“Is someone getting the best… the best, the best, the best of you?”*

This week I have seen some of the best and some of the worst of human nature – what do you expect I hear you cry… you live in Londinium – I have just summed up everyday life in this city… and while idly browsing the WorldwideInterweb yesterday evening I came across this well known quotation - it really resonated with me, the week that I have had and it reinforced (at least in my own mind) my philosophy around how I aspire to behave towards others (husband excepted, but he knew what he was getting into…) - ‘What goes around comes back around’.

(Image from Murray Mitchell) 

The best this week - people helping strangers and demonstrating genuine kindness – aiding someone smack bang in the middle of rush hour who is struggling with a push chair or on crutches (or, perish the thought, both at the same time), to handing in designer sunglasses that someone has left in the toilets in an art gallery. Also this week (it’s been busy) - returning a purse left on the back seat of a taxi or helping someone struggling with their suitcases at an airport – these acts of kindness are little things people will remember, tell other people about and, most importantly, it will make them smile…. I also heard an unconfirmed rumour this week that my husband shared half of his remaining beer with someone in the pub who had finished their pint more quickly than him – this one I don’t actually believe to be true… I have just reread this paragraph and had a truly horrible thought… maybe having lived here for 13 years I have just lowered my expectations…

I have also seen some awful behavior this week – people treating clients and customers rudely and bosses bullying employees (and don’t get me started on James Corden at the Brits…) – I personally think that there are some behaviours that are completely unacceptable (and interrupting Adele is one of them). One of the reasons I set up my own business was to ensure that I don’t have to deal with people like this (as often…) and it means I can exercise a degree of control over who is part of my circle of colleagues, suppliers and clients.

As I said at the outset, one of my aims is to treat others, as I would like to be treated myself and I do honestly believe that what goes around comes back around at some point in the future... Now, if we all bought into this philosophy, wouldn’t the world (and the cosmopolis that is London) be a truly lovely place… So, why not make a conscious effort to be nice to people and maybe we can turn some of those London frowns upside down. Even if you don’t manage to change the world, it really freaks people out when you smile inanely at them on the Tube…

To try and cheer myself up after my bout of self induced grumpiness I thought I would continue to explore my own personal style – I found the pictures below, which I just love. So when I eventually get around to doing my own home, I may use some of the images below for inspiration… (that’s the interior design bit this week).

(Image from lottaagaton.blogspot.com) 

(Image from Desire To Inspire)

(Image from e-m-b-e-r.tumblr) 

To conclude, a final top tip from my husband on this subject – “If you are on the train (or Tube) and you make the decision to get up in front of all the other passengers and offer your seat to a pregnant woman, you need to be absolutely, positively, 100% sure that she is in fact pregnant”. Oops.

Here endeth the lesson…

*Foo Fighters, Best of You