As you get older, it’s all too easy to become cynical about life.

The economy, politicians, bankers, the state of the Eurozone, tensions between North and South Korea – all these things can get you down.

That’s why I’d like to relate a couple of recent acts of kindness that helped to restore my faith in human nature.

When we had all that snow and ice the other week I was delicately making my way down a slippery path to the shop near where I live.

Even though I was wearing sensible winter shoes I slid over, and only stopped myself from falling to the ground by holding on to somebody’s hedge while my feet went from under me Bambi-style.

Another Mum from school who was driving past saw my predicament, stopped her car, and drove me down to the shop to fetch my essential supplies.

Whilst there, we retold the tale of me falling in the hedge to another friend who happened to be present, and she promptly loaded me into her car for the return journey.

Then I was in Sainsbury’s in Market Harborough on Easter Saturday.  My daughter and I were browsing the CDs, looking for the new Simple Minds compilation, thinking we’d treat ourselves for Easter.

An elderly lady came up to us and asked if we were collecting the Active Kids vouchers for school.

I told her we were, and she handed over the ones she’d just been given with her shopping.

Now, I know some of you are perhaps reading this and thinking ‘so what’, but genuinely, these cheered me up and reminded me that the world is full of good people.

So a big ‘thank you’ to everyone who performs little acts of kindness every day – they may be small gestures to you, but to the recipient they can mean so much.