Has a random act of kindness stayed in your memory forever?

I was 26, fell asleep on the last train home from London and ended up miles away from where I lived. I was in tears on Swindon station and the guard took me into his cabin, gave me tea and biscuits, found me some magazines, let me use his phone and then an hour later walked me to where my rather cross Dad was waiting to take me home. I have never forgotten that lovely man and my Mum sent him a little thank you note addressed to "the guard who looked after my scatty daughter last Saturday night". I hope it got to him.

Whar a lovely lot of stories there are on here - some major but many minor acts of real kindness. Also, faced with desperation these acts of kindmess are so appreciated and as we can see here can completely change the way of thinking by the recipient.

Driving home one night past a Stud farm near Newmarket the White Van in front hit a Horse and stopped dead. Luckily I managed to stop in time so I did not hit him but the sight of that poor Horse(Polo Pony as it turned out, 2 had been let out by some kids thinking it was fun) was dreadful. The locals were out straight away and one couple in particular were fantastic and had given out cups of tea and coffee to those sat waiting to move. I had sat in my car with the lights on and engine off - giving light to the Police as they sorted out the crash. When they told me to go around my engine would not start. Lo and behold they did not have time to push start me

The couple I mentioned earlier found me and invited me back to theirs whilst I waited for the RAC. They were a bit tipsy as they had been in the Pub when the accident happenned but they were so kind and friendly.

I remember them everytime I drive past.

I did a walk for Breakthrough Breast Cancer in China (through the Gobi Desert). On the last day of treking I was exhausted and hot, as we finished the walk we entered a very poor village. A young boy quickly chnaged into a suit and asked all to come in and share some tea. He was really proud of his home (which was a stone bed in which he, his mother and siblings slept). He oftered us food and tea and he clearly had nothing, really, nothing. He was so concerned for our welfare. That boy absolutely blew me away with his kindness.

We were told not to offer any money as it would be an insult, so i just gave my toiletries and choc bars and hair bands to his little sisters.

oh, jamescagney, you've reminded me of when I wrote off my sister's car and had to sit in a hotel in Brompton-on-Swale on a dark, wet September night with all my luggage around about me waiting for the bloke I was visiting in Leeds for the weekend (now my DH ) to come and pick me up.

The regulars in the hotel took me under their wing and fed me brandy (for the shock) and kept me laughing and from dwelling on a very scary experience till DH arrived.

Then of course there were the 3 MN'ers - one was UCM, the others shall remain un-named who at various points in time have either lent me money - or in the case of the latter two gave me money when things have been tight. They know who they are and I'm very grateful.

This thread is fab

Mine relates to our very own Marslady, who e-mailed me her number so I could phone up for a chat when I was having nasty "is it or isn't it" contractions at 32 weeks . She also talked to me about my worries over VBAC vs elective C-section.

I thought it was fab, that someone who was, to all intents and purposes, just a nickname on a computer screen would take time out of her very busy schedule to put my mind at rest.

It makes me happy to be part of the MN community.

LAtest one - which I'm sure will stick in my mind forever happened today - complete stranger handed me a folded up £10 on the bus as I was heading back to my DB's with the DS's. Told me to treat the Ds's with something tomorrow as they were so good - and then got off the bus and disappeared into the commuter crowd before I could say/do anything.

Up until then I had EXACTLY the right amount of money to be able to do the planned stuff with the DS's tomorrow and Friday and a small amount to spend on Friday night - I can now go out on Friday (first time in a LONG time) and actually enjoy myself instead of counting the pennies

DS was six months old and I was pretty postnatal. DH dropped me and the baby at the supermarket then took DD to a Drs appointment. I did my shopping and spent all my money (we were completely broke at the time). After an hour DH hadn't returned and DS started screaming blue murder. I tried repeatedly to raise DH on his mobile but no joy. DS was in his car seat and I had no buggy with me so I couldn't even attempt to walk home (we lived about 5 miles away!)

Another hour passed and I was beginning to lose it completely. Finally I burst into tears at Customer Services (by now very hungry DS also still screaming). At this point a lovely little old lady approached me and said "My dear, I have nothing else to do today and I am happy to drive you wherever you need to go".

At this precise moment DH turned up but I have never forgotten this kind lady who was prepared to take a complete stranger (who happened to be an over emotional sobbing wreak) and her screaming baby home.

great thread

It was a dark and stormy night... {smile]

11pm, I was driving home alone from the pub and my car engine died at a set of traffic lights in town. It was the olden days, long before mobile phones.

An AA van stopped behind me and the lovely AA man looked at my engine, found the loose battery connection and fixed it. He then followed me across town to make sure that the engine didn't die again.

I think I was a member of National Breakdown at the time

When I was 8 months pregnant, I had travelled all the way to Dublin, on 2 trains really early in the morning and had to get on the Luas. I fought my way in feeling exhausted.It was pissing down, carriage was full and this big tycoon business man just tapped my shoulder and gave me his seat. tears just rolled down, i could have kissed him.
Also when I crashed my dh( then boyfriend)s car, totalling it. Guard found my glasses, brought me into pharmacy and made me tea and gave me kit kat. it was warm in there and people so nice. About a week later, same Guard doing traffic duty, stopped me and said "great to see you back driving lovey"

I was travelling back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem, and only had enough money for the cab and a Falafel (was going home that day). I was counting my money in the cab, worried and hungry. I got out of the cab, it drove away, and I realised i had left my wallet in the cab.
I told someone at the Taxi-rank thingy, and the drivers shuttled it between them to get it back to me. Amazing!!!

On the same trip, I was in Egypt, and I was really short of money - very tight budget, only enough for cheap food. I was feeling a bit sick, and wanted a MEAL, but couldn't afford it. I went into a shop, and there in a box of apples was a fiver. I tried to give it to the shopkeeper, but he kept thrusting it back to me. It was only a small amount, but made all the difference in the world.

The two lovely men on the train from Paddington yesterday afternoon who moved so that me and my DD's could sit down - very kind of them and all the more welcome because DD2 was really ill and spent much of the journey vomiting into a Harrods carrier bag!

oh hospitals are fab places for small but hugely life-affirming RAOK

(our hosp took the unheard of step waived the visitor parking fee for my mum when we all thought ds was dying...)

Yes, many lovely nurses who brought me books to read while I was conducting my 2-week vigil, and the ones who took me by the hand to tha canteen to make me eat and the one who played with my toddler for hours with the Brio so I could have a nap...

i cant pinpoint exactly, but i experienced a lot of RAOK at harefield. from the lady in the canteen letting me have a cup of tea for 20p because i had run out of change, from the little hand squeezes from people as peter went downhill, to the massive hug from one of the patients who assured me it would all work out.

and for Jason the nurse, who ignored my no tea request and bought me a cuppa anyway when peter went down for transplant.

I was in my beat up little Renault 5 driving back from visiting DH when we were both at separate universities. Car started majorly playing up, slowing down, so I crawled off the main road and saw a garage which I pulled into.

I went in in floods, asked the person in there if I could use the phone. I phoned my poor DH and wept down the phone all stranded and helpless in the cold and dark. He very sensibly advised me to phone the Green Flag, as he couldn't do anything.

I came off the phone and a man who was there paying for petrol with his son asked me what was wrong, said he'd have a look at the car, drove his car up with headlights on so he could see, found a random bit of the bonnet was dangling in the engine, sorted it out for me, then took the car round the block to make sure it was working, leaving me with his son, then set me on my way.

He was so nice, and I was sooo pathetic!

oh crap! I forgot a major one! When my ds was in hospital with meningitis for a fortnight, a vague aquaintance (not even a friend!) heard about it and turned up at my home with a week's shopping which she left on the doorstep for me (as we wwere at the hosp).
I only found out who had done it by chance, weeks later when a neighbour said he had seen someone leaving the shopping.
He just said ''it was a woman with a blue car with a little girl''. From his description of the woman's dd, I worked out who it was (she had distinctive hair!)

Our paths never really crossed that much and she upset some of my friends subsequently so we nver did get past aquaintance stage, but I will NEVER forget her kindness and thoughtfullness at that dark time.

I am a huge advocate of RAOK and endeavour to carry them out whenever the opportunity arises.
This is a beautiful thread and reading some of these experiences has made me cry!

When I was about 18 I had an accident on my motorbike. A van pulled out of a side road in front of the car I was following. The car stopped- I didn't. I was gathered up by a biker I hadn't noticed behind me. He had me under one arm and the bike in the other. The front mudguard had got jammed down over the wheel so it wouldn't move. He fixed the bike by the side of the road then told me to follow him to the police station to report it, where he did all the talking, then called my parents to get them to pick me up.

Another one was on a cross channel ferry. DH and I were driving with our 6 week old PFB in her carrycot on the back seat of our 2 door hatchback. As they loaded us on, one of the crew noticed the carrycot and called to the others "there's a little baby in here". They then stopped all the loading and helped DH lift the carrycot out through the hatchback, only carrying on once we'd got over to the stairs out of the way.

oh glasto! One year me and a female friend went and on the way our windscreen was smashed, We used every scrap of our money to get it fixed (no cash cards in them days!) and turned up with tent/1 very small case of beer and a lot of hope in the kindness of strangers.
At first we used the beer to barter for food. Then word got around that we were penniless thru' no fault of our own and people fed us, gave us beer (and , erm, joints) all weekend. We were very young and no-one took advantage of us!
TBH this was 20 years ago and I don't think people would be so kind now....

As v v naive teenagers myself and then boyfriend (now husband - who else would stand for our rubbish planning!) went to the Glastonbury Festival with nowt more than a tent and green Doc Martins to buy a ticket off a tout which we duly did for over the odds and were given our coloured wristbands. Of course going through the gates we got immediately taken to one side by quite a 'grandaddy' steward who gave us a big lecture about trusting touts, got all the other stewards to laugh at the price we'd paid all whilst he put on us pukka wristbands and shooed us on into the hallowed fields - back in the early 90's so prob less tolerant there now but what a real example of the festival spirit!

Luce - I'll let you buy mine - IF DP EVER PROPOSES!!!!

dh has one - when staying with his parents when they lived in Ireland we went on a weekend trip to Dingle. There's a lovely bay there and dh and his dad borrowed a little coracle from the friends we were staying with to splash about in the water for a bit. They were gone for ages and we were starting to get a bit worried...then they turned up totally knackered and a bit the worse for wear - they'd got carried away and had actually paddled right across the bay (it had taken them an hour or so) and when they got there all chilled and exhilarated they went into the lone stone pub for a pint of guinness...to discover they hadn't got a penny between them. The landlord gave them both a hearty ploughmans and 2 or 3 pints each and told them to come by sometime and settle up. One of the farmers even offered to drive them home but the coracle wouldn't fit in the tractor so they had to paddle back - with nice full tummies and a guinness-fuelled twinkle in their eyes!
They drove around the next day and the landlord said "I wasn't expecting you so soon, I thought you might come back next year when you come on your holidays again or something" !