20/07/22 Looking back...

Yesterday turned out to be no hotter than the day before, peaking at 38 again. But cooler in the evening as the clouds built up while I was at a Parish Council meeting (held outside, thankfully) which finished just as a few drops of rain fell. Slight rain since then, but nothing like the cataclysmic thunderstorms one might expect. No doubt they'll come eventually.

Finally - I think - solved the rear-view problem on my scooter. These do the job, don't take up much hand space inside the tiller, and will easily fold out of the way when we drop the tiller down to use the hoist.

18/07/22 (2) 38

Drove into Chelmsford this morning to collect one Amazon package and return another. The car's exterior. thermometer read between 35 and 37 all the way. I'm not sure I've seen it over 30 before, except for a couple of minutes after parking in full sun.

Then late afternoon my Alexa went up to 38 (just under the time in the top left corner of its screen) and stayed there for well over an hour:

Not much else to be said about the day, except that tomorrow is expected to be hotter...

17/07/22 Independence a little closer

Another hot day at 30 or so (and the nights not much cooler), but expected to get maybe 10C hotter tomorrow and Tuesday...

I bought a rear-view mirror for the scooter from eBay and decided to fit it while Sue was out. That meant getting the scooter out of the back of the car - no big problem with the hoist - and then getting the scooter seat off the back seat of the car and fitting it onto the scooter. The first part is difficult because the back and arms are both folding so it's hard to find a good grip, the second because it needs precise location of a post into a hole, and that has to be done unsighted. But I did it with less trouble than I expected and that's another step towards more independence - I can now look at the prospect of taking the scooter off somewhere and using it by myself, which is really a large part of the point of getting it.

Despite promises, the mirror of course would not fit on the scooter tiller. Too small to fit around the "handlebar" tube. I should send it back for a refund, but for the sake of the fiver it cost me it's hardly worth the hassle of packing it up and posting, let alone dealing with the eBay seller's returns policy. If they have one. I've been back to Amazon and found something that should be better. Fingers crossed!

16/07/22 The Jolly Farmer

The heatwave continues, and nothing much to write about. Still sleeping well despite the heat, and a CPAP score of 97 last night.

Yesterday went down to Guildford for a pub lunch with old university friends:

Together with a two-hour drive each way that just about filled the day. Planning to go out somewhere later today before the heatwave reaches its forecast peak at the start of next week. Not looking forward to that.

13/07/22 99

Monday night's CPAP score was 99 which means I've been sleeping remarkably well despite the heat. Yesterday was a degree or two over 30 all day despite heavy cloud cover and not a trace of sunshine. It feels as as if we're due for a massive thunderstorm, but the forecasts say no sign of one.

12/07/22 Free Light Chains

Another blisteringly hot day yesterday, which I coped with mainly by staying inside apart from a couple of walks down Death Valley (otherwise known as the garden), and a face-to-face consultation with haematologist Dr.Ch at Springfield. That was at 09:30, before the heat got too oppressive. Not much new but an interesting sidelight on the eternal question of interpreting the free light chain numbers. My Kappa/Lambda ratio is up a bit and outside normal, but the reason is because the Lambda number has gone down rather than the Kappa number going up. Not bothered about that at all, would be concerned only if a ratio change came from one of the numbers going up. 

11/07/22 Too much / too soon / too hot

Played two games at Ongar (quite well) in extreme heat. The plastic holder for my Blue Badge may never be the same again.

Got home, fell asleep in front of the tennis, missed the first two and a half sets. Didn't feel I could face cooking, so settled for a banana and an early night instead. Obviously I'm not yet as fully recovered as I thought - but it was very very hot.