Things you truly like to do

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

I feel very happy and satisfied at farms and like to visit whenever the opportunity is there.
Not the gigantic, mass-production ones. And not the hipster collective experimental.
The proper.
Me and mother in law just took a short trip. They live outside a small Swedish town. After some minor chores were done she asked me if there's anywhere I'd like to go. I instantly replied "a farm". So we went.

It smells cow shit but I love it. You have to watch your every step unless you're dressed for it but I don't care.
As soon as I stepped out of that car and walked onto the lot (checking with people working there if that was OK, of course) I simply felt calm and happy. Especially when walking up to the calves. There were like 30 of them. A big grin on my face, like a five year old.

As a young teenager, a group of us mates would once a year prepare a lunch pack then take of early in the morning to a farm not far outside Gothenburg, then spend the day helping out around the farm. I always fell asleep the nights after one of those visits.

[Patrick Thistle]

You'd kind of expect it on a football message board but I genuinely like going to matches at grounds I've never been to before. And I like going to really random games like going to the Wales C game I went to in March.

And I love going to Major League Baseball games when I'm on holiday in America.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Sitting in the Dog and Bell on my own with a nice pint of ale, a packet of pork scratchings and a copy of London Review of Books.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

I finally got around to looking up what London Review of Books is.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I like reading menus. More than actually eating.

[Pérou Flaquettes]

I like reading menus. More than actually eating.

I love reading badly translated menus, I even used to nick them.







Or labels:

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I have a picture of a menu from Sofia advertising "Nervous Meatballs".

[Patrick Thistle]

I like those moments when driving when I get the car lined up just right to steer round the apex of a bend accelerating all the way through it, slipping seamlessly up a gear as I do it, roaring into a straight piece of road. Getting it all right gives me a happy feeling.

Then usually I have to stop for roadworks or get stuck behind a tractor or something.

[Femme Folle]

I have lost sight of the things that I truly enjoy. For the last two years, work has taken over almost every waking hour of my life, to the point where any free time I have is necessarily spent doing nothing in an attempt to rest and recover. I know this is my fault, and I'm sure people are full of helpful advice about how to change this, but that's not the point of this thread. If I try to think of my answer to the question "What do you truly like to do?", I can't think of anything (unless you want to count binge watching TV shows). Sad!

[MsD]

Yes. My current role isn't nearly as demanding as yours, but it does take up too much of my time, even now I'm doing four days rather than five. My creativity has peeped through a couple of times and I hope it will be OK when things settle down after the office move.

Pure pleasure: Swimming in the sea and dancing. The latter has been hampered in recent years by a bunion. There are some nights I go to where I'd love to dance - one of them requires dressing up, and I just can't dance in posh shoes anymore. Can't dance very well in trainers, either, they're too clumsy. Some places, it's Ok to take my shoes off and dance and that's really lovely. I miss dancing all night though and my weight has gone up so I get out of breath more quickly.

Swimming in the sea - oh my God. I did it in Cornwall two weeks ago and it was magic, every cell of my being loved it. Made me think about living by the sea.

Dropping acid - something I hope to do again but I've not had the right conditions for a good while. Will try to take a small amount.

Travelling - missing that, need to get a new passport sorted.

Reading.

Drinking champagne and cocktails. Shopping in nice boutiques, a little bit, but only on my own. Staying in posh hotels, having a bath and having room service.

Watching telly - still doing a lot of that. Cuddling the cat, ditto. Going to galleries, still doing a bit but not enough.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Sitting in a glade with a book and a camera waiting for the birds to discover me.

Writing, don't do it enough but when I'm in the zone I love it.

Working in the darkroom. Time stands still.

Watching old movies

Cooking for friends

Good conversation, especially with my son these days.

Running along the beach with Phoebe the Dog.

Cuddling and reminiscing with La Signora.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Cooking in my kitchen with music on, when I've got the appropriate time, inclination and ingredients to do so.

Also, I've still never got over the novelty of just being able to have a pint somewhere, for no other reason than you fancy a pint and don't need anyone's permission to have one. Especially when it's a bit of a bonus, like a meeting finishes early and you've got time for one before getting the train. Or on holiday when the kids are just wanting to go to the room and get on the wifi, and I get time to have a drink in the hotel bar.
,
Actually, on the theme of drinking, having a beer on a train and watching the world go by through the window, it never gets tired.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

And I love going to Major League Baseball games when I'm on holiday in America.

Definitely - minor league too.

[hobbes]

Friday night dinner in the summer where P and I can sit outside on the terrace with some nice food, some nice wine and catch up on the week, while the swifts flock overhead and the sun goes down.

Walking with the cub holding his hand while he chats away about whatever comes into his head. He's 5 now so I don't have too much longer to do that before he decides he doesn't want to hold my hand anymore. I think the bittersweetness of that knowledge only makes the experience more potent.

[Logan Mountstuart]

Setting off on a long walk with a good audiobooks and a rucksack full of beer.

The moment you shut the camper door and start the engine with all the packing and leaving hassle over, and the whole holiday still ahead of you. Until last month this hadn't happened for 5 years.

Sitting down to watch the second match in any World Cup. That always seems to me to be the moment the World Cup really begins.

The first proper day of Spring when people seem to collectively crawl out of winter mode, stretch out on the grass or a terrace and squint up at the sun. Happiest day of the year for me.

[SouthdownRebel]

A walk in the countryside, preferably woodlands with a river flowing through them.

[elguapo4]

What I'm doing today,meeting old friends we haven't seen for a while for early Sunday evening drinks,there's a better athmosphere on Sundays,it doesn't have the sometimes manic "must have a good time " vibe you sometimes get on Friday or Saturday
Having a midweek day off,buying the paper and going round to the local cafe for breakfast
Seeing junior football teams defending badly and having a smile about how good I thought I was when I was playing

[Amor de Cosmos]

Walking with the cub holding his hand while he chats away about whatever comes into his head. He's 5 now so I don't have too much longer to do that before he decides he doesn't want to hold my hand anymore. I think the bittersweetness of that knowledge only makes the experience more potent.

With luck you'll have another 4–5 years. The grandkids 8 and 10 (next week) are still happy to hold my hand. But I'm "Popz" not Papa so it's probably different.

[EIM]

I like trains. I like sitting on a train, watching the landscape fly past. Last year I got the train from Geneva to Milan, through the Alps and past Lake Como. It was fucking beautiful, but I'm equally happy getting the Manchester to Sheffield train, or down to London. Sat, listening to music, reading, drinking a can, I love it.

I like the sea. Looking at waves crashing on rocks or breaking on the beach. The noise it makes, that constant quiet roar. I find it very relaxing. I go to the Lowry Centre quite often and look at LS Lowry's seascapes. Bleak but peaceful. The whole rundown seaside aesthetic appeals to me too. Out of season Morecambe. Quiet decay. Grey hopelessness. The smell of chip fat, the noise of the arcades. I dunno what it is, but I really enjoy it.

Canals. I'm into walking along canals. The walk down the Rochdale canal to Castelfield in Manchester, then on to the Irwell is like a walk through history. There's a bit of graffiti on a tram bridge that says BE HAPPY with a heart next to it. It always makes me smile, even though I hate the hippy bullshit sentiment. The geese on St George's Island are moody as fuck. They block the path and attack anyone who tries to get past. Pound for pound the most aggy geese in the city, far worse than the Boggart Hole Clough geese I used to knock about with. I got into canal walking years ago when I owed a drug dealer money and was trying to avoid him. I couldn't risk walking through the city centre in case he saw me, so I used to walk along the canal, which could get me round town albeit in a more circuitous route. I got to love it. The boats, the wildlife, the quiet. I ended up joining the Canal and River Trust. Nice how good can come from a shit situation, innit?

I like driving at night. Or being driven at night. It reminds me of being a kid. We were living in Farnborough when I was about 6 til I was 10, my Dad having got a job just outside London. Around then my Grandad fell ill and he and my Grandma lived in Newcastle. Dad would finish work, come home, and drive us all the way to the North East. We'd get in after 1am, and my Grandma would have prepared a "nosh up" as she called it. Home-made pies (sausage and onion or ham and egg) or egg, bacon and chips. The back of the car for the journey was packed with duvets and pillows for my sister, and we'd lie there with the flashing orange street lights and whatever mix tape my Dad had made. I still love empty roads late at night now.

I also like getting drunk at football and doing fights against top boys, game lads and naughty firms and that, obv, in case any of you thought this sentimental soft shite meant I'm not still OTF's Hardest Bastard (TM).

[MsD]

I love a ruck, me.

[Snake Plissken]

To crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

[Furtho]

Ooooh, snap.

[adams house cat]

Steam trains. They fascinate me. The sounds. the smells. They have a living thing about them. I developed my fascination in the mid to late sixties when they were rapidly disappearing from the scene in England. A friend of my dad's used to drive a little shunting loco and he would take me out on it. Still love to go to preserved or heritage railways when I can.

Hobbes, that was lovely. Is it possible to be happy for you and still have a twinge of envy? Moments to treasure indeed.

[Gangster Octopus]

I like those moments when driving when I get the car lined up just right to steer round the apex of a bend accelerating all the way through it, slipping seamlessly up a gear as I do it, roaring into a straight piece of road. Getting it all right gives me a happy feeling.

Yup. Drove along some lovely roads in Scotland. The A701 from Moffat towards Edinburgh can be particularly good. Especially if I can get the van past a fucking caravan before it's started to wind me up...

[Giggler]

I like trains. I like sitting on a train, watching the landscape fly past. Last year I got the train from Geneva to Milan, through the Alps and past Lake Como. It was fucking beautiful, but I'm equally happy getting the Manchester to Sheffield train, or down to London. Sat, listening to music, reading, drinking a can, I love it.

I like the sea. Looking at waves crashing on rocks or breaking on the beach. The noise it makes, that constant quiet roar. I find it very relaxing. I go to the Lowry Centre quite often and look at LS Lowry's seascapes. Bleak but peaceful. The whole rundown seaside aesthetic appeals to me too. Out of season Morecambe. Quiet decay. Grey hopelessness. The smell of chip fat, the noise of the arcades. I dunno what it is, but I really enjoy it.

Canals. I'm into walking along canals. The walk down the Rochdale canal to Castelfield in Manchester, then on to the Irwell is like a walk through history. There's a bit of graffiti on a tram bridge that says BE HAPPY with a heart next to it. It always makes me smile, even though I hate the hippy bullshit sentiment. The geese on St George's Island are moody as fuck. They block the path and attack anyone who tries to get past. Pound for pound the most aggy geese in the city, far worse than the Boggart Hole Clough geese I used to knock about with. I got into canal walking years ago when I owed a drug dealer money and was trying to avoid him. I couldn't risk walking through the city centre in case he saw me, so I used to walk along the canal, which could get me round town albeit in a more circuitous route. I got to love it. The boats, the wildlife, the quiet. I ended up joining the Canal and River Trust. Nice how good can come from a shit situation, innit?

I like driving at night. Or being driven at night. It reminds me of being a kid. We were living in Farnborough when I was about 6 til I was 10, my Dad having got a job just outside London. Around then my Grandad fell ill and he and my Grandma lived in Newcastle. Dad would finish work, come home, and drive us all the way to the North East. We'd get in after 1am, and my Grandma would have prepared a "nosh up" as she called it. Home-made pies (sausage and onion or ham and egg) or egg, bacon and chips. The back of the car for the journey was packed with duvets and pillows for my sister, and we'd lie there with the flashing orange street lights and whatever mix tape my Dad had made. I still love empty roads late at night now.

I also like getting drunk at football and doing fights against top boys, game lads and naughty firms and that, obv, in case any of you thought this sentimental soft shite meant I'm not still OTF's Hardest Bastard (TM).

Manchester to Sheffield is a beautiful route. One of my favourite ever train journeys was doing it at 0730 on a December morning in 2008. The Peaks looked incredible carpeted in frost and with a low mist.

Similar to adams house cat, I love getting the East Lancs Railway from Bury to Rammy and back too. It makes my heart burst to see young kids waving at adults from the train and them waving back.