All ways round

I remade my bed. I lay on it. It uttered not a whisper. There are so many reasons to be grateful for this...There's the absence of sound (which was probably annoying the neighbours as much as me!), there's the not having to implement plan D which was to take the bed apart again and re assemble it the other way round entirely with the head end at the foot (I've not enough room/strength to manoeuvre it in one piece), there's not being able to do anything else for the rest of the day (including the washing up!) and there's the not inconsiderable solving the problem both mentally and physically all by myself. If you are someone who has people to help you with things that's one sort of great, but another sort of great is to be able to do them for yourself. If you find yourself losing both at once life can become a stream of insurmountable challenges. I thought this one might be another, but it wasn't and that's a feeling Mastercard can't give you. 

I'm grateful I've put this bed together a few times in the past and knew that, although obviously four working hands would make it a lot easier, it didn't require much in the way of skill or brute force. And I was grateful I persevered and got most of the work done yesterday evening as I figured I'd be so sore today anyway after what I'd already done that starting again would be impossible, or highly undesirable anyhow. It also meant that though the covers weren't on properly, and the room (the whole flat!) was chaotic, I could actually sleep in the bed. It took a long time to drop off because so many bits were hurting, but as usual I just did some mindfulness and meditation and (not as usual) also did some luxurious moving around (within the usual urological limits)... and discovered that not only was the the base quieter, the mattress was firmer too! I've been puzzled for a while by how soft and saggy the mattress had become. It's exactly the same sort as in the living room and on almost exactly the same sort of base since I installed the exactly fitting leftover laminate floorboards into the frame, but it's become very uncomfortable and it's been hard not to lie awake at night when I am and wonder how on earth I could get it out and a new one in. I've tried changing the rigid mesh base pieces both ways round in recent times and adding more slats but to no avail..so I can only conclude the frame was put together the 'wrong way' the last time, though there's no obvious difference between right and wrong, or left and right! So now my bed is not only quieter but a whole lot more comfortable...kind of like having a new one but without the hassle and expense. Mmm, what shall I spend the money on instead?

There's been other things to be grateful, for of course...the smell of the new lavender oil I bought (no, they don't all smell the same!), the taste of the homemade stuffed vine leaves from the new Turkish/English cafe, Ashley Banjo having another feelgood getting non dancers dancing show on Sky, finding David Byrne's How Music Works on my new phone (downloaded as a freebie ages ago on my Streak but incompatible) and another pair of those gorgeous velvety peacock tights in the bargain bin so I could give some to Rachel...plus all the wonderful changing shades of light and grey in the clouds and sea...