Little kindnesses remembered after decades - thank you craft fayre man!

[BorrowedThyme]

I was about 12 when I attended a craft fayre with a school friend and no adults. I stood by one stall of polished stones with my friend, and we went through little gifts we had brought for our parents and siblings. I had nothing for my mum, and only about 30p left, and was in despair about finding something nice, when the man behind the stall handed me a green polished stone, and said, "This is free, and I think your mum would like this" - and she did!

I still remember his kindness, 45 years later.

Anyone else?

Also loving these stories x

I was Going through a messy divorce because husband had an affair. One day me and DS who was about 6 we went to a local garden centre and had lunch as a treat.

After we finished and were walking out, a little old lady came up to me and said 'excuse me my dear, I just want to tell you that your son has the most beautiful table manners, he's a credit to you. I've been watching you both eat your lunch and your bond is beautiful, I could feel the love between you'

I got in to the car and burst into tears. She had no idea how much I needed to hear that!

About 8 year ago I'd had an awful run of bad luck - our buyer had just pulled out of our flat so we'd lost the house we wanted to get, DH wrote off our car and (unrelated to that!) he'd recently found that his job was at risk; I'd just got the solicitor's bill for the sale and purchase that hadn't happened... I was sitting in a back street near work at lunchtime crying.

A well-spoken woman came up to me and asked if I was OK, I told her what was up and she said 'Life's shit sometimes' and we had a little chat which just made me feel a lot better. Thank you posh sweary lady!

At my 6th birthday party, one of my invited classmates was a little boy who'd only recently come from China. He was utterly bewildered by the whole thing. I'll always remember though the random kindness of another guest, a boy from over the road who didn't know him at all, who gave him all the chocolate coins he'd found in the treasure hunt. It was so genuine and pure.

Was bf my daughter in public by myself for the first time while alone, was pretty nervous, a lady came and sat at my table in Starbucks, she looked me in the eye and chatted to me while I fed, when I finished she told me what a great job I was doing and left, she gave me such a massive confidence boost and I'm so grateful to her still 16 years down the line

Lived in a third floor flat. I had a new baby and was juggling.trying to get up the street with some heavy shopping. A lovely young woman, a nurse on her day off, took my bags and insisted on carrying them to my door. It was so kind, it makes me smile to remember it.

A woman who helped me stand in a queue when the coach driver wouldn't make allowance for my mobility difficulties don't even know her name

DH and I had a meal bought for us in London by an American couple who’d chatted to us briefly tghat evening - summer 2011.

This summer, an American paid our bar tab (€60+) in Greece after we’d chatted over drinks.

My favourite was when I’d just passed my driving test and wedged myself against another car when parking. A man came over, reversed my car out for me, and made sure I was in a secure parking space.

Running late for a job interview not long after I got my licence as I was really struggling to reverse park in a small spot in the city. I’d been trying for ages and was on the verge of tears when a businessman tapped on my window and asked if I needed help. He said he had a daughter the same age as me and got in the driver’s seat and parked for me. I’ve never forgotten how kind he was - he even gave me some parking tips that I still use today!

Since my DS was a toddler he had been obsessed with model trains. Each year we would take him to a model railway exhibition at a nearby town. When he was about 7 we were looking at the Hornby exhibition and my DS was telling the Hornby man how we were building him a layout in the loft. I noticed a church on the Hornby display and asked if it was possible to buy them as it would fit in perfectly on my DS's layout. I was told they no longer made them but it was called St Andrew's Church. I was even more disappointed when I heard this as DS's name is Andrew. The lovely guy asked me to give him my name and address and said they were going to break up this layout as they were designing a new one and he would see if he could send the church to my DS.

Sure enough a few months later a package arrived for my DS and in it was his church! He was beyond excited. We went back the next year and saw the same guy so was able to personally thank him. DS is now 24 and we still remember that man's kindness.

That's gorgeous ❤️ I'm glad you experienced that kindness at such a difficult time.

My car hit something - God knows what - and punctured a tyre. Halfway up a hill, of all places. A guy going the other way saw me stranded, turned round and came back and changed the wheel for me. That’s about 30 years ago now and I’ll always remember his kindness.

When DD was 5 and DS was 1, we went for a walk down to the shops and DD found a set of chapter books in a charity shop. There were about 30 of them but I only had enough cash for the first few (shop didn't take card), and was explaining that to her when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up and a man was holding out £20 for me to take, so we could buy the books. When I said I couldn't possibly, he said "all children should read".

We bought them all and she devoured them one after another, all thanks to that kind man. She's 9 now with a reading age of 14, and it all started with those chapter books.

When I was a teenager (15/16ish?) I went to the library which was about 3 miles away by bus. I was rather underdressed for the weather even before it started to snow.

Due probably to the snow, my bus home didn't come. There was only one bus every two hours anyway and this was the last one of the day (the route didn't do evenings). I was cold and wet and miserable.

Eventually a bus came which went to two stops before where I normally got off (and then in a different direction) and decided I would get that and walk the rest of the way.

The very lovely driver took me to my door instead. (I had asked if they knew if my proper bus was going to come, it was an hour or so late by then. This was before bus stops had electronic info boards.)

I was camping and walking in the Lake District with my boyfriend at the time. There were no mobile phones at all then. We were winter climbing. We fell out and I packed up and set off walking home - over 140 miles away. I made it 18 miles then was sitting by the road resting in the rain with no food working out how far it was to the next place and whether I could hitch a lift when a white car came flying past, stopped, reversed, and the man said "Get in". I got in. He handed me a cheese and pickle sandwich wrapped in cling film. I was so hungry I have never forgotten how that sandwich tasted. He took me all the way home to my parents door. Our families got to know each other and 2 years later, I married his son and we are still together all these years later.

Hitchhiking was common then. I did it a lot. I met many fantastic people and had only a couple of bad experiences, which I learned from.

This might be my favourite story on MN ever! (And I've been around for a decade!)

Not sure if it's the cheese and pickle sandwich, the 120 mile very kind journey or the marriage but I love it!

Amazing story!

When dd was a few weeks old, I went to the shops with her and ds, who was 5 at the time. I sat on a bench next to a play area so that ds could play while I fed dd who proceeded to do the biggest projectile vomit ever while I was winding her. I was covered in it, as was dd, the bench and quite a lot of the floor. An older couple came over and helped me clean up, held dd while I wiped as much as I could off myself and the bench and helped me bag up the vomit covered muslins and dd's clothes.

Also when dd was very young, ds's school had a parents lunch and two very kind dinner ladies took dd from me in her pram and sat with her in the reception area so that I could have lunch with ds.

These don't sound like big things but someone showing understanding in those first difficult weeks postpartum meant so much

My gosh what a story!

I agree about hitchhiking, it gave me so many great experiences and connections in my teens and 20s, and like you I learned from the bad ones.

Also loving these stories.

Mines not much, but I still remember it, 30 or more years on. Mid 1980s. Arrived in big city by train as a teen on my own, late at night, to find that my purse had been stolen from my bag. Devastated. Taxi driver noticed my distress and insisted on taking me to where I was staying for free. He said he had a daughter my age and would like to think someone would help her in the same circumstances.

Our families got to know each other and 2 years later, I married his son and we are still together all these years later.

That's so lovely.

Yes, I want to know more please!

When the white car man, who was called Henry, dropped me off at my parents' house, my parents invited him in and thanked him and gave him some food.
It was coming up to New Year and Henry and his family lived in a place where on New Year's Eve, the people in the village set fire to tar barrels and roll them down a hill (I know, right?) and he invited us all to come over and spent New Year with his family, which we did.

There, his son was visiting. He worked abroad. We hit it off, but he went back to his job abroad after the Christmas holidays and for 6 months we wrote to each other. He came back in the summer and asked me to marry him and I said yes.

He found work in a city, not too far away, and we lived in a caravan on a farm while looking for somewhere to settle. We eventually found a cottage to rent and got married in his home village He bought me a Siamese kitten for our first anniversary called "Lucky" because he said we were just lucky to have met.

Isn't is strange how one tiny event or random encounter can change your whole life forever? Reading what I've written about this, it probably sounds surreal to a young person - it probably wouldn't happen now. But with no mobile phones or internet, you only had other people to rely on to help you out, and on chance encounters to meet great people.

Well over 30 years ago I went in for the civil service exam at a campus that both had very extensive grounds and was also a long way from the nearest public transport and the station for the train home. On paper the train was 20 minutes from my home town.

I decided to walk back into town after the exam, but it was much further than I thought and dusk was drawing in. After a good long while, I knew I must have taken a wrong turning and was lost, and was going to miss my train. I knew my parents would be worried and had no means of contacting them to explain - being deaf, I couldn’t ring. Well, I could, as I could feel the coin go down the slot on connection, but I wouldn’t have known anything they wanted to say back - if, for example, my Dad could make time to drive over, or any instructions about where to go or meet.

By now it was dark. Hungry, weary and emotional, anticipating my parents becoming frantic, I walked past a little old-fashioned terrace with shop fronts. They had either shut up for the day or were shutting up. It was a very lonely feeling. But in one shop, a little alterations place I think, the lights were still on. Two ladies were still nattering away over a cuppa. It looked so warm and welcoming and I was so tired.

They had nice faces, so I took a deep breath. It was probably my one chance to sort the situation out. I walked in and explained my predicament. I asked if they could call me a taxi, so I could get to the station and also just let my parents know I’d be late.

‘Of course!’ They were astonished when they learnt how far I’d walked, sat me down, wouldn’t take my money for the calls, fussed over me, boiled the kettle again, and it was all cheerfully dealt with with great kindness. ‘Thank goodness we were still open!’ and they told me my parents were so pleased to hear from them that I was OK. ‘We have your daughter here, in our shop . . . ‘ They looked after me until the taxi turned up and I’m sure that by then it was well past their closing time.

It was so hard asking for help, explaining my disability on top of everything else, and why I couldn’t help myself any further. But they didn’t make me feel different or stupid for asking - they made me feel normal that day and as if it was the most natural request in the world. It was just that extra little bit of kindness. I can still see them in my mind’s eye, and have a little cry every time I remember them.

Now there’s Googlemaps and text messages but there wasn’t any of that then.

My kind of guy. He"s absolutely right.