09:24 BST

  The forecast said that yesterday would feature a lot of light rain or drizzle. I can't seem to recall seeing any rain, but maybe the road might have looked damp at one time. I do seem to recall a few brief sunny spells. The afternoon temperature reached 15° C, and it only fell to 11° C by midnight.   There may have been some brightness at 7am, but it has been dull since, and it seems most of the day will be dull except for the sunny spells that might happen at 3pm, 6pm and 7pm. The afternoon temperature should still reach 15° C for a couple of hours. It should stay dry, but there could be some drizzle at 1am tomorrow. Tomorrow should be mild with an afternoon temperature of 12° C. There may be some sunny spells, and the chance of rain is shown as very low.

   Yesterday was a fairly good day with some positive things done, but also some negative things too. Also, I never did get to go out in the evening to the gig I would have liked to have gone to.


  My first achievement yesterday was to wash my hair and have a shower. I did that mostly because at that time I seemed slightly optimistic that I would be going out to a gig in the evening. It would turn out that it was for a different reason, and that reason was my second achievement of the day. It was a shopping trip to Aldi.

  It was not that warm yesterday, but it seemed mild enough that I didn't bother with wearing a coat. I did wonder if that was a silly idea because the BBC weather forecast said there was a fair chance of some light rain. On the other hand, the Met Office forecast filthy grey clouds, but no rain. The truth was that there were some bright clouds, as well as some dirty grey clouds, and maybe a single drop of rain fell.

  The walk to Aldi seemed almost pleasant, although my ankles were just starting to ache when I got there. I wanted to try and being very conservative about what I bought in Aldi, and I half did. I did buy two tubs of ice cream, but providing I eat them sparingly (some hope !!) they will be happy sitting in the freezer for weeks, and probably months (not that there is any chance that will happen).

 Maybe my biggest "bad thing" was buying the bottle of Brandy pictured on the left. I think it was the usual 70cl size, and I think it was the usual 40%, but possibly a few percent less to save and alcohol tax, and so able to be sold cheaper. It was just £12.49, and some taste tests I did seemed OK. I never really liked brandy in the past, but I seem to be getting a liking for it. Apart from it being weird taking it to a pub, I was/am contemplating sharing some with Ayse who does like Brandy.



    Talking of Ayse (not forgetting she is "my favourite barmaid"), I did but her a semi expensive Easter Egg that I hope to give her this lunchtime. It has pistachio nuts in it, and I know Ayse likes them. If I am lucky I might even get a hug out of it. One is not needed, but I could never say no to one offered.

  Once I was home again after a fairly OK walk carrying quite a lot in each of two bags, plus 4x two litre bottles of Diet Coke in my rucksack, I looked forward to some lunch. I had much to choose from, but I opted for one triple pack of chicken sandwiches, and a BBQ flavoured, ready made, chicken salad. After that I felt I wanted a lie down to read for a bit, and have my traditional afternoon snooze.

  At that point it was still my plan to go out to a gig in The Swan pub in West Wickham. I spent a bit of time making sure the time and date were correctly set in my big, semi-pro Nikon camera. I gave the main lens I would be using a brief clean, and topped up the battery. plus two spare batteries. It all suggested I was keen to go out, but there was a sort of flaw in the argument. I have to admit that my main motivation was to take pictures, rather than enjoy the band (actually it was a both).

  I didn't want to go out to drink, even if it was only one or two pints of Guinness, on an empty stomach, but neither did I want to feel bloated. I ended up having a few too many snacks that would be good for me, but then again it has been known for me to come home from a gig and go straight to bed, and not even consider calling into the fried chicken shop. Of course all this is mute because by 5pm, and maybe earlier, I knew I would not be going out.

  Despite the now lighter evening, I had reached a state of relaxation where all I wanted to do was to have dinner, watch some TV and go to bed. I have to confess I was very biassed because I was really looking forward to scoffing a pack of BBQ flavour spare ribs as part of my dinner. On reflection, I am unsure why they are so addictive.  I mean they are very nice, but not that nice....but they are very nice........

  By the time I should have left to get a train I was full of dinner, and ready for another snooze....well maybe it was too late for a snooze because in another 3 or 4 hours I would be going to bed. I watched what favourites I could find on TV, and I think I was in bed, reading, by about 10pm. I am unsure when I put the book down and turned out the light. I think it was probably a bit before 11pm.

  Just recently I have been writing that I have been falling asleep within minutes of my head hitting the pillow. They say that pride comes before a fall, and so it was. Last night I think it took almost an hour before my brain would shut up, and let me go to sleep. I seemed to be stuck thinking some very private thoughts, that I will admit had an erotic content, and it seemed hard to think of something else that would let me go to sleep.

  Once asleep I seemed to sleep well. I was quite surprised that I didn't seem to wake for a pee more than once or twice. It was a surprise because I had eaten stuff that had high amounts of sugar in it, and high blood glucose stimulates excess peeing as the body tried to excrete the excess sugar/glucose. The downside is that retained water is quite heavy, and easily shows up when I weigh myself.

  I seemed to get up slightly earlier than I thought ideal, but maybe, back in the real world, very slightly late. Anyway, I got on the scales after I had been to the toilet (pee only, no poo). I was quite surprised that I had actually lost 700gm. I thought that I had eaten enough of the wrong things that I might have gained 700gm. One thing I did eat, that should have had a good outcome, was a ready made small fruit salad with some added plain vanilla ice cream. The fruit should have provided plenty of fibre - to make me "regular". So far it hasn't worked, but hopefully I will feel comfortable when going out later.

  My blood glucose, much to my surprise, was fairly good (although it fell short of excellent). The average of all three meters was 7.4mmol/l, and that is less than yesterday.s 7.53mmol/l. The three readings I got were 7.6, 6.7, and 7.9mmol/l. The 6.7mmol/l was particularly good. It is a shame the other two meters were not in agreement with it. This morning my blood pressure was 133/54 which the meter describes as "high normal".

  Time is getting short for all I want to do, but hopefully I can have a brief snooze, a brief shower, and walk through the park to The Jolly Farmers. My original aim was to be there at midday - just as the place opens, but I think it will be more like 1pm - my usual time on a Wednesday. I hope Ayse likes her Easter Egg.
   1445 words today.