To ask for your stories of random good luck?

[whothehellknows]

Feeling a bit low at the moment, and stuck (hopefully temporarily) in some yucky situations, so I'm after a bit of a boost. Does anybody have any stories that serve as a good reminder that unexpected good stuff can happen? Mine have never been dramatic things, but I know that every time I've lost my wallet it's always been handed in by a good passerby. Once or twice I've gone to pick something up and found £10, but that's about it.

What about everybody else? Anybody been given a scratch card for their birthday that won a load of money, or bought a chocolate bar with an amazing prize inside? Been left a surprising tip while waitressing or tripped over and found something cool?

[Toffeewhirl]

I lost my DH's keys at a fairground once. It wasn't the keys he was upset about, but the fact that they were on a favourite key ring, with included his grandmother's old farthing which had her name engraved on it. I was mortified and insisted that we go back to the fairground to look for it. He said I was crazy: there were hundreds of people there and the fair covered a huge area.

I went back and walked around, peering at the muddy grass. Then one of the fairground workers called out to me to ask me if I'd lost anything. Yes, I said, a key ring. She called out to a colleague who asked another colleague - and eventually someone produced the lost key ring, which they had been keeping in case the owner returned!

DH couldn't believe it. And I was very happy that all this was witnessed by my young son because I wanted him to be optimistic about life and this was a perfect, child-friendly example of why you should never give up hope.

I genuinely believe that most people mean well and are kind. And that, if you just keep trying, eventually a bad situation will get better. I hope things improve for you soon.

[GloGirl]

I'd been on MN just a couple of months when I won one of their sponsored threads, £250 in vouchers I was SO happy!

[mummyguts]

Once, ages ago, after some wild part me, my then boyfriend and two others were in town, very very hungover and a bit miserable, with no money and we all wanted to smoke but had no tobacco. Then-boyfriend picked up a cigarette packet off a wall and it had 4 fags, a lighter and a £20 note in!

I dont smoke anymore but will never forget that amazing luck we had.

[Sighing]

Mummyguts, if they were marlboro lights and it was Manchester in 1996. You're welcome. I don't smoke anymore either.

[AlpacaPicnic]

19 year old me, unemployed, broke and utterly miserable. Mooching around our local market and stepped to the side to let some other people pass. Felt my foot scuff something on the floor, looked down - £10! Felt like a lottery win! I like to feel that it was my reward for being polite...

[froggyjump]

I was given a scratch card in a leaving card from a job I hated, and won £100! I bought some clothes for the completely differently job I was about to start, and some flowers for the person who bought me the scratch card.

[OrangeVase]

I was on a beach - Gullen I think - near Edinburgh- and I lost my grandmother's diamond engagement ring. (I took it off to apply suncream and was distracted by DC and lost it in the sand.) Didn't realise til several hours after we had left the beach. Was distraught! Asked everyone nearby where we had been sitting. No luck. Gave up. sat down - just wanted to cry as life was not easy for me at that time.

Two lovely, lovely women with a group of kids set their kids the task of finding it. And they did!!!! In all that sand! I was so very grateful. I still wear the ring. Luck with a good pinch of the kindness of strangers.

[happygirl87]

I lost my purse, was really upset at it had lots of cards, a bit of cash but was also a purse my brother had chosen and given to me when I was at a vulnerable time.
Two days later got a call from my gym saying someone had found the purse, found my gym card inside it and called them to alert me! He'd given the gym his phone number, so got in touch, then DP went round with a bottle of wine to collect it- still had all the cash and everything .

Just proves you don't actually need to go to the gym to benefit from membership

[19lottie82]

Not really lucky for me, but more someone else.....

Years ago I was going to an outdoor party / rave with my mates, we were on the motorway and someone was smoking in the front seat. They flicked their fag end out of the window but due to the wind it went in the open back window. So the driver pulled over to the hard shoulder so the lit butt could be found and thrown out.

When I got out the car I found a wallet with ID, a wad of cash and a membership card for a local techno nightclub (the exact same style of music that was being played at the party we were heading to).

We got to the party (about 40 miles up the road) and within 15 minutes I spotted the owner of the wallet (it contained photo ID) and returned it. He was over the moon. He had pulled over to go for a pee and it must have fallen out of his pocket. What were the chances?

[5Foot5]

Well this might not seem as valuable as an unexpected tenner but at the time it was worth it to me.

On a flight to France for the start of our holidays and DD(9) began to throw up. She threw up 2 or 3 times on the plane in to a sick bag. I assumed she was just air sick and would be OK when we got off the plane so as we left I handed the used bag to the stewardess. (Yucky I know but what else could I do with it?)

Anyway as we walked across the tarmac poor DD announced she was going to be sick again. The only thing I had was the WHS carrier bag we had got with magazines so I tipped all the magazines out and she was sick in that bag. And then again in baggage reclaim.

I left DH to get the cases and took poor DD off to find the toilets to clean her up a bit but I was very conscious of the fact that I was walking around with a carrier bag of sick. I wanted to get rid of it but didn't dare until I knew the danger was past. Anyway, I had literally just had the thought "Oh I wish I could get another bag from somewhere" when a sweet and smiling young woman in a uniform appeared in front of me, said something in French and handed me a bag!

Turned out she worked for the local tourist office and the bag was a sort of lucky bag for visiting children with crayons and sweets and things. It was a Godsend - I was able to ditch the old bag of sick, dispose of the sweets and treats and had a nice clean bag to carry on with!

[Sortedforcheeseandwizz]

Yes, last weekend, a sober me and an extremely drunk DH were trying to get back to our hotel from a festival in a very rural area that we were unfamiliar with. It was 2 in the morning, the taxi we had "pre-booked" was nowhere in sight and we found ourselves stranded in the middle of what felt like a billion dark, deserted, muddy fields with no phone signal and dying batteries.

Just as I was contemplating filing for divorce we turned onto a pitch black track in the hope that it would in some way lead to a main road SOMEWHERE, a camper van drove past, and a lady wound the window down and asked if we were okay. I said we were struggling to find the nearest main road and she said, "Are you going to X town (10 miles away)? Jump in and I'll drop you there."

She seemed to appear out of nowhere and totally saved the night. Will never forget that little act of kindness. People are ace.

Hope things pick up for you, OP.

[HypodeemicNerdle]

Yes!
Things are a bit tight for us financially at the moment and I've been looking for a birthday present for my youngest DD that won't break the bank. I was looking on gumtree on Sunday and found an old wooden school desk and chair for £5 just 1 town over from us. All the others like this ive found have been in the £40-£50 range, this one had only been posted up about 30 minutes previously. I picked it up a couple of hours later and it's in great condition so I'm going to have 1 very happy 5yr old next week.
It came at a good time too as we were burgled last week and the asshole stole my engagement, wedding and eternity rings, we were due some good luck.

[ollieplimsoles]

great thread!

I agree about the kindness of strangers.

I sent my design portfolio to a total stranger on twitter after he sent a tweet out telling creative twitter users that he 'had connections' with an agency and wanted to help get some illustrators signed up. It sounded dodgy but I thought 'what do I have to loose?' a few days later I had an email from a top agency inviting me to work with a huge uk children's publisher and was signed by the agency!
I tried to find the guy on twitter to thank him but he had disappeared!

that guy changed my life, I'm still signed to the agency now.

[holeinmyheart]

Years ago when my DCs were small they were so excited when they saw a. Massive Easter egg in the local confectioner's window. I allowed them very few sweets.
It was being raffled for a very good cause and they begged me to buy a ticket, which I did.

I won the egg, which as I recall was around 60cm high.

I didn't tell them I had won and when my husband carried it home we put it in the sitting room.
The next day after breakfast I told them I had something to show them.
I have never forgotten the excitement on their faces.
It took us a week to eat the egg.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

I was stranded in London. Ex had got the times of the trains wrong and I was in London, alone, no money for a hotel, didn't know what to do. The Tube was just closing and I asked the guy how I could get home. Two blokes behind me said, "we're going there, want a lift?". I said, "yeah, what would you think if your wife went home with two random blokes?". He said, "my husband probably wouldn't care". The Tube guy confirmed that they were Tube employees and did indeed live near me. I went to their car, still a bit dubious but there was a copy of the Pink Paper in the back . They also gave a Swedish student a lift at the same time.

Kindness of strangers. I hope they know how grateful and happy I was.

[whothehellknows]

Maybe I have more luck than I thought? A friend randomly messaged me to say she has spare of something that I need and do I want to borrow it? And another offered me a lift to somewhere that will save me a lot of hassle. There's no better feeling than relief, or having something to be thankful for.

[Toffeewhirl]

That's great news, whothehell! Let's hope it's the start of a run of good luck for you.

[JillBYeats]

Not me but whoever found it - I withdrew £150 from an atm one night after a couple of glasses of wine and forgot to actually pull it out of the machine. So I would like to put forward the receiver of that £150 as a recipient of Random Good Luck.

[GinBunny]

Mine is similar to Alpaca upthread.

Was waiting at the bus stop and when the bus arrived there was a big scramble to get on, I stepped back because being crowded makes me anxious and looked at the ground so as to not make eye contact with anyone yeah I know how that sounds and there was £40 on the floor right by my feet. I felt bad for whoever dropped it but was hardly going to say "scuze me, did anyone drop this?" so shoved it in my pocket. I was actually looking after some kids that day and their parents hadn't left me any money so I treated us all to some lunch. It would have been jam sandwiches at home if I hadn't found the money so we ended up having a lovely treat out on the back of it.

[PageNotFound404]

Mine is verging on woo.

Years ago we were counting-every-penny, struggling-for-bus-fare-to-work skint, on a long-term basis. One day I was ironing and I managed to split the (very old and worn thin) ironing board cover with the point of the iron. It sounds pathetic but I burst into tears because it just seemed like the final straw as we simply didn't have enough money to buy a replacement ironing board cover.

No more than a couple of days later I was walking home from the nearest town along a fairly rural-ish path which had a hedge running alongside it. Something brightly-coloured in the hedge caught my eye and when I looked closely, it was a brand new ironing board cover still in its packaging! I was freaked but also incredibly grateful.

[TheHouseOnBellSt]

I left my purse on the bus with over 400 pounds in it. We'd just moved house and the money was to pay for all those small expenses when you move. I got home to the new and empty house and realised....horrified I called the bus company who radioed the driver....who turned around and drove back to my house with my purse!

Someone could easily have found it but he'd just stopped and done a check of the bus for some reason right after I got off...

[TheHouseOnBellSt]

Lottie that's almost woo!

[TheHouseOnBellSt]

I love returning people's things. In London I saw a couple...obviously tourists, draw out money from the cashpoint and then walk off leaving it there...I chased them with it and they were just

[SunnyStriker]

Mine is a bit woo also.
My mum carries a very sentimental, very old, passed down through generations in her family good luck charm in her hand bag. It is a little black cat and has a chewed paw so very distinctive and unique.
She realised it was missing and had no idea when she had last seen it. She was so upset.
A few weeks later I took her with me to view a house a couple of miles from where she lives, neither of us or any of our family had been there before.
Looked around the house and lastly unlocked the back door to see the garden and outside on the door mat was mums black cat!
We have absolutely no idea how it got there but she was so pleased to find it.

[rumbelina]

We won a few thousand pounds with a lottery syndicate. Not a 'life-changing' amount except in that it meant we could clear our credit cards which was a HUGE relief and meant we could apply for a mortgage with a clean slate. And I got a new much-needed winter coat :)