Things you find oddly comforting

[HappybutsometimesGrouchy]

Thought this would be an interesting thread. Things you find comforting but you don't know why. For me it's thinking about the 90s and looking back on all the fads, music, fashion of that era (pokemon, Spice Girls etc). Makes me feel really calm and happy. This can also go the opposite way and depending on my mood, it can also make me feel a sad longing for the past! So weird and I have no idea why I have such strong emotions linked to this particular decade! I also find the sound of the tumble dryer soothing and have been know to watch the laundry spinning round in the washer

Watching the waves crashing on the rocks and spaying up in the air.

Another one for feeling content and safe when i unpack my shopping and everything is full.

The smell of vosene shampoo takes me back to being young and I find it massively comforting.
Tucking in my children in bed with a hotwater bottle when it's winter and freezing outside, it makes me feel all fuzzy.

Weirdly, when other drivers flash you do warn of mobile speed camera just around the bend. Not sure why but it makes me smile.

• to warn you.

Cocolepew I do that too!! It hangs in mid air and feels almost weightless, I find it such a comforting sensation and thought I was weird!

Looking out at the garden, especially in spring or early summer when it's at its best.
Going down to the kitchen early in the morning after a crap night, glad I can get up and make a cup of coffee.
Putting my dressing gown on, I bought it for my DM (in Primark, I think) about 15 years ago. Brought it home when she died in 2009. It's lightweight and soft and cosy.

Making a little pouch pod thing out of the end of my duvet for my feet to snuggle into

"And er, sucking on a facecloth or sponge"

fear I did this for years as a child and still reminisce happily about it. If I ever mention to anyone, they seem baffled. No idea why it's so nice, though.

Clouds, I love watching clouds go past, my favourite place in my house is laying on my bed with the curtains open, looking up at the sky.

The smell of a swimming pool, especially in warm weather. Dh is amazed when we're walking around somewhere new and I suddenly announce there's a pool close by, he'll smell it the closer we get but I can smell them miles out (well, not quite miles, lol). It comes with spending so much of my youth in chlorine!

Painting my nails, esp if I have plenty of time.

A chip sandwich made by my mum. I don't know why, but nobody else makes something so simple, so comforting.

Also, airing cupboards, the smell of burnt toast, the smell of Lux soap, London traffic noise when it's late at night and I'm indoors and an abbreviation of my name that only my mum and some of my friends use.

Snuggling under a blanket with cup of hot chocolate. Fading into a real fire. Both remind me of my happy childhood.

When people wave at strangers from trains/boats/bridges
Drystone walls
Listening to someone reading poetry
The view from the end of my parents’ garden
Reading beloved books over and over again
Comfortingly familiar 90s tv shows - Jonathan creek, father ted, pride and prejudice etc etc
The sound of a hair dryer
The smell of tarmac at night after a hot day

Die Hard and Jurassic Park movies. Comfortingly formulaic and very soothing even at their most explosive moments, it’s like death and taxes, it’s certain that the good guys (and dinosaurs) will ultimately triumph over the bad guys.

We're pefectly sensible Diamond

Ive been a listener of LBC radio since my early teens. I was very lonely as a child, my house scared me and I often took comfort from the presenters' voices. Specially Philip Hodson the agony uncle, also Clive Bull and Mike Allen.

For those who love the shipping forecast, you'll love this music...

This is a gorgeous thread.

Rain and storms when I'm tucked up in bed.Snow falling.

Late night radio with familiar presenters.Definitely the shipping forecast.

A roaring fire.

Cooking dinner soothes me (if left in peace to get on with it)

Old fashioned women's magazines. Women's weekly. The people's friend.

I live overseas and things like Graham Norton and Gavin and Stacy are very comforting to me.

Also Yorkshire puddings and roast lamb. Obvious ones like rain on the window when I don't have to leave. Lovely stuff...

Classical music for me 😁 I find it very intransigence and soothing 😴

Someone brushing my hair! My Mum used to do it in the evening when I was younger and now my partner has that job!

I love having my hair brushed - dds used to "do" my hair on a regular basis when younger - I now have to bribe them with brushing for an equal time back

"Do" as in ridiculous plaits etc, but I didn't mind as it then had to be brushed out again!

This thread is beautiful

Sounds at my mum's house - footsteps on the stairs, curtains/doors being opened, the clock chiming... which I won't ever hear again as she died last year and the house has been sold.

The Archers.
Hearing a distant train go by when I'm in bed.

Love this thread.

If I'm anxious I get calmed down with slightly painful rituals like plucking, squeezing spots, picking scabs or dry skin (lovely) it's the endorphins released by the pain, so I'm not sure it's strictly comforting!

But proper odd comforting things for me are: smell of coal smoke on a foggy day - straight back to 1970s Christmas in the UK; buildings with shutters, presentations from very articulate clever people with lots of data - I love feeling there's nothing to be corrected and all the thinking's been done.