A Guest Post from Deborah & Leslie Smith - THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

From Deborah Smith

My dear uncle, Leslie Smith, has been a resident of North London since he moved to the Capital from The Midlands as a young man of 30, back in 1958. Now in his mid-eighties,

Leslie continues to be admirably active in his community – and so it was particularly heartening to hear that the community supported him when he needed it. Here is his story…

“Recently, late on a Friday evening, I was dismayed to discover that my wallet was missing. I had travelled in the afternoon by bus from Finsbury Park, North London to my home in Islington and was unsure whether the wallet was lost or stolen.

I walked again over the streets I had used when leaving the bus, to no avail, and then to Kentish Town police station to report the loss. 


The policewoman on duty was very helpful – straight away calling Cardguard, where my bankcards are insured, so that I could speak to them promptly to report the cards lost with the wallet. She took my name and address and telephone number and shortly after I arrived home 'phoned me to see that I had got there safely, which I thought was most kind. (An EverdayFolk thumbs up and thanks to the policewoman )

The next day I mentioned the lost wallet to my neighbours who immediately offered to lend me some money, though I did not need to take them up on their kind offer, as I had a few US Dollars at home that I was able to change for Sterling at the local post office. The post office cashier was extremely sympathetic and helpful – as was enquiry lady at Archway tube station, where I went next, to purchase a temporary Oyster travelcard, as my senior citizen’s Freedom travel pass was also in my missing wallet. (More EF thanks and thumbs up to the neighbours, the local post office and the enquiry lady at Archway station )

Later that evening I received a very welcome 'phone call from Cardguard to tell me that my wallet had been found and handed in to the London Transport bus garage at Cricklewood.  

I travelled on three buses to reach the bus garage, each time offering my temporary Oyster card to the drivers, while explaining why I didn’t have my senior citizen’s Freedom pass, and each one kindly waived me through without charge.(EF thanks to those drivers

)

At Cricklewood bus garage I found the contents of my wallet to be completely intact. I asked which driver had handed in the wallet as, of course, I wanted to thank him. The manager, though very courteous, said that he could not disclose the driver’s identity. (And a huge EF thanks and thumbs up to the manager and the driver that handed the wallet in )

One hears such stories about impersonal and uncaring behaviour in London, but here is an incident where everyone was completely the opposite: concerned, kind, considerate - and honest.

My heartfelt thanks to them all.”

Leslie Smith

Deborah Smith and her Uncle, Leslie Smith

A Guest Post from Ruth Cherrington - COLLECTING FOR MARIE CURIE - THE GOOD FOLK OF LONDON, N1

Few people could have missed a couple of big things going on this month: one is that the sun has shone, quite a bit, actually. The other is that it’s the month when the Marie Curie cancer care charity do a helluva lot of fundraising for their work, which includes supporting many hospices up and down the country. They’ve been on the radio, in the press and on the streets with tins and lovely little daffodil pins.

Nothing perhaps is more symbolic of spring in this country than bright daffodils, a sign that better weather is coming, a sign of hope. This is exactly what Marie Curie offer to thousands of cancer sufferers and their families: a bit of brightness and a bit of hope that their last days can be spent in a dignified, comfortable manner.

I signed up this year to donate an hour of my time after hearing the radio campaign earlier back in January (that was such an effective ad!) It didn’t seem like much but the money I could collect would all be useful to help them continue their work.

 

I hoped the terrible winds and monsoon rains would go away and do you what?  They did.

Saturday March 15^th dawned bright and sunny- how lucky was I and all the other collectors that day, at least in London. I had requested to collect in the Angel Islington area in the early afternoon so set off for St. Mary’s Church on Upper Street to collect my tin, tabard, official permission and those lovely little daffodil pins. 

The women organizing the collection/drop off centre also offered me smiles and encouragement. (an everdayfolk thumbs up and thanks to them ) It had been many years since I had done street collecting for a charity and wasn’t sure how it would go.

It went really, really well as it turned out, thanks not only to the beautiful weather but the lovely people who came over to me to put money in the tin, to have a quick chat, pass the time of day or even to ask directions. Mostly though they donated and did so generously. (An EF thanks and thumbs up to all who donated ) I had barely picked my place in the sun than people started putting coins in the tin. I picked a busy little spot at one of the entrances to the N1 centre in Upper Street, with my face turned to the sun and blue sky and the general public. 

I was pleasantly surprised at how busy I was and the hour went by so quickly I decided to stay a bit longer.

I want to thank here all those who gave that afternoon, ordinary everyday people but many of them touched by cancer in some way. They were of all ages. A group of children out shopping came over, really wanting to get a few more daffodil pins for their collection. They put some money in the tin. A boy in the group asked me how much you have put in and would 2p be enough: I said whatever he had to give and 2p would be enough. It’s better surely to encourage the act of giving. He put a bit more than that in, in the end.

A group of trendy teenagers found their way over to me to donate, one of them saying ‘I really like this charity, they do great stuff.’ Two women came over who were keen supporters. One of them, wearing a nice pink sweatshirt first became interested in finding out about Marie Curie when she was only 2 and her dad was diagnosed with cancer. We chatted a bit comparing notes about Marie Curie herself and my girlhood role model Florence Nightingale. Her companion was a nurse and had referred to the North London Marie Curie hospice that the money in my tin was bound for.

I said goodbye to them but the lady in pink came back over with a bottle of nice cold water- it was a warm afternoon and thirsty work. That was a very kind, thoughtful so a big thank you to her! (Another EF thanks and thumbs up )

And to all the other folk who made the afternoon such an uplifting experience for me and a worthwhile one for Marie Curie.

I will definitely do this again!

To donate to Marie Curie or find out more about the wonderful work they do, please go to http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/

We would also like to give an everdayfolk thumbs up to Ruth herself for donating her time to Marie Curie, thanks Ruth.

Ruth Cherrington can be found on

twitter @CHistorians and at 

http://www.clubhistorians.co.uk/

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more London smiles (updated)

Bill's is a new chain, well at least to me, of restaurants in London. http://bills-website.co.uk/  I had been to the one in Islington a couple of times and really liked it as much for the food, which seems to have something for everyone, vegans to carnivores and all those in between, as the ambiance and the staff/service.

We tried the one in Hoxton Square this time, and both my colleague and I were just the tiniest, weeniest, bit disappointed with our first tastes of our food when it came.  It just happened that the waitress was standing nearby and must have overheard or caught our expressions, (good attentive service), and asked us if everything was okay.

It was.  The food was good but just not rave about.  They offered to change our meals but no, we insisted that everything really was fine and that if she hadn't asked at that precise moment, we certainly wouldn't have mentioned it.  When I say it was good, I'm not being British in a "don't make a fuss" way, we both cleaned our plates.

Anyway, after our clean plates were taken away the manageress came over to discuss our meal with us and to see if there was anything they could do.  This wasn't just platitudes, we both felt it was true service with a smile.  So Ellie at Bill's in Hoxton Square, (and the waitress whose name and photograph I didn't get), a big thumbs up to you, and we'll be back.  

Meanwhile, a huge thank you to someone I've been wanting to feature almost since I began with the idea for this blog, Jackie at Waitrose in Finchley Road, NW3.  

Jackie mainly works on the tills and like so many of the staff at this branch have worked there for many years and know their customers by name, (Sue I'd also like to give you a thumbs up and a thank you).

However, like the day I took this picture (apologies for the fuzziness and a bit of thumb!) the shop was mayhem busy and although there may have been tills with less of a queue, regulars would rather wait for Jackie than go through quicker somewhere else.

So Jackie, a big thumbs up and thank you for making that weekly shop so enjoyable and I so love your smile, that I'm going to stick another picture of it here!

As always, if you have come across some special person doing their job with a smile or you want to say thank you to someone, please do send us your guest post to everdayfolk@gmail.com together with your contact details and pictures if you can.  If you're taking a picture of someone, please ask for their permission first.  Thanks.

23.11.13 - This P.S follows a lovely Sunday hug-smile-fest in Waitrose on 17th November. I was at Jackie's till (of course) having a little chat when lovely Sue joined us and finally let me a get a shot of her. While this was going on the smiliest dancer/Pilates teacher ever, Joumana of @IJADdance @JouDance, joined us and we had a lovely tete-tete.  Funniest thing was the lady in the queue behind me, who was sweet and patient, must have wondered about this weird lady hugging and photographing people as she shopped.