Some sympathy and some taste

I give thanks sorting out some stuff about the place yesterday evening, reaching up and bending down and generally getting some useful, if not particularly enjoyable, exercise. I give thanks for finding a selection of oddments in fridge, freezer and cupboards to make a such an unexpectedly hearty meal I couldn't move for a while after eating it... For ready to eat poppadoms which are even yummier heated up!

I give thanks for finishing a saucy book and starting on a sad one. All life is here inside my head, between the printed pages. I give thanks for getting some stretches of sleep between the boring gnawing pain. For the golden horizon at dawn. For pancakes for my brunch...

I give thanks for mental exercise working on the next few days' logistical problems - how to get to several different local shops, the library and post office within appropriate time frames and with minimal walking, stairs and taxi fares. For managing to change the wrong lemons I picked up distractedly when life handed me something sweeter on Monday. For cabbing beyond the call of duty (and the fare!) from Nick when I was unable to pick up a parcel having left behind my phone with the code (especially when he want back the first time pretending I was still in the car he couldn't get the parcel either as the machine that takes the code had broken down!) I give thanks I was able to brighten his day in return anyway by introducing him to the Bryan Ferry version of Sympathy for the Devil, which somehow his fifty-five years of musical devotion had failed to find before. What's that - you haven't either? Please allow me to introduce you too...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZlMilJs5NE

I give thanks that when he called to say he'd finally got it I spotted the Openreach engineer pulling out wires up the pole from my doorstep so when my internet went down a few minutes later and I could see the chap packing up the ladder I could shout out the window to please attend to the matter. I give thanks he did and the connection came back long enough to write most of this...though it's wandered off again now and he's wandered off for his tea. Gotta give thanks for smart phones eh?

I give thanks though I missed a rather far fetched target of being mobile enough to get to tomorrow's hospital appointment and back by feet and bus, I'm well enough not to need a hospital car. I admit I really had to dig deep for this gratitude because though it's wonderful there's such a thing as volunteer transport for those who don't have friends and family to oblige, I find it more soul destroying and dread filled being forced to to be driven by someone I'd rather not be with than the appointments I need it for. Nonetheless, I've been up and down those stairs three times today, and hobbled about indoors and out and am somehow still somewhat uprigh, so however fed up I might be with my limitations I'm exceedingly grateful they are undeniably diminishing.