“My first thought was, ‘That’s beautiful!’ My second was, ‘You’re being played’. My last thought was, ‘So what?’”

Lisa had walked past a busker in the city centre. The young woman was obviously blind and looked like she’d been sleeping rough. Above the noise of the city and around the passers-by, she sang Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World.

The thought that, despite her song, the singer might not have seen “trees of green”, “skies of blue”, or “the bright blessed day”, almost broke Lisa’s heart.

“Of course,” she told me, “that’s what the busker was counting on, so we would drop more money in her cup. But... most of us do see more wonders than we can count every day. So many that we take them for granted.

“The money I gave her was well worth the reminder she gave me, and the rest of us, that day.”

A 16th wedding anniversary isn’t usually one that couples go to town on, but...i was at Paul and Allana’s 16th this week, in a very fancy hotel.

She wore a dress similar to her wedding dress. Her bridesmaids wore matching colours. The groom and his groomsmen dressed in Highland regalia, and they had the bridal suite booked for the night.

Why? Well, a mix-up on their wedding day led to the hall being cleared before they ever got to their reception.

Paul promised her a bigger and better party the following year. But the birth of their first child took priority.

Then there was a change of job. They aimed for the 10th anniversary but there was a death in the family that year. On the 15th anniversary, Allana had Covid.

So...the 16th it was. But, as Allana told me, a good marriage should be worth celebrating any year!