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

Walking in firm, dry snow that insulates rather than stealing one's heat away.

You know when you've made a nice bowl of porridge? Not this instant micro wave rubbish, I mean whole rolled oats you have to scrape out the pan. Waiting for it to cool to reach just the right temperature to make a nice depression with the back of your spoon, then pour on the treacle, you don't want it too hot or the treacle just becomes runny and sinks! No you want a nice little reservoir of Golden Syrup, (other brands are available but you really want the old GS, nothing else will do). A nice big mug of tea, and I mean a big mug, none of your little china flimsy, to wash it down, and that needs co-ordinating too, you want to be pouring the tea just as you're putting the treacle on. Japanese tea ceremony be blowed, gosh I'm hungry now, roll on morning.

If you make the porridge right, and cook it for long enough, it comes away from the side of the saucepan.

Another treacle treat is treacle on ice cream, it goes hard almost chewy, TC porridge rightness is essentially subjective, if you can pour it out it's not 'right' I reckon. How I has me oats is my business, if you want southern softie's gruel that's up to you.

...a handful of pecans as topping for the oats, sprinkled on top and cooked along with them without stirring. Especially works well in a microwave with the treacle poured on top of the pecans after adding water to cover the oats. About 3+ minutes for old fasioned rolled oats...

Ah IT, a true epicure I see, pumpkin seeds are my favourite actually,husked sunflower seeds are great too. If you can wait for them to kind of set in the treacle, almost impossible I know, you might have to take a walk around the block to avoid temptation! But what a treat.

Sucking out some of the syrup in a really goopy flapjack

Looking for a book at the library by it's shelf classification and actually finding it! I did this on Tuesday, when I triumphantly tried to check it out, they have this laser scanner thingy at Oxford, it wouldn't let me! The ever helpful young lady librarian carefully explained that I'd taken it from the reference section, but she took pity on me and went and got another copy from the lending section! Ah the joys of elderly confusion!

Watching my Leylandii (or however you spell it) waving in the storm we're having this morning. The downside of course is that I have to trim them in a couple of weeks and I'm getting too old for swinging off a ladder!

In a similar library vein to Hammondorgan's library case.

Going to where a book should be, having a mini-rage because it's not there and should be, but then finding it on the return to shelf stack

Picking the first lettuce of the season.

Finding something you've given up for lost! We went on holiday a couple of weeks ago and my quite expensive waterproof coat went missing. I phoned round a couple of places we'd been without any luck. When we got back home, I looked in the cupboard and it was hanging up there, I hadn't taken it! Funny thing is both my wife and I had clear recall of me wearing it on the journey down to Cornwall! False memory syndrome!

Stroking a cat's fur the wrong way, then getting your hand away just before getting scratched.

The scratching of a dog's toenails on a slippery floor as it abruptly tries to get into gear.

Successfully performing a minor car repair using a wire coathanger and a pair of pliers.

Peeling an orange and giving my missus a bit, that's one activity not two!

I've just had a new knee and I can finally ride my bike again, oh the sheer joy of it, they told me to wait till I went back for my final check over before I got back on my bike, I couldn't resist, I'll just not tell them! God Bless the NHS.

Good on you

OOo, excellent with the new knee and the being able to cycle again

I think I might find gardening a pleasurable activity if my husband wasn't out there doing stuff all the time, usually stuff which involves lots of noise and dirt. I would spend more time on making it look nice and caring for flowers. Last night I was allwed to harvest the (wild-growing) tomatoes because he doesn't like tomatoes. Next year, if they come up by accident again, I'll look after them and see if I can get them to grow a bit bigger. This year's are the size of marbles.

But picking fruit generally is not a pleasurable activity. We used to hate coming home from school and, still in our uniform, out in the hot sun, we were given a colander and told to pick all the strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants or gooseberries. Mum was indoors watching Wimbledon and doing the ironing.

Picking fruit and veg should be done early in the morning. Don't know why I'm rambling on about it in this thread.

Well done Hammond Organ for getting back on yer bike.