What made you happy today?

Purple Train · 5 Jun 2026

The BBC headline for yesterday's cricket opinion article here which I read this morning is already very close to making my day. I usually find the chief journalist Stephan Shemilt's style slightly irritating but he's absolutely outdone himself with this one:

Here's to you, Ollie Robinson - England need you more than you will know

RailUK Forums

DelW · 6 Jun 2026

Purple Train said:
The BBC headline for yesterday's cricket opinion article here which I read this morning is already very close to making my day. I usually find the chief journalist Stephan Shemilt's style slightly irritating but he's absolutely outdone himself with this one:

Here's to you, Ollie Robinson - England need you more than you will know

Click to expand...

I'm a bit late to respond, but definitely :lol:

weepingwillowb · 6 Jun 2026

I went to see Hadrian's Wall for the first time today. Train to Haltwhistle, bus to Housesteads, walked up to the wall, and then took the path alongside the wall for a while. While on the way back to Carlisle by bus, I stopped off to take some photos for an article I've been wanting to put together to submit to a railway magazine, so I'm a very happy bunny this evening.

Forty29 · 9 Jun 2026

Harvester said:
Any nightingales, Bicester is within their range. I heard a very vocal blackcap this morning, whose song is as good a substitute as you can get for a nightingale‘s, here in the east midlands!

Not sure, my sister has an app that tells which type of bird is singing. Will have to install it as surprisingly good at identifying species you wouldn't think was there.

D1511 · 9 Jun 2026

Forty29 said:
Not sure, my sister has an app that tells which type of bird is singing. Will have to install it as surprisingly good at identifying species you wouldn't think was there.

That would be Merlin I expect. It's very good.

madannie77 · 9 Jun 2026

Spending our 10th wedding anniversary at Jodrelll Bank, somewhere Mr Madannie has never visited despite being interested in astronomy, especially the physics part of it. I have not been there since I was a teenager (way too long ago) and although my interest in astronomy has waned somewhat over the years I found it absolutely fascinating.

Iskra · 9 Jun 2026

…officially securing a new role after jumping through many hoops, and handing in my resignation

D6130 · 10 Jun 2026

Iskra said:
…officially securing a new role after jumping through many hoops, and handing in my resignation

Congratulations! When do you start your training?

Jimini · 10 Jun 2026

New toy arrived today

[Image of FlightWall flight tracker display.]

johntea · 22 Jun 2026

Had a skip hire delivered today as we're getting a new 'garden building' in a space that has been stood there intended for such a purpose for...21 years now

so all the previous mismatch of bricks and building materials sat there all that time are being chucked out and then the work can start with fresh materials

Although it killed my back there is something very satisfying about just spending half the day throwing items in a skip!

speedy1 · 22 Jun 2026

I nailed singing along to Bruce Springsteen - Brilliant Disguise in the shower. According to me at least. Not sure my neighbours agreed

Ashley Hill · 22 Jun 2026

johntea said:
Although it killed my back there is something very satisfying about just spending half the day throwing items in a skip

I’m surprised it’s not been filled by old carpets and prams by the neighbours :lol:

.

styles · 22 Jun 2026

johntea said:
Although it killed my back there is something very satisfying about just spending half the day throwing items in a skip!

I actually think I'd really enjoy a job clearing out the houses of people you see on "hoarders" programmes. I wouldn't be so good at the psychology side of it so I'd want someone qualified to support the hoarder, but I would find delight in taking a house from a hoarded and unclean state and bringing it back to liveable condition. Not just throwing stuff away but the deep cleaning.

The exile · 22 Jun 2026

Getting home with seconds to spare before the storm broke. Haven’t experienced one like that for years and boy, was I glad I could watch it through a window!

Ashley Hill · 22 Jun 2026

styles said:
I actually think I'd really enjoy a job clearing out the houses of people you see on "hoarders" programmes. I wouldn't be so good at the psychology side of it so I'd want someone qualified to support the hoarder, but I would find delight in taking a house from a hoarded and unclean state and bringing it back to liveable condition. Not just throwing stuff away but the deep cleaning.

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
My father is always asking what is happening to all my old “junk” at his house. That is the “junk” that Mrs H says she is not having in our house. The fact it is all railway bits and pieces I’ve picked up over the years means it’s definitely not junk!

SuspectUsual · 22 Jun 2026

I found out a very interesting piece of family history about my great-grandad’s escapades in the Great War.

He was a very, very lucky man, twice

And if he hadn’t been, I wouldn’t be here today I suppose

Mr. SW · 23 Jun 2026

Likewise.
And unusual documentary evidence of a painted self-portrait just after he was wounded. (Obviously not done at the same time, natch.)

mm333 · 24 Jun 2026

A nice heatwave moment from last night: I was ticking off Chathill station. As the train from Newcastle pulled in, the man who lives in the old station house came out and handed the guard two or three cold drinks straight from the fridge - presumably for him and the driver to share.

Turns out, he sometimes gives them chocolate bars too, but this week is *not* chocolate weather.

Harvester · 24 Jun 2026

Walked to a secluded spot in the local reserve this morning before it became too hot. Saw scores and scores of common blue, blue-tailed and banded damselflies while there, plus a brown hawker and common hawker dragonfly, both flying menacingly around. Hedge brown butterflies and small whites were very abundant too.

Ashley Hill · 1 Jul 2026

Bald Rick said:
Although the Crystal Palace has the side attraction (for some) of being able to see trains passing on the WCML from a couple of tables in the front windows.

Sat in those very windows today.

Bald Rick said:
The Rising Sun is the best of them.

THC said:
The Rising Sun, right by lock 55, is an absolute gem. Can thoroughly recommend.

A very pleasant afternoon in Berkhamstead, thanks for the recommendations. The Boat was nice too!

ChrisC · 1 Jul 2026

This evening I was walking back home over the fields after bellringing at the church in the next village. I was able to stand for a few minutes watching a barn owl flying around low over the fields.

johntea · 1 Jul 2026

Someone got me a Lego set (a Nintendo Game Boy!) for my birthday last month and now I think I'm going to become addicted to it, already bought and built another set (Harry Potter Knight Bus)

CharlieSpotted · 2 Jul 2026

johntea said:
Someone got me a Lego set (a Nintendo Game Boy!) for my birthday last month and now I think I'm going to become addicted to it, already bought and built another set (Harry Potter Knight Bus)

The Lego Game Boy is a superb set! I've got slightly into Lego myself recently, my entry point was a McLaren F1 car, and I've since done more F1, the Game Boy, Wall-E and Eva, and the BTTF Delorean! All smaller sets, haven't yet got the courage to stump up for a proper big boy one!

I bought a lighting kit for the game boy from a site called 'Game of Bricks' which is great, makes it looks like the screen is backlit. Not an ad - other similar products are available.

THC · 2 Jul 2026

Ashley Hill said:
Sat in those very windows today.

A very pleasant afternoon in Berkhamstead, thanks for the recommendations. The Boat was nice too!

Lovely to read - thank you for letting us know. Delighted you enjoyed your day out.

THC

3141 · 5 Jul 2026

I got the record player working again after a five-year interval. It has a SME Series V arm (which I bought second-hand, as the new price at the time was beyond me, and it's now even more beyond)! But to set it up you need the specialised tools and protractors, and the box containing them and the instructions had hidden itself away in the garage. Last week I found it. In the interval since I last used the recorsd player I've upgraded some of the other equipment, and now it all sounds absolutely fantastic.

High Dyke · 5 Jul 2026

I won £10 in my local football club weekly lottery.

Oldgaloot · 5 Jul 2026

Using a dodgy extendible lopper to take some annoying dead branches off the prunus in our back garden. Should have done it years back but was concerned about ruining what's left of the tree. It all went surprisingly well and, on the advice of her indoors, I've quit while I seem to be ahead.

Harvester · 6 Jul 2026

Apart from Mexico 2 England 3, I was out walking this morning and a “Painted Lady“ fluttered down onto the footpath just in front of me.

Purple Train · 6 Jul 2026

A reunion with some long-lost friends which also allowed me to tick off the Foxhall Curve - quite skilled multitasking by my standards!

Railwaycat · 6 Jul 2026

Sad (as in annoyed) at first, then happy (as in pleasantly surprised!)
Ordered a fan off Amazon (Levoit, excellent piece of kit, already have one) and had to wait a week - supposed to be delivered today by Pilot, whoever that is. Nothing arrived, so I looked online - delivered Saturday 12.41... not! So I complained online, and within 2 minutes the phone went - we are busy, you are in a queue...seconds later, a real person answered. Took all the details, couldn't explain what had happened (sounds like 3rd party delivery to me) and ordered a replacement to be sent, with a label online to send the first one back if it turns up.
Don't like adding to Jeff Bezos's fortune (said fan was way more expensive elsewhere), but have to admit that is the way for a business to handle complaints.

What made you happy today?

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