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Little pleasures
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A chance to exchange notes on the little everyday things that cheer you up when you're down, or make an ordinary day into a better one. Winning move unaltered.
This is one over which I happen to agree with several generations of family pets; the pleasure of having a good scratch; one that successfully banishes a persistent and deep-seated itch.
Having a quiet chuckle on hearing your team leader getting a bollocking for something you warned them about but "they knew better".
The smell of freshly ground coffee.
The opposition's top batsman lofts yet another six, this time over the pavilion, and smashes through a car window, which belongs to his captain, who is also his batting partner.
Hidden textThis was one of the few entertaining moments for our team on Wednesday.
The sudden feeling of clarity left behind when a large piece of furniture that has sat in a room for many years has been removed to the scrapheap.
Mowing stripes into one's lawn
Clearing out a pile of 'stuff' that has accumulated over several years
Getting into one's car that has been sitting outside on a sunny day at the end of winter and feeling warm for the first time in the last three months.
Being the first person to make footprints in fresh snow.
Putting the roll of toilet paper the right way round
Switching off and going home or, to put it another way, going home and switching off.
Coming over the brow of a hill
Successfully introducing someone new to a band, author, artist, place... that you already love
Sneaking into Software's house and reversing all the rolls of toilet paper
On my way to work, getting through the S-bends between Hampstead Norreys and Compton, on the B4009, without dropping below 60mph
When someone else makes a coffee for you at work, and gets it just right.
Going through a series of green traffic lights.
I dropped into a trade outlet to match and buy some bolts at lunch time. Not only did the guy find the right ones, he also said; 'You just want 20 - just put a pound in the charity box'. So: unlooked for kindness and generosity (Thank you Fixingsplus)
Discovering a game like this and remembering to notice the good little things again, instead of ranting about the little bad ones.
[NJ] I had a similar experience in the optician's section of ASDA of all places! They replaced both the "nose rest" rubbery bits (when I'd lost one), gave my glasses a good clean, and asked only for a donation in the charity box. I was stunned and delighted.
Is it only me who cleans my glasses under the hot tap with washing up liquid and polishes them on a clean tea-towel? Everyone at work gets used tome 'washing my windows' every morning... (and back on subject)
the squintingly bright sun that has appeared through the office window making me struggle to see the screen, after days and days of gloom.
Chocolate bourbon biscuits Nicer even than the mighty HobNob and its chocolate-coated cousins IMO. Certainly when I gave up biscuits, they're the ones I miss the most.
Getting an email that is not only not spam, but is actually from someone you know. (pen, glasses) Not just you. Sometimes I use soap - just as good.
An empty inbox (I haven't seen one of those for quite some time.)
Gin-soaked olives 'Nuff said.
A Bank Holiday Weekend combined with a good weather forecast
Hidden text105 minutes to go
[cfm] Olive-infused gin is good, too. :-)
[CdM] Are you married? ;-) Coming in from the cold. Especially when there's a wood fire burning.
Going for a 40-mile bike ride and getting home at last after a 40-mile bike ride.
Bluebell woods - especially if there are ramsons as well.
An unexpected opportunity to sit and think, undisturbed.
Cool, white, freshly pressed hotel bed sheets
Waking up in a sunlit bedroom
Going out at dawn in summer for a brisk walk over the fields where the dew is just beginning to lift to make the sort of mist that, when you're in the middle of it, still seems to start about 30 yards away from you in every direction.
Border Collies
A hot tub - especially when there's very light snow which is wafted away by the rising hot air
[NJ] Gin/olive combinations and hot tubs are the only things on this list I've never experienced. At present.
[Phil] And the closely related but even greater pleasure that is golden retrievers. :-)
[cfm] I was going to say that if you made it to the UK I could offer the gin/olive/hot tub combination, but then you said you preferred fluff-head retrievers to collies.
Oh and the call of a curlew
Starlings or Asbo-birds as we call them in our house.
[Phil] BTW When did you sneak into Software's house?
[NJ] Wouldn't you like to know!
A lark, ascending. And the necessity of being in open countryside away from urban noise to be able to hear it.
A lie-in with no underlying feeling of guilt
Seeing a cat, any cat, anywhere.
Listening to the song of a blackbird at the cooling end of a stiflingly hot summer day
Lagavulin - both the drink and the place.
Seeing a very familiar place in an unfamiliar way, and hence really noticing it for the first time.
The sound of pouring rain on the roof
New potatoes
puppy dogs!
blowing bubbles
Watching a transit of the International Space Station
Watching the All Blacks perform the Haka. A better sight in sport I have not seen.
A perfectly ripe mango.
friends
Getting my car back from my friend who had borrowed it for the weekend, and finding he has, quite unbidden, cleaned it inside and out. There's even an air freshener in there!
An eclectic list. The concatenation of the last 4 things mentioned here, for instance.
Remembering that England only managed 3 points against Wales in the Six Nations this year.
Walking into an office that is airconditioned on a hot day. It's 33°C at 8.30pm, this is NOT on.
[Tuj] Indeed.
[Raak] I saw it twice when Cmdr Hadfield was onboard, thanks to Twitter notifications, and caught it by accident last Saturday night too. In fact, on Saturday, I also saw the Red Arrows fly over my house here in the Netherlands - on their way from a Dutch air show back to their base in my native Lincolnshire. That was an impressive and moving day for skywatching for me.
Smiling at strangers.
Getting back into bed after a loo visit in the wee (sic) small hours.
Getting things done
[penelope] the Dead Sparrows used to practice over Nettleham Police HQ when I was a late teenager there. I feel a special bond to them (especially after one of them waved both hand and wings to me and my mum while we were dog-walking). I miss watching the three new recruits each winter gradually getting closer and closer to the other six as their confidence and skill grow. Hence:
The Red Arrows
Having an unexpected day off I'm sorry the client's factory is on fire, really I am, but not having to make a 120km round trip is quite nice.
The two glasses of lovely red house wine I just drank with dinner in the restaurant in the next village, and the resulting headiness.. Long day, taking notes to transcribe a conference on which I have been working on the planning for 6 months. I was there at 07.45 and left at 18.00 . Dinner out with the windy miller. I didn't let him get a word in edgeways as I unburdened the events of the day, an d it took two glasses of wineto tell him everything. What a cheap date.
Singing along with the car radio.
Using your free bus pass
Your odometer getting to 100000km SO excited.
When your pee smells of asparagus
Victoriously relaxing my elevated cheek (sic) muscle back onto the chair.
[Tuj] I've eaten asparagus many times, and never noticed this alleged odour. However, I can't say I've ever sniffed my pee, so who knows what delights I've missed :-)
Rapid debugging of other people's code
There was a philosopher of whom I have read that he once walked into a room and announced, "I've just had the most glorious bowel movement!" Ah, one recognises the feeling.
[Lovely Gravy] Watching the All Blacks perform a haka on one side while Tonga performed one on the other really was impressive.
[SM] For me it was the Welsh team refusing to move first after the Haka in Cardiff in 2008. Still gives me goosebumps watching it on Youtube.
Perpetuating stereotypes mercilessly, but A nice glass of wine and a sit down after dinner.
Summer sunshine in Britain - hoorah!
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