MM408

Well, after everything I wrote last week about planning and preparation, I had an absolute disaster on my trip to Ireland! I did the classic mistake of putting the wrong address into my ‘maps’ and ended up 32 miles past my destination in some country lane, in the pitch black, rainy night with no service on my phone. Why didn’t I check when I left my meeting in Dublin? I was assuming I had a long drive to Cork but the 4 hours should have given me a warning light as it should have been a 3 hour drive. 

In my defence, I was leaving at peak time so thought that may be the reason, but it wasn’t. So, after I realised that the country house I was looking at was not the Radisson Blu hotel, I turned around and retraced my steps to get back on to a main road, where I got some signal, and reprogrammed my ‘maps’ for the correct destination. I was still 45 minutes away but had nothing to do except have some food and go to bed when I did arrive, so no big deal.

With 5 miles to go I had another disaster, not my fault this time, the N40 was being closed for night time roadworks, there were lorries and workmen all over the place and no way on. I tried following the diversions but kept getting lost and rerouted onto a loop. I went past one building about 5 times and just as I was about to give up, I saw a petrol station so, I did the thing that most men hate doing, I stopped to ask for directions!

A man called Eugene was just about to put petrol in his car and I asked him if he knew how to get to the hotel. Fortunately, he did know and proceeded to give me directions. After about a minute he stopped talking and looked me in, my glazed over, eyes and said “Let me put my petrol in and then you can follow me, I can tell you are not in the mood to get lost again” 

I could have hugged him! It took 7 minutes to get to the front of the hotel and I was so glad I was following him as I know I would have got lost again. I shook Eugene’s hand, thanked him profusely and felt so happy to finally be there. Unfortunately it was 11:30pm and there was nothing open so the biscuit in my room, plus a cup of coffee, had to do.

1 act of kindness made a difference for me. Eugene was my saviour and he didn’t have to do anything. He could have just said “No sorry mate I have no idea” and left me there, but he didn’t and that has made me question myself. What would I have done in the same situation if the roles were reversed? It was 11pm, he’d just finished work and probably just wanted to get home but he took time to help me.

What would you have done?

You never know how much a small thing can impact someone else’s life. Maybe a comment, a “Thank you” or going out of your way to give someone help, it can make a real difference. It certainly gave me faith in humanity again.

I would hope I would have done the same as Eugene and helped so I will definitely pay this act of kindness forward when an opportunity presents itself.

I did spend a few minutes, whilst eating my biscuit and drinking my coffee, planning my 30 minute journey for the morning, making sure I had the right address and avoiding the N40, just in case!

Thank you Eugene, you are a gentleman!

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

No comments to show.