Jonathan Taylor MBE

Remodelling a house #buildingchydavas. Sailing in the Baltic #felicitybaltic. Poetry @falmouthpoetrygroup. Politics 🔶 music and more

[Jonathan Taylor MBE @CornwallJT]

The news is out: I'm honoured, surprised & delighted to have been appointed MBE for my work with @YorkISSP Thanx to many amazing colleagues

[Jonathan Taylor MBE @CornwallJT]

@LindseyGrahamSC @POTUS Humourless? Don't make me laugh!

[Jonathan Taylor MBE @CornwallJT]

@SailHo3 You'll be due a speeding fine...

[Jonathan Taylor MBE @CornwallJT]

@SailHo3 All at about 40 knots???

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

"My name's Raymond. I'm 73. I work the parking lot at St. Joseph's Hospital. Minimum wage, orange vest, a whistle I barely use. Most people don't even look at me. I'm just the old man waving cars into spaces.
But I see everything.

Like the black sedan that circled the lot every morning at 6 a.m. for three weeks. Young man driving, grandmother in the passenger seat. Chemotherapy, I figured. He'd drop her at the entrance, then spend 20 minutes hunting for parking, missing her appointments.

One morning, I stopped him. "What time tomorrow?"
"6:15," he said, confused.
"Space A-7 will be empty. I'll save it."
He blinked. "You... you can do that?"
"I can now," I said.

Next morning, I stood in A-7, holding my ground as cars circled angrily. When his sedan pulled up, I moved. He rolled down his window, speechless. "Why?"
"Because she needs you in there with her," I said. "Not out here stressing."
He cried. Right there in the parking lot.

Word spread quietly. A father with a sick baby asked if I could help. A woman visiting her dying husband. I started arriving at 5 a.m., notebook in hand, tracking who needed what. Saved spots became sacred. People stopped honking. They waited. Because they knew someone else was fighting something bigger than traffic.
But here's what changed everything, A businessman in a Mercedes screamed at me one morning. "I'm not sick! I need that spot for a meeting!"

"Then walk," I said calmly. "That space is for someone whose hands are shaking too hard to grip a steering wheel."

He sped off, furious. But a woman behind him got out of her car and hugged me. "My son has leukemia," she sobbed. "Thank you for seeing us."

The hospital tried to stop me. "Liability issues," they said. But then families started writing letters. Dozens. "Raymond made the worst days bearable." "He gave us one less thing to break over."

Last month, they made it official. "Reserved Parking for Families in Crisis." Ten spots, marked with blue signs. And they asked me to manage it.

But the best part? A man I'd helped two years ago, his mother survived, came back. He's a carpenter. Built a small wooden box, mounted it by the reserved spaces. Inside? Prayer cards, tissues, breath mints, and a note,

"Take what you need. You're not alone. -Raymond & Friends"
People leave things now. Granola bars. Phone chargers. Yesterday, someone left a hand-knitted blanket.
I'm 73. I direct traffic in a hospital parking lot. But I've learned this: Healing doesn't just happen in operating rooms. Sometimes it starts in a parking space. When someone says, "I see your crisis. Let me carry this one small piece."

So pay attention. At the grocery checkout, the coffee line, wherever you are. Someone's drowning in the little things while fighting the big ones.

Hold a door. Save a spot. Carry the weight no one else sees.
It's not glamorous. But it's everything."

Let this story reach more hearts....

Credit: Mary Nelson

[Jonathan Taylor MBE @CornwallJT]

@nw_nicholas @elonmusk Well done and good luck with sorting out Mr Farage!

[Jonathan Taylor MBE @CornwallJT]

@longinussdapeze Perhaps next summer Hannah can claim a working/research visit to the Jöta canal!!

[Jonathan Taylor MBE @CornwallJT]

@billherbert Hevva, hevva! He cried. Well I nevva.

[Jonathan Taylor MBE @CornwallJT]

@longinussdapeze Almost fell for that...

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

Perfect

[Ed Davey @EdwardJDavey]

This is thuggery from Trump and Vance, plain and simple.

They are bullying the brave true patriot Zelensky into accepting a deal which effectively hands victory to Russia. Unless the UK and Europe step up, we are facing a betrayal of Ukraine.

[Anne Louise Avery @AnneLouiseAvery]

The UK stands with you @ZelenskyyUa Слава Україні!

[Jonathan Taylor MBE @CornwallJT]

@pamperedsue Yes I know. Like we didn't vote for Johnson or Truss! But Trump's not just embarrassing, I fear, but very dangerous.

[Jonathan Taylor MBE @CornwallJT]

@SailHo3 That's almost like a New Year fitness resolution!!

[Jonathan Taylor MBE @CornwallJT]

@TimMcKenna01 I think you're making the right decision - it's a shame to see this place deteriorate so completely. I'm going to do likewise.

[. @jdpoc]

Remember, clocks go back tonight.

If you're a Tory, back to 1953.
If you're Reform, back to 1932.
If you're Jacob Rees-Mogg, back to 1741.

And if you're Nigel Farage, you just demand that 'Clocks Should Go Back Where They Came From."

[Jonathan Taylor MBE @CornwallJT]

@TimMcKenna01 Lovely buildings - but what is really lovely is being able to follow your journeys and share your discoveries!

[Lee David Evans @LeeDavidEvansUK]

'I introduced Premium Bonds... the Archbishop of Canterbury accused me of demoralising the English people. Sir Harold Wilson, a more powerful authority on ethics and morals, accused me of debauching the[m]...'

- Macmillan's hilarious recollection of his only Budget as Chancellor

[Rob Nolan 🔶 〓〓 @RobNolanTruro]

Excellent work from Ben!