I realize that I've been less than chatty online recently. Slow news week, really. Things are ok for the most part. My back's been acting up a bit and Katy and I aren't really sleeping well. Her cough wakes her up at night and she's been having weird dreams. She's also been trying to roll me out of bed during the night and I have to poke her to give me more room so I don't fall out of bed.

Things at work are going nicely. Got my confirmation that my contract is extended past the probation period for the full 3 years. Got a raise. Playing with lots of new technologies which will look good on my CV when the time comes (though I honestly have no idea where I want to go after this place – but that's not for the here and now). Hopefully I'll be able to release a new version of my project live early next week implementing some nice new features and performance improvements.

Things on the home front are going well too. Our xmas tree is nice (though we need to buy a nice star to put on top of it). People keep harassing me to know what I want for xmas. I don't know. I don't want anything, really. I have everything I need, and most of what I want. I'm in reasonably good health and good spirits and I have love in my life. I'm truly blessed.

I was acutely reminded of this earlier this week. I went to the chippy near my place to get some chips for dinner a few days ago. It was a pretty chilly night; the first frost of the year. I was bundled up, so it wasn't really a problem. As I was walking, I ran into a little old lady at the crosswalk. I didn't really pay much attention. I got to the chippy, ordered and waited for my food. While I was waiting (and for a reasonable stretch), the old lady hobbles slowly into the chip shop. She was walking with a cane and had to brace herself against the door frame to walk up the step that leads into the shop.

She looked old and frail, dressed in typical old lady clothing: a battered fake fur coat and a fake leopard fur hat with flaps. There was this aura of sadness around her. I don't know what makes me say that. It just really hit me. She was holding an empty plastic 4L water jug in one hand, which she bent over slowly to put down, and a sainsbury bag in the other, which seemed pretty heavy as she was transferring it from one hand to the other, slowly flexing her hands to try to get circulation going back into her hands. Her hand was all red and marked (you know the feeling, when you're carrying lots of heavy plastic bags and they bite into your hands).

I really noticed her feet. She was wearing open toe sandals, the kind that are really just one sole and are held in place by loops between your big toe and all the rest of them (like flip-flops, but not the cheap plastic ones). Anyway, she was wearing sandals in weather what made me glad to have my winter coat and boots. She'd wedged some a bit of fleece between the loops of her sandals and the top of her foot to try and keep warm (I guess), but her toes were open to the rather frigid air. Her feet were grey. This might be pure speculation on my part, but I'm thinking that she has trouble bending down and those sandals are the only shoes she can put on.

The whole encounter lasted maybe a minute. My order was ready and I left. I don't know who the lady was and what her story was. She was a complete stranger and for all I know she's the happiest woman on earth. She just made me realize that I have a hell of a lot going for me right now, and that my complaints probably don't add up to much in the grand scheme of things. Here endeth the lesson.