Random Act of Kindness - to balance all the ranty threads, tell me of a random act of kindness that you have never forgotten.

Dh & I were going to a wedding in my home town and were already running a bit late. We got off the bus near my parents', where we were staying, and just as the bus moved off realised we'd left all our wedding clothes on the bus

Dh ran after it but it didn't stop. A group of girls standing at the bus stop asked what was wrong, and then one of them ran across the road to her mum's house, and her mum got us in her car to chase after the bus. Turned out that it stopped at a terminus about a mile up the road so we caught up with it, got our bags and then she gave us a lift to my parents. Lovely, lovely lady (and daughter)

We stopped by the next day with flowers (and massive hangovers)

Sooo many tears reading all these...
I have a few to add...
When DD was born (EmC, 3 day labour, didn't sleep for 4 days, delirious) couldn't get her to latch on and she cried and I cried and it was horrendous, particularly as I had the bed nearest the nurses station and could hear them talking about me! A lovely bank nurse came in to talk to me, she didn't shove DD onto my nipple like the others or try and feed her formula, she just sat there and said the odd nice thing and made me a tea. Again I didn't get to thank her, but I remember her 5 years on.

Not so random but lovely, had been emailing an old friend and explaining how we were having our house repossesed etc. She sent me £20 and a book, it was such a lovely lovely thing.

Where I shop there is a lovely checkout lady with a name very similar to my DDs, DD adores her and always goes to say hello. This lady always stops whats she's doing to entertain DD while I shop and pay. There really is no need for her to do this, but I get my shopping done amazingly fast and DD doesn't whinge at all.

And again not random but another mum at school has 2 ponies and despite this is not well off at all. She lets me ride one and mistakenly let it slip the other day that she has paid extra insurance for me to do so. And she bought me a Christmas tree this year, I cried in the school car park. It was so sweet of her!

A homeless person was sat near the cash machine as I drew money out for a night out. I randomly gave him 20 quid, most peopl are horrified but it was the best 20 quid I ever spent. He looked so grateful

I had bought a 2 day ticket to cover my car at the station car park, as I had to stay overnight in London. When i got back to my car around 10 the next morning, there was an old lady trying to work out how to use the car park ticket machine. It had become so expensive, that you can only pay by card, and she had a handful of cash.

I called out to her and asked if she needed a ticket for the day. Yes, she replied, so I said here, have this and handed her. She was gobsmaked - it was worth about £8, and I was Bu**ered if South West trains were going to have it. Oh, its like my birthday, she said.

About 2 weeks ago, I was fumbling for change for a car park in town, and a car drew up and a lady called out that she had an hour left - did I want it? Well, blow me down - it was the same lady!!

So - what comes round, goes round!!

And, I should add, it was about 1:30am and he'd done a long shift!

I've taken 36 hours to read every story here, and it was worth every minute if my precious spare time - what a beautiful thread!

I'll share one of mine:
About 10 years ago me and Dsis were staying in a cheap hotel somewhere in London so we could go to a gig in Hyde Park. After checking in to the hotel we spent a boozy afternoon pre-gig, then hailed a cab to Hyde Park. Our driver gave us his card and told us to call when we got out after the gig had finished, which we did. He told us he was clocking off and that he would take us back to the hotel free of charge, via all the famous landmarks. He was amazingly kind to us that night, and I still have his card somewhere.

I boarded a train late at Kings Cross for a marathon journey to Edinburgh with my then 15mo DS with all the buggy paraphernalia etc, etc,... was trying to find our named single 'seat' in a jammed carriage whilst DS was having a strop and everyone was giving me absolute evils i.e. don't sit next to me with that 'thing'.

......2 youngish oxbridgeish men with laptops promptly got up and offered me BOTH of their seats on a packed carriage. I could have cried i was so thankful!

Train journey wasn't so awful after all (with cBeebies magazines, umpteen snacks to throw everywhere, iPad with Peppa pig etc!).

Oddly, both of mine happened in Lidl.
A while ago DS was having a toddler meltdown and one of the shop assistants picked up an apple from the display, polished it on his sleeve and handed it to DS and just said "sssshhh" to me!

Today it was hammering down with rain and DS, DD and I were again in Lidl. As we walked out, a lady said to me "have you got far to go? I wondered if you'd all like a lift?" My car was in the car park so I politely declined but how sweet is that?!

I was also a bit as DS had just spent 10 minutes pelting up and down the aisles and DD was grizzling; I just couldn't believe that anyone would voluntarily choose to get into a car with us!

I marched in the Remembrance Parade last year at Whitehall. DH and I decided to make a weekend of it and we stayed in London in a hotel. The following morning I had to get from the hotel to Horse Guards Parade. I'm not very familiar with London and knowing the area would be coned off I asked the cab driver to get me as close as possible and point me in the right direction. He was lovely driving through all these little back streets trying to get me closer and closer.

He did really well, I was close enough to know where I was but when I went to pay he refused saying "this one's on me". I was so touched and a wee bit choked. Lovely man

What a lovely thread mine is that I was pregnant when I fainted out walking I came to to find a man sponging my face having carried me into the nearest cafe, i was barely conscious and he came with me to the hospital held my hand called my dp and then when dp arrived he simply vanished so I never got to say thank you I was so scared I never even asked his name, it turned out I was pre eclampsic and in premature labour and his actions saved my son I just wish I could tell that and thank him.

I was on a bus with DS and DP and when an elderly gentleman boarded I offered him my seat. He declined because his stop was just around the corner, but he launched into this heartfelt speech about "youth of today" and how I was a "special gem" and "one in a million".

I was so touched. My little act of selflessness impacted upon him and me, and I still see him from time to time. We always have a little chat!

An lot of taxi drivers and midwives here :)

When DD1 was 2, I took her on a train ride to the next town. It was about 8.30 so lots of students and lots of officey commuters. Train late so everyone pissed off.
Several groups of the commuters carried on swearing very loudly about the late train, and one shoved me out of the way when the train did come.
The students were all being rowdy and swearing too, but stopped as soon as they saw us, and one lad smiled at DD and gave her his train ticket receipt so she'd have an extra ticket. She was so happy.

The mum at the school gate in DD1s first week at school, who told me not to worry that we'd all been there, as DD2 screamed horrendously for every single school run as it coincided with nap time and she wasnt happy. The mum and I are now good friends.

when DH's mother passed away and we had to take in his teenage brother (we were only 25 ourselves at the time). A lovely woman and her mother used to pop by our house once a week and wash and iron all of our clothes. I dont think I ever told them how lovely it was. Not just to have our clothes laundered but for someone to reach out and understand how hard it was for us to take on the new 'parent' role.
We also frequently got homemade dinners from neighbours.

Oh dear, every time I come back to this thread I start to cry again!

Oh I just remembered another one!

I was about 12 or 13 and it was one of the first times I was allowed to get the bus into town with my friend. We did a bit of shopping and went to get the bus back home when I realised I'd lost my ticket. I had no money left and started panicking but the bus driver printed me a ticket, told me to write my address on it and the company would send the bill to my parents. My parents never got charged. That was about 13 years ago - amazing the little things you remember.

What a moving story, racingheart. Thanks for sharing.

(Though I assume you meant no carpets, nothing on the walls!)

Oh, how could I forget!
My Mum died when I was 17 and my Dad gave me her wedding ring. I lost it while at the swimming pool and was devastated. This was late 80's and we didnt have a landline, let alone a mobile.
In desperation I put an ad in the local paper with my friend's phone number. I'll never forget the joy when she told me someone had phoned and I was getting it back - we hugged each other and jumped around her flat.
What were the chances? I was so, so lucky and will be forever grateful to that lovely lady.

Cabbies and midwives! Mn salutes you! My daughters middle name is for the midwife who worked on after her shift to see me through my first 36 hour labour. Thank you mhairi from the queen mums in Glasgow 1995. :)

I do love this thread. I think we should all. Where we can, leave envelopes on park benches with a couple of quid & a wee note. That could be the new mumsnet thing...

Kitstwins, that's made me cry too.

Once I dropped my purse as I was getting into the car. We lived in central London, so when I realised, I thought there wasn't much hope of getting it back. But when I got home there was a call from the police. it had been handed in. When I went to pick it up the police man gave me the address of the person who'd handed it in and said please do visit to say thanks. there was something about the way he said it. I did. (I would have anyway.)
It had been handed in by a teenager from a really rough housing estate. Absolutely every penny was still in the purse. Apparently his mates had egged him on to keep it but he said no, it might belong to someone who really needed it. There was nothing in the flat he lived in. Nothing at all. No furniture, no carpets on the walls. It was bare. I tried to give him money but he refused. I tried to give some to his mum, who didn't speak english but she refused. In the end I persuaded him to accept a tenner. Still think of him today.

The taxi driver who took me home late at night when I said I had no money. I'd said he could come to the shop the next day to get it but he said he had a daughter my age and it was ok.
The bus driver who let me on with DD in her buggy even though there was already one on.
The helpful lady who sat with me at a bus stop when I felt faint (I was about 8mo pg) and called a taxi for me.
The fab checkout operator in M&S who asked if we had a £5 voucher as I'd spent over £25- then gave us it anyway.
Loads more but they escape me for now.
I always try to be kind to people, because I believe it creates a ripple effect (am not catholic and I know it sounds a bit "woo")

This is one I did but am only just realising now I'm a mum how much I actually helped.

As a teenager I worked in a campsite in the south of France. One evening a British family's tent got broken into and their DS's rucksack stolen. The rucksack contained his hearing aid . They'd found some bits and pieces from the bag thrown away but couldn't find the hearing aid. They were so upset they were chucking in the holiday early and going home.

I spent the next two days ringing around the nearby campsites and getting them to search their grounds. Eventually the bag was found with the hearing aid still inside! I pestered our security guards to go and collect it then I rang the family to let them know it'd been found and posted the hearing aid to them. I got a lovely thank you card

My best friend was in London for work and had her wallet stolen from her handbag as she got into her taxi for the train station. She realised on the way and burst out crying- the wallet had everything in it, all her money and even her train ticket in it. The cabbie drove her straight to the police station so she could report it, and waited for her so he could drive her to the station (the police had arranged for her to be able get the train anyway). He parked up and walked her to her train to make sure she was OK, then pressed a £20 note into her hand, refusing to give his name and address so she could pay it back. He told her to pay it forward...

I forgot one- the midwife who, when I was admitted with pregnancy complications, was so very kind and really listened to me and when things started to go wrong, got me transferred to a hospital with a level 3 NICU and came with me in the ambulance. She was magic. I tried to send her a card but the ward said they had no one of that name, she must have been agency staff. She went the extra mile for me on and made a huge difference to one of the most difficult nights of my life.

I was 11 years old when my father died and I went to live with my much older sister, who had 2 small children. (Our mother had died when I was 6yrs, so we were on our own.)
My darling sister used to struggle with the kids to drive me to the bus stop across town, so I could catch the bus to my school, blooming miles away.... Until, her neighbour, this lovely older man.... saw her struggling every morning, and kindly offered to drive me to the bus stop - as he said it was on his way to work.After much persuasion, she agreed.
And, he took me every morning for about 3 months... and we realised that near the end (before I moved schools) - that the bus stop was actually in the opposite direction of his work - and he would go back home after dropping me off... then, back on his way to his place of work.

I lost control on a corner due to a flat tyre (that hadn't materialised til the corner), and crashed into a hedge, with my 2 children in the back, and one in my big fat belly. The woman took me in, called the recovery, made me sweet tea, gave the children a drink and snack, called the childminder to come and collect the kids and then chatted to me about things to take my mind off it all. I will remember that kindness forever.

In fact, the other night, as I arrived home I saw 2 cars just outside my house. I thought they had crashed so went down and offered for them to come into my house to sort things out and get a cup of tea. Turned out it was a flat tyre, not a crash. But the people we so grateful and even said before they left that they would never forget the kindness. I'd like to think I would have been so kind anyway, but the fact it had happened to me before probably did have an impact on how I dealt with seeing a similar thing.

Pay it forward. They'll go and do something nice for someone else on the back of that - how cool is that!