When was the last time you paid someone an unexpected compliment? It’s nice to tell your partner they look lovely or to praise a friend’s cooking, of course, but there’s no risk involved. How would you feel about telling a complete stranger that you admire their haircut or that their child’s behaviour is a credit to them?

Compliments are a bit of an oddity I think. There’s an art to accepting them and I wonder if there is an element of social danger involved in handing them out. We don’t interact as much as we could and I’m definitely guilty of being suspicious and cynical about my fellow man and woman.

I ask because on Saturday a lovely lady in Holmfirth, queuing behind me to buy a parking ticket said: “You are dressed really nicely.” How nice is that? Not “you look lovely” or “Where did you get that dress?” but essentially – good job getting dressed this morning. I was really chuffed.

Thinking about it, I reckon she has fine tuned the perfect compliment – pick something that is personal without being intimate and make it speedy. In the spirit of random acts of kindness I’m going to take a risk and pass it on a bit more often in future.