5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3

mhagster

A fully charged iPad…how novel…and the phone is low on battery so it’s now charging, they have different cables which is the annoying thing and the iPad one is just short so I can’t charge it anywhere other than the kitchen!

Anyway up early and straight down to CP. Had a lovely walk. Then I started decorating…as you do! Did a first coat of paint on the lower half of hall wall.

Went for a swim. It was just me and the sun was kind of shining.

Back for a hot shower and then a second coat of paint and then did two strips of wallpaper. Needed A screwdriver which I didn’t have so couldn’t take something off the wall to do any more. So will finish that tomorrow and do a third coat of paint. Then will need a dado rail.

Went for another lovely walk. Was a bit warmer than earlier but such a cold wind. And home.

Did a small washing of work clothes and swim stuff so just brought that in off the line.

Walked round to DD2 and then we went to the supermarket. And then back to hers for a wee while. Enjoyed nice cuddles with The Pup.

And a quick smart walk home as it was blooming chilly and looked like rain…so managed to get washing in dry.

Hello doggy, would you like your tea. Yes he would!

Frith

Pleasures for today (Thursday)

1)Not a bad sleep.

2) Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for lunch.

3) Took smaller son to sign some paperwork at his bank.

4) Pasta for tea.

LaineyT

Some recent pleasures,

Breakfast out at the farm shop, a snorkers bap for the both of us and C dog got her share plus treats.

Warm afternoon and gardening was done in shorts, first time this year!

Also heard the first cuckoo of summer.

Lazy Sunday at home, footie watching with the smell of a chicken roasting in the oven.

Morning of errands with a drop off at horsey town Nexus, as recommended by @ampersand, found a NWT velvet make-up bag, perfect for upcoming Bf birthday.

On to feed store, apparently Haylage is now in short supply due to last summers poor crop, my girlie has normal hay but adores an added slice of Haylage to her net. Picked up two bales and 🤞their efforts to find further supplies are successful.

Stopped in town and found some lovely soaps to add to Bf’s goodie bag.

Lunch out with said birthday girl at Uni City’s big garden centre, lovely lovely.

The weather had turned and I was glad of my waterproof, cold as well. Held off digging out winter jumpers but layering is the name of the game.

Thursday night and the treat of a night out at the theatre, our Xmas present to each other. A very good production of Death on the Nile, costumes and scenery were sublime, acting very good,

Dropped into horsey town on way home to pick up youngest DSS who was staying with us for the night, he had been out with pals for curry plus beers so was rather cheerful ☺️

Lovely fiancée plus her friend turned up next morning and they all headed off to wedding in Greece, Capt S was chauffeur down to airport. C dog loved having all these visitors.

Finally having a bit of rain and the grass is beginning to grow in the beautiful grey one’s front field.

Darling Capt S cleaned out the mini for me, so much dog/horse hair and found two of my bobble hats under the seat 🙈

Percy the pigeon has decided he likes to eat my young salad leaves so protective measures now put in place. Don’t mind feeding the birds just not with our food!

Roses are starting to bloom and the never underestimated pleasure of having a couple of them in a vase on bedside table.

Re-reading the Spring section of S Hill’s The Apple Tree, just perfect.

Frith

Pleasures for today (Saturday)

1)Not a bad sleep.

2) Did batch cooking. 6 portions of both tomato sauce and chicken curry.

3) Sanded down the plastering I did yesterday (I removed lots of defunct electrical sockets etc) and did 2 layers of paint. Also sanded and painted 2 small holes near the darts board!

3) Planted lots of tomato plants into individual pots and sowed some lettuce.

4) Wormed the cat.

5) LO homemade pizza for lunch. Meatballs in a wrap for tea.

6) Eurovision is on soon!

mhagster

Hello…I have just put a jumper on to come to bed and filled my HWB…I am so cold!

Anyway for Friday

Up extra early as DD1 had sent me a middle of the night text which woke me up. Spoke to her at 6am…a more reasonable time!

My peonies have finally bloomed! Bought them about 10 days ago and they were just tight buds! Hurrah for gorgeous frills of petals.

Out for lunch with friend and her husband. They kindly paid. Lovely food and great service.

Then home to grab my dog boy and off we went to CP. Had a quick walk.It was so windy!

Finished the wallpapering and did an extra coat of paint. I had bought a set of 3 mirrors a few weeks ago in charity shop and this was the perfect place for them.

DD2 and SIL came down with The Pup so had a nice walk.

And bed!

Slept right through the night ( unusual for me)

And we were out walking as the sun rose at 5.15am. It was 1o so blooming cold but beautiful. Just us.

And then in the pool at 9am. Did 30 lengths…I’m building it up! A fortnight ago I was managing 20.

Back to base and sat and read for a while then got ready to head home. Met swimming pool friend as I was leaving so ended up chatting for half an hour!

Home…put washing on…only I hadn’t! Was supposed to be heading to DD2 after it was done so just headed anyway!

There for a couple of hours and then walked home. Met a friend so chatted with them.

And hello doggy. I am so cold! I am not putting on the heating! Came up to bed to be warm. Friend phoned so chatted to her. And have been reading and almost finished the book I started last night.

Frith

Pleasures for today (Sunday)

1)Not a bad sleep.

2) Went to TKMaxx for new socks then M and S for a cup of tea.

3) Also went to B and Q for more paintbrushes.

4) Painted my plastering repairs 4 times and tidied up afterwards.

5) Did one coat of gloss on the skirting.

6) Bigger son sent me a video of his best man speech from yesterday!

mhagster

Sunday.
Quiet morning then went to CP early afternoon. Quick walk when we got there, had some lunch, started a new book…may have dozed off…DD2 & SIL came ( May have woken me up from doze!) and we went a nice walk. Just got back as the rain poured down! Kept on reading.

Monday.
Out for a walk at 5am . No spectacular sunrise this morning as it had been very rainy though dry when we were out. Kept on reading until I finished the book.

Swim.

DD2 and SIL came back down again and we had a lovely walk and just like yesterday we were not long back in when the heavy rain came on again!

Drove home the motorway way! Uuurgh at the rain and spray! Hello house. We are home.

Quick chat to sister.

Library bus…hurrah. I missed last months.

Friend popped in for half an hour.

A lovely gift delivered from the family I took a service for last week.

Made tuna pasta for tea…the cupboards are quite bare! ( well there’s food there but not what I fancied)

Rain dried up and out came the sunshine. But ooooh it’s so chilly.

Frith

Pleasures for today (Monday)

1)Went to art class.

2) Did the skirting caulking where i removed old electrics in the hallway.

3) Did loads of odd jobs.

4) Started opening a new bank account, for another golden hello.

5) Took smaller son to Aldi.

6) Pasta with pesto for tea.

7) Watched a squirrel through the kitchen window with smaller son. Another squirrel jumped over the fence, ran across our garden then ran into the pond! He got out immediately, looking embarrassed.

Frith

Me again!

Pleasures for today (Tuesday)

1) Not a bad sleep.

2) Took the rest of the pulled up living room floor to the tip.

3) Picked my friend up and we went out for a cup of tea.

4) Took an unused tin of paint to B and Q so a £16 refund there.

5) Went to Waitrose and did the crossword competition.

6) Reading Wes Streeting's autobiography.

7) Just heating curry from the freezer.

8) Looking forward to Race Across the World.

DigForVictory

Frith - love colleague hosting the Norwegian fanclub, tickles the imagination. You know local banks have gone when you have to get into a car to get to one. "Wormed the cat." Is that a massively understated or a relaxed pleasure?! Bigger son making Best Man speeches? He's a cherished & trusted friend. Oh, my, wet embarrassed squirrel?! Humility really isn't one of their noted features.
ampersand - I worry the shouty & abusive are getting voted in. A Rogation service & the Alma - both are growth. "safe, dry and Doblo'd" is good, a whole reverbed shilling is another good thing!
LaineyT - mum loves watching 'the candles come out' while I'm fascinated by the way each flower changes colour once pollinated. Oh grey vs tape - no contest... Haylage treat, Nexus gifting, layers & Death on the Nile followed by rather cheerful DSS!
DundeeDoll - sorry to hear of the cold (I too) but sunset on river sounds wonderful. In bed with David Attenborough - and why not? Ah piano practice & yes I prefer f to p, mostly as there is no ambivalence about 'did I get the right notes?'. "coffee sitting in the sunshine" - definitely enjoy while you can!
mhagster - stripping wallpaper with the right tech can be almost fun. Aw Haggis & the Pup & next day feeling it... Indeed 'how?!' at the pump! All that swimming, sleeping & then wind-blown-dry laundry. A near haiku, but all the best with 'time off' - you do it differently! Love "a small washing" amidst the walking & swimming & decorating & drying. When peonies do unfurl they go glorious! Might they need staking? All the reading then the library bus, wonderful.
villagelife - filling a skip with greenhouses, an unusual pleasure! "Planted out some seedlings and repotted others" tis the season to commit living hope onwards. "Tea of mussels" - yum!
PaulieHerts - oooh, Paul Carrack, there's a voice!
Highdays - eeep both little fella & sister in hospital but emerging.
Happycas - "not bored yet of daily watering" - while it lasts!
Purple kitten - a fixed laptop?! Well done DH, they're fiendish tight packed together. Caravan being loaded...

OS Pleasures recently (er, the last fortnight, <blush>)
Always good to see politics having a positive effect locally - our hut brings in income as a polling station & our Scouts earn hike badges!
Watching the Attenborough birthday concert, mostly for the iguana chase scene - stunning music & camerawork!
Early to bed, early to rise as Saturday morning is novice band… not been playing 3 months but having so much fun. (And you never know, from a cornet there is a formidable array of brass choice. Even if I am smitten by the tuba’s depth.)
‘Summer-weight’ wool duvet in place & snuggling around me as familiar as the winter weight - now to see if it’s thermal comfort is as good. (Fleece blanket handy in case!) [Not needed.]
Potted on water rooted acorns. If they survive the month, June will see them take up outdoor living & if they survive winter, I’ll have my own oak forest.

Years ago I planted Carlin peas, along with other AngloSaxon crops. Time to cycle the heirloom crop back through the earth, I think.
Youngest’s lament “I got soap up my nose” & apparently it’s my fault. I am laughing so hard…
Charmed that Middleson happily walks me through his savings with a view to coaxing me over to stocks & shares ISA. (Proud mum moment.)
Delighted to get winter duvet out into sunlight for hours before packing it ready for autumn. There’ll be no line drying for a while.
Michael Portillo - a diesel unit train (GB Railfreight Class 66 locomotive 66719 was officially named "Michael Portillo" in August 2025 ) sighted at local station!

Scanned first batch of books for music magpie. Not wildly smitten but it seems a path to removing some books. Decluttering someone else’s library is relatively easy.
Years ago my husband would hide & pop out “pookie!” at me & laugh. Today youngest was quietly stood waiting for me to bustle out when I just spotted him in my peripheral vision & we pookied each other, ending up in hugging laughter & heartfelt admonition.
The weather! Hail, thunder, rain: I meant to introduce the oaklings to rainwater & they got more thsn we bargained for!
Aw, the band want me (rawest novice cornet with a car that I am) to join them at a local hospice fundraiser. I have a lot of music to learn (even just the first note in each bar) in a short time but I have my own ‘pad’ of music & am profoundly smitten.
I stand, kneecap spiking its objection & thankfully walk along to the kettle. I’m as young & fit as I was but it’s a pleasure to still move.

Practice, after annotating copied concert music, then lying in bed listening to the great colliery bands playing the pieces & hearing where my modest cornet fits in. Challenging but restful - lovely combination!
Thought handkerchief by pillow seemed large - awoke to find it was clean knickers!
Class (me a pupil) went well, at least one point of uncertainty is deeply communal.
Colleague anxious about details of ‘make, model & serial number’ came over near tearful when she unzipped the photos as nice copper helped me take - he lugged & I phone snapped. Now she knows exactly which tech she wants to get forensic on!
Report with various numbers & next step suggestions sent, & recipient charmingly positive about it.

I do like waking up in bed, then lying there reading.
Only picked up a cornet 13 weeks ago. Just enthralled. Then bewildered & irate at myself as it’s my lip & lungs that make either (a) glorious sound or (b) a demented squeak, or worst (a) sliding into (b). [Didn’t make the cut for performance, fair enough.]
Tenor horn joined us played & at the end had the grace to check “which piece were we playing?” as he’d finished 7 bars early. Bless the man, on a slightly twitchy morning, we laughed like drains (as he had been diligently playing a completely different piece, just in the same key.)
A good afternoon at weaving museum, used a mixture of Google reverse lookup, social media & simple lucky timing to identify the approximate vintage of a scrap of embroidered silk. Found in a bags of scraps in a local school decades ago so no provenance but beautifully & frugally worked.
Weaving museum will be open again today (in my absence as I’m preparing for the week teaching through a cold germ) & I suspect some of the conversation will be Eurovision! & whether one point or more or less humiliating than nul.

I have a cold so while I drew up the shopping list, Middleson went all 'public health' on me & took Youngest shopping. The active ingredient I wanted (phenylephrine hydrochloride) they bought as Lemsip, along with a bag of Jakemans lozenges & a box of chocolates! Gosh, they have seriously pragmatic approaches to patient care.
As my skull fills with thick fluid, Youngest is figuring how to make ginger cordial & I have to explain what zest is… I remain hideously fortunate despite this cold. “Do we have citric acid?” (Dear Gods, yes, but I wouldn’t care to guess how old & anyway why add a preservative to a brew I intend to ingest in the next 6 days.)
Miword the Black Harpic really does shift drains! Youngest sent off with it, as a challenge. With “Read the Instructions!”…
The cold means I cannot scout or go to band practice but with shrewdly timed medication still deliver training.
Rewatching Sherlock mostly for the domestic barney that wasn’t quite “ The problems of your past are your business. The problems of your future are my privilege” which just has me swooning a bit. Whilst also unpacking quite a lot about why John is how he is, which a lot of Sherlock stories ignore, using him as narrator not character.

Sis has bought “age defying mascara” & I am nearly falling off the chair laughing (then coughing).

Health, Strength, Love, & Courage to all as have need, plus abundant layers as the weather is being impressively indecisive.