Take That and an old lady
It was the motherships 70th birthday last year.
She loves Take That. She is also the kindest most thoughtful, sweet, soft, old lady you could ever meet.
I have to say I quite like them too but never that much I would want to go see them.
Then 'The Circus' tour was announced. I decided to get her a ticket a whole 10 months in advance.
This meant I could give her the ticket for Christmas and then plan to go see them the following June.
She opened her present on Christmas morning, put her hand to her mouth, and tears filled her eyes. I nearly wept, she was SO excited. It became her entire focus for the next few months.
Her birthday suddenly came upon us, so she came to Bristol and we drove over to Cardiff. She had never been to a 'big' concert before so had no idea what to expect. The town was buzzing! packed full of people all heading to the stadium for the big event.
Outside she saw the tour buses and was speechless at the enormity of it all.
I took her picture outside the stadium, grinning, holding onto her ticket like she was Charlie and her ticket was golden.
We wandered in. I have been there before but she had never been anywhere bigger than the Liverpool empire so the scale, the height, the atmosphere freaked her right out!
We found our seats right up high, and sat waiting. She was like a kid. A 70 year old lovely old lady with a face of a child.
Then they came on. A huge cavalcade of balloons headed out into the middle of the stadium. Then, they appeared and started to sing 'Greatest day'. 'tonight this could be, the greatest night of our lives...'...I looked over at this pink, kind soft old lady and she had tears in her eyes. I was filled with such a love for her at that moment I thought my heart would burst.
All the way through she was enthralled, laughing, speechless...
Then the final song came on. They did the song from Stardust 'Rule the world'.
Oh I'm filling up now just thinking about it.
As they finished I looked at her and she was crying. Hands on her face, trying to hold it in. But she was crying. It took every ounce of strength in my body not to collapse in floods of tears at how happy she was. I gave her a big hug and told her how much I loved her.

Then it was all over and we made our merry way home through the crowds.

She sent me a card the next week saying thank you for the best night of her life.
I know it was too.
If I never have a beautiful moment again I will always be so glad I did that for her. She is now starting to fade, her health is deteriorating, but I know we will always have that magical night where she experienced the wonder of cheesy pop stars who made her cry with happiness.

What more could you ask?
( Herb Alpert's Taxi Driver I have very beautiful lips, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 1:45, 19 replies)

Mrs SLVA and I went camping yesterday
Just the one night to see what it was like as we've never done it before. Hoping the weather would hold off, we got to York and it pissed it down. By Leeming Bar on the A1 it'd stopped and was trying to brighten up. Finally, we arrived at the campsite, pitched the tent, had food, got ready and went to the pub at the top of the hill.
By about 10pm, we headed back and I noticed that the sky was clearing and stars were showing. I've never been anywhere without light pollution of sorts and was astounded at how many stars I could see.

By 11pm, we could make out the band of the Milky Way arcing across the sky. I dug the binoculars out and pointed them at an apparently empty patch of sky. It wasn't empty at all.

After a couple of minutes we lay hanging out of the tent looking up at the stars, with the babbling sound from the River Swale not 15 feet behind us and with the aid of Google Sky Map (on an Android phone because iPhones are a big bag of foetid bag-lady's period) we are identifying various stars when we see not one, not two but four shooting-stars in a chain streak across the sky.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 1:26, 6 replies)

My brother and I have been dramatically landscaping the back garden
and we seem to stumble on all sorts of artefacts from before my dad died.
We lost him five years ago, suddenly and way too young (57 yrs).
The most beautiful thing I saw was an electric cable mended with electrical tape. It was a typical bodge job from the old man but it made me stop and smile.
( Hitler's Barber Soylent Green is high in saturated fat, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 1:25, Reply)

I was at Yeovilton Airday about a month ago,
and they had the Vulcan flying. So beautiful, actually got a bit of wood.
(Vigilante Man weeps because you're stupid., Fri 6 Aug 2010, 1:05, 22 replies)

Well, I'll bore you with a classic motorcycle tale
In 2007 I bought this ruin:

farm4.static.flickr.com/3497/3307639822_a5b3f5cf82.jpg

It's about half a 1970 BSA bantam. The only bits not in the picture are a knackerd chain and the logbook, the bodywork and engine having been stolen. Not a particularly inspiring bike, and not the best start for a firtst restoration-but I wanted a classic, and this was it.
There then followed 2 years of spannering, painting, fettling, buying bits, refettling, unspannering, buying more bits...pictures here: www.flickr.com/photos/35741071@N03/sets/72157614315853615/

I decided to do it as a mini cafe racer, being as the engine is still quite popular for tuning and racing. This caused many headaches. Most of the modifications were done at least 3 times. The mudgaurd had to be redone when I realised the original held the forks stiff-after I tried replacing the bushes. The rearset footpegs were a huge headache too, it wasn't until I came to fit the chain I realised they were in the way. The seat took 3 months, made from some scrap steel, a camping roll mat, a tarts leather skirt and a load of fibreglass-man, the fumes! I carefully smoothed the ports in the engine, had the crank rebuilt and the engine bored to a whole 185cc (that and the tyres are the only bits I didn't do myself), rewired it...I shudder to think what it cost, if I try totting it up I give up after a grand.
I rebuilt the engine in January, and after fitting it into the frame had beautiful moment No.1: www.flickr.com/photos/35741071@N03/4281076209/

By March I'd built this:

farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/4448874226_96904b6288.jpg

The second ride (once I'd found the knackered ignition coil) was incredible. The engine was incredibly wheezy and slow at first, but as it warmed up it woke up. almost as though it was remembering what roads are for after 14 years sat in a shed. It is a great feeling to ride something you've built, nut and bolt upwards. So, the second beautiful moment.
The third came recently, on saturday in fact. I've had all manner of problems running it in, including seizures, bits falling off, random electrical problems and the carburation going far too rich overnight (lierally). Eventually I plucked up the courage to knock up an expansion chamber exhaust ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansion_chamber ), and after aquiring the necessary carburetor bits I got it set up. Beautiful moment 3 was getting this right, after lots of faffing about draining petrol out the carb, followed by short runs up and down the road. Suddenly, the bike goes like a stabbed rat! Purely by bodging up a new pipe from bits of scaffold tube machined down, I've got a brilliant balance of light weight and power. If I can persuade the electrics to work properly I might take it into work...
( Greenbat, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 0:23, 7 replies)

Looking back
I noticed this was Beautiful Moments, Part Two, so looked back to Part One. As it wasn't called.

I read this...

www.b3ta.com/questions/beautifulmoments/post25582

and felt happy and warm inside.

Then scrolled down two inches and read this

www.b3ta.com/questions/beautifulmoments/post25786

The timing was beautiful. What a moment.
(yokelrobin THE NERD WHOSE HAIR DEFIES GRAVITY/FASHION, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 0:20, Reply)

This:


My beautiful Clare, who recently celebrated her 13th birthday and in doing so has outlived the initial prognosis given when she was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. She's in a modified baby onesie because of the Langerhans cell histiocytosis, which is spreading, but she's still eating, playing, purring and loving. I still fall asleep with her in my arms every night and wake up with her inquisitive little face the first thing I see in the morning. Every time I look at her it's the most beautiful moment, and knowing it will go away soon is the hardest thing in the world right now.
(louveciennes , Volvospotter, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 23:35, 8 replies)

About 6 weeks back
Mrs SLVA and I were driving a van from Edinburgh to Kelso. (My mate and his colleagues were doing a sponsored bikeride and needed someone to take the bikes to Edinburgh and then drop the luggage off at Kelso).

Anyway, it's a nice day and coming over the hills I see a view that I want to take a picture of, so I stop in a layby near some trees and dig the camera out. Just as I'm faffing about with my seatbelt to get out, the missus taps me on the arm and says 'look' and points at the hedge further up.
"What is it?" I asked
"There, sticking out of the hedge, can't you see it?" she replies.
I scrutinise the hedge and then see what she pointed at. A head popped out of the hedge followed by the rest of the animal and a small deer casually skipped across the lane, bounded over the dry-stone wall and tootled off into the woods.

Had I been there 5 seconds sooner, I would've had the van door open and the deer would've been too spooked to show it's face.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 23:34, 4 replies)

Bondi Beach, Maui, Santa Cruz?
The seasons, the storm, a bit of luck, race forwards, perfect alignment, superb conditions, the wave starts.....

Building to a perfectly formed monster wave, curling over......

everyone waiting for the number 58 bus
(resistanceisfutile, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 23:06, Reply)

B.E.A.uuuuutiful moment.....
Just last night, stood at the end of the bar on the mezzanine level of the club I manage.

I was watching this horrible harpie of a woman get served by the bar staff, she was doing everything all bartenders HATE, ordering one drink at a time, turning to chat, being generally rude and ignorant, putting her money on the bar rather than in an outstretched hand etc. etc.

After much faffing about she eventaully got her round (large mind, with shots for her harpie coven) and demanded a tray.... tray provided she then marched indignantly towards the booth where her friends/flying monkeys awaited





and Beautiful moment number 1



fell arse over tit on the step up to the VIP booths!


Moment number 2 came shortly after when (after a brief discussion with me about how it was the bars fault and i should buy her a new round) she marched off, Cherry Sourz and Vodka Lemon & Lime all down her top... and slipped at the bottom of the stairs landing squarely on her ample rear.

They say revenge is a dish best served cold, well I believe in letting Karma have it's turn before I intervene. Rarely do we get to see it in effect so spectacularly.
( Mister B is eating an icanhazcheezburger with lmaonaise, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:59, 2 replies)

I started on my new job this Monday ..
.. the commute is about half an hour by car, 45 minutes by train or one hour by bike. I plan to go by train most of the time and go by bike about once a week for the exercise. It's about 25 km. along small country roads that you would tend to avoid when going by car.

I've never lived in this area before and today was my first time by bike. The weather was nice and I generally enjoyed the trip, the villages, the farms, the smells ..

The most fabulous thing, however, was a sign by a house in the middle of nowhere: "The Tucan Wellness and Swingers Club". This sign really made my day.
(spinoza, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:47, 3 replies)

Rushing to make the 17:03 from Charing Cross to London Bridge on Friday evening...
...approaching the steps at the St Martin's end of the station to be confronted by the sight of a toothless lady tramp, traccy bottoms round her ankles happily piddling down the steps.

She turned round, met my eye and spoke "'Scus me gov'nor, I'm pregnant. Don't s'pose you wanna buy a Big Issue?" while dabbing away at her crotch with a discarded tissue.

Full marks for that comeback.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:36, 1 reply)

When Nature hears your soundtrack
This happened a while ago and moved me so much, I never forgot it.

Enslaved (the Norwegian Black Metal Band) had just released Below the Lights and I had purchased it that day and immediately transfered it to my MP3 Player. It still stands as an amazing album, but that first listen shook my heart.

That evening I took a walk up to a friends house who lived at the top of a steep hill and about a mile away. As I walked towards the bottom of the hill it began to rain, not just a boring shower, but drops that bounced on the road. It got heavier and heavier and at the same time the music blasting in my ears got heavier and heavier. The screaming crescendo of sound in my ears matched the streaming torrent of water that now flooded the road to a depth of about four inches. I have never seen rain like it before or since and was awed.

The feeling of that much wild weather and the super heavy black metal music was chaotic and primal and I was soaked to skin, but felt like I had been touched by the hand of Odin.
( Rev. Jayneflakes Buy my book, I need the cash for drugs and hookers, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:36, 1 reply)

ex
when you run into your ex, having lost a vast amount of weight and knowing that you look great, whilst he has got very ugly and his new girlfriend seems to be a smackhead. the look on his face when he actually recognises you? THAT'S a beautiful moment, right there.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:33, 11 replies)

It wasn't recently
But after a nights clubbing in brixton, finding a shelter open for the night next door to an unused church, sitting around and chatting to the folks there and then sitting in this empty church (no pews or owt, just a cold tiled floor), in the pitch black and watching the sun rise appear through stained glass windows was pretty damn beautiful.
( LemonEntryMyDearWatson This time, Moriarty, the hand is on the other foot, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:29, Reply)

Hopefully tonight
Aurora Borealis with a bit of luck!
( TheFinch is getting to grips with the complex plane on, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:26, 7 replies)

My three year old...
Has so much empathy for people that I feel so proud of her. She always makes sure that everyone is ok.

So on Saturday when I had kidney stones, she brought me the antiseptic sudocrem...
(beatpig understands subliminalesbianmessagaying., Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:19, 1 reply)

Twilight
Just a few weeks ago I was sat on the garden doing nothing but looking at the sky listing to music. The pale pink clouds subtly scattered across the pale yet electric blue sky, with an almost faded orange tint to the horizon. Truly an intoxicating night - like getting high without drugs. Sadly the one and only beautiful night I have seen this summer.
(52486 office lolled on, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:15, 2 replies)

Bus Stop
I know my mr will be absolutely mortified that I've told this story but it seemed like a truly beautiful moment to me.
One morning we were standing at the bus stop near his house. There were five of us at the bus stop me, him and three old ladies who had been chatting
amongst themselves. After 5 minutes the chatting died down and everyone was stood in silence impatiently waiting for the bus (it was a bit late).
All was silent, no birds, no traffic noise and all sounds of nearby children playing had died down. If our surroundings had been more isolated I
might have been a little worried.
But then IT happened. IT started low, almost like a humming. IT began to grow louder for the mere seconds of its duration.

The wettest fart I've ever heard.
I looked over to my mr who was looking very red faced as I began shaking to hold back the giggles. I was not the only one
to have heard this. The old dears also noticed. But this was not the moment, oh no. For as the bus pulled over at
the stop one of the old dears turned to the other with an accusing glare. She got on the bus, stopping only for a second
to turn back and throw her a look of utter disgust.
I just couldn't contain myself.
(FootOfTim, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:11, Reply)

City of Culture 2008.
Pub in Liverpool city centre.

Old bloke having a piss. Out of the doorway into the crowded street. Hand braced against the frame, swaying, eyes staring intently at his cock as his piss mingled with the rainwater in the gutter.

About as close as you'll get to a beautiful moment in Liverpool.
(orestes is shitting in the 1940s, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:10, Reply)

Crashing Tree Limb
The light turned green on a busy city street and a pulse of traffic surged forward, past a large tree. Just after the traffic passed the tree, a big tree limb broke off and came crashing down across the street. No one hit; no harm.
(Perv With A Dog had his eyes pecked out by scrub jays on, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:05, Reply)

I just
wrote a massive reply to the last QOTW trying to get it in on time only to be told I failed. Beautiful moment.... :-(
(Something funny, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:03, Reply)

sunrise
about a week ago, i was having trouble sleeping. a vicious headache, caused by excessive caffeine consumption, was keeping me awake and pissed off. having nothing better to do, i decided to put the rubbish out. it was about 4-4.30 by this point and the sun was just coming up. standing by my gate, everything so still and silent, with the sky tinged by streaks of pink, blue and gold, that was a beautiful moment.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 22:02, Reply)

Dog poo.
I saw a dog poo, so big that someone had been able to stand a small flag in it.
( 4Q just lurking, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 21:57, 2 replies)

The falkirk wheel at night
Good thing I had my camera!

( Squiggy Alloria makes theme parks., Thu 5 Aug 2010, 21:56, 8 replies)

Tits

( Signify, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 21:56, Reply)

AAArrrgh
I wanted to be second.
But I did see a naked old guy having a walk around town at 2.30am on monday night/tuesday morning
(little lord muthafuckin fauntleroy, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 21:55, 2 replies)