10:06 BST

  Yesterday was yet another godforsaken grey, and miserable sort of day. The temperature only reached 15° C, but it was dry.
  We haven't actually seen any yet, but sunny spells are forecast for this morning. Judging by the murky grey sky, it seems unlikely we will see any sunshine at all today. However, the latest revision to the forecast says sunny spells right now and for 11am. There still seems to be zero chance of that. At least it should stay dry. With only 15° C expected later this afternoon, it is going to feel a bit cool today. The prediction for tomorrow is not only sunny spells, but possibly two hours, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon, may feature full sunshine (my guess is "no chance"). It should be another dry day, and feel cool again with a high of just 14° C.

  Yesterday was mostly dull, but there was a bit of mild excitement in the afternoon. I didn't seem to feel that good for a lot of yesterday, but beyond some tiredness I couldn't really say I had any other obvious symptoms. It was probably just the ongoing miserable weather.

  Being a Thursday I got myself ready to receive visitors, and drink some beer. That mostly meant making sure I had a shower, and doing the absolute bare minimum of housework. After my shower I put a small bath towel into soak in detergent. I knew as I did it that I would never get around to finish washing it yesterday, although in theory I could have done. As seems far too frequently, it is still in it's big bucket clogging up the bath this morning.

  I think it was possibly late morning when I heard from Jodie. She rang to tell me that she had to go to one of her favourite bars/beer shops because it was having a tap takeover with one of her favourite brewers showing off their latest brews. She would not be able to join me for out usual afternoon beer drinking session. I could have called the whole thing off, and that would probably be better for my health, but I thought I ought have a drink with Michael because he looks forward to the chance to chat and moan about his life these days.

  I must admit I was completely lazy for the rest of the morning, and most of the afternoon. About the only important thing I did was to have some lunch so I didn't have to drink on an empty stomach. Some of that lunch was a few sticks of Aldi's own version of Pepperami sticks. They are not quite as good as the originals, but still pretty good. While very far from dripping grease, they have some grease to help line my stomach.

  Michael arrived at about 5pm, a bit later than usual, but we were soon drinking some reasonable beers. I have to admit I did drink some of my own beers without getting Jodie's permission to drink them (Jodie needs to taste every single beer as part of her beer boozing hobby !). The trouble is that Jodie seems to have a very good memory and will remember that I once had the beers that I drank yesterday, and will sulk about it when she come here Sunday.

  Michael had plenty to get off his chest - ongoing troubles with his dementia suffering wife, the care home she is in, and how much he hates Catford and want to move to a different part of the country. After the late start we didn't drink as much as most times, but a few of the beers I drank were very strong. I was probably mildly enough drunk to make poor eating choices. Fortunately I never did get to Tesco, and had to find something in the freezer for my dinner.

  What I found in my freezer was a Chilli Con Carne with rice ready meal for one. It didn't seem to be that unhealthy, and may have been very reasonable for a ready meal. I did the first part of the cooking in the microwave while we were still drinking. After we finished, and Michael had gone home, I gave an extra two minutes in the microwave to make sure it was hot.

  It was not that bad, but once upon a time I could cook a mega unhealthy (probably) Chilli Con Carné that would knock the socks of this frozen ready meal. My home made version would probably give me ten times the strength of the heartburn the ready meal gave me. I thought I had given it a fair time to settle down because after eating it, I wasted/enjoyed the next 3 (or was it 4 ?) hours of TV watching before going to bed.

  Once in bed it was more than heartburn that ailed me. I had an assortment of aches as I tried to find a comfortable sleeping position. In the same bed, with nothing changed, that I had been so comfortable that I fell asleep with no trouble for the previous 3 or 4 night, I found that last night it was like trying to sleep on a bed of rocks. The heartburn was just the icing on the cake.

  I re-arranged my pillows, and straightened the bottom sheet. That helped a little bit, but I think it was the mild, but still annoying heartburn that kept me awake long enough to minutely examine every single bump bigger than 1/16th of an inch in my mattress. After a while I got up again, and tried to cure anything I could. A couple of Paracetamol probably helped cure some stiffness and aches, and reduced the sensitivity to any bumps or lumps - real or imagined (probably imagined because I never noticed them the night before).

  I took a few Rennies antacid tablets to try and stop the heartburn. It seemed so mild that it should have been easy, but there was a very slight nagging pain that would not go away. I concluded that I would have to use some of my now very precious GTN spray to cure any form of heart pain or angina related pain. I think it helped, but I was feeling so tired that I probably would have fallen asleep any way.

  There is not much I can say about my sleep, once I was asleep. I think that was possibly as late as 2am, but from then on I remember nothing until I woke up at nearly 6am. That felt far too early, and after a pee, and turning the heater up a bit, I fell asleep again. I only expected to sleep another hour, but it was 8.30am before I next woke up. I might have been able to sleep even more, but that felt quite late enough - and more so considering I had things I wanted to, and had to do this morning.

  After getting up again I went to the toilet twice. The first was only for a pee, and the second time was for a poo. I can't think of a simple explanation why I could not do the two at the same time. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't. I thought it was unlikely I could empty myself any more, and so I got on the scales. As is usual after a beery evening, even one where it felt I had restrained my eating a lot, I had put on a whole 700gm since yesterday morning.

  It is not rational that I want to blame that weight gain on Mounjaro - the drug that is supposed to be help lose multiple kilograms - but I definitely don't want to blame the beer itself (although I accept that the alcohol will lower my common sense). It is also irrational that when I gain weight I seem to have a lower blood glucose level. I thought the two measurements would go hand in hand.

  This morning my blood glucose is good, but not excellent. The Contour meter read 6.4mmol/l. That is close to excellent, but the definition of that has now shifted to a reading starting with a five like I got on Wednesday (It was 5.4mmol/l). The GlucoRX meter read 6.3mmol/l, and the GlucoFix meter read 6.7mmol/l. That is all three readings in the sixes, and that should be very good, but having had a taste of a five, I want more of them !

  This morning has not gone like I hoped it would go. The first great impediment, although I always knew it would probably end up this way, is that I can't have a shower until I have, at a minimum, wrung out the towel soaking in detergent, and removed the big buckets from the bath. I can then have a shower, although I could, and may get away with just using a flannel for a quick wash of the smelliest bits.

  I've also had two other impediments. One was another rambling phone call from gas bag Lee. There are times when he asks me for advice, and I have no idea why he thinks I would ever be able to give any advice. This morning was a query about a new Fridge/freezer that he wants to buy. The only one that does what he wants, is out of stock at Argos. I have no idea how he hoped I may be able to do anything about that, and I have no idea how he could stretch out a such a plea for about half an hour.

  The other impediment was getting some messages (including pictures) from Patricia. She is back in the country, and after flying in to Gatwick airport, is on a long train ride to the south coast. Maybe that delayed me by as much as half an hour as well, but at least it was sort of interesting, and a one off instead of a bad habit. As I type this it is 11:20am and by now I had hoped to have had a shower, been to the pharmacy, and then shopping in Aldi.

  I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will find a new GTN spray in with my repeat prescription. If they started making it up my big bag of pills and stuff, on the same morning I ordered it, then the Cardiologist would not have had time to put the ban of supplying me with more GTN spray. Maybe it does have some dangers (of lowering my blood pressure low enough to make me pass out), but it is such a wonderful relief for Angina type pains, and some of the feeling of being short of breath when out walking. It was the only way I could bear to do any exercise, or just walk through the park to the pub.

  Now I have reached the end of today's bit of writing I would normally have a lie down and rest, and it feels very much like I want to do that now, but I fear I will not have time for any rest. It is going to be a bit of shock going into the cold bathroom even for a quick flannel wash, but I hope I can find the enthusiasm to at least get the two washing buckets out so I can have a shower. After that it will be straight to the pharmacy, and then around the corner to Aldi. Once all that is done I can be as lazy as I want for the rest of the day !