Pleasures

My Yorkshire compatriot, Lord Cliff of Richmond architect of the imaginatively titled but now defunct blog, “Cliff’s Column”, recently ran a post - like a meme - in which he listed “Ten Simple Pleasures”. This was such a nice idea, I have borrowed it and here are mine…

1. Eating a traditional Sunday dinner round the table with my family – roast beef, new potatoes, roasted leeks, fresh peas and carrots with gravy, horseradish sauce and of course Yorkshire pudding – Yes ladies you can eat Yorkshire pudding!

2. Lying on my back in the garden watching summer swallows dancing under the clouds.

3. A lovely clear and well-kept pint of draught Tetley’s bitter with a half inch head that leaves foamy drinking lines down the inside of the glass.

4. Picking up my guitar and revisiting songs, forever amazed that my fingers, my voice box and my mind are capable of such artistry.

5. Visiting the old graveyard near the former site of St Faith’s church, west of Leven, East Yorkshire – I don’t know why but this place continues to hold special significance for me. The silence. The mystery.

6. Burying myself in a good book in times where responsibilities and schedules don’t intrude and spoil the connection.

7. Pottering around in the garden in shorts and flip flops, clipping sycamore shoots, briars and bramble runners.

8. Seeing a starry sky on a dark, dark night with no urban light pollution. Amazing!

9. Clean linen sheets that smell of the outdoors and welcome you to sleep.

10. The slightly metallic smell of the air when rain has fallen after a dry spell.