Fixed

Oof! I give thanks for making it through the day despite still feeling so feeble. For my helpful taxi driver - even just knowing it will be him is a help! And for kind Mel at the unit suggesting, and providing, a mug of soothing peppermint tea. My tummy is still not happy but that was very welcome. For thinking of something small but nourishing to eat when I got home...and for it being available in the freezer and easily cooked and eaten. 

I was also very grateful for my sofa, a hot water bottle to hug and a stunning match of tennis to enjoy. It might have been reaching its conclusion when the signal went on my TV but I won't know until I check the results. I'd been feeling sorry for the spectators who knew they'd have to leave due to the Paris curfew but I hadn't realised my own enjoyment would be abruptly cut short. I give thanks I'm good with aerials and cables and so on but I didn't have the energy to keep getting up and twiddling things, so I was delighted when a complete (sedentary) retune did the trick. And as that particular coverage seemed to have come to an end I guess I've a good idea of the outcome as one player was two sets and most of another behind when transmission failed! I give thanks for the glorious weather and the thought of people enjoying being out in it. 

Open

I give thanks for the opening of the French Open! Having had even less energy today I've appreciated classing dozing on the sofa watching tennis as an 'activity'. I give thanks it's been crowded enough in town to bring on an anxiety attack just gazing through the window, so I've not felt in the least I'm missing out not going out at all. Been nice to have some fresh air coming in without it being too fresh though, and for the sight of folk enjoying the local amenities and attractions, and that the open top buses are running again. 

I give thanks my appetite has been slightly more perky today, if not on a par with the tourists and trippers!  For getting the washing up done just now. There wasn't much but oh the feelings of achievement and virtue! 

Booked

Mmm, I give thanks for warm...even though it's been a mostly housebound horizontal day I have appreciated that! For making it outdoors briefly after realising it wasn't nearly as crowded as at first it seemed and there were vacant seats in the sunshine to hobble to. Not sure why this might be - changeover day, big fun fair in the next town or the lure of lovelier beaches - but it was remarkable, and very welcome. For a peek at the ducklings in the incubator, and a naughty cake to tempt an almost non existent appetite. For missing the Punch and Judy performance though good luck to them, I hope they did well. 

I give thanks for trying to do useful sensible stuff now and then as well as reading and snoozing and watching TV. For making some dal and rice pudding which I hope I'll manage a little of in a little while. For manouvering objects in the spare room to make a start on painting one bit of wood to become a shelf and another to make a mosaic mirror. Maybe as I've started I'll finish... some other time. For a Bill Bryson and a Matt Haig on the go - two of my favourite authors! 

Unscheduled

I give thanks I'm home on the sofa swathed in layers with hot water bottle and even a heater on for a while. And while not actually sensing I'm thawing out yet, at least that the deep freeze has stopped. Don't know how I got so chilled but various factors contributed I'm sure like having to starve myself for a scan, and the draughtiness of scan rooms. I give thanks it was a scheduled procedure and for being prepared to hear the news unscheduled things are happening in my body as, apart from when I was on my little jaunt, I've not been feeling right for some time.

I give thanks for the water heating up if I feel up to a change of position soon. For food in the freezer to thaw for a quick snack. For all the chores done by Michelle and for two more days off now to hopefully rally a bit as I've some gentle pursuits to pursue indoors, even if I'm not up to fighting my way through the tourists.  For my helpful taxi driver...collecting me from the other hospital and letting me finish the emergency bag of Frazzles I was munching before he arrived inside his clean and tidy car. For the fact it's nearly bedtime. 

Surreal

It feels more surreal to be home after being away than it did to be away from home! I give thanks for making all my connections with ease and for mostly peaceful and under populated journeys, though the last part of mine coincided with home time for school and college students so not so much... For the sense of having reconnected with an important part of myself that has got a little lost among the important tasks of staying alive. 

I give thanks for the welcoming homeliness of my flat - plants to exchange greetings with, fish fingers in the freezer for a hasty snack, while the bath water heats up to wallow in with a book. I don't think I'll ever feel a deep love for where it's situated but my goodness I'm grateful for the handy amenities including escape routes. To get off the train and your doorstep is only a few yards away is so delightful - even if the sights you encounter on the way are not! 

For a small distant memory surfacing over the last couple of days. Many years ago I went for an interview at the School of Art where I've been staying. I was accepted but chose another nearer to my then home. A few weeks into the course I discovered I was pregnant so didn't complete it anyway but I'm reading a book exploring the impact of choices on our ensuing lives and it's funny to think in another version of mine I might have been a resident not a visitor! 

Moreish

I give thanks for walking on the 'moors' this morning. It's the name of a local wetland nature reserve so I was grateful for the accessibility, and a nice spot of sunshine to amble from seat to seat as it was quite a long walk for me. For the joy of a wetland nature reserve not within easy reach of numerous holiday parks plus a giant car park - makes such a difference to the tranquillity! Teeming with wildlife it was meant to  be though I didn't see a lot. I give thanks the birdsong was wonderful however, and for a variety of interesting carvings to enjoy - mottos and otter in particular! 

For meeting a very small lady with a very long lens near a pond there who said I'd just missed a heron...and later meeting her again near the cathedral where she said I'd just missed the peregrine parent arriving  with lunch and dismembering it for the chicks. She showed me the photos this time, and I'm grateful they didn't put me off my delicious non Valerie patisserie lunch! There's two webcams on the cathedral website if you'd like to watch for yourself...

I give thanks I've eaten well today...well maybe not terribly well for a kidney patient but not terribly badly either...and no small raw creatures! For a long siesta before another wander this afternoon - I love the old buildings especially old brick and stonework and so many green spaces to stroll and sit in. For the lack of tourists, or maybe the ones that are here are more invisible and inaudible than the ones we get at home! This was one of the reasons for choosing the destination and I'm grateful it's proved a good decision. For a comfy bed...in between all the ambling about there's been a lot of lounging around required! 

Miraculous

I give thanks for travelling hopefully even when the first train of my meandering journey was cancelled due to a points failure. *Luckily* (for me at least) the one due to arrive ninety minutes earlier was so delayed by the same fault it turned up at just the right time instead and I could get back on track(s). I give thanks for the outstanding natural beauty of our country's countryside...and for crossing counties watching it change. For both scenery and transport seeming largely unpopulated, which for me is right up there on the list of things I like best in the world. For the face mask hiding my beatific grin which could have been a bit scary for others I suspect! 

I give thanks for laying out a little extra for early check in as by real check in time I'd had a yummy light lunch in the cathedral refectory garden, had a mooch round the magnificent building itself, wandered through the town centre to a cafe serving oat milk cappuccino (which is about as good as a cappuccino can be for a kidney patient)...and was tucked up under the covers doing some restorative nothing at all!

I'm not what you'd call a religious soul, but I give thanks for spending some time in a small side chapel seated on an exquisitely embroidered (and rather ancient) cushion giving thanks to the powers that be and the powers of me for allowing the glories of today to happen. For many years I've said if you don't keep pushing at the boundaries of your comfort zone they will shrink, and in recent years we've all found out how true that is. It's not just Covid that's curbed my ability to push those boundaries of course, so it's only just short of a verifiable bona fide miracle that all possible hurdles and hindrances (including being seriously out of practice at wandering off on my own!) have been overcome. 

One tends to look up in a cathedral - they're designed thar way after all - so here's a picture of a section of floor instead. I've a bit of thing about tiles as some of you know!