To ask what nerdy/uncool things really excite you?

[FiveFarthings]

Yesterday I took delivery of a new handheld cordless mini vacuum and I couldn’t wait for it to charge up so I could go and Hoover my skirting boards without having to drag the massive big Dyson around the house! I was so excited I was going round the house last night looking for things to Hoover up! My husband called me sad but I was so happy!

I also love buying anything new for the kitchen. I bough a multi bladed herb cutter the other day and oh it gave me such pleasure to use it on some parsley for dinner!

When I was at uni I used to love buying matching stationary which some people might think is a bit sad.

I am a married 33-year-old mother of one and this is my life now

What are your nerdy/sad/uncool things in life that bring you excitement/joy?

I read dictionaries .As a teen I moved on to foreign ones (whatever-to-English etc).

You've won the thread.

Also health and safety legislation. I work in a regulation industry and there is nothing I get more satisfaction from than carrying out the quarterly office risk assessment and identifying a minor slip/trip/fall hazard that I can enforce control measures on.

I was at my GP surgery yesterday and two young (primary age) boys had abandoned their bikes strewn across the floor in the entrance lobby to the surgery. They were a massive trip hazard and also blocking wheelchair/pushchair access to the surgery, so I strode into the waiting area like Wonderwoman and asked the owners of the bikes to come and move them out of the way before someone got hurt. Why the hell their mum or the the receptionist hadn’t done the same, God knows, but they drum into us at work that health and safety is a collective responsibility so I couldn’t ignore the situation.

I used to work in HR. I find myself checking the gov website from time to time for employment tribunal decisions. I know, I know...I need a life; but some of the reports are actually very interesting! Love it when people are caught out in a lie or when employers get it very wrong, as it reminds me of my old job.

Sometimes I get randomly obsessed with free to play iPhone/mobile games

My Karcher window vac - so satisfying.

I also enjoyed GDPR implementation. In particular the additional schedule requirements for special category data. I had the best time cross-referencing

I’m an archivist. Nothing, and I mean nothing compares to a freshly-catalogued collection of documents, neatly packed into matching archive boxes arranged in reference number order. It makes me happy inside.

I hate, loathe and despise spreadsheets and am unable to make them work. I would happily adopt one of you spreadsheet geeks to do this for me. Give me words any day.

On that note, I love the shipping forecast. Also beachcombing to collect sea glass.

I also am ashamed to admit to spending far too long on earwax removal videos!

Mobile phones
Mental health stuff
Gaming
Budgetting (which admittedly I am terrible at)
Blogging.

Not RTFT but spreadsheets. I love a spreadsheet.
I love having a reason to create one.
I love working things out and planning by using them.

I have a little gadget which was about £5 on eBay - one of those T-shirt folding boards. I love it. DP calls it my “contraption”. I’ve folded everything; T-shirts, jumpers, pants (???), trousers, leggings.

It also really cheers me up when someone shares their screen on a Skype call. I’m famous at work for it, and if someone does it whilst I’m on the call, everyone else cheers. If someone is on a call and it happens, I’ll get a message to say “I was on a call with X and they shared their screen!”.

I also like problem solving gadgets for the house - drain unblockers and magic sponges, mainly.

I love a map - I had been with my partner for a few months , we decided on an early night so that we could both read our books in bed ( passionate eh ?) . He took out his thriller novel and looked at me when he saw that I was reading an A-Z of our local area !

I’m getting really excited about getting a heated airer ( with cover) from Lakeland. I literally cannot wait. A friend has two and they’ve changed her life.

I also get excited about elections, but mainly the USA one. Stayed awake with snacks on the sofa all night for the last one. It’s fascinating.

I also love watching air traffic control YouTube videos. Nothing beats listening Kennedy Steve ordering the planes and tugs about! And yes to air crash investigation documentaries.

I’d also love to go to Istanbul by rail. I loved the race across the world show earlier in the year and I’d like to be brave enough to try and go with no plans and see where I end up!

I have enough knitting patterns to clothe pretty much every man, woman, child (and their toys), and their dogs in the UK (and probably half of Europe). I have a never ending stash of yarn to go with it.

But, I only knit from the same dozen or so patterns, as I knit tiny things for a preemie charity, and dress dolls for dementia patients.

Oh and I love stationery, I have a shoe box full of beautiful pens - don't work in an office anymore, but still my collection grows!

Also, anything Harry Potter, jigsaw puzzles and gardening gloves (6 pairs and counting!).

It’s my birthday today: my partner bought me a Japanese vegetable knife. I’ve just spent an hour in the kitchen cutting wafer thin slices of tomato....

@SleepyKat

oooh, is there one in Sheffield? I'm in Essex.

Ghost detection equipment

Nerdy - following planes on Flight Radar. I live near an airport and when I see a plane overhead I like to see what it is.

Uncool - The Eurovision Song Contest. Watching the one in 1988 (with the futuristic stage and Celine Dion in her tutu) is one of my earliest memories. I've loved it ever since.

Arts Tower

French comic books.

Flightradar24 😊

"French comic books."

Asterix by any chance? I love Asterix!

@BatleyTownswomensGuild. Yes the Sheffield one is the highest in Europe.

Good YouTube video.

Done it 3 times:

1. Amsterdam, Vienna , budapest , Bucuresti, Istanbul

1. Copenhagen, Salzburg, budapest, Brasov, Bucuresti Istanbul

1. Brussels, Innsbruck, budapest, Sibiu, Bucuresti , Istanbul.

Just me and the kids - first time. Age 7 and 9. We take 2 weeks and enjoy the stops.

Good luck.

New hoovers ARE exciting @FiveFarthings I held off for months for dhs demand for a new tv until the bastarding dyson hit me on the head one last time, the deal was done, I got a new hoover and dh got a new tv, I know which one of us got the better deal!

The new washing machine delivery when I had a slipped disc was also too enticing, I HAD to unwrap to see it properly. Ditto the new drier.

I was also rather excited by the wired up to a hifi speakers built into the bathroom ceiling being replaced with bluetooth ones. Not having to take my phone for a bath and charging it instead is a game changer.

I’m another one who loves words, languages and etymology. I love that Greek and Latin are like secret languages within English and that the bits of them I know help me understand extra meanings. I love that different languages contain different ways of thinking. To give one tiny example, the Dutch word for seal literally translates as “sea-dog”. I agree with the Dutch that seals are indeed a lot like aquatic dogs.

I also love looking at maps and atlases. Google Earth takes it to a whole new level. But my favourite atlas ever was an ancient school atlas which was so old, that most of Africa was blank and described only as “unexplored regions”. Sadly, my mum hates clutter and threw it away.