Imagine getting complained at all day! Polly introduced me to her dogs, Sapphire and Steel.

I asked John how he was coping with lockdown.

“I’m loving it!” was his surprising answer. But perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. John is a marine engineer with a merchant shipping line. He might be on a ship for weeks between ports and, just lately, his tanker was “parked” in the North Sea for six months awaiting their next contract before he was furloughed. “To be able to walk more than the length of the ship, not to always be smelling oil and paint, to see different faces, even if only in the supermarket, is great.

“OK, I can’t go to the pub and the ship had a bar, but I’m surprised by how much I’m enjoying it.” As always, how difficult a situation is varies from person to person, but we make it easier all round when we focus on the positives. And, believe me, there are always positives!

The checkout operator almost went home when she saw the queues. The government had announced a tightening of restrictions and everyone suddenly felt the need to shop.

When I arrived, she just rolled her eyes and said: “Terrible, isn’t it?” People had been complaining to her since she started her shift, yet it wasn’t her fault.

I assured her that it certainly wasn’t her fault. I added that I was glad she had come in, and suggested we would really be stuck if she and her colleagues hadn’t turned up.

My goodbye was a cheery, “Keep up the good work!” She turned to the next customer. Her greeting was much brighter, more encouraging.

Of course, it might only take a grump or two to bring her mood back down.

But I hope a few others – you, perhaps? – also share a kind word.

They go everywhere, sideby-side. Polly explained Sapphire had lost her left eye due to injury. Now Steel, Sapphire’s son, never leaves her side.

I made some comment about Steel being a guide dog for a dog. Later, I wondered what a dog knew about sight? Does it know about the importance of binocular vision? Perhaps, I thought, he only understands his mother has a weakness so, instinctively, he puts himself between that and the world. Even without properly understanding. If only humans could be more like that with, say, mental illness, which is often so difficult to understand from the outside. But we don’t need to understand someone’s needs or weaknesses to be willing to put ourselves between them and the harsher aspects of the world.

A little kindly word, When someone feels down, May be all that’s needed, To chase away the frown, A helping hand, Along the way,

Can help brighten up,

A sad, depressing day.