MY WEEK BY FRANCIS GAY

Please feed our birds in winter, Provide some water too, Bird food, nuts, fat or bread, Any leftover scraps will do. In winter weather they struggle, And on days of frost and snow, They will truly welcome, The sustenance you bestow.

Julie

was on the train home from Glasgow. A boy of maybe three years old sat across from her. The journey seemed like the most exciting thing in his life so far. She guessed he had mostly travelled by car until then.

He jumped from window to window, telling his mum everything he could see. Then, when some familiar spires came into view, he squealed, “Mummy! I’ve discovered

Paisley!” Julie is pretty sure people had “discovered” Paisley before, but for the little lad it was still a first.

“Children that age,” she told me, “have grown out of babyhood but they haven’t yet had time to get bored. Pretty much everything they see and do they are seeing and doing for the first time – and they generally think it’s wonderful!”

Oh, to see the world through a three-year-old’s eyes! At every age.

The café was bustling. One woman complained the waiting staff had taken too long to bring her meal.

She was right

– but was she right to nurse that grievance for the rest of her visit? At the same time, one of the waitresses slowed right down.

In fact, she stopped. And stood there while a diner got up from his chair and put a hand on her shoulder. Then, shuffling a couple of inches per step, she led him out to his taxi.

“He has MS,” the café owner explained afterwards. “He comes here because he knows we will help without making a fuss.

The two events happed within seconds of each other. We tend to see what we look for. But let’s not get into the rut of looking only for the good, or only for the bad. It’s a much more balanced world than that.

I thought I would share Christine’s take on learning to share.

“Growing up, we had lots of cousins, but none who lived near us. We would all meet up once a year but we generally visited Gran and Papa’s house at different times throughout the year. They had a spare room which they turned into playroom for us.

“Every time we visited, there would be new fun toys waiting. They were ‘our toys’ while we were there but they were our cousins’ toys when they visited and we might have to answer to them when we met if we broke a favourite. So, in effect, we took care of their stuff and they took care of our stuff. But it was the same stuff!

“If only we could see this world as a ‘playroom’, provided and maintained by someone who loved us. And all we had to do was enjoy it – while taking care of it for each other.”

Davie is a coach driver. When he is taking tourists on trips around the Highlands (or anywhere else) he does a head-count after every stop to make sure no one is left behind.

This time he counted and announced that everyone was there. But a voice from the back announced he had an extra passenger. A little girl had bought a teddy and wanted to know if he needed a ticket.

Davie told her teddies travel for free. She wanted to know why. He said: “Teddies are here to encourage us to love. And, because of that, they are allowed to travel free wherever they want to go in the world.”

It was just a notion but, ohhh, if only people could do that and not just teddies. Until there is, all the loveencouragers will just need to pay their fare. Unless they find themselves on Davie’s coach!