Reasons to Be Cheerful – Part 25

The juice of the carrot
The smile of the parrot
Health service glasses
Gigolos and brasses
Round or skinny bottoms
Take your mum to Paris
Lighting up the chalice
Wee Willy Harris


That was summer 1979, forty-six years later, I thought this Ian Dury classic needed a 2025 update.

Here are my Reasons to Be Cheerful – Part ‘25:

1. Finding a fiver in a coat pocket
2. Someone letting you out at a junction and giving you a full beam smile
3. Fresh sheets
4. The first sip of tea when it’s just right
5. Catching a song you love just as it starts on the radio
6. No queue at the post office (I know, rare… but still)
7. A child’s drawing that makes no sense and all the sense at once
8. Free samples
9. An email that says ‘just wanted to say thank you’
10. A stranger holding the lift just as you reach it
11. A perfectly ripe avocado (yes, so rare it deserves its place)
12. When the delivery driver actually rings the bell
13. Putting on socks straight from the radiator
14. The tiny ‘plop’ noise when a jam jar lid opens
15. A handwritten note in a world of typing
16. A parking space exactly where you need it when you needed it
17. The smell of a bookshop
18. Hearing your name said with real warmth
19. When autocorrect doesn’t ruin your message
20. Remembering someone’s name who you’ve only met once

Now it’s your turn.

What would you add?

Let’s make a list worth singing about.

Be Brilliant!

Michael