I had volcanic ash on my mind and electoral issues in my brain as I cycled into work.
Went to the cleaners next to my office, collecting my best suit and four shirts, picking up my tub of porridge in the same stop. Parked my bike on one of the hoops outside our studios and, with the phone in one ear and the porridge and brief case in the other hand, went in to work.
It was a full-on day, trying to crack the ???air traffic??? story and trying to work out where the themes were in the electoral tussle. After a more than usually ???live??? Channel 4 News, I went into my little office to pick up my cycle gear and one of the shirts for the morrow.
No shirts. No suit. My God! I???d left the cleaning ??? that best suit, dangling from the handlebars in a plastic laundry bag, on the street outside eleven hours earlier.
Dashed upstairs and out onto the darkened street. I was already late for the cinema – I Am Love (stunning Tilda Swinton Italian film). No cleaning. But a little green ???post-it??? stuck to my crossbar with added Selotape. ???I have put your cleaning in reception???. Went back in. Sure enough, it was safely in amongst the lost property.
The suit had cost me ??800 ??? hand made to fit my elongated frame. The shirts weren???t cheap either. One, a fabulous Ted Baker horizontally thin blue striped on whet ??? absolute favourite, never found another to match it. All present and correct.
Broken Britain? Sure, collectively, we lose a bicycle every fortnight or so from those hoops. Sure, it???s an urban maelstrom of commuting and lingering. But this was volunteer Britain, caring, decent Britain ??? self denying Britain in which no clue was left as to who the generous hearted passer-by was.
I am in email dialogue with a ???concerned??? viewer who winges at me about the decaying use of English, and broken Britain. He???s wrong. There???s a country out there we ignore. A country of decent people who already pull together more than any elected politician knows.
Is there slack? Is there more we could do? Of course. But every day, many, many thousands of people do many thousands of deeds of which few know, and for which few ever thank.
Well, thank YOU small green post-it writer. Would that I could do the same for you.
It’s good to read that there’s still honest goodwill in the hearts of British people – I never doubted but there’s a guy called David who still needs convincing. The ballot box would be a good place to demonstrate to him your goodwill towards others – by voting in someone who believes it’s already being mended.