What’s the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

[Queijo]

I have two, but I can’t choose.

Once when I’d just been diagnosed with epilepsy I had a seizure out of the blue on a bus alone with Dd and a woman jumped out of her seat, sat with Dd and sang with her whilst making sure I was ok and making sure Dd wasn’t panicking.

Second when Dd was days old I’d taken her out for the first time on my own, and we went to cafe for coffee and I was breastfeeding Dd. A woman came over and said you’re doing great. It was a second of interaction but to a first time mum I felt incredible after that.

Also anyone who waves to dd from a bus/tractor/train/bike!

I was 18 & walking alone back to my hall of residence at about 3am in a big city. First term at Uni & was having a horrendous night, friends had dumped me etc. A black cab stopped & the driver told me to get in. I told him I hadn't got any money but he drove me a good 5 miles to my hall for nothing. Bless his heart.

It does go someway to restore faith in human nature.....a great thread op.

When I was in hospital with sepsis one of the nurses sneaked me in a takeaway out of her own money. I've never forgotten it.

I was in enormous pain, and had to get to hospital in the middle of the night but didn’t want to get all the kids up so DH could take me. i had cash, so I asked the taxi driver to take me to a cash machine on the way to the hospital but he wouldn’t hear of it and just drove me straight there. So kind.

Many years ago I was flying alone with two small kids. We were just getting off the plane, I had the baby jn a carrier (he was ten months and big) and bags over my shoulders.

My three year old tripped, fell and banged his knee. He screamed the place down and wanted to be carried. I couldn't do it, due to bags and baby. A lovely women walked over to us. and picked him and carried him all the way to baggage collection. I was so grateful.

There's been a few but a few days after my mum died suddenly, the battery in my car failed. I needed to get over to my dad's house (he's disabled and doesn't drive) and the battery failing was like the final straw in the middle of all the crap.

I rang the car relay people and the chap they sent out was so kind. While he was testing the battery, I ended up telling him my mum had just died and I needed to get to my dad.

The man said my battery was totally broken and he could sell me another at (in his own words) 'an inflated price' or he had another idea. He searched on his phone and found a cheaper battery at a Halfords nearby, jump started my car (which he said was just enough to get me going) and then he drove behind me all the way down to the shop (4 miles away) in case I broke down again. When I got to the shop he used his trade card to get me a discount and then to save me the cost of fitting it, fit it for me in the shop's car park.

I thanked him several times and he just said, 'I understand. At a time like this you need to be with your family'. It was such a kind thing to do. I remember getting in the car and crying for a solid 10 minutes, just from grief and his simple act of kindness.

Lady who brought me water when I was breastfeeding in cafe - she winked at me and said 'thirsty work that!'

Was being bullied outside school, lady I didn't know came up and said 'hello my lovely' as if she knew me and started asking how my family were etc. stayed with me until the bullies had all gone home

This one is a neighbour's - she had her family coming over from America after her Dad died. She was grieving and also skint and overwhelmed with thinking what she would feed them. One of her friends brought round 2 huge bags of food, left it by the back gate a few minutes before she came home and asked me to keep any eye on it. Neighbour came home and I showed her and we both just stood sobbing and hugging at her door

I do believe most people are good at heart. Thank you for this thread OP

Said I looked good.

Guys don't really get compliments, so I remember that like it was yesterday. It's a small thing, but it matters.

These are lovely, very heartwarming.

Mine is not so interesting but I never forgot it.

I am an avid reader and when I moved to London I joined the library near where I worked. I got the card I went a bit mad and got the maximum books I could probably near to 10.
Took the tube home, and when I got there and realised I left them on the tube! Did the usual lost property etc to no avail. Finally a few weeks later I plucked up the courage and went back to library to confess and pay for them ( was on a very low income so was going to hurt). Librarian checked and said they had all been returned! Someone must have found them and kindly returned them.

. So wherever you are - thank you so much!

Maybe if there are men around but many years ago I saw a woman who needed help because her car had broken down going uphill on a dual carriageway. Fortunately it wasn’t far to a lay-by so I pushed it for her. She never said thank you and I was much younger than her too!

When I was heavily pregnant with DS1, I started feeling sick and dizzy on the way to work. I was still a good ten minute walk away, so sat myself on a wall in the hope it would pass. It didn't. 3 lads who must have been about 14, stopped on their way to school as I was being sick in a bag, and looked after me. They insisted on staying with me until I felt OK to walk, and then wouldn't leave me until I'd got to my workplace. I rang the school straight away, because by this point they were going to be late, and I didn't want them to get in trouble for their kindness to me!

Another was when DS2 was in hospital (one of many times, unfortunately) and I'd had to pin him down for a fairly invasive emergency procedure. It was really traumatic for both of us, so once DS was asleep, I took myself to the parents room and had a bit of a meltdown. One of the other mums on the ward followed me in and just held me while I cried. She didn't say much, just let me get it out. That's one I've paid forward in the many weeks I've spent on paeds wards over the years. It can be such an isolating experience, so just that reassurance that you're not alone can be immensely powerful.

A man started verbally abusing me and was leaning over me waving his hand and intimidating me at work. A middle aged woman, 50ish, smaller than me, wearing a maroon anorak and a fierce expression came and stood right next to me and starred at him whilst pressing her shoulder into mine. I will never forget her. He slunk off and I have done for other younger women what she did for me countless times since. Have a go, it's fucking brilliant.

Last year we had to take our cat to the vet to be put to sleep. We knew he wouldn't be coming back and DH and I were in bits in the waiting room. It was packed and there was nowhere to sit so DH was holding the cat basket and I was talking to out cat. A lady stood up and asked us if we would like to sit down which meant DH and our cat were more comfortable while we waited. Her small act of kindness has stayed with me ever since

I was caught in a bad traffic jam on the M25. My young child was with me. A man in the next lane gestured for me to open my window and he offered me a drink and snacks for my child. I will never forget his kindness.

One getting the train to a small town late at night, and for tidal reasons coudln't get to where I needed to be for an hour or so. A taxi driver picked me up, took me to his house where he and his wife made me cups of tea until the tide went out and he could drive me over to the island. So kind!

Also, a person with Rh (D) negative blood donated so that the ant-D could be extracted from their plasma so that I could be injected with it so my body wouldn't attack my baby's body. Thank you, anonymous people who do that!

When I was about 11 I developed shingles while on holiday in Cornwall. My mum managed to get a doctors appointment for me and we went to the nearest bus stop to look for a bus to get us there. As we were looking a woman came by and told us as it was a Sunday/Bank Holiday (can't recall) there were no buses and then offered us a lift so we wouldn't miss the appointment. She refused to take any money from my mum as well. I have never forgotten this act of kindess.

Cabbie wouldn’t take the care from Waterloo to the evelina children’s hospital when Ds2 was about 4yo. So kind.

Random man who changed our wheel for us in a supermarket car park when he saw dh struggling with it and we had 3 small children in the car. He just said, ‘I’m a mechanic and I saw you’d got children with you.’

My windscreen shattered when I was on a country road miles from my destination. Luckily I got into the hard shoulder. I had no idea what to do as it was pre-cell phones and I was miles from a town (plus was meeting friends at the destination and had no way of telling them). A man and his wife (and kids) pulled over. He punched out the windscreen and told me to follow them to their house. When we got there they gave me a cup of tea and he called his friend who had a garage. I went up to the mechanic friend and even though it was 5 pm on a friday night, he found a windscreen for me in a town 30 miles away. A friend of his was visiting for the weekend. That friend drove me into the nearest town to a restaurant, drove 30 miles there and back to get the windscreen, the mechanic fitted it and they delivered the car to me at the restaurant around 8 pm. Just a series of lovely, generous people.

I was looking after my cousin's baby and had bought a train ticket the day before to use the next day. I was on the train, and the conductor pointed out that the ticket had the wrong date on it. I explained I had purchased it the day before for today, but he wouldn't listen and said I had to get off the train at the next station.
A lovely lady, who was a solicitor, paid for a new ticket for me. And gave me her card so I was able to pay her back.

When my dd was little she had such severe eczema she looked like she'd been burnt. She spent lots of time in hospital with infections and she was bandaged from head to toe most of the time. She was stared at a lot and became very shy and anxious in public.

She was desperate for a build a bear. I took her into town the day before her next round of treatment to buy the bear so she could bring him to hospital with her.

While waiting in the queue to pay the man in front started chatting to my dd. Asking the bears name etc. my dd wouldn't usually talk but whispered to him that the name was fluffy and that the bear was going to stop her being sad in hospital.

When it was our turn to pay the cashier told us the man in front had bought a 50 pounds gift voucher and asked her to give it to the little girl behind.

We looked everywhere for him to say thanks but we didn't find him. She's a teen now and still has the bear. We won't ever forget that kind man

A random man on a train helped me clean up my daughter who had vomited everywhere.

Years back I dropped my wallet. I only realised when I got home. 5 minutes later a lady called me (my phone was PAYG and I had a top up card with my number on it) and said they've picked up my wallet. I said thanks and said I'll pick it up tomorrow.

I borrowed the cab fare off my mum. I got talking to the cab driver who said he'll drop me there and back again.

2 weeks ago there was a major train issue. (Not a strike!) I asked a member of staff for help getting to the new platform (they wanted us to get on a new train) and a lady overheard me say this. She says she'll take me over

The amount of people (I've stayed in contact with most of them) who've used their time to either guide me at parkrun or running events.

Put £20 of petrol in my car, it was the only money I had in my bank. Went to the till to pay and card declined, checked at the cashpoint and the £20 had been taken by a bill id forgotten about. I pretended I needed to go to car to get another card but I was going to have to ring my mam to ask to borrow money, anyway as I'm out on the forecourt a man came out of the garage and said don't worry about it love I've paid it. He drove off before I could thank him properly. He doesn't know how much he helped me that day

My Dh did something lovely recently. He spotted a young couple with 2 small kids looking bewildered on the side of the road. Maybe they got out of a bus at the wrong stop. It's a rural route so the next bus would be hours. He stopped the car and asked them if they were OK but they had no English and showed him the name of a holiday village about 10km away. It had just been turned into a shelter for asylum seekers and he guessed as much by their clothing. He drove them right to the door although he was going the opposite way. God knows what they had been through and I hope they remember him when they are feeling overwhelmed and low.