My good deed for the day.

 A Serendipitous Moment


Yesterday I went to the studio and worked for an hour and decided at 12:30 to go to the Tabacchi bar with my friend for coffee.  As we stood at the round table outside the bar, my friend had her cigarette and I watched this foursome who apparently had just arrived in Florence with four large bags scouting out the apartment next to the bar.  A patron in the bar was trying to help them call someone...and I could see the language was a barrier so I took the liberty to help out.  As it turned out the address they were given for an apartment with two rooms was not what the website had shown.  These people were fellow Canadians and bit older than me.  I invited them to my apartment and made tea while we talked to the Orbitz travel people on Skype.   The agency gave us another address down by the train station.  So I suggested they leave their bags with me and I would take them to the other address.  On the way I gave a tour and suggested various places to eat as they were here for a 3 night stay.


It was a hot and sunny day...we finally arrived two bridges over from the Ponte Vecchio.  There were two Best Westerns across from each other.  We had tried a couple of hotels near me but they were booked.  So one of the gentlemen went into the larger hotel and enquired in the event our second address was a dud.  I focussed for them to have what they needed and they reserved two rooms for their stay.  For fun we went to check the other address and the apartment area was worse than the first one.  It was supposedly called Duomo apartments and it seemed sketchy to me.  The good thing is that the young man in the States tried to call the number I had been trying all afternoon and he could not get through so I hope he credited their card because it was expensive.  It is so entertaining talking to travel agents who have never been to Italy....don't have a clue.  Smiling.


So I took one couple back with me on the bus to my house and called them a cab and we said our goodbyes.  They were so nice...from Mississauga and Georgetown.  And when M. asked me where I was originally from I said Sudbury and she said...no wonder you are our guardian angel.  We figured from the onset you were Canadian.  It turns out that she and her sister were originally from Espanola.  Go figure.  The world isn't that large after all.  Caio mi amici and remember when you do a good turn for someone it will come back thousand fold in wondrous ways that are least expected.