PIFD ... a day to remember

There's a heap of 'those days' in a typical year.

I don't mean regular days like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and the rest. They're boring days. I mean 'celebration days'. Look, I reckon most them are a bit of a waste of space. Walk to Work Day is a big one down here. I don't get that one at all. I'd imagine that if you live close enough to walk to work you pretty much always do (work to walk). In most cases, I reckon that's probably why you've chosen to live close to work ... so you can walk to work. I'm not sure that the people who live close to work really need a special day to remind them to leave the car at home.

I work a good 40kms from home. They could offer a whole heap of Walk to Work Days each year and you wouldn't find me getting involved in any of them. Walk to Work Day just makes me feel guilty. Guilty that I can't walk to work. It may as well be called Feel Guilty that your Buggering up the Environment by not Walking to Work Day. Although I guess that doesn't have the same ring to it. 

On the other hand if you are on the lookout for a decent celebration day - if your birthday, Christmas Day, Pancake Day and all the other 'big ones' aren't enough for you - I've come across one that might just tickle your fancy; 26th April 2012.

It's International Pay it Forward Day.

Yep, it's international. It's a worldwide day. Woo-hoo! Pop the date in your diary right now.

I mean it. I really do. I like the sound of this one. To start with it doesn't involve me having to walk 40kms to work. 

Pay if forward. It's a really nice concept. A great idea. A nice way to live. Even for just one day.

I'll explain it, but only because I've only just heard the phrase myself. You might already know what it's all about. Hell, people might have been 'paying it forward' on April 26th for years and years, and I might just not have been told about it.

Admittedly, I have been living under a rock for a few years. I've been lost in my own little world. Picky tells me there was a movie made about paying it forward. It was called 'Pay it Forward'. I do like a movie title that doesn't mess about, that isn't too cryptic and gets straight to the point. I think it had Jennifer Aniston in it*. Or someone. Like I say, I've been under a rock on the movie front. I've not plonked down on me bum at the cinema with a family-sized box of salted popcorn since Pearl was born.  That's almost two years. I thought Jennifer Aniston was only in Friends, and was knocking about with Brad Pitt. That's how 'in the dark' I am. My darkness is pretty dark. 

Pay it forward.

It's the idea that you do someone a favour - help someone out - with whatever resources you have, whatever skills you possess. You lend-a-hand. And you don't expect anything in return. But because you've done something nice for that person, you hope that they will do something just as nice for someone else. Not for you (technically that's 'paying it back'), but for someone other than you. In the future. That's paying your kindness forward.

It's nice don't ya think? You help someone out, give them a break, do a good turn, and you don't expect anything in return. You just hope that they will Pay it Forward. It's simple and cool.  I like the idea that, for one day at least, the world will be full of people who are busy doing nice things for other people and not expecting anything in return. 

Me, Picky and Pearl - the 3 Pichs - have an odd living arrangement. Not odd as in we sleep in different parts of the house or anything. Although that might have crossed Picky's mind from time to time. We live in a beautiful apartment in Manly. Our place has got super views out over the ocean. I say 'our place'. It's not. We just rent it off the parents of some friends of ours. They live in England and they come back to Manly each year for three months to visit family. So, the deal is that we live in their apartment for nine-months and then we move out for three-months. For those nine-months we pay them reduced rent. That's why we live in such a beautiful apartment with great views. We could never afford it if we didn't have this funny '3-months / 9-months arrangement'.

The downside is that for 3-months every year we're homeless. 

We're not complaining. It's a great set up. It works a dream. Of course, it's a bit of a hassle moving out and finding somewhere else to live for three months. Particularly now we've got Pearl. Imagine packing up and moving out and into somewhere temporary, and then - three months later - doing the same thing in reverse. It's a right old hassle.

This year we found a great place to live. For two out of the three months. We struck gold. But we were a month short. We tried everything to find somewhere for the final four weeks; friends, the internet, friends of friends, Facebook friends, friends of Facebook friends. Nothing. Nada. We could hardly blame people. Who really wants three Pichs rocking up on their doorstep with 25 bags bulging with assorted bits and bobs?

Finally as a last resort we decided to pack Picky and Pearl off to Europe to visit her mum and dad for a month. That way at least it was just one Pich and my 25 bags of assorted bits and bobs in need of a place to stay for a month. 

& then I popped down to grab a couple of takeaway coffees from our local coffee shop. As I was waiting for my cappuccino (with a double shot) I told the fella making it that I was packing the girls off to Europe for a month due to our impending homelessness. There was a lady with a pram standing next to me. She'd just grabbed her own coffee. She asked me what my problem was. I told her. She asked for my number & she called later that day to say that she'd chatted to her husband and we could have their apartment for a month if we wanted it. The three of them would move into her husband's parent's place. For a month.

I was stunned. Picky was stunned. Pearl was stunned. Pearl was more stunned at all the new toys she spotted when we popped to see what was destined to be our home for a month.

That was a week ago. I'm typing this from the sofa in our 'new place'. They moved out and we moved in. They cleared some space in their wardrobe, talked us through the set-up of their TV, said we could use their wireless, hopped in their car and said they'd be back in four weeks. Just like that.

Is it me, or is that odd? It shouldn't be odd though, should it? It should be how things are. I think it was how things were back in the olden days. In our grandparent's day. People helping other people out, doing a good turn, pitching in, doing people a favour. Even strangers. Just because they could. I don't think it happens too much these days. Maybe it does. Maybe everybody is secretly helping everybody else out. Under the radar. Maybe. I doubt it.

I said to Picky that I'm going to make sure that I do a bit of that myself from now on. Consciously. That I will try to help people out whenever I can, if I can, just because I can. When you think about it, it's really not too much of a hassle to do someone a small favour from time to time. And you never know, to them it might actually be a huge favour.

Cheers Anna, Kris and Hugo. You did us a huge favour and I'll pay it forward - hopefully before the big day itself. Pay it Forward Day. April 26th 2012

*crucial fact check. The movie Pay it Forward (2000) did not star Jennifer Aniston. It starred Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt. Jennifer Aniston is no longer with Brad Pitt and Friends finished ages ago. Jennifer Aniston was indeed in Friends. Picky brought me up to speed on a few things when she read this post.