FOR many, it has been a time of gloom and doom.

So I thought I would cheer everybody up by taking part in my own random acts of kindness.

For those who don’t know what this involves it means going out and being nice to strangers.

What used to be called just being helpful.

Now to get in the mood I thought I would start by smiling at people.

This isn’t as easy as it sounds, especially when my normal expression is one of perpetual glumness.

Let’s be honest, people just think you’re weird if you go round smiling all the time.

And with a fixed grin you end up looking a bit psychotic.

I noticed people avoiding eye contact with me and then walking onto the other side of the street.

I felt like shouting out:” Look, I’m trying to be nice. I’m making your day, for heaven’s sake.”

But I thought that might give even more of a bad impression.

However I persevered and thought I got a positive result.

I was smiling at this car driver in a supermarket car park and he began smiling back at me and then, waving at me.

I thought ‘this is progress’ and reciprocated the gesture and he also responded in kind, this time with an even bigger grin on his face.

So I ventured over, thinking I must know this guy, his face looks familiar.

Do you know that feeling when you think you’ve seen someone you know and then realise it wasn’t who you thought it was? Well, I had that moment.

There’s little you can do, but look a little embarrassed and move on.

It was only later it dawned on me that he must have been waving at me to cross in front of his car.

He had actually shown a random act of kindness and I hadn’t spotted it. That brought a genuine smile to my face.

Once I was in the supermarket I tried to be helpful. I went over to the cheese counter and the conversation went something like this.

Elderly woman: “What cheese should I have?” Me: “That depends”. Elderly woman: “On what?” Me: “On whether you like hard cheese or soft cheese?” Elderly woman: “Which one do you prefer?” Me: “That’s irrelevant.” Elderly woman:”Then why are you here?” Me: “Good point.” I hastily moved away.

I noticed a couple having a long conversation by the broccoli and this was preventing me from looking at the vegetables.

I just joined in, settled the argument and everyone was happy. When I say happy, they look decidedly puzzled at why a stranger had interrupted their chat.

Other conversations didn’t work out the way that I planned. I thought some people were talking to me, but they had their headphones on or were just talking to themselves.

And one conversation managed to pack in the world economy, North Korea and Donald Trump. It may have started over the price of a crème caramel.

But I got my real chance at helping people at the checkout.

I let a woman with fewer items than me go ahead of me in the queue.

We chatted before being served and then I noticed that when she walked out of the store she had left some of her paid goods behind.

I went up to her in the car park and said: “You’ve left some items in the supermarket. I was thinking of putting them in my trolley and bringing them to you, but I didn’t want anybody thinking I was stealing them.”

She said she could only carry a few items at a time and was returning for them, but thanked me for helping.

I explained I hadn’t really helped, but only thought about helping.

But she said it was the thought that counted.

And I nearly ruined the moment by insisting it wasn’t and I should have really picked them up.

But she was so thrilled that someone had noticed and even just thought about helping that I let it pass.

So at the end of the day, I ended up hacking off a number of total strangers and thinking, but not actually helping anyone.

If I’m honest, being grumpy is just that bit easier and more satisfying.