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

kitstwins, I don't often cry at posts. But I am doing now.

The day my twins were born. It had been a shocker - massive bleeding, awake all night, nil-by-mouth and then emergency c section under GA followed by further epic bleeding. I was lying in HDU feeling as if I was dying, retching from a bad reaction to the morphine and feeling as if my stomach would tear open with every heave. I knew if I had a dry cracker or something it would help with the nausea but we had no food with us as we weren't prepared for any of it. I was getting pretty desperate with the sickness as it was just rising and rising and the heaving and retching was just agony.

The midwives said the kitchen was shut (it was 4pm) at which point I started to cry (hormones. Long night...) until a man's voice floated over the curtain and said "I have some bread. I have to pray over it first". It was a Jewish guy whose wife had given birth to a little boy at 26 weeks that morning. He sang over the bread, blessing it, and gave it to me. It was honestly the best thing I have ever tasted. Their little boy died two days later and, lovely Jewish couple at Queen Charlottes October 2006, in the unlikely event that you are reading this, I think about your little boy on his (and my daughters') birthday. My twins know all about the kind man who gave me bread on the day of their birth when I was so ill.

Fab thread.

When my DD was days away from her first birthday she fell off the coffee table at home and split her head open on the fireplace. Blood spurting out from her forehead everywhere. I just picked her up, grabbed my bag and starting running to the nearby Minor Injuries Unit (very close to us). By this point we were both covered in blood but I was pretty unfit and struggling. Some young man jumped out of his car, took her off me and ran the rest of the way with her. He then pressed the emergency call button in the place and helped hand her over to a nurse before disappearing before I could thank him. It was so kind and meant the world to me. DD was fine and a couple of nurses glued her head up. As soon as she was OK, I felt really faint from the shock and panic. They told me to lie down, got me a cup of tea and let me stay in the room until DH was home and could come to collect us both. It wasn't a long wait but I really appreciated it.

Lots of lovely people have helped me with the buggy over the years. DD when older was having a tantrum in the centre of town. I had baby DS in a buggy and was trying to hold on to DD to stop her running off (and into a road) while she flailed and wailed, kicking me, the works. I was feeling terrible and another mum stopped, asked if I needed any help and then told me that everyone's been there and smiled at me. Thank you!

We've had special cuddly toys returned to us on numerous occasions as well, I'm always moved to see how kind people are with a child's loved toy.

I love doing little things when I can, it can be appreciated so much.

I was flying to Johannesburg but with a change of planes in Harare (Zimbabwe). Did not have more than £10 cash on me as I was planning to get SA rands there.

At Harare airport arrivals I was told that I needed a "transit visa" even though I was literally walking straight onto another plane and not leaving the airport. The visa cost US$50 and had to be paid in cash. I only had the £10, and my credit and debit cards. I explained that I did not have enough cash and two large men then appeared holding machine guns and stood near me. I asked if there was a cash machine I could use and they said no, the only cash machine in the airport was broken. I asked what they expected me to do as I clearly could not live the rest of my life in the arrivals hall and I did not have $50 in cash. They just shrugged and wriggled their guns. I was in tears by this time and getting pretty scared.

The lady behind me in the queue then tapped me on the shoulder and handed me some cash. I have never been so relieved! (of course I took her bank details and by that afternoon I had transferred the money into her account).

(I did complain to British Airways lter that they should warn passengers about this and that you are going to need some cash if you change in Harare. They just said it was my "responsibility to ensure that I knew about visa requirements in the countried I was visiting". I thought this pretty unhelpful, very much in contrast to the nice helpful lady from the plane).

As a shy, emotionally abused teenager I was being bullied on my way to and from school every single day.

Lots of people witnessed the bullying but no-one ever did anything. One day I was walking past a bus shelter with around 5 people waiting. The bullies came out of a passageway and stopped right in front of me and started hitting me. A young lad (in his 20s) intervened. He got up and told them to leave me alone, then he came up to me and asked if I was alright. Up until then no-one gave a shit. I started crying and just ran home.

Even now, if a stranger asks me if I'm ok, I feel like crying.

It's just that thing that somebody actually does care. I always stop and help people myself now. I know how much it means.

I have two that I can think of. A few weeks back I went into London with DS. On the way back there was a problem with the train and we got chucked off at a random station. The buses were all packed and I had DS, bags and a big buggy that is def not bus friendly. As a bus arrived a woman scooped up DS for me and held him for a good 15 mins (standing room only) so I could collapse the buggy and hold it and all my stuff. She was fab. Unlike the posh family at the other end who watched me throwing bits of buggy and bags off while holding DS and didn't lift a finger to help.

Also, when DS was born very tiny and premature, I could not be with him as I was off my face after CS. One of the docs pulled up a chair at his incubator and sat with him all night keeping an eye. I will always be grateful- not only did he get great care, but he wasn't alone on the first night of his life.

Lovely thread.

The most recent one for me is that I was out with my 2 DC after having a huge row with my OH feeling thoroughly fed up and got at. We were sitting at a table in a garden centre cafe(oh the life I lead) having lunch and this very old lady sitting with her family kept looking over in a stern way. I thought she was silently judging me for something or other, but the children were in fact being very good.

She and her family got up to leave and she came over(on crutches!) She was a West Country lady and leaned in and said to me "Mind you be a good Mother". I said pardon as I thought she was telling me to be a good mother ie implying I was not!

She leaned in again and said "Mind, you'm be a good Mother. I've been watching you. Your babies are lovely and they're the way they are because of you. You are blessed".

Well, I cried! She was so lovely and she came just at the right moment. What a dear. 91 she was, with 14 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren.

This sounds like a stealth boast but it's really not-they are right little terrors most of the time!

Plus it taught ME not to be so judgmental. I had been ready to get all defensive with her.

Several years ago whilst a student nurse in Birmingham, I was returning from a late shift at a hospital on the other side of the city. It was my first shift there and I was on the bus. Suddenly the bus stopped and the driver made everyone get off, due to an apparent bomb scare, all roads through the centre had been shut off by police. We stopped in a pretty rough looking area (graffiti said 'welcome to the ghetto') and being new to the city I was completely lost, it was dark, my phone battery had died. Whilst on the verge of tears a lovely lady, who was much more street wise than me, walked a mile out of her way with me till I got to a road I recognised and could get home. I'll always be grateful to that strangers help.

Another one.

While travelling I was with a friend in Istanbul. We decided to travel on the tram but unfortunately it was rush hour and completely packed with Turkish men on the way to work. More and more men got on until I was flattened against the wall of the tram. Then the man closest to me began sexually assaulting me. He managed to get his fingers down my trousers and up my T-shirt. I felt completely trapped and my friend couldn't see what was happening.

I was just thinking "I bloody hate Turkish men - bloody perverts" when I caught the eye of an old Turkish man who was in a position to see what the other guy was going to me.

He started talking loudly in Turkish to all the other men in the carriage and they all started shouted and joining in. The next thing the door opened and my abuser was dragged by a big group of men and literally thrown out of the tram.

The old Turkish man said "I am so sorry that happened in my country"

My friend had her dog returned to her last night by a total stranger who had found it 20 miles from home over 5 months ago. The dog's chip had migrated so the stranger's vet hadn't been able to ID it. He finally located my friend by searching facebook for people missing dogs in Cornwall.

The children are over the moon.

I was at Great Ormond Street yesterday with dd3. It was a long day for her and we were almost the last ones left in the day unit by 4 o'clock. dd3 was getting a bit tearful about walking back to the station and a lovely dad and his daughter who we had been chatting to walked us downstairs, showed us the back way out and a short cut which knocked a bit off the walk. He had been waiting ages to see a doctor but remained charming and polite to the nurses the whole time. He and his daughter spoke Arabic to each other and his English was not fantastic so perhaps hadn't lived in the UK for a long time but his whole manner was such a contrast to the youngish British men on the train who let a little girl sit on the floor all the way into London that morning.

I have a couple more (what a wonderful world we live in!).

We were in NY for the first time. We'd gone for dinner at a pizza place and had just ordered when we noticed that the place only took cash. DH went out to get some cash but there was some issue with the transatlantic link and our UK cards weren't working. The food arrived whilst he was still out and about looking for some cash. He came back after half an hour and we told the waiter what the issue was. He went away and two minutes later came back and said, "the boss said don't worry about it - enjoy your meal." We were pathetically grateful and handed him a travellers cheque as security for us returning with the cash the next morning (we did not know how travellers cheques worked ). He then told us that he accepted travellers cheques and gave us our change. That was a meal well earned!

When I was shopping in town with DD aged 2, she had been fortunate enough to be given a balloon by someone doing promotions in the street. We went into a shop and took the lift to the second floor. I hadn't realised that when we got in the lift, I hadn't checked to see if the balloon was in too (it was on quite a long piece of string). When I realised that it hadn't made it in, the doors were already closed the lift moving. DD was distraught! We exited the lift and within a minute, a young man ran over to us with the balloon.

When I was about 7 months pregnant, I was using the Waterloo & City line as usual. It was super busy and I was being pushed and squashed when trying to get on the train. I stepped back as I wanted to protect my bump. A truly wonderful gentlemen stopped the crowd, put his hand behind my back and his arm to his side (so as to create space for me) to guide me onto the train. It was really thoughtful and welcome.

the first year after Dp left me with three children aged 6, 2 & 1, I had just privately rented a flat. times were very tight. a colleague listened to me moan and then two days before christmas gave me a card. her and her sister (who I had met once!) gave me £100 each. Her mum, a pensioner, made me a christmas basket with treats in.

A couple stopped when I had a flat tyre (kids were all in the car, now aged 14, 10 & 9) the husband changed the tyre for me. :) ( I could have done it myself! honest!) Thank you Glasgow! :)

and to pay it back. was cycling up the mall at a quarter to six in the morning and spotted a woman lying by the side of the road. another cyclist had also stopped and looked a bit lost. She was having a fit. I called an ambulance, waited until they arrived and then cycled off into the sunrise. I also stopped when a cyclist had been knocked off his bike, he was in a lot of pain bt concious. I stayed until the ambulanmce came, held his hand, found out where his kids were in after-school care and phoned them to make sure they knew he wouldn't be picking them up on time.

it's important to do small things. :) it just makes things a bit better. :)

I have one but it's not about me, it happened to a friend. I think about it quite often, actually.

My friend has 6 year old twin boys. She is a LP and has been since they were born (I have only known her a couple of years).
She says that the first few years of their lives were hell. She has no family close by and they were premature and poor sleepers.

One day when the boys were a few months old an older woman that she vaguely knew from a previous job turned up at the door with a present. She was so exhausted she burst in to tears at the door. Apparently the woman told her to sit down and she took over and looked after the boys and my friend had a sleep.

The woman then came at the following night at 6pm and bathed and put the boys to bed. She then came EVERY SINGLE DAY AT THE SAME TIME FOR 18 MONTHS . She would arrive at 6pm and leave at 8pm. Some times she never uttered a word she just walked in and took over.

My friend says this woman SAVED HER LIFE.

Some people are just quietly amazing.

I once took a different way home and somehow managed to cross a road at a different point, by the time I realized I'd gone wrong I tried to retrace my steps but couldn't seem to find exactly where I'd crossed over. The area I lived in at the time was like a rabbit warren and once you get lost in there it was a nightmare. Anyway I didn't have a gps back then so I frantically wandered around the area in the hope I would make it back to the main road where I would know where I was. Eventually a woman came out of her house and I asked for directions back to the main road, she asked where I was going and said "Oh I'm going there anyway, jump in the car and I'll drive you." She didn't even have issue with putting the guide dog in the car. I was very grateful but a bit as I very rarely get lost.

The driver who stopped his car on one side of the road and waved down the traffic on my side so I could cross over.

After just having moved here I went into the bakery/cafe to get some rolls but me and ds stopped for a drink and a cake. When she said how much I offered my card and she said that they only take cash. As I didn't have any cash I said to ds that we'd come back another day instead, she said "Oh, you look honest, just pay next time you're in." I went in the next morning and paid.

When I had stopped at the side of the road with a flat tyre just trying to work out how to fix the jack. A young man stopped, asked if I wanted him to change the tyre and then quickly changed it in about 5 minutes.

I got a note through the door - a man had found my debit card on the floor by the cashpoint - I hadn't noticed it had gone! He had looked up my address in the phone book and promptly dropped it round my house. He said he hadn't returned it to the bank as he knew how long it would cause problems for me with the delay in reissuing it.

Went to buy some food in ASDA and when it went through the checkout I realised I didn't have enough money and needed to return something. The woman insisted I take it all and not to worry about the money. The thing is it wasn't like it was essentials like nappies and milk - it was nice food!

Went to a cafe and ordered a coffee and then realised I didn't have any money. I apologised profusely and said I had to nip out to the cashpoint. The woman insisted I had the drink first and then come back and pay afterwards.

8 months pregnant, one of the hottest weekends ever in August, with a 2 year old in the back and the car broke down. We're over 200 miles from home.

I call the AA. "I'm sorry but you didn't renew in June." Yikes!

Then woman on the phone said, but I'm sure you meant to, I'll send someone out.

The chap who comes, says - clutch is gone, there's nothing I can do at roadside and your membership is just for roadside.

Then he walks a little way away and gets on his phone.... comes back and says - it's ok I'll take you home...

200+ miles he towed us!

Thought of a couple more.

When I was at uni and driving home, got a flat tyre and a car full of lads pulled up, I thought they were going to take the mickey as I may have cut them up just prior to having had to pull over and changed the tyre and waved me off.

When DH and I were in Turkey on holiday and I was about 8 weeks pregnant. Had a wave of nausea and was violently sick outside a gifty type shop on the main strip. I was embarrassed but literally couldnt get up for all the dry heaving afterwards so ended up sort of prostrate in my sick. The man whose shop it was came out and I thought he would be cross, thinking it was just Brits abroad and unable to hold their booze. But he just waved us into the shop and to a toilet so I could clear myself up. He also got me a bottle of water from the shop next door.

I made DH take his t-shirt off for me to wear and then sent him outside to clear up the sick which was outside the shop and probably preventing people from coming in. It had already been taken care of. Then the owner got a taxi to drive right up and take us to the hotel. It was so kind. We went back the next day and spent lots of money in his shop!

I've had a similar supermarket experience to you OP, although it was en elderly who winked at me and said 'Well done' when I'd finally manage to calm DD down!

Last weekend I left my car keys in the door and a couple of teenage boys knocked the door at about 8pm to let me know!

We were camping in the South of France and whilst we were lying on the beach, our car was broken into and everything - money, passports, traveller's cheques - was stolen. We didn't even have enough diesel in the tank to get back to the camp site. It was out of hours, we were stuck. No mobiles in them days.

We went to the police station, joined the queue (and there saw all the posters warning people about seasonal thieves! None in the actual town) to report our crime.

I started talking to the people behind us and we started swapping stories. When they heard our dilemma, when they left, they stuck a FF20 in my hand and refused to give their names and address. 20 francs was a lot in those days. It got us back to the camp site and back in the next day, to deal with NatWest and then to Nice where we could pick up money via bank transfer.

Whoever you were you Northern couple, you showed the best of British and I just want to tell you that I thank you by trying to pass it on. You really, really saved us that day.

When i travelled between New Zealand and Uk last year with DD1 (3) and DD2 (5 months) I had so many acts of kindness. DD1 managed to go 22 hours without sleeping over the first leg, and was in a merry old mood by the time I got to Singapore. I had DD2 strapped to my front, a load of hand luggage falling off the tiny trolley and DD1 rolling around the floor of the airport. An American man came over to me and basically picked DD1 up and carried her into the transit hotel for me. I had been on the verge of breakdown by that point.

Also had people helping me lift my bags off the conveyor belt, take DD2 for cuddles on the plane so I could get organised and so many people told me they admired me for undertaking such a trip with no other adult, which gave me a boost.

No way am I ever doing it again though!

Ok, I appreciate that that story was not a random act of kindness as such, but it was two acts, both kind!

When my son was 15 he was on a train to London with a group of friends and he found a really expensive phone - much, much nicer than the crappy one he had. He could have kept it, got it unlocked etc, but he found the owner's number on the records and phoned him to tell him he was going to hand it in at lost property when he arrived in London. The man asked him for his name and phone number, which he gave.

A couple of days later we got a call from the man asking for our address, and he turned up on the doorstep from about 40 miles away and gave my son £50! We said 'that's too generous and completely unexpected, not necessary etc, etc,' and he said 'No, he absolutely must have it - this is a £300 phone and my life is on it, so it's not only about the phone's value but the inconvenience to me of losing my sim card and all the details would have been huge. Most kids would have kept it or sold it, but your son was honest.'

when my DD was about 6 we were on the way back from a party and the red balloon she was clutching sailed away and was driven over by a group of young lads in a car. She was wailing and crying as i had tried to get it back but then they squashed it. They drove round the roundabout to come back and wound down the window and were so apologetic! They looked mortified and it was so kind! My DD was distracted and was fine. So nice of them.

Also this summer in the pub carpark with 3 kids about to have lunch and no money for the carpark....a lovely guy gave me 2 quid and refused to let me pay him back...so nice of him. Tried to find him to give him the money after we'd had lunch but he'd gone.

And as a child on the underground, a guy saw me eyeballing his fruit pastilles and passed me 1 as he got off the train!

And all the people who gave up their seats on the train when I was pg, helped me when I faint and help me with luggage, buggies etc. There are some lovely Londoners out there. Great thread that keeps making me cry!!

Oh and something that happened to my parents though the helper in question was one of their best friends, not a stranger. DF had been made redundant and they were really struggling money wise when the freezer broke DF had tried to defrost it and buggered it up. To try and save what little food was in there they asked the friend if they could store it at hers. When they managed to get a working freezer again the friend brought the food back but she'd filled the bags to overflowing with extra stuff for them. My mum tried to give her money but she denied she'd even put anything in the bags. Bless her.