This morning we started at 15° C, and a lot of rain. It looked like it had been raining in the night as well, but I was not awake to observe that. The rain may continue, with maybe a pause at 11am, until 8pm tonight. Most rain is shown as light rain, but there will be heavier periods of rain, and maybe we will get the thunderstorms that appear on the BBC weather forecast, but not on the Met Office forecast ! This afternoon the temperature may peak briefly at 19° C. It is going to be a cool day ! Tomorrow may be even cooler. An afternoon high of just 17° C is forecast. It will be another dull day with a lot of light rain, but maybe no thunderstorms.
 
  Yesterday was a rather dull day, and I had to invent stuff to do to keep me occupied some of the time. Fortunately it was useful stuff. One thing was not an invention but a needed thing.

  Yesterday I suggested I ought to go out for a walk, but I could not raise the enthusiasm for that, and maybe that was because I didn't feel all that good - in a way I can't explain - even to myself. I ended up staying in, and with hindsight, I think that may have made me feel worse. It was a recipe for some mild over eating, although maybe not as bad as I feared.

  The one thing I did do that was useful, was to hand wash a hand towel. In the same way that I felt not too good in the morning, and couldn't really say why, I started off the towel washing with some enthusiasm, and then decided I needed a rest before continuing. I am wondering if all I was feeling was a bit of boredom, and wanted to get back to the book I am currently reading. I did get back to the towel a bit later, and completed the job before the evening. It is 99% dry this morning after just leaving it on a small clothes horse with no fan or heater on it.

  After my bad jump in weight yesterday morning, I should have fasted for as much of the day as I could stand. That idea got off to a bad start when I had a breakfast of instant noodles. I could not resist lunch either. I think it was rice crackers used to scoop out the contents of a small pot of "whipped cheese" (chilli flavour), and something else that I can't remember. The really stupid thing is that I had a rather large, and very bad "snack" at about 3pm. It was a whole jar, albeit a quite small jar, of lemon ice cream with lemon meringue. I only intended to have a couple of spoonfuls, but it seemed so incredibly delicious.

  Apart from hand washing the hand towel, I spent most of the afternoon  just lazing on my bed reading, I am certain I had a snooze, and maybe two, but I can't give any times or lengths of the snoozes. There was two other things I did, and it all started with taking a photo - a better photo than the one I took the day (or two) before.
  This was a picture I took a couple of days ago, using one of my bigger cameras, and it shows my neighbours cherry tree with a lot of cherries on it. There could be more cherries, but the dry weather in may left the tree a bit parched. The trouble is that the the cherries don't stand out in this picture. In the original picture I could zoom right in and count loads of cherries, but when shrunk down it looks less than impressive.
  Yesterday I used my Nikon D80 camera to take this picture that just concentrates on a small part of the tree, and so makes the cherries stand out more.

  The Nikon D80 camera is 20 years old, and only features a 10.2 mega pixel sensor. However, it can still take bloody good pictures when coupled with a fairly good lens. It was the "Gateway" camera to my current best camera, the big Nikon D610. The best thing about the D80 is that it cost me not much more than £50. That was without a lens, but I had a selection of lenses I could use with it, and in particular my favourite lens, a Sigma 24 to 70mm f2.8 lens. The version I have of the Sigma lens relies on the focus motor being inside the camera body, instead of inside the lens itself. Until I bought the D80 I could only use that lens using manual focus (which with my eyes was mostly a disaster). My big Nikon, the D610 has a focus motor, and that lens and the D610 pair together beautifully.

  Getting the D80 out to take the above picture lead to a chain of events. The main chain of events was to top up all the batteries of my collection of cameras. Lithium Ion batteries have a wonderful shelf life, but if they completely self discharge they can never be charged up again. I make a point of having days like yesterday where I top up all the camera batteries.

  The other thing I did was to spend a bit of time looking at Ebay. As I mentioned some days ago, I dared to order some camera lenses from Ebay. I ordered one spare Sigma 24 to 70mm lens to use on my other Nikon camera, or as a spare in case the only one I have goes faulty (or like I saw in a real horror photo) I accidently drop it, and break it. The other lens was the same, but for Canon cameras. Both lenses are getting close to me. DHL will be delivering one I ordered from Japan - a silly mistake because what I saved in the cost has been overturned by the import duty I had to pay. DHL say they will be delivering the lens from Japan on the 4th. Meanwhile the other lens is in the hands of Royal Mail, and they predict they will deliver it tomorrow,

  Once those lenses are in my grubby hands, and I am happy they work perfectly, I am considering buying another lens via Ebay. I was having a look at other Sigma lenses (because I am very happy with those I already own) and noted there is an 18 to 135mm lens. The 18mm means it would be good for wide angle shots - for instance taking in several musicians in one shot - and the 135mm end would be enough zoom for close ups on faces. I must admit I am very tempted, but as I say, I want to try the first lenses I have ordered first. Incidentally, the Sigma 18 to 135mm lens seem to be much cheaper, and around £50 each second hand on Ebay. Maybe it is because gig photography, on smaller pub stages, is a very niche use, but that seems to me what they are best suited for. At least I hope that idea turns out to be correct when I eventually get one of these lenses.

  With dinner time approaching it was time to do other things like cooking dinner. My dinner was very simple. It was oven cooked breaded fish served on a heap of green salad leaves (plus the obligatory mayonnaise). I am sure I had a dessert afterwards, but I can't think what it might have been - a chocolate or caramel bar maybe, but my blood glucose readings this morning suggest I might have restrained myself, and not had a dessert at all.

  My evening was spent part watching TV, and then I read in bed for a while. It was possibly 11.30pm before I put the book down and turned out the light. As far as I can recall, I must have fallen asleep very quickly. I only have a very hazy recollection of getting up to pee, and maybe that was because my blood glucose was not very high, or I had not drunk very much (although I am sure I had well over a half litre of chilled water, plus Diet Coke last night.

  Maybe I did sleep very well last night because although I did my best to resist it, I did wake up, and ultimately get up a little earlier than usual.....although I could barely stop yawning. In the end, the deciding factor was the possibility of Parcel Force delivering anything of several things I am expecting. Someday that must include the spare batteries, and charger, for my Canon 600D camera. The Aliexpress tracking still says they have left the sorting centre, but doesn't make it clear if that was before or after a plane flight from China. I am still clutching at straws that it was at a UK airport, and that they are in the hands of Parcel Force who do not provide tracking info on their basic tariff. The Parcel Force van sometimes delivers before 8am, and I didn't want to answer the door in my underpants if that had turned up this morning.

  There is a definite paradox between my weight and blood glucose this morning. I had a good pee, and a fair poo before weighing myself. I seems to have put on another 500gm. Evidently I must have eaten badly yesterday, and yet my blood glucose was about the lowest it has been for some time now. That might suggest I had eaten carefully after all....sort of. I got blood glucose readings of 7.8, 8.3, and 8.2mmol/l. All are perfectly good enough except the 7.8mmol/l which is rather good. The average of all three was 8.1mmol/l and only on two occasions was it as good or better than during the whole of May.

  I have no idea what I am doing today - except for maybe one thing. Some time in the afternoon I think I will wash my hair (and have a shower). I might possibly go out for a walk in the rain today. It sounds a stupid thing to do, and would be, but it does seem cool enough today to where a hooded coat to stay dry. I can't think of any same reason why walking in the rain, and doing some photography in the rain, could be of any value, and yet I suppose it would be a change of scenery. I think I'll have a lie down now, and contemplate the idea.