Strangers you remember fondly

The man who, when I turned to him in the post office queue at 5 months pregnant on a hot day and said "I think I'm going to faint", said "I think you are", and presumably caught me. I came round on a chair behind the counter.

An elderly man who offered to mend my pushchair after a wheel came off in the drs surgery randomly. He lived on my street but we had never met,he fixed it and wouldn't accept my offer of payment

Another one - my friend and I were on the greyhound bus from Niagara to New York. My friend got chatting to a group of (honestly fairly dodgy looking) men for ages.

It turned out they had all just been released from prison and were heading home. Anyway, when we, freshfaced 19 year olds, arrived in NY, these men walked us out of the terminal, into the taxi rank, told us which areas to avoid, and were absolutely lovely. Learnt a good lesson there not to judge by how people look.

When my first DS was 4 weeks old we had to fly from Adelaide to Sydney, as we were moving house. (DH was driving)

I was so nervous about taking the baby on the plane, but when I got on, I was sitting next to a friendly but nervous looking woman. She told me she had never flown before (!) but she had 6 children and was on her way to see her first grandchild. I had flown loads of times, but never had a baby, so I talked her through the various noises (that’s the wheels going up etc) and she held my tiny baby, which distracted her and made me feel better (he slept basically the whole way).

So we were each the others saviour on that journey!

I used to waitress at a cafe in Soho, and we had our fair share of the local loonies come in for a can of coke and a bag of chips. One very busy evening an aggressive drunk homeless man started shouting abuse at me over the counter when I (really really carefully) turned him down after he asked me on a date. He was mid fifties and I was twenty. He called me horrid names and I had to step outside to breathe and hold back tears. The cafe was heaving and I had no other waitresses to help. A lady stepped away from her husband and her meal and came outside to give me a hug and tell me to forget all about it, and that his words didn't mean anything. She kept an eye on me the whole time she was there and I felt so reassured by her presence. It made a massive difference to me, especially as the (male) chefs on duty didn't intervene at all and I felt really nervous that this guy would come back in and kick off again.

I went on a long coach journey to Venice, a day trip whilst on holiday. I was sick on the coach, then on the boat to the harbour. I sat with my head in my arms at a little cafe table, while DH tried to find a pharmacy. A lady who had been watching from her balcony touched me gently on the arm, and said "You are English? You are not well? " As DH returned, she was helping me into her lovely little apartment , where she put me to bed, and I slept for two hours, then had a cup of fruit tea, while DH explored Venice on his own! She was called Brigitta, and I'll never ever forget her.

DeLurking not sure if it wad a typo but 'mamhandle' made me smile.

Mamhandle - to try and pick up a trantruming toddler and not lose your temper 😁

DS1 threw the most spectacular 3 year old’s tantrum in the centre of town. I was 8 months pregnant and DH was at work. I spent 30 minutes trying to deal with DS1 (scratches all the way up both arms as I tried to carry him and failed). I was pretty close to breaking point by the time we got to the supermarket but there was nothing at home for lunch.

An older couple stopped to help me mamhandle a screaming banshee of DS1 into the trolley. ‘Oh, don’t worry dear, they all do it sometimes.’ Loved them so much for their help. Then another older lady meandered over to tell me she was glad I was ok now (DS1 had calmed eventually) and that I had been doing an amazing job dealing with him. Made me feel much better.

I should add that nobody tutted or was rude throughout the ordeal, which I was grateful for too!

A lady in lidl behind me in the queue very recently who helped me pack my shopping at the till as I was carrying baby dd and had my two crazy boys with me, I had not planned to pick up so many things or would've gotten a trolley! She helped me pack and was lovely. I was very grateful.

I can think of two occasions when strangers have been absolutely golden.

The first was when I was in hospital. My children were 4 and 1 and I was rushed in and looked like being in for a week or two (it ended up being two weeks) and I was distraught. I was admitted to the ward and sat sobbing in the bed. I was missing my kids and I knew that being in hospital was causing a HUGE disruption to my little family. The doctor came around with some students doctors, all very matter of fact and professional. An hour or two later one of the students appeared at my bedside and sat down. He'd noticed how upset I was so came to try and cheer me up once his shift had ended, he spent quite a while there just chatting...about families, about music, about anything really and I thought it was so thoughtful of him to do that after a long and stressful day working.

Same hospital but last year. The one year old mentioned above was by then 17 and needed surgery, quite major surgery and we were told to expect him to be in for a couple of days afterwards. Being 17 he was on an adult ward, it was his first time in hospital and the staff were so good with him and with us, they allowed us to be there earlier and let us stay after visiting had ended as there was a complication and his stay was a bit longer than expected and without a word from us they'd bring us sandwiches, crisps, tea and loads of biscuits.

This is a hospital that has a very very poor reputation but we've always found the care to be brilliant.

This is the loveliest thread I've read in a long, long time.

"A puppet show withteatowels" oh that did me in 😢

a little puppet show with tea towels
This has pushed me over the edge!! I love this thread!!

I was at the airport checking in for my flight home from visiting my then DP who lived in a different country at the time, very sick and deep down I knew the relationship was soon to end. I was trying to hold it together but was not doing a good job.

A young woman kept catching my eye and smiling which helped calm me a little but I was still a wreck. The check in clerk was kind and said she would seat me on a row with just two seats so I could get some rest.

When I boarded the plane, the smiling girl was sat next to me! I’m sure the check in clerk had something to do with it.

Smiling girl had also just left her partner behind whilst she returned to London to study. We’ve stayed in touch for over a decade. She married her DP, I met someone else and we visit them every couple of years.

I am so grateful to that check in clerk and my dear smiling friend.

Also have rather fond memories of the lovely couple and the man from the waterboard who all stopped to help when DS managed to get his leg stuck in a cattle grid... I was in pieces to be honest but luckily for us couple were on their way home from shops and 3/4 of a bottle of cooking oil later DS's was lifted from cattle grid by strong man from waterboard!

Never knew who any of them where and occasionally have guilty feeling I owe some unknown strangers a bottle of oil!

The lovely lady on the bus who when DD was having a 6 year old strop because she didn't want to do her school reading book and 10 week old ds was screaming blue murder patted me on the shoulder and told me I was doing brilliantly and everyone had bad mornings then turned round to dd and said very firmly "well littlelistsandbudgets if you don't want to read it to your mum why don't you read it to me, I love stories"... and dd meek as anything did exactly that.. and ds went to sleep and I sat in a daze for the rest of the journey. She turned out to be a reception teacher.

Never saw her again. Often looked for her. Sometimes wonder if she was a guardian angel sent to me that morning never to be seen again...maybe even today shes on another bus calming another tormented mother

A few years ago when I was having a stressful day with young kids was walking back from school and middle one was singing (I hadn't actually noticed she was singing) and an old lady came up to me and said 'children who sing are happy children' it was such a pat on the back after a tough day

The retired couple who live in a bungalow near us. My DD(4) was skipping down the path and fell, skidded and basically took the skin of both knees. It was that one time where I had no tissue, wet wipes, nothing!
I was ladened with shopping bags so struggling to carry her. An older man came out of his bungalow obviously to investigate the screaming, bloody snot faced child. He said ' I'll get my wife' ran in and the next thing we are sitting in a strangers kitchen. The lady cleaned and dressed the DD's knees whilst her husband put on a little puppet show with tea towels to calm her down. He drew smiley faces on her plasters.
When someone is selfless like that, it inspires you to be a better person, such a simple kind act to another person can really make your day.

Driving in France the drive shaft broke on my car, it went one way, caravan another!!
In the middle of a busy crossroads!
Dd's A level French all forgotten- we were buggared!!
Until a biker pulled up, spoke in French (?) then disappeared.. Returning with a 4x4 and hitching up the caravan!! 2 cars joined him and bundled in my dc!! I tried to put an older one with a young one, fearful of wtf I was doing! Fast forward an hourish, after showing the drivers our campsite booking out caravan was set up, car in the garage and dc in the amusements with some French dc!!
An American man with a pick up went off and came back with groceries and some cold drinks! And insisted he take me shopping whenever I needed anything until we got the car back!!
Amazing!!

I've thought of another one. I'd gone to a gig with friends and we had stupidly got ourselves in the front row, right in front of the stage. The band came on and everyone surged forwards. I started panicking and looking for a way out, but didn't want to be separated from my friends. Suddenly this huge biker shouldered his way in behind me, put an arm either side of me on the barrier, braced himself against the crowd and basically created a safe space for me - he had the most incredibly long arms! He shouted in my ear 'Is this all right?' and when I nodded he stayed there for the whole of the two-hour concert and then melted into the crowd at the end.

I'd gone to London Christmas shopping with DH and I wasn't very well at all. We were in Camden Market and I just couldn't take the crowds any more so I went to sit on a step in a little stairwell, put my head down and closed my eyes for a few minutes. When I looked up, there was this huge guy with a blue mohican, covered in tattoos and piercings but with the kindest eyes imaginable, just sitting a little way away from me. He said 'Are you all right now? I was just keeping an eye on you and your bags' and when I nodded he got up and left.

Another time, also in London but when I was much younger, I'd got on the wrong train and had to come back and get across London on my own quite late at night. As I was standing on a tube platform trying to work out what the heck I was supposed to do, a homeless guy came over and asked if I needed help, and then walked me all through a load of underground corridors to the right platform and waited with me until my train came. I tried to give him some money but he refused.

This thread has me in bits.
It's going to take me days to read because my specs keep steaming up.

I had 3 in one day.

As context I was in Spain, I’d injured my leg, I could just about walk short distances (later found out it was broken), travel insurance meant to repatriate had failed spectacularly. Oh and I had 14 month old DS with me.

First was the taxi driver. He came to take me to the airport but no one told him I would need a car seat for DS. He said if I could borrow one from friend I was staying with he would return it back to her, out of his way, free of charge. Arriving at the airport, he found a wheelchair pushed me and DS to the assistance point and explained in Spanish what had happened and how insurance had ducked up so I could be helped. Total gentleman

Next was the chap next to us on the plane. He was early 20s, hipster. I had DS on my lap crying. He took him off me and played with him for half the flight. So so kind

Final one was the lady who insisted I come on her assistance golf cart at Gatwick. Made sure they took me to meet with the taxi this end.

They all made a nightmare journey so much better

The other thing I’m enjoying about this thread is the number of gentlemen offering help with no agenda and no expectations.
My son has done this sort of thing on numerous occasions, he is large and usually monosyllabic. However, one aspect of his HFA is that it is illogical to him to stand by if someone needs help he can give.
So he does.

Bloody hayfever.

《Wipes eyes》