It's funny how certain memories lodge themselves into the recesses of your mind leaving an indelible mark, a kind of memory tatoo. My brother's hate my long term memory because much to their chagrin, I am able to recount teasing and various incidents from our childhood, my short term memory however is no way near as good.

When I was 6 my father was posted back to Hong Kong after only a year in England and so like any Forces family, we followed him. My brother's were already at boarding school by this time but I had to face the prospect of starting a new school back in Hong Kong. I remember the anxiety...would the kids at Sek Kong Primary like me? Would I fit in, have the right clothes? Would I seem different to them because I had lived in England for a year?

And so the dawn of my first day at a new school arrived. Ma dropped me off at school - I was worried.

At break time I scanned the faces of the kids on the playground hoping that I might spot a familiar face - another kid who I knew whose Father might just have been posted to Hong Kong at the same time as mine. I reviewed my situation. I seemed to be alone, slightly away from the other crowds of kids and was beginning to wonder if I should just pluck up any courage I had, gather myself and go and talk to a crowd of girls from my class.

And then I saw her...skipping towards me as if out of nowhere.

"Hi PPQ, how was England?"

I was dumbstruck. I didn't know who this girl was but she was talking to me as if she knew me.

"What songs are out over there?" she asked as she grabbed my hand and started singing "Run for the sun Little one.."

That was all it took. I joined in singing along with a huge grin "it is time for you to change, time to change Superman"

Off we skipped. Me and my first new friend at my new school.

Her small gesture of kindness had made me better able to cope with my new school fears and I didn't have to spend my first day scared to bits. Instead, I looked forward to coming back to school and I quickly made friends.

If you asked me today, I wouldn't be able to recall her name. Pretty soon after we met, her Father was posted to another country and so she left. But these days, when I hear that song I'm reminded of the kindness of some strangers, and I'm filled with a teeny bit of courage and a big old smile.

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