I can see some patches of blue sky, and a bit earlier one patch was in the right place to let in a few rays of sunshine, but since then it has been slightly dull. Sunny spells are forecast from 5 and 6pm, and two hours of full sunshine for 7 and 8pm - when the sun is so low on the horizon it makes little difference.  The afternoon should see 17° C and a brief excursion to 18° C at 5pm. The whole day should be dry. Tonight the sky may be clear, and it will be colder than recent nights. Tomorrow could start at a fairly chilly 10° C, but the day should start with full sunshine, and that may only end by 11am. It will be followed by 4 hours of sunny spells. A couple of hours later there could be more sunny spells until sunset. Tomorrow afternoon could be a warm 19° C.   Yesterday was a moderately good day, but it had it's ups and downs. One up and down was recognising a problem, and the cure for it. The evening boozing was another up and down. I'll try and explain this if can.

  I did not feel good yesterday morning. It was nothing big, but an assortment of fairly minor aches and pains, and one other thing, that all added up to take the shine off the day. I felt tired a lot of the time, and if I could have I may have spent most of the morning, and possibly some of the afternoon, laying on my bed reading, and snoozing. Unfortunately I had to force myself to get myself ready, by having a shower, and washing my hair, and then getting things ready for the usual Thursday afternoon beer tasting session.

  One thing I did after my shower was to put as many as a dozen pairs of underpants in to soak in detergent. I knew I was tempting fate, and indeed I ended up not having the time of inclination to finish the job before getting distracted by doing other stuff. The big bucket with the detergent and underpants is still sitting in the bath this morning, and it should be my first job to finish it later this morning. Fortunately, unlike towels, which can need a dozen or many more rinses, underpants (and things like t-shirts) seem to be completely rinsed by about 3 or 4 rinses.

  One ailment I have/had for a few days came to a head yesterday. I am never sure whether to describe it as vertigo, dizziness, or something else. It is the something else that I can't think of a suitable name beyond "lightheadedness", and even that doesn't seem very accurate. I suspected it could be a blood flow problem, and more so after my attack of tachycardia (which I later discovered was almost certainly caused my excess liquorice consumption).

  I discounted blood flow problems when I realised the effect was caused by certain fast movements of the head. I realised it was the return of a problem from many months ago, and maybe over a year ago. It was an inner ear problem. The last time it was so bad that I fell over while washing my hair, hanging over the side of the bath tub. The recent attack has been mild by comparison, or maybe I have learned to cope with it better. I always think of what astronauts have to learn to endure - weightlessness - and if they can cope with it, then so can I.

  The last time it was proved to my satisfaction that it was an ear problem, and probably wax build up, because dripping oil in my ears to soften any wax, was a complete cure. Yesterday I gave myself the same oil in the ear treatment, and after a while I stopped getting any troubles. The only flaw in the argument is that on a previous occasion I got the nurse to look in my ear, and she said there was very little wax in it.

  When it comes to beer tasting sessions like late yesterday afternoon/early last night I seem to have become very jaded. Jodie is still a fanatic and has to try any beer she can get hold of, and once upon a time I thought in a similar way, but while there can be some excitement of trying an unfamiliar beer, I get more pleasure just having a few beers with come company.

  As I frequently complain, Jodie thinks her phone is more interesting than me, and so I get the silent treatment. Michael very rarely has anything positive or interesting to say. I am wondering if I am getting to the point where I might start think of cancelling these beer sessions. I doubt I will do so because I guess some conversation is better than none at all. On the other hand, the beer is having some quite variable effects on my health.

  I thought I had eaten a reasonable lunch before we started drinking. It was mostly just a home constructed ham roll. On a nice fresh roll it did taste very nice. It is dinner than can be very unpredictable after the booze. Yesterday I had some seasoned and marinated mini pork riblets as my main course. With no vegetable it was not a healthy option, but I thought it was probably safe.

  What was not safe was my dessert. it was a whole punnet of ripe strawberries, and they were very nice. They were even better with cream, except it was ice cream, and to make matters worse it was the Walls ice cream - made with far too much sugars in it. It didn't seem at the time that I had had a big enough portion to have bad consequences, and maybe that was the case, but I did have some doubts this morning. I'll come to them soon.

  I don't really know why I had been feeling weary all day yesterday. For reasons unknown I seemed to have very little energy, or maybe it was just very little enthusiasm. My morning aches and pains I thought were maybe something to do with a change in the weather - except we haven't really had a big change in the weather. It was still useful to blame that on why I felt tired yesterday.

  After dinner I watch some TV, but there didn't seem to be anything riveting on, and by 9pm my thoughts were strongly pointing at bed. I did indeed go to bed earlier than most nights. I read a page of two from my latest book, and then I went to sleep. It is not something you can ever really know, but it felt like I probably fell asleep really fast last night. It seemed like a slept well, although that still includes getting up for a couple of pees in the night, and having a couple of dreams - which I can't recall a single thing about.

  I think I had less random aches this morning, but I still felt sort of weary, and wondering if I should go back to bed. I thought there may be a clue to the feeling in my health measurements, but while not wonderful, they were all just about OK - except for my weight. It seems I have put on a huge 1.5kg since yesterday morning. I don't how how I have managed that, but I guess that could cause some of my symptoms, but I hadn't put on anything like that yesterday, and still felt sluggish. If anything it is the symptom and cause that are reversed.  Besides, I have not put on so much weight that I am unfamiliar with this weight. I have been even heavier in the not so distant past, and managed to perform quite OK.

  I think I'll blame it on the weather again. The weather is actually fairly stable at the moment, but there is the underlying trend of the change from spring to summer. Apart from an impatience for hot summer days, I don't think the change has had this sort of effect before, but there is always a first time for everything.

  My blood glucose is not great this morning, but two of the readings were what could be called high-normal. They were 8.9 and 8.5mmol/l, and in the past I was quite happy if I got readings starting with an eight. One reading was definitely annoyingly high. It was 9.4mmol/l, and although still some way from the danger line, anything from 10 upwards, it is higher than I would like. I don't think my blood glucose level is any cause for this lack of energy/enthusiasm.

  I was quite surprised when I checked my blood pressure a lot earlier than I usually do. I usually cheat and wait until I have had breakfast, and I am nicely relaxed. this morning I did wait until I had been to the toilet, and done a small poo. The reading was 127/66, and in my book that is just about perfect. Even my pulse rate of 52 bpm seems ideal. Evidently I am pretty healthy, but just don't feel like it.

  I have no concrete plans for today except to finish the laundry that has been soaking in it's bucket, in the bathtub, since I abandoned the job yesterday afternoon. I think it is likely that I will go out to do a bit of shopping. If I do go out then Savers will be the first shop. I'll probably get some bleach, and top ups of any of my usual vitamins and stuff if I find any are getting low when I check. After Savers I usually cross the way to go in Poundstretcher, and I am sure there is something I want from there, but I can't think what it is unless it is another three pack of sugar free Polo mints (although I may have go the last lot from Poundland. I expect a walk through the park would also be good for me, but it is very rare I fancy going out a second time after I have done some shopping.