most recent first.

• Lyn, who swims at my pool and is training for a triathlon, and who is apparently much older than she looks because she uses phrases like, "for many years," and, "twenty years ago." I aspire to be a little like her.
• the girl in Boots who found the best foundation shade for me and asked me about my boyfriend (who was wandering through all the make up) and our relationship. she said, "he didn't go far, did he?" and when she asked, I said we'd "only" been together for 8 months at the time, she said, "that's practically marriage these days!"
• Jimmy, the owner of Istanblue Restaurant. He asked our names, shook our hands, gave us baklava, asked about our new plants, and gave us popcorn for popping.
• Beetlejuice the dog's other owner.
• all the wonderful dog owners at the Women's March on London. My favourite was Binky's owner, a wonderfully friendly man, petite in stature, dressed in black, with a mustache, who had brought his young son with him.
• "they call me 'the nut lady,'" the lady who feeds the squirrels on the way to the tube station.
• Beetlejuice, the giant dog, and his owner who said, "have a lovely day, dears".
• the Lush worker who advised me on shampoo bars and then gave me Honey I Washed My Hair for free.
• the lady with "vegan" tattooed on her arm who had a long chat with us in the secret organic, vegan store.
• the tall guy who works in Tiger who brightens my day every time he serves me.
• the mother and her two daughters on the train from Birmingham. they were getting off at the same stop as me, so I offered to help with their pushchair, and as the door opened and the mother stepped down from the train, a man appeared behind her with a bouquet of roses. the eldest daughter screamed, "papa," and the baby stopped crying as the mother to burst into tears of joy.
• the drunk feminist writer who thought I was Hungarian, and her friends who told me how stunning I was.
• the man who was hard of hearing and asked me to help him, as I was making the same journey as him and he'd never done it before. I broke my bag on the way, and he fixed it.
• the old man on the train who was going to buy new clothes for his visit to London to see a Lithuanian doctor he knows.
• two homeless men and their dogs; my best friend and I bought the five of them food and drinks, so they kept repeating, "God bless you," and, "Look after one another."
• the gangster who told me to go and find him if I ever needed anything, after I'd started arguing with one of his friends.
• the Frida Kahlo lookalike, beautiful and bold and brave enough to wear a dress with unshaven legs.