Claire Black: 'I have discovered the secret of that warm-inside, little-pick-me-up kind of happiness'

Published on Thursday 24 June 2010 13:37

THERE I was standing outside the Playhouse in Edinburgh waiting for R. I always have to wait, so as I stood I rehearsed the conversation that we always have:

Me: "I was just thinking, it's funny how we're only ever late when it's both of us going somewhere together, isn't it?"

Of course, there's nothing funny about this, it's just my passive aggressive starter for ten.

R: "I ALWAYS have to wait for you."

Me: "That is not true. I'm always waiting for you. I'm only ever late when I'm with you."

You can see why - with this little tte--tte being playing out in my brain - I was the perfect audience for a bit of happiness augmentation. But, still, what happened next was unexpected. As I stood, I felt myself beginning to smile. I was feeling a bit giggly, like everything in the world, not just in my immediate proximity, was going to be OK.

In short, it turns out that I have discovered the secret of happiness. Not eternal, forever-and-ever-type happiness, but that warm-inside, little-pick-me-up kind. Something to chase away that feeling of being in overdraft, out of favour with your boss and at the whim of the number 35 bus which never seems to show up at your stop. It's not chemical or alcoholic, it's free and it's legal.

All you need do is stand outside a theatre half an hour before a show starts and give yourself up to the unadulterated joy of watching people greet each other before going in. It's lovely. Who knew?

Actually, it turns out that anyone who's seen Love, Actually kind of knows, but I haven't seen that (Hugh Grant post-Notting Hill makes me feel slightly queasy) so the discovery remains mine.

The first few I witnessed were your bog-standard Scottish greeting circa 2010: Hi, smile, tentative arm clasp or single kiss on the cheek. Nice, but not exactly mood changing; I'd give it a 3/5 on the happiness scoreboard. Then there were a few continental exchanges - a kiss on both cheeks, some with sound effects, giggles among the women, back-slapping for the men. I'd give that a respectable 3.5/5. But then things started getting really good. There were shrieks and whoops, huge smiles, the classic gentle fright - "boo!" - and some full-on bear hugging. All solid 4/5 material. My mood was lifted.

Even when the embrace went kind of wrong - height differential, enthusiasm differential, tripping incident - it was still oh so right. So what that a head finds an armpit, that specs clash spectacularly? Everything's grist to the greetings mill.

And then it happened - the 5 out of 5 moment - the ultimate happy pill. One woman, spotting her friend from a distance of roughly 25 metres was moved by excitement to a trot and by the time she reached her friend, who having been looking the other way had no idea of what was heading in her direction, she was galloping. Brilliant. It was like British Bulldogs but in a nice way. Top marks, full house, my cup runneth over.I did go into the show that night and it was good, but it was nothing compared to what I'd seen outside.