What is the most memorable moment you shared with a stranger who you never saw again?

[kgfreo]

In my line of work I came across a lot of people during the worst times of their lives but this happened when I was off duty.

I was driving to my parents house when I saw an older lady laying on the footpath with blood pouring down her face. There was a huge cut on her forehead and her brow ridge was swelling up. I pulled my car across the road and asked her if I could help her or if I could call anyone for her. She refused to let me bring her to a doctor and couldn’t remember any phone numbers so I brought her to a nearby chemist and the shop assistants started to clean her up and got her tea. I felt like a spare part and left quietly.

A few months later I had to go back to the same chemist and when I approached the counter, the assistant said “It’s you!! You’re the girl who helped a woman who had fallen on the road! We’ve been looking and talking about you for months”.
She went on to explain that the lady had been searching for me for months and was referring to me as an Angel that came out of nowhere and disappeared as quick as I had appeared. I asked the shop assistant not to mention that she’d met me. I’m not that significant of a person and I think it’s a nicer thought for that lady to hold on to instead of meeting me.

There are plenty more stories but that means more as I was not in a uniform just “doing my job”.

Lovely stranger on board a ship many years ago.

My DD aged 3 was really poorly with a urine infection and my exH was being his usual charming self. He thought it was attention seeking so was vile.

He eventually came back to the cabin after many hours to sit with her so I could go ashore to get batteries for a walkie talkie. This was in the days before we had cell phones.

I was hungry, thirsty and a bit daunted getting off the ship alone to search for batteries in a unfamiliar country.

I was almost in tears thinking about how much pain my daughter was in when a lovely lady swept me into her arms.

She sat me down and really comforted all my fears. I so needed a friend at that point and she felt like my angel.

I've never forgotten her kind words.

Same here. Unforgettable and I never got to properly thank her

This one really got to me. I remember how I felt at that time, desperate for things to be normal and I know just how you both felt in that moment.

As a student out on a Sat night I spotted a guy in a pub who I liked the look of. Don't think he noticed me. Forgot about it. Went on to a club later that night - same guy was there. This time I caught his eye and we just walked over to each other and started snogging on the dance floor. Then my friends needed to go so they pulled me away and I never saw him again. I doubt he would have been my type had we actually spoken to each other but it was like an electric current passing between us. Fun at the time!

Last day in Rome and had some extra time that morning due to an excursion being cancelled. Dragged husband back to the Pantheon because I loved the building.

There was a choir singing an a capella version ‘Be still and know that I am God’ inside the Pantheon standing in a circle. It was such a spiritual moment. I was overwhelmed and started to cry and was hugged by a Spanish Woman who was standing next to me. We both connected to each other in that moment. I could feel her pain, and I felt that she understood my sadness. I did feel my burden lighten.

I’m not a particularly religious person. I always thought that I wasn’t supposed to be there. The older I get, the more I realise that I was supposed to be there.

I'm up north and attended a one day workshop in London for work. It was very shirt and I had hours until my train. Ended up walking across London and spending a couple of hours in a museum with one of the ladies who was also on the workshop. Stupidly I didn't even ask her name. We then walked to Euston and went our separate ways, her back to Scotland, me back up north. It was a great day and it felt like she was a friend, even though we'll never see each other again as like I said I didn't even get her name. But it's a memorable experience from my only solo work trip :)

@bloodywhitecat this is so emotional to read but such a lovely thing of the manager to do. I'm so glad that one of your Husbands last wishes was fulfilled ❤️

I'm an expat but have struggled to learn the language very well. I had a baby here and in the hospital, you share a room with another woman.its not like a ward: it's a private room for 2 with no curtain. My roommate was a lady called Josephine, and she didn't speak any English.

We did our best to communicate, had our babies by c section a day apart and recovered together. I had a dreadful time breastfeeding as my nipples were in agony and bleeding. In the middle of the night, I tried to feed my baby and it was so excruciating that I howled. Josephine panicked and told me to press the buzzer. I did, and some midwives came in. I cried and cried so desperately, and looked over to see Josephine sobbing for me. I don't know why but I was so touched by her empathy. We hugged when I was discharged and never kept in touch but I've such fond memories of Josephine.

DH and I were on our honeymoon in Mexico and went to eat at the tapas restaurant. You had to book in advance and when we got there, they said they were renovating and had set up group tables in the conference room to serve the meal anyway. I was dreading sitting with 8 strangers. Turned out to be an absolutely amazing and hilarious night. Two couples from northern England, two couples from Scotland - all in their 50s - and us. Initially it was awkward but as soon as one of the Scottish men spoke and introduced himself in a funny manner, it just opened up the conversation and it was honestly the most I've laughed with strangers in my life. It got to the stage where other tables were looking over at us and grinning cause of all the hilarity. I'll always remember that fondly!

placemarking

Missed out crucial detail that it was a taxi driver I was talking about!

This is a beautiful thread.

@1AngelicFruitCake yea I thought a big bus was driving you around !

I think I’ve shared this one before but I was having a really shitty day at work, a patient suddenly took my arm and asked if she could sing to me. I agreed as she had such a sweet smile as she asked, and I was having such a bad day. She started to sing a song that my late Nanny used to sing to me when I was little, an unusual song you wouldn’t hear very often. I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds and then I just sobbed. She was discharged about an hour later but I’ll remember that moment forever.

Over thirty years ago. A man stopped me when I approached my car at the Services. I was 100 miles into a 200 mile journey. He pointed out the oil leaking from under my car bonnet. He took a look inside and found out I’d forgotten to screw on my oil cap when I’d filled it up the day before.

he took a golf ball, stuck it into the top of the hole you put the oil down and then placed a golf glove ontop and then closed the bonnet. It got me safely to my destination.

my stupid 20 year old self completely forgot to ask him for a business card, he saved my car that day and I owe him a huge gratitude of thanks.

so if you know that man please let him know I never ever forgot his kindness and I never ever forgot after that to screw the cap back on.

This is how my parent met 🥰 random guy wouldn’t leave my mum alone, so she grabbed my dad who she vaguely recognised from being around and said “this is my boyfriend”. They were married for 34 years and have since divorced, but still, not a bad innings for a fake relationship!

I often think of the middle aged lady who was asking directions at the ticket office of my tube station. She was trying to get to the hospital for a cancer appointment and she’d never been before, she was extremely anxious and nervous, apologising to him because she was unsure where the bus stop was.

I couldn’t walk past knowing I was driving there anyway to pick my daughter up from the nursery. I just asked her if she wanted a lift. I was 8 months pregnant and obviously didn’t look like a threatening character. She was so relieved and she kept wanting to pay me, but I wouldn’t accept it. I really hope it all turned out well for her.

I think I have a few but the most memorable was about 15 years ago when our family dog was put to sleep. I was at the vets with my two younger sisters when it happened (I was able to drive and my parents were too distressed to be there, understandably). We came out of the room after she'd passed away and there was an elderly couple in the waiting room with their pet. Obviously recognising what had just happened the lady came straight up to me and my sisters and just hugged all three of us at once. She didn't say a word, but her act of kindness has always stuck with me.

I meet a lot of strangers in my job, sharing intimate moments in their lives who I then never see again. But one that sticks in my mind more recently is the first time I delivered a baby in full PPE a few days into the first COVID lockdown in 2020. Mask, long gown, visor, the works. Things progressed suddenly for the woman and I will never forget the intense eye contact we had to rely on to communicate, as I realised she couldn’t see most of my face, my expressions, or hear my voice as well. It was a huge realisation for both of us at that moment of what was to come, like standing on the edge of something. Still gives me chills thinking about that moment.

Some of these are so profound! Mine is not. But it makes me laugh even now. Years ago, I had just moved to London for my first proper job, and was driving myself back after a weekend at home. I was a bit nervous of driving in London traffic and feeling a bit lonely.

I pulled up at some lights on the North Circular somewhere - a multiple lane road. I was at the front of the queue. Then a guy on a bike came up the side, between me and the next car. He was wearing white cycle shorts which had better days… because they had gone totally see-through down the centre seam, and his entire arse crack was on display 😳

I looked at the arse waving around in front of me, then something made me turn to look to my right - only to meet the eyes of the woman in the passenger seat of the car alongside. We shared a look of absolute horror, then the lights changed and we were all off. We were complete strangers, looking at one another from behind glass, but at that moment our minds were working as one 😂 And the thought of it still makes me smile, 20-odd years later! And also makes me totally paranoid about all my lycra clothing, and perform regular squat tests in front of the mirror 😂

Years and years ago my mum collapsed in M&S . A young woman stopped to help, she said she was a social work student. I can’t have been any older than four, my sister was a baby in a buggy. Mum unconscious taken off to hospital.

The young woman took my sister and I back to her flat, I can still remember where it was - and I remember sitting on her knee at her desk, drawing with highlighters whilst she showed me the phone book (white pages book) asking if I recognised any of the surnames .

I recognised thank God my granny and granda (‘S_’ so must have been a long hunt!) and she was able to call them to collect my sister and I.

I have no idea of her name, can’t even picture her face - only her flat and the phone book - she’d be not that much younger than my mum but I often remember her.

I was at an airbnb in France with my boyfriend of 6 months, our first trip together where I met his family etc. However, he didn't seem that into me and ended up having a wierd sort of break down at the airbnb - he collapsed and the owner called an ambulance. While we were waiting, the owner gently held my hand and said he isn't the man for you, you need someone stronger. My boyfriend turned out to have nothing wrong with him and dumped me a few days after we got home. The airbnb man was strangely kind and intuitive. He gave me a book of his poetry he'd published. Not creepy in any way. He was about 70 and just wanted to help. He seemed to see my boyfriend for what he was.

Sitting in a ward full of pregnant women whilst recovering from yet another test to find out why I couldn’t have children. I had to wait for 30 minutes before I could leave. Massively overwhelmed and emotional. A nurse took one look at me went to the waiting room, got my DH who wasn’t meant to come in and put us in a room away from everyone. I’ll never forget that small gesture from someone who understood how I felt.

I was waiting for a flight in Spain as a young adult quite late at night, small airport. Had spent all my euros, though could have got some out on my credit card. The flight was suddenly cancelled and the airport was about to close. No bus service into town. A family standing behind me offered to take me to the airport with them the next day, put me up overnight in the hotel with them and refused any payment.

A very light hearted one. I was waiting at traffic lights, when the green man appeared I started to step out as I noticed a car hadn’t spotted the red light and was travelling too fast to stop. I stopped myself and automatically put my arm out to stop the woman next to me too. She did the same. We then realised we were holding hands and looked at each other in utter horror before smiling and walking away.