From cars to coupons, a kind city

Leslie Handler

writes from Fairless Hills

I'm new to the Philly area. I moved here about a year and a half ago from, well, Somewhere Else. I really like Philly. I find the people more friendly and much more laid back than Somewhere Else.

One of my first experiences with Philly people was on a cold, windy day in the parking lot of a grocery store. I was struggling to hold my hatchback's trunk door open - the one with the broken strut that I refused to spend $350 to fix.

I had to hold the door up with one hand while loading the groceries into the trunk with the other, holding my foot in front of the wheels of the cart so the wind wouldn't slam it into some innocent person's car door. It was that type of cold, windy day.

I couldn't work fast enough to get out of the deep freeze when a total stranger walked up to me and told me she had the same problem with her trunk door. She offered to hold it open for me while I finished loading the groceries. This would have been an exceptionally nice gesture on a pleasant day, but on that day it was over-the-top kindness. Welcome to Philly!

Other little kindnesses in the last year include drivers stopping to let me merge into their lane from a parking lot; shoppers handing me coupons they weren't going to use in the checkout line; several different men helping shovel me out of an embankment during a snowstorm; and even a woman waiting 20 minutes after she paid for her groceries to hand me a bag of onions during a buy-one-get-one-free sale, since neither of us needed two bags.

Now, I won't say Philly is perfect. My wallet was stolen the first time I went to a restaurant in Rittenhouse Square. But the restaurant didn't charge me for my meal, the officer was very polite, and an inspector even called the next day to put my mind at ease.

Since coming to Philly, I've experienced my first tomato pie, learned what a Mummer is, climbed the "Rocky" museum steps, walked in Franklin's steps, seen the world's largest flower show, and learned how to cross over on "the Boulevard." I'm working up the courage to try scrapple.

There was one recent bad experience. I was in the wrong lane at a red light. When I rolled down my window and asked the driver if she would mind if I cut in front of her when the light changed, she - belligerently - said she did mind, and I was forced to make an unwanted left turn. I'm pretty sure she was from Somewhere Else.