If the forecast holds it should be a splendid day today. The only little crack in the latest revision to the forecast is that 4pm is now shown as only sunny spells, and not full on sunshine. It may be a degree cooler than yesterday, but even 16° C should feel good under a blue sky and lots of sunshine. It looks like it will be all change tomorrow. It may just be dull slies, and many showers. It will also be rather cool with a maximum of just 14° C expected.
 
  Yesterday was a good day. It didn't end as it might have if nothing had happened earlier, but that sort of expected. It was supposed to end with a visit to the open mic session in The Iron Horse pub next to Sidcup station, but while that was an early aspiration, I knew it was going to be unlikely several days in advance. There was one thing that complicated the whole day, and that was an expected beer delivery. Depending on when it arrived it could really have mucked up my day.

  Maybe I was lucky, but that beer arrived at about 12.30. That gave me just enough time to pull on some outdoor clothes (mainly just a clean t-shirt - no coat needed yesterday), and do a fast walk through the park to The Jolly Framers pub to meet Angela (I possibly did that walk in record time !). While we were having a very pleasant drink together, just a few hundred yards away there was high drama !
 
   A man, allegedly a martial arts enthusiast/specialist, who was a patient in the Ladywell Unit, Lewisham hospital's facilities for patients with mental health problem, was holding the staff hostage, and threatening to kill them all. As I walked past there were three police cars, and 4 territorial support vans parked up outside the building. A man I spoke to said the police had just gone charging in with shields, batons, tasers, and possibly guns too. I doubt we will ever hear what the outcome was.

  At 2pm it was time for Angela to get back to work, and I walked her as far as her office. It was quite pleasant in the sunny spells, and I didn't have to, or even want to rush home at full speed, but at the same time I didn't want to dawdle too much. Once I got home I "cooked" myself some lunch. It was two bowls of chicken flavour instant noodles. They went down a treat, although the added chilli sauce did bring me out in a fierce sweat soon after eating them.

  Ideally I would have liked a bit of rest, or even a snooze after my lunch, but I didn't really have enough time to properly relax (although with hindsight I could have had a 20 minute nap). I was expecting Jodie and Mark to turn up. I thought Jodie had said they would be here for a couple of beers, and then go off to a gig. In fact it was Arm who turned up with Jodie. He didn't stay, but he did bring the table Jodie said I could have.

  The table is a coffee table. It has seen some wear, but a good polish has improved it a lot, but I have a few small 99p tablecloths that fit on it well, and I think that it will probably wear one most of the time. The little table, almost a miniature school desk, and very old, which I used as a sort of coffee table is now doing duty supporting the little tabletop fridge I use for beers. That frees up the chair the fridge was sitting on.

  I think we only had about 4 bottles/cans of beer yesterday. I had had 2 pints of Guinness in the pub with Angela, and Jodie was saving herself for an evening out with Mark who she met a bit later after we had had our few beers. I was quite happy not to get drunk like I did last Thursday. I may have ended up sober (or very close to it), but I still had a mad idea. After my run of low blood glucose readings, despite eating stuff I thought would raise it, I had an insane idea to see if I could get away with eating a Chinese takeaway !

  Jodie had left in time that I was only a little late at ordering the takeaway at my preferred time of 5.30pm. Depending on the food or restaurant, that can be early enough to get food delivered near my usual 6pm dinner time, although like last night, 6.30 is probably more typical for delivery time. As usual when I order takeaways, I ordered enough for last night, and tonight. It was the first time I've had a Chinese takeaway in ages and ages, and it was rather delicious.

  I think that hot food caused something in my gut to start fermenting. I used to get a similar thing when I was eating lots of hot vegetable stews - an alternative way of reducing sugar intake, and low calorie food as well. By the time I was going to bed I was feeling uncomfortable. After a while I went to the toilet, and I thought that would do the trick, but it didn't, and neither did the next visit when very little seemed to happen. However on the third visit I emptied myself out good and proper, and felt comfortable enough for sleep.

  Apart from seeming to dream so much that I must have been sleeping very lightly, I did seem to sleep OK last night once I finally got to sleep. I think it must have been getting on for midnight when I first slept, but from then on I seemed to wake less in the night than usual - but not counting the last hour or so. It seemed I was going to get up at 7am whether I wanted to or not. I didn't want to, but I couldn't fight the fact that I couldn't just turn over and go back to sleep - although of course I tried.

  This morning my blood glucose was higher. I expected that, but I didn't expect it to be just to 8.2mmol/l. When I entered that into my spreadsheet of readings the running average for the month dropped to 8.4mmol/l, and that, by the tiny factor of 0.01, is the lowest average this year ! I just cannot believe this run of low readings. I feel sure they are correct. Just waking up less in the night for a pee suggests lower blood glucose. What I cannot believe even more is that somehow it seems to have started after my 3rd Covid "booster" shot. If it is a side effect, then it is a very handy side effect !

  Today is going to be nice and sunny, and that demands I try and do something with the day. Probably something involving photography. I am considering going to Clapham Junction for some train photography, but at the same time I don't think I feel very dynamic this morning. I may just go and do some very over due shopping in Tesco, and be lazy for the day. or I might......  I guess I'll see how I feel after a nice shower, and put on some fresh clothes.