Today we needed to abandon skiing and unexpectedly catch the bus back to the condo.
Somehow we successfully survived the traumatic walk/carry from the lift to the bus stop with our screaming three year old, only to find that we had only one of the two bus tickets that we needed.
The bus driver said that we could pay for the second ticket with a bill (note) but of course the machine would not give any change. I only had $20 bills with me, and using one of them for the $2.50 fare wasn’t attractive.
I asked the other people waiting for the bus if any of them could change a twenty, but not surprisingly, everyone either had a bus pass, or no change, or also only had twenties. One young lady asked if the machine took coins. I confirmed that it did, she asked how much the fare was and proceeded to give me the $2.50 from her purse.
She was a Ukrainian, who had visited London while working on the Marco Polo cruise line, and was now working at the Four Seasons Hotel here. Her generosity was wonderful and so refreshing at a time when there is so much animosity between people. I don’t know how well they pay her at the hotel, but I am pretty sure that the $2.50 represented more to her than it would to me.
I gave her my email address in the hope that she will email me so that I can do something concrete to express the gratitude we feel, not just for the money, but for an act of kindness and generosity from one human being to another.