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”.

A few years ago I was on my usual commute to a major city and the train was sitting in a tunnel just outside the station for ages. The conductor announced over the tannoy we would be there for at least 10 more minutes and a woman next to me burst into hysterical tears shouting no no no over and over. I asked what was the matter and she said she was going to Lancashire for her dad's funeral and was going to miss her connection which meant she would miss the funeral. She had had 2 cancelled trains on the previous leg hence cutting it so fine. I reassured her that if our train was delayed then her connecting train may be and checked the train app for her. The gods were shining down on her and the train she needed was also running late. By the time our train came in she had 4 minutes to catch her next one and was in floods of tears as she didn't know how to find the platform. I asked if she could run, grabbed both her suitcases and we legged it up the stairs across the walkway and down to platform 8a where her train was still there. She made it on with 30 seconds to spare and hopefully made it to her dads funeral.

When I was a child of about 4 a horrible boy pinned me up against the wall at nursery. I was crying really hard and a tiny red haired boy came over, pushed the horrible boy off me, held my hand and let me play with him all playtime. I moved school shortly after and dont remember seeing him again but I never forgot him even though it was 40 years ago.

Dp car broke down in quite a rural area quite far away from home. The couple in the house opposite came out to help. Invited him and 9 year old dd inside made them a cup of tea and gave dd chocolate biscuits. When I arrived to fetch her at midnight (left dp to wait for the aa) dd was asleep on their sofa.
I felt so grateful dd saw this act of such kindness and care.

@365names ah that is it. I’m undone.
What a truly lovely thing to do.

Thank you for helping that woman.

Shivered as I read this and am toasty warm!

When I was primary school age my alcoholic dad was taking me on a long train journey and once on the train, he got very drunk. Hours later and by the time we got to our stop I couldn't get him to understand we needed to get off. It was very late and dark outside and we were hundreds of Miles from home in an unfamiliar area. I was petrified and begging him to please get off the train. I'm not sure of who pulled the emergency cord but one of the other passengers did and the train was halted and the police came on to take me and dad off. I've often wondered who pulled it and what they made of the whole situation. No doubt they were horrified! I'd love to thank them.

I was attacked in a food shop by a random woman {Much younger than me},clearly she had 'Issues' to have attacked a total stranger.

No one came to my aid apart from a wonderful young man who came in off the street and dragged her off me.

She was trying to attack him, too.

Whoever he is, I applaud him. He certainly saved me from further injury {stamping}

The other witnesses said ''We thought you knew each other'' {!}

Nope, never seen the woman before in my life.

A few years ago I was out shopping and a woman started to have a seizure in the streey. As she fell she hit her head hard on a stone window sill.

I asked a passing woman to help me, but she refused and carried on walking. Eventually other people came and an ambulance was called. During the seizure it became clear that she had been wearing a wig and had no hair underneath. One of the first people to come and help was a chap from a nearby kebab shop. As soon as he saw her bald head, he took his jumper and gently covered her scalp. It was such a humane thing to do, I could still cry thinking about it.

Her husband arrived within a few minutes and it transpired she had terminal cancer, and they'd been to visit the hospice that morning. The ambulance arrived, I left and went on with my day, but I've often thought of her and her family.

It was a moment sharing someone else's tragedy.

My son was really poorly, it was thought he had a brain tumour, we were in Newcastle general hospital, tests were done and it turned out it wasn’t a tumour and he recovered well, after being there for a week and a few more weeks recuperating. A very worrying time!
There was a girl in the bed opposite to my son who was also very poorly, her mum was so lovely, someone to talk too and we both cried together, when things got tough! They had been in hospital for quite a few weeks. While we were there, the girl contracted meningitis as well has her initial illness. I found this out the day my son was discharged. Through the years and it’s been about 30 I wonder what happened to her. All I remember is that her family had a farm quite a few miles from the hospital so her father couldn’t visit every night.

We were on holiday in Italy and went on a coach trip to Venice. I was sick on the coach and felt dreadful when we arrived. We sat at a cafe table with our teenage sons , me with my head in my hands, and DH went off to see if he could find a pharmacy for help. Suddenly there was a hand on my shoulder and a gentle voice said " You are not well?" A lovely Italian lady led me into her house opposite the cafe, I told the boys to inform their dad, and minutes later I was fast asleep in her spare bedroom! When I woke up, they were all having coffee in her kitchen! I never forgot her lovely kindness, taking a stranger into her home.

@minmooch I think that’s the loveliest thing I’ve ever read! Having a little sob here. Most people are good and kind, despite what the media says.

I was in a McDonald's in Glasgow about 8pm when a very young scared looking girl sat down with an older, sketchy looking man.
I just couldn't help but get a funny feeling about it, from what I could ascertain they'd just met, her phone had died while she was trying to ring her mum and he was giving her a lift home. When he got up to get more ketchup I leaned over and said, do you want help- to borrow my phone, ring your mum or for us to get you a taxi home instead. But she said no and before I knew it he was back and left hurriedly.
I think about her often and wish I'd done more. Maybe I'd completely misread the situation but my gut feeling was that she was in danger.
I really hope nothing happened to her.

Not really me but DP.. he was leaving a pub after a night out and noticed a car looking a bit odd, there was a woman in the back looking a bit panicked and 3 males in the car, DP managed to get the woman out and it turned out they'd used one of those metal sticker things for the side of the car from a taxi rank in the next town and had parked down the road from the pub pretending to be a taxi, when the lady had approached thinking she'd be able to get a taxi home, the men had then chucked her in to the car. He walked her back up to ours, with her following behind until she felt like she could trust him, we made her a coffee and ordered her a taxi from a company we use frequently. She wasn't from our town and had no idea which taxis were local. We never found out her name as she was in such a state, but I'm so thankful my DP was there when he was otherwise I can't imagine what would have happened to her.

@Guinefort I'm so sorry that you lost your husband, but thank goodness for the nurse and her advice to you.

The nurse who held my hand as my DH died after having had his life support switched off. I wrote and thanked her afterwards but never saw her again. Her simple compassion was humbling. I've never forgotten her.

On a holiday to Amsterdam one year with DH. He wanted to see a certain museum and I wanted to go to the Anne Frank museum so we parted ways. There was an elderly gentleman walking behind me as I made my way through the rooms. He started off sniffling, but was soon crying quite loudly. I offered him a tissue and he grasped my hand as he took it. He looked so desperately sad and I don’t know why but I took his arm and we finished the tour together. By the time I got to the end I was crying as much as he was. I don’t know his name, his nationality, or anything about him but if I close my eyes I can see his face. I think of him often.

Mine is daft. I’m pretty sure I had PND after DD, and was v isolated in lots of ways.

DD was a couple of months off turning 3. I’d just gone back to work PT, was dropping her off at 8am for the morning at nursery.

Had a text from one of the mums in our friendship group that her much longed for second DD had arrived, her older DD is ages with mine.

I held it together while I took DD into nursery but walking back to the car I lost it. I don’t know why it affected me so much. But probably because if just started to feel like we were coming out the other side, some normalcy. And I’d found those first few years and months SO hard. And the thought of even someone else’s baby and all those emotions just hit me. And a lady who I’m sure works at the nursery/school attached was so kind to me. Only moments, but it helped me pull myself together. Still feel a wave of emotion thinking about that day my friend had her baby.

Never saw the nursery/school lady again, 6 months later it was lockdown and DD never went back.

I went to Tesco, quite late so probably after 9pm when I got there as I nip out when my child is asleep. I had done my shopping and was loading the groceries into the boot. A young couple were parked opposite me in the parent and child parking spaces. They came out of the shop carrying what looked like a tall three year old and nothing but a packet of the cheapest nappies. As the woman was buckling the little girl into the car seat the little girl said "Mummy, I'm hungry!" And the woman replied in that angry tone that mother's use to cover fear and pain: "I've got nothing for you. You've had food today. Mummy and daddy haven't had anything" I felt so many things for her, but mostly disgust that I live in a country that means I have more than I need but wouldn't tax us even a little bit more to make sure babies don't go hungry. I thought how much that would hurt me if it were my child and I couldn't feed her.
I walked over to the woman and handed her a banana - the thing from my shopping you could give a child straight away - and some money. She looked at me, I remember she was blond, it looked very glamorous with the electric blue car, and said "You don't have to do this". All I could says was "Feed your baby." Then I went back to my car boot and looked at my wallet and thought "Fuck it" and gave her some more. I would have given her the lot if it hadn't been family money. I think she said thank you but I couldn't speak. What could I say? Nothing that wouldn't be patronising. People were falling down the cracks of the system, I had friends who were using food banks all of a sudden because their self employment has dried up because of COVID restrictions. I think about that woman and her baby, and I hope that little family are okay, that the parents bought themselves a takeaway that night and ate well and spent a couple of days possibly being less worried. I hope that things got easier for them.

Crikey no thank you? You may have saved him a sentence for manslaughter!

In a similar situation to this once, too. 3 years of unexplained infertility at 28.

Luckily, we did eventualpy have our baby but she was taken into NICU straight after delivery. I was sat in a ward with all these new mums and their babies, not knowing if mine was OK. A kind midwife looked at me, didn't say a word. Five minutes later she comes back and said that she was moving me to a private room. It meant the world to me at that moment.

I worked in a nightclub and was on shift when I fainted behind the bar. A customer I'd never met helped me to a table, got me some water, told my manager I was unwell and was leaving the shift and then called me a taxi to the hospital and waited with me until it came.

I never got his name but he was so lovely.

When I was 19 I drove to see my sister who was at uni. I had to drive through Leeds to get to the M1, no satnav or google maps.

I’d studied a map before the journey, but nothing prepared me for the nightmare of driving in Leeds and I ended up crying and had no idea where I was or where I should go. A man in a car in the next lane over from me (in my memory there were at least 10 lanes full of traffic, but I may be wrong!) wound his window down and shouted through calming things, then once I could talk he asked where I needed to be, then pulled in front of me and led me to the M1!
I have never driven in Leeds since.

Same trip, journey back, I’d managed to navigate out of the town I’d visited, and was very stressed. Once on the motorway I sucked my thumb to calm down.

A car passed me, and every single person in the car was leaned across sucking their thumbs at me.

I no longer suck my thumb. The car journeys of that trip were both more memorable than the visit to see my sister.

This is just so heartbreaking to read let alone witness. Poor boy :( I can’t even begin to imagine.

I was long term ill as a child and saw regular faces during my stays in hospital. One little girl across from me had cancer. Her name was Sarah. On a return stay for myself I remember asking where she was and a nurse told me she had died. On another visit I saw that the hospital was displaying a newspaper article about the mother as she could not afford Sarah's funeral. This has absolutely haunted me throughout my life... I don't know who Sarah's family was and never speak to anyone about it but it has always distressed me. I believe I have a level of post traumatic distress that I have never addressed properly and this is one memory that just stays with me.

I talked down a man who had both legs over the M42 bridge. Rural road. I stopped my car as realised it was serious. We talked for ages he had a 2 year old and had no access as he had a drug addiction. and I finally got him to get safe side and by amazing chance a friend drove over the bridge and managed to text her asking her to call the police. They arrived and were totally lovely. Lad from our village but not seen since.

Sorry if this seems wrong in the thread but it's very memorable to me.

After I was widowed i had a patch of time meeting strangers for sex. In the middle of that time I spent a lovely afternoon with S in a cheap hotel room and we had fun. And then he asked me about what I needed to orgasm, to which the answer at that time was 'I don't know' because I'd had an active sex life for well over 30 years at that point but I'd never had an orgasm with someone else. I found it very difficult to tell my partners what to do, especially as they never seemed to listen. But S listened, and he did what I said, and kept adjusting what he was doing until... it happened. For me it was an incredibly cathartic moment and I cried quite a lot and he seemed completely unbothered and was just very tender and held me. I never met up with him again but I'll never forget him.