09:14 GMT

  This morning the temperature a fraction under 8° C, but the forecast says it should warm up to 14° C by midday, but no higher. We have had some nice sunny spells this morning, and they may continues until sunset (ignoring 3pm which may not have a sunny spell in it). From 8pm there could be light rain, and it could continue, almost non stop, until 9pm tomorrow ! The only slightly good thing is that tonight, through to 3pm tomorrow could be a constant 13° C. Tomorrow will see light rain almost all day, but at midday there could be a thunderstorm (but this is probably the BBC hallucinating again).

  Yesterday was a bit of a disaster, or at least that is how it ended up. Most of the day was far from glorious, and my intention of going to Tesco never really happened. I am not sure why it didn't happen - maybe I just didn't feel like it or something.

  It seems silly to say it now, but I think I started yesterday full of optimism. Some of that optimism was probably the weather. It was not that bad, and from late morning, maybe a bit earlier, we did start to get some sunny spells - maybe not that many in absolute terms, but rather better than the miserable weather forecast showed. I even did a real time update at 11:23am while I was still writing to say that it was nice and sunny.
  It was much later, almost 4pm, when I took the above picture. Most of the sky was a lovely blue, but there were streaks of cloud that had very grey bottoms, but the top was white, and the middle a sort of pink/orange colour - almost the sort of colouration to evoke the old saying "red sky at night, shepherds delight". The weather this morning, and maybe later, might delight a shepherd. It is currently bright and sunny !

  Yesterday morning was typical of most mornings. After doing my health measurements, and having some breakfast (the usual instant noodles) I spent the next couple of hours writing yesterday's piece. I then had my usual post writing rest. Once I felt ready to go again I washed my hair and had a shower. That was mostly in preparation for going out in the evening, but also because I was going to go shopping in Tesco.

  I have no real idea why I did not end up going shopping. I don't think there was any real physical reason why I didn't go, and it was more like I just couldn't seem to find a good time when I wanted to go. When I think back on it, I can't seem to think of any reason I couldn't go, and no good reason for not wanting to go. Perhaps I just kept putting it off until it was too late. I suspect that was probably the real reason, but it may have equally been that I just felt too lazy. Maybe there was a physical reason that I was hardly aware of.

  Skipping over most of the afternoon, because I didn't do anything that is worth describing.....although I am sure it involved at least one snooze - a definite thing, but also a nothingness that can't be described. One thing I did do was to have some lunch. It was a fairly light lunch of rice crackers and corned beef with horseradish sauce - at least I think it was. I do have some doubts because it feels a bit like I might be describing lunch the day before yesterday, but I didn't seem to mention it in yesterday's writing, and so I guess it is safe to say that was lunch yesterday.

  At the end of yesterday afternoon I began to plot my evening. The intention was to go out and watch, plus get some pictures, of The Life Of Brian playing in The Swan at West Wickham. After washing my hair and showering, the most important preparation was to make sure my best camera, my Nikon D610, had fully charged batteries, plenty of space on the memory cards, and was in good working order.

  After the disaster of trying to use my Canon 1200D camera the last time the band played in the extremely cramped confines of the Beckenham Bricklayers Arms, I felt that nothing but the best would. My favourite lens to use with the Nikon is the Sigma constant aperture, f2.8, 24 to 70mm lens. That lets enough light in at it's full f2.8 to ensure the camera can focus at fairly low light levels, but the actual picture would be taken using flash (if needed). It is quite a lump to carry around, but it is a fairly easy journey to West Wickham.

  I checked the train time, and say there was a train at 7.43pm, and provided a 194 bus turned up fairly quickly when I changed from train to bus at Eden Park station, I expected to be at the pub at least 15 minutes before the band were supposed to start at 8.30pm (although it would probably be a little later). I should have been there in time to go and grab Miranda without waiting for her to spot me.

  I bit part of the plan was to not have any dinner before going out, although I did have a packet of crisps to tide me over. I would have my dinner after I got home from the gig (possibly almost midnight by the time I had walked home from the station). I never checked, but I am fairly sure I had eaten enough to stop my blood glucose getting so low that it would have a detrimental effect on me.

  It was getting close to the time when I should have been getting dressed, ready to walk to the station, when I was feeling very "odd". The most obvious thing was a headache, but there were other, hard to remember/describe things. Maybe I should have checked my blood glucose, but I checked my blood pressure. I mist definitely did not like what I saw.


  My blood pressure was dangerously high. Just seeing it gave me the shakes, or at least the fuzzy photo seems like I could not keep the camera still. In really have no idea why it was so high. I was only going to a gig, and not seeing a doctor, or even worse, a nurse - both typical reasons for high blood pressure. If it stayed that high for much longer I would have decided to go to Lewisham Hospital A&E, and probably ended up staying for a few nights in the hospital while I was prodded and poked in the manner of all visits to doctors and nurses.

  I hoped that if I relaxed I could get it down a bit. After about half an hour, doing no more than just relaxing/being hyper lazy, the systolic pressure was down to 146 mmHg, and I was able to take a steady picture.

  The diastolic pressure, and my pulse rate was still a bit high for when resting, but the systolic was low enough not to blow any gaskets. 

  I decided that I didn't need to consult with the hospital, but I also decided that it would probably be better not to go out because travelling would surely make the pressure go up again.

  It was most annoying to miss the gig, but it was better than having to go home in an ambulance - which could have been a possibility if I had gone out when the systolic pressure was up at 200 mmHg.

  I had really been looking forward to the gig, and proving to myself that I could still take good picture with good tools. I really hope the gig went really well, and The Life Of Brian are now back, and will be doing future gigs at better pubs than the awful Bricklayers Arms in Beckenham.

  The first thing I did once I had reached a firm conclusion that I was not going out, was to eat my dinner.  It was one of my silly, but proven sort of good, dinners. It was ice cream and cake. On paper it was a terrible idea, but somehow it works. By "works" I really mean when I measure my weight and blood glucose level the next morning, but there was something more immediate than that. Maybe 15 minutes after eating I checked my blood pressure. My systolic pressure had come right down to a very good 115 mmHg. I forgot what the diastolic, and the pulse rate were, but I assumed they would have been OK too.

  On the face of it it would seem that my high blood pressure was due to lack of food, and maybe my blood glucose was too low last night (before I ate). I doubt that, but I didn't check. One of the warning about using Mounjaro is low blood glucose. That would give me a headache, which I had, and a sort of wobbly feeling, which I also had (with "wobbly" being a fair bit different to "dizzy").

  I was almost able to go to bed feeling good - except for the bitter disappointment of missing the gig. I am not sure if that translated to having a good sleep. I did watch a bit of TV before going to bed almost as late as if I had been to the gig. I think I fell asleep very quickly once I turned the light out, and turned onto my side.

  I am convinced there were some times in the night when I was awake, but I can't seem to remember if that is true or not. I can only guess that maybe I had a dream that was too close to reality. I do have a hazy recollection of a dream that involved me renovating some bot of old junk, but I don't have enough concrete memories of it to attempt to even guess at what was going on.

  I think I got up once or twice to pee in the night. When I got up at a time I can't seem to remember, I had a pee, and maybe 20 minutes later another pee and a small poo. I got on the scales t weigh myself.  It was disappointing to see my weight unchanged since yesterday morning. Oh well, it is better than seeing I had put weight on. I did have another pee before I had my breakfast, but I didn't seem to bother to weigh myself. If I had done so I might have seen a small weight drop of 100gm or possibly even 200gm, but it was mostly clutching at straws.

  The average of all three blood glucose meter readings was exactly the same today as yesterday, and yet the readings were completely different - but one being higher was cancelled by one being lower. The Contour meter read 7.2mmol/l (yesterday it was 7.1mmol/l). The GlucoRX meter read 6.8mmol/l (yesterday it was 6.5mmol/l) (Any reading under 7 is always very good). The GlucoFix meter read 7.2mmol/l (yesterday it was 7.4mmol/l). Yesterday and today's average was 7.03 mmol/l - which is pretty good. The weird ice cream and cake diet works - somehow !

  I am unsure if I feel good or bad this morning. I probably don't feel good, but I also don't feel bad. I guess this is pretty typical ! I feel sure I feel good enough to have a shower this morning. After that, once I am dressed, I can have another go at shopping in Tesco, That will be aided by the fact it is not getting important that I go and buy a few things. This afternoon should be a beer tasting session with Jodie. Michael does not normally join us on a Sunday, but I expect Fluffy cat will call on us, and stay for an hour or two.








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