5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3

topsyturphy

Pleasures for today

1. short staffed but my team worked very hard.
2. Ham & Egg pasta salad for lunch took in from home.
3. 65.8 mpg on drive in my new to me car.
4. The good thing about being older I usually get offered a seat on the underground.
5. Cuddles with little dog who is now curled up at the bottom of the bed, don’t need a hot water bottle.

DigForVictory

What can I say? (1/2)

I did Start replying but then had to stop & then another 3 weeks passed & oh Lord, so did far too many beloved animals let alone birthdays (DS 38, SuffolkSue? you child bride!) & shamefaced I could add my mite to the Christmas Veg stories but it'll be Lent next week.

However, WeenancyinAmerica - Heck Yes, making it through the day Counts. 

OS pleasures in the last month & a bit Oh Heavens

Mum & I giggling over an article “do your friendships pass the dog test?” As we (both dog-free) wholly see that various dog incidents might well cause a certain stress. (Oddly a bloke article over “would I have a couple of pints with & would I leave a puppy with for the weekend” covered intriguingly similar matey ground, albeit with radically different examples.)

Happily dissing denim with mum. (Mountain rescue see Far too many pairs of jeans in their work & when the trend is skinny, Manchester fire brigade pull more immobilised by-their-trous than -beer chaps from the canals - can’t bend at the hip or knee properly.) Lovely stuff, indoors or at summer parties, just don’t let it get wet… Mum bewildered by “waiting list” jeans!

Peeling sprouts, mum asks «do you remember calling these “fairies’ cabbages”?» Not at all, but far be it from me to distress her.

Carer charmed mum singing (mainly nursery rhymes) & me joining in & Googling the extended lyrics to “ding dong bell” etc…

Waking to texts from both lads checking I’m OK. 

Helping mum translate a letter from an old family friend in France. The delights of gâteé (spoiled) arrière-petit-fils (great grandson) & des eclats quotidiens de bonheur (daily bursts of happiness) brought cheerful giggling to the breakfast table alongside deciphering a chuckling complaint someone is cooking “forgetting salt, parsley and gawd knows what else”. 

Mum came down muttering & began leafing through Constance Spry & asking if a chicken could feed 6 [News to me they could cook]. She didn’t have her hearing aids in, so my side of the conversation was typed, with a YouTube video on jointing a chicken & me gesturing… Mum said she’d seen a chicken “hung up” so I spread out arms & pulled a face & she’s still chuckling several minutes later but Constance is back on the shelf & I think somewhere there’s a hugely relieved chicken.

Cooked huge amounts of food for lactose intolerant vegetarian sister so she has no cause to irritate me for another few months. All those Christmas veggies put to use.

Water board chaps very sweetly making road near impassable but also helping locate stopc*ck so can turn water off as they replace mains. So bathtubs full, as is kettle… [All well!] {And back again a month later, what is it about water board chaps & Youngest in the same county?!}

Sis doing goblet squats clutching a sack of muesli. Life does not get massively sillier…

The boys do not have any Italian clothing. (I pleaded!) but there are photos & fridge magnets & I have been given a mater ecclesiae card & little medal of the mosaic in St Peter’s square. Which actually I find very sweet, even if radically not what I asked them to do.

More RI Christmas lectures & the intriguing strawberry ice cream variations. (Loud hurrahs for the liquid nitrogen! Very traditional, & I love the gauntlets [& now recognising health & safety cautions].)

It’s good to be home. Checking work email (I really must work on my work life balance) I see I’ve a lot of training to deliver & a week studying in class myself in the coming months. That helps squash the “I’m not useful” feelings.

Grief cafe - “welcome to the deep end of adulthood” yikes, yes, absolutely. Also “don’t be defined by sadness” - odd how a lot of us grieving in covid felt a bit hurt when the world opened back up again. Demanded it be allowed to party when some weren’t going to ever again.

Finally found an ups drop point. Had a lovely heartfelt chat about temperature & apparently the right socks really do make a vast difference.

Ooops. Maggots. Heroic son filling bin bags then hoovering then swabbing surfaces….

Thick fog making the world shrink. Strange how headlights make so little difference.

Scouts! New year, new faces, the same gleeful racket & we invested 3 scouts & 2 leaders. One bouncing back, as only the young can, from a pure liquid 18th birthday party & bright-eyed at my musing that in another few decades she might want longer to recover, & us both trying to figure what the advantages of being 18 were.

Getting details on plans for the month - next week «how to use an iron» & the basics of changing a lightbulb (even if, as LEDs take over, it’s no longer as essential as it used to be!)

Oh dear gods, mum’s got a leaking pipe again. In the same week as sis has news she’s being made redundant in a fortnight. The upside is mum’s carer is going off on a holiday back to get family in South Africa for a fortnight so won’t have to lug water for drinking & washing etc.

Teaching & one of our trainees has an not-yet-stable-epileptic girlfriend. He’s her cook, chauffeur & reminds her to take her meds & I think she & her family are blinking lucky. As he’s good at his job, too.

Reading up on how best to support sister eyeing potential radiotherapy.  Looks like more driving.

Soaking in Alison Moyet’s glorious voice. Haven’t heard the wraggle taggle gypsies in years. Then onto her stunning French, beautiful accent as well as all that passion. (My priorities, ahem, but my young just aren’t bothering with languages “as everyone speaks English”…  They’ve never heard Jacques Brel. Their loss but when they ‘discover’ him!)

Youngest sounded so ‘weekend thoughtful’ “Care to join me for breakfast?” so I agreed, “what were you contemplating?” to hear “Boiled mouse”. I love him dearly & am hugely glad I was awake enough to cope with his humour…

Listening to an Economist podcast on “no contact” & bewildered that the old contract is being shattered.

Reading cormoran strike fanfic (not sourced the books yet) & finding the Ellacot family congenial while the hero & heroine are So Young. (Or the authors are.)

Middleson borrowing house Tormek blade sharpening tackle, parts box & instruction manual.

Scouts! Happily solving puzzles & riddles with verve.

Youngest turned in his first uni essay today, ruefully aware he’s out of practice, left starting it too late & didn’t realise there was an upper word limit do had to do a fast hatchet edit. All good educational stuff!

Colleague has said flatly training will start at 10. During covid, this was so his wife could lead morning prayers over the house internet connection. Now it continues to give everyone a chance to do the school run & we still are included in the prayers. Warming.

Seemingly there are active female opera singers over 50. Not the easiest job to get into though. Can sing in French, could pick up Italian as needed. Hey, as a daydream it’s a giggle…

YouTube Springsteen “back in your arms” - s’beautiful (with the E street band, whom I regard as vital). Middleson’s in Berlin to hear Rieu live (!) but has me tickets to the Boss after Easter! 

Scouts, Chinese new year of the Snake, cooking dumplings & learning to use chopsticks. (My technique learned from an illustrated Arthur Ransome novel, interestingly almost half our scouts were chopstick adequate & the others were trained by me with patience & Mentoes…) Some nights volunteering is so much fun!

Youngest grumbles when I plead for beef stew, but it tastes so good!

Wore my usual work weeds to film premiere, but added string of pearls. Fellow committee members amused & admiring bless ‘em. In the end we all landed in the cutting room floor but it’s a lovely short film about weavers & storytellers & disruptors, which had several of us discreetly trying not to roar with laughter as that describes our chairwoman to a T.

Just got the Iceland voucher sorted & youngest says we don’t need any frozen stuff!

Found a new series of Father Brown on iPlayer! I do love a stylish murder. And oh, Flambeau…

There’s definitely something about cold pizza. It tickles the tastebuds in a way that it’s earlier sizzling from the oven self differs from.

Aw, trying-not-to-panic call from colleague who has misplaced data & me riffling through active teams status & signposting him off to help. Whilst crooning reassurance. (He’d left the data in the wrong file…)

YouTube listening to Springsteen live albeit a couple of years ago. The excitement is gathering.

That apple core has produced one hearty little seedling with four leaves & three (rather more etiolated) seedlings now also potted up on the windowsill and one little green curl that may yet pop up & leaf making it 100% germination! I do love the have a go gardening. When it works the thrill is unmatched.

Scouts & stars & Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Castor & Pollux or so we reckoned! Even with the Moon bright as the building lights.

Hot tears of frustration at cold car battery & delay getting south to mum. Warm hugs from Youngest who has packed the cooking tackle anyway & is sorting me distracting reading.

Youngest spotted the AO3 website logo & teased me for being a nerd. When I pointed out he’d identified it by its logo, fellow-nerd, he backed away swiftly! Far be it from me to check his browser history, but good to know he has happy places online too.

We’ve arrived! Battery sorted by Middleson after his night shift, Youngest & I now back under same roof as mum, tucked her in for a nap, researched Thai food with carer (who now has Bali as preferred holiday destination as Loves the water & seafood & hadn’t realised at least 100k between Phuket & Bangkok - teased her spent too long in UK where everything is only a short distance, relatively!) & my holiday is back on track!

Had a cheerful boggle at some genuine Russian stamps, properly postmarked in a way that had me thinking “a human did that” & boggling a bit more. 

Mum intrigued by Good Housekeeping cover girl Dilly Carter & in particular “what’s that on her foot?” - turns out one of several tattoos “Whats for you won't pass you” seemingly. (Clearly Not a woman who shops in charity shops.)

“He’s got two sensible feet & a brain” - perhaps not the obvious phrase to reassure his grandmother that dinner would be cooked & served, but she understood!

Mum’s cat is Special. In a species formerly revered as gods, this one hasn’t figured the woman with the electric blanket is the one to stay close to. I tuck her in, the cat is sat three metres from the door, almost in range of the warmth & the dumb clunk heads downstairs. He’s not a fan of me unless I am actually emptying the food into his bowl but to be so cavalier about mum?! Is foolish, & in a cat, that’s unexpected.

Sleeping in guest bed, heard crockery & leapt from snooze to mostly-dressed-&-running downstairs as that’s the sound of mum vs dishwasher, & it has better balance. Very hard to say I love you & good morning & oh do please Stop That! All in one phrase so I skipped the second two & just hugged her. She’s made coffee & is getting dressed & putting her hearing aids in…

First I find a wallet of notes, glasses etc & realise coz has left behind documents she may need. (Called, raced to her, all well.) then I see a shopping tote emblazoned “Heysham prep” & wonder where the dickens Heysham is (outside Bath?!) all fascinating…

Contemplating how very different Macbeth would be, had the Lady tried to wash cottage cheese off.

Oh the irony. I bring a spare backscratcher, sister dances off with it as agreed & now my back yearns for targeted scritch. 

“Get your nose out so I can see what I’m doing!” I really lack skills with felines.

Grinning a bit at the aesculapian snake “invasion” (finding warm bits of compost or loft & moving in) & thinking ‘Yeay rodent control without cat sarcasm!’. Why the endless child free cat lady jibes when I could be snake rocking old lady?

Scouts! One of our live wires has figured coping with a floor that can be slippery - he corners with grand jettes that would have Nureyev applauding.

The bewildered outrage of youngest finding a belt in his outdoor heavy coat pocket will have me giggling at inappropriate moments for hours. This is particularly appreciated as I am to attend an awards ceremony in the presence of the great & good (well, so they think of themselves) & I suspect the chuckles will be thin on the ground. [My nominee won & is utterly delighted - whilst at home on antibiotics for pneumonia. So glad he’s cherished & safe!]

Was greeted by a colleague today with a hug & without thinking I added a back rub. She crooned & I worked my way around the sacroiliac, warming the woollen coat then released her to see this huge grin of relieved flexibility. Colleague asked what was that lemon smell - turns out the coat had been washed with lemon scent boost which activated on warmth!

Bewildered that a 1960s pop has achieved cult status through a computer game but delighted that “aplomb” has ventured back into usage. It’s underused & underrated, so even if it takes a computer game to haul in back front & centre, now is a good time to practice it!

Ah. Scouts, but half term. So I barrel in late to an exec meeting, me in full uniform, & realise it’s not what I thought, so give them all a huge grin, my heartfelt thanks, & duck back out into the night, back to an essay on sudden death by epilepsy. Reading some of that aloud in the car I realise it’s different, spoken, & have to go at it with an editors pen. No harm. Pleasure is the scout boss’ chuckle at my commitment. (And idiocy, which I grinned at happily, acknowledging the unspoken comment!)

DigForVictory

(2/2 <blush>)
Conjunction of brisk wind & gap in weather fronts has me stripping bed, serious laundry and then wrestling to peg out. Toss up between double pegs & the unfelled brambles being the most “stop that bedlinen escaping!”…. [Success! Clean dry folded, so I’m ready for the next good drying day ideally on a weekend.] {Oh bliss, fresh line dried bedlinen as I listen to the weather outside.}

Fingertip weeded two tubs of white lavender which have survived & are beginning to grow. Phew…

Thought my bra had decided to self destruct and impale me in the armpit with escaped “bone” & was intrigued to understand a length of Velcro cable tie had nested in the arm of one fleece. Truly our washing machine has smelled unique quirks. 

Middleson casually planning to remove rear wiper to inspect its motor & then to take the steering wheel off to swap the indicator stalk. Engineers…. (Just not this week!)

Youngest plying me with tea & toasted hot cross buns. I am spoiled rotten.

Did an indoor watering can around the flowerpots & am startled at how many of them are still alive despite my policy of benign absent mindedness. The lemons have shed a lot of leaves (which isn’t a good sign) but the mango whilst largely curled up & looking distinctly feeble hasn’t given up entirely. Awed.

It’s good to see Martin showing his teeth at the ombudsman & I look forward to the suggestions file for how to help those who aren’t capable of picking a tariff landing. That’ll give the energy market some vigorously clearly worded ideas!

Had a lovely chat with a colleague about who watches over the master data & disaster recovery planning (as in when did they last test it) as both these were brand new ideas & the right answers will make my report short & simple. The others, won’t…

Scouts and our patrol leaders ‘led’ tonight so lots of happy boisterous games rounded off with a restful round of winking murder. One of our youngest scouts looks very small and vulnerable & yet slaughtered all bar 3 & the detective!

Got an illicit snap of middleson from one of his mates & have planted the suggestion that they learn a few words of Italian before the climbing holiday if only so they can convey sprain break & head injury reliably. (They have proven fluent in beer, pizza & gelato already but basic first aid may need a translator & that’s stressful.)

Got a plaintive cheep from colleague with a printer error, routed him along to a boffin in the field & now owe the boffin a pack of chocolate hobnobs. I think that wholly reasonable, which is why the boffins take my calls at odd hours!

Awww postie & I chatting about herbs & the beauties of Scotland (we’d both migrate but for family) - youngest asked what were we talking about & then “uh. I have soup.” (Love his priorities!)

Yer-arfg wrestling a training laptop is not for the faint hearted. (I won. Eventually.)

Ah travels with Youngest “mum, do you have any idea where I put the knife?” The ferocious chopper that we all recognise as his - is stashed Somewhere Safe & I have no idea where. Arriving before midnight may be doomed but to arrive ill-equipped is heresy.

It’s amazing what you forget. Last time we got sent along a “diversion” to get onto the toll road. As we looped around a roundabout for the second time, looking for the correct exit, (impressively bad signage) I recognised the «Oh Dear Heavens now what» and somehow that was reassuring. A month ago, oops!

Having declared “I’m going to put some clothes on” (whilst attired in pyjamas, robe etc, mum reached for a slotted spoon. This I lifted & tried to cover even part of myself; which made her laugh, explain it’s for eggs & go get fabric layers around herself. Alas she won’t recall this, so my next query on why does an egg need clothes will just have to wait.

Carer team (two widows & a spinster) cheering on plans to see Bridget Jones mad about the boy (gorgeous song as sung by Dinah Washington) as Colin Firth and Hugh Grant - frankly more fun & quite as thorough as a sight test. They were startled I was au fait with cinema - I read reviews…. Some of her friends were saying “oooh you shouldn’t” - as if you stop thinking about your deceased husband, let alone be told what you should or shouldn’t watch! 

Cat was hauled to vet for dental checkup & returned missing 6 teeth (from 30). Can’t honestly say I’m surprised not to see him. Carer deeply empathetic “he’s peezed, he’s in pain” & supervised my dosing the cat food with painkillers. 

The Boss wrote “you’re missing” as part of his post 9/11. As ever, I missed it at the time. Today I find it & am both utterly floored & hugely comforted. 

Mum was wearing earrings a bit like a bunch of grapes, & we found one on the kitchen floor. Shook out her scarf, her coat, inspected the car, phoned shops (Aldi you gave to ask after lost property in person, Home Bargains all found gets handed to the management) - nothing. Went to fetch her hearing aids & the other was on her dressing table. Hurrah!

Health Strength Love & Courage to all as have need. BoP, hoping usual rules apply with medics & you come back with live scrabble?! I promise I will try harder! 

Frith

A puny message to follow DfV!

Pleasures for today (Friday)

1) Not a bad sleep.

2) Went to the coffee morning and my friend brought almond slices. 

3) Very exciting! Smaller son had his first ever phone call (apart from to me) and now has a place on the 8 week computing course! They told him he can go onto the level 3 afterwards if he hasn't got an apprenticeship by then. That would be 2 days a week for 12 weeks. 

4) While I was trying not to interfere, I cleaned all the cat bowls, cat tray, tidied up and cleaned the porch.

5) Smaller son wanted an all day breakfast at Morrisons to celebrate, so that is where we went. 

6) Back to work! I had had 17 days off on annual leave. I was by myself the whole shift although my manager did pop in twice. 

7) Back home with Bucks Fizz (schloer and orange juice) for more celebrating. 

8) Just had a chat with my friend online and have gone online to send him some dates for Ramadhan. 

9) I watched Gogglebox and am now watching the Last Leg. 

DundeeDoll

very good RI lectures @DigForVictory i have often wondered how they make that many spoonfuls of sugar in coke drinkable
Belated happy birthday @LaineyT
Hugs PK
for yesterday
1) after another very difficult meeting at work again the support of colleagues is wonderful
2) salmon for lunch (the salmon i would have had for supper the night before had i not worked late and gone straight to the pub for the football and a toastie)
3) choir practice - we are getting ready for Ash Wednesday 
4) 2nd half of the Leicester game with DrM. oh dear.
5) my lovely bed
and today
1) a beautiful sunny morning
2) another frog eaten
3) friend has annual sub at health club in Carnoustie (mhags will of course know that area well) and can take a guest for free last friday of each month. would i like to go? did not need asking twice! she picked me up 4:15 from work, home for swimming cos then
4) swim sauna jacuzzi repeat - really really lovely
5) friend lives that side of Dundee but she very kindly offered to drive me back home - we overtook the #73 headed for Ninewells so I asked her to drop me off at the next bus stop so she could get home to her family
home to kedgeree and cups of tea and my lovely bed.

Purple_kitten

Thank you for listening to the sad, I’ll continue with the ferret stories, meanwhile I think they have been cheering us up, clowning about.

1 I got 23 petunias planted; I still have 4 bleeding hearts to plant up tomorrow.

2 I somehow did not say I told you so when the garden gate literally fell apart off its hinges, but I’m not sure how I didn’t say it, and this is how I spent the rest of my time in the front garden planting and avoiding the muttering.

3 Reading everyone’s pleasures is honestly uplifting, so a pleasure in its own right, and DFV amazing post.

4 Remembered the month end gas readings, not really sure this was a pleasure.

Happycas

Hi @DigForVictory
I clicked the Thanks button for your post but that seems somewhat inadequate.
So I'm here to say Thank You for a post that is truly epic, even by your usual  standard of epicness x

Highdays

Morning all.

DfV - lovely to 'see' you, you are always in my thoughts at the start of the year. Have to agree with Happycas, truly epic! 

Wishing everyone eclats quotidiens de bonheur on this sunny Sunday - and every day really!

mhagster

Hello. 

Up early and out to the beach for sunrise. We had a lovely walk. Just us and the seabirds. Was very blustery and started to rain though thankfully once I was back in the car.

Stopped at supermarket for a roll on the way home and had a bacon roll when I got in…I’ve eaten like a piglet all week…back on plan on Monday! 

Was supposed to be going out with DD2 in the morning but she’d fallen back asleep so she wandered down for an hour late morning. 

DD1 called and we had a nice chat. She’d been at the beach too…though probably a bit warmer than here! 

Eight years since my husband died and I can’t even believe that I’m writing that. It just feels such a ridiculous thing. Still missed so much.

Just spent the rest of the day quietly. Bit of watching and a wee snoozette. 

Suffolksue

Hugs Mhags