h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I really like that poem Deb. Thank you.

There is a great benefit in being optimistic isn't there?

Very touching Deb. Good stuff girl.

smiles, popping bubble wrap, the sky when it is that deep blue before it gets dark, sitting around a camp fire

Starlings flocking and swarming at dusk, dividing, re-forming, swooping, soaring...

I watched some today spreading wayyyyyyy out, and dividing into three groups. Then a plane came into land, and in no time they contracted into one tight ball, raised to let it pass, and resumed when it got out of their way.

It's hypnotic watching them. I nearly missed my train.

Ah, flocks of birds flying overhead! Canadian geese are kind of cute when they fly in formation, honking as they go.

Hitting target with days to spare

Hearing Andy Murray has lost..again

"Walking away from work along a high ridge with Florence + The Machine blaring on my mp3. Wonderful and doesn't cost me a penny"

Yeah - bittorrent is GREAT isn't it?

For me: sunrise and sunset on clear days with moon and planets. Some nights I stare for minutes at time at the way the sky just fades from pale blue to almost black across its width.

Breathing. I had a stinking cold last weekend, so every now and then when I haven't, like now, I like to take a long, deep breath through my nose and appreciate what it's like to able to do that.

The sound of natural running water. The shape of a cumulus cloud in a bright sky.

Really, really good tea.

Memory foam pillows.

Going without chocolate for a week... then eating chocolate. (Doesn't work if you just eat the chocolate every day or something. See also your first strawberry after a month on the Atkins Diet.)

Donds on the starlings. Me and my bestest mate watched about ten thousand of them over Bradford one evening for about twenty minutes - it was amazing.

Wouldn't know about bittorent, but birthday presents from someone who gets your eclectic taste in music are great. I don't do downloads, I'm a bit of a stickler for paying.

Breaking the thin patina of ice on the canal with stones is lovely.

For UK people into bird flight I recommend 'Flight of birds' on BBC iPlayer.

It is simply stunning to watch...narrated by David Tennant.

Simple pleasures - skimming through YouTube watching the best scenes from your favourite movies.

ie - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_saUN4j7Gw

<<There is a great benefit in being optimistic isn't there?

Yes, although sharing petty hates seems to bring us closer together than simple pleasures do.

If only humanity could be as passionate about love as we are about hate!

Aren't Love and Hate just either sides of the same coin?

It's a coin flip.

But I think I can honestly say personally I'm always betting on Love.

And this little thread has made me feel better about this place hugely.

A nicely fried egg (over-easy for me, please) on a medium-toasted slice of bread spread with (I can't believe it *is*) real butter.

Brown sauce? Perhaps not on this thread...

There's a certain amount of catharsis involved with sharing things you hate that you simply don't get when sharing things you love.

Anyway, simple pleasure: the 'plink plink' sound of the valves cooling when I turn my guitar amp off. I always just stand there and listen to it.

A comparable pleasure - the "plink plink" of the ceramic brakes cooling on a Boxster when you've been caning it.

>>There's a certain amount of catharsis involved with sharing things you hate

Not sure I understand. Why is it cathartic?

Who doesn't enjoy a rant?

Hoo does enjoy a rant.