The other day at Bank Station.

Anyone who has ever taken the tube from Bank Station in London knows that it can be quite busy, especially at peak times. When I was on my way to a business meeting the other day, I needed to catch the Northern Line from there. It was around 11am, not as busy as at 8am or 9am - but still busy and when I was walking down the stairs to the platform I came across a young mother who was trying to carry a pushchair down the stairs. With the baby inside. Alone!

To be honest, I have no idea if there are any elevators at Bank Station, that she could have used, but just didn't or maybe there are just no elevators (which wouldn't surprise me), but the point being is that I saw this woman struggling with the pushchair (I could already see her from a distance) and the only thing I was thinking was: "Why the hell is nobody helping her?!" As I said, the station was still busy and there were a lot of men passing by and even looking at the young lady - but none of them stopped to help her carry the pushchair.

So I ended up rushing down the stairs a little quicker, said "Let me help you with this", grabbed the pushchair at one end and together we carried it down the stairs. And it was nothing that made me lose a lot of time or miss my train or whatever. For me, it was just a little thing that made someone else's situation at that particular moment a lot easier. And just the thought of that young mother falling down the stairs together with the pushchair and the baby, just because no one was offering help, makes me really angry.

Since I moved to London I experienced quite a lot of situations like this - mostly with pushchairs or suitcases involved and mostly at tube stations without elevators or escalators. And while sometimes I get my pants dirty carrying other people's stuff up and down London's staircases, I just feel really satisfied every time I offer my help to strangers and I want to encourage you to do the same! :-)

#togetherwecanmakeadifference

EL·LI
xx