It is a lovely morning - clear blue sky, and bright sunshine. It is hard to believe that by 2pm the sky will be full of grey clouds, but it may well be true. This afternoon may only see 15° C. It may not be until 11pm before any rain falls. There could be some quite heavy rain in the early hours of tomorrow morning. After sunrise tomorrow there may be quite a few light showers, and even some sunny spells mid afternoon. The temperature may reach 17° C.

   Yesterday was a good day in some ways, and bad in others. It was a mixed blessing that I didn't get out to do any exercise. Not doing it felt good, but it would have felt good to continue the good work from the day before. Oh well, at least the day featured booze, and that was a mixed blessing too.

  While I did acknowledge the possibility of going for maybe just a short walk yesterday, I guess I didn't really believe it even as I typed it. It felt like a very unhurried day, and not having to rush around was a good thing. I think it was almost midday when I had finished my post writing rest, and went for a shower. I also washed my hair while I was in the bathroom. I also gave my new shaver another test.
  Pictured on the left is my old electric shaver. It was a birthday present for my 16th or 18th birthday - over 50 years ago. It was powered by 4 AA batteries, and used to give a reasonable shave, but for any special occasions, maybe occasions where I thought or hoped I might be kissed, I used to wet shave for a much smoother finish. That shaver still basically worked, but the cutting heads and foils desperately needed replacing.

  I believe that kits with the blades and foils are still available, and that could be because although slightly different cosmetically, they basically the same as those used in my brand new Philips shaver. It runs on just 2 AA batteries, and seems to give an identical good, but not perfect shave. It cost £19, and not a lot more than replacement blades and foils might have cost (at a guess). It was sometime yesterday when the old shaver was dumped in the bin.

  I had a few hours to kill before I expected Jodie to arrive for our Sunday afternoon beer tasting session. I used some of that time to have a bit of a clean up of the dining room table, the kitchen, and also to prepare my dinner. It was a diced been stew with two small new sliced potatoes, and some cauliflower. It was to include some red kidney beans from a can I had half used, and left in the fridge with clingfilm over the top. It didn't seem all that long ago that I put that can in the fridge, but when I went to use it I found white furry mould on some of it !

  After my dinner was being blasted in the microwave I made my lunch. It was two Ciabatta rolls filled with corned beef, horseradish sauce and aromatic baby salad leaves. In other words, the usual recipe. It should have been fairly safe, i.e. a low sugar content, and yet a fair lining for my stomach against a deluge of beers. I only had about an hour to let lunch settle down before my doorbell rang, and it was Jodie arriving very early again.

  Jodie seemed to be in a very introspective mood. She seemed OK to select and drink some very strong beers, but without saying much. She also was like a wet week when it came to something that should have excited her. I was sure she was looking forward to ordering some new beers. At least she seemed excited when we had talked about it last Thursday. The idea was that she would supervise my selections of beer to order.

  I didn't actually wait to make a beer order, and I ordered £100 worth last week - just too late to get it delivered on Friday, and it seems DHL do not deliver on a Saturday, and so I had to wait for today to get my big box of beers. I have been notified it should arrive between 11am and midday. Most beers in it were ordered to my tastes, but a few are more like some of the beers that Jodie likes. One or two may even be a beer Jodie has never had before.

  Ordering more beers with Jodie in charge was an excruciating experience. Each beer needed to be checked on her Utappd (dot com) account to see if she had it before, or if she liked beers from that brewery. What would have take me 5 minutes dragged out to over half an hour. Sometimes I was not sure that Jodie was actually checking the beers, but actually "doom scrolling" through Instagram and her other social media interests.

  Jodie did seem very attached to her phone yesterday, and that was quite boring for me. The down side was that with nothing else to do I just drank more. To make matters worse she had arrived early, but didn't leave early. If it wasn't that the later train would be a little too late, and she had to get an earlier train (they are only every half hour on a Sunday), it might have been close to 7pm before she would leave. I did not want to throw her out, but with so little social interaction I was getting bored - and drunk again.

  At least with my pre-planed and pre-cooked dinner I would not be having an eating frenzy, but it was quite a big stew, and I did eat the whole lot. In terms of my health measurements this morning, what I ate did not cause too much trouble, but that stew, which I also spiced up a bit, did give me bad indigestion, and on a night where I was looking forward to a nice long sleep. I only managed a couple of brief snatches of sleep before about 2am when I felt OK to sleep as usual.

  I can remember getting up to pee at about the usual intervals, and I can also remember I didn't seem to pee in big amounts again. That suggested my blood glucose measurements might be OK again. They weren't ! I can only remember a few hints that I dreamed last night, but I don't think I can remember anything at all of those dreams...although it does feel like there is almost a memory on the tip of my tongue.

  I slept a little bit later than usual, and I think it was just after 7am when I got up. I went for a pee, and once again it didn't seem to be all that much. It felt like I would soon be having a poo, but initially nothing happened, but it did happen after I had dished out my pills/drugs for the day. I also had another small pee as well. This was before I had breakfast, and so I recorded my weight after this second visit to the toilet. It was not good and it seems I have put on 1.2kg, but I am sure some of that is water retention. Subsequently I have had another pee that (at a guess) was bigger than how much I had drunk since getting up.

  My blood glucose measurements were not good this morning, although fortunately not a disaster...although one was very close to it. I think I blame some of the very sweet tasting beers rather than what I ate yesterday. The Contour meter read 8,8mmol/l, and while a little higher than ideal, is still OK. The GlucoRX meter read a terrible 9.8mmol/l. The Sinocare was being diplomatic and lending some support to both the other two meters. It went for a middle figure of 9.0mmol/l, and it is possible it was the truest figure. It is higher than desirable, but not quite a disaster.

  One bit of good health news is my blood pressure. The first readings was 114/44, and that is very good, but I though a bit of extra relaxation might reduce that 114mmHg systolic pressure. It did ! The new reading was 97/42, although I do wonder if that is not just a teeny bit too low.

  Once I have finished writing this and uploaded it to the web server, I can almost get into deep relaxation because I don't intent to do anything until my first beer order is delivered today (the order we did yesterday may be delivered on Wednesday - a bloody awkward day !). The last word was that today's DHL delivery will take place between 11:09 an 12:09. Sometimes one of the DHL drivers arrives here almost spot on the first time given (11:09). That would be nice if it happens today.

  Once the beer is here, and I've checked it, I will have a shower. What I do after that is a semi mystery. It may be that I feel the urge to get a bit of exercise. What I would like to do is to go to Elmers End, and see if I can find and retrieve the third rail insulator pot I saw on Saturday. I would take my rucksack if I do go for this. On the other hand, I have a terrible history of doing nothing if I have not started doing something by midday. I guess I have really no idea what I will do today.

  As I write this I see that the weather forecast has already changed for the worst. The latest revision starts from 11am, and it now shows grey clouds instead of sunny spells.At the moment the sun continues to shine, but the sky is getting rather cloudy. It now seems quite likely we will lose the sun shortly, and the world will change to grey and miserable. The current temperature outside is just a fraction under 12° C, and that would feel OK for walking with bare arms in the sunshine, but there is no sunshine ! I may have just talked myself out of going out anywhere this afternoon.