Simply 13 nice things that we saw this week
Well, we’ve certainly had better weeks! Everything is all a bit awful at the moment but we’ve tried to round up a few nice things in an attempt to prove to ourselves that the world isn’t a complete and utter hellhole.
1.
Helpful assistant… pic.twitter.com/ObCHwIGrZh
— Matt Williams ⚫️ (@revsorg) December 5, 2019
2.
Dog paws look like tiny Koalas pic.twitter.com/6SYkTQWvaq
— 41 Strange (@41Strange) December 6, 2019
3.
Took my dogs to take their yearly christmas photos. It’s really hard when you have one super photogenic dog and one dog having an existential crisis. pic.twitter.com/4gUyIsB5OJ
— laurenn (@laurenncarterr) December 7, 2019
4.
The kids desperately wanted a pet, we didn’t want the dander, so we got them a robot cat. It was a perfect plan until the neighborhood cat, Tiggy, stopped by and fell in love. Now we live with a robot cat and a real cat. Can you tell which is which? pic.twitter.com/l5GZgo3n5i
— Misha Collins—Get The Adventurous Eaters Club Now! (@mishacollins) December 8, 2019
5.
Yes this is the type of content I like seeing on my TL. pic.twitter.com/XyUqMFXtc4
— TASK the Ol’ Nerdy Bastard (@UpToTASK) December 8, 2019
6.
Best thing you’ll see today… pic.twitter.com/EYZ4OGK3ud
— Rex Chapman (@RexChapman) December 8, 2019
7.
this dog out here living the best life
(goldencaco IG) pic.twitter.com/so1a0tjP99— Humor And Animals (@humorandanimals) December 9, 2019
8.
my boyfriend said “oh my god my cat looks like baby yoda” and i look over and sure enough pic.twitter.com/lAMfGbetF0
— *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ (@BLOODTHRSTYXBBY) December 8, 2019
9.
I saw a real life Robin sitting with the flowers in Tesco and I LOVE him ✨ pic.twitter.com/SUqTxh5boU
— Hannah Grace (@HanGraceMusic) December 10, 2019
10.
this video of cats reacting to cat face filter has me crying. pic.twitter.com/pNDmF8JQ8t
— M (@miaaselaa) December 9, 2019
11.
my dad who “didn’t want a cat” showing Lucas every item of the weekly shop because “he wants to see what we’ve got” pic.twitter.com/Uka5eccZZm
— ruby🦎 (@roobeekeane) December 11, 2019
12.
MURPHY THE BUNS ARE YOURS. STAND YOUR GROUND. THIS WILL NEVER HOLD UP IN A COURT OF LAW. pic.twitter.com/V4himlyyl8
— Zara Rahim (@ZaraRahim) December 12, 2019
Finally, please enjoy this short story thread…
13.
It is election season. The world is busy and rubbish.
But it is also Christmas.
So take a breather and let me tell you a story about London, trains, love and loss, and how small acts of kindness matter.
I’m going to tell you about the voice at Embankment Tube station.
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
Just before Christmas 2012, staff at Embankment Tube station were approached by a woman who was very upset.
She kept asking them where the voice had gone. They weren’t sure what she meant.
The Voice?
The voice, she said. The man who says ‘Mind the Gap’
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
Don’t worry, the staff at Embankment said. The announcement still happens, but they’ve all been updated. New digital system. New voices. More variety.
The staff asked her if she was okay.
“That voice,” she explained, “was my husband.”
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
The woman, a GP called Dr Margaret McCollum, explained that her husband was an actor called Oswald Laurence. Oswald had never become famous, but he HAD been the chap who had recorded all the Northern Line announcements back in the seventies.
And Oswald had died in 2007.
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
Oswald’s death had left a hole in Margaret’s heart. But one thing had helped. Every day, on her way to work, she got to hear his voice.
Sometimes, when it hurt too much, she explained, she’d just sit on the platform at Embankment and listen to the announcements for a bit longer.
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
For five years, this had become her routine. She knew he wasn’t really there but his voice – the memory of him – was.
To everyone else, it had just been another announcement. To HER it had been the ghost of the man she still loved.
And now even that had gone.
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
The staff at Embankment were apologetic, but the whole Underground had this new digital system, it just had to be done. They promised, though, that if the old recordings existed, they’d try and find a copy for her.
Margaret knew this was unlikely, but thanked them anyway.
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
In the New Year, Margaret McCollum sat on Embankment Station, on her way to work.
And over the speakers she heard a familiar voice. The voice of a man she had loved so much, and never thought she’d hear again.
“Mind the Gap” Said Oswald Laurence.
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
Because it turned out a LOT of people at Embankment, within London Underground, within @TfL and beyond had lost loved ones and wished they could hear them again.
And they’d all realised that with luck, just this once, for one person, they might be able to make that happen.
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
Archives were searched, old tapes found and restored. More people had worked to digitize them. Others had waded through the code of the announcement system to alter it while still more had sorted out the paperwork and got exemptions.
And together they made Oswald talk again.
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
And that is why today, even in 2019, if you go down to Embankment station in London, and sit on the northbound platform on Northern Line, you will here a COMPLETELY different voice say Mind the Gap to ANYWHERE else on the Underground.
It’s Oswald.
Merry Christmas everyone.
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019