Being Glad At Heart

Today my brother had to book the day off work as there was a major signal failure on his route up to London and the majority of trains were being cancelled until at least midday. A situation he was not in the least bit unhappy about!
To celebrate he decided to go back to bed for a couple of hours as he's normally out the door just after 6.30 a.m every weekday and he wanted to take advantage of catching up on some sleep but he was still happy to accompany me on a short run later, or more of a trundle in my case as I'd been for a run on each of the last five days and I was beginning to feel the effects - the knees aren't what they once were! 
When we got back we re-energised ourselves with a can of Red Bull and caught up on some Strictly on iPlayer as somehow we've managed to get three weeks behind.
We were hoping for a sunny and bright autumnal day but unfortunately the weather very quickly deteriorated from grey and overcast skies to what felt like biblical downpours.
We had to venture out for a few essentials but decided on a whim to take a quick detour back to the wonderfully atmospheric Black Horse at Thurnham for a pint and a good natter. I could really see my brother relaxing and he was so glad to just sit and enjoy his pint and forget about the stresses of work even if it was for just today.
Whilst we were there we couldn't help but eavesdrop a conversation between a customer and one of the bar staff. The customer asked her where her accent was from and she confirmed she was Romanian but has been living in the UK for several years. She was very impressed when he then said both hello and cheers, when served his drink, in Romanian.
He went on to tell her that he had visited the country a few years ago with a Romanian friend when his girlfriend dropped out and said how thoroughly impressed he was with the country as it had not been what he had been led to expect.
He stayed in an out of season hotel in the countryside and was warned by his friend that if he went for a walk in the nearby forest he would need to keep an eye out for brown bears. He said he took this with a pinch of salt and thought his friend might be playing a trick on him (the girl behind the bar confirmed that most of the forests in that region of Romania do indeed have a very healthy population of our ursine friends) until he went for his walk in the forest and he caught sight of something out the corner of his eye and could hear breathing getting nearer and nearer. He said his heart was pounding but he was pretty sure it was just a dog that had been let off its leash (at least that's what he told himself) - but he didn't hang about to find out just in case! They were both in fits of laughter at the end of his story. I love a good eavesdrop!
Today's image is of an old mirror in our spare room that my sister 'customised' a few years ago that just happened to encapsulate how my brother was feeling due to his unexpected day off.