08:45 GMT

  Yesterday's weather was not very good. It was cold, and after a few hours of sunny spells in the morning, it was dull. By 3pm the temperature briefly peaked at 10° C after a morning start of just 6° C, and ending back on 6° C again from 9pm.The only good thing was that it was dry all day.   Right now it should be drizzling, but it is dry. If the drizzle actually starts it could change to light rain by 1pm, and that could continue until 8pm. It is around 7 or 8° C now, and the day will end at 8° C. The afternoon may see 11° C - which would almost be nice in full sunshine, but very miserable if it is raining as par the forecast. Tomorrow could start with full sunshine, but the clear sky will also mean a chilly, and just possibly, frosty morning. Just 4° C are forecast for 6am. It will slowly warm to 9° C by midday, and by 1pm it may be raining. Only light rain is forecast, and it will only last long enough to ruin the first half of the afternoon. Clear skies in the evening mean another very cold night - down to 5° C by midnight.

   I am unsure how to describe yesterday. I suppose bits were good and bits were bad. I felt something like tired for all of yesterday morning, but it wasn't really tiredness. Maybe aimlessness and laziness accounted for my lack of get up and go. I did very little until it was too late to do some of the stuff I should have done.

  I was only just about to wash the glasses for a beer tasting session with Jodie when Jodie arrived. I hadn't been able to shower by then because I had a big bucket of laundry sitting in the bath. All I felt I could do was to have a spray of deodorant, and put on fresh clothes. I think I got away with it, but it is not something I would like to make a habit of. Normally I don't even like to go for a bit of walking exercise without having a shower first (although in warmer weather I should have the shower after the walk).

  Jodie brought some beers with her. She had bought them in her Tesco (Elmers End Branch), and they were from the Brooklyn brewery in America. To be honest they were rubbish, but I think Jodie thought one of them was OK. I don't think much has persuaded me to believe that American beers are either as week as water, or the stronger ones taste of nasty hops.

  The hops used in one can were Surachi hops which originated in Japan, but Japanese brewers thought they tasted nasty, but some clinically insane American decided that they could use them in strong American beers. I suppose someone had to try them, but it was a poor decision to sell them to the public. Having said that, there are no doubt other insane people who would like the taste. The actually taste could be described as like Belgium wheat beer that a tom cat has piddled in.

  Once we started drinking Jodie started scrolling through stuff on her phone, and I felt bored and lonely. Fortunately I did have one job to do, and it was preparing my dinner. It started off by washing and scraping any nasty looking bit off some potatoes. I did not attempt the peal them because I like potato skins. I cut them up into chunks, and then boiled them in a casserole dish in the microwave.

  Later on, when Jodie was ignoring me again, I checked those potatoes and they seemed 90% cooked. That was good because I next added some frozen garden peas. I gave them another 10 minutes in the microwave. When I came back to the the next time I added a generous amount of butter and mashed them all up, but not enough to turn the peas into paste. Many survived still pea shaped.

  I left the mash in the casserole dish on the side, and turned on the mini oven where I put in all 8 sausages from a pack of 8 Lincolnshire sausages bought when I last visited Aldi (maybe last Monday). I must admit they were fairly poor quality sausages - couldn't taste the expected sage taste, and he meat was probably dubious off cuts. They were not actually nasty, but not as good as hoped for.

  Before I put the sausages in the oven Michael arrived. That meant I was not ignored for the rest of the session, although... sometimes Michael is entertaining, and sometimes not. Another rant about Lewisham council was not entertaining.

  Some of the later beer we had was better than the two cans of "Brooklyn Beer", and maybe one was actually nice. I didn't drink all that much during the session because I Had a spare glass and bottle of chilled water at my side. I was not drinking it so I would drink less beer, although that is how it ended up. I started it to wash the foul taste of that American beer out of my mouth.

  I must admit I haven't ended a session as sober as I was for a long time. I am not sure how many cans we got through (I don't think we opened any bottles, but surely we must have). It seemed like the session was shorter than most, but maybe that was an illusion. I think Jodie and Michael left at about 6.30pm. By then my sausages had cooked and were starting to cool off. I piled half of the mashed potato and peas onto a plate, and then added 4 of the 8 sausages. I then microwaved it to make sure it was nice and hot (but not too hot).

  I have to admit that I was expecting my sausage and mash to be wonderful. It was merely nice. I followed it with a rather larger portion of Cookie Monster Ice cream than was ideal (with the ice cream being light blue in colour). While eating this dinner I was watching TV, but also hatching some plans. I bought a fairly big bag of potatoes, and so I still have maybe 4 or more servings of them left. I think a future experiment will be to try and make some bubble and squeak. The next time I am shopping I shall buy a cabbage, and then cook some of that with the potatoes.

  Once cooked I will drain off the water, and once again add butter and mash it all up. At that point I think it would be almost what I have seen called Colcannon in some Irish pubs. My final bit of cooking will be to put it in a greased foil container, and grill/roast it until the top, and probably the bottom, has gone almost burnt and crispy. Ideally it would be cooked in a frying pan with some meat fat, but I have no frying pan, or a gas ring to put it on. I think that if I am patient enough it will be good enough done in the mini oven/grill. Maybe it might be even better in some way.

  For some reason, maybe because I was feeling tired, and eager to get to bed, I can't seem to remember yesterday evening that well. I think I only watched TV until 10pm, but it could have been 9pm. I am very sure that once I was in bed I didn't stop to read, and went almost straight to sleep. I don't think I woke up in the night to pee more than a couple of times. When I woke up at around 5am, which seemed far too early to get up, although he way I woke up was like I was waking o get up, I did have go to the toilet for an unusually big pee.

  After that pee I went back to bed. It felt like I would not get back to sleep again, but the next thing I knew was that I was waking up at nearly 8am - and that did seem a realistic time to get up. I went to the toilet where I did a smaller, more usual size pee, and I passed a fair bit of wind, and disappointingly small poo. Although I make it sound that I did pass a fair amount of pee, it was not enough to reduce my weight. When I weighed myself I found I had seemed to have put on over a kilogram. I know I ate a bit more than some day, but I didn't think I had eaten that freely.

  My blood glucose was also up, enough to be disappointing, but otherwise of no great significance. I got readings of 7.3, 8.0, and 8.3mmol/l. 10.mmol/l is the red line, and above that it can be dangerous. Anything below 9.0mmol/l I dismiss as good enough, and I guess this morning's reading was good enough. Well, good enough as a mild warning, together with my increased weight, that I need to correct my eating. The odd thing is that I didn't think I had strayed too far from the narrow path of righteousness (or whatever).

  In a parallel universe the day is warm and sunny, and I could go for a long walk to try and walk off some of the excess. Back in this reality it is cold and murky, and I can't say I even fancy a walk to the local shops. I suspect today could be a boring day, but at least I have a big bucket of laundry to do, but very little else - so it is back to being boring. One unlikely diversion is that it is Kevin's birthday today, and he could suggest we meet for a drink. While I would like a quick birthday drink with him, I know it was end as a big session, and I don't think that would be good for me just now. I think a mid morning snooze is the best I can look forward to next - and I do look forward to one !
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