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:

1. Sleeping in a freshly made bed
2. Feeling the sun on your face
3. People saying ‘thank you’ or a random act of kindness from a stranger
4. Finding money in unexpected places
5. Having time to myself
6. Laughing so hard it hurts
7. Snuggling on the sofa with a loved one
8. Freshly made bread
9. Doing something for others
10. The clean feeling after a shower
11. When your favourite song comes on the radio
12. Finding a bargain in the sales
13. Listening to the rainfall/thunderstorms when you’re inside
14. Freshly brewed tea / coffee
15. The thrill of personal achievement
16. Having a long hot bath
17. Seeing a fresh coating of snow
18. Freshly cut grass
19. Chocolate melting in your mouth
20. Doing something active outdoors (e.g. bike ride, run, country walk)
21. Bacon cooking in the morning
22. Talking to or playing with your pet
23. A soothing massage
24. That ‘Friday feeling’
25. A perfectly cooked steak
26. Waking up before the alarm and realising there’s more time to sleep
27. Doing exercise
28. Rainbows
29. Remembering the name of something/someone you thought you’d forgotten
30. Making a perfectly baked cake/pie
31. Stepping on crunchy autumn leaves
32. Popping bubble wrap
33. Swimming in the sea / lake
34. New car smell
35. Dancing like no one is watching
36. The smell of new books/magazines
37. Smell of a fine wine
38. Putting your Out of Office on before going on holiday
39. Putting on a brand new pair of socks
40. Watching your breath float away in cold air
41. Getting new stationary
42. Singing in the shower
43. Getting a seat on the bus / train / tube
44. Picking an easy peel orange from the fruit bowl
45. Loosening your jeans after you’ve eaten
46. The ‘pop’ when you open a new jar of jam
47. Squeezing a spot
48. Cleaning the wax from your ears
49. Cleaning the bathroom
50. 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:

1. Having a little place you can escape to, where you can immerse yourself in a project and forget about everything else in your life.
2. A delivery of new packets of seeds in the post.
3. The sight of a new bed that you’ve just dug over.
4. Free plants and/or vegetables from an allotment neighbour, and being able to give something back in return.
5. Spotting the first shoots coming through the ground.
6. The first harvest, however small it may be.
7. A rain shower just after you’ve planted plants or sown seeds.
8. Freshly dug potatoes lying out in the sun to dry.
9. The taste of the first strawberries or tomatoes, still warm from the sun.
10. The smell of a freshly pulled up onion or garlic.
11. The satisfaction of pulling out a long weedy root (great post by Muddy Boots and Fingernails on this here).
12. An emptied out compost bin ready to be refilled.
13. 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.
14. A cup of tea and a snack while sat in the sunshine on your plot.
15. Discovering way more squashes than you thought you had, hiding under all the leaves.
    
16. Pulling a root vegetable out of the ground, intact and unspoilt. (Rare).
17. Taking home a bunch of sweet smelling flowers from the plot.
18. Having enough of a harvest that you can give away boxes and bagfuls to friends and family.
19. A hot shower after you’ve been working hard and are sweaty and properly dirty.
20. Sitting down to a meal made from your homegrown produce, oh the satisfaction!

I must have missed something. What’s your little allotment happiness?