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.
The words "This one's on me" when uttered by the landlord of one's local at 10.30 on a Sunday night. Ok, so it's not an everyday occurrence, but it made my day.
(Phil) cf. this: I presented a nearly empty glass and said "Just a half in there" and meant it. The man topped it up. "It's an Irish half", said he, and he was indeed of the Hibernian persuasion. I had to drive home rather carefully.
[Rosie] We used to call that a pensioner's half, or a Hilton Half. Named after Hilton Spratt, who was at that time a very young Conservative councillor, and is now Mayor of Lincoln. My new local does a good generous half too :-)
Right now. I'm sitting outside at 11pm on Friday evening with a cup of coffee, a citronella candle and the iPad, with the prospect of three whole weeks off work. I don't go back until August 12. And there's a heatwave.
Still being alive. After 3 near death experiences in the last 12 months, simply still being here, watching us tonk the Aussies, despite being other-half-less, is more than enough to make me smile. The fact it's warm and sunny helps, too.
[nights] Oh cor yes. On a childhood holiday we drove through the Mont Blanc Tunnel along the road to Aosta and the alternating bridges and mountainside galleries were spectacular.
[cfm] BBBBzzzzttt!! Oh no - that's a cringeworthy task! (Or is it just me who thinks that, because my husband has never written me a love letter so all the ones I have kept are from previous and rejected or jilting boyfriends?)
And a proper move: Sitting on the sofa reading a gloriously huge, heavy book printed in 1943 that references and discusses a whole load of medieval manuscripts... and being able to view those manuscripts in their entirety a couple of minutes later just by walking over to my computer and downloading complete full-colour facsimiles from the host library. How I love the 21st century. I imagine that the author of the said book (the musicologist Higinio Anglés) would have creamed his academic pants at the prospect, especially since, working at that moment in history, even the slow option of travelling around Europe to visit the collections in person wasn't open to him.
Introducing my children to great films from before their time as they grow up - While Mrs Phil is poorly in bed, 'little' Miss Phil and I have watched 'Raising Arizona', 'Airplane!', 'The Big Lebowski', 'Shaun of the Dead' over the last 4 nights. Admitedly, she'd seen two of them before, but it was good to bring her up to speed on the Coen Brothers. Maybe 'Full Metal Jacket' tonight, or perhaps 'Withnail and I', which neither of us has seen.
[Phil] However, what I find with MsCdMJr is that any film that dates from before 2004 is greeted with a comment of "That's so old!" [pen] That was cfm, not me. It is a good line, though. Mind you, we should remember that the author of Charlotte's Web was also a co-author of the odious Strunk and White Elements of Style, and so not someone that I particularly acknowledge as a judge of good writing. :-) Sautéed mushrooms
Being able to make a comment on a complete stranger's website/blog/whatever and get a reply from someone who lives potentially thousands of miles away.
Walking a fast half-hour circuit of the village last night under a clear and almost-full moon, seeing the stars and flashing lights of the planes circling for Rotterdam and Amsterdam airports, and hearing the very last of the summer crickets chirruping in the grass.(And the imaginary dog trotting along beside me, of course)
Watching football managers lose their rag or becoming, as they would put it, "disappointed". (SM) I'm with you on that. I have just made one of these. Prior to that a contour map of the entire North Downs at 1:80,000. The wonders of Photoshop.