Not bothered

Feeling very mellow and can't be bothered with much this morning, I gave thanks I didn't have much I needed to be much bothered with anyway. I give thanks it was a peaceful few hours on the terrace and I could just potter around with bits of this and that in between reading a few pages of my book. 

I give thanks for eventually realising as I did need to go out, and that going out would stir me up a bit, stirring myself to go out would be a damn fine thing. I give thanks the weather got a bit finer when I did and that I live in such a fine place in many ways for stirring up good humour.

I give thanks for gossiping on street corners with menfolk of the area, and turning a corner onto the seafront and seeing Julie who I've not had a face to face natter with for months, but funnily enough had a bit of a virtual chat with for the first time for months just the other day. 

I give thanks for all the virtual chat I've had lately, but real (with the right people) is best. I give thanks I know it isn't nice not to chat with someone who doesn't feel right but keeps wanting me to, but if I wanted to talk to someone and they kept giving me minimal answers and a tight smile and hurrying off I'd be mortified and stop, so I don't know what else to do...

I give thanks to neighbour Keith for tidying up the gull scattered rubbish of the people who only leave their bags by the communal bins not in it. It's clear whose rubbish it is from the contents...I'd be mortified about that too, wouldn't you?

Miss match

I give thanks for sleeping well within clean sheets and an early paradiddle or two. If you're not sure what it is you'd better look it up or you may have completely the wrong impression... I give thanks for the sunny start to the day and a deep male voice somewhere near by singing the first line of 'Oh what a beautiful morning' in their garden or through a window or door, possibly ironically but passably in tune. I've no idea who...and as I was wearing little but a smile at the time I didn't lean out to see if I could see...

I give thanks the noises I like least in the neighbourhood being less frequent the last few days.

I give thanks for a man from a utility company coming to consider the task of adding another one here. Given his furrowed brow I give thanks I'm not planning to be paying! I give thanks when he said they put all customer's name in a draw and would I like to nominate a charity to receive a donation if my name was picked I thought to say Kidney Research as he said no one had said that before. If they wanted nominations for employees to pose for a charity calendar I'd have put him down for months 1-12 I think...which I give thanks I know is probably a politically incorrect statement but given my opinion of most mature male's appearance not a misdemeanour I get the chance to make very often...

I give thanks for some good tennis matches being on at a time when I'm good to sit and watch them.

I give thanks for this (to me) rather pleasing collection of objects in a corner of a cathedral visited a few weeks ago.

Sea see TV

I give thanks the tea that Rachel provided was veggie Indian takeaway, taken away from Waitrose...exactly the kind of thing I fancied eating!

I give thanks that though the BBC wilfully switch matches from channel to channel I was able to get the gist of what I'd failed to record on the traditional catch up programme later. I give thanks I managed to miss any information about any scores beforehand...

I give thanks for an early night...and for remembering a friend's impending birthday before I got undressed so that I could pop out and post a card.

I give thanks for aches and pains being gentler, and for the weariness being more of spirit than flesh, so that I could take some recycling to the big bins and sit in the warm sunshine looking at the sea for a while. There was a free spot in a good place and I wondered if that might have something to do with the empty vodka bottle left behind by a previous user... Not wanting to sit by the bottle, nor leave it lying around to turn into broken glass, I give thanks I thought of putting it in my bag to dispose of later...and for then realising if I'd been spotted by a CCTV camera doing that so soon after my previous visit to the bottle bank it would have seemed as if I was quite good at disposing of spirits too!

Semi precious

I give thanks for noticing a necklace trying to sneak off yesterday and grabbing it by its tail as it slithered away. I give thanks it just needs a squeeze of fine nosed pliers on a loop to make it safe to wear again...I don't have any precious jewellery but what I have is precious to me!

I give thanks for feeling quite well today, though a little snoozy now I've stopped zapping about...I give thanks for popping into knitting for a catch up chat and wielding of wool along with a cup of tea and a biscuit. I give thanks for being able to help Dorothy translate a pattern and find out some things on line and to Jenny for a lift back up the hill.

I give thanks Rachel is providing tea tonight as I missed lunch by having a late munchy brunch of pancakes...

I give thanks a tennis match I want to watch is just starting and I have a record button!

Waking up is hard to do

I give thanks for a good size gap between last night's neighbourly row and this morning's so that I could feel calm and get some rest and sleep.

I give thanks for a couple of rude awakenings of the metaphorical kind for reminding me of the precarious pleasure of metaphorical sleep and the vulnerability of dreams. I give thanks I accept and love myself just the way I am, and that sometimes for a little while here and there other people manage to too.

I give thanks for public smiles to hide my private sorrows... for the sun coming out and Mima taking me out to look around a reclamation yard, at some floral displays in a church and to partake of tea and cake.

I give thanks for my hands letting me knit a few rows without too much pain. I give thanks a bath full of hot water is going to give me a hug in a bit...

The hole thing

I give thanks I'm home after a long old day...and for a good (less of the old) friend with whom to spend it.

I give thanks for the rich variety of weather to be appreciated - including searing sun and a downpour that poured down the big golf umbrella Gary was holding over us and made a big puddle on the seat of my chair and the seat of me! I give thanks this made me laugh...

I give thanks for the rich variety of people around. Particularly the couple in matching bright purple sweatshirts who walked by hand in hand...to reveal on the back the both said in large multicoloured writing 'I love...' and then the other person's name. Well I guess it was the person they were holding hands with that the names belonged to anyway. I give thanks this restored my faith that there's someone for everyone...even if your thing is wearing a bright purple sweatshirt declaring your multicoloured love for that someone on its back...

I give thanks for a rich variety of renal sin with one of my biannual sausages, one of my triannual cups of cappuccino and my first doughnuts of the year. For reasons nothing to do with diet sheets it was beginning to feel as if I'd never have a doughnut again...and when we arrived at a stall for refreshments before leaving the site and I saw their prices I was pretty sure today wouldn't be the day I broke my unintentional vow...until I thought to ask, when paying for the drinks, if they were giving any away. And the man said OK and gave me a free bagful! We both gave a lot of thanks for that...and I've now made an intentional vow to be more cheeky more often..

I give thanks the announcer told me that part of the display was splendid, and I was lucky to be there...as I'm sure I was in my own way. I tend to see things a little differently from other people at air shows though so my photo is of chickens in the sky...

Times table

Um... I give thanks for the times my tablet is working, which seems largely a hit and miss affair these days...and I don't just mean my fingers thinking they've hit the right places but missed...

I give thanks for the times when the neighbours are considerate and community spirited. I even saw one of them putting cardboard in the cardboard recycling bin yesterday... 

I give thanks for the times I haven't felt pain, for the times I haven't felt sorrow...for the times it wasn't raining in Wimbledon when I felt like watching tennis...for the times when watching tennis felt like fun and made me forget all the stuff that's not...

I give thanks for the sunlight bright on leaves against the dark grey sky...for a just right cup of tea...and a couple of just right things to iron - soft cottony dresses so satisfying to smooth the wrinkles out of...