I suppose guilty pleasures are just the way of things. Perhaps without a touch of guilt the pleasure wouldn’t be so acute. Right now I’m looking for little pleasures, hunting for the joy, and I’ve decided to accept the flip-side and deal with a little guilt too. So with my guilt (almost) packed away it was off to breakfast under the golden arches again yesterday.

The chum I meet has an early start and so it’s a good way to get my day moving. I ate an Egg McMuffin; containing free range egg (so reasonably low on the guilt-scale) and fatty cheese slice (the best bit and very high on both pleasure and guilt-scale). I also had my usual coffee.

I always smile when I drink my McCoffee; at an earlier breakfast I caught my friend looking oddly at me as I clicked open my coffee and began to drink. “Can I?” he asked, reaching across. I watched as he carefully pushed the little white plasticky thing that opens in the lid so you can drink through it without removing the lid, and clicked it satisfyingly home into a snug little purpose built space I’d never noticed before. Suddenly my McCup was much much more comfortable to drink from. I can’t think how many years I’ve been drinking coffee in McDonald’s without knowing this simple little thing. I’m glad, now I get a little buzz of pleasure every time I click that plastic into place…