I was at the airport the other day. Arriving back from a delicious couple of solo nights away [heaven!]

Walking through the building, there was a big, long flight of stairs ahead of me and an escalator, just one, that was going down. [down! my cranky.pregnant.lady.brain complained to itself. why would you have just one escalator going down? hrrrmph!] But as I went to lift my bag, there was suddenly an older man beside me offering to carry it. How lovely!

And even lovelier: we got chatting. He was one of five children. He grew up in the country and only ever went on one [thrilling] family holiday – to the beach. He, himself, had four children ranging from seven to thirty-one and he was convinced girls are harder to work out than boys. Much more complicated [he said].

As we arrived at the exit I thanked him for helping me. It was very kind of you [I said]. Well, it was my pleasure, [he smiled] it was great to meet you.

I walked away feeling A Hundred Dollars! And thinking: sometimes the escalator really is going exactly the right way [even if it doesn't seem to be].

Do you ever do something that surprises you a bit?

I was driving the other day, with no Little One in the back of the car, just by myself. With the radio up.

[Crazy, I know].

And I suddenly saw a bookshop, with an empty car space out the front. So I stopped, browsed all that delicious.book.ness, bought a book by one of my favourite authors and then kept on my way.

I know going to a book shop on impulse isn’t a big deal [at all]. But doing something that I hadn’t planned, something just for me, felt really good.

oooh. How good is returning to your own bed after being away for a little while?

[love that.]

I have been trying to stay moving this pregnancy [it is good for my body and my brain] and one of the things I have been aiming for is a swim a couple of times a week. But a little while ago I realised that I was telling myself I should do it, but not doing it and then feeling bad that I wasn’t [eeek!]

It has been grey and wet and cold in my neck of the woods and the pool I usually swim at is outdoor. Which is terrific when it’s the middle of summer but when it’s freezing and you have to get in [or out] and you’re a big ol’ scaredy-pants like me, it makes it super hard. Sort of so hard you end up not going at all.

One day a couple of weeks ago I suddenly realised that I could just go to another pool. I know. So obvious [except for some reason, it wasn't].

So now I’m swimming in the warm, in a beautiful pool with big glass windows that look out onto the wild and woolly weather outside. I love it.

Sometimes the best solutions are the easiest [but least obvious] ones.