So far the forecast for today has got off to a good start. It was cold enough for a frost (1° C) and as I type the sunshine is streaming through my front windows. It has started as full sunshine, but by midday it might only be sunny spells. That should be good enough for the temperature to reach 9° C, and keep it there for three hours. The breeze is starting to move around and come from the north east, and so will still be a bit chilly. Tonight should not be as cold as last night.  Tomorrow may start at 5° C, but no sunshine until some sunny spells later in the afternoon, means that tomorrow may only see 8° C.

  I think I have to resort to that old school teachers trick when they can't think of anything negative or positive to say about a schoolboy - yesterday was "satisfactory". Actually there are not any real negatives, and at least one positive. I guess my diet control was not that bad either.

  Yesterday morning I reported that I had had a good sleep, and yet I never felt any desire to be dynamic during the morning, or indeed at any time during the day. In consequence, despite a fairly early start to my morning writing, it was getting on towards midday when I finally uploaded it to my web server. On the other hand, I did write more words than usual - 2,717 words !

  It was only because I thought I might go to the shops that I had a shower, but it was sort of wasted because I didn't go out, or see anyone yesterday. It nearly didn't happen because I made myself even later by replying to an email from my older sister. The one positive thing I did was to put two hand towels in to soak in detergent. It would be several hours before I got back to them.

  With my blood glucose readings being pretty good yesterday morning, and also losing about 800gm of weight, I was quite keen on having some lunch. It was bother good and bad. The good was that it was based on rice crackers - known to have hardly and sugar content, and fairly low calories. The bad was I used those crackers to scoop up big amounts of Ardennes style pork pâté. That also has a low sugar content, but the fat and salt make it a bit iffy, or rather tasty !

  I think I probably spent the next couple of hours just reading, and I think I also had a snooze. Basically I was thoroughly lazy - and I didn't care except to enjoy it while I could. It was possibly gone 3pm when I got back to the towels. I think I managed about 6 rinses before I got bored. The rinse water was still fairly frothy at that point, and I knew it would take at least another 5 rinses before I could accept that the job was over.

  As 4pm approached I took my afternoon pills and vitamins etc. They included another cod liver oil capsule, and I needed something to make sure I wasn't burping up cod liver oil. I considered several possibilities, and then thought of a very weird idea. I would have all the tub of ice cream that had the least amount in it. It was a 500ml tub of salted caramel flavour, and the tub was over half full before I ended up scraping the bottom of the tub. It may have not relaly been an ice cream day, weather wise, but I really enjoyed it.

  It was getting for 5pm before I got back to the two hand towels. I think I managed another 5 rinses before I gave up and declared the job done. If I had had the patience and strength I might have done another few rinses, but I thought what I had done was good enough. I was hoping there would be something on TV at 6pm that I could watch while eating my dinner.
  All I could find on TV was another silly programme about ancient aliens on the Blaze channel. I guess it was worth watching for entertainment, but most of it was far too silly to be taken seriously. My dinner was to be the "Calorie controlled" Chicken in mushroom sauce pictures above. The entire meal was just 269 calories, and that seemed so small that I had a starter of a single crusty roll with nothing inn it except ham and mustard. It was a little too dry, but still rather tasty,
  Even with the ham roll starter, I still wanted more, and what I thought I wanted was some fruit. I had one little orange, a still rather tart plum, a slightly unripe pear and a golden delicious apple - with the usual chunk of cheese to balance the sourness of some of the fruit. The whole lot was just about filling without feeling anywhere near over full. It would probably help when I came to trying for sleep.

  After dinner I didn't nothing of note. I think I turned the TV off, and spent some time reading stuff on the internet, and reading from the current book I am reading. Now I must admit that I lost track of time, but I think I turned the light out at 9pm, and as far as I can remember I had no trouble at all with falling asleep. I can only remember a few bits here and there, and some make no sense, but I did seem to dream a lot last night.

  One dream, if it actually happened, is easy to remember. I must have dreamed that I woke up at about 2.45am, and went for a pee. It all seemed very authentic, but the next thing I remember was that I was waking up at 3.15pm, and going for another, and rather big pee. One of those times must have been a dream.....unless I misread the clock. That could explain it as well.

  One dream was notable by the way the room I was in kept changing while I was still sitting on the same chair. It seemed like I had gone into a travel agents  for a beer on my way home from work. There didn't seem to be a bar, but somehow I got a pint of beer in a thick plastic glass bearing the W logo of the Waterstones book shops.  As I sat there drinking a woman, with a dog, was re-arranging brochures on a shelf partly behind me.

  Then a few people appeared at the other end of the shop and started talking about a hostage situation. One commented that they had "side to side communicators" (or in less Star Trek lingo, walkie talkies). I think it was at that point someone I new walked in the door behind me. He was wearing a dark purple velvet suit, and not his more usual plain short and trousers. I asked if he was joining me for a beer, but he said no, and that he had been asked to be there by some people down the street.

  The next thing was for what soon became obvious as a film crew came in, and many people started milling around. As far as I could gather they were intending to recreate a recent hostage event - even down to the walkie talkies ! Like most filming I have seen before, it would be ages before any footage was shot after waiting for focus pullers to pull their focus, and sound engineers were happy with the sound, and finally every one was in their places. I woke up before it got too boring.

  This morning was yet another morning where I had a false start. I woke up very soon after 6am, and it was even starting to get light, but I decided I needed another hour of sleep. On this occasion it was, as far as I can make out, almost exactly an extra hour, but then I knew it was definitely time to get up, go for a pee and poo, and then weigh myself. After all the peeing I had done in the night I was only a little surprised to find I had lost 600gm, and my weight was back where it should be to start again trying for even lower weights.

  All the all night peeing did not give my any confidence that my blood glucose was very low this morning. It turned that it was, and also that it wasn't. The Contour meter read a pretty good 8.1mmol/l. The GlucoRX meter read a not much different 8.2mmol/l. So far nothing to complain about, but then I used the Sinocare meter. For reasons I cannot begin to fathom, it said my blood glucose was very high - high enough to be colour coded pink on my spreadsheet, 9.1mmol/l. I only have a few test strips left in the canister, and I am hoping a test strip from a freshly opened canister will give a reading closer to the other two on the Sinocare meter.

  I think there is a big known today, and several unknowns, although one of the unknowns is looking like it is a possibility. To put that back into logical English, the big known is that this afternoon is, or at least should feature another beer tastings session with Jodie. The trains are running OK from Elmers End to Catford Bridge today, and so she should be here as usual today.

  Last Sunday was warm and sunny, and I went out for a walk before Jodie got here. Today may be sunny, but it is still going to be cold. I doubt I fancy going out for a walk in those conditions, and than there is my state of health. All easy to measure bits of my health, including my blood pressure - which is very good still at 105/46 just a few minutes ago. The  unknown is how well my legs work, and how easily I can develop angina pains. My last walk just to Tesco a few days ago said my legs and my angina were bad again. I think today I do no want to try for a long walk, but it is probably likely I will take a walk to the shops.