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 end of roadworks on the motorway bridge at the beginning of my drive to work every morning, and at the end of my drive home A chunk of metal from the bit of the bridge that lifts to let tall ships through came off two weeks ago, and they've been trying to fix it ever since. In the meantime, the 70km/h speed limit causes tailbacks at peak hours. My detour to avoid standing traffic is very pleasant - through the lanes and villages to join the motorway again 4 junctions up - especially at this time of year, but it doesn't put me in the mood for coming to work. I have three weeks off from 24 July... The end of roadworks hasn't happened yet but it will be sooo good when it does.
Sausages? Why didn't you say so before?! What kind of sausages though? I have just imported 3kg of best Lincolnshire sausages into the Netherlands after our stay there last week. I feel as rich as Croesus with a freezer full of sausages. In fact, I'm loathe to eat them. Hmmph.
The re-opening of Streatley Hill after 6 weeks of mending a chimney (damaged by a lorry), eliminating 16 miles from my daily drive, and meaning I can get to the Tesco Express that opened the other side of it about 4 weeks ago in about 8 minutes instead of 18.
The pleasure gained from caring for and learning from my youngest granddaughter and then sending her home after a very exhausting day. To explain: My own children's childhood, apart from weekends (not many), I more or less missed. That was due to work hours, sometimes days at a time, plus my involvement in a number of local volunteer organisations as Treasurer/Secretary/President/Dogsbody.
Pouring the sugar out of a Sainsbury's sugar bag This was unexpected. You know how a conventional 1kg bag of sugar is folded at the bottom and glued closed? So that there's always a last few annoying grains that hide under the paper flaps and won't come out? Well the Sainsbury's bag had a crimped closure, like the bottom of a crisp packet. Nowhere for those last few grains to lurk in hiding, so they all came out. Yay. +1 for a tiny refinement in modern packaging.
The rare occasions when I can remember a chuckleworthy joke for long enough to pass it on. It's nowt to do with age as I've always had that 'disability'.
Despite the winter solstice being two weeks ago, it seems to get darker in the mornings at this time of year, so I look for visual treats on my way to work to try and persuade myself that it's not all a dark slog in shitty traffic. First off this morning, driving to work under a full-ish and bright moon, and the rising sun only hitting the skyscrapers of Rotterdam (seen from my office window) after I got here. And I have a new thermal cup and my tea from home was still hot.
Watching Rowan Atkinson play George Simenon's Maigret, dubbed into French. If you made him slightly thinner and slightly greyer and have him wear a slightly more worn mack, he would be exactly as I imagine Maigret. The acting, though, is spot on.