Saying it with flowers... to cheer up strangers
A BUNCH of flowers can brighten up even the darkest of days and will bring a smile to most faces.
And one Scots florist is now cheering up random strangers by leaving ‘lonely bouquets’ around her home city at the end of her working week.
Ann McGinlay has so far left dozens of bouquets around Edinburgh.
The 47-year-old, who has worked as a florist for 20 years, started leaving flowers around the city a year ago.
She said: ‘Usually when I finish on a Saturday I will make up a bouquet and go and pop it somewhere – it’s random and could be anywhere. Sometimes I even give them to my friends to put further afield.
‘Lots of people experience loneliness, even when surrounded by people, so it made my day to find out that one small gesture had touched people’s hearts.’
Arlene Fernandez, 36, contacted the florist when she found flowers at Bruntsfield Links after her two-year-old son gave her a fright by running towards a busy road. She said: ‘I could feel the tears welling up so I sat down on the nearest park bench to try and pull myself together, and after a couple of minutes I noticed a bunch of flowers at the other end of the seat.
‘There was clearly a large tag attached to it, so out of curiosity I looked for the name and inscription.
‘The tag explained that this was a “lonely bouquet” and was looking for someone to adopt it and take it home.
‘It was such a nice feeling to think that a stranger has gone to the trouble of making a beautiful bunch of flowers and leaving them to be found by anyone, with the possibility of not knowing the outcome.’