Back to normality- almost!!

We had a horrendous journey home from Cornwall. There was a lot of traffic. According to Sat Nav it should have taken me around 5 hours to get home. It took 11 and a half! Tiring and dull indeed. even Stephanie asked if we could 'just stop at a Travelodge please'. We have never stopped off at a hotel before during a journey, however I have to admit to being tempted. We had regular stops to break up the boredom and finally got home.

We stopped at Eeter service to get a main meal once it became clear we were not getting home early enough for me to cook a meal. We ate at the EDC (Eat drink company). The staff were fantastic, they made a 'real' meal for Stephanie when she didn't want the children's options off the menu. She had a smaller piece of the fish, mashed potato and beans. Instead of the chicken nugget/fish finger/ burger chips options for children at these kind of places. As the traffic was heaving you could see that many customers were not remembering their manners when speaking to the staff. So much so that I was thanked for smiling at a staff member and being polite when told me meals would take 8 minutes to cook. I would rather my meals were being cooked for me and were hot when we received them. Stephanie loved that they let her have a small version of the adult menu and went over to thank the staff and tell them how delicious it has been once she had finished. You can tell what kind of a day it had been by how taken aback the staff member was by her kind words.

Stephanie learnt something about passing on smiles and brightening other peoples days during this journey not just to staff in the food court, but also when we found several lost items in the toilets and handed them in. At one services we went into a cubicle and there was someone's purse and car keys on top of the toilet roll holder. We had a good look around the bathroom and not seeing anyone actively looking we handed them into a staff member. Would you believe it a couple of services later we go into a toilet and find an ipad on the toilet roll holder! Again looked around couldn't see anyone frantically looking so took it to a staff member. Whilst washing our hands I saw a lady rush into the cubicle where we had found it gasp and look close to tears. I said I think I know what you are looking for, I found it I have given it to a staff member and told her where. When we came out of the toilets I saw her again with it in her hands saying to her companions I can't believe they handed it in. As I passed she thanked us again.

That's several smiles in one hellish journey. Sometimes it is easy to let your frustrations out on someone else. I challenge you to take a step back and instead of being frustrated see if you can make someone else smile instead- it certainly helps you to feel brighter. It doesn't need to be finding owners to lost (expensive! in our case) property. It could be as simple as singing and dancing in a stationary car in traffic. The reactions it causes on others stuck in their cars is amusing too. Try a little bit of grease lightning, frozen, meatloaf anything popular- you may even get another car joining in!! LMAO

Spread a smile- it's free!!