Reasons to be cheerful part 3 - 1, 2, 3

Thursday is a precious writing day. Everyone happy at school and nursery, my mind already turning to book 3, Valencia, orange groves, passion ... Until. The dreaded call from the saintlike Year 1 Teacher midway through my morning writing session and a skinny Frappe Latte (well you've got to try haven't you? The gym is a distant memory and half the gorgeous mothers at school have personal trainers). As we were traversing Hampshire - first Petersfield hospital, then Portsmouth A&E, listening to the soothing tones of the man who was Jesus Christ (Superstar or the grittier version?) reciting The Little Prince - anything to soothe frazzled nerves and the sobbing from the backseat, I suddenly thought of the dear departed Ian Dury: Reasons to be cheerful - 1, 2, 3. I have tried this, I am very much a glass half full person, but I get bored easily with daily lists about why you should be thankful. Many, many people with more experience and better qualifications than myself recommend that before you go to bed listing three things to be grateful for that day will make you infinitely happier in the long run, so why don't you give it a try?

I may have lost my writing time (again) but let's give it a whirl: 1) I spent quality time eating soup with my little girl today (because we had to go home to let the dog out before racing back to the hospital, and she had knocked her front teeth out) 2) Friends - the calls I had from school (the lovely, lovely mothers are the saving grace of this latest move), and when we came back home the flowers and champagne on the doorstep - which takes us to 3) Family. Today is our wedding anniversary. The pilot is in Colombo. His morning text did not congratulate me on 11 years of happy marriage and nigh on 20 of happy shacked-up-togetherness. I hope he hasn't forgotten ... but his mother, his sister, his grandmother, my mother have not and they are all of the same mind as me. Sunflowers, lilies, and champagne ordered from Singapore - all from the girls. Life is Sweet.