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I give thanks for remembering to pop my postal ballot form in a mail box a few days ago. There were people on the street on Saturday asking others if they were planning to vote for this side or that, and if they had stopped me I would have enjoyed the smug moment of saying they were too late! I suppose it must sometimes happen but on the whole it doesn't seem very likely that a person who has made their mind up will change it on hearing opposing views. In fact it seems to me what occurs more often than not is that you don't even get a debate but a slanging match, with personal insults fired between participants or towards other party members.

I gave thanks for Clive coming to do some jobs for me this afternoon. We are about as diametrically opposed on subjects that lead to arguments, if not outright war, as it is possible to be and I give thanks for the tolerance and acceptance that can come from making a clear separation between a person and their speech or acts. One of his acts today was to take the last remaining storage heater off the wall and I give thanks for the lovely empty space where it was! We also discovered some of the liberal trunking around the walls mysteriously contained no cabling at all, while some other parts could be temporarily removed to assist the wallpaper man...and I'm grateful I had enough energy after an early night and long lie in to do the necessary extra prep on the newly exposed sections.

I give thanks there were those coveted curries back on the Co op shelves yesterday. I've started a stew with ancient veg, brown lentils and barley but that will be much more flavoursome for a slow cook and an overnight stand and I'm tired and hungry now!