I was browsing in Aldi today and an older lady standing near me called out, "Excuse me. EXCUSE me!" to another younger woman walking away, who turned around and said, "What?"

"You just bumped into me really hard and didn't even say sorry".

The younger woman snarled at her, "I did not. Stop trying to make trouble", and walked away. The old lady looked at me and said, "She bumped into me so hard I almost fell over."

At that moment I had that sinking feeling, the one you get when you feel your faith in humanity die a little bit more. And I thought, "I hate people."

So it was such a reaffirming experience to get home and find this package in the letterbox.

This is an incredibly generous gift from the lovely Michelyne, author of the gorgeous nailpolish blog Enamel Coated. I saw the second to the left nailpolish – Sinful Colors Delighted – on her blog and fell so head over heels in love, I was very cheeky and emailed her offering to buy it off her, if she was willing to part with it.

She emailed back offering it to me, as well as other polishes she'd culled from her collection, and wouldn't take any money for them, even for postage. And when she felt she hadn't posted them quickly enough (I didn't mind!) she included an extra polish as well.

Have you ever heard of anything so kind and generous from one virtual stranger to another?

It's one of the things that I really enjoy about interacting online. While it is often criticised for being an isolating way of communicating, I've found participating in forums and blogging opens up many communities of like minded people – like the shared interest in nailpolish that connected Michelyne and I.

When those virtual connections reach out through the mail service and spread kindness through our letterboxes, the virtual doesn't seem so disconnected at all.

***

Thank you so much for making my day today, Michelyne. I love all the colours and can't wait to try them. I will do a swatch post very soon.

xx Kiki

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