Moving

I give thanks for a booked window seat on a train that actually had a window not a blank wall, and for it being clean enough to see out of! For the refreshment trolley coming along just after I boarded not just before I got off, for the simple practicality of a little tub to put the tea bag and milk cartons in when you'd used them and for the train pausing long enough in a station to sort it out without splashes and spills. Apparently insignificant things can mean a lot sometimes but also, as you might imagine, I give a lot of thanks for the bigger picture of me being able to be somewhere else for a couple of days.

I give thanks for John and Jo accepting my request to visit and for taking care of me so well. What a wonderful treat not to be in charge of catering and other chores for a while! For the weather being tolerable during the bits I was out in it, despite being quite tempestuous in between and the wind nearly knocking me off my feet when I turned an exposed corner. For more adventures on the agenda tomorrow all being well...

Watery

I give thanks the internet was still working this morning albeit very slowly, and for eventually managing to persuade my ancient printer to produce a pile of bank statements for my Watercare tariff renewal. I'd literally just sealed the envelope and written the (mercifully) freepost address when the water company phoned to say they were reducing my monthly payments. That quick eh? Well actually no, this was because of my unexpectedly minimal water consumption over the last year...and there's going to be a chunky rebate too! I give thanks trying to be ecologically economical can sometimes also have financial benefits...

I give thanks though the chap from the local charity didn't want my old chairs he took my old table away. Every little helps - everyone! For politely insisting several times someone sort my schedule for next Monday when I'm due to have a little op on my fistula at the same time I'm due to have dialysis. And for it being done, though of course I'll have to be at the hospital about the time I'd normally be getting out of bed! Hopefully that will all go smoothly, unlike cancelling my taxi for tonight as Clive was picking me up...when the taxi still arrived, and Clive went to the wrong hospital! For storm Brenda being gentle while I waited...

I give thanks for raising B&Q on the way home for some batten and brackets for shelves that will go up one day, and for a bathroom towel rail that is up now. Oh the sophistication! For a mahoosive fish and chip supper to share according to our individual dietary requirements...

Italiano

Ooh a bright mild winter's day when I was well enough to go out and didn't have to go to the hospital - that's certainly something to be grateful for! For a quick trip with Mima to my favourite Italian refreshment kiosk which at a new venue along the coast a little at the moment but still sells the lushest cappuccino. This is a beverage I'm meant to 'avoid' but I've managed to avoid it for the last five months so I've given it my best shot! For my legs enjoying being stretched a little getting there and back, though my back itself was having quite a grumble... For it being perfectly pleasant enough to sit outdoors in the sunshine to enjoy it and the cake...For the light and the cloud formations and the varied shapes of the headlands.

I give thanks for buying some rather retro style roll up bamboo table mats to go on my actually retro table. Not only do they look the part but when I laugh out loud listening to Just a Minute while eating my lunch they protect the surrounding area! For the marvellously on the ball 96 year old Mr Parsons - how does he do it?

For my internet suddenly connecting again. Don't how long that will last but enjoying it while I can...

Beastly

Both my home internet and the local hot-spot are out of action now so I give thanks for a bit of remaining mobile data. For having another go at raising a fault...

For that wonderful wolf moon. For lambs in the fields, and another field full of lambs still in their mummies' tummies. How strange and sad that folk want to eat the cute little things! For the newly packaged Co op 'incredible' burgers still being the same delicious meat free eat. They don't taste of any animal I've ever eaten but are utterly delicious with salad and relish in one of their caramelised red onion ciabatta rolls. For being utterly spoilt in the range food available just around the corner.

For having a bus stop just around a different one and for getting my bus pass photos at a reasonable price at the end of a scenic bus pass ride. For managing to climb the stairs to the top deck where the windows are far cleaner! For the joy of coming home to a home I enjoy living in.

Heavy

Yay! The fit and early rising neighbour who usually puts the bins out managed to put them out on the right seasonally unusual day... I'm very grateful our rubbish and recycling is under control again as it was piling up outside, and inside too as no more would fit in the containers. I give thanks for having the strength and motivation to get some shopping before leaving for the hospital today, and also bring the empties in, which is quite enough effort for me.

For the print shop across the road being open so I could get some of their good value lightweight (per sheet but not per pack!) copy paper so I didn't have to carry it far. I've run out of flimsy stuff after sending so many letters, photocopies and bank statements over the last twelve months and it seems such a waste using the heavier better quality sort. For the bright and surprisingly mild sunshine, and being picked up in a people carrier so I could see over the hedgerows on the way to the hospital. For a particularly delicious packed lunch...food is irresistible just now and I'm beginning to wonder (but not yet worry) if I might overshoot the three kilos I lost to the flu...

For a nice quiet treatment and an interesting chat on the way home with a driver I've met before but won't see for a while as he's off to India for three months motorbiking with his son! For him understanding the concept and practice of a gratitude diary. He also said 'twelve years?' in an incredulous tone which made me realise how incredible that is...

Reasonable

I give thanks for food. We have so much, don't we? Quantity and quality and choice, even for folk who can't drive or walk to a lot of different shops, or have to follow a special diet. I give thanks for all the items we'd never even heard of as kids (especially kids like I was - raised on minimal cook convenience meals!) that tickle our tastebuds now...

I give thanks for books - informative, enlightening or amusing non-fiction, the winding trail of words that leads you into a novel's heart. For the warm hug of hot bath water when you're full of aches and pains.

If I could have stayed in the bath eating snacks and reading books I'd probably been a lot more grateful than I've managed to be for most of today which has been frustrated me many times. I give thanks for trying to be nice to oncology admin who seem to have a whole book full of different songs from the consultants, transport organisers and myself, but nonetheless putting my size four very firmly on the floor over some utterly unrealistic and unsympathetic timetabling. For remembering that small business owners can open and close whenever they fancy and don't have to stick to what it says on the door at all, even if you have tried to as a customer... For reasoning that £12 for a new photo for my new disabled bus pass is a bargain in terms of fares saved, but I can't get over the fact that it goes into a small town photographer's pocket rather that the council who offer the concession, and that if the booth I had travelled to use had been working it would have cost half that and no one to sneer at me for free! I give thanks for still being hopeful I might find a cheaper way before my current pass expires, though ironically it might take a bus ride or two! I give thanks I did at least manage to get the last pack of Cheeky Panda toilet rolls in the area before anyone else did. Selfish I know...

I give thanks for the bright bright sunshine this morning, and for the rain later in the day. It's great I could go out and at least try to do useful things, but if it's sunny I'd rather go out and play! Ooh, I just heard I got my Warm Home Discount added to my Bulb account - mmm, a long hot bath with a book before tea methinks!

Blooming

I give thanks for another afternoon in the relatively paradisiacal side room - it makes a huge difference to my sense of well being having some peace and privacy and there's even a little view of trees and sky! For particularly nice staff attending to me today, even the taxi drivers were OK. I give even more thanks for being home though, that's for sure. Yesterday was busy, and if my flesh is willing tomorrow will be too, but tonight it's take things easy time, despite having a bit of a nap during treatment earlier.

I give thanks my Christmas gift bulbs from Ann are blooming despite not being treated quite as well as they could have been at the start. How pretty they are...and I'm still in love with my absolutely fabulous second hand table and chairs on which they sit. There is still a lot of work to be done in the living room but if you don't look too closely it's looking pretty good and I'm very grateful for that. For how loosely attached the woodchip is...shame some of the plaster is too! I give thanks for 151 ready mixed filler - that stuff is the biz!