It’s been an odd day today. I blogged over at Dark Dates about how my birthdays are always a bit melancholy, and my weekend has been frustrating due to laptop issues – which always set off a spiral of insecurities about work and money, old triggers that I haven’t quite shake off.

But today also reminded me of one of the reasons I moved. My birthday isn’t till tomorrow, but two different friends popped round with presents (flowers, champagne and notebooks – spot the theme?). One gave me a lift to the supermarket, and as I was coming out of Asda I bumped into some family members who gave me a lift home and also popped in. It sounds like a trivial thing – and it is – but it really made me appreciate the small, and not so small, benefits of being back, of now being in “I’ll just pop round” distance of people I previously saw once every couple of years.

Anyway, it certainly brightened an otherwise frustrating day…