After it rained all night, it is still raining, and the forecast says it may not stop until 9pm today. The afternoon may see 12° C, but from 5pm it may fall to 9° C, and then just 8° C by 1am tomorrow morning. Apart from the rain, the other big feature in the forecast is gale force winds from 3pm. They could reach 43mph, although that does not seem all that high to me - although quite strong enough to blow the rain straight into your face regardless of hoods or umbrellas. Tomorrow (Saturday) could start at just 7° C, and the rest of the day could be almost identical to today, and that includes the gale force winds in the late afternoon.

  As noted yesterday, my very vague plans for yesterday were to either go for a walk in the park with one of my cameras, or much more likely, go shopping in Tesco. It was the latter that I did. Later on I would be joined by Jodie and Michael for some beer tasting.

  Before going to Tesco I had a shower, and I washed my hair. Getting my head soaked in the rain on Wednesday left my hair looking rather curly. Shampoo and conditioner, plus blow drying straightened it out.....or straightened out what it left of it these days.

  I bought a smallish selection of food in Tesco, and so had a bit of room in my basket for a few beers. Ideally I should go there again when not buying food to get a bigger selection of beers. Many of the beers on Tesco's shelves are now of the "modern" style of things like fruit beers. A few may be nice, but most are too acid like for my tastes. One novelty drink I bought was not beer, but "Creamy Vanilla" flavoured Diet Coke (actually I think it was the very inferior "Coke Zero"). I have yet to try it, but if it is nice, and I suspect it possibly will be, I may buy a small stock of it because I think it is just one of their seasonal specials that will be here and gone again in the next month.

  Once I was home I stuffed my face with some reduced price sandwiches or wraps. Then I had a rest. I managed to just find enough enthusiasm to stop my rest after a while, and then spent a bit of time cleaning the kitchen (or select bits of it), plus washing and polishing the beer glasses. It was only about half an hour later when Jodie arrived (and she was late again).

  I started my beer drinking with a bottle of Fullers "London Pride". I used to think it was really nice, but now it is only a lot nicer than some of the horrible sour beers Jodie likes. Yesterday was perhaps one of the rarer sessions when Jodie selected a few beers, generally German, or "German style" beers, and they were very drinkable.

 I can't seem to recall when it was, but we were joined by Cous Cous. He wanted his usual treats, and some human company. He ended up getting very settled on the chair who I put out for Mark (who would join us later on, but only for 10 or 15 minutes). I remember that Cous Cous had already selected that chair when Michael arrived. What I can't remember was what Cous Cous did when Mark arrived. Maybe he had moved to his cardboard box to beg for more treats by then.

  It was a fairly pleasant drinking session, although not really a boozy session. I doubt all I had to drink would have added up to more than 3 pints, and possibly a little less. Michael was the first to leave, and I think it was while seeing him off that Cous Cous said he wanted to go out, and Jodie let him out the back door. Jodie and Mark would leave quite soon after that.

  I had cooked some sausages for my dinner for when everyone had left, but I had a few more sandwiches to eat, and my dinner was just sandwiches and ice cream. I'm not sure how satisfying it was, but I managed to convince myself I had almost had enough. I think I had a Caramel bar a little later.

  My evening was a typical evening these days. I was too late to watch the 6pm news, but I found stuff on TV that even if it was not that entertaining, was sufficient to stop me feeling bored. I think I was feeling tired last night because I am sure I started to read after going to bed, but gave up after just a page or two. I think I may well have fallen asleep very quickly after putting the book down, and turning out the lights.

  Before continuing, I've just remembered one important thing I did in the afternoon - I went on line to pay my credit cards. I was shocked by two things - how small one credit card bill was, and how big the other was. The big one was my Tesco credit card. I always did have a plan to use that one more often because I think I get Tesco "Clubcard" points on it. It seems that apart from for Amazon, I use the Tesco card for all other purchases. The "fun" thing is that I use it for shopping in Aldi, and so get Tesco Clubcard points even when shopping there !

  Back to last night, and I don't think I have anything to say about my sleep beyond some hazy memories of waking up to go for a pee once or twice, maybe even thrice ! Just for a change I seemed to sleep long enough to wake up at a more sensible time for getting up, although I did stay in bed a bit longer in case I felt I could grab a bit more sleep.

  When I got up I went for a pee, as usual, and this time I did have a poo as well, although it seemed rather small compared to what I was expecting. On the other hand, it was all enough to say I seemed to have lost 400gm since yesterday morning. My blood glucose was good enough, but not low enough for any real joy. The average of my three meters was 8,23mmol/l. On second thoughts, that was low enough to be mildly joyful. Yesterday it was 9.47mmol/l, and that is under the red line, but not by enough to be proud of it.

  There is not much to say about my blood pressure this morning. Just seconds ago it was 117/81 with a heart rate of 82bpm. I think that can be described as boringly "normal".

  There are many things I could do today, but all of them need blue sky, warm sunshine, and no rain. I have to admit that looking out the window (any window !) leaves me feeling depressed. It is grey, very wet, and cool enough that I have just turned the heater up in my room. I doubt I will be going out today, and I think that includes going to a Chain gig in West Wickham. I was looking forward to that gig. It is modestly easy to get to, and the pub is one of the better ones for a gig that is not too crowded. The ironic thing is the rain may have stopped by the time I would be leaving to go home, but it seems highly unlikely I could get there without the aid of water wings and an aqualung.

  I don't know what I am doing today, but it would probably be prudent to wash a few clothes while it seems I have the time, and before I allow the washing basket to get any fuller. I would probably have to use a fan heater to get that washing dry in a reasonable time, but I know my electricity bill has quite a surplus credit in it at the moment. That may change by the end of next spring, but it seems pointless to suffer now while I don't have to.