"My name is Talulah, My first rule of thumb, I don't say where I'm going, Or where I'm coming from"

Random Act of Kindness No. 23 – Pick on your mates – Nicely!

The idea of this RAOK is to pick on a friend but with kindness…

I don’t really have many friends – most of them seem to move away or lead very busy lives so don’t have time to see me. Yeah, think they’re trying to tell me something?! I have one friend though, Talulah. She for some reason seems to be able to tolerate me.

No, No, I’m joshin’ with you. I pay her to hang around with me.

No, No, again, I’m joshin’…

So my day started at 6.30am this morning when I escorted my dearest mother and sister in-law to the airport to go to Florence. I proceeded to carry their bags all the way there, check them in, and waited for them to go through to the departure lounge. I then managed to rush home, jump in the shower and get to University in time for my morning lecture knowing it was going to be a long day.

In the afternoon my friend, Talulah and I went to Stoke Newington to pick up a prop for the theatre company I work for. Here is a list of all the things I did to shower Talulah with kindness:

1.     Topped up her Oyster card with £10

2.     Paid her a complement about her hair.

3.     Paid for her lunch

4.     Put some of her books into my bag to lighten her load

5.     Held her hand as we crossed over the road

6.     I offered to give her a shoulder massage on the bus back home

7.     Bought some biscuits to have with a cup of tea when we get back and invited her in

8.     Laughed at all her appalling jokes

9.      Let her have the comfy chair in my living room

10. Asked if she would like me to cook her dinner and have pancakes tonight.

The whole day Talulah had no idea what I was getting up to. At some points I was a bit nervous because I thought she felt some of my behaviour was a little too friendly. I still haven’t told Talulah why I was showering her with kindness, and she is sitting in my kitchen as I write this, thinking I am sending a few emails. The first she will know about it is when she reads my blog. So Talulah, if you do see this, here is the reason why I was being so kind and thoughtful all day.

Here is a picture of Talulah with Pat. Pat is the ‘prop’ I picked up today.

Also on our little road trip I dropped a little poster off at the place where we had lunch. Here is the picture of that also.

I had best go, because I don’t want Talulah getting suspicious of my whereabouts.

Donating blood with a smile.

Good afternoon,

RAOK No. 20 – Today, give blood.

So, obviously I can’t turn up at a donor center, stick a needle in my arm and give them a couple of pints. Or however much it is. They probably would refuse my blood at the moment anyway. Anyhow, I went onto the blood donor website and signed up. I am now successfully registered to give blood. Step one, completed. I did a bit of browsing on their website and tried to apply for an appointment on the 15^th of March at 18.00. Now I have a slight inkling that I won’t be able to do it that soon. Nonetheless, I have applied and will wait to hear back from them.

Yesterday, I asked for some suggestions for another RAOK to do today as well as sign up to give blood. Personally, my favourite was suggested by Emily. This is what she said:

“I would like to suggest one, beginning with a story. One day a few weeks ago I was feeling a little down after visiting a relative in hospital. On the walk home I saw some words someone had written on the side of a telephone box. They said, "Smile, today wasn't so bad". I instantly smiled. The fact that someone had taken the time to write, all be it graffiti, an uplifting phrase to everyone had made me smile and I started to feel better, thinking about all the good things that had happened that day.”

Now, this is a lovely story and I instantly knew this was the one I should do. I am now going to start putting one poster up a day in a random spot with the words ‘Smile today wasn’t so bad’. Today I started close to home, very close in fact, on the bathroom door in my house. Reason being one of my housemates has a slight tendency to wake up most mornings in a foul mood and I thought this might just ease it off a bit. I will keep you updated. Tomorrow I don’t know where I will be going but, when I do go I will take one of my posters with me and take a picture of it and post it on here. So Emily, thank you very much for your amazing idea, It is very simple yet a brilliant RAOK.

Now I am not much of an artist but here is a picture of today’s poster. I will improve my artistic skills and poster making in all good time.

In a round about way, I also did another RAOK. I was speaking to my mum on the phone and she is not feeling too great at the moment. Bit under the weather, as it were. Sadly she was so ill she was unable to go and see Romeo and Juliette at the new theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon. She especially wanted to go as one of her friend’s sons was performing, Sam Troughton. Or as Wikipedia have put it; “Sam Troughton is a British actor. He is son of David Troughton and the grandson of Doctor Who actor Patrick Troughton. His younger brother is Warwickshire cricketer Jim Troughton.” Crickey, that’s a hell of a family.

Anyway, instantly I (obviously after giving my mother some sympathy) suggested she sends one of my brothers off into Stratford-Upon-Avon and try to give the ticket away. For free of course. So, off he popped to try and give the ticket away. Half an hour later, I had a phone call from my brother sounding rather pleased with himself. He had successfully given the ticket away to a lovely man called Rob. Apparently Rob, was over the moon with the free ticket, and was thrilled to spontaneously go to the theatre, and as an added bonus - for free.

Well my brother certainly seemed to get the same excitement and pleasure out of doing a RAOK as I do.

All in all I say result!