On my way to work this morning, I switched on the car radio to hear Jona Lewie’s “Stop The Cavalry” blaring out at at me. “What??!?” I thought. “It’s way too ear- ” Oh, actually no. It’s not too early for this. It’s the 3rd of December. This is a perfectly respectable time to hear Christmas songs on the radio.
I was amazed at how quickly my inner grinch retreated considering it’s the tail end of a long Christmas term at school, my waistline is on a lengthy sabbatical following 3 national lockdowns and I woke with a sty on my eye as I’ve been so rundown. A sty! I haven’t had a sty since at least 2002. They seem like an ailment of the past. You feel like you’ve got a golf ball under your eyelid when, in fact, no one else barely notices it’s there.
Whatever, it’s Christmas and I’m about to enter my first weekend of festive frivolity. Bring it on! But first, let’s get some gifts…
Christmas: Activated.
With the inner grinch being put firmly back in his box, I ventured out to M&S. I had vouchers ready for a hefty discount only to find they didn’t work when I got to the till. I was directed to customer services and quickly learned that I hadn’t read the T&Cs of my voucher and the discount applied to food but not alcohol. The kindly manager man said there didn’t seem to be much alcohol in my shop (at least 70% of it was booze, but who am I to split hairs?) so he would give me the discount anyway.
Far be it from me to be responsible for such a lovely person getting ‘told off’ – do kindly manager men get told off? – for an incorrect transaction, so I clarified that there was, indeed, much alcohol in my shop. He smiled, shrugged, said the T&Cs were too small to reasonably notice and gave me the money right from the till. It turns out that angels wear polyester uniforms and work in retail. God bless that man. (and his job.)
It’s a Wonderful Life…
I think it’s true that you attract what you put out. A switch from grinchy-ness to gratitude led to a positive interaction. In turn, I felt a desire to pay it forward. No biggies, just letting cars out in front of me in traffic here, a helpful, patient interaction at the supermarket there. Just little things with the potential to snowball to a bigger difference.
I’ve decided to forget the cold weather and the Spectre of Omicron* this winter and look for the little positives and pass them on. It may not be ‘spicy’, but it’s definitely ‘sweet’.
*If that’s not a movie title, I don’t know what is. Somebody cut me a cheque.
Grace Smith Speaks 