Today was thick and white outside as I eyeballed the day. I brushed my teeth and I couldn't see the hill I know is there in the view from my bedroom window. It was cool but not cold as I walked into the day outside on the school run. On return I was talking myself into another day of avoiding more than the bare minimum of contact with people who are not my children, by using the walls of my home as armour.

And then I committed publicly on here to going for a walk. It would be a rare occasion for me not to follow through on my word. The argument going on inside my head about whether to go or not was like two bickering children. I stuffed an earphone in one ear and played Harry Potter on an audiobook. Stephen Fry's voice was unusually not what I needed but he was very good at being louder than the bickering. And I left the building.

I don't think there is anything that cannot be made just a little better from a walk. I thumped to the supermarket and back. A varied but short walk, say 20 minutes each way. Some woodland, some quite places, some roads and a main road. A school, a hospice, another school, many houses, trees everywhere, each one eager to smile.

From being 'I'm grey, I'm cross, don't rattle my cage, let's get this done' I somehow turned into Snow White with each step as creatures came to greet me. A heard a magpie's feet as he walked along close by. I got a fright and then smiled as a squirrel really did walk with me at my ankle for quite some way and the best part... I turned a corner and tiny birds were flying into my face! I considered being a bit scared, but it was lovely to see them change direction at the last minute and whack the hedge. They were shopping for red berries and in doing so were shaking the bush creating a little mist of water as their movement in the hedge unsettled the morning dew and yesterday's rain. It gently hit my face.

I came home happy, new and came here to write. A white butterfly has since kept me company sitting with a cup of coffee outside, as did the thick wedge of banana loaf. It didn't matter that it was dry on the edges and undercooked in the middle, I made it and so I declared it perfect (this is a nod to Sally and her 'untidy' house, it too is perfect!)

And now the day looks wildly different to the one I was shown at the start. I'm saved. Again. And now to get some work done with vigour. No Snow Whites were impersonated during this morning. Other Snow Whites are available.

Love from

The room above the garage

A Moodscope member.