SERVICE WITH A SMILE!

I would normally take part in the Abstract Thursday challenge, and in fact, had taken a photograph earlier this morning, but I went into town after Mr. HCB and I had been out shopping this morning and popped into Coffee #1 for a quick coffee and saw Steve so decided that he would be my Blip today.

He is a lovely man, always smiling and very pleasant - as are the rest of the staff in this coffee shop.  The man in front of me in the queue mentioned Steve’s hat so I took a photograph - I know it doesn’t qualify as an abstract, but it is certainly festive!

On the way to the bus stop, I stopped to speak to Keith, a man who plays his guitar in the underpass - I wanted to find out about a homeless man, Stuart, whom I hadn’t seen for sometime and was told by Keith that although Stuart had been in hospital, he now had a place of his own and was doing well.  

I asked Keith what he would be doing for Christmas and he told me he would be seeing his children aged 4 and 11 - I wished him a very Happy Christmas and said I hoped he enjoyed his time with them and he assured me he would.  He said he had no television, so they would be playing games and enjoying just being together.  

For some reason - and I don’t really know why - I feel quite sad today, but I’m sure tomorrow I will be fine and seeing Steve’s smile and chatting to Keith made me realise how fortunate and blessed I am.

Too often we underestimate 
     the power of a touch, 
          a smile, 
               a kind word, 
a listening ear, 
     an honest compliment, 
          or the smallest act of caring, 
               all of which have the potential 
to turn a life around. 
Leo Buscaglia