Reasons to be cheerful (parts 1-10)

MERVYN EDWARDS WANTS TO TURN THAT FROWN UPSIDE DOWN

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T MAY have escaped your attention but Blue Monday fell on January 19. I am tempted to suggest that there must be a connection with so-called Dry January, though drinking a little less hasn't triggered any post-Christmas slump in my own mental health.

Either way, for all those readers who have temporarily lost their joie de vivre, I would like to offer 10 Reasons To Be Cheerful in Stoke-on-Trent and the surrounding area. I don’t speak from the perspective of someone who enjoys luxuries such as a top-end narrow boat moored at Festival Park or a private suite at Stoke or the Vale - and you'll perhaps conclude that I am easily pleased. But the following random items - in no particular order - are the top 10 Potteries pick-me-ups on my personal list.

Wrights have been family bakers since 1926 and so will be celebrating their centenary this year. The founder was John James Wright who made pies from the front room of his terraced house in Stoke-on-Trent. The pies are well-loved by folk in this neck of the woods. I will sometimes buy one from the outlet in Wolstanton High Street, and then, carrying the distinctive orange and white paper bag to our local churchyard, will devour my lunch there, away from people who've seen a healthy jogger regularly running through the village and who are perhaps wondering whether his standards have slipped. Truly, a guilty pleasure.