"Hello, lovely!"

It’s official. I’m lovely!

Today started off a bit of a down-day. I had no energy, no enthusiasm, I wasn’t getting anything done worth doing. So, I took refuge in my favourite place – a charity book shop.

They’d moved everything around, so I had to pay closer than usual attention to the shelves to find what I wanted. As I browsed, a woman who had been putting more books out answered her phone with the words, “Hello, lovely.”

I smiled to myself and carried on browsing.

She met me at the till when I was done.

“Did you find something?”

“Yeah. I found a couple of things. I also found my heart getting a lift when you said “Hello, lovely” on the phone.”

“Oh, that was one of the staff from the other shop. She is lovely!”

“Oh, even better! I just assumed it must have been family.”

“Oh, my family wouldn’t let me call them that. But, my staff... well... they don’t work here for the money, do they? So, they’re automatically wonderful to start with. All my staff are lovely!”

I told her she was lucky and I was sure they felt the same about her. On a hunch, I took a punt.

“There’s a column in The Sunday Post newspaper. Francis Gay, My Week...”

“Oh, I’ve always loved Francis Gay! My dad always bought The Sunday Mail and The Sunday Post every week.” (Mine too!)

“Ahh, my Gran used to read it to us.”

Ohh, Francis Gay. Always full of good things and wonderful people.”

“Like you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Wonderful people like you.”

“Well, it’s kind of you to say so.”

“For the best part of twenty years, I’ve been Francis Gay, and I wouldn’t be surprised if...”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No, and...”

Ohh! Wait ‘til I tell my dad. Ohh! Thank you, thank you, you... you lovely!”

So. There you go.

And here’s a shout out to volunteers, not just in bookshops but everywhere, working away to make things better for others. Thank you, lovelies, every one of you!