken in portrait mode, to remove my gut, and also Ayse thought here stomach looked too big. I think it was a trick of the light because I would rate her stomach as being very flat. The best bit that was cut off was the way I was bending my legs to try and get down to Ayse's level. I had never realised just how tall I am compared to her. I think the picture above was a pretty good result,athough it would be improved if I could smile like Ayse.

   I think I was already drinking my second pint of Guinness when I got a text message from Kevin saying he had to visit the hospital next door (but as I found out later, it was only to pick up a prescription from the hospital pharmacy) and would drop in for "a swift half". Of course there is no such thing as a swift half where Kevin is involved. I was ready for my third pint when Kevin arrived.

  We chatted for several hours, and I had a fourth pint of Guinness - just a 0% version - and two singles from the top shelf before we left.  Maybe it was the wise choice of the 0% Guinness, but I felt almost sober when we left.n I was definitely sober enough to let Kevin take the lead, and so we did the walk at a slower pace, and stopped for a couple of breathers - which he needed more than I did.

  We were heading to Aldi at the end of my road. If I hadn't allowed Kevin to slow me down I would have probably set off at a punishing pace. As it was, it seemed to be a fairly relaxed pace, and any stop was well before I needed one for myself. It was pretty typical that we chatted outside Aldi for ages before Kevin went in to do some shopping, and I walked the rest of the way home. By the time I reached home I was well ready for another pee !

  It was 6.30pm when I got home, and so I had missed the main news on The BBC, but I was still in time to see most of the London news. I ate my dinner while watching it. I had dinner backwards. In other words I started with dessert. That was some more of the lemon flavour ice cream I mentioned recently. Once again I need an iron will to keep it to quite a small portion. I then had some crisps with coleslaw. All this was while I waiting for an Aldi, frozen ready meal, of "salt and pepper Chinese chow mein, to de-thaw and cook.  It was not all that nice.

  I declined to watch any TV after the news, although I did have a flick around the channels. My plan was going to be to switch on the TV again at 9pm for QI, but I checked who was presenting it, and who were the guests, and decided that it would be more entertaining to read in bed of a while instead. I didn't really do anything concrete in the two hours after the news finished. I think I edited a few more photos, and I ready some technology news, and checked other web sites.

  I was in bed (or more accurately, on my bed) at 9pm, with my teeth brushed, and ready for sleep. I thought I might manage just a few pages from my book before I felt too sleepy, but I read more than a few, maybe a double few (!) before I thought I ought to stop. I didn't think I was that sleepy, but within minutes of putting the book down I seemed to be fast asleep. Last night was very similar to the previous night - sort of boring because very little happened in the night.

  One notable thing was waking up around midnight, and it feeling like my bedroom was cooling down enough to be very slightly uncomfortable. I did not want to put the heater on uncontrolled, and set the thermostat to what I hoped would only allow the heater to slightly warm the room. I do remember apparently being awake when the sudden silence meant it had turned it self off. The room felt about right when that happened. When I eventually woke to get up, the room was just right.

  I seemed to pee about as much as usual last night, although I admit my memory of it was rather vague. I had hoped that I had peed enough, and the small poo I did after getting up, would have been enough to show a small weight loss. Maybe that was a bit optimistic after eating quite a lot in the evening - an extended dinner with snacks. In fact I had put on 500gm since yesterday morning. In theory I should try hard to get that back down today, but today is another drinking day, and so it is very unlikely to happen.

  Eating the ice cream in the evening, and also the Chinese style main course, and probably all the coleslaw I ate, suggested a high blood glucose this morning, but it was actually almost good. The Contour meter read 7.8mmol/l, and that is far lower than expected. The GlucoRX meter read 8.2mmol/l, and that is still fairly good. Even the Contour Plus meter was behaving itself and gave a reading of 8.3mmol/l - also quite good enough. The average of all three, 8.1, is actually lower than all but a couple of days in the last half month.

  Today could be a busy day if I do all I would ideally do. One of the first things I really have to do is to finish the towel and pair of shorts that had 24 hours soaking in detergent, and then 24 hours soaking in the first rinse water. After I have done that I can have a shower. I have a choice of what to do next. It would be good to try and get a few more bands photos from Chatt Fest selected and edited. On the other hand I should probably prioritise making a new page for August on this web site (and also get spreadsheets ready for Augusts health readings).

  After approximately 3:30pm I will be too busy drinking to do anything else for the rest of the day.  I will be joined by Jodie (unless a thunderstorm sends her scurrying back indoors instead of coming here), and probably by Michael if he hasn't taken root in Lewisham hospital (which he doesn't trust to look after his wife unless he is there supervising it all 24 hours per day). I will, of course, try to stay a bit sober this afternoon, but after such a busy week I may just let myself go, and to hell with the consequences (mainly weight gain).

  In advance news, tomorrow will be my last day to finish all the photos taken at Chattfest. On Saturday I do it all again at Petts Wood Calling. There are nine band on, and so it will be an even longer day. It is handy that I have had some practice, but it is is still going to be exhausting, and I very much doubt I will stay to the end. I do hope I will at least get a few snaps of the last band on, but I expect I will be halfway home on the train before that last band has finished their last encore. Of course all this is conjecture, and reality could be very different.