Every day small mercies!

[merryone]

Just want to start an upbeat thread about small mercies...The big stuff like family, friends, health, happiness and love I would never wish to take for granted as they're not "given"..but recently I got to thinking about the small things in my life that I feel so fortunate having every day

I live in walking distance of my workplace which obviously means I do not have to spend any money to get there, or time for that matter as I can get there in 10 mins on foot or 5 by bike. Some of my work mates aren't that fortunate, having to get up at least an hour before I do to start a shift that's later than mine and have to pay about £600 per year the pleasure. It makes such a wonderful difference!

Yeah I know I'm in my 50's now and it would be nice to be younger I guess, but every day I'm thankful that I lived through a time when it was pretty darn easy to get onto the property ladder...Our mortgage is paid off now, but even when we were still paying, the youngsters I spoke to talked about paying more than double what we used to pay in rent and knowing the property will never be theirs, being turned out of their homes 'cause the landlord wanted up the rent, or just have the property back. I feel so sorry for young people these days. There are people though my age and older who've found themselves stuck in the rental trap though and you wonder how the hell they're ever going to be able to retire from work as the rent won't pay itself!

Anyway for now these are my small mercies...anyone else?

 

[merryone]

Why is the above post all squished up so nobody can read it? Think I'll try copying and pasting to see if it improves the situation.

 

[merryone]

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Just want to start an upbeat thread about small mercies...The big stuff like family, friends, health, happiness and love I would never wish to take for granted as they're not "given"..but recently I got to thinking about the small things in my life that I feel so fortunate having every day

I live in walking distance of my workplace which obviously means I do not have to spend any money to get there, or time for that matter as I can get there in 10 mins on foot or 5 by bike. Some of my work mates aren't that fortunate, having to get up at least an hour before I do to start a shift that's later than mine and have to pay about £600 per year the pleasure. It makes such a wonderful difference!

Yeah I know I'm in my 50's now and it would be nice to be younger I guess, but every day I'm thankful that I lived through a time when it was pretty darn easy to get onto the property ladder...Our mortgage is paid off now, but even when we were still paying, the youngsters I spoke to talked about paying more than double what we used to pay in rent and knowing the property will never be theirs, being turned out of their homes 'cause the landlord wanted up the rent, or just have the property back. I feel so sorry for young people these days. There are people though my age and older who've found themselves stuck in the rental trap though and you wonder how the hell they're ever going to be able to retire from work as the rent won't pay itself!

Anyway for now these are my small mercies...anyone else?

 

[Twilight]

What a lovely idea. I totally agree with all the big things, will add in my animals, & I also don't take any of them for granted. Like you I am grateful that we were able to buy our first house when it was easier & cheaper to do that - we are also mortgage free. Add to that retiring last year so having time which is far more important than salary, living in a democracy, being able to walk out into the garden whenever I want, being able to read, the Moon & finally, having had a wonderful grandmother whose saying was 'The magic of ordinary days' because that's how I live my life.

 

[merryone]

Again it's the silly little things, like being able to dry my washing out of doors, being able to sit outside on my deck chair soaking up the sun on a lovely day, being able to walk down to the main city centre/beach in less than 15 minutes. A friend of mine fairly recently bought herself a flat with her inheritance but crazily enough she went for a purpose built upstairs flat, it's got a little balcony but she isn't allowed to dry her washing out there, so the place is normally got clothes in varying states of dryness hanging from every available space, she's not allowed to keep pets, and to top it all she has to pay a fortune every year towards the upkeep of the gardens, which are ornamental and pretty but you're not allowed to sit out in, and towards the lifts and general corridors - why would you do that, she says herself now, even though she's buying it feels like she's renting!

Even my hours at work which are shifts which include 1 or 2 lates, a couple of earlies and sometimes a middle...I work every other saturday and don't ever do Sundays...but it's nice to get extra lie ins every now and then, a day off like today which is a scorcher and not having to "live for the weekend". Don't get me wrong...I love a good moan..but just feel like doing a "Pollyanna" thread for a change!

 

[merryone]

...And I always remind myself how lucky I am to have a job, it's not a career - done that, but a job that I didn't have to jump through hoops in order to get. Filled in a paper application form, was offered an interview which was one to one, and was offered the job a few days later. Even the simplest of jobs these days require in depth CV's, group interviews, role play, and written "exams" - They're doing that at my place at the moment just to fill shelf stacking/checkout operator positions, which come with none of the benefits like premium pay and weekends off that people who started there in years gone by get to enjoy! In my day many shops and offices would display vacancies in their windows and invite people to "apply within" and on occasion would offer a job there an then if you were what they were looking for and they liked the look of you. Ok it was a lot harder to get into university, but back then employers would be happy to take on those without a university degree in the pipeline and give people the opportunity to work their way up from the bottom - It's just ridiculous noways...I feel so fortunate!

 

[mediastar]

I have to say my job is a biggie for me, I was always an "awkward" child, quite bright, but uncoordinated, fat and a bit of a madam (well, I was borderline spoilt rotten). I finally find out that I was and am Dyspraxic. I work in advice and it is gratifying when I say I love some of the places where I work and they say they love me back. I was never in a position to buy a property, but I am lucky enough to be in social housing (my income even though I work full time, is too low to do more than be laughed out of an estate agent's office with regard to purchasing a property, especially round here). The cat that owns me seems very fond of me. I have some good friends. I've found an excellent handy person, after years of being aware that me with a power tool is at minimum an emergency trip to the hospital or the vet if the cat got in my path. I have managed to get help with clearing years of unnecessary trash, finally after years of becoming more and more overwhelmed and a year of feeling so low that the best I could manage is getting to work and feeding cat and myself enough to get through the next day. However, my two biggest achievements recently, one was work based and raised several thousands of pounds for someone (after a jolly big fight) and the other, please don't laugh, I threw out a small shelving unit that had been on the "balcony" and in its place I put one of those two door two shelf garden cabinets made from plastic, what's the big deal with that you may say, well, it was Dyspraxia 0.5 and me 1, as I put it together with only one small error, which I fixed with gorilla tape!!!