Harry’s trip to the shops proved a fascinating, beautiful experience

Harry told me about his walk through the shopping centre.

“Going in, I met a man I probably would never have been friends with – if we hadn’t learned about each other’s hearts through adversity a long time ago.

“Half-way through I met a man who tells me the same seven things each time we meet. It always seems like he’s telling me them for the first time. So, I listen like it was the first time.

“Leaving at the other end, I saw a woman who looked really scared. I met her darting eyes, and smiled. She whispered hello. Then she smiled the sweetest smile.

“People! Aren’t they just endlessly fascinating?” They are, Harry. And my favourite kind are the ones who look behind the damage we all have, to one degree or another, and find the beauty that is almost always there.

I was delighted!

My friend, Alison, had just told me she thought I was one of the happiest people around. Well, I couldn’t resist telling others.

Then Jim told me: “Ohh, she told me the same thing. And Cathy. And Sarah. And Brian. All at different times, of course.”

Feeling a little less wonderful, I challenged her on this. But she insisted she had meant it. Every time. Now, Jim Cathy, Sarah, Brian and I are nothing alike. We have very little in common – except Alison! And then it dawned on me.

Some people make you happier just by being around and I’m sure Alison has no idea why she finds herself surrounded by so many happy people.

I am happy to be happy, but I’d be happier to be like Alison, unknowingly making everyone around her the happiest people around.

I listened as two men tried to talk while giving nothing away.

Leaving the supermarket, I took refuge in a bus shelter where a man and a woman were already waiting. Neither was pretty, neither was young.

But I heard him say how much he loved her, how much he was going to miss her...

As the bus approached, she had to gently usher him towards it, blowing him a kiss.

They were both in their autumnal years, but it was like watching puppy-love. And it was incredibly touching. Perhaps because they weren’t young. Perhaps because they looked like life had been hard.

He may not have been used to expressing his feelings. He may not have been much good at it. But he gave it a really good try.

I’d been planning on writing about how hopeless men were when it came to communicating, but after that I thought: “Go with the love!”

I was “enjoying” some gentle lengths of the swimming pool alongside a man and his grandson.

We happened to stop at the shallow end at the same time and I heard the boy – who looked about 10 – say: “Come on, grampa! That’s eight lengths done, only another 56 to go!”

And, with a splash, he was off.

Grampa sighed, but then he smiled and shook his head.

“Experience tells me I won’t make it,” he told me.

“But his enthusiasm tells me that I just might.”

And off he went, in pursuit.

Experience. Enthusiasm. Each on their own has value, but the combination… well… they just might take you further than you ever thought you could go!

Life is like a river, With twists and turns along the way, We never know just what’s in store, Things can change from day to day; Keeping a cheerful outlook,

Having a laugh or two, And trying to make the most of it,

Should help to see us through.