Today is going to be very warm, but there is hotter to come ! As I write this the sun is shining, but they sky still looks light grey instead of blue. If the forecast is correct it will soon change to pure blue, and the sun will be beating down. It may raise the temperature to 33° C. It is probably going to be quite a sticky night, and then tomorrow there could be non stop sunshine from dawn to dusk, and the afternoon may see 35° C. After tomorrow it may be cooler for the foreseeable future (i.e.  a maximum of two weeks ahead).

  Yesterday was my birthday, but that made no great changes to the day. In some ways it was a lot like a Sunday, but maybe 50% less boring. On such a prestigious day I washed my hair, and had a shower, and I think I slightly tidied my beard as well.

  The first thing I did after I had finished writing yesterday's piece was my normal lie down. I definitely read a few pages, and I know I laid on my bed with my eyes closed for a bit, I don't think I actually fell asleep, but then again I might have done. I was nice and relaxed, and I would not have fought it if I seemed to be falling asleep. The fact that I can't remember could be an advanced case of brain rot, or maybe there was just nothing to remember. It would be easier to remember if I had an erotic dream or something.

  Maybe I could have had an erotic dream about Carole Vorderman. She was a guest on Have I Got news For You two nights ago, and she was wearing a brown leather dress - or at least the very top of it was light brown leather. I could only see the very top of it just peeping over the top of the desk, and I think it was not what I could actually see, but what my imagination thought it could see that was very sexy.

  Once I felt I had rested enough there was still plenty of time to go shopping in Tesco. Just to recap, Jodie did not want to visit on Sunday, for the usual beer tasting session, because there were no trains running on Sunday. She suggested that maybe she would come here the next day, which was yesterday. While I was in Tesco she phone to say to expect her a bit later than 4pm, and maybe closer to 5pm. That gave me even more time to do my shopping, and some of the usual semi-tidying up.

  One thing I did when I go back, apart from scoffing some sandwiches and a mini ice cream tub, all for lunch, was to message Michael to say what was happening so he could join us. "Us" would also include Mark as well. It took a bit of time before he replied to say that he couldn't make it, and this time he meant it it. He often says he probably can't make it, but yesterday was the first time when he actually meant it.

  I think it was almost 5pm when Jodie arrived, and we opened the first can of beer to share. It was quite a nasty sour beer. As usual, Jodie liked it, and I hated it.....actually, I didn't hate it, but I still strongly disliked it. Maybe another hour passed, and then we were joined by Mark. He brought over a few beers that he hoped that Jodie had never tried before, and I certainly had not. I think Jodie said she recognised one of them, but surprise, surprise, most of them she had never tried before.

  We did not get to try any of those beer yesterday because they needed to be chilled before being drunk - they were above room temperature after travelling in a hot car ! It will be a couple of weeks before we do try them. Jodie is off to a music festival in Finland, and I won't be seeing her this coming Thursday, nor next Sunday either.

  As usual, with a third person present the beer tasting session was a bit more interesting - i.e. I had someone else to chat with while Jodie was forever doing stuff on he phone. I think Jodie and Mark left around 7pm, and I was quite looking forward to my dinner - except I had not prepared any dinner. I ended up eating two reduced price beef steak slices (which may have been horse meat for all I could tell). I also had a small packet of "Spanish Cheese" flavour crisps that Jodie gave me, and also two mini tubs of Hagen Daz, fruit flavoured, ice cream. I have to say that ice cream was nice, but not at the luxury level as that make is advertised as.

  One little birthday treat I bought for myself was a bottle of Jack Daniels "Blackberry flavour". I really only bought it because it was on Clubcard discount in Tesco. I think the full price was around £25, but reduced to £19 when bought with a Tesco Clubcard. I was quite curious about it, but being Blackberry flavour, I did not expect it to be all that good. My fears were correct - it is very unexciting, but at least I can say I tried it, and although only a miserable 35%, it should last in the back of the cupboard for quite a few years.

  I don't know if it was what I had eaten of drunk, the effort of pushing out a big poo in the evening, or something unknown, but last night I had quite a nasty and worrying pain in my chest. It did feel a bit like acid indigestion, and some antacid stuff did seem to help a bit, but not much.

  It was the sort of pain that was getting close to the idea where a visit to A&E might have been advisable, but I decided there was only a small chance it might be fatal. I tried to treat it myself, and it was either that, or just time, that reduced it enough to make sleep possible....although it would be some time before sleep was possible.

  It must have been getting on for midnight when I had a last minute birthday wish come through on my phone. It was Jo from Chain. It was a very nice gesture, but I would have appreciated it at least several hours earlier in the evening.That was not my only disturbance.....


   I may have been almost asleep when I heard noises from the back bedroom. The window was open, and so was the door of that bedroom, and of my own bedroom. The noise could have been a burglar coming through the part open window, and indeed it was a cat burglar....well. a cat ! It was Cous Cous (the cat formerly known as fluffy cat on account on his long luxurious fur).

  I was not sure how he did it, but before i even checked, I knew what he had done. I don't know if he leapt up from the windowsill, which I know he can leap to easier than Farage or Trump can take a bribe, or if maybe he jumped from the lower roof. In the picture on the left you can just see the guttering of the lower roof through the window. From there to the top of the upper window frame would be easy for a cat like Cous Cous, but balancing on that window frame can't have been easy, and particularly so when his weigh pulled the window down almost as far as it can go.

  When I went through to the back bedroom Cous Cous was looking very pleased with himself. I then had to herd him down stairs to let him out the back door, but he headed straight to the front door. I was a little reluctant to open the front door for him because I was only wearing underpants, but as soon as the door was open enough for a cat to get through he was on the porch doing his "kerb drill" and seconds later he was off. I am not thrilled with him being out the front, but he is so often out there that I hope he is street smart, and avoids cars and possibly hostile people.

  Running up and down the stairs did not make my chest pain worse, and I think it actually eased it. That was a good sign, and maybe it was good enough that I think it was not long before I was fast asleep. Once asleep I have a very uneventful night. I don't even recall having to get up to pee more than maybe once. I know that only 5 or 6 cans of beer split between the two of us was not a lot to drink (probably less than 3 pints), but I would have expected to pee more after that. Maybe I did, and just don't remember it.

  This morning I seemed to feel OK except for feeling constipated again (although an hour or two later I was no longer constipated by one big, but smooth motion). It is a shame I could not have that large poo earlier, and could have weighed myself after. My weight before, which is what I have "officially" recorded shows I seem to have gained 600gm since yesterday morning. That is not good....on the other hand, I do seemed to have settled into a small range of weights whose bounds I don't touch until such time that I jump into a new range.

  The paradox of weight up, and blood glucose down, does not seem to have worked this time. It may have been the two mini tubs of ice cream I had last night, but my bet is on the beer, that has raised my blood glucose this morning. Two readings were both 9.1mmol/l, and that is just leaving the safe area by the skin of it's teeth. The other reading was an OK 9.7mmol/l. That gives an average of 8.97mmol/l, the second highest average this month. I must try harder today !

  My blood pressure is good and bad this morning. The systolic pressure is 125, and that is fine. The Diastolic pressure is 81, and I think that is a bit high, and may only go down if Amlodpine is included on my next repeat prescription. My pulse rate is also a bit high at 74bpm, but looking back over the month I see it is actually fairly typical.

  I am unsure what I am doing today. If I am lucky I have a parcel delivery coming today, although the evidence is very tentative for it so far. If I could be more definite about it I could say I will just have to stay in and wait for it. On the other hand..... I am not sure I am fit enough at the moment, but I could go for a walk in the park to soak up some of the glorious sunshine. Of course I would have to be careful not to get burnt on the one place that is unused to sunshine - the top of my head where my hair is so terribly thin now.