"Feelin' Generous" - Knova Jones, 2007

Something quite remarkable happened to me in Oxford Friday afternoon.

I was in Marks & Spencer Food, in Oxford, getting us some things for the weekend. I had filled my shopping basket and was in the queue to check out.

In front of me was a nice-looking older woman, wearing a beautiful pale blue linen blouse. She was kind enough to reach over to the till and get one of those things that's used to divide one person's order from another. She put it down behind her things, ready for me to put my own items on the belt. It's thoughtful when somebody does that, and I thanked her.

That's when I noticed the gift bag that she was carrying. She had a magazine and a newspaper in it. It was a shiny black paper bag with a Westie on it. Hoping that she might be a Westie person - and could, perhaps, even help with a name of a local breeder - I struck up a conversation when I had the chance. I complimented her bag.

She told me that friends had given it to her for her birthday, as a gift bag for her present. She showed me that it had a button on it - and when pushed, the bag "barked". We both laughed. It turns out she had Westies as a child, but she told me she hadn't had one in years. I told her I had - in the States - and how much I missed mine.

She paid for her groceries and bagged them up. I slipped up into position to bag mine. That's when I saw her take the newspaper and magazine out of the Westie bag.

And she handed the bag to me!

I was stunned. She said that she wanted me to have it! I resisted, but she said she wouldn't have it. She said, and I quote - "That's what it's all about!"


And then she left, with a big smile on her face. And I probably still looked stunned. So did the lady at the till, by the way.

Here's the gift bag in question...





Here's the button to push to make it "woof".





And from the gift tag attached, I can see that the generous lady is named Hazel.


I never cease to be amazed by the kindness of strangers sometimes!

Janet