Small acts of kindness

This sign stands outside a church in East London not far from Liverpool Street station. What are Oranges and Lemons letters? Can someone send me some, please? We thought maybe it was a business name, but there were no businesses in sight with that name. Which is good, because Oranges and Lemons letters should never be corporate, never be official - they should be friendly, like the letter I got off my Mum the other week. It's so rare anyone sends a hand written letter anymore - yet they're the only letters worth receiving. My Nan used to send loads of letters and they'd tell you what everyone was up to and if I look back at them now they're great because they capture moments in time that you forget about. 'Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and take a look around once in a while you might miss it', as Ferris Bueller once said.

Small acts of kindness are unexpected in London because it has a reputation for being so unfriendly and harsh. But take a look around and they do happen. Last Wednesday I was waiting for a friend at Victoria station and an old woman was trying to get help with her baggage from the station staff. Due to some health and safety/ red tape/ corporate nonsense issue, the staff explained that he couldn't carry her bags anywhere until she was actually in the station. A gruff fellow clearly sick of this, lit a cigarette and strutted up to the woman and asked her in a belligerent tone, that may have slightly scared her, where she needed her bags taking to. She told him and he picked them up and marched them to the station for her. I liked the way he was being nice in a surly manner.

I recall the winter of 2007 when I was flat hunting and I rang a woman called Doreen Collar who had a room in a flat for rent. She sounded really nice, and quite old - she was from a gentler and nobler age - and she told me which bus to get and said 'I should ask the driver to let me off at a certain junction'. I love that line because my experience of bus drivers is of angry irate men who think you're out of order if you dare ask them a question. I like the idea though, that old people can still live in this world, with the drivers dutifully dropping them off at their stop.

I didn't end up going to see Doreen Collar's flat. A shame really, she sounded really nice. And I bet she knows what Oranges and Lemons letters are.