Second hand rose

I give thanks for the pretty sky long after sunset yesterday, in shades of Prussian blue. For the bright shiny mornings we've had lately and for being able to see them from my bed...

I give thanks for getting my proverbial into gear eventually and finding the sun still out and surprisingly warm out of the breeze...and for buying this fabulous tapestry coat in a charity shop for when it isn't any more. Apparently many have wished it was rather larger...so I give thanks that I am not!

There seemed to be queues everywhere today and lots of walking in between so I give thanks for rewarding my swollen and sore foot with a sit down for light refreshments... and after picking up books from the library and from Ann at the PO, prescription, pills, parsley and a catalogue parcel, for a jolly (and jolly necessary!) ride home with Phil the taxi driver.

I give thanks the peacefulness of neighbours being mostly elsewhere. For cleaning my bathroom until it bings, and for coming up with a way to arrange things so it seems a little more spacious. If you've seen this tiny room you might not be convinced this is possible. Well, I'll let you know when I've given it a go... Not now though, I need a rest!

Everybody hurts

My hips and knees aren't happy to be home, they kept waking me up in the night to complain about the hill and stairs. I give thanks I only had to go up and down the latter once today to collect medical supplies...and not the hill at all. Oh and I give thanks for my medical supplies delivery of course! My hands have been grumbling about having to do more than point and pay for food so I give thanks for forcing them into further action and rustling up a lentil stew and apple crumble that should last a couple of days...and for a much needed nap when I'd finished the mound of washing up.

I give thanks for QI - Even an old one can make me laugh probably exasperatingly loudly as far as the neighbours are concerned, and apart from worrying about disturbing them I was specially grateful an episode cheering me up when I'd stabbed a vein with an epipen and made myself bloody and sore. I used to love Stephen Fry in the middle chair but surprisingly Sandi Toksvig is even better and I love it when Alan Davies makes her laugh out loud too...

I give thanks for a new (?) battery for my phone arriving so hopefully it will stop turning itself off...or turning itself into a siren so loud people were evacuating the hotel when it went off. No really, not joking - they were! God knows what Mr Upstairs would make of it, he's here a lot of the time at the moment and not demonstrating a great deal of philosophical acceptance of life's troubles and trials

I give thanks for working on mine.

I should be so lucky

Well I've shopped and I've cooked and I've washed pots and laundry and I'm ready for another holiday now I reckon! I give thanks for believing I'll have one one day...as the best bits of my life at the moment are definitely the bits when I escape it. I give thanks for books and film and music and other means of distraction.

Meanwhile, now I've given up getting ready to move, have no imminent trips to prepare for and can't face unpacking boxes or stashed away winter woolies, I give thanks for starting to put some measures in place for when I start dialysis. I give thanks for purchasing a small cheap tablet I hope to be able to operate with my less than nimble left hand, and which won't be too costly to replace if I drop it in the process. I give thanks for beginning to gather some new outfits as the many long sleeved layers I have to wear to keep cosy in my chilly flat will be totally impractical on days when I have treatment,

I give thanks for a bit of warm sunshine to sit in with a book on a tea break from my in town chores. For the autumnal light, so poignant and so pretty.

I give thanks for finding some wryly amusing 'tales of the misunderstood' ie true stories of life with physical and mental conditions.

podcast - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05cpzy3

transcript - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-41009928

I give thanks for being a good little patient and booking my next blood test and flu jab without being nagged...and for making the doc's receptionist laugh in the process.

Baker Street

I give thanks for public transport. What a wonderful thing to get from A to B without operating a vehicle or trying to maintain the mental state of the one who is! Your choice of music in your ears and a fascinating ever changing panorama to entertain your eyes. Particular thanks today for Baker Street's ancient arches turning the illuminated waiting passengers into images in an exhibition.

I give thanks for feeling remarkably unscathed from one of the most relaxed and refreshing short breaks I've ever had. I give thanks for being home because...er because...the weather's changed, there's a bath and I can pause, rewind and record the TV!

I give thanks for ordering a new battery for my very poorly phone to see if that makes it better. If not, well I give thanks for two good years from a reconditioned buy.

This could be the last time

I give thanks I'm functioning well and happy...but my phone, it seems, is very poorly. So until I get back home again tomorrow I'm afraid this is your lot!

Lovely trees in the coastal park I was in today, stiff breeze blowing the clouds away and a veggie bacon BLT for lunch. For plenty more warm sunshine and much sitting about in it watching the world go by and reading a book. It going to get harder and harder but I mustn't get up. I do love holidays...

Trains and boats and planes

So last a little while ago I went to somewhere planes leave the country, and yesterday I went somewhere trains leave the country and today I went somewhere ships do. Oh the temptation and the self restraint! I give thanks this time I did leave the shore on a boat and went quite far and fast past far more white cliffs than I was aware existed to somewhere where we went quite slow and only very slightly disturbed some sleepy sunbathing seals.

I give thanks for this and other adventures, some planned and otherwise. For being well enough to enjoy them. In fact, due to lack of stress and responsibility plus lots of pleasant distraction making me forget I shouldn't I guess, feeling better than I have for quite a while. I give thanks for room service breakfast and someone else to wash up and clean. For another day of gloriously warm sunshine and so many new things to see.

For finding a vegetarian Jamaica patty just when I needed one in a shop that should have been shut but wasn't... Ooh and I've just remembered a bag of garden grown pairs for 50p!

She's leaving home

...only for a day or two but you folk who have proper holidays, and indeed proper homes, probably have no idea quite how grateful I am for this! I'm certainly where the sun shines brighter and I can see foreign shores even though, of course, I'm not allowed to visit them.

I give thanks for my inner alarm clock waking me up at just the right time to get ready to catch the train as my phone charger wasn't correctly connected, drained the battery and turned it off so it couldn't do so.

I give thanks for the novelty of gorgeously ornate and grimy ancient city stations and shiny high rise blocks. For knowing just where to go to catch my direct tube... And for coping with joining the confused crowds redirected through an underground adventure tour as several major lines and stations were closed. My it was busy, and heavens it was hot! I give thanks for having a rucksack not a case and for someone offering me a seat in the crush.

I give thanks for loving the journey and being very pleased with my choice of escape venue now I'm here - especially the views and the ice-cream so far. For curtailing exploration for this evening as my foot has taken swollen to a whole new level and must lounge with me on the bed. It has taken quite a pounding today and I give thanks it's not too sore.