Have you ever had a random encounter that you still think about?!

[TeethKicked]

Years ago dh and I were driving through country lanes in deepest darkest Oxfordshire ( insofar as Oxfordshire can ever be deep and dark!) But we didn’t know where we were, and I wouldn’t have the first clue how to get back there again.

A car coming the other way (the only car we’d seen in a while) drew level and stopped. The woman driving it told us she was a registrar and couldn’t find the wedding party and asked if we had seen them.

We apologised and said no, we hadn’t seen anyone at all, and off we all drove. I’ve often wondered:

A) Did she mean that the wedding party were also driving around the lanes of deepest darkest Oxfordshire?

B) Did she mean that she was lost and couldn’t find the wedding venue?

C) Did she mean that the bride, groom and guests hadn’t shown up so she was out hunting them down?!

D) Did she ever find who she was looking for, or was there a bride and groom somewhere waiting and wondering, and did they ever get married?!

All this wondering from a two minute encounter! Anyone else?!

🤣😆 Kind of. I posted on Instagram a photo of a hot air balloon that I had seen in the sky that morning & I asked if any of my followers had been passengers, and I got a reply from the pilot!

My wonder lasted about half an hour 😁.

But I do get situations like your a LOT!!!

Wow, that’s a coincidence! Would be lovely if you went on to say you met up with him/her and started dating!

When I was about 10 I was walking home from school and saw a teenage girl in the distance hitchhiking. This was the 1970’s and people did this back then. I always remember my Mother telling me to never get in a car with a stranger. I have always hoped she got where she needed to ok.

When I was 13 my school visited the Ideal homes exhibition in London and a boy on another school trip gave me what I still consider one of the best smiles I have ever seen.

When I was a student I was in a bomb scare in Digbeth coach station and got chatting to another student who was passing through from Manchester. I have often wondered how his life turned out. Phil if you are out there I’m saying hi.

I wonder if that was my cousin's wedding? The venue was in Oxfordshire and near impossible to find, we all got lost! Even locals, who we stopped to get directions from, had never heard of it!

My random encounter was when I was working out in Greece for the summer season. I'd just had my heart broken (or so I thought at the time, I was only 22) by another British worker, who'd lovebombed me and then dumped me as soon I reciprocated (he then worked his way through the village doing the same thing to half a dozen other girls). He turned up at the nightclub I was in with his new conquest and was going out of his way to upset me - and it was working.

Another British worker was on his way out when he spotted me crying, and said: "oh no. Let's get you out of here", popped me on the back of his motorbike (to the disgust of my ex) and took me back to his apartment - where he tucked me up in his bed, made me a cuppa - and then went and slept on his balcony.

In the morning he made me breakfast and gave me a very gentle lecture on how I should just forget guys and romance and concentrate on enjoying myself and having fun in this amazing place - because he'd been working out here for years and had seen so many girls get shat on by blokes like that, and it really wasn't worth it.

He was absolutely right and after that that's what I did. I didn't see him much after that, we didn't become friends or anything more, he had no agenda. He was just kind to someone who was hurting. I'll always remember that, and I hope when my son grows up, that's the sort of man he'll be.

I did something wrong at school 6th form and the head teacher was going to ring my mum to ask if she knew what I had done. I decided to ring her and confess but her landline was engaged (days before mobile phones). The teacher didn't end up calling her luckily. When I git home I told her that I had tried to call her earlier and the phone was engaged. She said she hadn't been on the phone all day. How weird was that? And lucky for me too.

I was working in Boots in 1980 aged 17 and this young guy (early 20s?) came in and pointed at a piece of sellotape on the wall and in a German accent asked what it was called.....he had the most beautiful piecing blue eyes and my knees went weak....I always remember how gorgeous he was. I told him what the sellotape was and where he could get some and off he went. Lost forever 🤣.

When I met my husband for the first date 4 years ago I had exactly the same feeling and he has gorgeous blue eyes...still make me go weak at the knees!

Back in the 90’s my family went to Florida on holiday.
One day my sister and I were waiting in line to go a ride at the Magic Kingdom and there was a couple in front of us who were obviously on their honeymoon.

The new wife talked the whole time about, the wedding, the dresses, how her sister and mum had the wrong ones on and had to swap? How the people in the room before them had horrible little fuzzy flowers that had been left behind? On and on she went about all sorts of things and her husband just stood there going mhmm the whole time.

My sister and I used to wonder what happened to them and if they’re still married.

Lovely thread 😀

It was 1990 (I was 15) and I was in Orlando, Florida in a golf superstore bored out of my mind. While looking at the clubs I turned around to talk to my mother and to the just to the left of her also looking at clubs was my (long term) school crush! I am pretty sure I went instantly red and had no words! I think I eventually managed to squeak something out and even to this day it still blows my mind!

I have just had one which I won't forget in a hurry. I'm in Liverpool for few days. I was standing looking at a blue plaque on a building (obviously a tourist) when a random man came up to me and said if I wanted to see something spectacular I should go through a small doorway on the opposite side of the street. I must have looked dubious because he explained it was an entrance to an old station lined with the original Italian tiles which have recently been restored. He left me to it and went on his way so I decided I had nothing to lose and did as he said. He was right - they were spectacular. So thanks, random Liverpudlian man 🙂

A man walked past me on the street once and said "Wow, you look like a cross between Lisa Stansfield and Sharon Stone" and just walked on.

He didn't say it in a chatting-up way, or a particularly admiring way. He just said it as a statement of fact. So completely random and, from what I can make out, not necessarily that accurate.

I think about that a lot.

When I was about 13/14 I was buying something in a supermarket and sort of practicing in my head what I’d say to the cashier. For some reason, instead of saying “hello” when she said hi to me, I said “Bonjour”. So then I had an internal panic and for some reason decided id say “me no speako much englisho” in a crap French accent.

It was so obvious I wasn’t French and she was very polite to not call me out. Sometimes I think about whether she still thinks about that encounter.

That really made me smile. What a decent man.

I was walking about a rough part of town alone desperate to get a taxi after leaving night out early last year. It was v busy so felt safe enough but loads of drunk people about. An older man walking a dog very discreetly asked if I was OK and I won’t forget him.

Years and years ago I was completely bereft and very mentally fragile after an awful break-up. Walking down a random street in town feeling very blue when a random stranger handed me a bunch of tulips and just kept going. It all happened so fast I didn't even register if it were a Man or a Woman before they were lost in the crowd.

They can't possibly have known how fragile I was or how much that small gesture would perk me up on that day and the days that followed, but I really wish they did. I still think about it often years later.

Same break-up, different day, I was in a tube station when a random blast of air from a passing train blew a big red stray heart shaped helium balloon around a corner and straight into my face. It was like something from a bad romcom movie and made me laugh out loud at the comedic tragedy of it.

I randomly met a person and was instantly convinced they were my soul mate. I spoke to them for about ten minutes and another ten minutes on the phone later. That was it. I'm not in anyway pining for them, putting my life on hold or unhappy. I'm very content but dream about this person once every couple of months and wake up with a warm, happy feeling. I don't actually believe in the whole "soul mates" thing but I'm curious to see if we cross paths again and what will happen if we do 🤷🏿‍♀️

Many years ago, I was on a late night ferry going from the UK to Rotterdam, where I was to meet my partner and we'd both be working for a while. I got to the ferry way too early and so did this other bloke. He was a retired Gurkha and he told me he'd gone awol from his engineering job in Germany and come back to the UK because his dog was ill. We got chatting and ended up sitting together for the 12 hour crossing, which took place during a terrible storm. We were in the dining room sitting opposite each other and both hanging onto the table edges to stop being thrown to the floor. The was the background sound of smashing crockery and children crying and occasionally some brave soul would stagger from one pillar to the next in an attempt to cross the room, but mostly everyone sat quietly and watched the lightning and waves splashing against the windows. The Gurkha kept turning green so I fed him peppermints. Eventually we got to Rotterdam and went on our separate ways. He pops into my mind now and then and I wonder what happened to him when he got back to Germany and if he got into much trouble.

I should add: I also wonder what happened to the dog...

When I was younger and single. I was in hospital and briefly for say an hour or so had a junior doctor stay with me and hold my hand as I was in pain. He got called away but refused as he wanted to stay with me. The consultant came and gave him a telling off and he went away to see the other patient. Somehow I knew I would never see him again so I said bye have a nice life.

In that brief time we had a deep connection not romantic. Don't know what it was to be honest. I think about him from time to time and hope life has been kind to him.

One day as a university fresher I went along to a social event at the student union with new friends from my halls. I saw a girl sitting on her own who looked really sad so I went up to say hi. She said she was missing home and felt like university was a mistake so she was considering leaving. We ended up chatting for a while and I tried to cheer her up by assuring her she would settle in soon and start enjoying herself, she just needed to give it time. She said thanks for talking to her and she seemed a lot happier by the time I got up to leave. I looked out for her for ages and ages after that but I never saw her again. I still think about her sometimes and I do hope she was ok in the end.

Driving in the countryside, I came across a young lady on a beautiful horse - she had gorgeous auburn hair glinting in the sunshine and a bright white top that was reflecting the sun. I slowed done and drove past carefully so she gave me the biggest smile - it was like another sun coming out. Never forgotten her - she just oozed happiness and grace and poise.

Once at a family event I had a connection with an older man, a friend of one of my relatives. Nothing happened but we chatted all night and at times I wonder what would have happened. Almost like at that time my life was in a fork and I took this path, not the other. I do think about him from time to time.
Another time I was in NYC alone travelling on the greyhound bus and an Irish guy sat with me pointing out all the sights of the city etc he really made my trip as I was sad to be leaving.

I was a very shy school girl - from a family where compliments were never given - I went to a country fair open day - back in those days the Army had recruiting tents - a group of young soldiers were there - one looked at me - smiled and just said it was love at first sight- made me feel 10 feet tall - ( probably did it to everyone) it was over 50 years ago but I remember and hope he had a good military career. ….

I left school…..and joined the bloody Army !

Years ago there was a knock at the door whilst I was at home by myself. When I opened the door there was a seemingly drunk man. I explained that I was going to shut the door but I would get him some sugar water.
When I came back to the door he drank it and immediately began to make more sense. I had correctly recognised that he was having a diabetic hypo.
The chances that he knocked on a door where someone was in (weekday in the school hols) and of someone who recognised the symptoms (teacher who has had diabetic students).
I sent him off with directions to the nearest pharmacy and instructions to make sure he always carried glucose tabs

In the early 1980s, when I was in my early twenties, I went on a cycling tour of Holland, alone, staying in youth hostels. One day, when I'd stopped to eat a sandwich, a youngish man started talking to me. It was just average chit chat. Asked what I was doing, and my name. Mentioned he was a detective. Then I cycled off.

The next evening the youth hostel I was staying at received a phone call from him ( he had contacted all the youth hostels within a reachable radius). He again didn't really say anything of note, and asked where I was heading the next day. Being young and naive I told him. He said he and his wife would like to visit me at the next youth hostel. I couldn't think of a good reason to say no, so they came. By this time I had probably cycled 80 miles or so from where he lived.

We all spent around 30 minutes having a coffee in the youth hostel and making chit chat. His wife didn't say much to be fair. Then they drove the 80 miles or so home again. WTF was that all about!!! How did that conversation with his wife go? 'Hey, I met a random English girl today. Shall we make a 160 mile round trip tomorrow evening to have a coffee with her?' 'Absolutely hubs, what a great idea ...'

I still think about it, baffled, to this day.