Stuff that makes you disproportionately happy

I like having just the right tool for a job when working on a car or bike etc., that time when the spanner/socket is just the right length and angle to get onto the head of a bolt or the hose clip just lines up perfectly to get access to it.

Also when you buy a tool to make a job easier and it actually works, I think this is my peak example of it when working on cars and trying to get to those awkward radiator/coolant hose clips which always seem to be pointing in a direction you cant access. £15 spent that’s saved me hours of swearing!:

Finding this nest in the hedge now the leaves have dropped

Ah but the best feeling of all is when you buy a tool and it turns out to be the wrong tool and then you throw it in a box for years and suddenly without any warning at all in the middle of a job you need that exact tool and you go “wait a minute…”

A weekend to myself (despite having to work a few hours on sat)

Wife and daughter have gone to visit my other daughter at Uni so its just me and the cat till Monday night!!!

Already got my ‘awful’ blues lp’s on the stereo  and later on the guitar will come out for some badly played rock covers.

Riding bikes with my son..did Rebellion Way with him last year camping and King Alfred’s Way this year camping. Did Sa Calobra from Porte Pollensa this Easter as well, what a day that was.

Trackleman’s chilli jam. Accept no substitutes. Spread on a scone after a swipe of cream cheese for a spicy cream tea. Always cream (cheese) first!

Visiting the community cafe on a dreary Friday afternoon to find it full of fun and happy people. Here’s to you, Cafi Canolfan Mynydd Du 🙂  https://black-mountain.org.uk/

Seeing a kingfisher.

But today was a special treat.  Rather than just seeing the flash of blue flying away down the canal, he actually stopped and perched whilst I watched.

And then he started diving for fish and caught one.

Certainly one of the highlights of this year.

Kingfishers are great birds.  I saw a pair together for the first time this year and was stupidly excited.

Haven’t seen a kingfisher for a few years now, sadly.

I popped into a recently reopened cafe near me, in an old lodge building. Roaring log fire in the small indoor seating area, comfy low sofa to sit and eat my crispy bacon cob, and a gorgeous retriever pup who thought a low sitting bacon eating stranger would make a perfect new friend.

It’s been a shit mental health week and I really needed a new furry friend and a roaring fire.

I installed a double kick pedal on my drum kit. It’s silly and unnecessary for the music I play…..I love it!

Message popped up on my FB feed from a local cafe/Bistro saying they were closing at 2.30 today as it was their staff Christmas party tonight…….and they weren’t opening till 11.30 tomorrow.

That’s a great boss giving them an extra couple of hours to recover!

Knowing that I have a couple of hours to go until a three-week holiday.

There’s a display in the British Museum of Egyptian carvings. One series is of small flat (maybe 5 inches wide) carvings of turtles. They start off properly proportional then get more and more stylised until one is a flat circle with the tiniest blips representing legs head and tail. It made me so happy to think that someone, thousands of years ago, made a joke and I laughed out loud at it.
Any time I’ve travelled in third world countries to see how different people’s lives can be, I’ve come to realise just how alike we all are.

Oh, and it makes me happy that for all the times I’ve been to the British Museum (to look at the turtle) I haven’t bothered to see the Elgin marbles.

These two threads next to each other

The thought of the loaf of bread I just put in the mixer to have at lunch in sausage sandwich format

And mdma obviously

@BigJohn, I agree 😀

I went to Tesco last night and paid at the machines. Was waiting for my £5.20 change and expecting the usual massive pile of silvers and coppers when what should pop out but a £5 note and a 20p.

Hallelujah! I screamed, punching the air and then dropping to my knees and sobbing for joy.

…Well not quite. But it was a massive and welcome (disproportionate) surprise.

I meant to post this a few weeks back, but didn’t get around to it …

Out on a solo evening ride, beautiful dry autumn evening. A sudden gust of wind just picked up some leaves from the trail, lifted and swirled them into the air briefly, and then just dropped, and all the orange-brown beech leaves just floated gently back to the ground. Magic.

Walking along the cuddyside in Peebles i was treated to the otter swimming about.

Ah but the best feeling of all is when you buy a tool and it turns out to be the wrong tool and then you throw it in a box for years and suddenly without any warning at all in the middle of a job you need that exact tool and you go “wait a minute…”

Shortly followed by “…when did i buy the second one?”

Oh that’s an excellent find Ambrose. Are you a fan of 5000 year old gags too?

(It’s the way I carve’em)

I like turtles…

Watching Point Break on the big screen* last night as part of the BFI ‘action movies’ season.

Full of geaky Point Break fans all laughing at the same bits, joyous  🙂 🙂

*have only ever seen it on tellybox

Crispy but not too crispy chips.
Schadenfreude.

Yup, I reckon that’s the whole list for me.

Sunny day, a new chain on the chainsaw and a pile of wind blown trees to chop up. Feeling the sharp chain pull the saw through the timber like butter, spraying big square chips, oof, better than s*x 😉

My Christmas cactus flowered for the first time in maybe 15 years. I guess it likes its new position (more sunlight)

A solitary quiet pint in a quiet pub.

The sight of a Spitfire with D-DAY markings flying in the Kent skies and the roar of a Merlin engine.

Was the highlight of my ramble today.

Finding out that Nick Parks of Wallace and Gromit fame also animated the dancing chickens in the Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer video

Writing a post on the social mediaz and hitting the character count limit exactly. I feel like I’ve got my money’s worth.

Nick Parks

Park.

• those perfect early morning rides, where you can watch the world wake up around you, loaded with flowy single-track and gigggly bits that just make twatting about on bikes a total joy.
• designing bike things in titanium
• testing shiny things you’ve designed and finding out that your ideas actually work really well in the real world.
• reading favourite books, with the wood burner pootling away and happy cats all over the place trying to soak up all the heat
• getting home from a rubbish day at work to be greeted by my fave one eyed knobead cat, full of head bunts and purrs.
• waking up next to my favourite person in the whole world
• pickled onion monster munch

Can’t get much better than all that ^^

Pulling into the driveway after a very long day at work, opening the door of the van only for my daughter to come flying in head first for a hug before I’ve even had the chance to get out.

She’ll be too big for this soon but dammit I’ll miss these welcome homes.

Remembering and putting the correct colour bin out on bin day. Middle aged wins.

Learning that the price of pigs in blankets has fallen by 2% since last year.

I have been looking after my new girlfriend’s dog this weekend and watching how happy she is jumping into muddy water made me smile.  Not sure I will be looking after her again after getting her so muddy but it was worth it.

On the subject of kingfishers, I used to see them all the time when I lived next to the Basingstoke Canal, particularly kayaking as they’d fly ahead of you, swooping to the next branch. Now living on the Isle of Mull, we were driving along and noticed a bright blue bird swoop and perch on a roadside fence over a burn. Said to Mrs DB “why would I think I’ve just seen a kingfisher?” As they weren’t known to live on the island. She was talking to some knowledgeable birders – apparently kingfishers have been observed at a “secret” location.

Simply getting out in nature is what makes me happy – the mindfulness of simply taking it all in, whether up on the hill or out in my kayak, particularly in an eagle, otter, seal, porpoise or dolphin stops by. It gives you a sense of perspective, sitting there in the majesty of nature and your only worries are the weather and the tides.

Gigs. Getting to see a good artist live with a number of other people is a joy.

Saw Slipknot saturday night, at one point making way for a dad and his 14yo daughter to get to the barrier so she could fully enjoy her first Slipknot gig right up front. Watching them sing lyrics in unison was a beautiful moment to watch. Parenting done right.

Doing the last yoga session of the year with a Christmas playlist quietly in the background. We settle into a nice gentle stretch and in a moment of quiet hear “You scumbag, you maggot….”

Cue 16 yogis bursting into laughter

Dua Lipa at the Royal Albert Hall. Just sublime.