Small pleasures

It’s funny how your world contracts when you’re going through something like this. It’s only a few months since I was jumping off boats to swim with turtles in the Galapagos (already feeling there was something amiss) and now I’m incredibly excited to be getting on a train to London to see a couple of shows (The Producers and Importance of Being Earnest with Stephen Fry as Lady Bracknell, since you ask). It will be good to get out of the house and I’ll take a few days off the challenges, though I have nailed Edward Thomas at last, so I can move on to something less gloomy when I get back!

Yesterday, we drove into the Yorkshire Dales, walked by the River Wharfe and had a leisurely lunch in Burnsall. The weather was sparkling and as usual it made me wonder why I don’t take that short journey from home in Leeds more often. The views across the fells and the dry stone walls have something magical about them and I feel privileged to live so near.

If each round of chemo goes in the same way, I now have a sense of when I can do pleasurable things like these – and when I need to have days watching Downton Abbey under the duvet. I look forward to the good days and am planning life’s little pleasures to fit the timetable of treatment.

More soon – I am very grateful for all the good wishes, prayers and offers of walks/coffees etc. It really helps!