3 good things

1. The recipes in the Guardian weekend magazine this Saturday are all emminently doable.

2. That A sent me his list of favourite cakes and is offering to send recipes.

3. That there might be some baking time this afternoon…

3 things

1. I love the US election coverage on the Beeb. They’ve too many hours to fill, they’re just jibbering. Bless them all, Dimbleby et al.

2. Everyone I know on twitter who is following the election results come in. I’m thinking more of the Brits than the Americans cos the time in London is the next day.

3. Iain Banks. One of his books has kept me going through my cold.

three highlights

Today’s three highlights:

1. Lunch with K. She’s a star and she shared with me some of the things that she’s enjoying about her work.

2. Working with T. We worked through a lot of words and images together today.

3. L and her pie. L made a great pie last night, which we’re having again for dinner tonight.

3 good things

Three blessings today:

1. A good chat with my father tonight.

2. An interesting meeting with an active Quaker committee this afternoon.

3. Enjoyed lunch with Tom today.

Three blessings

Even after just a few days of this, it becomes an effort to discern just 3 blessings to write about. So I’m going to write about 3 people who were blessings in my life today.

1. John. John came up to me after Quaker Meeting tonight and said that he had read these posts. Our friend H had suggested something similar to him in the past. John’s affirmation of those posts was a blessing to me. I haven’t needed any confirmation that I should write these things down, but when it came, I appreciated that John took the time to say so.

2. Rebecca. She gives me a massage or something similar every month or so and today I had a 40 minute reflexology appointment with her. Some employees, in another organisation in the building where I work, club together each month to pay for a masseur to come each month to the office. I joined in with their scheme in April and I’ve really appreciated Rebecca’s work since then. For the last 3 appointments I’ve had reflexology and I really appreciate the attention she gives to my feet. Sure, she is being paid to do this, but her way is true and her connection is good. Her presence has encouraged me to look after my feet more and maybe the rest of me too.

3. Ben. Ben is champion. We were on the Student Action Network Committee for Amnesty International UK many years ago (1997-8). Over the years we have stayed in touch, off and on. This evening we met up in central London and went and had a drink together. Ben has been working as a lawyer/training to be a fully qualified lawyer over the past few years. He has only one round to go, has a new job and has the last round set up to get through. He has a big smile and a big heart and it was great to catch up, hang out and put the world to (human) rights (nearly). We’re both in London now so maybe we’ll see a bit more of each other.

3 good things

Today’s 3 good things about the day (a subtitle could be: we can find blessings in every day life).

1. My colleagues were brilliant at work today. We had a lot to do this morning but we stuck at it and worked on everything that needed working on. A lot of energy and effort went into fine-tuning our magazine and making it the best it could be before we went to press. Then, after lunch, we had an editorial meeting and worked collaboratively on the next week.

2. I had to laugh this evening at the unfortunate experience of the man in the Royal Mail shirt. He got off the train at my stop and bounded up the steps to the station ticket hall exit. It was about 8:05pm and that exit closes at 8pm, so the door was locked. The guy paused a moment, then bounded down the stairs and went out the same way as every one else.

3. At lunch today I choked long and hard. Not a blessing usually, but this came about because Charlie had made me laugh out loud. He did a funny walk that made it look like he was going down some stairs. Unfortunately for me, I had sparkling water in my mouth at the time and it went down the wrong way. I choked a lot. Two men and a woman were on the next table to me and they just stared a bit but didn’t try to help me, bless them. Later, I learned that they were visiting clerks from another Yearly Meeting who may have been somewhat taken aback?! Possibly from Philadelphia YM, but I haven’t confirmed this! Anyway, Charlie’s walk is very funny and I fully recommend it. I had been feeling fairly tired (see blessing #1 above) and his walk helped me release all the tension and tiredness that had built up from working intensely all morning.

22/9/08 3 good things

Three good things today:

1. L and I enjoyed a really good performance at the National Theatre. We watched ‘Her Naked Skin’, a play about women in the suffragette movement who face different challenges and strife as they strive for equality. The performances were first rate. In the interval a man got upset with another man and I heard him say something along the lines of: ‘You’re trying to be helpful but you’re in the way’. Well done old chap for not swearing about it!

2. I enjoyed lunch with different people from different organisations in the basement restaurant in the building where my office is based. I regularly get to lunch with lots of interesting people who are doing great centrally managed work on behalf of my Quaker Yearly Meeting. Some but not all are Quakers. Keep up the good work folks!

3. I met L for dinner tonight. We ate in one of the restaurants at the National Theatre and soon got our day’s works out of our systems and had some good quality time together. We watched a play together, then sat while most people filed out and we talked about what we had seen and how it had affected us. As the auditorium cleared, we also left. I saw a man outside reading a newspaper. We walked to the station and caught the train home together. A man opposite me took the free paper in front of me. I warned him that the news was the same as last week – some people went to a club, some played some sport and the economy is up the creek. The man was sweet and said goodnight when we got off the train. Now L is making us hot drinks.

20/9/08 3 good things

Life is beautiful. While on holiday, I read John Naish’s book ‘Enough’. And decided to have a crack at listing 3 good things each day. L and I did it each day of our holiday and so I have continued today:

1. We had stuffed mushrooms for dinner with spinach risotto, which L made. It was superb. We have decided to start using smaller plates so that maybe we won’t eat so much!

2. We made lists of all the things that we needed to do this weekend and then we got on and did them, from emptying the hoover (not done since last year) to watering the garden from the bath and to tidying the study. And we rearranged the lounge furniture.

3. We played games with our new pack of cards (£1.75 from Sounds Around in Brockley – this was the ‘expensive’ set, as the cheap set would have cost £0.55) and our big backgammon set. This set seemed strange after a week of playing with our tiny Zanzibar set while in Morocco.