08:50 GMT

  There are gaps in the cloud this morning, and the sun is trying to shine. We have had a 24 second sunny spell this morning, That may be the last time we see the sun today. The whole day is forecast as cloudy, and there could be some rain - drizzle at 11a and light rain at 1 and 2pm. The afternoon should see 12° C, but it is looking like it could be a cold night. Tomorrow it could be cold enough for a frost, although the current forecast says no lower than 4° C. Full sunshine for all daylight hours are forecast for tomorrow, but the temperature may only peak at 10° C for one single hour at 2pm.

  After my poor sleep the night before, I did not start yesterday feeling good, but things improved during the day, and I guess I would rate yesterday as a semi-good day.

  I didn't write all that much yesterday, but it seemed to be quite late when I finished, and that was after making a modestly early start. One of the things I know I had to do was to have a shower because I would have visitors later. After that I didn't feel I had time to go to the shops - I might have gone to Tesco, and I still wanted to go to Savers and Poundstretcher (and still do).

  All I managed to do was to do the washing up in the kitchen sink, and to wash and polish the beer glasses for the afternoon's boozing. I must admit I had to force myself to do it because I was still getting urges to lie down and have a snooze. Once that was done I had some lunch. It was the onion bahjis and jalapeño bites I had almost cremated the day before. They were both rather dry, but not actually burnt, although those bahjis were very crispy - hard and crispy.

  There was still about an hour before the earliest Jodie might arrive, and I did allow myself a lie down. I also allowed myself to close my eyes, but I don't think I fell asleep. I first heard from Jodie when she sent me a text message to say she was about to go into Aldi, and was there anything I needed. There were quite a few things I needed, nut not desperately, and I don't think Jodie would have been capable of carrying them. I said no thank you.

  If Jodie was going in Aldi it probably meant she got the bus here, and that would have meant she missed the train again. Now I happen to know that the trains were running on time to their normal destination. For Jodie to miss a train again it must mean she still thinks they are running to the summer timetable, and/or she has forgotten the times change a bit in the leaf falls season. There is also a possibility that she has grown to like the bus ride - which is weird to my thinking.

  Once I knew that Jodie was just down the road I sent a text message to Michael to say we would soon be drinking. Michael does not seem to know what an open invitation is, and unless I invite him every week I don't think he would join us. He has his wife to attend to at the start of the afternoon, and as usual he did not get here until almost 5pm. By at least 4pm, but possibly not that long after 3pm, Jodie was opening our first bottle of beer - a Christmas beer that was nice and spicy.

  Just for a change, Jodie was semi talkative for a while, but as usual, disappeared into her phone after half an hour or so. She had brought a spare copy of The Metro for me, and I started reading that, and hardly a word was spoken until it was time to select another beer. Later on when Michael joined us there was talk non stop, and most of it was said by Michael. he really needs others to talk to because he gets very little pleasant talk from his dementia suffering wife.

  Most beers we had were average, but a few were better than that. We finished the session with a few tots of spiced rum. Jodie left first because she had a train to catch. Michael stayed another 15 minutes or so to finish his drink. That was a handy 15 minutes because I had forgotten to put my dinner in the oven early enough. It was just about ready when Michael staggered home, or pretended to while say we had got him drunk again !

  The main bit of my dinner was another pack of "boneless BBQ beef ribs". I like the last one so much I bought another. it was delicious again last night, and this time I accompanied it with some mini stuffed half potatoes with skins. They were stuffed with cheese and herbs (although the herbs didn't seem to be a prominent taste). I followed that with rather more caramel ice cream than intended - one of the dangers of eating something delicious after boozing.

  I expected that I would not feel good after that fairly big (but not huge) dinner. Fortunately I seemed to feel almost OK. I did have a couple of antacid tablets at the very first hint of any heartburn starting. It didn't, and maybe it would not have anyway, but better safe than sorry. I watched a few hours of TV before attempting to go to sleep, and that gave extra time for the food to settle down.

  I can't recall having any difficulty getting to sleep, and I think I feel asleep quite quickly once I turned the lights off. I was very surprised my sleep wasn't interrupted by the need to get up and pee more than a couple of times. I expected that the beer would be one reason for getting up more often, and that would be further enhanced by the sugar in the excess of ice cream I ate.

  I know I had a couple of dreams, and I am annoyed I can remember almost nothing about them.....although some bits seem to be coming back to me as I write these very words. One dream I would have like to remember more of was a dream that featured a very pleasant young woman. All I remember is that she had a coat on, maybe something like a windcheater, and it was a sort of khaki colour (but not in camouflage colours). I seemed to think I had met her one before, possibly in a now completely forgotten dream, and I also felt there was some sort of spark between us, and it could have lead on to very pleasant things if only the dream had lasted another half hour or something.

  The second dream I can remember in more detail, but not the full story. In the dream I had bought a new "house", and it seemed like I had bought it cash somehow. It was not exactly a house even if that is what I thought it would end up being. It was a disused shop with a 4 storey storage and office block at the back. I imagined I could use the shop area as a double garage and workshop. The 4 storey block I would convert to normal house rooms - kitchen, dining room, bedrooms and bathrooms. In the dream I only saw it from an elevated position from across the road, and most of the dream was about imagining how I would change it for my own uses.

  This morning I got up a bit early (but not much) because I needed the toilet - both pee and what was quite a fair, albeit runny, poo. After that I seemed to have put on 100gm of weight. That was not surprising after the beer and big dinner. before I had any breakfast I went for another slightly bigger pee. I weighed myself again, and this time it showed I had actually managed to lose 200gm - not a lot but any loss is welcome.

  My blood glucose meters said my blood glucose was good but not great. The Contour meter read 6.8mmol/l. The GlucoRX meter read 6.3mmol/l. The GlucoFix meter read the 6.7mmol/l. Sadly I didn't get any fives, but these sixes (and a bit) I usually regard as pretty good, and maybe even better than that considering I almost ate a whole tub of ice cream. In fact it is another Mounjaro miracle that the readings were so low.

  My other major health reading is my blood pressure. This morning it was 110/54, and that is fairly good, but I think my pulse rate at 65 bpm is a bit high considering I was trying to be very relaxed. I suspect it is my faulty heart valve that has a big influence on my pulse rate and my diastolic pressure, but I am unsure in what direction. Comparing today with the readings I was getting at the start of this year, in January, the systolic pressure has not changed much, but the diastolic pressure was generally lower in January, and my pulse rate was also a little slower then.

  There are two important things on the agenda today. The first is to pay another visit to the pharmacy and see if they have been able to complete my repeat prescription. I think I had better take a list of what they did give me on Wednesday and what I need to complete things today. There is not urgent rush for it because I still have at least 2 doses left of my current drugs, but I would like to get it this morning if I can.

  The other thing for today is that I am expecting my first beer delivery, from Left Field Beers at approximately 2.30pm today. My second beer delivery should be from Beer Merchants (dot com), but they haven't even acknowledged my order yet. I did log into their website a day ago, and my order was listed as "processing". Normally they are very quick, but I guess it is the Xmas rush. I will check their website later today, and see if there is any progress, and also to make sure they have my right email address.

  After my visit to the pharmacy, and receipt of my beers I can sink back into glorious laziness for the rest of the day. I very much doubt I will want to go to any shops (like Savers and/or Poundstretcher), but I might wash a single t-shirt so I can wear it tomorrow. Tomorrow I wil need all my willpower to go out in the evening on maybe 2 buses, carrying my heavy Nikon camera to catch some snaps of The Life Of Brian playing in The British Oak on the borders of Blackheath and Charlton.








   1,900 words today.