Being looked after?

I'm not a particularly religious person - indeed I sometimes wish I had the faith my Mother has, which is a huge support and comfort to her. But me? No, 'fraid not, I guess I'm just too cynical.

However,there seems to be some sort of higher power at work at the moment. No sooner do I talk about looking for 'good' things in every day, than I get a full-on, glorious demonstration.

On my walk to catch the bus to work every day I cross a river. It's a nice, broad, gentle river (for the most part) and I see little fishes, ducks and swans almost every morning. Sometimes I'll see the odd cormorant, and (if it's a particularly good day) I may even spot a glimpse of electric blue as the kingfisher passes by.

But never in my wildest imaginings did I expect to see what I did this morning. The little fish were coming to the surface in a welter of ripples just under the bridge, as usual. I spotted a log, low in the water, sort of drifting just under the surface, but moving upstream. Hang on a minute... a log? Upstream? Huh?

Nope, the log rolled over and revealed itself to be an otter! My word - I've never in my life seen one before and have always wanted to. I stood entranced.

What's more, after a moment or two, another couple of disturbances in the water revealed that it had two more otters with it and this little family group of three were ready for breakfast! The fish stood no chance as the three converged from different directions, above and under the water. Those little ripples turned to all-out fishy panic as the poor things tried to scatter. Nature at it's most natural.

I couldn't tear myself away - could have stayed all day to watch them. In fact, I had to run like billie-oh to catch the bus and I only just made it on time!

But what a privilege to see these magnificent animals hunting and how fortunate I am to have seen this rare treat. Whatever my worries may be, that old black dog can just go hang - what a lot there is to be thankful for.

Definitely onwards ever...