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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to delight in life's silly little pleasures?

102 replies

UnderperformingSeal · 24/06/2020 14:45

It's been a fraught three months. There's been a lot of venting on here about people's inability to understand what isolation is, or what 2m looks like, or whatever other COVID-19-related stress was bothering us at the time. The light at the end of the tunnel might well turn out to be an oncoming train. If we aren't all at the end of our tethers by now, we can't be far away.

However, despite the pandemic and its restrictions on normal life there are always things from which we can still derive joy; obvious ones like clean bedsheets, a leisurely shower or long soak when the house is empty, or biting the chocolate off a *KitKat finger. And then there are the less obvious ones: today I caught myself drumming the teaspoon on the foil lid of a fresh jar of coffee before piercing it (which too is a joy in itself), and I realised I do this every time I open one. It's silly, and serves no purpose, but it's far more pleasing than it should be to a grown adult and I can't help myself. Further introspection revealed that it isn't my only daft little foible, as I am also prone to coiling those wire ties that hold cables tidy in electronics packaging around my finger to form a spring, and tapping my tweezers on my finger and holding them up to my ear like they're a tuning fork. There are probably others.

I may be a tiny bit mental, or perhaps this sort of idiosyncratic nonsense is perfectly normal. So, Mumsnet, which is it?

  • insert the confectionery and dismemberment method of your choice; there was a thread recently on here in which KitKat proved surprisingly divisive.
OP posts:
WinterAndRoughWeather · 25/06/2020 00:38

I moved to a sunny, not very rainy country last year and honestly the thing that makes me happiest about it is being able to line dry all the washing, all year round. Also, the way the sun bleaches the whites, it’s miraculous.

Shatandfattered · 25/06/2020 00:48

@UnderperformingSeal I'll try to make a mental note to return tomorrow now that I've got this thread in the back of my mind. I'm sure there's loads more that I'm blissfully ignorant to the fact they're regarded strange or quirky.

Rubybluesy · 25/06/2020 01:02

I remember when Fry's did a 5 flavour cream, each square different...

2bazookas · 25/06/2020 01:12

How loudly do hedgehogs snuffle then?

"hog" is the clue :-)

2bazookas · 25/06/2020 01:15

alittle pleasure, getting home with bag of new library books, make cup of tea and wonder which to read first. Spend next five hours on sofa , reading.

Libraries are what I've missed most, News today they will reopen in July. Very happy.

FinlandFlag · 25/06/2020 01:17

Friday facetime with best friend. Accidentally became a thing. Love it. Mark's out the week.

Being able to go for a walk. Was shielding and we weren't allowed walks here until last Thur. I will never ever ever take being able to do for a walk for granted again.

Sitting in sun early/late having a cuppa.

AnneWeber · 25/06/2020 01:27

Someone's already said this, but a new skill i learned during lockdown from watching the Wonderful World of Chocolate on TV is to bite both ends off a finger of kitkat and use it has a straw to suck up coffee. [Proud]

thenewaveragebear1983 · 25/06/2020 09:52

Poundland had all the different fry's creams in multipacks this week, orange, mint, strawberry..... yummy!

ssd · 25/06/2020 09:53

Bloody brilliant thread. Thanks op Flowers

ssd · 25/06/2020 09:57

Here's my list

Watching a full washing line blowing in the breeze.
The peace and quiet of my bed in the morning when dh is working and ds us asleep.
A daily frothy coffee from the dolce gusto machine a lovely mnetter gave me at the start of lockdown

ssd · 25/06/2020 10:00

@WinterAndRoughWeather

I moved to a sunny, not very rainy country last year and honestly the thing that makes me happiest about it is being able to line dry all the washing, all year round. Also, the way the sun bleaches the whites, it’s miraculous.
Glasgow?
ssd · 25/06/2020 10:00

Sorry meant to say, definitely Not Glasgow!!

ssd · 25/06/2020 10:06

@UnderperformingSeal

The few moments of glorious coolness after you turn your pillow over.
This x a million
zingally · 25/06/2020 11:09

The smell of a fresh jar of coffee, right after your pierce the foil, is one of the best smells ever! :D

Royalbloo · 25/06/2020 11:25

This is a lovely thread!!! :o)

I find myself singing and dancing around the house more and more. Dancing with DD 3.5yrs in the kitchen is me living my best life.

Bargebill19 · 25/06/2020 11:49

The smell of fresh laundry (just brought some in).
Getting into a clean bed in a clean nightshirt after a shower.

UnfinishedSymphon · 25/06/2020 11:57

I do the makeshift springs too, I then smudge them down and start all over again. My simple pleasure at the moment is watching the dog play in her pool, throwing her balls in the air and jumping on them

HellloBambinos · 25/06/2020 12:00

Ahh yes. Sunday evenings. Feeling happy and stuffed from the Roast lunch earlier, a nice bubble bath with my posh Jo Malone bath oil then into clean PJs to watch something silly on TV with DH. Then into clean bed sheets after. Pure bliss.

JaneJeffer · 25/06/2020 12:06

Using your forefinger and thumb to make a crisp packet into a ball and then flicking it at your loved ones!

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 25/06/2020 12:16

My DD is currently sitting by the washing machine reading a book in solidarity with a teddy who needed to go for a quick spin.

Children are the masters of some pleasures.

blankethog · 25/06/2020 18:33

Biting round the chocolate of a peanut m&m and saving the peanut for last.
Dipping my fingers into wax from a candle and trying to get it all of my finger in one piece Blush

billy1966 · 25/06/2020 19:21

Big gratitude person here.

My garden.
Coffee in my garden.
Grass cut.
Early morning sun in my garden.
Wine in my garden.
Watching 50+ baby birds eating crumbs....I'm obsessed with feeding birds.

Hearing my husband laughing.
Hearing my children laughing.

A house in ship shape, fire lighting, wine breathing and a one pot dinner ready.

Everyone safe at home on a wild night.
The rain at night knowing I don't have to go anywhere or get up early.

Walking on the beach.
Settling into a book.
Beginning a new season of a show only i love.
Anything that makes my child happy or gives them a buzz.
Accidentally running into someone I like.
Hearing someone I care about or like has had good luck or news.

Like a lot of people, the things that truly bring me joy cost nothing.
I appreciate enormously that being comfortably off means that I am blessed with that too.

SunshineLollipopsRainbow · 26/06/2020 07:08

I like trying to peel the foil off the coffee jar in one whole piece 🤗

GnomeDePlume · 26/06/2020 07:34

Winning The Dishwasher Game:

Emptying the dishwasher in such a way that visits to cupboards are optimised. A perfect run means that cupboards/drawers are visited only once: all cutlery is put away in a single visit, crockery cupboard visited only once etc.

Best result is coming to the dishwasher and finding it mostly empty.

plominoagain · 26/06/2020 07:58

@SunshineLollipopsRainbow

I like trying to peel the foil off the coffee jar in one whole piece 🤗
Me too ! If I manage it , the reward is a special biscuit to go with the coffee .

I manage it a lot . ....