A thick-ish layer of cloud kept some of the warmth in overnight, and this morning started at 11° C (and closer to 12° C on some of my outdoor thermometers). It is possible the temperature may reach 16° C today, but only for a single hour, and 15° C is more representative of the day. We almost had a few watery rays of sunshine for all of 10 seconds earlier, but even the latest revision to the forecast shows no hope of any sunny spells today. That latest revision affirms the earlier forecast of a couple of hours of light rain at 3 and 4pm. Interestingly enough, the BBC forecast agrees completely with the Met Office forecast (as in the screenshot above) except for 3 and 4pm. It shows black clouds, but only a 11 and 13% chance of rain. Tomorrow should show a return to sunshine until early evening when it looks as if it will rain. The temperature could be 16 or even 17° C tomorrow.

  I think yesterday could be described overall as a good day, but one with a few bad moments. I didn't feel all that good at the start of yesterday. It was nothing in particular, but cumulatively it made me wonder if I was going down with something, or even had something, where "something" might possibly be Covid. On the other hand it was probably more like my special type of hay fever - a probably allergy to fungal spores from the assorted fungi which pop up during autumn.

  As strange as it might sound, a walk to and from Tesco, plus shopping in Tesco, seemed to be almost a complete cure. The bit of cure which was incomplete was the occasional dry cough, although it did seem to get even more occasional. The back of my throat was still sensitive, and a stray crumb, or just allowing my mouth to dry out could still trigger some coughing. The best bit was that I didn't feel quite so miserable about it all.

  One quick aside: another thing that seems to be able to trigger a couple of coughs is writing about ! I just had to clear my throat while writing the last paragraph.

  Apart from a bottle of Jameson's Irish whiskey, I didn't buy anything particularly exotic in Tesco yesterday, but maybe I bought three things I am having doubts about the wisdom of buying them now.

Another quick aside: Contrary to the weather forecast, we are having a sunny spell as I write this. I can see very small blue patches among the clouds, and so we could get more sunny spells if we are lucky.

  I feel I should have inspected the ingredients of a pack of 4 whole grain seeded rolls I bought yesterday. It was not easy to do in the shop, or indeed at home, thanks to black writing on a a clear bag. To read it I would have to slip in a bit of white paper, and probably used a magnifying glass. The list is there more to satisfy food labelling regulations, rather then for informing the customer !

  Buying the almost half price, just about to reach it's sell by date, pack of vegetarian "sausage rolls" that were actually filled with cheese and herbs was probably foolish, but I couldn't resist a bargain, and they were very, very nice even if not good for me. The real villain was probably the box of salt and chilli chicken wings. I think the salt and chilli was applied as a sort syrupy glaze. They could only have been worse for me if the box had been filled with the wings. I estimate it was only a third full - i.e. what looked like a small feast, was only one short of a famine !

  It was just about midday when I got back from Tesco, and I made myself a couple of very tasty ham and cheese rolls using 2 of the 4 wholemeal, multiseed rolls. I thought they would see me through the afternoon drinking/beer tasting session. I think they did. Until then the only other thing I did was to wash and dry the glasses we would be using. I then relaxed, and by relaxed I mean I came this close >< to having a snooze.

  Jodie arrived at just after 3.30pm, and after she fussed about doing all the annoying things she usually does, was started on the first beer. We started on one of the four cans of beer I had bought from Aldi last week. They were intersting in a peculiar way. They reminded me of the way Indian restuarants offer so many diverse dishes - they all start from one base, and different meats or spices are added. Those beer from Aldi seemed like they all started for a common base, and different amounts/types of hops were added. Their lager tasted very similar to the IPA !

  I think we had barely started the first can when Michael phone me to say he was in Tesco, and would I like 4 bottles of Diet Coke. I said yes, and he said he would drop them off in about 10 minutes. That sounded remarkably quick. It was almost as if he had already bought them, and just had to walk them from around the corner where he lives. Anyway, he joined us for a few drinks, which made for a much more entertaining session than watching Jodie playing with her phone for most of the time.

  Before Michael and Jodie left I put the slat and chilli chicken wings in the mini oven to cook. That was the first time I realised what a small portion was in that big box. I think there was just 6 very small wings in the box. Once I was on my own I tucked into them. I have to say I hardly detected any salt of chilli, but they were very nice, although I suspect it was because they tasted quite sweet.

  It was still about an hour before my usual dinner time, and I think I labelled the chicken wings as a snack rather than some sort of early hors d'oeuvre. When dinner time arrived I decided it might be safer to have a couple of cans of soup. There was also the fact I had nothing else prepared. I did contemplate use the other two wholegrain, multiseeded bread rolls to make a couple of fish burgers. I think I am glad I didn't now.

  I watched my usual selection of TV last night before going to be at 10pm when QI ended. I didn't feel a big urge to go to sleep, and I read for maybe half an hour. As I lay in bed, just reading, I began to feel a bit uncomfortable. It was a sort of combination of several things, and each, by itself, would probably have been a very little problem, but combined it made for a bad start to my night's sleep.

  For a start there were a few famiilar aches. One such was my chest. There was a sort of poorly defined ache right down my operation scar.  One slightly unusual, although not what you would call rare ache. It was lower back ache. It is something that is exceedingly rare when I am up and moving, but it can come on when just laying in bed. A more common ache, although it was not that bad last night, was my right elbow.

  The biggest bother was the temperature. It was one of those nights where my bedroom was cool, but not exactly cold, although it all depended on circumstances. The particular circumstance was one I am all to familiar with. It felt far too hot under the duvet, and then freezing outside the duvet. All these irritations meant that I seemed to have several periods of insomnia. On the other hand that were time when I thought I had hardly been asleep, and yet several hours passed almost unnoticed.

  I feel very sure I had loads of dreams last night, but I can't seem to remember anything coherent to say about those dreams. Instead I'll jump straight to this morning. I seemed to feel generally OK when I got up just after 6am, although maybe I was too distracted by feeling cold when I got up to worry about other stuff. I am still very steadfast about not burning any electricity to heat my bedroom. This time last year I was probably running the fan heater on low all night. It meant I could shove the duvet aside if I felt too hot, and sleep uncovered for the whole night. I don't care to afford that luxury this year !

  The main thing wrong with me this morning is that my blood glucose has shot up to 9.7mmol/l. That is too near the red line for my liking ! I have suggested several possible reasons for it above, but I doubt there was one single thing I could pin the blame on. It was more likely to be all of those things mentioned above, plus it is possible one or more beers could have contributed a lot of sugar. The bottle of Theakston's Old Peculiar did have a sweet taste.

  I ought to try and be very careful about what, and how much I eat today. That is very hard to do on cold and miserable dull days like today, but I can do my best. My best could still include a couple of fish burgers. Now I know they could be bad for me, but the more I think about the idea, the more attractive it becomes. Unless I feed them to the birds, I have to use up those seeded bread rolls sooner or later, and maybe today is as good as any day to use them - preferably for lunch to give more time for the sugar to dissipate before I check my blood glucose tomorrow morning.

  I really don't know what else I might do today. I could possibly go into Greenwich tonight to see The Entourage Band, but I just don't fancy going out in the cold and dark - and possibly wet (although the last rain should have been over for a few hours before I would need to get the bus). I did raise a bit of enthusiasm for it tonight when I thought that there would also be another gig going on half a mile or less down the road in Greenwich. The chance to get some snaps of two bands might have made the discomfort worthwhile, but the other gig may be tomorrow or next week.

  So far this morning my guts have been a bit noisy and volatile. If, as seems likely now, they settle down soon, about the only thing I can imagine doing this morning is a possible shopping trip to Poundland, or maybe Poundstretcher - maybe both. I may resort to doing more camcorder transfers to digital files on my PC (for possible editing) this afternoon. Doing so is a curious blend of nostalgia and a waste of time. I feel that if I knew how easy it would be to edit digital video footage, I may have used my camcorder more constructively back in the late 1990s.Oh well, hindsight is a fine thing !