It's also true that if the Queen (or King) praises one of your possessions, you're supposed to hand it over. I remember hearing that Queen Victoria abused this custom quite a bit....
A couple of examples of acts of random beauty/kindness: It's cool to pay for the order of the person behind you when you're at a drive-thru window - I used to do this at Tim Horton's on Fridays when I was working - it made MY Timmy's treat that much more of a treat for me and I always enjoyed wondering about the reaction of the person behind me - if my actions had any kind of "pay-it-forward" ripple effect or not. Another pleasing thing to do that is also quite minor, is to give someone something they ask to borrow - with me, this has always been money, to the tune of a quarter for a phone call, or a few coins to make up the right amount for something out of a vending machine, or (on one occasion) $10AUS for a fellow backpacker who discovered all her money had been stolen. I got the idea for this by being on the receiving end at university: I wanted something out of a vending machine but didn't have the right change, and the only person around (it was a weekend) didn't have change for a dollar (back in the days when Canada still had dollar bills!). He asked what I needed the change for, and when I told him, he asked how much I needed, then gave it to me, saying, "No need to pay me back - just, maybe you'll do the same for someone in the future." Now that's what I say to people too - and they seem to like it - it allows them to accept gracefully if otherwise they would feel uncomfortable about it.
