Happiness – Middle Age Fanclub

Always look on the bright side; Five Things That Made Me Smile in November.

Another month, another search for the little moments of happiness that are always waiting to be found. With daylight in a bit shorter supply this is the time of year that has the chance to affect my mood the most. I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark, which isn’t very good, really. So, what made me smile last month?

Puffins return! This was a story I read about a colony of puffins returning to the delightfully named Isle of Muck in County Antrim for the first time in years. Apparently, following a programme of rat eradication that started in 2017, combined with the fact that the council now keeps the vegetation low, thus providing less cover for predators, a small amount of puffins has been seen nesting on the island. Puffins are an at risk breed of seabird, as well as being really cute, so their return and attempts at breeding is a real plus. This made made smile, but nearly as much as when the article also informed me that baby puffins are known as ‘pufflings’!

Football and a bin brings joy to lunch break! Another story I spotted, this one. This is the tale of workers at a factory who have livened up their lunch times by devising a football based game that they spend playing on their break. It was something that they came up with about ten years ago, but a video of it went viral and now the world knows all about it. One of the organisers of the game, Connor Fathers explained that they had just thought, “we’re spending every lunch break just staring at our phones, not talking to each other, not doing anything. There’s got to be more to lunch than this.” And so, bin game was born, the premise being that if the group can keep the ball up four times they can have a shot at the bin to score. You maybe have to watch the video to understand the joy behind it, but this really made me smile because it’s exactly the kind of thing I’d love to be doing in literally any spare moments, let alone lunch times!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0mgm9s3

“Do we have to keep renewing this?” Every year, as part of our efforts to promote reading, the school where I work gives every Year 7 student a free book. They get to choose which book they’d like from a selection and then we order them and have to endure “When’s my book coming?” for several weeks after! My class got theirs in the middle of November and despite the questions and the fact that they all knew that they were getting a book, the reactions were priceless. What made me smile the most was the disbelief that they’d just get to take it home and keep it, with more than one of them going up to our librarian and asking, “Do we have to keep renewing this?”. Let’s just hope that they carry on reading as a result!

Garden mural. This was a story I read about a 94-year-old woman in Somerset who had the front of her house painted over as a garden scene, featuring flowers, a lawn and even insects. The woman, Muriel Baker, says that she can’t garden anymore and so the mural on her house makes it seem like she’s living in a garden instead and gives her the enjoyment that she would get from tending one. All round, just a nice story, really.

Running! The final thing that made me smile last month came on the very final day of November. However, it was a ‘smile’ that had been in the making for a full month or so beforehand. On November 30th, I ran the Leeds Abbey Dash, a 10k race in central Leeds, taking us up past Kirkstall Abbey and then back down to Leeds for the finish. Running wise, it was fairly successful. Given prior illness and injury I was more than happy to run it in just over 54 minutes. Even then though, it was only thanks to the staggered start times that I even made it to the start line as the traffic going into Leeds meant that it took me well over and hour to get there. Thus, I missed my actual start time and had to start two times later, if you get what I mean. Still, I couldn’t help but smile given that I’d only managed to complete two 10ks in training – one at 56 minutes and the next at 55 minutes. Sadly, a day later I put my back up reaching down to pick up some washing! Then I picked up some kind of chest infection which is still refusing to budge more than a couple of weeks later. Sometimes, if you don’t just smile at these things, you’d end up crying!

So, there we have it. Proof positive that there’s always something to turn that frown upside down!

Always Look on The Bright Side of Life; Five Things That Made Me Smile in October.

October was a bit of a funny month. While there was plenty to keep me optimistic and to make me crack the odd smile, it also signalled the closing weeks of that tough first half term of the academic year. So even smiling felt like an effort! Anyway, here’s what made me make that effort last month!

A groundsman’s pitches go viral. As someone who used to coach football teams, this one caught the eye. I never had to cut the pitches, but was responsible for marking the lines out every once in a while. However, this was a story about Joe Mecke-Davis, the groundsman at Westfields Football Club in Herefordshire. Because his club isn’t professional there are no rules as to how he cuts his pitch and so Matt has let his imagination run wild over the years. Now, his designs are in the running for an international award after images of his pitches went viral. Have a look for yourself…

The joy of a free book and a writing workshop! Every year at the school that I teach at each student in Year 7 gets to choose a free book. It’s a sponsored thing designed to promote reading. And if you didn’t know, reading figures are dropping fast. Obviously, as an English teacher and a fairly prolific reader, I find this trend really worrying. Naturally then, I think the scheme where kids get a book for free is just a fantastic idea. But the thing that made me smile more than anything this year was the enthusiasm of the my students who were desperate to get a look at the choices and haven’t stopped asking when they’re going to get their book ever since! Alongside this, recently I had to nominate 5 students to take part in a workshop with a visiting author. I decided to nominate a couple of really shy, quiet boys because I thought they might benefit from working with a writer for the day. We had to give out little tickets to the event as well and so I kept my group of five back at the end of the lesson to give them their tickets. Both of my shy students looked like they thought they had done something wrong, but the smiles on their faces and the expressions that said ‘Me, really?’ almost made the whole slog of an 8 week half term worth it!

Dinosaur Discovery! I read a brilliant story concerning a discovery of dinosaur footprints last month. They’re part of the longest trackway site ever discovered in the UK. They were originally found by a farm worker driving a digger and since their discovery archaeologists have been excavating the land bit by bit. Now, they’ve unearthed five different trackways of massive footprints that go on for 150 metres and are thought to have been made by both sauropods and a Megalosaurus, the largest predatory dinosaur known in the UK during the Jurassic period. I find things like this fascinating!

Divers discover $1 million worth of treasure. Another article that I read last month told of the discovery of treasure found on a centuries old Spanish shipwreck off Florida. It’s thought to be part of up to $400 million worth of treasure that was lost in the same hurricane, which divers are now frantically hoping to find more of! I used to collect old coins as a school boy and loved finding rare ones, so this story couldn’t have failed to make me smile!

Finally…half term! I’m writing this after work on the final day of the first half term of the academic year. It’s been a long, gruelling 8 week stint, marked particularly over the last two weeks by massive bouts of illness across the school. On at least two days this week we’ve had over 100 students off ill. So partly, I’m happy that I seem to have avoided it and also I’m just thrilled to bits that I now have a week off! The next one leads us right up to Christmas; something else to smile about!

I hope you enjoyed my reasons to smile this time around. There’ll be more at the start of December. Hopefully November is full of positives!

Always Look on The Bright Side; Five Things That Made Me Smile in September.

It’s that time again! Time to remind that despite the gruff exterior, there are occasions that make me crack a smile! I write this piece every month in order to remind myself and anyone else who needs it, that there’s always a reason to smile. September was a decent month too, so there are more than just the usual five too. You might call it a bumper edition!

Period 6 Frees! As a teacher, I sometimes find myself living for my free periods. The job is never not demanding and having my room to myself just to sit and work is always a blessing. This year, I’ve been rather fortunate, depending on your point of view. We have 6 lesson days at my school and on three of those days I’ve been lucky enough to be given the last lesson of the day free! I love it! Firstly, it gives me a goal to get to. I’m in my 50s and this job tires me out, so if I’m finished teaching before the end of the day that is just wonderful. I can relax and just get stuff done and this also means that I spend a little less time after work planning and marking. I also get to avoid some of the worst behaviour of the day too! And the best part? I have last lesson on a Friday free…all to myself…just me, the radio, an empty classroom and as much work as I can get through to start with planning for the next week.

Fantastic Forests. I’m a sucker for a lovely view. And I love a walk in the forest, having sampled a fair few across the world over the years. So an article on the BBC website about the most fantastic forests across the globe was right up my street last month. There were some that I’ll never actually see; the Jiuzhaigou National Park in China and the Amazon are either too far away, too dangerous or both for someone who might only explore them in retirement. However, the Hallerbos Forest in Belgium with its bluebell woods is close and very appealing.

The end of the Transfer Window! As a massive Newcastle United fan it felt like the whole focus of this year’s summer transfer window was on us and the sale of Alexander Isak, who memorably sulked and went on strike in order to force a move to Liverpool. A great role model for today’s youth, right there! Every day of summer was dominated by the story and it became quite exhausting really. In the end, he was sold for a British record transfer fee and, to be honest, it was just a relief in the end. Good riddance!

Couch to Team GB! This was the story of mum of two, Emma Broadhurst who recently captained the Team GB Triathlon team at the European Triathlon Championships in Turkey. Now that might not seem like that big a deal until you find out that Emma only started exercising again a few years ago after putting on weight having had two children. However, after not being able to stick to her exercise schedule she then entered a triathlon and joined a local triathlon club. With the camaraderie and support that she received Emma found that she was doing really well and then, two years later, found herself being called up to Team GB having finished second at an event in Cardiff last year. Emma is only 35, yet still a bit of a veteran in athletics terms and so this was a story that was bound to make an oldie like me smile!

Wor Flags. For the uninitiated, Wor Flags is a fan funded group that organises flag displays (tifos) at Newcastle United home matches. They’ve been going for a few years now and have held some incredible displays that help with the atmosphere in the ground on matchdays. Basically flags of all shapes and sizes are dotted around the stadium with frequent appearances by themed surfer flags that can sometimes cover entire stands or levels of stands. In my humble opinion, Wor Flags create the best displays in the UK. The one that made me smile last month – and once again feel incredibly proud to support my club – was displayed before the home game against Barcelona in the Champions League. Rather than banging on about it, I’ll just post the photos below. A thing of beauty.

Colourful towns and cities. I read an article about towns and cities that don’t shy away from a bit of colour and it made me smile. To get to our favourite beach when we’re on holiday we have to walk through the harbour of said town and most of the houses are painted different, vibrant colours. It’s just a lovely, lovely place. Then, about a week after reading the article I read that they were bringing back the children’s TV classic, Balamory. If you don’t know of it, Balamory was a fictional Scottish town full of happy-go-lucky characters who lived in a place where the houses were painted different colours. There was a lot of singing of catchy songs too. Again, just the mention of Balamory and the thought of all of that colour and remembering singing the songs with my kids when they were much younger made me smile!

And there we have it; a bumper (2 smiles more than usual!) edition of ‘Always look on the bright side…) and hopefully at least one thing to make you smile. Until next time; keep smiling!

Always Look on the Bright Side; Things that made me smile in August.

August is a month where I fall out of routine. As a teacher, I’m enjoying the summer break; six weeks of work free bliss. And because of that, I rarely remember to keep up with the routines that I establish during term times, including looking for the little smile worthy positive moments in the news. So, this month, my bright sides are a bit more generalised.

Summer and a bit of a heat wave. Now, I feel it’s best to quantify the term ‘heatwave’. I live in England which is never particularly warm in comparison to a lot of other countries. However, this year, for a week or so we had a bona fide heatwave and temperatures that at times became unbearable. Why smile then, you might ask. Simple. Being without work for 6 weeks meant that I was free to sit out in the garden on such hot days and chat to family or read a book or even, if I was feeling a little more ambitious, do a bit of gardening. And it’s wonderful just to feel the warmth of the sun on your skin. In the north of England it’s easy to get used to the wind and the rain and so it’s always a reason to smile when the sun gets out in summer.

We’ve got a clean patio! Having had a lovely family holiday in Wales we returned to normal life that included the added bonus of a patio now full of weeds. We’d done some work getting them off before we’d left but when we got back home after a week it was like a mini jungle. Now, after much trowel work, boiling water pouring and sweeping our patio looks lovely and it’s been fantastic being able to sit there in the sun without wishing it wasn’t a mess. Sometimes, it’s the strangest of things that can raise a smile!

My son’s GCSE results. Despite the fact that it feels like mere minutes ago that I was regularly picking my kids up from their primary school’s after school club, they’re in fact both finished in regular education. The youngest, my son, finished Year 11 in July of this year and so picked up his GCSE results near the end of August. He passed everything, which was great, achieving excellent results in Maths, English Language and i Media. It’s obviously really stressful for everyone, especially him while waiting for the results, so knowing that he got through it all so well was more than enough reason for a bit of a smile. It’s nice to know that he’s got that particular hurdle out of the way. Now he’s just got to do it all again with 2 year’s worth of A-Levels!

Newcastle. My home city, the place I was born and raised and unfortunately, somewhere I left when I was in my early twenties. Every August gives me plenty of time to visit home and catch up with family and friends. And this August I was lucky enough to be able to visit twice. Firstly, I took my son up to watch a Newcastle United match. Just a friendly game, but it was the first time I’d been in a while and it felt wonderful to be back in the stadium, being part of a fabulous atmosphere and just being able to watch my team. A week later we visited again for a couple of days in order to see family and friends, catching up with everyone that we wanted to see and having a great time. My dad hasn’t been in the best of health for the last year and so it’s good to check in with him and see that he’s gradually getting stronger again. He’s not quite the same, but it’s comforting and more than enough to bring a smile to my face to see that he’s getting better.

Running. I’ve had a strange year with fitness and have never quite got myself to the levels that I want. It’s been very ‘stop, start’ with illness and injury dominating, meaning I’ll get out for maybe two or three runs in a row and then suffer some kind of setback. However, towards the end of August I felt like I’d made a breakthrough. Having injured my back and worrying that I wouldn’t be able to run for at least a couple of weeks, I recovered within less than a week and was running again. Fingers crossed, everything’s been fine since and although I’m not running with a smile on my face – more a grimace – I’m finding a little bit of consistency. There’s always a positive to be found!

So there we have it; another month, another five things to smile about. Hopefully I’ll have lots to smile about in September, despite having to go back to work!

Always Look on The Bright Side: Five Things that Made me Smile in June.

It’s that time again! Time to see if I can help anybody out with a bit of something more upbeat. Every month I make a note of the kind of things that raise a smile in my day and then at the start of the next one, I relay them to you, dear reader. So here are June’s little moments. Oh, and there are seven for the price of five this month!

The sun. Granted, there have been a few days and nights where it has been far too hot, but it’s just lovely to get to this time of year and feel the full warmth of the sun. Especially when you live in northern Britain, where we can go for weeks fully convinced that it’s not actually up there any more. So, despite the fact that it’s led to some pretty sweaty classrooms and a good few uncomfortable sleeps, it’s been lovely to feel the sun again. Here’s hoping that it can stick around for at least a couple of months.

Night time walks. I’ve been struggling to sleep now that the temperature has risen. It’s also affected my running habits; I find running with a pacemaker in this heat can feel absolutely dreadful. And so, I’ve taken to going for walks at night. Usually we’ve been going out after 9pm, either myself and my wife, myself and my son or just all three of us. It isn’t working in terms of helping me sleep, but it’s good as I can’t go out and run so much, so it keeps up a level of fitness. The best of it though, is that it makes for some lovely chats, especially with my son who I don’t always get to chat to, such is his status as bedroom bound typical teenage boy! I really love spending time with my family, so these walks have enabled a bit of that too and that’s definitely something to smile about.

My son finished his GCSEs! This made me smile because it doesn’t seem more than a few minutes since I was helping my wife edge across Leeds to the maternity ward while she was in labour with said son! Fifteen years on – he’s 16 this month – and he’s just finished his formal education. Reason enough to sigh and exhale forcefully at the perceived speed of it all, but also reason enough to smile.

The Leeds 10k. It’s not been a great year running-wise, so far. Just illness after illness and barely enough energy to get through the day, let alone go out running. Thankfully, I focused myself on a month of training, determined to get into a fit enough state to get round the Leeds 10k. And I did it! It was quite a tough one on a relatively warm day, but I got round in a respectable enough time, so I’ll take that. So although I was shattered as I crossed the finish line, it wasn’t long before I was smiling. I’ve written a blog about the day that’s on the link below if you fancy reading about it.

Power Up signs, smiling more and a bloody cricketer! The Leeds 10k.

Discovering Folk Bitch Trio. I listen to a lot of music. Perhaps not as much as before having a family, but still a lot of music. At work, one of my daily rituals involves listening to BBC 6 Music whenever I get a chance. It’s on as soon as my laptop is up and running in the morning and then back on as soon as I have any non contact time. 6 Music plays a huge range of stuff and this means that I’ll inevitably discover stuff that I’ve never heard before. Usually I make a note of the artist and or song on a Post It and then take that home for Alexa to work her magic. The brilliantly named – and brilliant – Folk Bitch Trio are my latest find. They remind me a bit of First Aid Kit and Haim, both of whom I really like.With Folk Bitch Trio, I enjoyed their music and loved their name. All in all, they made me smile partly because of their name and their music, but also because discovering new music or even old stuff that I’ve never heard is always a reason to smile for me.

New runners. Short and sweet, this one. I’d been after some new running trainers for a while now, but didn’t fancy paying ridiculous money. So, I’d been looking for offers and discounts to help me out while reading a lot of reviews to find what might be the best pair for me. I’ve had a pair of Saucony Ride 17s for a while now and love them. However, I’d got a deal on them and they only cost about £70. Anything comparable now was looking like costing me well over £100. And then, out of nowhere, Sportshoes.com sent me an email with 30% off certain brands and after a bit of deliberation I got some new Saucony Ride 18s for £90! They’re bright orange and beautiful and I’m looking forward to wearing them in and covering lots of miles in them!

June’s gone! Don’t get me wrong; I have nothing against June. But the reason I’m able to smile about it waving goodbye for another year is that we have two family birthdays in June. Again, it’s not that I don’t like the people or their birthdays. What I don’t like is the pressure I put on myself for buying presents for my wife and the pressure that also comes from my daughter’s birthday, which is always a big deal and comes just two days after my wife’s. Life towards the end of June is just chaotic and so, frankly, I’m smiling again now that it’s July!

So there we have it. Proof that even in the smallest things we can find something to smile about…even when your legs feel like they’re going to fall off and you feel sick while dragging yourself up one last hill!

Always Look on the Bright Side: Five Things that Made me Smile in May.

So, here we are again. Delving into the everyday positives that can be found…even if you tend to wander round with your head in the clouds like me! It doesn’t take much to find something that will be sure to make you smile.

So what did the trick in May?

Toddlers named World Puddle Jumping champions! I mean even without the detail there’s enough to raise a smile even with the headline alone. However, last month I read about Eli and his twin sisters Maia and Neeve from Northampton whose mum had submitted a video of them jumping in puddles to the organisers of the World Puddle Jumping Championships. The championships are run by Wicksteed Park, a tourist attraction in Northamptonshire, who decided that these muddy puddle loving siblings were the winners. There’s no trophy; winners receive a cuddly toy and tickets for a family day out at the park. Let’s hope it’s raining that day!

Star Wars Teabag art! This was such a great story! Artist Caroline West has been busy making miniature paintings of Star Wars scenes on tea bags. As someone who loves a bit of art and is also a Star Wars fan this one was always going to make me smile. Caroline first dries the teabags out, empties them and then irons them flat before painting her masterpieces. And they really are fantastic. Apparently she has created 30 tiny paintings and given them all Star Wars themed names like Brewbacca and R2Tea2.

Another artist! Drawing London using a fine liner. I’ll say it again – I’ve always loved art. I was reasonably good at it as a kid (and can still turn my hand to it a little bit nowadays) but I really admire people who can paint, draw or even take great photographs. This time it’s an artist called Jack Nolan who has drawn the whole of central London using only fine liners. And he’s spent nearly 1000 hours doing it! This raised a smile mainly because of how good it looks, but also for the amount of skill and dedication involved in getting it just right. Have a look for yourselves!

My daughter arriving home. Not as simple as it sounds, this one. She hasn’t just got the bus back from work or something. I’ve mentioned in a previous ‘Five Things’ how proud I was that she’d sought out adventure in her gap year by travelling to South East Asia and exploring Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. Well, in the middle of May she returned! There were lots of tears (not mine!) and laughter when we picked her up from the airport, but mainly this was just an enormous reason to smile. Not only is she safe and well, but she’s been through a whole raft of enormous experiences that, as she enters a bit more of the adult world, I hope will stand her in good stead for what she’s got to come in life.

I became a superhero…finally! I started a new job at the beginning of this academic year. It’s an all boys school in an entirely new academies trust after I left my old place having become frustrated with the trust that I was working for. I didn’t feel valued, which struck me as a strange way to treat someone with nearly a quarter of a century of English teaching experience. I was assured by friends who worked at my new place that our trust was vastly different and it didn’t take long for me to realise how true this was. Within a couple of months I was more happy than a middle aged man should have been to be named Star of The Week at our school, with the Head teacher waxing lyrical about me in our meeting. He’d sat in on one of my lessons with a particularly difficult group, so it was great to hear so many positives. And it’s continued with plenty of people having good things to say about my teaching over the last few months. A couple of weeks ago though, things got even better when I was named as a ‘Staff Superhero’ on a document that was sent across the whole trust! Again, lots of nice things were said about me and even at my age it’s lovely to get a bit of credit for hard work. Such pats on the back are not why I do the job, but still, it’s nice to feel valued at any time, really. I’m still waiting on my cape and lycra costume though…

So, there you go; proof once again that even though you might have to upturn a few stones and look a little harder than you might like at times, there are always positives to enjoy and things to turn that frown upside down!

Five Things That Made Me Smile: December and January.

Confession time. I had so much to smile about over Christmas, New Year and in January that my title is now somewhat lacking in the truth. So while I call this series of blogs ‘5 Things That Made Me Smile’, this one has a few more. Call them a Christmas bonus, if you will.

Christmas. The first thing that made me smile was Christmas itself. I love Christmas and always have done. It still feels kind of magical, even at my age. I love giving and receiving presents, seeing our decorations and also the efforts made by others around the town where I live or wherever I might be visiting. I love going home to see family and old friends I love Christmas television and always find myself watching old films that I haven’t seen for years. I love the fact that at some point I can just switch off, forget about work, forget about problems and even forget about what day it is! There’s loads to love about Christmas and it never fails to make me smile.

The first term in my new job. I started a new job in September at an all boys school and it’s been very demanding, but also lots of fun. It’s nice working in a school in the lead up to Christmas as everyone, regardless of whether or not they celebrate it, gets excited. This year though, what with the new job and some family illness thrown in for good measure, I was pretty much exhausted by the time the term came to an end. I’m enjoying my role though, so there’s every reason to smile.

A Shooting Star. There was a lot of talk of various planets being visible to the naked eye in the skies over Yorkshire during January. So, one night, when I noticed that the sky was incredibly clear and I was sure that the big orange star that I could see was Venus (it wasn’t!), I took my camera outside to try and get some decent photographs. I failed miserably and came back in. Then something told me to turn around and go back. When I did, almost immediately a shooting star whizzed past left to right, directly in front of my house. I’ve haven’t seen one since I was in my teens and it made my night, so this was definitely something to smile about.

Gavin and Stacey. This Christmas saw the final ever episode of Gavin and Stacey. If you don’t know of it, Gavin and Stacey is a popular comedy drama on the BBC. The previous episode, another Christmas special, had been 5 years ago, so this one was much anticipated. It’s fair to say that it was worth the wait. I won’t bore you with the details or spoil the surprise if you intend to watch it, but it certainly didn’t disappoint. The star of the show, James Corden, has become a bit of a marmite figure over the years, but personally I haven’t got a problem with him. As Smithy, he plays an excellent part and it’s him and Nessa (Ruth Jones) that this one revolves around. There was a lot to like about this final ever episode, as several storylines from over the years were finally tied up. And the ending was pretty much perfect. All in all then, a lot to laugh – and smile – about!

Not a snow day, but a snow week! Just to be clear, I love my job. But whenever we get a snow day, such is their rarity, it’s nothing short of a cause for celebration! So when it snowed quite heavily here in early January my hopes were up. By the Monday though, just as the new term was starting, I was up out of bed and getting ready for work. However, when I checked my phone, it said that school was closed. And when it happened again the next day, I was delighted. And you can probably imagine my state of mind when on the Wednesday we were told that we’d be closed for the rest of the week! I was setting work online for around 7.30 every morning and checking my laptop for any questions or queries from students throughout the day, but really, my time was my own. I’ve never had a three week Christmas break before, and probably won’t get one again, so this was truly special!

Walk, walk, walk. The aforementioned snow week meant that on a couple of occasions I could walk my daughter to work when she had an early start. I’m not one for lying in bed, it wasn’t a problem and when it was dark and icy it was nice to know I could just be a dad and make sure that she was safe. On a couple of occasions it was lovely and sunny and so once she was at work I just kept on walking. Plenty of exercise, loads of fresh air and everywhere I went looking that little bit better because it was blanketed in snow!

First run of the year. I’d spent about a month before and during the Christmas period suffering with a flu type bug. It really took it out of me and meant that I couldn’t get out and run. So, when I was able to get out a day before the snow and ice struck it felt fantastic. I only ran a 5k and didn’t push myself too hard, but after a month of feeling terrible, it was just brilliant to be able to get around my route! I’m gradually building up my distances again as I have races in March, April, May and June, so I’m determined to be in the best shape. That little 5k was hopefully the start of a good year of running and definitely a reason to allow myself a bit of a smile.

A wireless pacemaker. The final thing that made me smile came from the news. I read an article about the development of a wireless pacemaker that’s smaller than a triple A battery. Apparently it’s been described as a ‘game changer’ for heart patients. There are two devices that ‘talk to each other’ and keep the heart beating normally. Amazing stuff! It can also be fitted via a vein in your leg, meaning a lot less risk of infection and no ugly chest scarring. Who knows, maybe I’ll have one when mine gets changed in about 8 years time? Or maybe there’ll be even more developments by then?

All in all, it was a great Christmas period. Work even managed to extend it quite a way into January as well. What’s not to like about that?

Always look on the bright side: Five things that made me smile this Autumn.

It’s been a little while since I wrote one of these; a series that I started writing every month in order to remind myself that there were definitely positives in my life. At a time when I felt like I was struggling, I also wondered if it would help anyone else who might stumble upon this and read about some happy or funny stories. As ever, some are related to me and some are just the kinds of things that I’ve spotted in the news. Because everybody needs a bit of a smile now and again.

My new job. In September I started a new job and I have to say it’s been tough going since day one. I’m lucky enough to work in a very supportive environment and I’m still just about enjoying the challenge. There are plenty of positives too, but one in particular stood out from last month. As with most schools, our behaviour system has negative points as well as positives. Sadly, I find myself having to log a lot more negatives than I’d like and at times it can mean that there’s not enough time to catch up with the positives. However, some groups are very keen to remind you to put them on the system! One boy in my Year 7 group really managed to make me smile last month with his reaction to being given an achievement point. He’s always very keen to get them and always asks on his way out of the class if he’s earned one. And on this occasion when he asked and I responded positively he walked off with a barely audible, yet emphatic ‘Yes’ and a bit of a fist pump! A lovely, golden moment!

The Morley 10k. The town where I live has been holding a 10k race for a few years now and I’ve managed to run every one, despite my health issues. For this year’s I’d trained pretty well, running the route a few times and bringing my time down every time. I’d also ran quite a few 10k+ training runs and was feeling good. However, on the morning of the race I felt terrible. Like I was going to vomit imminently. I considered not running, but managed to pull myself together, resolving that this year’s goal was just to get round. But when I got into my running I felt quite strong and, checking my watch, was going quite fast. Sadly, I slowed a bit in the second half of the course before managing to put together a strong finish and eventually came 342nd out of 849 runners. Not my finest hour, but easily enough to make me smile (once I’d gotten my breath back and stopped groaning)!

The Winner of the Great North Run. Sadly, it wasn’t me. Partly because I didn’t take part but mainly because it would have taken me most of the day. Also, it’s the women’s race that I’m writing about. You see, I have a connection to the winner. Let me tell you about it. Every Saturday morning, me and my son volunteer as marshals at one of our local Park Runs. Every week we wait eagerly for the first runner to arrive, often marvelling at how fast they’re running. A short while back now, we were stood at our usual spot, not expecting the first runners for a couple of minutes yet. And then, as I glanced to my left, down the track, she appeared. A female runner, going extremely quickly. She was a real sight to behold. Graceful, powerful, effortless; she looked like a proper athlete. It turned out that she was! Mary Ngugi-Cooper is a Kenyan athlete who apparently lives locally and she’d just ran our course record time! She even came back the next week and broke her own record again! Fast forward to September and I found myself watching the Great North Run – a very famous half marathon) on telly while I did a bit of Sunday morning ironing. It was held in torrential rain (the race, not the ironing), but something else began to pique my interest. Every time they cut to footage of the women’s’ race, I was sure I recognised one of the leading pack. But I couldn’t quite place her. Anyway, after a thrilling finish the same lady won the race with just 5 seconds separating the first 5 athletes. When her name appeared on the screen, the penny finally dropped. My mate Mary from ParkRun had just won the Great North Run!

The return of Gone Fishing. ‘Gone Fishing’ is a BBC series where two blokes go fishing. Yet, of course it’s much, much more than that. The two blokes are comedians Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse, both heroes of mine. The series came about after Bob had a triple heart bypass and had pretty much given up on life. When no one could tempt him to leave the house, his friend Paul got in touch and suggested a spot of fishing. It worked. Not only that though, after a few trips the two realised that they could make a television series about it, which they went on to do. Amazingly, given that this is a programme where two blokes just go fishing, it’s just been commissioned for an 8th series and I’m currently enjoying the 7th. Gone Fishing is much more than just some fishing though. It’s about health, friendship, nature, humour and much more and is a truly heartening watch. Needless to say, the latest series has me smiling.

Beekeeper discovers lost bees. A lovely story from the BBC website in September. When he became a father something inspired Ross Main to set out to find his grandfather’s lost beehives. Maybe it was the memories of tending them with his grandad and possible hoping to pass on similar lessons to his own children. Anyway, Ross set off to the abandoned quarry where the hives had been and despite the hugely overgrown area, he found one last hive, having worried that they’d all been sold off. Even better news though, was that the bees had survived. After a bit of research Ross was able to transfer the hive to his home town and start to tend to them. Now, some 9 years on he has set up an apiary business, manages around 300,000 bees a week in 90-100 colonies and sells honey to local farm shops as well as teaching locals about the value of bees to the ecosystem. What’s not to like about that story?

I hope at least some of those made you smile!

Always Look On The Bright Side – Five things that made me smile in June!

The weather alone should be reason to smile in June, but alas here in England the month or season doesn’t always offer a guarantee where the weather is concerned! So, while sheltering from the almost incessant rain, I had to look elsewhere for my little moments of joy last month. Here’s what I found.

Cooking. I love the idea of cooking. I see recipes or even just pictures of food and think I’d love to make that. Sadly though, I’m not a great chef. I don’t enjoy cooking either and the process usually gives me no joy whatsoever. Instead, I find it stressful and tedious and the end result is often nowhere near what I was led to believe would happen should I follow these magical instructions. The kitchen is always a mess afterwards too. Lately however, I’ve managed to find some simpler recipes to follow and have actually found that I’ve put together some very tasty dishes. For now, I’m sticking to pasta with the aim of honing my skills and concentration levels so that I can attempt a decent curry, but we’ll see. What I’ve found so far though, is that every Thursday and Friday, making something like pesto chicken pasta or penne with tomatoes, cream and chorizo is not only making me smile, but it’s an unexpected delight to me tastebuds too! Definitely something to smile about!

Comedy Pet Photos. I wasn’t aware of the Comedy Pet Photo Awards until very recently. Last month in fact, which was obviously handy given this blog. Apparently, it happens every year and people from all over their world send their funny photos in to be judged. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think all of the finalists were that funny, but the two below definitely raised a smile. And although the winner – Hector the dog – was good, it wasn’t as good as the donkey for me! Regardless, both of them helped turn that frown upside down!

K Pop Hugging Marathon. Being 52 I’m not a fan of K Pop – in fact I have only the vaguest idea of what it is – and I’m also not the world’s greatest hugger. Still though, this story made me smile. To summarise, some bloke called Jin from the insanely popular K Pop boy band BTS – don’t ask me what that stands for, although I suspect it’s Bacon & Tomato Sauce, as in the filling in a delicious sandwich – has come up with an idea to celebrate the end of his 18 months of national service. He performed a hugging marathon with 1000 fans who were chosen in a raffle. In truth it sounds like a bit of a daft idea, but then when you think about the impact it will have on those fans you can’t help but smile. In an era where too many ‘stars’ keep themselves distant, this seems like a brilliant gesture and one that he really didn’t need to make. I’m sure fans of the band would have just been happy that he was ready to get back to the band, but instead he’s not only given out free hugs, he then performed songs to 3000 more fans in a different event. That Jin, eh? What a guy!

Classical Music. Classical music wouldn’t naturally be my choice. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate it, but usually only in the background of a film or some kind of video. In truth I wouldn’t know Bach from Beethoven! I’m an indie kid at heart still, despite my age! However, my opinion changed somewhat last month when a group called ‘&Piano’ came to our school to perform for our Year 7 students. ‘&Piano’ are a collective of musicians with only the one constant; the lad who plays piano. Last month’s incarnation was piano, cellist and an opera singer and it was fantastic. From the second that the opera singer sang her first note I was pretty much enthralled and despite one or two giggles in the audience, I think our students were too! A true testament to the power of live music and more than enough to raise a smile! I’ve added a link to their website below if anyone fancies finding out more.

https://andpiano.co.uk/

Birthdays! My wife and daughter’s birthdays are two days apart in June, so last month was a big one in terms of organisation, celebration…and presents! It can get very stressful and this year was no different apart from the fact that the stress levels ramped right up as it was my daughter’s 18th. It was all still really enjoyable though. Still though, one or two things really made me smile. Firstly, I bought my wife a joke present – some bubble wrap. She’d been wrapping some of our daughter’s things a few days prior to her own big day and was using bubble wrap for a couple of the more delicate gifts. So when she remarked, ‘I love bubble wrap!’ I was straight online to order some! What really made me smile though was how big it was. The bale was around 3 feet high and a couple wide which none of use were really prepared for! My wife took it in very good humour though, especially as it was alongside a pile of other gifts! My daughter’s party managed to make me smile too, even if I was quite opposed to the scale of the whole thing. We were lucky to get a local bar to host and around 40 friends and family showed up to celebrate. Our hosts were absolutely brilliant and everyone had a ball. And you can’t help but smile when it all turns out well!

So, another month passes with a few more smiles and standout moments. I’m hoping July, with its end of the academic year feel, will raise a few more! I’ll let you know soon!

Always Look on The Bright Side – things that made me smile in May!

These days, there are times when it feels like there’s really not a lot of room for hope or optimism. Too much about our world is more likely to make us scowl than smile. Whether it be war, poverty, global warming or something as simple as bad traffic or talentless celebrities, it can feel like there’s not a lot to smile about. However, if you look really carefully, you’re sure to find at least something good.

Hence, this blog. It’s something I do whenever I can find enough to write about that’s genuinely made me smile. But it’s been missing from my site for a little while because I’ve really struggled to find something that gives me any optimism.

Well, that all changed last month. So, here we go…and as a bonus, there’s more than the usual five things too!

The sun! Now granted, there’s not been a lot of it in our corner of the world, but it’s still enough to raise a smile. Being able to wander round in shorts is always refreshing (even with my legs!), but even little things like not having to worry about the rain have been great too. On a couple of weekends I’ve even been able to sit our in my back garden and read my book in the sun, which for me is always a blessing. Here’s hoping that there will be a lot more sun to come in the next few months!

A school library in a plane. As an English teacher I’ve always been a fan of libraries. So reading about a primary school in Bristol that has turned a plane fuselage into a library really made me smile. St. Helen’s Primary in Alveston had previously saved up to buy the fuselage in order to turn it into a library as well as an outdoor classroom. The pupils seem to love it and the school have also created a book club that meets in the plane library too!

Eriskay FC. This was another thing that I read about on the BBC website. Eriskay FC play their football in the Outer Hebrides, which if you don’t know, are a series of islands off the west coast of Scotland. Their pitch has been named by FIFA as one of the eight most remarkable places to play football on the planet. Now, as someone who used to coach in junior football, I’ve visited some weird and wonderful pitches. None have been as remarkable as this one though. Have a look for yourselves!

Not only are their sheep grazing on the pitch – and all that they leave behind to clear up before you play – but it’s far from a flat surface. And imagine the breeze coming off the sea!

This year’s Pontefract 10k! I’ve already written about this race on a previous blog, but it’s safe to say that it made me smile for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s just a race that I really enjoy. It’s got a really friendly atmosphere and it’s quite a testing course too. Secondly though, smiling for this one was a conscious decision. I’m sick of being caught grimacing or looking like I might be about to die by race photographers and so this year I decided to keep an eye open for them and make sure that I was smiling as I approached them! It almost worked as well, but having seen some of the official photos it seems clear that yes, I’m smiling, but also I look shattered! Finally, the race also made me smile because it represents another step forward in living with my pacemaker and there can’t be enough of those!

John Bishop. John is a stand up comedian and last month we went to see his live show. We’ve never seen John live before, but he’s always been a very funny man. A lot of his set revolved around middle age issues and so I was able to empathise, as well as laughing along heartily. We’ve seen a few comedians so far this year and being able to sit and laugh for a couple of hours is an extra good medicine if you’re feeling any kind of stress or strain. Anyway, I wrote a review of the gig for another website, so feel free to have a read on the link below.

https://rgm.press/john-bishop-live-in-halifax-what-happened/news/

Childhood Sweethearts. I think I’m getting old, you know! And this next bit shows it! I was reading the BBC website one morning and stumbled across a tale of lost love with a happy ending. I suddenly couldn’t resist a click! Bill and Anne were just 13 when they first met and Bill fell head over heels in love. However, he dithered about making his move and then, well, life just got in the way. But a chance meeting with a friend of Anne’s on a golf trip many years later led to them eventually getting back together. And the smiliest part of it all? The couple eventually got married, aged 77! You can read Bill and Anne’s story on the link below.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cnee2wjxpvzo

I’m sure you’ll agree that May had a good few reasons for smiling and I hope it was a good month for you too. I hope you enjoyed reading and that what you’ve looked at maybe raised a smile with you too!