Warm orange glow

I'm grateful the orange gaffer tape seems to be holding my broken dress rail together. I'm grateful I've ascertained neither gaffer tape nor glue will fix the mini gas heater (nor pliers turn it on without the knob), but that I've found someone to take it to the dump for me plus a reasonably priced replacement and a reasonably minded eBay trader who agreed to despatch by Royal Mail instead of his usual courier service, so that I can collect it from the post office here. I might do that tomorrow if I've a bit more get up and go...

I'm grateful for bright sunshine giving me some today. It was really hard to move first thing but I thought a scenic bus ride might be pleasant distraction from aches and pains without causing too many more. First choice would have been to go up on the moor, but this time of year, though there's market day buses from there to nearby towns they're going in the wrong direction for a visit. However, thinking of this reminded me that there's one bus a week from the bottom of the road that winds along the opposite bank of the river through narrow twisty lanes and impossibly pretty thatched villages with improbably long names... I was very grateful it was two hours til it departed so there was time to get dressed and go!

I gave thanks for the visual glories of this journey, with the slanting sun on the furrows and folds of the land and the many shades of autumn foliage. And, when I thanked the driver for its delights as I alighted at the bus station, he suggested if I'd time there was another service up to the tor later, and that contrary to popular belief (and most timetables), although the route officially ends at the top the bus doesn't stay there and you can request to come back down to a small town renowned for classy craft shops and cafés and catch a connection back this way. So I got to go through more lanes and villages and up through glowing ancient woodlands onto the moor, beaming with gratitude and gasping (quietly) in awe at the views. I'm grateful I managed not to cry with joy because I know it can make other people feel odd, but to desire something so seemingly simple but simply out of reach, and then find it's not, is the kind of thing that makes me very emotional.

I'm grateful for uplifting music of various kinds to accompany me, from Imee Ooi to Fat Boy Slim via Ladysmith Black Mombazo, for fortuitous finding of tasty refreshments in the perfectly timed intervals between journeys... And for the rain during the last leg (when I could hardly stay awake) starting when the bus pulled away and finishing when it arrived at my stop. I'm grateful I've had nothing to do but lie down for the last couple of hours since I got home and that Mr Tesco has provided supper if I can just get off my bum and heat it up!