Guilty Pleasures: An Introduction and A Confession

It’s a busy train full of commuters and travellers heading to, well, wherever it is that they’re going. It pulls into the station and, as I do every day, I get on. Except today, my usual carriage is full. I walk down, looking for an empty seat. In that very anxious and awkward way that so many of us have, I decide not to sit next to a stranger and make it to the other end. So, I stand there, staring out of the window, knowing that my journey isn’t going to take all that long.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Earlier in the day, I was sat at my desk thinking about happiness; I appreciate how deep that sounds, but stick with me. My friend had just sent me a link to a ridiculous little video of dogs doing funny things (I’m sure you’re familiar with the sort of thing I’m talking about; I’d attach a link to it here if I could figure out quite how I’m supposed to do that) and I couldn’t help but laugh. As it happens, the laughing was quite loud in a quiet office, so not my smoothest moment.

I spent the rest of the day thinking about that video, not because of the (immensely amusing) content, but the feeling that such simplicity had elicited in me. Even when you’re having a long, tough, nasty day, it’s surprising how even the smallest thing can make such a huge difference. I feel like that’s a rather obvious statement to make and I’m sure you’re aware of the comforting effect that various things can have.

So, as I stood on that train, trying to think of interesting and fun reads for this blog, it struck me that it might make for a cute and amusing recurring feature here at ‘Doing’ if we shared some of the lovely little things that made us smile. Then I realised that it would be even more entertaining to read about other people’s guilty pleasures because these are the things that often have the greatest power to perk us up.

Plus, who doesn’t love reading something potentially embarrassing for our wonderful writers? That’s bound to be good for our ratings.

So, there I was, peering out of the window, hoping that we might be able to raise a few smiles. Except then, it dawned on me that it would probably fall to yours truly to kick things off with my own little bit of sharing.

Well, dear reader, as it happens, I’ve already inadvertently shared mine with a carriage full of strangers.

Let’s go back to the beginning, to me getting on a packed train. For various reasons, I’ve had a few rather long weeks and needed something - a pick-me-up. So, while waiting on the platform, I lined up a few songs that I knew would put me in a good mood for my journey home.

And nothing quite has the effect that Kate Bush does.

There’s a real energy and excitement to her music that brings me alive, a passion that I find truly intoxicating, and just the right level of quirky that gives each song an enviable individuality. It’s the sort of music that makes me, at least, want to fling my arms around and do a little wiggle in time with the music (yes, that is the extent of my ‘dancing’; yes, it is as terrible as it sounds). Whenever I hear any Kate Bush, I can’t help but get up and sing along; whenever they play it in a club (and let’s face it, they never do), you’ll find me rather shamelessly in the middle of the dancefloor, word-perfect and tone-deaf. It’s feel-good in the extreme.

And yet, somehow, the passengers in carriage B on the 17:04 to Cheltenham Spa didn’t seem all that keen on ‘Wuthering Heights’, which was inadvertently playing out of my phone at maximum volume.

See, somehow, I can’t have plugged my headphones in properly. My bad. And it would have been fine, if I had noticed straight away. Except, I didn’t. So, as I walked through the carriage, clearly rather distracted by something, Kate Bush’s iconic rendering of that classic Brontë novel was all anyone else could hear. In hindsight, this probably explains the funny looks I got from everyone else.

Well, in my defence, I was so co-o-o-old... if you aren’t familiar with the song, you won’t find this funny. Actually, even if you are familiar with the song, you still won’t find this funny.

Feel free to picture me recreating that music video – I’m sure the other passengers were. And since you haven’t asked, I do know all the moves; my friends love it when I wheel that particular party trick out.

I only realised what was going on when the conductor wanted to see my ticket and caught me absent-mindedly ‘Running Up That Hill’. Despite not being my best moment, it did inspire this and what I hope will be a run of enjoyable and enlightening articles about the things that make us happy even though they might not be cool or hip or [insert your own adjective here]. Failing that, it’ll be a permanent record of us doing foolish things for your amusement.

I could stay here all day and make a string of bad jokes centred on Kate Bush’s Greatest Hits, but no one would enjoy that. Instead, I’m going to hand it over to you. Tell us all about your guilty pleasures and then I won’t have to share any more of mine.

- Jamie Hardwick