There is definitely a lot of thin cloud around, but the sun is out as I write this, but it feels unlikely we could get full sunshine until midday. My guess would be sunny spells, and then maybe full sunshine when the forecast (above) shows only sunny spells. Whichever way round it is, the afternoon temperature should reach 25° C. That should feel very warm in full sunshine, and maybe quite warm enough even if only sunny spells. Much of tomorrow could see full sunshine, but the current forecast shows a few random hours of only sunny spells and even a single hour with no sunshine at all. It may well be a couple of degrees warmer than today.

  Yesterday could be said to have been dominated by just two things, and the rest of the day was rather dull. The first major thing happened after a minor, but still important thing - a shower. Once I was clean and fragrant it was approaching midday, but I made it to the pharmacy to pick up my repeat prescription a bit before midday. After the pharmacy I went around the corner to get some shopping in Aldi.

  I managed to spend less money in Aldi than my last few visits, and that was surprising because I bought two 4 packs of lager. I think this must somehow prove that booze is, or can be, cheaper than food. One downside was that I had no room in my rucksack for any bottles of Diet Coke, and I'll be needing another shopping trip, probably to Tesco in the next couple of days.

  I guess my shopping all added up to a fair weight, but like the walk from home, the walk back home didn't seem to be very stressful at all. Maybe this was in anticipation of a couple of drugs in my prescription. I hope I am now back on the wonder combination I was on before everything was stopped by the cardiologists prior to my heart valve replacement. Earlier than that, before the faulty heart valve reared it's ugly head, I seemed to think I was feeling fairly healthy then - mostly judged on being about to walk longer distances with no real trouble.

  Once I was at home I put my shopping away - except for some stuff I was going to for lunch. After that, and possibly between bites of a sandwich, I put away my new drugs. I was very happy to see a box of Amlodipine among the drugs, although the "Practitioner Assistant" did say she was going to start me off on half the dose I used to be on (2.5mg instead of 5mg), but at some unknown date in the future I could go back to full strength. I am really hoping that this drug will lower my resting heart rate. It used to, and as far as I know, it should be around 50 to 60 bpm. It has been 70 to 80 bpm for some months now.

  I also noted a new prescription of Furosemide. This is a diuretic (it makes you pee more). I didn't think I actually needed it, but it is a handy drug. The original reason for it was to help drain my left leg (the one they took the artery graft from). That leg, and to a much more minor extent, my right leg, tends to bloat up with excess fluid, but it hasn't been all that bad lately. I will still take the Furosemide  tablets because all that extra peeing is a cheats way to lower weight. It kicks in very fast, and during the night I must have peed over a litre. Incidently, the instruction on the box say to take one tablet in the morning. I take mine in the evening because I don't mind waking up to rush to the toilet in the night. I do mind walking around, with my legs crossed, far from any toilet if I took the tablet in the morning.

  Before I could do anything else, there was what is now a tradition of a franticly trying to clear a back log of washing up in the kitchen sink, and wiping down the work surfaces. On this occasion Jodie didn't need to do any cooking or food preparation in the kitchen - she had a ready made salad, but she did want to put in the fridge, any of the fridges, until it was chilled, and she was ready to eat it. All my fridges are rammed full, but although I didn't see it, Jodie claimed that once she got out first beer out of the kitchen fridge, she could ram her salad in the small space left.

  The next major thing for yesterday was a beer tasting session with Jodie, who arrived back in the country after her visit to Finland (for a rock festival) on Monday. Also present was Michael who as he is now in the habit of saying, said he didn't think he could make it, but as usual turned up around 5pm for a few cans of beer before he and Jodie left in their separate directions (Michael to home, and Jodie to the 320 bus stop).  Michael was on his normal form - saying how bad Catford is these days. Apparently he can't remember a time when so many roads were being dug up. He obviously can't remember when British Gas replaced most of the gas piping in the area, and when Thames Water were replacing miles of water pipes.

  The beer tasting was not that good. Some beers were OK, one or two was nice, and a few were not to my taste. Written like that it suggests we got through heaps of cans (or bottles) but I don't think we got through more than about 8 cans, and each was usually split three ways so we all got a taste. It is very hard to explain that to a doctor while being given the third degree about my personal booze consumption.

  After Jodie and Michael had left I had my dinner. I had not bothered to cook anything, and I think I ended up eating two flat breads - one filled with Chicken Tikka, and the other with Tandoori Chicken (which tastes so similar I wonder why they do the two of them in Aldi ?). My mind seems to be almost a blank, but I am sure I finished dinner with some alleged low calorie ice cream - probably too much of it, and even if low calorie, it seems it was definitely not low sugar.

  I watched some TV while eating dinner, and a found a few more hours of TV to watch after that. I think it might have been 10pm when I went to bed. I was going to read for a while, but I felt too tired. I turned out the light, turned over, and I do not remember any more until I woke up absolutely busting for a pee at about 2.30am. I don't remember any dreaming, but I do remember getting up 2 or maybe even 3 more times to pee. The last being when I actually got up.

  I felt very constipated when I woke up, but two visits to the toilet seems to have cured that. I was still peeing a bit more thanks to the Furosemide tablet I took last night. I was in that curious state where I didn't feel good, but I didn't feel bad - I guess it was probably halfway between the two, but maybe with a slight bias to the bad. One reason to feel bad was the discomfort of constipation, but that didn't take all that long to resolve. I was rather disappointed, but maybe not surprised to see no great improvement to my weight. After two more visits to the toilet before I had some breakfast, I managed to achieve a weight loss of just 300gm. Oh well, it was better than no loss at all.

  Once again my blood glucose is up in the danger zone. My three readings this morning were 10.3, 9.5, and 10.7mmol/l. The 9.5mmol/l is bad enough, but 10.3 and 10.7 mean I have to do something, and do it soon. Next Wednesday I see the diabetic nurse, and I can get back on one of the alleged weight loss drugs, and while they do little for my weight, and can actually cause weight gain, they are fabulous at controlling my blood glucose. Incidently, since stopping taking Mounjaro, I seem to have lost 6kg since this time last month. I feel I should be able to do better, but that relies on long walks being comfortable again - one of the things I am hoping Amlodipine should help to do.

  Today the only call on my time may be the possibility of a delivery all the way from China. Evri, the dodgy courier company, admit they have one package for me, but earlier on it had not reached the delivery hub. It may have done by now, and it may be out for delivery today. I think it is some spare camcorder, or camera batteries. I probably don't have to be in when it arrives (if it arrived today) because the courier may just throw it behind the wheelie bins without even bothering to try ringing my door bell.

  One thing I would like to do is to go for a walk in the park - the same walk I have said I have wanted to do for just about every day of the last fortnight, but have not done yet. Today I am tempted to go and see if the "bridge of doom" is now repaired/refurbished for the second time in about 5 years, and it is possible to walk through the River Pool Linear Park again without hideous detours around the bridge.  I have to admit that it is more likely I will take a walk to either Poundstretcher or The Pound shop, and possibly both.