Illustrations by Denis Shifrin

He is an old man, and to avoid any debate on the issue, let it be recorded that he is 80 plus. He underwent surgery and was told by his surgeon and many others with no professional qualifications but much more feeling, that the recuperation would be tough, painful and long. They spoke the truth!

After receiving a few visits at home from a physiotherapist, he was told that he had to attend a clinic. The clinic is in a narrow, two-way street with three existing parking places outside that appear to be permanently occupied. So, although driving to the clinic was easy, parking was a big problem because the old man could not walk more than 10 meters. Of course his wife could drop and fetch him but this was not a preferred solution. Then again, he could use a taxi service but this would be expensive.

Faced with this dilemma, the good wife came up with a suggestion right out of the box. Why not put up notices on the cars in the street and in the entrances of the residential buildings in the immediate area of the clinic, explaining why parking was requested for 50 minutes, during the hours between 09:00 and 16:00 three times a week and offering to pay for it?

The old man went along with the plan. A few carefully worded explanatory notices were typed with his mobile phone number written on tear-off flags, and the old man and his wife distributed the notices.

Each day that followed, the family asked "How many responses have there been?"

Optimistic family members expected three, but the answer remained the same - "none".

"Ho," said the skeptics, "what did you expect?" 

After a few days the old man received a call. The caller, a young Israeli lady, said that she had seen the notice; their apartment was directly opposite the clinic; they had a very accessible parking place; her husband took his car out early in the morning and returned after 16:00 and they would gladly make the parking available to the old man - without charge.

And so a great idea was met with a kindness and the old man only had to cross the street.