The small happinesses post

[white_hart]

This weekend has been hard. I've spent far too much time tweeting and retweeting and signing and emailing and now I'm suffering from news overload again. And it's Sunday evening, and I'm still fighting off a cold, and I need to unwind so I can get a decent night's sleep before I go and tackle another week at work.

We're in this for the long haul, and we need to look after ourselves. And sometimes that means looking away from the big awful things and trying to find the joy in small things. On which note, and without trying to deny that the awfulness is still going on, I'm declaring this a Good Things Post. Tell me something that cheers you up, even a little bit. Tell another commenter something nice about themself. You could even tell me something nice about myself, if you wanted. Or, if you ask, I'll tell you something nice about you, or just offer a virtual hug.

I don't know if it'll work, but it seems worth a try.

Comments

[el_staplador]

You have fantastic taste in boots. Also, I approve of this post.

[white_hart]

Thank you (on both counts). It seemed worth a try at spreading a bit of happiness.

You have fantastic hair, by the way. And I love your writing.

[perennialanna]

Lucy Mangan's article on tiny reasons to be cheerful made me cheerful.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/29/reasons-cheerful-trump-brexit-pleasure-smaller-things?CMP=share_btn_fb

Also being only 23p out in my calculation of a running total as I went round Morrisons. Generally I am a pound or more out.

[white_hart]

I'd already been thinking of doing this, but that was what decided me to do it. We need to share our happiness as well as our outrage.

That's very impressive ready reckoning!

[perennialanna]

I even know where 20p of the discrepancy came from - the £2.70 pack of tins of tuna was in the £2.50 pack's space.

[nineveh_uk]

ABBA's Dancing Queen continues to be great. This video contains extraordinary amounts of shining hair, velour, and very wholesome looking Swedish children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFrGuyw1V8s

Also, this photo of a very new baby dressed as a chicken: https://www.nrk.no/urix/verden-i-bilder-_-2017-1.13300934?index=6#undefined

[white_hart]

No world that contains ABBA can be entirely bad!

[white_hart]

We are watching Endeavour, which continues to be amazingly good television, and not just because of Roger Allam In A Hat.

[perennialanna]

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! is a splendidly silly film.

[white_hart]

I saw the end of it on TV in the pub we stopped at halfway back from Norfok on New Year's Day (next to the Waitrose we normally stop at, which was closed because it was New Year's Day) and was annoyed that we hadn't asked the box to record it as it looked wonderful. Perhaps I should buy the DVD. Silly things are important.

[caulkhead]

I have the DVD and it is thoroughly briliant. And very, very silly.

[perennialanna]

I found the children cutting shapes out of red paper to leave a trail next time we went for a walk...

[antisoppist]

Not exactly taking our minds off things, but I want someone to make a film about the sisters who smuggled Jewish people's valuables out of Nazi Germany and Austria while going to operas, their tickets funded by writing Mills & Boon novels.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-38732779

[white_hart]

Oh, how wonderful! That is a lovely story, and I think it really does help to read about how ordinary people can make a difference.

[perennialanna]

It is a fabulous story. Lord Peter would have approved of them.

[ingreatwaters]

Mary Burchell!

She was one of my gramma's favourite authors, and wrote some books which are not quite what I usually think of as Mills and Boon - with details of an operatic world, not just romance in front of painted scenery.

[aella_irene]

I made lemon bundt cake and watched Alexander Armstrong and Professor Michael Scott get excited about archaeology.

[white_hart]

That sounds like a nice way to spend a Sunday evening!

[birdsflying]

My current crochet project (Attic24's moorland blanket) is filling me with glee because the colours are so marvellous and the neat wave stitch is very soothing.

[white_hart]

That sounds lovely.

[birdsflying]

How goes your very bright & cheery socks?

[white_hart]

Slowly, though I have nearly finished the first one. I seem to spend a lot less time knitting than I used to, and will often go for days without doing any at all. I should try to rectify that, really.

[birdsflying]

I think it isn't something to be forced. But they are very cheery and I enjoyed seeing the first one on my instagram.

I'm going on a sewing class next weekend

[jinty]

and I have some lovely darkish red babycord to make into a skirt. Hopefully I'll get something I will even manage to wear regularly! The last skirt I made (the first one I have ever finished) was quite wearable but a bit light-weight and not very exciting, though at least it proved I was able to finish something if I actually tried.

Oh yes, and we do round-robin storytelling some evenings at home with my partner and kids (one 4 and one 6). We get some delightfully random plots out of it, and some great repeating elements. For instance, three of our friends feature as recurring dastardly villains in the story. A new character who has joined is more morally ambiguous - she is called the Queen of the Dark Tunnels, and she is a giant Ant Queen.

Re: I'm going on a sewing class next weekend

[white_hart]

Good luck with the skirt-making! I haven't done any sewing in ages and have really lost my confidence - I must try to get back into it.

[aunty_marion]

I have just re-empurple-enated half of my hair, including some of the roots on the blue side; I have, alas, 'resistant' grey. Waiting for it to dry now so I can see if it's much better than before or not - I think it will be!

[white_hart]

Purplenated hair FTW!