To ask what's the nicest thing anyone has done for you?

The night I came home from hospital after having a baby my friend called me and told me not to cook. She left us a hot roast chicken with roast potatoes and a crusty loaf and a lemon cake on our doorstep. She didn’t come in and rang the door and left it. I was exhausted and never happier to eat a delicious hot meal. I did the same for her in return a few years later.

@Bakedpotatoandgin That is really lovely.

A friend of mine is an artist whose work sells for quite a bit of money. She recently painted a piece which was an absolute favourite of mine. I’ve had a really tough couple of weeks which she was supporting me through. On Wednesday the postman rang my doorbell and gave me the painting which she’d posted to me. I cried for about an hour.

One that is recent.Dh heard me getting up in the middle of the night after I'd had an operation and walked in front of me whilst I was going down the stairs in case I fell

We had been to Glastonbury festival during one of the wettest and muddiest years (1997, I think) and as was customary for us we were booked into a campsite nearby for the night, so that we could avoid the traffic on the way home.

As you can imagine, we were a sight...soaking wet, muddy and with no clean or dry clothes - nor had we had a shower for a couple of days. The campsite owner was less than impressed and grudgingly let us in.

As we were setting up our (sodden) tent one of the other campers came across with hot soup and bread, asked if there was anything she could do to help, and told us to let her know if we needed more soup. I could have wept...it was the kindest thing that anyone had ever done.

Oh and the random friend of my aunt and uncle - I was about 13 and went to a gathering at their house. I'd spent time doing my hair etc and this guy told me how pretty I looked. Totally non creepy, I was sat next to my mother and others.

I'd never been told I was pretty or beautiful or had any positive praise. I will never forget that one.

My brother and his wife gave me £1K. I cried and cried with joy. I was so broke after my DH died.
My DS (17) blow dried my hair for me last week! It was such a treat! Luckily my hair is poker straight and requires no styling: he just dried and brushed it but it was lovely to feel cared for and looked after.

I was 17 and dumped by my first boyfriend. I wasn't taking it well. No parent support and I was very lost.

I'd missed an A level class at college one day because of the above. I went to see the teacher to apologise later on and she gave up her lunch hour to give me a 1:1 lesson on what I'd missed. She was so kind to me, something I'd never experienced before. She told me I'd move on and meet someone better on my intellectual level once at uni. I did and I will never forget her kindness- I felt looked after, one of the few times in my life.

Another was so simple - had wisdom teeth out in day surgery. After recovery room they wheeled me through to the ward where the health care assistant in her purple dress put her hand on the blanket over my legs and rubbed them in an affectionate manner - like you'd rub someone's back when they are upset. That was so simple and stays with me.

What a lovely thread! I've got two:

I had a lovely roommate a few years ago, I was going through a very rough time and had a birthday. I didn't want to do anything but stay in and they knocked my door and had brought my favourite takeaway to share and had bought me a present which was a plastic bag full of lots of really silly little presents that meant a lot, favourite biscuits, record, book that he'd got from the charity shop (we were both brassic at the time). The thought that had gone into it was so touching I'll never forget it.

The second one was my sister, I was 17 and had broken up with my first boyfriend, she came and got me and took me to hers bought us a bottle of wine and had put her favourite pyjamas on the radiator for me to pop on. 😊

I was a sofa surfer at 17, a guy I went home with one night took me to a local charity that worked with lone LGBT people, that led to me getting a room in a shared house, being gifted the deposit by the charity and I was given vouchers for essentials like crockery and a decent food shop.

I'd bumped into an old acquaintance who was unwell. I was off work with very poor mental health and we ended up chatting about this at the time. Later that evening she turned up with a home cooked meal including sides of vegetables and bread. It was so thoughtful and so appreciated. She thankfully got well again, and after a while I was much better. At a time when I felt so hopeless she showed me how people can be so helpful.

Not the nicest thing, but just come home from a very blustery dog walk to a bunch of flowers, a hot tea and a doughnut from DH. Very welcome right now!

Little things mean so much :-)

I have twins. When they were very little, I was beyond exhausted as they never slept more than 2 hours at a time. My friend secretly arranged with my husband that she drove 200 miles to our house and cared for them while we stopped in a local hotel she had booked for us. Still makes me tear up years later

I was a pizza delivery driver when I was quite young. I had only been driving about 6 months and after doing 60-70 hour weeks at two different jobs I'd saved up enough money to buy myself a lovely new car and it was my absolute pride and joy. I'd had it a couple of months when I was driving home after my shift and a woman pulled out right in front of me driving very fast and crashed into me. I was injured and my car was smashed to pieces - I was absolutely heartbroken as it was obviously a write-off. The woman who had pulled out in front of me didn't really care and I was sat at the side of the road crying at 11pm in the middle of winter having an anxiety attack. A lovely man in a lorry who seemed to have just finished his shift pulled over and stayed with me for an hour. He moved my car out of the road for me, making sure id taken photos of the damage first. He rang the emergency services and calmed me down. He rang my brother to come and pick me up and stayed whilst the police and ambulance attended. He gave me his number and said that as he had witnessed the crash and saw it was not my fault, he would be happy to speak to my insurance company as a witness. Later on I thought of how he had probably had a long day and wanted to get home to his family but took the time to stay with me and help anyway.

I've got a couple.
When DS1 was in P2, I had treatment for breast cancer. The day after my first chemo, he was sick at school. The school secretary brought him home herself as she knew I wouldn't be feeling great.

At the same time, my mumsnet antenatal group (I was diagnosed when DD was 8 weeks old) sent me the most fantastic care package.

My DSis made the choice to end her life last year. My friends clubbed together and bought me Cook vouchers, and a book of poetry which I used to read Funeral Blues at her funeral.

I’m a lecturer, and was going through a bit of a shitty time. I’d mentioned in passing to my main class that my DP had been made redundant, but just as a casual remark when it fitted into something that was being discussed in a tutorial. Over the next few months, without me realising, they gathered bits of information, and as they were leaving to graduate they gave me the most amazing, thoughtful gift. There were vouchers for our favourite restaurant, lovely flowers, treats for our cat, wine, sweets, notebooks with my favourite animal on them, a whole host of things. They had been so subtle and clever, and I was blown away by how kind they were.

Another time I mentioned to a group of students that health and safety had confiscated all the office kettles. The next week I turned up to find a Costa sitting on my desk!

When my DS was born premature he was in the NICU for a month. I was by his side all day every day and expressing every two hours so I could feed him. I was close to breaking point when a dr spotted me looking down and came to speak to me. He told me he was prescribing me a day off and I was not to come in the next day. I had to spend some time looking after myself and they would look after my boy. I cried on the way home as he was so kind. And it did me the world of good to have some time on my own.

My best friends husband. He seriously went out of his way one time and bent over backwards to help me when I had a flat tyre. What he did for me that day was amazing and he doesn’t know how grateful I still am to him over 2yrs later!

My husband had just left me after 21 years together and I was in the back of a taxi on my way to the airport, The taxi driver obviously knew there was something wrong with me but said nothing, he let me sit there in silence all the way there. once we got to the airport he got out of the taxi and when I got out he just gave me the biggest bear hug, got back in his car and said "I had a feeling you really needed that" I did.

35 weeks pregnant, had split with ex so I was on my own. I went into labour and gave birth within the space of 4 hours. I sent a group text to my friends to announce the birth. One friend realised I had nothing for the baby - we had a big Mothercare shopping trip planned for the following week - so she turned her car around (was on the way to a farm park with her kids) and went and bought me nappies, vests, babygros, wipes, Moses basket - basically everything needed for a newborn. She never accepted any money for it. She visited daily while we were in SCBU. I’ll never forget such incredible kindness when I was so scared and alone.

I was struggling massively with confidence in parenting. My parents were abusive, my grandparents (who took me in) had both died and trying to adjust from having my two girls to having my two girls and DH's DS was so difficult.

DH was widowed when I met him and DS was very young when he lost his Mummy so trying to find a way to balance being a parent to him, but also respectful worried me a lot

DH's MIL (now known to me as my Other-MIL) gave me a card on Mother's Day that contained, among other things, the words "I'm so glad that my Grandson has you as his wonderful Mum. His Mummy would be so pleased too".

She took away a world of worries, and boosted my confidence in one card.

My lovely optical clinic. I lost my much needed glasses on vacation. I was panicked as I can’t drive without them. Went to a place that did appointments and fitted you for glasses all on the same day. Left with glasses that seemed serviceable but not quite right.

When I arrived home I went to my opticians. I explained the situation and they fitted me for a quick recheck with my regular eye doctor.
The prescription I had been given was incorrect. I told them that I was currently driving 180 miles a day for work reasons.

They understood right away. There was no charge for visit as I had used up my yearly appointment points ( US insurance 😔) They ordered me a quick return lens prescription. They had me pick out new frames ( ones I chose on vacation were cheap and unflattering) and did not charge for those either.

This place has the most lovely, compassionate physician and staff. It made me so happy to know people and places like this still exist.

Sent me a care package of my favourite foods and book while I was stuck in hospital, two people did that for me actually as I was in hospital so long

Shortly after I started dating DP, I caught flu, as I hadn't been able to get an appointment for my flu jab yet. I was so ill.

DP (then, just the bloke I'd been out on a few dates with), popped in to see me for an hour on the Sunday evening. For the next week, he sat with my head in his lap during the day, physically held me up at night so I could breathe, presumably took me to and from the toilet, washed me as I was sweating like a pig and only left me to buy more drinks, get advice from the chemist, as there was no way I'd be able to get to a GP. He also fed the cats, bought them food and cleaned the litter tray.

I sort of woke up properly for the first time on the Friday afternoon, said 'Have you finished work already?'. He answered 'Haven't been in all week. Can you manage some soup?' and held the mug of soup for me to drink from, I fell asleep again and only realised what he'd said somewhere around Sunday teatime.

Despite coming from a family of historical anti vaxxers, he started having an annual flu jab as a result of seeing how ill I was and didn't want to risk me catching anything off him.

A random kindness was a day when I'd just been to my Rheumatology appointment and felt terrible. I went into M&S to get something I could microwave, as there was no way I'd have managed to go anywhere further from the bus stop or cook - I was living alone for the first time and there was literally nobody who knew or cared about me in the world.

My hands and fingers were so swollen, I couldn't get the carrier bag to open as I couldn't grip the plastic at all and was trying to rub the sides together with the heels of my hands.

A very old man - obviously in his 80s - behind me at the till approached, gently took the bag from me and not only opened it, he packed my shopping in two bags to make it less strain on one side to carry - then said 'I understand if you don't feel comfortable, but my car is parked in the disabled space outside, it was set up for my wife to be able to get in and out of it easily and I'm more than happy to drive you home if you wish'.

I almost cried there and then. I saved for once I was home, though.

A stranger took me in when I was 17 with nowhere else to go and helped me find a hostel completely selflessly