Tameside Radio's breakfast presenter, Alex, has dropped in with a lovely column this week, sharing his ways to add joy to life.

As I write this, I can see my breath in the bedroom. In spite of a few bursts of central heating, I'm still doing my best not to add to our energy company's coffers more than is strictly necessary.

Long hot water bottles have been our best buy of the cold season so far, along with a heated clothes horse that's now sold out at every branch of Argos in the United Kingdom.

I was tempted to pen a rant about something this week. However, I read a great piece lately in the Observer Magazine, listing "53 fun ways to add (a little) joy to life". I wanted to come up with half a dozen of my own.

1) Don't feel guilty about taking some time for yourself. Whether it's a quick walk around your local park, a trip to the cinema to see the latest Black Panther film, or just a soak in a Mr Matey bubble bath, everyone needs a bit of "me time". I know you have a busier life than me, probably. I just play records and chat nonsense on the radio. But you should never feel bad about putting yourself at the front of the queue every now and then.

2) Do something nice without expecting anything in return. Wash a colleague's soup bowl up. Make your boss a coffee. Let someone out at a junction, and don't even feel a flash of anger when they don't lift a finger to say thanks. Give a friend a call, rather than starting up yet another Whatsapp group to try and sort your next night out. I did the latter recently, and my friend Patrick said he really appreciated getting an old-fashioned phone call. Hang on, when did speaking to someone become the last resort? So many ways of keeping in touch, yet we are collectively quite bad at it.

3) Text a friend who you've not heard from in a while. We all go through bad times, and it might just cheer them up to know you're thinking about them.

4) Unsubscribe from a few marketing E-mails. Black Friday has been an excellent opportunity for me to streamline the mailing lists I belong to. I know it's tough out there for most businesses, but I really have no time for an imported American concept which began on these shores with folk having a bare-knuckle fight over the last flatscreen television.

5) Take a break from social media. Stop the doom scrolling for a bit, and read a book, cook something nice, or listen to an audiobook. You could, of course, read the rest of this fine newspaper (Tameside Reporter and Glossop Chronicle) cover to cover too. I find Twitter in particular quite a draining experience at the moment, so sometimes it's nice to step away and remember there's a whole world outside it that keeps on turning.

6) I'll end with a quote on a card sent to us ages ago by a good friend, Dean. "In Japan, broken objects are often repaired with gold. The flaw is seen as a unique piece of the object's history, which adds to its beauty. Consider this when you feel broken". This is called kintsugi, and means "stronger and more beautiful in the broken places". It really helps to remember this if you're going through a tough spell in life. Eventually, the tide will turn.

I'll add in my three favourites from the Observer article to finish:

* Have a fondue. The paper points out they are well overdue a comeback. I had an amazing one once in Bucharest. One of the best meals out I've ever had. Top tip apparently is to use cut up bits of crumpet, which act like a sponge for the melted cheese. I'm hungry thinking about that now.

* Draw a wonky face on a banana or satsuma. I'm not sure about arranging fruit into rude formations, but this entertains me too! If you're worried about the hygiene factor of daubing faces on colleagues' fruit items, you can buy an edible marker pen on Amazon for less than £4.

* Order a double takeaway and try two cuisines together. Reminds me of the time I ordered a family-sized pizza at Uni in Liverpool, and pretended I wasn't home alone. It was all for me. I'm tempted to throw syn caution to the wind this weekend! Don't tell Gail and Jane, my Slimming World gurus who helped me lose almost three stone this year. Have a good week and keep smiling.

You can listen to Alex every weekday from 7am to 11am and on the 'Super Scoreboard' show on Saturdays from 3pm to 7pm, on Tameside Radio 103.6FM. 

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