Limelight

First thanks of the day for the lime light of low slung early sun on newly opened leaves...

I love the town where I live. I don't think there's a day goes by when I don't give thanks for just being here. I give thanks for the friendly hairdresser down the hill where they don't make me feel inadequate for being dishevelled, or ask me to use the back door! I give thanks for the warm welcome at the dry cleaner's/therapist... hugs and a mug of tea and a chat even though neither I nor my clothing was being treated. I give thanks for tasty treats from the Swiss patisserie eaten on an almost empty almost evening beach. The helpful happy staff in the fruit and veg shop, and the taxi driver waxing lyrical about life in a rural community set in folds of Devon fields three miles away.

I give thanks for my new GP. Well she isn't really new...she's been with the practice for years and has recently been made a partner. Dr Galli said he'd like someone to take over my care and asked if I had any preference and I chose this woman, although I'd never met her, as I'd heard she was good at seeing the whole person and the whole picture. I need someone like that. The latest buzzword on my case is 'complex'...I have 'complex' medical issues, apparently. Oh well, better than having a complex I'm sure! She said that Dr Galli came and sat with her and talked her through all that had gone on since I registered at the practice in 2007 (at that stage in blooming health) which seemed delightfully old fashioned and caring...like the gentleman himself! She was suitably impressed by how well I seemed for someone who had been through so much and still had all those complex issues and we talked about various courses of action for the various things that currently threaten to carry me off. Something that particularly put me at my ease was that when I told her I'd been using turmeric for joint pain (I can't take anti-inflammatories) and Manuka honey for fungal infection she wasn't just OK with it, she was downright keen! She said patients should be supported in their health choices...which in an ideal world she wouldn't have to say, but which seemed ideal to me!

Anyway, I'm grateful for all of this and more...and most of all for staying home for a few days knowing it's all there when I'm ready to go back to it. My tummy muscles in particular are protesting loudly at all this gadding about...an hour on a bouncy bus on Thursday...followed by walking my sorenesses down to the shops on Friday because I (mistakenly) thought that might limber them up. I have a weekend of knitting, crochet, reading, eating and TV planned and feel very grateful for that. May you all have pleasant pastimes too...