I didn't notice any rain at 8am this morning. There is still time for a shower at 9am, and the sky does seem grey enough for a shower. We could be getting sunny spells soon, although the look of the sky suggests that part of the forecast is wrong. The light wind is coming from a warm direction, and so the afternoon could reach the forecast 25° C. By 9pm the clouds may be thick enough for rain, and although I write it off as a typical BBC weather fantasy, there could be a thunderstorm at 10pm tonight. Tomorrow could start wet, and there could be a thunderstorm at 10am, but the afternoon may start with sunny spells, and they could change to full sunshine in the later afternoon. Tomorrow afternoon could see 22° C.

  Yesterday was dominated by one and a half things. The whole thing was a walk to and from Aldi with a load f shopping on the way back. The half a thing was having a shower before I went out. It would have been a full thing if I had washed my hair too.

  The more I think about it, the less I have to say about yesterday. My shopping trip was by far the most significant thing I did. On the other hand, some of that shopping was notable in so much as I found where all the curry ready meals were hiding. I presume that will be back to the normal sort of place they keep them, but yesterday they were in the cabinet for recently received stuff, or stuff they were promoting. The really significant thing was that I was able to buy a lamb Rogan Ghosh curry. I also bought a Beef Madras - another curry I have not seen on the shelves for a while.

  The walk to Aldi did not feel good, but I think that had a lot to do with the trainers I was wearing. They were my Adidas green "Court" shoes. Maybe they are fine when dancing around hitting tennis balls, but they are not always comfortable for walking. It is hard to describe why they are not comfortable. They seem to fit OK, and don't rub anywhere, but maybe the sole does not flex enough for the way I walk.

  In a strange way, I actually seemed to feel better walking home with a heavy rucksack and two shopping bags. Of course I didn't realise it felt better until I got home again. I found myself sort of surprised that for the first time in ages I walked home non stop. Maybe the shopping bags were not as heavy as some times, because one common reason to stop, albeit briefly, is to give my arms a rest, or to swap the bags over if I have not balanced them before starting the walk.

  I think that regardless of how the walk felt, it is always good to get home again, and put the shopping down. Then put the shopping away, and then eat some of it. I had a packet of ham (with cheese, maybe) wraps and some "Firecracker" chicken sandwiches. The latter were nice, but maybe lacking in fire !

  After eating I had nothing to do, or at least nothing I wanted to do, and spent the rest of the day being mostly lazy. I think I had a snooze after eating, I also spent some time just reading. I feel sure I must have done more, but I have no idea what it was now.

  There was one thing I did which really only accounted for minutes, and it was a bit of cooking. I had bought a box of spicy chicken wings, and hadn't remembered that I had already tried them and found them OK, but nothing to get excited about. If I had not opened the packaging I might have put them in the freezer (if I could find room), but I cooked them with the idea they might make a fair snack some time today.

  My real cooking (which is a sort of lie) was to zap my Rogan Ghosh curry in the microwave in time to eat it while watching the 6pm news. Maybe it was the Tesco version that came with rice, but yesterday's Aldi version did not come with rice, and I ate it as a sort of lumpy soup. The ironic thing is that after all that waiting, and rejoicing when they were back in the shop after a long absence, it was not that nice. It was nice, but not the ambrosia my warped kept imagining it to be.

  Now I think of it, there was just one small event that was noteworthy yesterday. I got an email to say Inpost (another courier company I don't like) had a parcel for me. When it has finally been chucked into the front garden, and assuming I find it before the foxes rip to shreds or something, it will be a pair of trainers ordered from China. They may well be crap, but they look OK in the online pictures. The special thing about them, and why I decided to take a chance on them, is that they are a wide fitting at the front - more wriggle room for my toes. They cost £16.29 (including postage and packing), and seemed cheap enough to take a chance on. If they are any good I'll probably order spares because I doubt they will last long before falling apart.

  My evening was the usual watching TV. At 10pm I could have watched an extra hour, but decided to go to bed instead. I felt tired enough that I didn't even attempt to read more than a page or two of my current book. After turning out the light I almost went straight to sleep, but I decided to put the fan heater on low because the weather forecast predicted a cold night. Unfortunately the fan motor seems to have dry bearings, and it didn't start up. That meant the room was filled with the smell of burning dust that had accumulated on the heating elements.

  I slapped the heater a few times in the hope of getting the motor turning. It tried, but it kept stopping again. I replaced it with it's identical twin from the spare bedroom. That ran smoothly - far more smoothly than the rattly sound of the original heater, and I was soon fast asleep. As far as I recall, I slept well until about 5am this morning. I woke up at the conclusion of a dream.

  In the dream I had gone back to work in the workshop where I spent some (sort of) happy times repairing colour TVs. Not a lot seemed to have changed since I quit that job about 20 years ago now. All the people were the same, although there were a few new people. I had to do a test to make sure I could still repair TVs, and was given a faulty PCB from a TV, but not the CRT or cabinet.

  Not being able to see the TV work meant I had to do some unusual fault finding, and I was having trouble. The Senior engineer saw me struggling, and as he walked past he asked if I had considered a certain resistor. I hadn't because it was of a type that is almost indestructible, and never fails. Then a manager said I would have to work faster if I was expecting to work there. I turned around and said it had been fun being back there for a morning, but if he was just going to harass me then I wasn't interested.  I was literally only there for fun, and while a bit more money would be nice, my two pensions meant I was never going to starve.

  That was when the dream ended, and I woke up, but in telling it I remember two other bits of the dream. I think the dream started with a discussion about going to the pub at lunch time. I looked out the window, and there was torrential rain. I said I preferred to stay in the dry. At some time in the dream I went to the stores area where I met a very pleasant and attractive young (between 30 and 40 years old) lady, and she asked me if I would help her bring in a heavy TV from her van. I said yes, but we would have to be quick because there was a brief sunny spell between showers. I felt a special attraction to her, and she seemed to like me a lot. It made quitting a bit harder.

  This morning my diet, which I deliberately included some fruit in it, plus the typical effects of a hot curry, meant I was not constipated. Well, I guess I was for a little while, but once things moved it was all very smooth. It is a shame that was not enough to make the scales show any weight loss. In fact I had to record that I had gained 200gm since yesterday.

  My blood glucose was good, but not very good. The average of all three readings was 8.27mmol/l. I guess that is sort of average, or actually slightly below the running average for this month. Today I inject my latest dose of Ozempic, and that may help keep my readings down for another week.

  My blood pressure is a little higher this morning, but that is probably because I just rushed down and up the stairs to get my Ozempic injector, and I have taken this weeks dose of Ozempic. My blood pressure, on my first and only check, was 122/79 with a heart rate of 78bpm. I am fairly sure that is classified as perfectly OK.

  I have no special plans for today beyond another shopping trip. This one will be to savers and to Poundstretcher. It is not essential, and if it starts to rain I won't bother. Actually, as I write this, the sun is shining, and a lot of the sky is now looking milky rather than dull grey. I am not sure why I thought it might rain.....although....the BBC forecast still predicts rain for this evening.

  Apart from shopping, it would be nice if I could raise the enthusiasm for a walk in the park. maybe I'll be enthused to do that if my new (Chinese) trainers arrive. Maybe another reason not to wander too far is so I don't miss the delivery - if indeed it actually happens today.

  One job I could do today would be to strip down the fan heater with the dry motor bearings. I am sure that a good clean out, plus some Three-in-One oil would be a repair that could last for a year or two. On the other hand, I will probably by a spare fan heater from Poundstretcher.....maybe two !