08:40 GMT

  It is very murky outside. I can't actually see any rain falling, but it may just be fine drizzle. It certainly looks very grey and very damp outside. It is 9:44am as I write this (where has half the morning gone ?) and my thermometers say it is only a tenth of a degree less than 12° C. That is quite mild, and if we had full sunshine it might even feel slightly warm, but the chances of any sunshine appear to be zero today. The forecast says drizzle for much of the time until this afternoon when it may be dry, but still very grey outside. The temperature may rise a degree at 11am, and then the temperature may be constant until into the night. Tomorrow is going to start very wet, and 10° C is forecast. The rain may continue until 6pm, but the temperature may start to fall at 3pm. By midnight it may still be dry, but the temperature may fall to just 4° C.

  I think I could dare to describe yesterday as a fairly good day. My health still seemed a bit precarious, but nothing too bothersome, and there were signs that it was improving, at least for a short while. Even the afternoon beer session with Jodie was better than some, and I had a great sleep last night.

  I still felt like it would be very easy to provoke heart pains, particularly if I went out into the cold air yesterday - so obviously I didn't, although I did say that I might go to Tesco as my closing words to yesterday's piece. Not going to Tesco meant I had more time to relax, and while I didn't do any premeditated relaxing, I did end up taking things nice and easy. As the screen shot of a new, temporary spreadsheet I included yesterday showed, my blood pressure had fallen from being rather high to almost perfect by 10:24am. It encouraged me to be more lazy...except I couldn't.

  Once I had rested for a bit I washed my hair and had a shower. Once again it was almost impossible to get the water heat right, and I had my final rinse in water that was probably just below tepid. I will be very happy when winter is over and/or when Thames water repair the leak that is the reason for low water pressure. On reflection, the water pressure used to go low when the clocks changed. That was some time ago now, and I don't think it happened like that this year. If it had then the pressure might be returning closer to normal any day now.

  I seemed to do everything slowly yesterday morning, and that was probably because I was very tired after a very poor night's sleep. I barely got all the washing up out of the sink, and drying on the draining board before Jodie turned up a tiny bit earlier than expected. I had stopped checking my blood pressure after I got the good reading at 10:24, but my chest was still feeling a bit tender until I got a fair bit of beer inside of me.

  Yesterday was another day when I decided to eat small amounts of bad stuff instead of bigger amounts of good stuff. My pre-boozing lunch was just 3 sticks of Hot Pepperami, and a flapjack (maybe an eighth of which I gave to Jodie).  Like last Thursday, I let Jodie select the first beer to try, and to my surprise she selected a medium strong, special Xmas style beer. It was one I was looking forward to trying, and my hopes were fully fulfilled - it was delicious.

  For a few beers Jodie was chatty-ish, but soon reverted to type, and ignored me and the rest of the world by constantly scrolling through pages on her mobile phone. Some of the stuff she did say was that my selection of beers for the last order seemed good enough to part meet her expectations. I feel she will be less appreciative to the order that I am still keeping my fingers crossed will be delivered tomorrow. (So far I have heard from DPD to say they are expecting my order from Beer Merchants).

  Having said that, Jodie did select a few more conventional ales to taste. That makes a change because these days she seems, or seemed to be fixated on "modern", hipsterish, nasty sour style beers. One conventional beer she declared to be nice. Sadly there were two other I thought tasted a lot like some of the odd beers we used to try in The Shortlands Tavern. They were not very nice.

  Once I had a few beers inside me I began to forget that my chest was feeling fragile. I am not entirely sure why because a similar amount of alcohol, in the form of rum, seemed not to act as a painkiller the day before (or whenever it was). Maybe it was just that beer was better at flushing through my stomach of stuff that Manjaro was trying to retain to make me feel less hungry - which as never really quite happened yet, but maybe there is some news to tell on that front later.

  I had decided I would have something approaching a normal-ish dinner after we had finished drinking. As the time for Jodie to leave to get her train got nearer I put some stuff in the oven. I started with the other half of the "loaded potatoes in skins". I had eaten the first half the day before, and I was not that impressed with them. Maybe I prefer the potatoes to be nice thick skinned King Edwards that get a nice crunchy skin when baked. The so called loaded potatoes were small potatoes with thin skins, and cut in half. The "loading" was something that was almost cheese with some smoky ham in it.

  This time I made sure those loaded potatoes spent longer in the oven at full power, and then I laid some "smashed beef" burgers on top of them. Those burgers were fairly thin, but the size of a CD (5 inches), but when cooked they shrunk down to a bit more than half sized. They did seem a bit dry, but not bad, and went well with the loaded potatoes. I though the two together was a recipe for heartburn. I didn't take an chance, and had some antacid tablets pro-actively.

  After several hours of TV I headed to bed. It was only about 9pm, and I spent maybe half an hour, perhaps more, reading in bed. I didn't seem to have any heartburn troubles, and when I switched off the lights I seemed to have no trouble falling asleep. I had a good sleep, but it wasn't perfect. I know I woke up a few times, although less than usual, for a pee. I think I did spend a little time awake in the night, but the more I try and remember it, the more vague it seems. It may have just been a dream. I remember, at least I think I remember having several dream, but not a single thing about those dreams.

  I woke up this morning with my chest aching. I think it was because I was sleeping on my right for the last bit of the night. There are a few possibilities how that could affect my chest, but on this occasion I think it was purely a mechnical thing. I was half asleep still, but I think I can recollect some of my bones making a click as I sat up. It is something that seems to happen every now and then, and is probably a direct result of me not following my heart surgeon orders about not carrying too much weight when recovering from my coronary bypass operation. I was carrying far too much weigh on the way back from Aldi, less than a weel after getting out of hospital, and something went click, and sproinggg inside me. I don't think my ribs and sternum are connected together the the waqy they ought to be any more.

  Other than the fragile feeling, I have so far felt slightly good this morning, although I must admit that is more psychological than physical. It was pleasing that despite drinking lots of beer, and the trouble that can cause. my weigh remains unchanged since yesterday. Getting that good result did rely on two visits to the toilet - the second was mostly about passing a very "firm" poo, plus a small extra pee.

  My blood glucose could have been better, but such improvement are still rare. It was still very satisfactory, and I think I shall only bother to quote the average of my three meters. It was 6.93mmol/l. That is a teeny weeny bit less than yesterday's 6.97mmol/l, although a little higher than my average so far this month of 6.71mmol/l (last month it was 7.18mmol/l and so things are getting better).

  I made the mistake of checking my blood pressure while thinking that sometime soon I would be needing a poo. I ignored that reading, and waited 10 or 15 minutes after I had passed my big and hard to pass poo. The new reading was 121/55, and that is very good. Even my pulse rate, which as been high recently, was a decent 65 bpm. I could almost kid myself I am feeling healthy this morning !

  I feel no rush, and maybe not any real need, but based upon apparently seeming to be semi healthy this morning, I may dare to go out to get some shopping. There is very little I actually need, and none at all if I raid the freezer, but I think I would like to go to Aldi today. There are a few things I can only get there, and while none are essential, I might even get a few healthy things to eat (but I doubt it). Before going on such an errand I need a shower, and I think I will treat myself to a snooze, and then make sure it is not raining. Other than that, I have no idea what I will do today.








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