Someone was just very kind to me

vodkalime you are very brave.

When I was 19 I gave evidence in court against my abuser. I attended every day of the 2 week trial, sometimes alone, and spent most of the time sitting in the waiting room run by Victim Support.

The volunteers were unfailingly kind and sympathetic to a scared, embarrassed, angry teenager trying to keep it together. They found me magazines they thought I would like to try and distract me, made me drinks and told me it was ok to cry and grieve for what I had been through. They believed me unquestioningly. On the days my parents couldn't face court and DP had uni so I had to go alone they chatted to me and kept me company while I waited. When I got angry about the whole process they tried to soothe me.

They waited for me outside the toilet because I was too frightened to walk around the Crown Court on my own. The perpetrators' family would stare at me from a distance, and one particularly kind man in his sixties wouldn't let me out of his sight when he knew they were in the building.

When I had to give evidence via video link a volunteer sat with me in the room. When I told them how embarrassed I was that they would have to listen to intimate details about the abuse, the lady told me that I had nothing to be ashamed of, and that I was a brave young woman who had a wonderful future to look forward to. I've never forgotten that moment. When we found out he had been convicted and then sentenced they reacted with genuine joy.

I'd like to find a way I can pay this forward to other victims of crime in the future. Sorry this was so long. Remembering their kindness has made me cry 😢

Aw some lovely ones. Notable how good black can drivers are, can't see über doing that
I've had help with the buggy a few times, and helped people.
When we were coming back from holiday I'd booked the bulkhead seat at the front (it was all standard class but you paid extra) so toddler could get on the floor/have more room. I'd taken a multitude of new toys, books, iPad, snacks, boobs, but he kept grousing.
There were an older couple on the row across and I heard her say something but didn't cash it so I said "pardon" fearing she was about to lay into me, and she said "I think you're marvellous. You've got so many things for him to do and you've not once lost your patience, you're doing a wonderful job". I was so grateful. I don't have a great deal of confidence so it meant a lot.

About a year ago, I was knocked off my bicycle by a car as I was cycling to work - a driver pulled out into a roundabout as I was already on it and drove straight into me. Thankfully, I wasn't seriously injured, just battered, bruised and shocked, but my bike was unusable. A lady came out from a nearby house and insisted on taking me into her kitchen and giving me a cup of tea and a biscuit to calm down. She then drove me to the local bike shop to drop of my bike to be fixed, and then insisted on driving me to A & E to make sure I hadn't broken anything. I meant to go back to her house with some flowers and chocolate to say thanks, but realised afterwards I was so shocked that I couldn't actually remember which house she lived in.

Awww, love this. I've been sobbing reading some of these.

Mine are only little.
A lady insisted on buying me a cup of tea when I arrived at a cafe with a screaming baby. She didn't even know it had taken me two hours to walk from our house to the cafe (it was a goal I'd planned for a couple of weeks) that without a screaming baby takes 20mins max. I rarely left the house as it was too stressful.

My stories are all screaming baby related. I was on a packed train (that in hindsight I shouldn't have got on but there were lots of cancellations and I needed to get dd home) and 6 month dd was screaming her head off, she'd gone red, tears everywhere, scream started to sound sore. I wanted to get off that train so so much I was holding the tears in. The lady next to me got pepper pig on her phone didn't work, and basically everyone in the immediate vicinity was so so kind trying to distract her, give me an inch more space and trying to show sympathy when really the screaming must have been ruining their journey. In the end I had to breastfeed her standing up and when the next stop came (was a looooong gap) they all made sure I got a seat.

A man once told me I had my skirt tucked in my knickers . The hundreds of other tube commuters I'd walked past didn't though!

I was staying a caravan park when I was about 20. I was walking the long walk to the collective bins and saw that a middle aged man was too. I politely offered to carry his too thinking it would be accepted. He said no and we walked next to each other in awkward silence the whole way.

It's really weird the kindnesses you remember. My mum died a few years ago and I'm sure a lot of people were really kind to me, but instead I remember the little things above. Small things can make a big difference.

These are so lovely. Glad it's in classics.

This is one that probably saved my life.

Years ago when I was an idiot student, I went on a night out at New Year in a nearby city to the one I lived in. We were supposed to be staying at a friend of a friend''s flat, but I got incredibly drunk and ended up separated from my friends. It was in the days before mobile phones and I didn't know friend's address.

I don't remember much, but the next morning I woke up in the living room of a random man's flat. He had found me sleeping in a doorway on one of the coldest nights of the year and he took me home & made up a camp bed for me.

When I think of the things that could have happened to me that night it makes me shiver. I'm sure this man had loads of better things to to at New Year than babysit a pissed up teenager, but something made him care and actually do something to help. .

I thanked him in the morning, but was so embarrassed I left as soon as I could and didn't get his name or address to send a proper appreciative letter. I have never got into a state like that again and have thought about his selflessness and what could have happened to me so many times over the years.

Late for a train, lovely woman paid for my full day parking.
My daughter fell and knocked herself unconscious in a shop, brought by ambulance to hospital the paramedic put peppa pig videos on his phone to calm her down on the journey.
The lovely man at Birmingham airport who sorted our car parking overstay fee due to a sick relative.
The lady who came up to me in the loos as I was changing my son and told me how beautiful and loving I was with my son, I had horrible pnd and doubted my every action as in my head I was the shittiest mother ever, making myself cry remembering her kindness.
Lots of people are very kind, it's what keeps humanity afloat

This thread has made me cry a few times tonight.
I've had some amazing kindness shown to me over the years.

When my DS was a few weeks old and hadn't stopped crying since taking his first breath (turns out he had reflux) a lovely lady at a children's centre took him off me for a good hour and gave me the break I was desperate for. Someone also posted £50 to us just after he was born.
An amazing friend put money into my account this month as I was short on my rent (single mum going through redundancy bla bla) I'm gonna sell a kidney to repay them.

On a visit to a hospital in London we had a few hours to kill and it was pissing down. I stepped into one of the attractions but didn't have enough to go in and the man at the counter just charged us one ticket!!! Amazing.

Today, again at the same hospital, i'd spent an hour trying to find the right ward. Ds was having a meltdown, he was hungry, tired and sick of walking round. I was in tears in utter frustration and full of anxiety. A lovely lady took me by the hand and walked me to the right place... absolutely made me day.

A while ago I came off my motorbike on a busy high street. Didn't really hurt myself but bruised my elbow and was trying to figure out how to pick my bike up with one hand and get to the side as I was in the middle of the road. No traffic stopped they all just drove past. A teen who was shorter than me so young (I'm only 5 2) crossed the road to me, picked the bike up and pushed it to the pavement.

I was so grateful, and I think he was pleased to as he ran back too his friends going "I'm a hero"! It was when all teens were meant to be obnoxious and uncaring and reminds me that most people are kind

I still remember a lovely lady, about 5 years ago, when I had dropped DC1&2 at school/preschool and settled into a cafe for some breakfast - had been up half the night, school run a bit fraught and starving. DS was asleep, I was enjoying the peace and had ordered beans on toast when he woke up. Had to bf him and then my food arrived and I was so hungry but one handed. A lovely, lovely lady came over and cut up my beans on toast for me - I was so touched!

We've been through a tough few months (dd2 born with downs syndrome and a heart problem, spent most of her 3 months in hospital). We've been so blessed. Friends and family cooking dinner, my mn antenatal group from dd1 sending amazing gifts for the whole family, friends of friends giving gifts, friends dropping off magazines and cans of gin and tonic for me, everyone praying for her. I feel like we've received a lifetime of blessings in a few months.

The gift that made me most grateful was the Ronald McDonald house. We spent about 8 weeks in two of their houses, allowing us to be near our daughter, as a family, at no cost. That strangers would donate and enable this is mind blowing.

Oh, and a friend of an acquaintance came into hospital and took some professional photos of my daughter, before her surgery as i wanted lovely photos incase she didn't survive. He dropped everything to take them, at no cost to us. It meant the world to us.

Oh, I've remembered another couple! Both flat tyre ones. The first some years ago, on my way to a Physio appointment so I was hobbling around a bit. I was just contemplating jacking the car up and a bloke in a tractor covered in chicken shit pulled over, seized the tyre iron and sorted it out for me.

The second was more recent, in the pouring rain with DS and Spuddog in the car. DS was wailing, I was exhausted and Spuddog was soaked through, and had to be taken out of the boot so I could get to the spare wheel, so the car was being smeared in mud. I'd ended up pulled over in a farm gateway and a bloke who was obviously on his way home from work on said farm jumped out and changed the wheel for me. He got soaked! And it was a pig of a job too, the car fell off the jack once (fortunately before he'd taken the wheel off).

Lovely blokes, both

I had an appointment near my daughters school a while ago and didn't have time to go home and walk back up in between so I was wandering around wasting time (45 minute wait) when it started raining, an old lady who lives near the school got off the bus struggling with her shopping and umbrella so knowing she didn't live far i offered her a hand. She asked if i was sure I had time so I explained what i was doing, she invited me in and made me a hot chocolate and gave me the tastiest home made carrot cake I have ever had, she said it was a secret family recipe and we chatted about DD's school doing a cookery competition. Then when it was time to go she lent me an umbrella. When I picked DD up that afternoon we nipped round to return her umbrella and she handed me a tin, inside was a small, still warm carrot cake and the recipe, beautifully written with pictures and child proof instructions, with a note telling me to teach DD to make it. DD made it and won the cake competition.

Love these stories.

When my twins were tiny I had to take my ds (3) to a routine hospital appt. I was trying to keep my twins in a schedule to get some rest, and cut it fine to catch a bus to the appt. Couldn't get on bus with double buggy as there was already a pram on. Frustrated and a bit teary (but my own fault), I got a cab at the rank next to the bus stop, and when we got to the hospital, the cabbie wouldn't let me pay a penny. He had seen me at the bus stop and wanted to help.

A year later and one of my twins had a wee emergency - I jumped in a cab with one twin in a sling and asked to go to A&E (different hospital). Cabbie wouldn't let me pay, then he said he was the same guy who taken me before with my ds and twins a year earlier. He said he'd never charge to take a kid to hospital.

I still wouldn't recognise him as was pretty wound up both times, but kind gestures like that make a big difference and I won't forget them.

1. As an lp, I posted on mumsnet about how my friend and my dm, who were meant to help when I gave birth to dc2 both let me down. A mnetter sent me a private msg offering to help. As I am v untechy, I missed that msg for two years. If she is reading now, thank you.
2. Travelling back late at night from the airport by public transport with a suitcase, toddler in sling and older child asleep on hip. Woman took the wrong train to help me get home.
3. Booked cheap theatre tickets for show up in gods. Later realised elderly relative would find stairs hard. Called box office to ask if there was a lift. There wasn't but they offered to swap out tickets for more expensive ones in the stalls for no extra money.

This is one I did (but thought it was pretty kind). Years ago when I used to work in London I was on the train home late Friday and the young woman a few rows down starting acting strangely. She was talking to herself and quite confused. I went and sat next to her to ask if she was ok (everyone was looking away or tutting). Turned out she'd just had an epileptic fit and was very disorientated. We were getting off at the same train station so I rung my husband and we drove her home. She's was still totally out of it - must have been to get in car with two strangers! Another time I was walking home from the shops when I saw an old lady hanging on to a lamp post. She had popped out to buy fags but couldn't make it all the way to the shop. I walked her back home and then went to get her fags (I bloody well ended up paying for them too as she had no money when she handed me her purse to take money to pay for them lol). Last one, I was in boots and a woman with mental health problems (was obvious) was shouting and getting upset by the pharmacy. All the shoppers were staring or sniggering. I went up to ask if she was ok and if I could help and she calmed down telling me she'd lost her prescription. The pharmacist came out to thank me and took her to sit down. She said the lady goes in there all time. I love acts of kindness! Oh just thought of one more - took homeless lad home when I was teenager and he ended up staying with us for about four months! That's it - I've got no more lol

Years ago, back to my first year of uni. Had to move from campus to a rented flat with a "friend" who turned out to stab the hell out of me (that's another story). No cab would take us with the amount of boxes/suitcases/bags. We were desperate.

Then these guys with a van drive us, carry our suitcases upstairs and help unloading the rest of it. I asked the guy who drove "how much do we owe you?" He looked me in the eye and said "Not everything is about money". And left

So I'm sobbing at work and no one knows why! Still this is a lovely thread.
This happened so long ago - the olden days to most of you! When I was 5, I was looking all over the house for my Mom (she was in the basement doing the laundry, but I would never go down there!). Not finding her, I had a thought she would be shopping at the grocers and I set off to find her. There was a very busy street I had to cross and, being 5, I just started to cross without looking. An lady stopped me and asked me where I was going. I told her I was looking for my Mom and I thought she was at the grocers. The lady couldn't get much else out of me so she took me to her apartment and called the police. While we were waiting, she gave me milk and cookies. I told my DB this a while ago and he said it was amazing I wasn't killed as that road was always extremely busy with cars! I am very thankful for that lovely lady.

Worship your rose millionaires story is my favourite too. And I bet you were the best thing in that old lady's life too. Beautiful story 💕💕

Just remembered years ago a stranger paid £50 to a taxi driver to take me home when I had missed the last train and it was raining. Lost his number so couldn't send him a present or anything. It was really so kind.

When Ds1 was a toddler on bike and dd2 a baby in a pram I took them both to Greenwich park using the underground tunnel, managed ok until we got to the other side and found he lift was out of operation. A lovely kind couple asked if I needed any help then the man carried ds bike up the stairs and the lady helped me carry dd in the pram up the 100 odd steps. I still remember this act of kindness 12 years on

A few years ago I crashed my car. Aquaplaned and rolled it over. I was unhurt but very shaken up, I was trying to climb out of the passenger door that was now facing upwards. So many cars just drove by, it was dark and I wasn't sure if the car was safe or balancing over a ditch. But one car did stop, a lovely family. I was helped out of the car and put omptly put in their's. The. Eat person was the son, he was only 9, but chatted to me and looked after me, making sure I was alright, whilst his parents directed traffic and called 999. They disappeared when the ambulance arrived and I never got their names. I often think of them, and how lucky I was that they were passing. So many cars just drove by and they must have seen me waving out of a car on its side! The lad was just so nice and so caring, he'll go on to great things, I'm sure.
Also, the other week I wasn't in Lidl and an area manager gave my DD a free toy from a magazine they were throwing out. Only a small thing, but she loves the toy and they could have easily just binned it, but instead gave it to her! Sometimes it's the little things.

Lovely, lovely stories, all of them but rose millionaires really finished me off. I agree with those who said it would make a wonderful book/film

Two people were kind to me today.

DH took the DC to school; I went outside to click the toddler in and empty the cat litter.

Once he'd driven off, I realised he'd automatically locked the front door, leaving me the wrong side and my keys and phone inside.

A man was over the road collecting a skip. He lent me his phone to ring DH, but he didn't answer.

NDN came home, and helped me climb over the fence - apologising for not having pruned the brambles - and made sure he saw me through the back door (thank God for having needed to let the cat out) before he went about his day.

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When I was reading this thread DH ran in "OH MY GOD WHAT'S HAPPENED" because I was sobbing so loudly.