Continuous

I give thanks there were just gentle indoor pursuits on the agenda for today, nothing important or time sensitive... so it didn't matter much that most of those didn't get done. I give thanks for managing some cooking, and clearing up some of the mess from that...and lying down, sometimes awake, between some of the stages. For eating a little despite little appetite. 

I give thanks for another beautiful day for people more capable of enjoying it. For not having the slightest smidge of envy! For paracetamol and a cuddly quilt to curl up under. For peace and quiet and resigning myself to the fact I'd be there pretty much all of the day. For finding something enjoyable to watch on Netflix -  apart from an annoying continuity gaffe so the blanket on the back of a sofa seemed to  fall down and rise up of its own accord during a conversation! Tsk tsk as they say... 

Bare

I'm grateful I was grateful the moment I opened my eyes this morning, as I'd slept well and long for the first time for a while. From Facebook I could see I'd missed a beautiful sunrise but I can appreciate other people's photos of that - seeing pictures of them asleep doesn't work the same way! I give thanks last night's hasty supper was scrummy and for a breakfast feast of mini Danish pastries fresh from the oven while second breakfast of Cauldron sausages was cooking to go in a bun. For skinny genes and hot pants from the radiator - that's underwear not shorts despite the beautiful weather causing a surprising amount of naked flesh around today! 

I give thanks for devising a bit of a walk mostly avoiding the most obviously enticing places, and mostly ignoring considerable complaints from lower body parts. For a seat in the cemetery to rest in peace, another overlooking the bay with the aforementioned brunch and one in the park with an 'artisan' ice cream before it got too busy and I had to scuttle back indoors. Surprising star of the show though was a tarmacked town footpath with a variety of trees and shrubs peeking over the high boundaries of affluent gardens. Not exactly pastures new but I was so enchanted by bare branches, berries, blossom, interesting doorways and patterns of light that I was also especially grateful there were so few other people around and I could amble along unabashed with a delirious grin on my face.

Elective

Dialysis weeks seem much longer now I no longer have any personal space, but on the other hand I'm extra grateful when they end! I give thanks there were curtains up in the bay again which is a slight return to normality and, though they were open, meant there was one less person in the room in my line of sight. I give thanks for a nurse who feels the cold shutting the windows in the later afternoon, and when a new-to-me one took me off the machine and thought I might like to bond over some chat, I give thanks for trying hard to politely deflect her from this mission, despite much persistence on her part. In the end I tried honesty and explained I found the enforced interaction with people I haven't chosen to spend time with a very hard part of treatment and,  when she responded other solitary shielding patients found it a joy, that yes, I do understand I'm odd! You don't seem shy she said, clearly oblivious to the very small gap between my jaws - look you're talking to me! Ah, extroverts they don't have a clue do they bless them! 

I give thanks my taxi driver understands companionable silence. For seeing the sun setting as we made our way through heavy traffic, and the full moon following us on the other side of the sky.

I give thanks for cobbling together some tea. Usually I have some I prepared earlier but today I elected to sit on the beach earlier instead...and I'm very grateful I did! 

Pearly

Cream crackered this evening so delighted to find a much reduced Higgidy pie in the Co op on the way home from more hours outdoors than Matt Hancock would approve of I'm sure, as I'm not a celeb, an MP or an elite sportsperson! I give thanks for the fabulously mild and sunny weather to enjoy living in a tourist hotspot before (most of) the tourists arrive, and particularly living somewhere somewhat light on non-tourist amenities and businesses so I could legitimately travel a short distance to another one to do what needed to be done.

I give thanks for walking along the sea wall a metre away from Mima which is permitted and sitting down, also apart, on the beach steps with a takeaway cuppa which, of course isn't, but I don't have the grip to manage a cup and walk, nor the strength to walk without resting. I give thanks we weren't caught and fined! For the blue sky, calm sea and lightest of breezes. For my jobs done too including using the much more spacious Post Office they have there...and for arriving back just as the bright yellow tug Dutch Pearl was starting the process of moving the Wavewalker so I could watch that for a while. I give thanks my home help is due tomorrow as chores have fallen by the wayside and horizontal is the only thing on the agenda for the rest of the day.

Patchy

I give thanks for eventually getting some sleep despite great difficulties getting my body comfortable, and those after midnight mind games many of us suffer from. For less pain this morning though I wasn't at all keen to get going and was grateful my taxi driver sent me a text saying the Wavewalker was on the very slow move, so that spurred me on to sort myself out and make a little fish finger sandwich to eat while I watched. I give thanks for fascinating engineering and an amiable and admirably socially distant crowd. Also for the carpet of purple crocuses outside my window but concealed from view by taller plants - some sort of euphorbia maybe, it's been a while since I did any gardening.

I give thanks I was still tired enough to have a long nap on the ward, as I got the distinct impression the women there were not pleased to see me back again, glaring and ignoring my attempts at being friendly. For understanding I'm a total failure at a particular kind of female small talk which involves taking it in turns to talk about yourself rather than actually conversing, and not much cop about complaining about my medical complaints (or the trials of Covid!) which is apparently another bonding process...For the taxi driver and male nurse not seeming to mind my lack of these social skills...

I give thanks my friend Lynn is still with us, thought it's sad she now understands my difficulties with hospital treatment so much better than she did before. I always think of her when I have a fish finger sandwich!

Prized

I give thanks for plans to get out and about and do some useful stuff today - it's good to create some sense of purpose especially in these difficult draining times. I was even more grateful though, as preparations to leave the premises were causing such discomfort and distress, for realising an alternative and entirely acceptable goal was a few hours under a quilt on the sofa snoozing and whimpering as required. I give thanks for my sofa, quilt, hot water bottle and TV! For cushions to plump and push and rearrange. For such pain relief as I'm allowed. For a largely grey and windy day so staying in didn't feel like missing out.

I give thanks for the way I'm always astonished by how much it hurts (and in how many places!) when I have an attack like this. I guess this kind of amnesia helps mothers have more than one baby and boxers return to the ring...For feeling a bit more capable by late afternoon and making a little headway with mysteriously accumulated washing up, and making some more preparing supper! 

Plant based

Mmm, I give thanks for a gloriously springlike day. My houseplants were grinning from leaf tip to leaf tip! And talking of leaves I give thanks for the sterling service two home grown potted lettuces have given, tomorrow they will finally be laid to scraggy rest and I'll see what seeds I have left to start planting afresh. I give thanks one good thing to come out of the Covid crisis has been my window sill supply of baby greens.

I give thanks for getting to the station early to peacefully enjoy the weather and the view including the Wavewalker which will soon be on its way. I always get terrible wanderlust this time of year when the sky is bright blue between bare branches, so also for trying to enjoy the journey as if I were travelling somewhere more fun than the renal unit. For a detour for Gregg's delicious vegan sausage rolls and a yoghurt topped flapjack on the way. 

I give thanks someone eventually shut the windows near the very draughty spot where I was plonked today...by the ward phone, the main corridor and other hindrances to tranquillity. I resembled a clothes horse by then, draped with so many garments and blankets! I was very grateful for the extra food for extra calories to burn, and it was nice to have contact with some different members of staff I guess. I'm still very grateful it's a day off tomorrow however. 

Barking

I give thanks for feeling less bleurgh today though still very far from hurrah! For my hands being sore but having enough energy to go out for a while and make my lower limbs match. As it was neither raining nor blowing a hooley, I figured it would either be too squishy with mud or too squashy with people in any of the obvious exercising places close to home so a walk round the lesser used lanes of the town would be my best bet and I give thanks for following this Plan A. However, just as I was about to turn left off a main residential thoroughfare onto a single track access road for a handful of dwellings, I spied a large clump of trees ahead on the right that seemed to be accessible and carried on up the hill to investigate. For it turning out to be a strip of scrubby woodland between the pavement and some garden fences, obviously well used and somewhat squishy but deserted apart from a couple heading off in a different direction with takeaway drinks from the nearby supermarket. Huge gratitude then for being able to explore on my own apart from a squirrel and a robin and a chorus of other unseen birds, and for coming across this fascinating bark pattern.

I give thanks for the making aches scheme being extremely successful and not minding doing very little for the rest of the day. For a lush deep hot bath as the mistiness crept further down the hillside so it looked like mountains were hiding above. For a film about a disappointed and cantankerous old woman intent on cresting a remote Scottish summit alone. Turned out she needed help but she got it, and oh that scenery and conveyance of the bliss of being in it! For imagining getting help to do some wonderful things again one day... 

Radiant

Sunny? Well, not much sign of it in either weather or my disposition today but I'm grateful I've spent some time on my yarn bomb contribution, have finished the central panel and am pleased with the result! 

There's a reason I don't do  much in the way of needlecraft any more - my hands are so clumsy and painful - but after hearing my eyesight is as doomed as my dexterity I wanted to take this opportunity to create something for the common good (humour). Like most of my projects, it's experimental and improvisational and there seems to be as much unpicking as crochet and knitting at the moment so I'm very thankful this bit, mercifully, went according to the plan in my mind's eye. 

I give thanks for discovering extra long matches. They really are extremely long and ideal for lighting several candles at once - especially ones in deep holders.

For managing to roast some peppers without incinerating  them as usually happens. 

For the rain easing off just as I was about to take some rubbish out so I could augment my clothing and extend my excursion round the block. It turned out to be a crooked block as, as usual, what seemed like far too many other people emerged from under cover at the same time and headed for the narrow gap that is the current access to the sea shore. I give thanks the sea sure was worth seeing - from another vantage point! 

Slippy

It's good to talk they say but phew there's a lot of chatter on a four bed bay, and a little less conversation would have gone down better with me especially as I discovered one of my ear bud bobbly things was missing and bare metal doesn't work the same. I give thanks for a little patch of peace and quiet for a nap and subtitles on my downloaded entertainment. They were running late and I'd got there early and was already a tad narked when my treatment started, so I give thanks for imagining I was under a gazebo in a woodland glade with a sea view and patio heaters. For the nurse saying I looked very Zen and enjoying the visualisation when I shared it with her.

I give thanks for surviving a horrid meat lasagne last night bought by mistake instead of a veggie one. It wouldn't have been so bad if they'd slipped some veggies in with the meat, but I was grateful the sauces disguised the taste somewhat, and for sherry trifle afterwards to cleanse my palate. 

I give thanks the disappointment over cosy slippers bought on line being too big changed to joy when I left them out with a note for my home help to see if she or one of her daughters could use them. Her note said she needed new ones and kept meaning to get some so was very pleased. I love it when things find where they are meant to be like that, and I'd been thinking how much I miss the synchronicity of it nowadays when I realised there was one chance for it to succeed...

Dental

I give thanks my dentist is a very nice man.

I give thanks his practice is in a very nice place.

I give thanks for delightful weather to visit that place, and for lots of delightful outdoor space there so even though a fair few other people were visiting there was plenty of room for us all. 

I give thanks though I moved to a place I don't like as much, it is paradoxically easier to get to those delightful spaces from where I live now - apart from the restrictions of shielding and lockdown of course.

I give thanks, however, a face mask masks a droopy dribbly mouth

I give thanks for a suckable supper!

Public

I give thanks for hearing there are less Covid cases on the unit now. Of course I care about the wellbeing of patients and staff, but nurse Jamie knew why I was asking - Yes, it's looking promising for you getting back to a side room again soon, he said. Fingers crossed...I give thanks for snoring during my nap this afternoon so the rest of the bay will be as glad to see the back of me as I will to be gone! 

I give thanks for a mild and pleasant meteorological start to the day, allowing me to be less bundled up with layers. Unfortunately this false optimism also led to windows open on the ward again and it sure did get chilly when the wind and rain returned. I give thanks for Netflix offerings distracting me. 

I give thanks for feeling a little less downhearted the last twenty four hours. For this collection making me laugh out loud which helped a lot. I have never in my life wished I had private transport as much as I do now, but the other sort has its moments... 

https://www.boredpanda.com/weird-things-people-saw-commuting/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

Short

I'm grateful I was able to get an extra early night yesterday and when, as extra early nights tend to, it ended about the time a late night would, for not fretting but getting tea, biscuits and a book until sleep came back to me. For it being a good book...turning off my thoughts completely and slim enough to read in one go! 

It's been hard to get into anything today, so I give thanks for feeling the complete lack of interest or inclination and doing what needed to be done anyway. For a bit of a stroll between the showers and discovering my sore foot doesn't really hurt much more when I walk on it. For taking a road I've not been on before, that gave me a holiday feeling. It was only a few yards long however so just a short break, but I did get back before a very heavy shower, so that was something to be grateful for too. 

For starting making some stew despite not feeling hungry and, when I got distracted and let it burn, for only destroying the ingredients cooking and not the pan itself though it will need a good scrub. For it being mild enough to open the kitchen window wide to let the smelly smoke out and for having onions and garlic to start again. 

Tempered

I've been feeling rather grumpy and glum lately so my first gratitude is for setting myself this daily challenge...and sticking to it! For the seemingly incessant wind finally blowing itself out, and the peacefulness and relative mildness that followed this morning...there was even some sunshine for a while. For taking the bus into the city and listening to Imee Ooi while I did. For writing that, remembering my mp3 player really needs charging and getting up off my lazy behind to plug it in. For my first sight of spring lambs, and for nurses that didn't make me even more bad tempered than I started out. For getting through the day's needle problems and blood pressure drop and being curled up on my sofa with lots of pointless television to watch. 

Birthday

I give thanks for rain washing the windows clean of sea spray again and, as it stopped for a while and the sea had retreated from the park and pavements, for taking a little stroll. Didn't take my camera or even my phone as you always see the best stuff when you don't - and I came across the most exotically patterned pigeon I've ever encountered and long diagonal rows of seagulls on the striations of the rocks exposed at low tide, hoping for a mollusc lunch. I was almost tempted to go home and get my camera but with the subjects being birds who knows where they'd be after I trudged back! 

I give thanks for ensuring I had ingredients to make myself good things to eat today... And even more grateful for deciding I'm always creating culinary delights and actually it would be more of a treat to have time off kitchen duties. For there still being plenty of curry for lunch, and a selection of very fancy Turkish delight from some exotic Sheffield emporium for dessert! 

For it being a rather floral themed birthday with two more bouquets arriving today, pretty mugs from Mima and a handmade machine embroidered book mark from Laura, who also phoned for a chat. I give thanks I have a fascinating looking new book from Rachel to read too!

I give thanks it's been pretty good weather for a solitary lockdown birthday as curled up on the sofa has been ideal. Although it was a shame my weekend away was cancelled it wouldn't have been a bundle of fun in the wind and rain. For digging The Dig last night. What a lovely film! 

Soulless

I give thanks for the continuing unappealing weather. There'd been local concerns about an out of town half term invasion but there's hardly been a soul about! I give thanks only my nose has been poked outside the door, receiving a bag of wool scraps and birthday items from Mima while collecting a mystery Amazon package that had been delivered a few minutes before. For the driver phoning to ask where I lived - which is not normal behaviour for Amazon couriers but was very welcome, also for the postman bringing another parcel up to my flat.  

The days of sea spray from the wind have coated my windows so it seemed foggy even though it wasn't, and I've rather enjoyed the cocooned feeling as I've been unusually disinclined to do anything much except doss around reading and watching TV.  I give thanks for trying a few activities just in case I needed a nudge in some purposeful direction but inclination remained unmoved. Never mind, it's rare that I'm so unmotivated but it does mean I've been easily pleased! 

Self-absorbed

I give thanks I now know why people give thanks for Fridays. I too am very grateful indeed! It was an OK day at the office, and mercifully not so cold...but it is such a relief not to have to go back there again until Monday. For plenty of absorbing home based activities and pastimes to look forward to over the next couple of days.

For a clean flat courtesy of my home help, and a tidy one courtesy of me! For a beautiful bouquet of birthday flowers from my taxi driver and his daughters, and treating myself to a Gurkha restaurant delivery booked for tomorrow evening (just in case they're busy on Sunday with all that romance you know!) For Valentine's Day and lockdown actually working in my favour as the Co-op had a special range of desserts in, and not all of them were chocolate! Raspberry panna cotta for me...and for me again ha ha

Restless

I give thanks I quite like wind, and the way it stirs up inner energy as well as tangible stuff like sea...though this blow is a tad strong and prolonged even for me, to say nothing of the effect on the already chilly temperatures. For braving the weather earlier for a few bits and bobs including organic oats and barley flakes for my wintry morning porridge. For a quick hello to Tani in the process.

I give thanks for an early start despite a restless night, and valiant attempts at productivity and positivity. For not beating myself up over less than total success. For a delicious (slightly) cheesy vegetable pie for my lunch and for ready made puff pastry! For some down time under the duvet after a thawing bath. For the whipped up sea foam surging up the brook and blowing around like giant snowflakes. 

Bitter

So Wednesday's supposed to be 'hump day' right? Well, it's certainly given me the hump in various ways, including repeatedly mistaking it for Friday and hiccups too while eating my tea which was extra annoying!

I give thanks for waking up to find a waterproof sheet had contained a mysterious urological leak. For my washing machine of course...and for having enough urological output to be able to create a leak, I guess. For remembering to be grateful although I'm not in a preferred spot on the dialysis unit at least I'm in a preferred unit.

I give thanks for cunning plans. Plan A was to book the taxi ten minutes early as a different place in the building means a different place in the schedule and staff are often waiting to put me on the machine so I feel rather rushed and awkward...but the chap in that place before me on the schedule didn't stop bleeding for ages so it was me waiting around. I give thanks he stopped eventually obviously! Plan B was to leave a little heater in the living room on a frost control setting to take the edge off the bitter chill that awaits me when the mercury is this low...but though I set up the heater I forgot to switch it on in the rush to make the early departure time! On the plus side two heaters in the big room warmed it up twice as fast! 

I give thanks today's selection of clothing didn't tip the scales too far from my pesky (and mostly irrelevant - see above) 'target' weight and, with my snug quilt tucked over me from armpits down, kept me pretty cosy until the invisible sun started setting when I quickly became more chilled than my joints and extremities prefer. 

Finally I give thanks for at last untangling and separating two balls of yarn I foolishly left next to each other on the sofa when I went out this afternoon and which have as usual spent the unwatched hours twisting themselves into improbable knots! Oh... and I give thanks when I made extra dinner last night I also made extra pudding. Maybe that will sweeten my mood! 

Appointed

OK, so I've sussed there's something to be grateful for about dialysis being more of a downer since I've been ousted from a comfortably solitary sideroom... days off are appreciated even more - even cold and windy wintry staying indoors ones! I had originally planned this to be a pop up the street for a couple of things day but the wind chill factor put me right off so I give thanks the items weren't essential. Oh yes, they had to be essential, didn't they? Then I give thanks they weren't urgently so. 

I give thanks for a long and fragrant piping hot bath as I couldn't face getting undressed last night except to get into a piping hot bed. I give thanks for my electric blanket soothing my pain so eventually I could sleep and, while I soaked, for making some progress with a painfully badly written novel I'd give up on if I didn't want to reach the denouement and find out if it was worth it carrying on! For creating food and pootling with creative projects. For being able to watch the turbulent sea from the comfort of my armchair. For sorting out various NHS appointment muddles - including receiving a text asking me to call to book my Covid jab! 

For remembering an internet friend at intervals throughout the day, as this morning I heard he had died. Someone who had been going through the kind of dark time that makes everyone wish they'd tried harder to help him back to the light. For knowing enough about dark times to understand it's not that simple. For thinking about the times we made each other laugh. 

Precipitous

Apparently a few people saw a few tiny snowflakes today, both here by the coast and in the city. I give thanks I'm happy for them...ish! It seems only right and proper to have an inkling of a sprinkle when the temperatures are as cold as these, but we've a few more days of them yet so maybe I'll get lucky! After all I did with the kingfisher eventually. 

I give thanks for surviving another afternoon on the chilly ward. I wrap up as best I can but soon become uncomfortable nonetheless. For also surviving the effects of an over zealous attempt at fluid removal by ringing my call bell before my blood pressure got too low. It's food I'm retaining at the moment plus extra layers of clothing to try up keep in the heat, not the usual renal reason for weight gain...but some staff have a very simplistic view. 

I give thanks for being home bundled up more cosily on my sofa, speedily fed and slowly thawing out. For Paracetamol for my stiff sore joints. For being quite busy with this and that earlier as tonight I'm fit for very little. 

Caring

I give thanks I make exceedingly good puddings! For last night's tasty comfort food, simple knitting, drama scenically set above the Arctic circle, fragrant joss stick burning, sparkly retro lamp turning and a fluffy blanket to snuggle under. What more could you wish for on a winter's night? It's a rhetorical question, don't give me a list! But, you know, there was someone on a Facebook group saying how much they missed physical affection these days and I'd been trying to suggest helpful ways to create the feeling of being cared for and cherished by yourself by yourself if you see what I mean! Then last night I remembered the Danish word hygge and how this expresses a  similar concept. We don't all get the cuddles and emotional cosiness we'd like, even when there's no pandemic, but most of us can create some hygge in our lives and I give thanks I do my best! 

This morning I gave a lot of thanks I could wake up late and not be in a panic about dashing up the road! I did stroll up there later as the sun was bright despite the chill and I was suffering no ill effects from last night's jab...or if I was I couldn't tell them from my regular pain and fatigue! For achieving my aim of seeing the new swan's nest, and a little later, due to other's spotting it before me and gazing in appreciation, finally being blessed by the sight of the famous local kingfisher...or one of them if there are more. It's years since I've seen one, and only ever in flight so it was a surprise how bright its breast was as it sunned itself (or maybe posed!) rather high up in a palm tree for fishing. I'd been pretending I didn't care I'd not personally had the pleasure as there's been lots of photos on line...but my delight when I did gave me away! 

Oh yes, that reminds me, I give thanks for someone posting this glorious animation

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2020/02/story-of-flowers-animation/?fbclid=IwAR2N3PeXhZGvQKgoc04ZiWegCX6TXdWf0e2wp8qX9MvHJp-FWunf-oO_GSk

Listed

Mmm... I give thanks for Saturdays! Plan A was for a long lie in as tomorrow I had to be up and out for my vaccination, but I was grateful I woke up early enough to see the pretty sea and sky after sunrise as I made my morning cup of tea. 

I give thanks the cruise liners were so crisply visible due to the clear air and my new specs. And for so many folk about enjoying the bright day, though I wish I could have believed all of them were in their own home town. Even the crazy golf kiosk was open (though obviously not the course itself) and I give thanks for resisting the urge to go down and buy a bag of donuts - mostly, I must admit, as I wasn't sure they were doing them!

I give thanks for enjoying dabbling with various crafty stuff, in between cooking, domestic chores and the obligatory long hot bath. For managing not to fall completely asleep in it (though I certainly wasn't completely awake for the duration either!) and stirring myself to head for a little stroll around before the showers and Tesco delivery arrived. For the sight of the fascinating Wavewalker closer than ever now and ,from higher ground, six ships not sailing by.

I give thanks administrative errors can sometimes work in one's favour. Just as I was having seconds of a delicious early tea a charming doctor rang my bell advising he was visiting the housebound with Covid jabs. When I explained I wasn't housebound on a regular basis and was booked in at the hospital tomorrow, he said his list contained many errors but as I clearly needed the vaccine and he was there and could administer it on the spot he was happy to proceed if I was. I was!

Homeward

I give thanks there's still light in the sky when I leave the hospital after treatment now. The afternoon can seem to take ages to pass so it's cheerier it not being dark at home time making it feel it's gone on even longer! I give thanks for being home and for Michelle doing the strenuous household chores earlier so there's nothing more demanding demanding my attention than heating up some left over curries from the freezer, and catching up with some TV. 

I give thanks for TV caught by accident today including one of those let's watch people with more money buy houses programmes which was so close to here a chunk of it featured the local carnival. This was historic of course, but later I saw some very welcome drone footage taken over the moor this afternoon. 

I give thanks for my imagination being fired by the planned Easter yarn bomb in the park across the road. They are always a joyful colourful idea, and would be particularly welcome this spring I think after all the dark times we've been through. I give thanks I'm also hopeful I might be able to contribute a bit of knitting and crochet as well as admiring other people's work. 

Saucy

I give thanks for a pleasingly undriven sort of day, not idle or unproductive but just drifting along in my own somewhat mellow flow. As my last day off dialysis was rather busy, and I'm finding dialysis days on a bustling bay quite wearying to the spirits, I was grateful for some battery recharging time. 

For the minor culinary miracle of a roux which bemuses and amuses me every time I make a sauce with one. For a cosy and comforting flaky pastry topped fish pie and a splash of sherry in my pudding to celebrate my Covid vaccination booking this coming Sunday at the local hospital walking distance (on a good day) up the road. I give thanks this is much closer than many centres many people are travelling to even though I have a sore foot at the moment and it may not actually turn out to be a good day for walking at all. For the sense of excited anticipation, not for the process itself of course but what one hopes it will lead to. 

Chipper

Well that was a bit of an odd day one way and another, though I'm grateful to say in the end a positive one. For my taxi driver's contract job being cancelled so he called me to see if I'd like to travel in with him as well as go home and, much as I enjoy a spot of solitary scenic travel, with my joints playing up something rotten and wanting to take a snug quilt to huddle under on the well aired ward, I was very grateful for that. Had to leave a bit earlier than normal as he had another booking later, but they were almost ready to put my on the machine when I arrived and started treatment unusually quickly then, due to good staffing levels, left unusually quickly too! That was very pleasing - especially as it had been a bright day and it was still pretty much light outside with pretty sunset clouds to admire.

I give thanks when I got home there was copy of the promised polite reminder letter from my renal consultant to my GP pointing out that it's about time I got a Covid vaccination...and funnily enough a missed late in the day call from the surgery asking me if I'd like to book. Would I? Non-shielders with no life limiting conditions probably have no idea how very much, and I give thanks for their blissful ignorance. 

I give thanks for cooking up some polenta this morning. Woohoo...pretend chips for tea! 

Unclear

When I woke up still feeling gloomy and glum, I gave thanks for remembering the Buddhist view that suffering is caused by wishing things were other than they are - including wishing you weren't depressed of course! I find this much more helpful than the contemporary Western notion (with or without organised religion!) that whatever ails you it's probably someone else's fault...

I give thanks for my excursion to collect my new specs and for seeing much more clearly now...well apart from the general poor visibility that is. The crowd of cruise ships was barely visible, the moor not at all, and the allegedly resident seal out for lunch...but the singing bridge was very shrill, white horses were jousting on the cross currents and a hazy rainbow appeared now and then in the clouds, all of which I was grateful I got to observe.

I give thanks I failed again to find the Prime free exit route when purchasing from Amazon. I've already had my month's free trial so I thought it would let me off taking another but I seem to be signed up again. For enjoying a Catfish binge on a wet and windy late afternoon as there's been a few more seasons since I left Sky and Nev and Max's good looks, good humour and impeccably non- judgmental good manners always raise a smile. 

I give thanks, though still no word of my vaccination, I've had the results of my last scan and they are 'no change' which is better than expected. 

Heartfelt

 Ooh there are days, aren't there? I give thanks this space is for gratitude not grumbles...

So...um...I give thanks I've finally managed to get some heart bases for my mosaic in plywood not MDF as 'real' wood is much better to work with. I'm not sure how this happened as I used the order again facility and the last ones I had were definitely MDF, but I'm really not complaining!

I give thanks for my rail journey being relatively scenic though not in the way I'd envisaged being a dank and murky day. Despite it being hard to see the other side of the estuary, the boats on the water and small flocks of birds (dunlins I think) flying over it were perfectly reflected. I also got to see some sea wall building work while I waited for the train which is always interesting.

I give thanks for hearing most other patients at the unit have been called for at least their first Covid vaccine, and other CEVs elsewhere in the county. It gives me hope my turn may come soon...if the letter's not lost in the post or they've decided I'm not worth trying to save.

I give thanks for finding another way to try to get a response from W H Smith about the book in my order from !st Jan which has still not turned up. It was showing as not sent until I took the option to cancel...but then the website made me create an account...and of course as the account was created after the order the order doesn't show.

I give thanks I did manage to cancel my Premier Inn booking as I've run out of ideas what date to try and move it to. The original deal was that you could only change the booking but I guess they've given up on that now as the money is back in my account.

I give thanks I've leftover stew and bathwater waiting to be heated up. Tomorrow is another day