It's Still Life

1. Thankful that my nerves held. One of the things that terrifies me: public speaking. Thistle = metaphor: prickly nerves.

2. Discovered why the boiler was leaking water. New part ordered; it arrive the next day. Thank you DPD. Seal fixed before the next storm blows in off the Atlantic.

3. Nine more days, and I’ll be in Bogotá with my grandchildren, daughter-in-law and youngest son. That’s not my DIL; it’s a lovely woman seeking shade at the entrance to an old church in Bogotá.

4. Thankful for imagination: stitching meals together from this and that in the fridge so it’s empty before we leave next week.

5. A brief break of sunshine in a long spell of damp-bone-grey winter weather.

6. I’m thankful for optimism. Meliorism. Perception. Like this shot of a wee small sprout of sea grass in the sand that looks like it might conquer the beach. It’s all perception.

7. A chat with a woman selling French cheese at Borough Market in London. It often happens: strangers strike up a conversation and tell me their life story. She did — I’m always thankful that my ear is theirs.

8. Christmas joy that puts a smile on the face of otherwise grumpy Londoners. Well, most of them.

9. My crow. As steady a friend as anyone might want.  

10. A walk in my favourite forest.