What's the kindest thing a stranger has done for you?

A doctor I think. I know they're supposed to be but she really was. I was in the middle of a nervous breakdown brought on by years of abuse at the hands of my Mum then ex H. I went to see my GP and saw her and just went to pieces. I said I was scared to talk to anyone because I had a history of depression and I was worried about SS. She held my hand and promised that there was no danger of that. I left her office feeling normal for the first time in months. I wasn't well for a long time after that but I think I started to get better after I saw her.

From me, i saw a man get knocked over on a pedestrian crossing, well heard it first . I ran over all the while terrified at what i might find and was first on the scene. He was conscious but obviously couldn't move, some people ran out of a building nearby and called 999 so I sat down on the road and held his hand and talked to him, telling him he was going to be fine and looking at his face so he knew someone was with him. He didn't speak at all, just looked at me. I stayed till the paramedics arrived and he went in the ambulance. I don't know if it was kind because anyone would have done it I think.

I am really competitive about random acts of kindness and I get a buzz out of all of then. If I ever recorded them then they wouldn't count. As a recipient, being helped at charing cross with 2 children and one baby.

Cried my way through this thread. Such lovely stories. LalyRawr I remember your story of your stepbrother from another thread and it made me cry there too. So glad you got your brothers you back.

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LalyRawr that's so lovely (and made me cry)

A kindness I remember was when I was walking home from shopping with my autistic daughter. It was only about a mile, but she decided she'd had enough, and dropped to the ground, passive-resistance style. She was far too big for me to carry.

I was trying to call a taxi, when a car pulled up and asked if we needed help. It must have looked like a medical emergency. I quickly explained it wasn't, but the two guys insisted on driving us home (opposite direction), and put the roof down to amuse her .

They were real angels of the road.

Something I recall that I did was to get a young lad back to his halls of residence. We were both on a train that somehow got ballsed up and abandoned us at Crewe, with no connecting bus or train service. My DP drove an hour from Liverpool to collect me while I drank and played pool with the poor guy and drove him to his digs. I was never going to leave him there, as I'd hate to think of my eldest daughter being stranded like that.

Wow this thread has made me cry!

When I was in India there was so much poverty and so many beggars hassling me for money it was difficult to know what to do at times. However one time I saw an old lady, tiny and almost bent double with the bag of rubbish she was carrying ( it was obviously her job to pick up rubbish). She didn't ask me for money but I felt so sad at her situation I gave her 500 rupees ( about £6.50). Not a lot by UK standards but probably a lot to her. She made the namaste sign and went on her way. Just a drop in the oceon but it made me feel better...

I intervened in a road rage attack where a man was being very aggressive and threatening to a woman with terrified children in the car.

I somehow got him to get back in his car and drive off.

Paid for my shopping in tesco when I was a student and my card was refused.
They were behind me in the queue

Lalyraw that is so sad and I'm so sorry.

I had a nice thing happen today as was in homebase and someone noticed it started raining and covered DS' bike seat with a plastic bag so he didn't get wet sitting down(he's 2)

My 'kindest' thing was grabbing a man who was stabbing his wife (literally, with a long nasty thin knife) in a train station in India. I was 18 and he wasn't that big and so shocked he stopped but the awful thing was that the police didn't really care and I still wonder what happened as maybe she had to stay with him

These are ones that stick with me. A couple of years ago we were really skint. I did a shop with the calculator on my phone and near the till a woman handed me a £5 off voucher she had cut out the newspaper. I could have cried. £5 made a huge difference to us but that woman will never know how much that helped us out.

Another one was when DD was tiny and moaning to go on the toy rides at the supermarket. I had no change at all when an old man came up to me and gave me a £1 for her to go on. He said he hoped I didn't mind but that she reminded him of his daughter when she was a little girl.

One that sticks out in my mind was when I was sat on a park bench crying and an old lady came and sat with me, she held my hand and told me that no matter how dark things were it would get better with time, it was so comforting and I'll never forget her, I went home determined that I wouldn't let the bastards get me down.

The kindest thing I have done is when I found a set of keys on the beach, the owner wasn't near by and I walked round all the car parks pressing the button on the fob till I found the car. I waited over an hour for the owner. She was so relieved, she was recently bereaved and without her keys she would have been stuck as she was a long way from home and had come to clear her head. She said I restored her faith in human kindness and I don't begrudge a minute of my wasted morning!

The strangest was when I found a wallet with a driving licence, some cards and a wodge of cash. The address was nearby and I took it round, the owner was very grateful and offered me money as a reward, I refused but accepted the tea and we had a nice chat. I was surprised to find the anti social behaviour I was suffering stopped immediately. But that's the way things roll when the local crime lord decides you're a diamond.

Last year my nan died, she had left instructions of what she wanted for her funeral including a song we couldn't find anywhere. A random person on a website read my post and managed to download it from somewhere and sent it to us. I don't even know their name but it meant we could fulfill my Nan's last wishes.
I love doing RAOK too

Also, when it was a very little girl (about 4) I fell down the stairs in our local Woolies. A lady at the bottom picked me up as my mum struggled down with my little sister. That lady had something I'd never seen before - a wetwipe !! And she used it to wipe copious blood from my knees and hands!

nicest and most random thing I ever saw. me and dh were on train. Little girl sat with mum next to us. Paul blinking Daniels walks through coach from buffet. 2 minutes later he returned with a hoooge doll, gives it to girl and walks off. where did he get the doll from?
(yeah I know)

I'm not sure what the kindest thing I've done is, I wouldn't like to venture that.

But about 4 years ago I was struggling with both depression and pain from a kidney condition. I was hideously sick after walking to our local Morrisons, in the car park. An old lady stopped, gave me tissues, a bottle of water and - Ill never forget this - knelt down and wiped the vomit off my shoes.

Then she insisted on running me home (only 2 mins in the car).

I looked for her every time I went out, but I never saw her again, and then I moved across town and haven't been back.

Old lady at Crossmyloof Morrisons - Thankyou!!

Yes to the pram assistance and passing on parking tickets (although the local town centre car park has introduced the machines where you have to type in 3 letters from your numberplate, so that you can't do this - grr!).

The act of kindness I remember most clearly was the lovely doctor, young enough to be my daughter, who was looking after my Dad when he was very near the end of his life. She explained his condition clearly and kindly, so we knew what was to come. A few hours later, shortly after he died, I was sitting alone in the hospital corridor as the same doctor was hurrying along. When she saw me she stopped to give me a real hug, full of sympathy. This touched me beyond words - my eyes are leaking as I type this!

These stories are lovely.
Oh Laly. I remember you talking about this on another thread a few months ago, and the bear just breaks my heart even more.
I hug your little girl self (sorry, probably too saccharine for Mumsnet, but I don't especially care).
I try to help people up and down stairs in the Metro when I can.
Despite the reputation of Parisians, someone here once walked back down the stairs they'd just walked up, helped me carry up the pram, then left. Not an uncommon situation here, as far as I've seen.

I went to ASDA to buy some food. When I got to the till I didn't have enough money so said I would put some stuff back. The cashier said not to worry and that the money would be covered.

My disabled son speaks to a homeless man whenever he sees him. One day he noticed he didn't have the blanket he usually had. When my son inquired where it was he explained he had given it to a friend who was cold. My son asked him if he wasn't cold too and he said a bit but he would manage. My lovely son whizzed off to the nearest camping shop and bought him a sleeping bag. Two disadvantaged young men doing a kindness.
I once gave a teenager money for his bus fare. He burst into tears as he said everyone else had ignored him. I told him that when he was earning he could pass it on.

When I was a student & on one year exchange in Germany I had just returned after Christmas and i was at the supermarket to stock up my bare cupboards. Germany had already introduced chip & pin machines (wayyyyyy before we did here) and as I went to pay for about £50 worth of shopping my brain froze and I couldn't remember the PIN number. I was in a small town with rubbish German skills and so embarrassed. Then the person behind me paid for my shopping. I was so grateful, he wouldn't give me his address or any info so I never managed to repay him but I was so happy that day. I never bumped into
Him again.

I always try & help others when I can and do random
Acts of kindness when I can. I'll always offer to help a mum struggling down stairs with a pram (those days were tricky when I went through them) and I give car parking tickets to people queuing to buy one if I have an hour or so left on my ticket.

DD (9 months) threw up on a train. A smartly dressed man, working on his lap-top, switched off what he was doing and let DS (3) play a game on his lap-top, to give me peace to get DD and the train cleaned up.

I dislocated my wrist on a road someone stopped a cab as it was five mins the the A&E.
He carried me in and as I was almost passed out pain and never uttered a word about paying him.

When I was pregnant with dd and in prem about they wanted to move me to a hospital that could cope with a delivery that early. I ended up being sent to a hospital miles and miles away.
The registrar from my original hospital (I had been there a fortnight) spent a huge amount of his time and favour pulling to get me transferred to a much closer hospital even though I was no longer his patient or his problem. Not only was it closer so I could see my 2 dc, 3 and 20mths but it was a much better hospital and I genuinely believe that without him going the extra 1000 miles dd wouldn't be with us now.