Monday and I wake up warmly comfortable under the fluffy duvet and grudgingly get up to a breakfast of toast and fresh coffee. Before I eat, I weigh myself and I am pleased that I weigh in at 96.4 kilos, that’s just 0.2 kilos heavier than last week. Given that my training was restricted, and I was away for the weekend I am content with a minimal rise in weight. Meds taken I set about writing my to do list to get me through the week and to help me focus and prioritise till Christmas. Once complete I set out on my easy to do jobs that require me to be outside in the garden. I refill the bird feeders, top up the squirrel feeder and put fresh food in Fort Hog. Then I set about the main task of unblocking and clearing the down pipe from the guttering that feeds the water butt. The main pipe is clearly clogged but using my fiendish drain unblocking device I finally get the drainpipe clear and ensure that the flow is restored. Job done I pack away the tools and move inside.

As I sip a rewarding fresh coffee and open my post to find that I have a CT scan appointment for the 30th of December, so I am going to have a busy end of the year. I continue to move things from my end of the sofa office to the upstairs bedroom unit, which means I can have minimal crap around me apart from essential life and poetry admin along with my day-to-day journals and cash book. Having cleared the space, I can clean and polish the sofa side table and settle down to watch the end of yet another world cup football match. A 3-3 draw this one and quite exciting. So I arrive at lunch time feeling that I am making head way on the to do list. After a quick roll and coffee I settle down again to do some internet shopping. It is a tricky business trying to find the right thing for people and to time the deliveries. Of course, there is another football match going on but by now it is just wallpaper. I am shopped out quite quickly and resort to reading the gas and electric meters. Having checked they are in line with the previous months I submit them and note that our credit is currently in good shape but come the dread end of March I expect that to change. I am feeling the effort of the day and know that I cannot put off training much longer.

I get into my kit and make my way to the garage. I set myself up for a half hour row at my normal resistance level. It goes okay although I am feeling sluggish. Once again, I manage to go over the 6 kilometre and burn in excess of 400 calories.

After the session I rest for a while with the football on in the background. Eventually I get changed out of my kit and note that there is blood in my urine. I am disappointed as I did not think I had pushed hard in my training session. I start to drink lemon squash to help it clear over the next couple of hours. My partner and I eat tea and settle down for the evening. There is the final football match to watch, and I start to draft the blog. Tesco deliver mid-way through the evening, and I find that they have run out of eggs. Clearly the bird flu epidemic has hit the egg market and supply hard. So tomorrow I may well go on an egg hunt. I find some more photos from our visit to the butterfly zoo and decide to include them here as I think they are extraordinary.

So today ends with some more TV and meds before I go to bed. Tomorrow needs to be a Sheed day as I catch up with my letter writing and also check the garden camera to see if my hedgehog has been around.