Regular readers would know that I can be a bit of a nark, and grumble about things of minimal importance (perhaps this [1] or this [2] would be a good example) from time to time. This seems to happen more regularly than me praising something (such as the resolution [3] to the first linked grumble) and I, as a result, tend to strike a lot of readers as a bit of a grumpy nutcase. Well today I have a positive story.
I don’t know about you, but when I see a small group of people (or a parent with a pram, or an elderly person) walking along a narrow passage way, I tend to move out of their way rather than trying to squeeze past them, usually when I do this the people I have made room for walk straight past, almost as if they were oblivious to my existence. I don’t mind this, and in fact I am quite used to it, so much so that I generally don’t even think about it.
This afternoon I was in Dickson at around 12:40 and was walking through the carpark adjacent to the swimming pool. One section there is quite narrow and three women from CITEA [4] (Construction Industry Training and Employment Association) who are based a short distance from the swimming pool, were walking along a particularly narrow path, so I moved out of their way…they, to my absolute astonishment, said “thank you”.
Admittedly it was only a minor thing, but they are the first people to say thank you to me for moving out of their way in months…and as silly as this may sound, I would like to publicly thank and congratulate them for having the courtesy and manners to say “thank you”.
They may only be two simple words, but they have an enormous impact, and I therefore would like to say to the three ladies from CITEA who were walking through the Dickson Pool carpark at 12:40 this afternoon…thank you, your courtesy and manners have made my day.
Samuel