I knew that yesterday was going to be a tough day and it certainly lived up to my
I began my morning popping round to see an elderly friend, you wouldn't think she was 89 years old - mind as sharp as a razor and the energy to do anything anyone asked of her. She looked at me ans said, "You are looking very well. That dental treatment has taken years off you !"
Yes, a number of weeks ago I did have some major dental surgery and was told it could take two to six months for the contours of my face to settle down. If they settle down in such a way that I look younger then BRING IT ON.
So that dear lady started my day off well. THANK YOU.
I had my best friend Jake with me in the car. he had been for his morning walk AND had his breakfast but I had not eaten. A quick drive through at McDonald's was called for. McDonald's, did you know, make the finest hashbrowns in the world ? Forget the rubbish you can buy in the supermarket's freezer cabinet, they all taste of onion - only McDonald's know how to make proper hashbrowns.
Jake is addicted to McDonald's, mention the name and he runs round the house like crazy. Drive into the golden arches and he leaps about the car in anticipation. Drive to the window to pay for an order and he starts gruffing telling staff to hurry up and get his food.
"Three hasbrowns," I said. Jake started to engage the McDonald's employee in conversation.
"Two are for me and one is for him," I explained.
The lovely young guy serving us spoke to Jake and smiled as he chatted. Those few brief moments added to the good feeling and glow I had about me having just spoken to my friend. I have no idea what this chap's name is but his kind attitude and words polished up the glow I already had about me. I e-mailed McDonald's to tell them what a special employee they have and will now be inviting the company to read this blog.
"Put the change in the box," I said.
That collecting box is for Ronald McDonald's Childrens Charity, you will see them in every branch of this fast food chain. McDonald's does not shout its mouth off about the work it does for children in hospital and for their families, it just gets quietly on with what it is doing.
My family owes a debt to Ronald McDonald we can never, ever repay.
My daughter spent much of her childhood in Guys Hospital, London. Without McDonald House and somewhere the family could live away from home and be with her I do not know what we would have done.
My visit to McDonald's yesterday was en route to collect my now grown up and married daughter and take her to a dialysis session in hospital. After twenty-five years the kidney transplant she received at Guys Hospital has come to the end of its life and she now relies on a kidney machine.
That lovely, lovely man at the drive through yesterday had no idea who I was, I was just the old guy in the car with a dog, he did not know my circumstances or history with McDonald's, he wouldn't have been born when my daughter was in hospital as a child. The kindness he showed was so special to my day and I thank him oh so much.
The dialysis for my daughter had gone wrong and she need to be moved by ambulance to the specialist hospital in Oxford. Transport was requested at one o'clock but did not turn up until half-past seven in the evening. I kept saying to my son-in-law, my daughter's husband, that the long wait while frustrating was good. If she was seriously ill she would have been taken immediately with blue lights flashing, her place low down on the priority list was reassuring.
I did not meet yesterday the the person who put a shine on my day but I will be going into the hospital this morning with the biggest box of chocolates I can find and the best bunch of flowers I can buy. The nurse looking after my daughter was due to go home at five o'clock but remained on duty until half past seven to comfort her and be with her. I think that was rather special.
My life yesterday was touched by, and I use the word carefully, three ordinary people: our elderly family friend, that super guy in McDonald's and a wonderful loving hospital nurse. NOT ordinary EXTRA ORDINARY. If I had control of the Birthday Honours List all three would be on it in June.
I am for ever saying this - it is not the politicians that make a country great, it is the people. If I am honest politicians do so much to stop a country being great !
In the same way, it is not the captains of industry, the pontificating religious leaders nor the pen-pushing administrators who build a happy world for people like you and me to live in - It is people like my family friend, Ronald McDonald's mate at the drive through window and that kind hospital nurse who pour love into people's lives.
This is the greatest piece of music ever written.
I want to play it here for those three people yesterday who were bridges over my troubled waters.
Yesterday I published my teenage autobiography as an e-book on Amazon. I am now working on my Diary Of A Silly Old Man. It is not my intention to add a new page every single day to the diary although I will keep this daily blog operating.
I am going to include this blog as a page within the diary.
It is now 2.45am and I can not sleep. I wonder what today has in store for me. I hope that I meet today some more people like those from yesterday. I hope that I can today be to others what those three lovely people yesterday were to me.
Yesterday 37 people read my blog, that was down on the day before. Not for my own gratification and ego trip bit I do hope many, many more will read today and celebrate some very special people who touched my life.
DAVID
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