A recent poll has revealed the top 50 things that make us feel great in Great Britain. See what they did there?
The full list of things that make Great Britons feel great is as follows:
- Sleeping in a freshly made bed
- Feeling the sun on your face
- People saying ‘thank you’ or a random act of kindness from a stranger
- Finding money in unexpected places
- Having time to myself
- Laughing so hard it hurts
- Snuggling on the sofa with a loved one
- Freshly made bread
- Doing something for others
- The clean feeling after a shower
- When your favourite song comes on the radio
- Finding a bargain in the sales
- Listening to the rainfall/thunderstorms when you’re inside
- Freshly brewed tea / coffee
- The thrill of personal achievement
- Having a long hot bath
- Seeing a fresh coating of snow
- Freshly cut grass
- Chocolate melting in your mouth
- Doing something active outdoors (e.g. bike ride, run, country walk)
- Bacon cooking in the morning
- Talking to or playing with your pet
- A soothing massage
- That ‘Friday feeling’
- A perfectly cooked steak
- Waking up before the alarm and realising there’s more time to sleep
- Doing exercise
- Rainbows
- Remembering the name of something/someone you thought you’d forgotten
- Making a perfectly baked cake/pie
- Stepping on crunchy autumn leaves
- Popping bubble wrap
- Swimming in the sea / lake
- New car smell
- Dancing like no one is watching
- The smell of new books/magazines
- Smell of a fine wine
- Putting your Out of Office on before going on holiday
- Putting on a brand new pair of socks
- Watching your breath float away in cold air
- Getting new stationary
- Singing in the shower
- Getting a seat on the bus / train / tube
- Picking an easy peel orange from the fruit bowl
- Loosening your jeans after you’ve eaten
- The ‘pop’ when you open a new jar of jam
- Squeezing a spot
- Cleaning the wax from your ears
- Cleaning the bathroom
- The Royal Family
I agree with most, though I’m a bit worried about whoever said either of the last two.
So … I take it no gardeners were included in this poll? Nothing about the simple joys of nature or growing your own food? Numbers 18 and 20 are as close as it gets, but I think ‘freshly cut grass’ just refers to the smell, hopefully someone else has done the hard work, and outdoor activities include biking and running. Hmm. I feel the need to add a few of my own to this list.
My top 20 of simple allotment happiness:
- Having a little place you can escape to, where you can immerse yourself in a project and forget about everything else in your life.
- A delivery of new packets of seeds in the post.
- The sight of a new bed that you’ve just dug over.
- Free plants and/or vegetables from an allotment neighbour, and being able to give something back in return.
- Spotting the first shoots coming through the ground.
- The first harvest, however small it may be.
- A rain shower just after you’ve planted plants or sown seeds.
- Freshly dug potatoes lying out in the sun to dry.
- The taste of the first strawberries or tomatoes, still warm from the sun.
- The smell of a freshly pulled up onion or garlic.
- The satisfaction of pulling out a long weedy root (great post by Muddy Boots and Fingernails on this here).
- An emptied out compost bin ready to be refilled.
- Being at one with nature, watching the bees pollinating and the ladybirds hoovering up the aphids and the cheeky little blackbird that pops down to look for worms when you’ve just dug over the soil.
- A cup of tea and a snack while sat in the sunshine on your plot.
- Discovering way more squashes than you thought you had, hiding under all the leaves.
- Pulling a root vegetable out of the ground, intact and unspoilt. (Rare).
- Taking home a bunch of sweet smelling flowers from the plot.
- Having enough of a harvest that you can give away boxes and bagfuls to friends and family.
- A hot shower after you’ve been working hard and are sweaty and properly dirty.
- Sitting down to a meal made from your homegrown produce, oh the satisfaction!
I must have missed something. What’s your little allotment happiness?
That’s so lovely! I agree who said those last two! Ha ha made me laugh 😊
LikeLike
Oh good, not just me. I hate cleaning the bathroom!
LikeLike
Great list and thanks for the link :o) I get a lot of satisfaction from a really fine tilth in the soil! I don’t manage to create this very often, but when you’ve sown seeds and can just softly cover them with light sprinkles of soil you feel like a real pro! But, in terms of the bigger picture, #1 does it for me.
LikeLike
You’re welcome for the link, and yes a fine tilth is a very satisfying thing! Ha ha, my computer wanted to change tilth to filth! That would have looked wrong.
LikeLike
Predictive text gaffs are the best. I got a message today where ‘how to go’ was changed to ‘Domingo’!?!?
LikeLike
That is bizarre!
LikeLike
Love your list. I especially like no. 14 -oh and 8 ..and 9. Actually all of them!
LikeLike
Ooh, thanks! I think I could have carried on with more, but had to stop myself.
LikeLike
Thanks for a great post. That first list makes you Britons sound a bit like a bunch of hobbits – and I mean that in the nicest way – except perhaps the bubble wrap and the Royal Family. I can relate to just about everything on the second list, but would also add: the smell, look and feel of well- made compost; digging over a bed of good soil helped by several chooks and a puppy; digging up potatoes and finding many more, and larger ones than you expected; and the sound of gentle rain that lasts all night after a long, dry spell.
LikeLike
Yes us Brits are a strange lot indeed! Nice that it’s the little things that keep us happy though. Thanks for your contributions, great list, I agree with all of those.
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] the post on This blessed plot about Allotment Happiness a month ago (time has flown by!) I’ve been tempted to do my own […]
LikeLike