Strangers you meet for a minute but often think about

[AbbyGal]

Gatwick Airport morning of 9/1/01, we were flying to Greece on holiday and were next to a Gate for a New York flight. Young woman, in tears, travelling alone with a baby and a grizzly toddler who was playing up. I played peekaboo with him for a while until our flight was called.
The atrocity happened while we were in the air and i assume she ended up being grounded somewhere with her children.

I flew to relatives abroad a lot when mine were little and often think of her.

A lovely lady who was a court interpreter on a crowded and very hot train to Liverpool. She got the very diverse group of six people in our seats talking. Was warm and motherly. Looked after the young girl who was on a train for the first time and offered a lift to the Somali lady next to her. I remember her smile, her laugh, her prayed beads and her photos of her son. It would have been a much longer more unpleasant journey without her. Sadly I can't remember her name.

Ah. Walking to work in Central.london aged 18. Coming in opposite direction was a Prince Charming. I mean, very handsome, exquisitely dressed. Eyes met from quite a distance away. We both stopped. He said in lovely European accent, I don't normally do this but, can I have your number?
Said I didn't either but yes.
He called three times.
Each time I was out and my housemates didn't take a proper message.
Oh for mobile phones back then!

I either met Brad Pitt or an American who looked the spitting image of him in the chemists in my little village in rural England. He pulled out in a very flash sports car , came in and asked where the nearest doctors was and after getting directions went back to his car and drove off. For a brief moment I considered following him and offering to escort him there to make sure he found it but then remembered I was wearing wellies and probably had straw in my hair and no make up.

Even if he wasn’t Brad Pitt he was the most good looking guy I’ve ever seen in my life. Both me and the chemist are convinced it was Brad Pitt and we often still mention the occurrence to each other and this was about eight years ago, maybe more. 😄

The woman in GP waiting room in 2010. My almost 3yr old was running riot, jumping on the couch, trying to drive his car on people's legs and I was feeling very frustrated and embarrassed as it was busy and i was being glared at. She asked me his age and I braced myself for some criticism which I was becoming accustomed to. But she said rather loudly "well he is acting just like 3 yr old boys do, so don't you worry about him because we don't mind at all". I'm still grateful xx

I'd been sent to London for a training thing for my retail job. I was 16, never been to London before and had no clue how to navigate the tube. This was before you could get internet on your phone. A lady opposite me on the train could tell I was nervous, chatted to me about where I was going, got off the train with me, took 2 tubes to my stop which were in the completely wrong direction for her and wrote down what lines/colours I needed to get back to the station later. Often think about that day for some reason

You absolutely have to read this book - it’s incredibly moving and utterly beautiful. Collection of letters by accomplished writers to strangers they have met across the world.

I was about 21, walking through a train station in central London and a random guy was hassling and following me.
A lovely lady, mid 40’s very smart was walking towards me. She glared at creepy bloke, linked my arm in hers steered me away saying “oh there you are, come on we’re late” - and looking back at creepy bloke said “fuck off will you mate”.
She made sure I was safe then just floated off - wish I’d said thank you properly.

Not in a good way, but I think of a guy I met at the sandpit in Springfield Park, Hackney, about 6 years ago. We just exchanged the usual parental chit chat, but I felt that in some way he had identified me as prey - it was like the way men look at you when you are young and they wrongly think you are too drunk or stupid to see them calculating how drunk or stupid you are. In his case I didn't know what he was calculating but he made my skin crawl and we didn't go back there for a long time.

A absolutely awesome woman in McDonalds in Chester, we were in the loos together and shared a few words I can't even remember what they were but she had such a unique 70s vibe about her.

A Spanish lady in Lanzarote I was lost she helped me.

There's a few more but them two came to mind first.

PP thanks so much for this. Looks amazing. I've ordered it.

Chinese lady who gave me a foot massage on a beach in a Mediterranean island.

Sounds exploitative and maybe it was.

But I really really liked her.

As she walked away she looked back at me and I often think about that look.

I was running to catch a bus and I annoyingly missed it.Random woman who saw me miss it, pulled up beside the bus stop in her car and asked me if I wanted a lift to catch up with the bus. I jumped in and off she shot down the road, overtaking the bus which I then caught lol. V grateful as buses around my way are useless and I would have been late for work. I think about her every now and then and think what a nice thing for her to do.

It really is. I read some of the essays on the train last night and they have left a mark as I’ve been thinking about them today. Full of depth and wisdom.

When I was 10 I had a dislocated elbow. I was on a hospital trolley being taken to have it pushed back in, and a boy of about the same age was being pushed in the opposite direction, and he gave me a cheery thumbs up as he passed. I was in absolute agony and this really cheered me up.

On a less positive note, absolute wanker sitting at adjacent table to me in a pub when I was about 19 - holding court to his table in what was the most horrible, racist diatribe I had ever heard. Now I am middle aged I would say something, but I was too scared to do anything at the time, to my shame.

And a rather sad one - I was on a long train journey sitting opposite a very young woman who was on her way to a hostel from prison. I knew this because she very quickly attracted the attention of a creepy bloke who engaged her in conversation and was trying to persuade her to get off the train with him (he had probably noticed that her worldly goods were all stuffed into large white carrier bags). She dealt very well with him, and he left the train, alone but then she fell in with a woman who was drinking very heavily and was soon joining her in the vodkas. By the time I left the train she was very 'merry'. I often wonder (and hope) she got to her hostel safely.

A few years ago I was shopping for the day with mum, who didn't tell me she wasn't feeling too good until we got to our destination. Parked up, set off walking to the high st when mum started feeling wobbly/shaky and needed to sit down (diabetic), so sat her on a wall.
Been there around a minute when a woman came out of a house opposite and asked if mum was ok (no) , and took us into her home. Got the kettle on, sat mum down, then she put on her coat, grabbed her bag, and said " right, got to dash for the London train. Stay as long as you need to, my son is upstairs if you want anything, and please just drop the latch when you leave". And off she went!
It was obvious that after a half hour mum wasn't in any fit state for shopping, so I left her in the house, went and got the car to take mum home. Before we left I shouted up the stairs to the son to thank him and his mum and that we were leaving. He never answered and I sometimes wonder if there was actually a son there.

What an amazing woman, to see 2 women, one quite distressed, to invite us in to her home and leave us there, trusting us to lock up when we left. Well we did, and the following week mum sent her a letter and flowers for the care she was given that day by our own one minute stranger. I will always be thankful to her.

What happened on 9th January 2001?

Some interesting stories on here and I am looking forward to reading that book, thank you PP.
Mine is the elderly lady I met in the loos at M&S when I was heavily pregnant with my eldest and feeling tired and worn out and nervous about impending parenthood. She asked me when I was due and I told her (3 weeks or whatever it was) and she replied “You’ll do marvellously! Just trust yourself and make sure you ask for help when you need to!” It was just the lift I needed that day and made a big change from all the people I’d met who wanted to tell me their rules for becoming the perfect parent

I think it was meant to be 9/11 not 9/1

Cordoba in Spain, around 1999. I was being a tourist on my own and there was a massive thunderstorm. A lady in the street was most insistent I should come home with her to get dry and be safe. I didn't but often wonder whether she was a bonkers or just extremely kind.

Ah 11th of September 2001, that makes more sense, sorry.

Oh I love this thread. Thank you! Off to order this now 😊

Sorry, typo, it was meant to be 9/11.

I've added that book to my book list, thanks.

interesting to read other people's stories.

When I was young and travelling, I met a man from Quebec at a tiny airport , he was sitting on the floor next to the water machine. When I went to get some water he said hello to me. I said hello back and then we just got talking as best as we could as he didn't speak English and I didn't speak French. There was a lot of hand motion whilst taking. To this day I don't know if he was going to Vietnam for one day, one week, one month or one year 😃

What felt like 15 mins later, my then bf whom I was travelling with, came over to say our flight was boarding. The thing is, I had been sitting taking with him for hours. Bf took the piss out of me for many years about it.

That relationship didn't work out, and I often think about the incredibly handsome, funny man from Quebec.

I was travelling to see my Mum who was dying.. I missed my connection because my covid test came through 2 minutes too late.. plane was still on the ground. I broke down in tears in the toilet. Went to buy a new ticket and this amazing woman at the transfer desk justified the mistake as being an airline issue not a traveller issue so I didn't have to pay. She was amazingly kind without making me cry. The lady at the passport check asked why I was going back through.. she was also on the right level of kind in a place not renowned for warm officials. It was like there were angels smoothing my very difficult journey.

My other story was when dropping off my son at university.. I met a bunch of angels that day, all showing me that my son would be safe and happy in his new home and that he would find the help that he needs when he needs it.

I was a young mum with a 1 year old and a 5 month old and we'd just got off a long haul flight that I'd been so nervous about. I'd prepared as much as I could to keep the kids happy and I was completely exhausted. After landing a lovey woman came up to me and told me what a fantastic job I was doing as a mum and how amazingly well behaved my children were. Well, it brought tears of relief and gratitude to my eyes. I was so used to being negatively judged for being a young mum that I just wasn't used to positive comments. I appreciated it more than I could say.