Not party to it

I give thanks for receiving my postal voting papers. So much easier than going to the polling station, but still so hard to know where to put my cross for best effect. I have friends of every political hue who must think this is very strange...I assume because they believe you can assume everything you choose to believe in the run up to an election must be true, and that if enough people put enough crosses in particular places the prize of a future faithful to our dreams will be realised.

It seems to me we all want pretty much the same things in essence, even the candidates themselves... these being: to maintain our own personal status quo, if not to appreciably improve it;  that the contents of country's coffers be used for that which we consider important, and where cuts and savings are to be made that they don't impact on services or facilities that are precious to us, or adversely affect those we hold dear... And if we all do want the same in this way, it seems pretty arbitrary where those crosses go as some will be chuffed and some will be miffed and hold the others responsible...even though they were just acting out of self interest too. And as long as we continue to do this what can ever really change?

Unlike many (if not most) I don't automatically think my wants are any more worthy than anyone else's, nor my ideas any more right, nor that if they disagree with me they are wrong...or a wrong 'un and I have a right to put them down (literally or metaphorically). I don't think I am any more or any less due care and consideration than anyone else whatever their personal habits, roots, aspirations, affiliations, abilities...and if I'm not happy with my lot (or little) I don't think apportioning blame to either other individuals or groups is at all productive, or even therapeutic. I also understand that to a lot of folk this all seems somewhat naive, if not downright nihilistic...and exceedingly exasperating to boot! But that's fine...if you want 'normal' opinion there's plenty of it about...

Anyway... Back to the gratitudes. Hmm...I give thanks for rustling up a hasty pudding last night with squashed strawberries, half a turning brown cooking apple and some out of date crumble mix. For the nearest neighbours going out just as I was wondering if it was too late to disturb them with a spin cycle on the washing machine.

Too tired to move this morning, I gave thanks that Mima planned for such a contingency and provided taxi fares for visiting Molly. For doing that which needed to be done at home and out and about as best as I could through a fog of great fatigue, and hordes of flocking tourists. For having quite a lot of pizza slices in the freezer as this didn't include managing to cook the first batch without burning them... For a quick trip to the land of nod on the agenda for when I've finished munching them...

Public image

I give thanks for public transport. Sometimes I'm not that keen on the public I have to share it with but hey ho and all that... I give thanks for the beautiful local scenery of coast and moor with lots of lush countryside in between, and for it somehow looking even more delightful on the way back from acupuncture...

I give thanks for earbuds bringing Buddhist chants to my brain to remind me to be aware of how much we all have in common and have compassion for my fellow travellers...and/or thumpier stuff to simply drown the outsiders out. For a motorbike roaring past the bus at the end of Funk Soul Brother and thoroughly confusing my head...

I give thanks for Molly waiting behind the door when I arrived to feed and make a fuss of her, and a chairful of sunshine on the sheltered patio on a mostly cloudy and breezy afternoon. For actually falling asleep on Mima's sofa...well she did say to make myself at home while she was away and it had been a very busy day!

I give thanks for pottering through the late afternoon waiting for the viewers to come and go...and thus being quite pleased with a long queue at the post office. For some good bits and bobs arriving from my favourite online bargain store. For having our new electronic bus arrival board pointed out to me...and spotting this artwork all by myself. Well you would, wouldn't you...and it's all made of things. I love things made of things... which probably doesn't describe the process or product very well, but I'm too tired to care just now!

For coming home to an immaculate flat - even by my usually pretty prettified standards. For some leftovers heating up for tea and the bath water heating up for afters...

Must press on

I give thanks for almost finishing the ironing last night as today the iron wouldn't work. For trying all the usual things - different socket, different fuse etc and for valiantly attempting to get inside the case and check the wiring but to no avail (so far!) I give thanks for constantly reminding myself while all this was going on that the smell of burning was coming from the bonfire outside and not related at all!

I give thanks for the couple in the bottom flat having a busy weekend doing it themselves. They're improving their bathroom which innvolves raising the floor in a cupboard in the hall. All visible signs of the place being on the up gratefuly received...

I give thanks for pottering about with pre-view cleaning, pre-move sorting out, pre-preparing Cluesday Tuesday crosswords...all satisfying stuff without being especially arduous.

For hearing from folk on their travels and believing my time will come (again). For being warm enough without a lot of clothes on...so many months of the year I'm hunched and bundled up against the cold and it's as if something comes unknotted inside when the temperature rises, even if it's not actually sunny. When it's sunny something inside smiles...and something outside if I can get outside in it too...

Swim where?

I give thanks for finding two sale price tops that both go with the two bottoms I found on line to cover all my eventualities so well. Any time any place anywhere it's...bikini! Well, or tankini...or cozzy even as I still have a nice one of those. All I need now of course is to be led to water...preferably warm water! Meanwhile I give thanks for a late lie in with a couple of mugs of Earl Grey...and the dream machine that is internet access! I give thanks for not being as sore as I thought I might be after yesterday's exertions...

I give thanks for wondering what to have to eat and remembering I already made today's tea last night for the flavours to 'develop'! For remembering my Eurosport log in first time - woohoo!

I give thanks for finishing off the sorting out job I started last weekend, but abandoned for fun and sun, and thus producing another bag full of charity shop donations...including swimwear that no longer fits! For catching up with similarly abandoned cleaning chores.

I give thanks for knitting a few rows of Bob's now unseasonable jumper, including executing a tricky manoeuvre for a shoulder seam. For managing the unreasonably tricky manoeuvre that is cutting my nails...never mind toes, right hand is hard enough. What doesn't kill you doesn't always make you stronger, certainly where strokes are concerned. I give thanks for still having some functionality in my left hand, and that by sleight of hand what I don't have doesn't often show, though it's a good thing I never eat steak - I'd have to pick it up and chew it if I did! Plus I might not be so excited about a pan of dhal waiting for me...

Garden partly

Happy belated birthday to me! I give thanks for a much postponed but so worth waiting for treat from Rachel - a trip to favourite house and garden nestling in a combe above a rocky shore. I've been before and it never fails to amaze and delight, the house being not at all 'stately' but gracious and spacious and comfortable, and the 'gardens' largely landscaped ornamental shrubs and trees. I give for possibly the best smelling rose ever...spicy and sweet...bit like the lush curry I had for lunch, and the cake later wasn't half bad either. I give thanks Rachel enjoyed it too...it's so nice when you share something you love and it's appreciated isn't it?

I give thanks for strapping up my knees with Actipatches over night and them being pretty well behaved today, along with other joints and muscles that had a bit of a workout on the slopes. Worth it all for this though eh? I give thanks for patient and punctual bus drivers, and the funny and interesting young Czech woman I met waiting for one. So good not to be trapped in mindless small talk eh? For the heart surge of emotion I get at the beauty in the countryside and coastline round here, even when it hasn't been artfully arranged by horticultural architects. For a message from the estate agent saying someone would like to come and view on Tuesday. Breath will not be held, but fantasies of living in the place I saw yesterday will continue...

I give thanks I've a couple of rest days planned now...and some thoughtful French folk are putting on some tennis to entertain me...plus there'll be rich blokes will be driving too fast around a town centre tomorrow as well. Knitting, Higgedy pie and strawberries and cream... yep, sounds delightfully recuperative to me!

Close examination

I give thanks the orthoptist has decided she doesn't need to gaze into my eyes any more. She's a nice enough woman but one less set of appointments to keep is fine by me!

For another fine day, which made the tortuous wait for buses to and from the hospital rather more pleasant than it might have been. For not being stuck in the traffic in a car.

For a fishcake and a takeaway tea for my lunch, and the total for the two being £1.40! For finding a quietish spot on the rather busy back beach, where locals in the know go when the east wind is blowing.

For enjoying the textures of ebbing tide and weedy shore, before a fresh group of freshly examined teenagers gathered nearby for another question and answer post mortem session. Yesterday on the bus it was boys discussing physics papers (I think), and today it was girls who'd just been asked to compare and contrast language in poetry and analyse the use of  correspondence by Mr Darcy, Mr Collins, Elizabeth et al. I give thanks I no longer have to interpret literature according to the current educational trends...it never was my strong point. In fact I was thrown out of class for suggesting my own point of view was as valid as the teacher's...and still give thanks for finding at uni thirty plus years later academia had finally caught up with me!

I give thanks for being very taken with the flat I went to see this afternoon, though I've still not got a buyer for mine. I'd have been tempted to take it otherwise and it's not really terribly practical...but I could imagine living very happily there nonetheless. Oh well, sometimes you come across something that feels kind of right but the timing isn't quite Will have to wait and see. Actually reading back through this post it's almost all about waiting isn't it? I give thanks I'm good at that...

Guilt trip

I give thanks I love the sunshine because if it hadn't been shining so brightly again I reckon I might have snoozed in bed with a book today and given my sore bits a rest. I give thanks for Mima giving me a lift home yesterday afternoon or I'm sure they would have been sorer!

I'm trying to build up my stamina for travel as I yearn to go places so much, and so I give thanks for managing another journey today, into the city for a cheap hair cut and a few other odds and ends. I give thanks for remembering to wear the dress I made last summer expressly for this purpose being cool, comfortable, practical and less like the tail end of a festival than a lot of stuff I wear when the weather is warm (whilst still not looking like anything anyone else would wear of course!) For the young woman who gave my hair a trim complimenting me on it. I give thanks for being a skinny bint who is nifty with (despite?) pins and needles, and can turn sarongs into actual garments. For buying a top that nearly fits...and baking a good pudding last night to help me fill it out a bit more...

I give thanks for all the good food available on street stalls or in the shops. For it being warm enough to snack outside as eating inside on your own is never that comfortable is it?

Though I miss long walks I enjoy being an elevated passenger this time of year - the treasure of the coutryside laid out to see, with lush hedgerows and all the different greens of plants and trees. I give thanks for my first sight this summer of swifts and martins swooping well...swiftly! For rhododendrons and azaleas glimpsed in gardens - I love their showy brightness against the shiny dark green of their leaves.

I give thanks for music to take my head away from the rather tedious conversations (or monologues) around me... For wry amusement at the male of the species' need to impart pearls of what they perceive as wisdom...and the female urge to state the mind numbingly obvious, though of course we all are capable of both...and culpable!