Today I have been contemplating politeness. I asked myself, why do I seem to be the only person in Durham with any manners? I hold doors open for people, I always look behind me in case there's someone following me through a door so I don't close it on them, I stand back to let people through in crowded areas, I say excuse me, and most importantly I say thank you when someone does the same for me. Why then do so few people ever say thank you to me when I do these things for them and why do so few people do them for me either? I'm not just talking about people my age and younger either, so often it's people of my parents' generation that seem to take it for granted that someone will hold a door open for them and so don't say thank you. It really annoys me and soon enough one day I will have to say something in one of those instances just to vent my spleen.

Queuing is another point. Whilst in ASDA the other day, Chris and me were waiting for a free self-service till when a lad of about 11-12 went straight to a till that was about to become vacant without even considering that we were waiting. I went over to him and said "there is a queue you know", which was met with "well the lad didn't know did he, there's ways of telling people without being nasty" (which I wasn't being) from an elderly lady behind him. I thought it was some woman sticking her oar in but then as we left I saw that she was obviously his grandma! Surely she should have said something more along the lines of "sorry he should have waited" as that would have shown the kid that queuing up is polite instead of just pushing in. If it had been someone else's relative and they had pushed in front of her, I'm sure she wouldn't have responded in the same way.