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 text
This 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.
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 text
105 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
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.
[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
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
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!
A cold shower on a hot day
A hot shower on any kind of day. [SM] I've never 'got' the cold shower thing.
A hard ride on a racing bike, on a bright and sunny (but not too hot) day.
The Ashes
When the last strawberry in the punnet is the sweetest.
Baked beans on toast [with a crunchy sprinkling of rock salt and some ground pepper.]
Baked beans on toast [when the toast has been liberally coated with Marmite]
A glass of very cold beer on a summer evening.
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.
Giving a present to someone you love.
(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.
My bedroom is inhabited by the amorous ghost of a showgirl who takes joy in keeping me up nights after the wife has dozed.
Cooking for a friend who appreciates it.
Driving somewhere lovely with the windows down. Can't recommend the Aosta Valley highly enough!
[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.
(Nyet) I'm not sure nights would appreciate that too much.
[Rosie] hee hee :-)
Closing the deal.
Opening anything.
(Botherer) Wot, even a waste food container? :-)
Heavy windless rain.
Heavy windless rain.
Perfect timing.
(Rosie) Anything!
The pursuit of contentment rather than happiness.
The pursuit of contentment rather than happiness.
Lying in the sun because I can.
I thought this might have been mentioned earlier, but Not wearing pants :)
Re-reading old love letters
[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?)
Spending money you don't have. To be followed, in about a month, by a Little Displeasure.
[Pen] *is reminded of the penultimate line of Charlotte's Web* :-)
Discovering this game. A one-off, unrepeatable pleasure, of course.
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.
[CdM] I just had to google it. I think I last read Charlotte's Web when I was 8 or 9
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.
Watch 'Withnail' for that going-into-work-after-a-bank-holiday-with-a-surreal-feeling feeling.
[pen] not back to work till thursday
[Phil] If you're going to watch 'Withnail and I' you can play 'Spot the anachronistic road sign'.
[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
[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
[CdM] We've managed to avoid that. Both our little beasts will happily watch anything, so long as it's good, e.g. Psycho :)
[Phil] She'll watch and enjoy. She just complains first...
Tiling an irregularly-shaped bread roll with cheese, using the fewest possible cuts.
Recreational mathematics
(SM) Demonstrate, using longhand methods only, that 398712 + 436512 <> 447212. Then do it on a calculator.
Reprieves
The MD saying "In that case, I'll go away and let you get on with it"
Breaking a pane of glass you no longer want. The first blow, with a club hammer, is the best.
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.
One's favorite blue jeans
Overtaking a very expensive car, whose driver is obviously in a hurry, by picking the right lane at a junction/roundabout.
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)
Farting in the bath.
Observing that the complicated program that one has just written is working exactly as it should.
A free lunch each Friday just because you're a student.
Making things
Hearing from a friend you have lost touch with
Sky-watching. In particular, watching the sunrise over the sea from the deck as the overnight ferry pulls into home port, with a cup of coffee and a chocolate croissant; seeing mammatus clouds with my own eyes for the first time, a shooting star, and a night-sky full of stars out in the country. All over the past week or so.
The smell of tertiary butyl alcohol. A bit like isopropanol (de-icer, various cosmetics) only more so. Minty and a bit camphor-like. Rather nice - even better than ether.
[CdM] Hear, hear! Via Facebook, I've just regained contact with an Estonian fireman I use to chat with about 12 years ago. The downside is the cyrillic script on my FB timeline now!
Christmas!
Those first few moments in bed
The second coffee of the morning
A quarter-bottle of wine
In that case: Arriving home from work to discover that your teetotal wife has opened a bottle of red wine, to make lasagne, and the rest of it requires drinking. I love getting out of the car to the smell of lasagne, as it means I don't have to feel guilty about opening a bottle, just for myself.
Guessing the latest AVMA
The entire sensory spectrum of chips cooked in beef dripping.
Ordering a treat for yourself - in my case, cricket pads, bat, and gloves.
Getting home to find that said order has been delivered
Boxy concrete buildings built on a grassy slope overlooking big swaths of nature. Only realized how nice this makes me feel the other day when looking at some pictures.
Mullion Cove at low tide.
The Science Fiction of Samuel R Delaney
Sunshine
Knowing how to spell Samuel R Delany
The memory of having met and conversed with Samuel R Delany face-to-face, and of loaning him a copy of Driftglass when he had nothing for his scheduled reading and thus saving the day. 8oP
Being blissfully unaware of science fiction authors ;-)
Wot, even Arthur C Clarke? Even Ian McLeod? Even Charles Stross?
I've heard of, nay read (but not for nearly 30 years), A C Clarke. Never heard of the others.
Wow, and I picked UK authors of great stature too.
Cherry Garcia.
[Stevie] I did read quite a lot of John Wyndham when I was a teenager, plus A C Clarke, and a couple of Harry Harrisons. Unless you count Stephen King, I think my adult science fiction reading has been limited to Douglas Adams.
[Phil] Well, I have a non-standard view of genre classification: If you think it is SF, it is. I may not agree with you, but so what? Delaney would at one time hold that you might not have the vernacular needed to properly appreciate SF unless you can recognize it when you see it, but I reckon if you enjoy a story at whatever level genres are irrelevant, and anyway all the people I've conversed with here are intelligent enough to acquire the vernacular as they go.
Years ago Raak and I differed with feeling over whether "Perdido Street Station" was Hard SF or something else. While many a satisfying hour can be passed arguing this over pints of beer, in the end all that matters is that it is a bloody good story sufficiently different from stuff sitting next to it on the shelves that it should please anyone reading it on your recommendation.
You should check it out of your library and give it a go, Phil.
Re: John Wyndham. Scariest thing I ever read was from The Day of the Triffids, the line about the blind man scuttling from a looted store with two tins of red paint under his arms and a cunning grin on his face (the context is that he thought it was food). The implications of that little vignette left me profoundly disturbed for weeks.
Watching the Aetheric Neuralizer's plasma effects in action. Worst build blog in the history of the universe, but the steampunk gun is spiffy.
[Stevie] I don't think I've specifically avoided SF, and I havea major problem in that I read so little nowadays. I know my son enjoyed "The City & The City", so I'll give Perdido a try. I really ought to get round to registering with the library too. The mobile library's next visit isn't for another 12 days, so it looks like a trip into town is required.
[Stevie] Aha, thanks for making me look up our library. I've found there's one only 6 miles away, and it's open on Saturday mornings. To Pangbourne, me hearties!
(Phil) Pangbourne is town? No answer to that.
[Rosie] Newbury is "town" Pangbourne is half the distance, and has a fish & chip shop, to boot!
The prospect of a long weekend in England; I sail back on Thursday night.That means seeing family and friends, not having to worry about not understanding what's being spoken about, eating familiar and favourite foods, and resting my eyes on familiar landscapes. Bliss.
Keeping my eyes inside my head... (Pen rests eyes on landscapes ... I prefer mine remain in their sockets!)
Witnessing another's earned success Case in point - This little animation makes me smile every time I watch it: katana girl (gif)
[Stevie] I think the Moran blog may be suffering from cybernautic gremlins. You don't seem to be able to comment - comments submit far too quickly, it seems to me, for them to be actually be being transmitted anywhere.
[Simons] Intollerable curbation of free speech! I'll have a look what knobs can be twiddled.
I just did an anonymous test and it worked fine for me other than the capcha being so fiendish it took three refreshes to make it spell something I could figure out. I used the "Anonymous" profile (you have to pick one from a list). There aren't any moderated comments waiting to be let out of the pen.
Watching Jeremy Clarkson say "I've ruined m'car!"
Getting a letter from the bank that refunds, with interest, the £30 that the ATM didn't dispense in June 2008, and that you assumed you'd just absentmindedly walked away without taking.
Contemplating the engineering excellence and sheer zombie-stopping power of my new Hammershot revolver and my Sledgefire shotgun. The Weapon Shops of Nerf are awesome.
First class travel. I have just upgraded from what was going to be four hours standing in the end of a carriage to a luxurious seat and free coffee for a mere £15. Privileged? Sure am.
Truly, it is wonderful to sit up in first class with a complimentary coffee and Wi-Fi and think of those down the other end, below the food car, and say to myself, "I'm posh and they're not."
You'll be drinking in the lounge bar next. As a friend once said to me while we were about to enter the UEA Union Bar: "You get a better class of scum in the lounge bar".
La Famile Stevie got upgraded to 1st class on a trans-Canada flight a couple of years ago. I was so impressed I wrote it up for mi blog.
Non-sensible (e.g. pink-paisley-silver-spike-heeled) shoes.
[cfm] May I ask, without prejudice, if you are a person of the female variety?
[Phil] You cannot ask, and cfm is not required to tell you if you do. Because it's more fun that way.
Firing the Nerf Rapidstrike submachine gun. Top o' the world, ma!
Hidden text
At last, a suitable vehicle with which to express my utter rejection of The Colbert Report and the fucktard who presents it.Rare-breed pork chops bought from the butcher at home in Lincolnshire last week for dinner tonight in the Netherlands The pork here is shocking, and mostly reared indoors. These tasted soooo good.
[pen] Is it me, or is "rare-breed" pork so ubiquitous that one wonders just how "rare" these breeds are? It might just be a Berkshire thing, to be honest.
"Ahuh! Ahuh! Ahuh huh huh! Bet you can't guess what I'm doing?"
[Geo] Are you singing the second line of The Proclaimers' "I'm on my way"?
Puns. Endless puns. and reading back up the page I'd put a word in for Iain (M) Banks as a SF author worth reading... Also, should it be "an SF author"?
Listening to TMS at work
Hidden text
That's "Test Match Special". The BBC's incomparably excellent radio commentary on England's international cricket matches[Geo] Not fair! It must give us two guesses! You are doing either:
a) Your Elvis Presley warm-ups prior to opening your Las Vegas drive-thru Chapel of Burnin' Love for the day
a) Your Elvis Presley warm-ups prior to opening your Las Vegas drive-thru Chapel of Burnin' Love for the day
or
2) Your Tommy Cooper wind-up to the eggs/tray/water-filled glasses trick.Discovering that my "Ten Years Without Gnawing A Leg Off" certificate bears the notorious doctored version of the city seal, in which the minuteman depicted on one side seems very pleased indeed to see the indian on the other.
Hidden text
Even when honoring me they give me the shaft.Petrichor
Also, knowing the word for petrichor. :-)
[SM] Excellent, on both counts.
Certain TV show theme tunes. Today's nominee, even though I only ever watched about two shows, is the Dexter Theme Tune. A fun little track, that one.
[Simons Mith] Good one. I'll volley that back with the "Morse" theme. I'm particularly fond of the bit where the French Horns swell up. Into tubas, presumably. But then they'd be French Potatoes I suppose. Musical theory was never my strong suit.
Riding on new bicycle tyres. Mm, pumped up really hard.
I'm not sure how I feel about walking through an antiques fleamarket and thinking, not once but several times, "that's not old, I had one of those!" A box of metal puzzles that I'm sure was exactly the same make and design as one my brother had, a set of mathematical instruments, manual sewing machines just like my aunt's, a metal right-angle just like the one my father made in the army (and which I still have), and of course any number of slide rules.
Being able to point at the giant sliderule hanging next to the canoe and the stuffed Springbok head in a local "casual dining" restaurant and say "I know how to use that to do hard sums".
Doing sums in my head faster than someone else does them with a calculator e.g. deducting VAT.
New windscreen wiper blades
Sitting in a 6th floor office in Rotterdam with a window that faces west over the city towards the Port of Rotterdam and watching the storms coming in from the North Sea only 20 miles away, swallowing the city's skyscrapers as it approaches.
The Alps in summer. The really green bits. With the cowbells. And the wildflowers. Don't care if it is like the Sound of Music.
Serving dinner to hungry teenage boys.
Being able to do simple diy stuff, like today, clearing an airlock in the hot water system; repairing a useful bag with a staple gun; making a jig to remove downlighters without damaging the ceiling.
What!?!?!? No! That cannot go unanswered!
Ripping the living bejaysus out of any recalcitrant home fixture with my mighty Tiger Saw prior to replacing it with one that works.
Curses! I never thought of using my angle grinder on that bag...
Life has become a lot simpler since I realized that 90% of the time, preserving the parts that you are replacing is a waste of time. New faucet required? No more struggling with claw wrenches in hard-to-reach places to remove water supply risers. Now I loosen the retaining nuts enough to lift the faucet up from the sink and Mister Tiger Saw has me doing the installation part in minutes. Light fixtures I fitted ten years ago won't take the new lightbulb de jour anyway so I just bin 'em and start over.
Thought of you the other day, gil, when Mrs Stevie arranged for me to go Karting.
In a Lamborghini Gallardo.
I am jealous. I hope a detailed account will appear in the Occasional Stevie.
It's a couple of years since I karted, due to various injuries and to other members of the Fugitives team moving to different pastures, but I haven't yet given up. I believe that the karting experience, at its best, is the ideal training ground for f1 drivers, as well as being a lorra fun for novices and experienced drivers alike.
Well, they marked out a track that prevented anyone from getting into third gear but it was still more fun than a poke in the eye. I was completely overwhelmed by the experience and forgot to be cool for the camera. Here's a link to the video library of the event and I was number L75 - right at the top of the page.
I finally watched your video, and admired the progress from uncertainty to confidence to pushing the limits. Occasional squeaks of wheelspin, and the casual enquiry "Anyone ever spin out?", followed by serious attempts to do so.
It was a lorra-lorra fun. I recommend it to all.
A 60 Mb fibre connection. Click — web page appears! Click — video plays! 100MB uploads to Dropbox in seconds!
[Raak] Grrrrrrr! Still, I get fresh air and no traffic instead.
[Phil] I have those as well. :)
[Raak] Hmmm, I have no chance of anything over 3Mb for the next decade as far as I can tell. Unless I move house.
The sound of a Mellotron's "orchestral strings" voice. Sounds nothing like strings but is entirely wonderful when done right.
I think it was actually called "Three Strings", but I never had the knobs under the Steviemitts so I can't say for sure.
Training interested student(s)
Chunky knit leggings.
Hidden text
Dear god, I have a picture wedged firmly in my brain now that will not come out no matter what I do.Flicking a dead Christmas tree light and being rewarded by having the whole string burst into glorious life.
Brandy butter
Bing Crosby's singing voice
Hess Trucks.
Correcting somebody who just said "pedanticism"
[Moom] But that just makes one sound like a pedanticismist, doesn't it?
Awakening in the dawn's coming light to the sound of Kookaburras, Noisy Miners, Butcher Birds, Wrens and their avian friends having a chat about their breakfast menu.
The relief experienced on finding a legitimate receipt for the dodgy-looking transaction on one's bank statement after a brief panic. [Stevie] And proud of it.
Delighting in one's own inherent immunity to British humor.
Getting connected to someone who actually cares when calling a "tech support" line. Thank you, nice AT&T lady.
Being able to get through the head and the middle 8 of "Misty" without screwing any of the chords.
Being able to watch the superstructure of a massive crane on a massive ship serenely sailing up the river from my office window. No point in trying to drive home right now - it's not home time for one reason, and all the bridges will be up for another.
Sharpening pencils
Waking in the middle of the night to the sound of rain falling outside, and going back to sleep again. Of course, there was that time I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rain falling inside ...
A shepherd's hut in a sheep field in Norfolk. (Much, much better than it sounds)
The space where a piece of furniture has been removed.
Charlotte Green reading the football results. A touch of class to counter all the snarly herberts on Five Live. (Pablo) I think I prefer a bed.
Les Dawson reading football results
Being greeted as "Mr Hughes" by the local Indian newsagent. Must be an age thing.
Guiding an off-spin delivery to the square leg boundary with consummate ease - best shot I've played all season (and last season for that matter)
Seeing the full moon. It's brilliant.
Sitting on the deck of our new house on the first warm evening of the year on the new garden chairs waiting for the fat (but waning) moon to appear over the trees
Seeing the ISS overhead.
Puppy cuddles!
Lunting my way through Cherry Tree Wood on a fine morning "To lunt" = to walk while smoking a pipe. A long obsolete verb, but I'm determined to bring it back to usage, even if pipe smokers are now rarer than a moment of fun at a Barry Manilow concert.
[Rosie]: It has a bed, a very very nice one :-)
[Rosie]: It has a bed, a very very nice one :-)
A 6 over long-off from the final ball of the innings - which demoted the square-leg glance to the 2nd best shot I've played all season. Happy days!
Bouncing maniacally through grass as tall as you are, with one's tongue lolling, one's tail swishing furiously, and one's ears flapping about one's head. I hope it's clear I'm posting this on behalf of someone else without internet access.
[Simons Mith] I doubt anyone else's elephant has internet access either, so yours shouldn't feel short-changed.
Driving at night on a wide road with cat's-eyes but no street lights.
Early evening walks after hot days, through hamlets where they're growing lots of jasmine.
Finding out that a person that you want to audition for your play is going to audition.
Seeing the kids from the social housing up the road showing total unawareness of racial differences.
Having the tax man pay for one's new bathroom and a holiday in the Greek Islands. Well, not literally, but that's about what the unsolicited tax refund I just received amounts to.
Discovering the existence of The Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments.
Debugging to the complete collection of A & B sides of every e.p. and 45 put out by Mungo Jerry. Alrightalrightalright.
(Only recently discovered) Standing stark naked in a field at 2am, having a much-needed pee in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. (Elemental, my dear Watson)
Living in the house where you don't resent housework.
Having next door's cat (called Yoda) come in and plonk itself down in the kitchen as I make breakfast. I mustn't feed it; it's not mine, more's the pity.
Coming home to the new house that's got better views than some of the places we stayed on holiday. The seasonally changing landscape of fields and trees, four new wind turbines in the past two weeks, but no sea view.
Going for a seven mile sprint on the bike on a sunny September evening, just because.
Hearing the Great African Belly-laugh.
The Red Arrows performing nearby.
Looking at things through binoculars.
The earthy smell and steaming stacks of the sugar factory 3km from the back of our house (and part of our view), which has started up again with the start of the local sugar beet harvest. It'll run until April.
I daren't mention Wales beating England at rugby, as I know it's not an everyday thing, even though it is rather satisfyingly frequent.
That first glass of red wine after a long, crap-awful day
Long phone call last night which means that friend I've had since I was 11 and her family are coming to the Netherlands spend New Year with us.
Muscovado sugar. Very naughty stuff. Too bad.
Harassing marine invertebrates in saltwater tidepools.
Watching puppies sleep/lie down peacefully.
Finding my "other" glasses.
A smile from my grandson
[Phil] Is that first one? Discovering I can write on my new tablet using my fat finger, even the HTML.
[pen] Yes, and what a smashing one he is too.
[Phil] Noo, I mean the first smile!
[pen] Ah, no it's not. They're much more regular now though :)
Dog hiccups!
YouTube Fail Videos, especially the ones in which a dog gets the short end of whatever. Cats pushing dogs downstairs, dogs running full-tilt into glass storm doors, dogs being sucked into black holes. That sort of thing.
Every time I hear the phrase "There's more than one way to skin a cat. It reminds me of the good times.
[Stevie] Dogs in boots!
The smell of tattooed tree corpses.
(Stevie) Try chimps, gorillas etc and mirrors.
A seafood platter on a Spanish beach front. (Why does eating seafood in Spain feel better than anywhere else?)
Watching Maggie Smith on Downton Abbey. Wait, what? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
It's Easter!!!
Space 1889 and Delta Green. Reality. Who needs it?
Sitting in a ball chair. I found one in a flea market, of all places. I've wanted one ever since seeing No.2's chair in "The Prisoner" and discovering it was a real thing, and I was very tempted, but it wouldn't really fit in my house anywhere.
[Raak] Change your house! (I mean rearrange/reorganise the furniture) It can always be changed back if you change your mind. Things can always be bought and sold.
[pen] I also discovered that you cannot read in a ball chair, unless I installed some sort of interior light. Can't really listen to music either without a set of speakers in there as well. But for shutting out the world and relaxing, there's nothing like it.
Sitting in my very own ball chair. As far as I can tell from pictures on the web, this is the exact Eero Aarnio design. I might velcro a battery-powered reading light to the roof.
"I am Number 2."
"Who is Number 1?"
"You are Number 6."
"I am not a number, I am a free man!"
**mocking laughter**
I do not have sufficient security clearnce to view that image.
[SM] Only Number 1 may see that image.
Ah, some setting on my web server that doesn't like people linking to my pictures. It might work if you open it in a separate window.
Putting in a bunch of minimum bids on fancy stuff on eBay thinking 'that'll never work' and winning all of them. I needed another four pairs of shoes.
Village shops that not only have the cake-shaped Tupperware box that you need this afternoon in stock, but also gift-wrap the tea towels you bought for your sisters.
[Raak] Now all you need is a dial-under-the-base telephone, an Astro-lamp aka Lavalamp, a golfing umbrella, a weather balloon and some fishing line to tie it to your ankle and you are done (I assume you already have a suitable blazer). If I were any more envious of you I'd turn into a seethe. Will you be constructing a pit c/w hydraulic lift so you can rise from the mysterious Stygian depths seated in your magnificent chaise-ballon when greeting "guests"?
Doing the washing up [that bit's not my favorite part] while singing Ye Cannae Shove Yer Granny Aff the Bus and If It Wisnae Fur Yer Wellies to myself
Adding amusement to cutting the lawn by mowing geometric shapes - before cutting them too.
Lifting lumps of iron up and down.
[Bismarck] I am planning to mow a fan pattern from one corner of my lawn. I may try to post a picture if it works. This may happen tomorrow, but is more likely to wait a week, as I have quite a tight schedule tomorrow, and the extra faffing about won't make me popular at home.
[Raak] So you work a magnet crane in a scrapyard now? Cool! Third best real person job in the universe. My research shows the following, as judged by reported job satisfaction and the number of people saying "I always wished I could do that" when the subject of what one does for a living comes up in conversation at a party:
Bestest Real Person Jobs In Universe:
Worstest Real Person Jobs in Universe:
Bestest Real Person Jobs In Universe:
- Fire Engine Driver
- Train Driver
- Crane Operator
Worstest Real Person Jobs in Universe:
- Old Guy in Computer Support Department
- Lecturer in Hard Sums at University
- Gong Farmer
I'm obviously discounting jobs like Astronaut and Billionaire from the list on account of real people don't get to do those.
The smell of old books in a real bookshop. Just makes me happy.
M&S British Pudding Chocolates. Rhubarb Crumble, Banoffee, Bakewell Tart... Intense.
Family visits American niece and boyfriend here for three days. Arrived by overnight ferry to Rotterdam from England this morning, we immediately packed them off to Amsterdam on the train, and looking forward to hearing what they made of it over dinner tonight. I'm cooking roast beef and Yorkshire puddings (by special request) obvs.
Being able to see everything with a new and very expensive pair of glasses with progressive lenses. Rimless, titanium arms, definitely not bifocals.
Discovering more things I can do with my new spectacles without having to constantly wear a second pair on top of my head and keep switching them over, such as seeing all the icons on the SatNav screen at the same time as driving; being able to use the PIN machine at a petrol station without digging around in my handbag for the second pair first; cooking; making use of all the settings on my camera instead of relying on 'P'; shopping and being able to read the labels. More updates to follow.
(pen) Yes, they're - good, varifocals. I've got them but I still need another pair for music because you need to look through the lower part which means the trombone would be pointing up to the sky. When your focusing mechanism really seizes up as it does to everyone over about 55 you'll have to be quite careful about getting the right prescription. Won't cost any more, though.
Bloody useless things. Everything you need to read in the real world turns out to be at "eye level" which means to read whatever it is I either have to tilt my head so far back the wind makes my nostrils resonate or I have to stand so far back that people wander between me and whatever it is.
Also only the middle of the lens is properly ground. So what prescription is the rest of the lens made to? The wrong one.
Progressive lenses are the biggest incentive to go Lasic I can think of.
I persist with two pairs, although I might go progressive some day, and keep my old non-reading glasses for playing cricket, which I imagine would be disastrous in multi-prescription glasses.
Yes, I'm finding the limitations of these progressive lenses already. For being outside taking photos or on my bike, I need a thinner sliver of reading prescription at the bottom, and a deeper stretch of landscape-viewing prescription. And the sides are weird. I can set up lapping waves along the dining table by sitting in the middle spot and tipping my head back and forth. If testing myself for mal de mer was ever something I needed to do, I have the right glasses with which to do it.
But they are perfect for supermarkets.
But they are perfect for supermarkets.
Sitting in an empty church and listening to the silence.
[Raak] Amen.
Sending messages from the smartphone by selecting the first word proposed. Needs to be seeded with a couple of words and often ends up in an infinite loop, but there is a certain disquieting quality in it.
[Raak] Or Sitting on a lonely hill and listening to the noise. Both are equally soothing, IMHO.
(Raak + Phil) x 10 = sitting on a very high mountain and listening to both. I highly recommend Switzerland for the purpose.
(Phil) Reigate Hill is not that lonely but the racket from the M25 should make up for it.
nOT neeD1n6 reading gla55eS aTT all.
[Rosie] I was thinking of Lowbury Hill, on the Berkshire/Oxfordshire border, where most of the noise comes from skylarks.
[PPRR] I did it on our back deck this afternoon. Tractors and buzzards. Peeeuw peeeuw.
(pen) There's no answer to that. Were the buzzards all called Leighton?
(pen) I misread your post, substituting the first person plural for the first person singular. It's Phil's fault - you know what he's like.
[Rosie] Typical. And in answer to your question, I doubt it. They're Dutch ones.
[Rosie] I would try to deny it, but nobody would believe me.
Lebkuchen Yes, it's getting near Xmas and the moreish little buggers are in the shops already....
Taking part in huge games of Werewolf. The card game, not the idiotic LARP.
Each of the first few sort-of-words uttered by one's grandchild. He said "ready" yesterday, when we were playing the "ready, steady, sit down" game I invented.
Hidden text
And yes, I have surreptitiously trained my grandson to sit on command :)(Phil, via revelation) Command. Is that a family word for the potty? Best of luck, mate.
Running for a train, and catching it. I am so glad to be getting home around 1am rather than 2am.
Tangentially: Being better at running 5km than I expected. I'm aiming for 26 minutes on Saturday morning, and 25 mins by February.
Staying on a sporty theme : shooting 4 handicap points better at archery simply by holding the bow a tad differently. Nifty.
Padding across a cold marble floor in thick fluffy slippers. Ok, my bathroom floor isn't actually marble, the tiles just look like it.
Padding across a marble floor with underfloor heating in bare feet. Ok, ours are porcelain tiles, not marble either.
Eeeeee you two are lucky to 'ave floor! We only have sandpit filled wi' bits of broken glass.
Diff'rent strokes, as they say. I hate hot floors. My fave is walking across a cold stone floor on a hot day... ahhhhh. My feet are definitely heat sinks.
Dressing up like my character in the Deadlands:Reloaded weird west game I'm involved in. The GM turned up in cowboy drag too yesterday. I am an inspiration to the younger generation.
I should hasten to add I only do this on those days we actually play the game, and I confine my wild west RPG cosplay to those regions that can be seen when I sit at the table. The lower Steviebod is clad in my usual pink tutu, black vinyl hotpants and rubber waders.
The prosect of once more having muddy boots when I work on enhancing my expertise of fruit tree pruning and Dutch fruit tree vocabulary, next Saturday morning, and the next four Saturday mornings after that.
[pen] Were it not that you liked it, one might assume that you would claim "Penelope's exemption," whereby expat Penelopes may claim they work and enjoy the rewards, but actually do nowt. Mme Fillon being the current example.
[Bismarck] If you knew me, you'd know how untrue that was. I have a full-time university job, plus volunteering for the Netherlands' natural and historical heritage. We penelopes despise Mme Fillon and her pretence of working that brings the penelopes of this world into disrepute. (And I can actually write articles that get printed, unlike her)
A snowy landscape outside the living room windows, and a whole Sunday of baking and cooking - the in-laws and nieces are coming this afternoon. Carrot cake, cherry tarts, a big shepherd's pie, and baked stuffed apples.
Listening to my recently acquired "best of The Mutton Birds" CD. Jeepers, I wish I'd found these buggers years ago. Poppy tunes that cradle some of the best song-stories I've ever heard. I have no idea what "White Valiant" is about but it scares the living snot out of me every time I hear it.
Watching the local magpies build their nest.
And following [Bismarck], despite having to take the counter-intuitive long way onto the Rotterdam ring road (driving first in the wrong direction) in order to get home tonight because of jams, the route goes past a storks' nest with brooding storks on it.
First-class rail tickets priced high enough to put off the oiks, but not me.
An oik writes: "Getting across the country with split-rail tickets and actually making all the connections"
Driving to and from work while the schools are on holiday. The town I have to drive through is like a ghost town at the moment whereas it is normally a 10mph crawl.
Being called "Mr Hughes" by the very polite Indian at the local stores. Slightly embarrassing - I feel I ought to dress better.
Solving a case of déja vu. :-)
[SM] Again?
Grabbing a few Shreddies whenever I'm in the kitchen.
Almost done with this semester for classes! Then I get a "whole week" off until my next class starts!
Hotel wi-fi that works like it should. No password, no stupid web proxy in the way, no signing up. My laptop sees the wi-fi and connects, the same as at home. And a sensible amount of bandwidth too.
When the wi-fi at the laundromat actually works!
Working hotel Wi-Fi is always a nice thing . . .
Getting into my car and finding it starts.
The complete lack of targeted ads on this site.
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.
The end of roadworks hasn't happened yet but it will be sooo good when it does.
Sausages on a toasted, buttered onion bagel with HP original sauce.
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.
Tuesday. No work to do. Bliss.
Going downstairs and into the front room and remembering why I did so
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.
Finding verse parodies by accident and giggling uncontrollably in public. There are about a dozen of them, you'll know some no doubt.
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.
Having dinner at a restaurant and the waiters forgetting to put the booze on the bill. This happened last week, I'm hoping for an encore.
Being warm when it's cold. (And at other times, being cool when it's hot.)
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'.
Taking my teenagers out to the Christmas market. Getting time together and enjoying it is precious.
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.
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.
My newest happy song is "I Want an Alien for Christmas" by Fountains of Wayne.
Discovering a blurry picture on the internet that showed that in fact there are no missing parts to the loom of the Pelham "Mother Dragon" marionette Mrs Stevie gave me for Xmas, and by simply re-arranging the screw-eyes someone de-arranged for gosh-knows what reason and replacing the long-gone elastic links for the wings and jaw strings I now had a good-as-new puppet to play with even though this one was bought sometime before decimalization. Someone also tied knots in the leg strings so they wouldn't "run" through the screw-eyes, but I got those knots out with two needles (used as marlin spikes) and some patience while Doctor Who ran on Xmas night. S'triffic puppet. Raaaaaaaar!
Driving on the motorway past the same spot every morning this week just in time to see a huge flock of geese, numbering thousands, take off from their overnight roost.
Finding the waxed thread online and using it to repair the Dragon marionette. Thread snapped after I twisted the control strings too aggressively for storage (you do this to stop the lines tangling in the box). Head detached from body, tail detached and fell into component beads. All fixed now, though, including discovering a new and great way to "snug up" knots with only one pair of hands.
Made myself a full English breakfast this morning. Haven't done it in over 2 years, you just can't get the bacon over here, and Ham is not an acceptable substitute. So fried bread. Black Pudding. Bacon and scrambled eggs. Sausages. Tea and toast with marmalade. 'Cos that's the way (uh-huh, uh-huh) I like it.
Seeing that the second-hand 50-year old pear tree we installed outside the house a month ago (to make our new-ish house look less new on this street) is starting to blossom. Good. If it hadn't have done anything, then that would have been quite a lot of money wasted.
I spoke too soon. The tree gave up. Arse.
I saw tons of great local talent last night when I went to see my city's chapter of Christian Youth Theater's production of Seussical, Jr.
A Bank Holiday with perfect weather! Full sun, light breeze, able to take luncheon on the terrace (oh all right then, a chicken and cheese sandwich in the backyard). But, there was cider involved....
[pen] I'm impressed that it tried at all in its first year, after the shock of being moved. Have you given it the love and horse poop that a budding tree needs?
[Simons] It mostly needs water - it usually has reserves of everything else. We've given it buckets and it has rained a lot, and the wood is still green so it may still leaf/live or it may leave...
Being able to look out the window while computing
I'll explain this one a bit more. I had been using one of those bloody stupid iMac computers with a glossy screen. As a result, if ever I wanted to use the computer during daylight hours I had to sit with the curtains drawn or I couldn't see anything but my own reflection in the damn screen. That computer has now died, and good riddance to it, and this high-end Asus monitor I'm using (with a Raspberry Pi(!)) has a sensible matte finish. That means I can have the pleasure of looking out into my garden and using my computer both at the same time. I will never ever ever buy another Mac as long as their fatuous glossy screen practice continues. In fact, as I can't really think of any reason to forgive them for being that stupid in the first place, I may well continue to avoid them even if they stop that dumb behaviour. Still, I suppose boycotting a company primarily for their being morons is slight progress over boycotting them for being asshats. Although, yeah, Apple are asshats as well, aren't they?
BTW this iMac was second-hand from my brother-in-law. For a few hundred quid I think I got decent value for money, but I would never buy any Apple product new.
Watching the unfolding growth of spring day by day, as my back garden has been transformed from a bombsite into a botanical garden. Real easy to do, just find a girlfriend who is a landscape architect.
Being surrounded with angst-ridden and stressed Frenchmen and being oneself at peace. It's that footie again, the trains are all delayed, and I don't care much!
...one month later... [Pablo] Is it brown and crunchy yet? And do you still have the same girlfriend?
[Pen] I am happy to report that thanks to frequent borrowings of the neighbour's hosepipe (with his blessing I hasten to add), verdant greenness is still evident. And even after 10 days in Italy together 24/7, the girlfriend is also present and correct. Great summer!
Knowing that today’s 36C temperature is the last of the very hot weather for now and tomorrow will be in the 20s.
Hah! It's gone back over 30 again! Proper Aussie summer....
Finally getting rid of a bit of food stuck in your teeth Goodbye blackberry seed. Thanks to you that was a very long hour.
Playing with Lego.
Opening a new Avalon Hill game and punching and sorting counters. Since AH games have been oop since the early 1980s this involves finding "like new" "unpunched" collectors' items and ruining their collectibility in a punch-and-sort-and-bag fest. I love the smell of the cardboard as it comes off the matrix.
Crosby, Stills and Nash. Some people say it doesn't stand the test of time. They are wrong.
Completing things. Finishing things. Endings.
Manchego cheese. Or Havarti
The space where there used to be a piece of furniture.
Toiling on a bicycle through gale-force head winds with blustery sideswipes for several miles, for the feeling of achievement when I finally get where I'm going.
Being advised overnight that one has a new, shiny and bright grandson brought into to the world. He will, hopefully, carry on the family name (My previous grandchildren are girls).
For breakfast: Waffles with maple syrup, cream cheese, and several strips of bacon (applied to the waffle in that order).
[Dujon] Felicitations. Unlikely that my surname will be carried on to future generations, but as it is one of the more common ones, that isn't a problem.
The first balmy evening one can take dinner alfresco.
(Superman) Same here. "Everyone" in N Wales is called Rosie, if you see what I mean.
About time we had some happiness around here... in my hotel room looking at this website and eating shortbread. Not much wrong with that.
Sitting at my desk at home, eating chocolate, drinking tea, and editing an opinion piece by someone else, after which (post 5pm) I can work on my own blogpost what I have been invited to write for one of the tourist websites of my native Lincolnshire. There's work, and there's work that I like doing.
Visiting Spain.
Clearing out all the crap from under the bed. I’m sure we thought all those empty shoeboxes would come in useful one day.
This is more of a Room 202 entry, really, but Halloween. Because without Halloween, Christmas would probably be starting in early September by now.
Respiration. The Bronchitis is ebbing, the pneumonia is *not* taking hold and I can finally breathe without coughing, wheezing and my life flashing before my eyes as I strain to pull volumes of life-sustaining air into my tortured lungs.
Azathoth, I hope I go in an explosion or freak 16 ton weight accident. The Old Man Standard Death sucks balls if this trial run is anything to judge by.
[Stevie] Sympathies and get-well-completely wishes. My entry shall be Freedom from the crap microbe which screwed me over for most of December, involving robbing of life energy and torso-wrenching coughing, compounded by pulling my right IT muscle and contracting conjunctivitis to boot. Not a month I wish to relive.
[Pablo] On the plus side you have a starring part as Uncle Jack in the remake of Ripping Yarns: The Curse of the Claw.
Escape Rooms. A new experience for me, and the most fun I've had in years with my clothes on.
The first half term in 20 years that I have had off, really, really off.
waking up to see the first snowfall of the winter
Trees in blossom, seen from my home office window. And being able to make use of the good weather to get the laundry dried outside on a workday.
Finding a home workaround for restless legs
I get restless legs. Lying awake in bed at 3.a.m., 4 a.m., 5 a.m. with a pair of legs that think they want to go for a half mile run while the rest of me just wants to go to sleep is like Chinese water torture . My known exercise workarounds are to tire 'em out by going for a long walk, or running up and down a flight of stairs 6-10 times or pedalling furiously on an exercise bike for a couple of miles. But I live in a flat and have no stairs (and no exercise bike), so the two quick and easy workarounds were not available to me at home. Very, very glad to have found a life hack that I can do at home that also works and doesn't take the couple of hours the walk takes.
I get restless legs. Lying awake in bed at 3.a.m., 4 a.m., 5 a.m. with a pair of legs that think they want to go for a half mile run while the rest of me just wants to go to sleep is like Chinese water torture . My known exercise workarounds are to tire 'em out by going for a long walk, or running up and down a flight of stairs 6-10 times or pedalling furiously on an exercise bike for a couple of miles. But I live in a flat and have no stairs (and no exercise bike), so the two quick and easy workarounds were not available to me at home. Very, very glad to have found a life hack that I can do at home that also works and doesn't take the couple of hours the walk takes.
[Simons] You're going to tell us what it is, aren't you...? Sorry to hear of your case, it must be horrible to face up to confinement. Very glad you have found a solution.
[Simons] Yeah, what is your fix for the problem? (I bought a treadmill on Friday. Half of it was delivered on Saturday, the other half came this morning. I have paid for it by not having to buy petrol to drive to work for the next 6 weeks. I am imagining walking and listening to half-hour episodes of the Goon Show or Poirot or Paul Temple)
Well it's a home hack; I realized my futon base is at a usable height for 'step training'. Really it's far too high for proper step training but as I need the equivalent of running up at least 6 flights of stairs two steps at a time it'll do.
Normally a divan-like bed would be too soft, but mine's got two tatami mats in it so it's firm enough to step on repeatedly.
For restless legs, the NHS suggestions include taking a hot bath in the evening, or applying a hot or cold compress to your leg muscles - only cold works for me. In fact I also discovered that my legs don't get twitchy as long as they remain cold, so I sleep with not just my feet but my legs outside the covers, and provided it's not too warm a night that also works. Unfortunately my exercise tolerance and cold tolerance are increasing with practice, so my legs and I are locked in an arms race.
And when it's too hot, tiring them out (by any expedient method) is my only fix.
Normally a divan-like bed would be too soft, but mine's got two tatami mats in it so it's firm enough to step on repeatedly.
For restless legs, the NHS suggestions include taking a hot bath in the evening, or applying a hot or cold compress to your leg muscles - only cold works for me. In fact I also discovered that my legs don't get twitchy as long as they remain cold, so I sleep with not just my feet but my legs outside the covers, and provided it's not too warm a night that also works. Unfortunately my exercise tolerance and cold tolerance are increasing with practice, so my legs and I are locked in an arms race.
And when it's too hot, tiring them out (by any expedient method) is my only fix.
[Simons] Tried lying on your back and pedalling furiously?
I haven't actually, but that probably wouldn't provide heavy enough resistance to work against.
Strap bricks on your feet?
[Pablo] No, that's cruel. Poor bricks.
The silence.
I also heard there was a petition out to switch the street lights off so we could all see the stars.
I also heard there was a petition out to switch the street lights off so we could all see the stars.
And no junk mail either, have you noticed?
Pathetech's jumping pillar box pp Stevie
Practising pedal notes on the trombone. It's taken me 25 years to get the hang of this, for some reason. A wonderful rich farty sound that shakes the very walls.
So,Rosie, it wasn't trumpets that brought down the wall of Jericho?
The day I realised that my musical skills would never lead me to buying a musical instrument, brass or otherwise. It was the brass involved that disillusioned me.
(Duj) Musical instruments, especially new ones, are a ludicrous price and there's a lot of pretentiousness involved. The keys of a bassoon, so I was told by a bassoon player, are made put of silver. Why silver? Brass would do, or chrome-plated mild steel or even cast iron or even nylon, which is strong stuff. It's all bollocks, I tell you. Everything is. I could go on.
I would postulate that when it comes to the quality of metal, we are talking about the difference between a responsive brass instrument and one that has as much life in it as a 3 day old dead ferret. Like my French horn - complete crap, but then so am I as a horn player so it doesn't matter. There are, however, cases where it matters very much. Like real brass players.
(Pablo) The quality of the metal probably reflects the overall quality of the design from an engineering point of view but should not affect the actual tone since all the sound comes out of the bell and the material of the instrument itself hardly vibrates at all. This obviously does not apply to an instrument with a sounding board such as a piano, violin or guitar but it certainly does to a brass instrument. You can make a "brass" instrument out of anything, even cardboard. A metal mouthpiece probably helps though.
The worst thing about a cheap 'n' nasty trombone, say, is a sticky slide or leaky water valve, engineering defects. If you open the water valve some notes just disappear; they just cannot be played whereas others are completely unaffected. Weird! All to do with nodes and antinodes.
The worst thing about a cheap 'n' nasty trombone, say, is a sticky slide or leaky water valve, engineering defects. If you open the water valve some notes just disappear; they just cannot be played whereas others are completely unaffected. Weird! All to do with nodes and antinodes.
Watching the little birdies scoffing their mealworms. It seems mealworms are the best thing ever, to a bird. I am less enthused over the featherless cat that also likes them.
[Rosie] Granted that brass instruments are at base, merely tubes (so the didgeridoo qualifies as a brass instrument(??)), I think you could find many top pro brass players who say the metal matters very much. Not just for reasons of weight and balance, but the sound that they can get on them.
Re the water valve, I once knew a trombonist who could play a scale on it. You had to be there.
Re the water valve, I once knew a trombonist who could play a scale on it. You had to be there.
(Pablo) They get a good sound because they feel comfortable with the instrument which is probably expensive, shiny, well put together, well balanced and has a nice easy slide. The material simply can't matter because it doesn't vibrate.
As for the didgeridoo, I'd say yes, it's fundamentally a "brass" instrument because the sound is formed by the player's lips, not by a reed. So, for the same reason, is the sodding vuvuzela. I've played one made out of rubber. It blows just below the Bb below middle C. Harmonics are difficult to get and ridiculously out of tune anyway.
BTW I'm not "top brass" let alone a top brass player. Big Band hack, more like.
As for the didgeridoo, I'd say yes, it's fundamentally a "brass" instrument because the sound is formed by the player's lips, not by a reed. So, for the same reason, is the sodding vuvuzela. I've played one made out of rubber. It blows just below the Bb below middle C. Harmonics are difficult to get and ridiculously out of tune anyway.
BTW I'm not "top brass" let alone a top brass player. Big Band hack, more like.
[Rosie] technical qiestion: is a Kazoo a brass instrument or a reed instrument?
(pen) It's a reed instrument. The wonderfully vulgar sound comes from a vibrating membrane. Brass is basically blowing raspberries down a long tube, in my case 9-13 feet.
[Rosie] Us French hornets have a technique called bouchée or cuivré, whereby one partially stops the bell with the right hand while blowing like the proverbial. If the metal is good, the bell vibrates like crazy, which you can hear. If the metal is crap, nada.
Survival Just read back my entry directed to Stevie from early in the year, commiserating with his bronchitis. Christ, I must have had Covid! Pre-release version, OK, but it has been established that it has been around since November. Note to self - get antibody tested.
(Pablo) If the bell vibrates surely it can only do so at one frequency which may well not be the note you are blowing. My trombone does this and the bell resonates just above D a ninth above Middle C. I can only get this note on a good day (a D-day, I call it) but you can excite the resonance by playing the G below Middle C, just slightly sharp. But none of this affects the sound of the 'bone in its normal range.
BTW I hope the Covid hasn't done you any harm. I certainly don't want to get it myself, not at my age.
[Rosie]Without trying to labour the point, I think this shows the difference between quality of metals, as instruments respond very differently. Tried doing harmonics? Like playing a note and humming strongly the 5th, 10th or 12th above? Bones are particularly good for this. Horns OK, Weber even wrote them into his Horn Concerto.
Thanks for the Covid good wishes. As I am still here, and as good as ever, no, it didn't bloody well get me, despite my age. I'm sure it's the cabernet sauvignon that did it - excellent preservative.
Thanks for the Covid good wishes. As I am still here, and as good as ever, no, it didn't bloody well get me, despite my age. I'm sure it's the cabernet sauvignon that did it - excellent preservative.
(Pablo) Can't do those harmonics. However, I can do quite a good growl, something that goes down quite well in a trad band but would get you some funny looks if you tried it in a big swing band.
[Rosie] Eh? Since when was growl banned from big bands? I've written it into swing charts myself. Bubber Miley in Duke Ellington's band?
(Pablo) You certainly wouldn't put in a growl when playing ensemble but I agree it could easily be part of an ad lib solo. I've even tried it myself but not to any great effect.
[Pablo] I relate that music to not very good chocolate chip cookies (though, if given them, I won't refuse) because of this
(Pablo) Top trumpet players but that isn't a growl, it's the wa-wa mute and probably marked as such on the chart.
[Rosie] Actually it's marked as a plunger growl. (Wah-wahs wouldn't cut it - not gutsy enough)
A little rain.
A little rain is a little pleasure. A lotta rain, I agree, maybe not. But overall I like rain more than not, personally.
A little rain is a little pleasure. A lotta rain, I agree, maybe not. But overall I like rain more than not, personally.
Lunchtime dogwalking wearing a coat Much cooler today, around 19C after last week's 32-33-34C, and I'm back at work (although still working from home) which means I do the lunchtime dog walk. I had to wear a waterproof coat and actually enjoyed the cooler temperatures that made me walk faster on the 1.6 miles to the potato warehouse and back. Thank goodness I've invested so much in boots and coats over the past few years. I have gear for every possible lunchtime meteorological condition from now until at least next April.
(pen) Well, don't hold your lightning conductor like that - it could be live.
The shipping forecast. Just been listening to a French person who said he liked listening to the French shipping forecast as he used to go sailing with his grandfather. Not just a Blighty thing, then.
I remember - 20 or so years ago - driving around somewhere near Aberdeen or Inverness for work and playing around with the Long Wave on the car radio and picking up what I presume was the Danih- or perhaps the Norwegian shipping forecast. It certainly wasn't German or French, but I could identify the names of the shipping areas.
Serendipitous discoveries Today my friend and I took a slightly different route on our walk round Wimbledon Village, and found Cannizaro Park, which neither of us knew was there.
[Simons] Hidden gem, isn't it? Make sure you go next June when the rhododenrons come out, it's amazing.
Corporate kindness Rare as it is, it generates a lot of goodwill when I see it. Especially when humor is also shown. See this recent example from Northern Rail.
"We are aware we have bees nesting at the end of platform 3.
Please do not disturb them.
Consider them as key workers and apply social distancing."
Oh hey, I'm accidentally switching to American spelling. Serves me right for getting in to a big document in US-English.
Tim Vine jokes. Merriment.
Cake.
It's raining and windy and grey and I just got soaked on a dog walk so any cake will do. I should have made one yesterday but was busy ironing. Banana bread tonight then.
It's raining and windy and grey and I just got soaked on a dog walk so any cake will do. I should have made one yesterday but was busy ironing. Banana bread tonight then.
Red wine, after a week on the wagon taking a no-booze antibiotic
The wobble on a good hot dog. This one hadn't occurred to me, but it is true, and this video link of the WobbleDog 9003i in action makes an incontrovertible case.
I shall now pause to observe a moment of silence for the few dogs injured during these experiments.
Still sunny at 16:00 on a Friday afternoon in January. Longer days in lockdown.
My car passed its MOT. First time for ages. That means I can still legally drive to Waitrose (one mile). The open-ended freedom this endows me with is positively scary.
More red wine. And more....
A dog sleeping on your lap and cherry coke with grenadine or pomegranate juice.
Waking up with a pulse and apparently Covid-free. Thanks to RFLT.
[Chalky] Radox-Filled Large Tub?
[chalky] Ralf Lemster Financial Translations?
Red Frogs Finishing Tuna?
Robots Liking Flambed Turkey?
Red Frogs Finishing Tuna?
Robots Liking Flambed Turkey?
Rapidly Fried Lark's Tongues?
S'obviously Roger Federer's Lunting Trousers.
Reeking Limburger For Tits?
[Stevie] I'm on a diet. As of now.
Playing "Take the first line of a novel" and then add "And then the dragons arrived." There are so many that work surprisingly well.
Of course, Harry Potter, LOTR, The Hobbit, and 1984 have all been popular ones.
These have been my contributions:
Not so long ago, a monster came to the small town of Castle Rock, Maine. And then the dragons arrived.
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf stream and he had gone 84 days now without taking a fish. And then the dragons arrived.
Alice was getting very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do. And then the dragons arrived.
Of course, Harry Potter, LOTR, The Hobbit, and 1984 have all been popular ones.
These have been my contributions:
Not so long ago, a monster came to the small town of Castle Rock, Maine. And then the dragons arrived.
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf stream and he had gone 84 days now without taking a fish. And then the dragons arrived.
Alice was getting very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do. And then the dragons arrived.
Marmalade tea and individually wrapped slices of quail salami.
Seeing on and working on my art car. Also, having others add to it.
Getting quite pissed on brandy and visiting the Morniverse, which is full of my type of people. (KagomeShuko) Are you sure you'e in the right game?
Having (and eating) leftover cakes I made for the in-laws' visit yesterday.
Throwing away stuff that even I can't think of a use for. Not so much that it didn't spark joy, as that it did spark 'what in holy hell even is this thing?' I have still got a stash of bits and bobs that I don't know what they're for, but it's smaller now. I'm keeping some of the more intriguing artefacts, at least for this round, because if I chuck 'em I'll never find out what they were. Curiosity and hoarding tendencies have managed to outweigh tidiness once again.
One of the stranger objects I had stashed are some screw-like objects with a fat smooth cylinder in the middle of the screw. So they're not cylinder-head screws, because there's thread before and after the cylinder part, which is considerably thicker than the surrounding screw. So what the hell are those things for? What are they called? I guess they're some kind of screw-hinge device?
[SM] Sounds like anchor screws used for attaching curtain rail holders. One side screws into the wall, the other into the rail holder. If they are beefy then they might be used for attaching sinks and other similar items. If they are massive, then maybe for holding railway rails to the sleepers. All these types have different threads on each end.
Some sort of curtain fastening arrangement seems to be the best explanation. I think I'll call that a win.
*Contentious statement alert* Most unidentified objects in abandoned drawers and neglected biscuit tins of 'things' are to do with hanging curtains. Curtains are the most complicated of household artefacts and no two systems are interchangeable or compatible.
[pen] Ha! You've obviously never had to deal with shelving units...
[Pabbers] Ha! I have a husband to deal with that sort of thing.
[pen] Now that's a bloody good idea! Why didn't I think of that?
The smell of new wood I've got a new fence, 'cos the old one blew down. I keep getting little whiffs of fresh DIY store fence wood through my window. While it's not as nice as freshly sawn timber, it still qualifies as a little pleasure.
OK, this is getting a bit meta, but also: Noticing Little Pleasures.
Because of this game, I always keep an eye (or a nose) out for little pleasures. And because I do that, I'm more likely to notice them.
Also, Getting meta :-)
[Simons] I'm all for getting meta. It's an element of mindfulness. I'm getting better at it on lunchtime dogwalks. Last week it was watching stormy shelf clouds skirting around me, and noticing the ash twigs blown off the trees onto the path looking like broken wands from Harry Potter and wondering what high jinks they'd been up to, this week it was noticing the twigs laid like directional arrows on the ground (did we used to call them Indian signposts or something? A long, long time ago at Girl Guides...). And how good the potato blossoms smell. And how the smell of the next field with onions reminds me of a fairground hot dog stand. Anyway, the point is, the more you look, the more you see.
*pays close attention to SM’s move*
The nectarines are really good this year. Sweet, juicy, not fibrous or unripenable.
Dark chocolate from Poland.
I guess you could say I'm polishing off this Polish bar of dark chocolate.
I guess you could say I'm polishing off this Polish bar of dark chocolate.
No quarantining if I visit the UK from next week. The need for quarantine and the costs of tests during it have kept me away from friends and family in the UK for a year and a half. Realising that I can now start to plan visits again is a huge relief.
Do keep your mask around: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cdc-covid-coronavirus-masks-indoors-vaccinated-people-pandemic The delta variant apparently also produces 1200 times the viral load in less time. So, the aerosols spewed out are massively more infectious.
Someone I follow on Pluspora just posted:
So one of my colleagues, doubly vaccinated (Astra), just tested covid positive. Life is a bitch.
Symptoms were two days of flu, but then everything went back to normal. I suppose you could say that the vaccine worked.
And how do you get covid? By having a son watching a football game in a pub.
[Simons] I know this. This is why I'm probably not going to go back to the office in a university with 7,000 students, not until most of them get vaccinated.
Got my Pfizer vaccines - 2nd does was in April. I'm watching news for updates with booster shots.
I get so tired of people denying that COVID exists and claiming that vacccines are dangerous or don't work.
I get so tired of people denying that COVID exists and claiming that vacccines are dangerous or don't work.
Enjoyed seeing a sign which said: "All of you panic buying, stock up on condoms, so you don't produce any more fucking idiots."
Taking a whole shelfful of books to the charity shop, even though I want to keep them. See the Good Books game over at MCiOS.
(KagShu) Just had my booster. I agree with you about anti-vaxxers. Politely, they are misguided; less politely they're thick as pigshit and completely up their own arses. I despise them. BTW do Americans refer to The Jab? The term is universal over here.
Visiting my students on their apprenticeships and seeing them really excited and enthusiastic about what they're doing. Whenever I start getting a bit cynical about teaching, I think about a student excitedly showing me the production line that he's now responsible for maintaining. Warm glowy feelings a-go-go.
[nights] could I ask what/where you teach?
[Bismarck] You can indeed - I teach at a further education college in France on the local equivalent of an HND in Industrial Maintenance and another in Physical Measurement. Our kids are training to be maintenance or metrology techs of all stripes, or to go on to further study at engineering school. My speciality is technical and scientific English, as the French have finally realised that all the innovation in the world is useless if no-one can understand them. I'm also involved in the administration of our apprenticeship scheme, and I genuinely feel like I've found my niche. [/advert]
[Nights] Anything to do with IUT Louis Pasteur (near Strasbourg) or Karim Kalfane's maintenance programme?
[Bismarck] Er, yes indeed - Karim just retired in October! I've taken over two of his apprentices!
Wandering through Google Earth in a VR headset. Rome, Florence, Burning Man, all right there in my computer room.
Getting my Jehovah's Witness advent calender. Every time you open a door, someone tells you to piss off.
Mobile phone signal in the Channel Tunnel "Hi! I'm in the car! On a train! In a tunnel! Under the sea! Etc!"
Doughnut season. Hot and fresh from the baker and, although not the anglo-saxon kind, soft and delicious. Lovely just with cinnamon and sugar.
[nights] Shame on you, hunting innocent doughnuts
London. If I had seven zeros in my bank account I’d live here. Instead I content myself with visiting from time to time. London Festival of Baroque Music this weekend (and all week, but a weekend is a long enough break).
(Raak) 10-8p should last several nanoseconds.
[Rosie] But what nanoseconds!
(Raak) Indeed, but what about the other 1018 or so?
I have a new pleasure to add: Using 'phut' as an expletive.
Experiencing a good night-time thunderstorm. There's just been one here but they were a lot more frequent in the '50s and '60s.
A follow-on from the last: florid and exuberant words.
Bamboozle, euphonium, badonkadonk, oleaginous, hornswoggle, sonorous... 'Exuberant' itself, for that matter.
Bamboozle, euphonium, badonkadonk, oleaginous, hornswoggle, sonorous... 'Exuberant' itself, for that matter.
Using singular verbs for "none" as it sure as heck isn't plural
Something I have inherited from my late dad is saying, for example, "none of them is even remotely competent". It genuinely gives me pleasure in a way that using the subjunctive in conversation no longer does.
Something I have inherited from my late dad is saying, for example, "none of them is even remotely competent". It genuinely gives me pleasure in a way that using the subjunctive in conversation no longer does.
(Phil) Similarly, Not inserting an intrusive "r", as in "Aston Villa is a football club."
Seeing someone rocking cool or fun clothes
Sharp blue trouser suit, fluorescent orange heels - although it did look like the heels were killing her
Sharp blue trouser suit, fluorescent orange heels - although it did look like the heels were killing her
Having just moved to Sheffield ("that city of razors and knives" - John Betjeman), getting in a pint for well under a fiver. This is a beer city for sure.
1. The words "tasselled wobbegong".
2. Discovering that there is such a thing as the tasselled wobbegong.
3. Discovering that furthermore, it exists on this very planet.
2. Discovering that there is such a thing as the tasselled wobbegong.
3. Discovering that furthermore, it exists on this very planet.
[Raak] What a ... creature. And we're told, "The tasselled wobbegong can be readily identified by the fringe of dermal lobes on its head." Which is all well and good, but I can't help but notice that the reader is left entirely to their own devices for identifying which part is the head.
"The tasselled wobbegong can be..." A sentence worthy of Jack Vance!
Getting a birthday present from Waitrose I was nattering away to an assistant and mentioned I'd just had a birthday. He reached up to the shelf and pulled down a box of chocolates and said "I've seen you here quite a lot so have this on the house". I'd scoffed the lot by the end of the evening.
Confusing students thoroughly by using measurements in teragrams. I've always said I became a teacher chiefly to amuse myself.
(nights) That's about a million tons, innit? Have you thought of using attoparsecs? It's about 3 cm, a little over an inch.
I've been into TikTok lately and sometimes there's this really awesome pianist that does at-home piano bars. It makes me so happy as do all of the people that come in for them. Sometimes he has gigs that he's allowed to broadcast on TikTok and that makes me happy, too. And the regulars come in, too.
Reading the thought: "We need free speech, that's how we find out who all the idiots are"
Wide window sills
Yes, it's a bit random, but I chanced to be reminded of it this evening, so I'm putting it in. When I was a kid, my house has wide window sills. Wide enough for a kid to sit on. And in the summer, I used to sit on the window sill and read for hours after my bedtime, sometimes till 4am or so, I suspect. The only risk of being spotted would have been if my parents decided to go into the garden, which they basically never did after about 6pm, any time of year. Some of my friends' houses had or have yucky, narrow window sills, and I always viewed them (the sills, that is) with disdain. My current house also has nice wide window sills everywhere, and while I no longer need them as ad-hoc midnight seating, they're still handy for plant pots, ornaments and things. It's only a little thing, almost inconsequential really, but that's what little pleasures are all about, so I'm putting it in this game.
Yes, it's a bit random, but I chanced to be reminded of it this evening, so I'm putting it in. When I was a kid, my house has wide window sills. Wide enough for a kid to sit on. And in the summer, I used to sit on the window sill and read for hours after my bedtime, sometimes till 4am or so, I suspect. The only risk of being spotted would have been if my parents decided to go into the garden, which they basically never did after about 6pm, any time of year. Some of my friends' houses had or have yucky, narrow window sills, and I always viewed them (the sills, that is) with disdain. My current house also has nice wide window sills everywhere, and while I no longer need them as ad-hoc midnight seating, they're still handy for plant pots, ornaments and things. It's only a little thing, almost inconsequential really, but that's what little pleasures are all about, so I'm putting it in this game.
Posting on behalf of something or someone else: Seeing a frog, jumping out of a lap, and nosing at said frog in order to make it jump and then finding it and nosing it again and making it jump.
Discovering that the Internet has the lyrics to the songs on Faust Tapes inside it.
J'ais mal aux dents, J'ais mal aux pieds aussie
J'ais mal aux dents, J'ais mal aux pieds aussie
J'ais mal aux dents, J'ais mal aux pieds aussie
J'ais mal aux dents, J'ais mal aux pieds aussie
J'ais mal aux dents, J'ais mal aux pieds aussie
J'ais mal aux dents, J'ais mal aux pieds aussie
A ripe peach
Getting food delivered when you aren't feeling good.
(Stevie) Woss wrong with yer feet, cobber?
Schadenfreude when things go well for a pessimist.
[Superman] Other people's schadenfreude makes me sad.
The triangle where the collarbone meets the neck
Moving your limbs I'm not so keen on getting too hot, or too cold, or rained on, or achey or blistered or whatever, but physical activity is undeniably a net plus even if there are a few flies in the ointment.
[SM] The flies are the best part!
Perpetrating names like Boots, Bewts, Butes, Bootes, Marchinup & Downagen Solicitors and Commissioners of Oaths on the Americans in my Space 1889 game. Count Oberluft and Baroness Von Klyster have also made appearances.
Nobody to stop me eating an entire box of chocolates in the first half of the latest Doctor Who episode
Doing a syrtaki with some friends.
My automatically waving at people, when I take my morning walk, eventually paying off when people start waving at me first!
Playing an augmented 9th (on the piano). A nice, tangy jazz chord. Can't leave it hanging, though. .
Catching the last sunbeam
A fig straight from the tree.
@Muse I'm trying to cultivate the habit of smiling at everyone, especially people working in shops. If it helps just a tiny bit I think it's worthwhile.
Secretly laughing at weird smiley people
Mushy peas
Living through the first day that the temperature in Sheffield hits 18 degrees.
[Pablo] What, the first ever? Wow :-)
Discovering that plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose is actually true.
A warm, but slightly overcast day with a pleasant breeze.
Means I can sit in the 'garden' and 'work', and see WTH I'm doing on the laptop. Yes, I would be more productive if I sat indoors at my desk with a keyboard and the bigger monitor, but perfect days like this are rare and should not be squandered. And I've squandered more than a few, so let's start appreciating them.
Means I can sit in the 'garden' and 'work', and see WTH I'm doing on the laptop. Yes, I would be more productive if I sat indoors at my desk with a keyboard and the bigger monitor, but perfect days like this are rare and should not be squandered. And I've squandered more than a few, so let's start appreciating them.
Eliciting a smile from other people's babies in supermarkets, without the parent(s) noticing, simply by smiling at them.
The prospect of baking a cake tonight for the first in-person team meeting for a while tomorrow & being able to make it lactose-free for one particular colleague who often misses out.
I wasn't very bold, was I? Maybe a good thing. You'd all want to come to our team meeting for a piece of Devonshire Honey Cake (see the BBC's Good Food website recipe)
My mother, who was quite a good baker, once decided to make honey cake. It wasn't good at all, and nobody wanted to eat it, so we left it out for the birds. After about a month we came to the conclusion that neither the birds nor any other beast would ever touch the stuff, so we had to throw it out.
I also have a honey cake story. My mother, also quite a good baker, once decided to make honey cake. The whole house smelled of honey while it was baking, yet the result was an ordinary sponge cake that hardly tasted of honey at all. Maybe it’s like brewing coffee, where the optimal temperature for extracting the flavour will send the flavour flying off into the air given any chance. Is there a baking equivalent to the espresso machine, that bakes the cake in a sealed oven?
I've never had honey cake, only honey buns, but those are good. Reminds me that I should get some next time I get some groceries.
The recipe calls for boiling the honey, butter and sugar together. I kept it under a boil - I reckoned I'd lose all the honey aromatics by boiling. It seemed to work. But the cake needs 50% longer in the oven than the recipe states.
The prospect of going to try out a new (to me) car later this afternoon. It's got heated seats.
The prospect of going to try out a new (to me) car later this afternoon. It's got heated seats.
(pen) Heated seats? Wow! Can we call you Ms Winterbottom?
[Rosie] Not for much longer. Presumably that's the point
I'm not sure if this is a little pleasure, as I only did it for the lulz, but toasted cheese Brevilles. I have a sandwich toaster, which has been used maybe once since my student days. On a whim I decided to randomly use it again. Mmm. Hot toasted Breville sandwiches.
They were all right. In fact they weren't a bad lunch.
I think that does count as a pleasure, but, yeah, only a little pleasure. Still, that's on topic for this game.
Cleaning the toaster, on the other hand... well, I was reminded why toasted Breville sandwiches are primarily a studenty novelty.
[Simons] Is that like a grilled cheese sandwich? I do love grilled cheese sandwiches, but even if I had a kitchen, it's too hot for grilled cheese sandwiches.
I did remember to get some honey buns and I got some chocolate muffins, too.
I did remember to get some honey buns and I got some chocolate muffins, too.
The Breville is supposed to seal gloopy fillings inside the bread. It's basically a waffle maker with different shaped heating plates
'Sealing gloopy fillings' - that is, either the seal is imperfect, it leaks and makes a mess which dribbles out over the toaster and onto the table, or it seals correctly, meaning that the scalding hot goo comes out when you bite into it, giving nineth degree burns AND a mess.
Toasted marmite sandwiches...
Toasted marmot sandwiches
Cuddling with my dog when I go to bed and before getting up for the day.
Head booping a kitty!
[SM] Your cat? You got a cat?
Dodge-with-treble lead 2nds dodge lead dodge. Out to the back, double dodge lie dodge. To the front, lead and dodge. The middle work up: dodge 4ths 3rds dodge-with-treble 4ths 3rds dodge. (Dodge everywhere. When in doubt, you probably forgot a dodge.) The back work: double dodge lie dance-with-treble lie double dodge. Reverse to reassemble, so next is the middle work down: dodge 3rds 4ths dodge-with-treble 3rds 4ths dodge. To the front, dodge and lead. To the back, dodge lie double dodge. To the front, dodge lead dodge 2nds lead dodge-with-treble 2nds and that’s all. Learning Cambridge Surprise Minor by studying the blue line over two days and then ringing it all the way through.