Smile for a Stranger

A notebook landed on the table with a loud thud, disturbing the serenity of Strauss playing through my headphones, as I tried to ease myself into Monday on the predictably delayed morning train.

The culprit of the disturbance was an angry looking man in a grey suit with a frown so stern he looked like his head might explode. Much huffing and puffing followed and a swear word muttered under his breath as he rummaged in his bag for something.

I turned up the volume on my music and looked out the window at the grey morning. I thought about the sadness of Paris at the weekend and wondered what was going on in this man's life to make him so angry.

As my train pulled into the station I noticed the angry man's feet were sprawled across my path. So with the politest voice I could muster, I said, "Excuse me please!" accompanied by a warm smile, as I caught the stranger's eye.

As we made eye contact he shuffled his feet away immediately and apologised as if he was suddenly aware of his demeanour, jolting him out of his self-absorbed grump. He apologised several times and gave me a smile back. I thanked him and thought maybe my smile could have made the difference between the rest of his day being grumpy or not.

Sometimes smiling at a stranger is a nice thing to do. As my grandma used to say, kindness doesn't cost anything!

My photo today is commuter coffee for mono Monday as I had nothing more inspiring to use!