Nice

I've spent much of today in nice places, and among nice people.  'Nice' is of course a rather over-used word, and it has perhaps become almost interchangeable with 'bland' - but I don't mean to use it in that way. Rather, I mean people who seem to have the quiet knack of making you feel better without having to work at it - just by who and how they are; and there are places like that too, places where you just feel comfortable and naturally at home, even if you're there as a visitor . . . and even if you're there on the sort of grey and gloomy day we've had today.

I think I need to unpack this a little further. I suppose what I'm trying to express is my appreciation of those people who allow you the space to be yourself, who don't demand too much, and for whom you don't have to put on any kind of 'front' - and who give you, free and gratis, a sense of being valued and affirmed. I hope I do this too; I'd certainly like to! But I thank God for those who offer this ministry to me.

It may seem strange to make the same claim of places, and it is probably a bit fanciful on my part. And yet some places are just . . . nice. They don't require you do live up to them, or catch up with them, or to give more than you can afford. They're just comfortable and affirming places to be.

Where is this place, you may ask, about which I wax so lyrical? I'm not saying, other than that it's a seaside town, with red kites in the countryside around. After all, I'd like it still to be nice next time I visit!