A lovely story – but still depressing that it happened at all.

Single mum Sammie Welch kept her three year old son Rylan so happily entertained during a five hour train journey and little Rylan had behaved so well, that a complete stranger who’d been sitting opposite them, handed Sammie a thank you note and a fiver.

“You are a credit to your generation,” he wrote “Polite and teaching the little boy good manners.”

A five hour journey with a three year old is never going to be easy. It takes military planning – provisions, colouring books, distractions – a bottomless bag and endless patience. And that’s before there are leaves on the line or unscheduled delays.

Even harder is a journey with other people’s three year olds – all too often screaming, wriggling, messy, demanding and making life hell for everyone within earshot.

Too many parents behave as though the rights of their child trump those of everyone else in the compartment and erupt with a huge sense of entitlement if anyone dares, however gently, to challenge the idea.

Readers , some of them quite old - have often written to me about having to stand while a toddler sprawled on a seat to himself, probably smearing it in juice and chocolate in the process. When Sammie Welch’s train got crowded she pulled Rylan onto to her lap so someone could have the seat.

Compare that to the mother recently who refused to move her buggy for a wheelchair user…

There are plenty of good mothers out there. But still no surprise that anyone coming across one is so stunned that he feels moved to give her a reward.

ACTRESS Keely Hawkes said at the weekend that there has never been a better time to be an older woman actor.

She cites Olivia Colman, 40, Gillian Anderson, 46 and Maggie Gyllenhall, 37.

Keeley Hawkes is 38.

Let’s just say that her idea of “old” is probably not the same as that of Judi Dench (80) or Maggie Smith (80).

Give her time, give her time.

SOMETIMES I’m just so shallow… I didn’t hear a word of what Scottish Nationalist leader Nicola Sturgeon was saying at the weekend as I was fascinated with her slick, shiny hair, which never moved.

Addicted to the news, fascinated by politics, I still find my attention wandering over such vital stuff as hairstyles, newsreaders’ ties, Theresa May’s shoes, of course. Or presenter Mishal Husein’s immaculate eye-make-up – which I’m even tempted to freeze-frame so I can study it more carefully.

Of course you shouldn’t judge by appearances. But at first what else is there to judge by?

And the bar is raised ever higher. The average 16 year old probably spends more time and effort just getting ready for school than her granny would have done to go to a wedding. So pity those who just can’t hack it. If you’re out of work and spend your days in jeans or joggers, it’s going to be a real challenge to get yourself scrubbed up to interview standard. Clean shoes, clean fingernails and washed hair are the absolute basics.

Specialist charities now do brilliant work helping job hunters get the clothes, the look, the poise and therefore the confidence they need for interviews. It all matters.

The best advice I ever had for job interviews was to dress as though you already work there. Even before they’ve asked you a question you look as though you’d fit in. Clever.

Never underestimate the need to impress. Even serious people notice such things.

Nice hair Nicola…

SO THERE we all were, standing staring at mud and cobbles on the side of the A1, absolutely entranced.

Hundreds of us turned up last Saturday morning to see what the archaeologists have found at Catterick ahead of the A1 upgrade. As well as the Roman fort and the town there were lots of ovens – a small industry baking bread for all those soldiers nearly two thousand years ago. The local economy entwined with the garrison – nothing new there.

The archaeologists brought it all to life again for us brilliantly. So much so that when I drove down the A1 the next day, I swear I could smell baking bread….

I BLAME the Duchess of Cambridge – she of the perfect pins and dresses half way to her bum. Thanks to her, dresses have suddenly got shorter.

All I wanted was a swish dress to wear to son’s wedding, but not, please not, a “mother-of-the groom” dress – which is just another sort of uniform.

The world is awash with swish dresses, many of them even affordable. The trouble is they stop well above my knees. I wore mini skirts first time round, a long, long time ago... These days my knees are a secret best hidden from the world.

The alternative seems to be dresses that droop dismally around mid calf. Not a good look either.

When did “standard” fitting float above the knee? And is it only me, or would anyone else like to bring them down an inch or two?

PS on furniture

Yes thank you, my Ikea chest of drawers arrived just when they said it would and – eventually - I put it together without a wobble at a fraction of the price and four weeks sooner than if I’d bought one ready made.

But why do you always end up with three bits of dowelling , two screws and one strange bit of plastic when you’ve finished? Should I have used them somewhere? Or is it just what passes for Swedish sense of humour?