Firstly I start on the train. It always fills up quickly in the morning so luckily I live at the start of the line - I always get a seat! People are extremely funny when it comes to commuting, everyone has their own seat they sit in daily and if it's not vacant you feel very much put out.
Today I was put out!
After taking my seat that wasn't my seat, I was finally rocked back into my routine and I feel asleep listening to the sniffs and coughs that plague the train. It is these coughs and sniffs that you know will enter the trains air-conditioning that's then on route for your own set of healthy lungs, ready to germ them up.
Scratchy throat or hypochondriac, I wake up in the wet and drizzly London after days of glorious sun and I've worn the wrong shoes of course. In perfectly clean sailor plimsolls I start the walk to the tube ruining them a little more with every step. Once blue now black! I always miss the first tube that comes, I blame the people that walk down the stairs slow - frustrating.
Tubes are stuffy no matter what the weather is outside. I delayer and stand as seats go quicker than sale items in Primark. I can't help but look at people on the tube, just quick glances here and there looking at what people are wearing, or who they're with and if they're in love. Today a lady starred at me for the entire journey - a freaky stare that didn't move or blink. Unsettling.
Then something different happened.
It was only a very small act of kindness, but it was kind non the less and made me realise that good people were always there you just need to be reminded of that.
A man aged about 45 got up from his seat and walked over, just past me where a lady was standing who I hadn't noticed. He said in a very kind voice, 'Would you like my seat?' I then saw the large bump she was hugging and she smiled and said,'I am fine thank you.'
It dawned on me right there and then, with so much hate, frustration and anger, it's easy to forget the kindness and little acts that everyone is capable of. Sometimes it touches us at just the right time and reminds us good people exist.
Be good. Be kind. Remember.
Thursday, 4 August 2011
If all else fails... there's always the weather
Surprise heat waves and sudden down pours... Whether it's being stuck in a lift, meeting the parents or on a date, conversation always turns to the weather, and why shouldn't it?
What else do you talk about? What if the conversation dries up due to nerves, you lose your voice before the first drink arrives and they're making that fatal glance at their watch? Might it be time to open up the umbrella, put on the sun cream and embrace that fail safe topic that's literally changing like the wind at the moment...?!
The summer was said to be a heat-wave, the last winter people were literally snowed in and April showers seemed to have had a slight plumbing problem. With such unpredictable weather making it constantly hard to decide between shorts and trousers, coats and jumpers, why is it so bad to discuss something that actually affects our everyday lives?
Over the last six months the world has seen a stream of run-In's with Mother Nature herself. Famously bone-dry Australia has experienced extreme flooding, a cyclone and a fairly cold summer in parts. New Zealand had Earthquakes and aftershocks which became repeat offenders, devastating a once beautiful Christchurch and Japan was hit by the Tsunami that was watched by the world. Surely it's actually hard not to be interested in those ice caps right now?
It's suggested that conversation must be really dire if you have to resort to talking about the weather, but recent storms, tornado's and ash clouds affecting travel, (another conversational favourite) are far too hot a topics to avoid right now. Even sunny Southend's yearly airshow saw poor weather and poor turn outs. The question shouldn't be why talk about the weather, it should be why aren't you?
This week we were hit with a surprise heatwave and in true Essex fashion, tops came off and the redness glowed along with the sun. The Saturday before, it went from glorious sunshine to pounding rain that would make anyone feel like building an ark. That weekend we battled between the two extremes of heat and pouring windy rain. This great British Summer heat wave has a funny idea of steady Summer weather at the height of June.
The start of Summer usually sees the runners out in force throughout Essex, but Alexandra Blyth a local runner had her own views on our heat wave; "A man offered me to stand under his umbrella the other day when it was pouring down with rain and I avoided a cold, maybe this weather is bringing people together." She added, "When the weather can't decide whether its raining or sunny its hard to go for a run. One minute you're out in beautiful heat loving it, feeling the burn and the next minute you're drenched."
With the weather being far from boring at the moment and providing much speculation on this heat wave of a Summer, it really is hard not to talk about the somewhat dull subject. Sometimes its fascinating and sometimes its scary, but it's always something. Today it may very well rain (it is Britain,) tomorrow the sun could come out and the summer might not actually be the heat wave we had hoped for. In shorts or trousers, the weather is happening with or without you and you shouldn't be afraid to bring it up... you never know, it might just break that ice -cap!!
It's amazing how the weather can bring people together... it really isn't that bad to talk about, come rain or shine!
What else do you talk about? What if the conversation dries up due to nerves, you lose your voice before the first drink arrives and they're making that fatal glance at their watch? Might it be time to open up the umbrella, put on the sun cream and embrace that fail safe topic that's literally changing like the wind at the moment...?!
The summer was said to be a heat-wave, the last winter people were literally snowed in and April showers seemed to have had a slight plumbing problem. With such unpredictable weather making it constantly hard to decide between shorts and trousers, coats and jumpers, why is it so bad to discuss something that actually affects our everyday lives?
Over the last six months the world has seen a stream of run-In's with Mother Nature herself. Famously bone-dry Australia has experienced extreme flooding, a cyclone and a fairly cold summer in parts. New Zealand had Earthquakes and aftershocks which became repeat offenders, devastating a once beautiful Christchurch and Japan was hit by the Tsunami that was watched by the world. Surely it's actually hard not to be interested in those ice caps right now?
It's suggested that conversation must be really dire if you have to resort to talking about the weather, but recent storms, tornado's and ash clouds affecting travel, (another conversational favourite) are far too hot a topics to avoid right now. Even sunny Southend's yearly airshow saw poor weather and poor turn outs. The question shouldn't be why talk about the weather, it should be why aren't you?
This week we were hit with a surprise heatwave and in true Essex fashion, tops came off and the redness glowed along with the sun. The Saturday before, it went from glorious sunshine to pounding rain that would make anyone feel like building an ark. That weekend we battled between the two extremes of heat and pouring windy rain. This great British Summer heat wave has a funny idea of steady Summer weather at the height of June.
The start of Summer usually sees the runners out in force throughout Essex, but Alexandra Blyth a local runner had her own views on our heat wave; "A man offered me to stand under his umbrella the other day when it was pouring down with rain and I avoided a cold, maybe this weather is bringing people together." She added, "When the weather can't decide whether its raining or sunny its hard to go for a run. One minute you're out in beautiful heat loving it, feeling the burn and the next minute you're drenched."
With the weather being far from boring at the moment and providing much speculation on this heat wave of a Summer, it really is hard not to talk about the somewhat dull subject. Sometimes its fascinating and sometimes its scary, but it's always something. Today it may very well rain (it is Britain,) tomorrow the sun could come out and the summer might not actually be the heat wave we had hoped for. In shorts or trousers, the weather is happening with or without you and you shouldn't be afraid to bring it up... you never know, it might just break that ice -cap!!
It's amazing how the weather can bring people together... it really isn't that bad to talk about, come rain or shine!
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