There’s a popular train of thought (which is regularly delayed because of over-running engineering work in the Severn Tunnel) that we’re living in a selfish, uncaring society.
Well, during these past hot and sticky weeks, I’ve found the opposite to be true. I’ve never known a summer in which I’ve come across so many people who went out of their way to share things with the rest of us.
I’ve seen shirtless young men wandering around town, eager to show off their tattoos.
I’ve encountered people generously sharing their barbecue smells, smoke and accompanying loud music.
And there’s more . . .
Recently, I was sat in a stop-start traffic jam on the M4 for around half-an-hour – although it seemed a little longer than that . . . say . . . two or three days.
Alongside me the whole time was a flash, electric blue car driven by a ‘gentleman’ who had obviously left his house so quickly that morning, he’d accidentally put his baseball cap on back to front!
I was able to see this quite clearly because as we crawled along at a snail’s pace, next to each other, all his car windows were open.
I would have called across to point out his unfortunate sartorial error, but I didn’t want to embarrass him.
Besides which, he wouldn’t have heard me because, out of the goodness of his heart, he was sharing with me – and many other motorists as far away as Gower – the world’s longest CD of ear-splittingly loud, thumpingly-monotonous rap ‘songs’.
I may be wrong, but I’m almost sure some lyrics contained the odd ‘discouraging word’.
Although I risked offending his generous musical gesture, I eventually closed my car windows to block out the sound – after 30 seconds!
Later, as the traffic started to move and he sped off, it may sound ungrateful, but I found myself muttering a few ‘discouraging words’ of my own . . .