A stranger you'll never forget.

[SallyIsEverSoNice]

I'm sure there's a slot on a BBC radio show about this, but I wondered if there is a stranger who did something to help you that you wish you could thank.

Years ago I was travelling alone by train to meet up with a group of friends. It was in the days when Wembley Stadium was being refurbished and there was a big football match final (I think Liverpool v West Ham or similar) being held in Cardiff, where I had to change trains.

I got off the train, walked along the platform into a huge group of fans, somehow turned around and smacked my forehead so hard into a cast iron pillar that I knocked myself out momentarily. When I came round, an older (60's? Maybe 70's) last was helping me up, sat me on a bench and checked me over and got me onto a train, she even carried my case. She made me promise I'd phone the friends I was meeting, which I did.
I never got a chance to get her name, let alone thank her, as it wasn't her train and she vanished. I spent the weekend with a golf ball sized lump on my forehead but I really appreciated the kindness she showed.

Has anyone ever helped you and you didn't get a chance to thank them?

I was on my way to a training course at a hotel in the countryside. I was in my early 20s and had not been driving long. It was before sat nav and I took a wrong turn. I attempted a 3 point turn thinking the edges of the road were grassy verges. They were in fact ditches with long grass and as I reversed back I ended up pointing toward the sky. This was the 90s so no mobile phone. I couldn’t get out and sat there for a good while until a man with a trailer drove past and then stopped. He hooked me up and pulled me out in minutes. I arrived at my course just a bit late. Thank you stranger!

I have a fair few.

I was in hospital with a burst appendix, the woman probably in her 40s in the bed opposite, kept me calm thought out my first hospital experience.

The man who changed my tyre on my due date with DS1.

I was having a bad day with new born baby, another new mum at baby group suggested coffee...a great friendship was born...but I'll never forget that first coffee!

I was a serious pot smoker, and drinker in my twenties, with all the trappings of addiction. One day, i was sat in a park smoking a joint, and a complete stranger said to me "It must be exhausting being a slave to that shit". It cut so deep. I'm 50 odd now, married with kids and a great life. Never will forget that guy.

We were in a pile up on the M20 with our (then) toddler, in the outside lane. Some men stopped the motorway safely and got us all out and to the side. No-one knows who they were but what gents! Toddler was crying hysterically and we thought maybe she was injured. No, one trainer had fallen off in the car and she was standing in stinging nettles. A kindly policeman nipped across and got the shoe, while a Highways England lady chatted to us about chickens. An ambulance person checked us over. A whole bunch of kind strangers.

I had to go to A&E when I was five months pregnant as I was bleeding heavily. I thought I was having a miscarriage (it turned out to be placenta praevia). I will never forget the kindness of the nurse who took me up in the lift while I was silently crying. He had a moustache and tattoos and pink hair and yet he was so serious in that moment, and just incredibly kind.

The security guy at Copenhagen airport on Good Friday about 10 years ago. It was packed, the dc were 6 and 3 ish and actually behaving very well. Security man let us through the (empty) fast track lane, nodded at the dc and said " Mine are the same ages".

When we got seriously lost (wrong building, wrong floor, wrong ward) on the way to DM's first chemo appt. A nurse seeking a moment to herself in a quiet corridor took time out of her day to take us to the right place. We were so far in the wrong place that it must have been a 15/20 min round trip for her. I remembered her name as it was the same at DM's, and put her forward for a PALS award.

i had a similar cheery and pleasant security experience at Copenhagen. Such a breath of fresh air. I wonder if it was the same man?

When DS2 was about 4m old, I'd popped into a community cafe for a coffee before walking home. DS1 was just turned two, and in the buggy, DS2 in the sling. I'd just got DS1 back in the buggy when DS2 had the mother of all poonamis - up his back into his hair and right down both legs. The toilet there was just two cubicles with a separate sink and no changing table. I couldn't get the buggy into the room, so I ended up trying to clean DS2 over the sinks, with my foot holding the door open so I could see DS1 (and he could see me).

An older lady - must have been in her 80s - came out of the kitchen, spotted me, and said "Well this won't do at all!". She went and got a chair, and a book from the kids corner, and sat her self down to entertain DS1. Told me to take as long as I needed sorting the baby, and then told me what a wonderful job I was doing and how obviously happy and loved DS1 was. I was really struggling at that point, and hearing that made such a difference. The kids are 13 and 12 now, and I still think of that lady every time we walk past that building (sadly no longer a community space).

DM had T2 diabetes, she had a full passed out hypo when we took her out to a nice country pub lunch for her 90th birthday. A very calm competent bloke who had advanced first aid training for scuba diving helped look after her till the ambulance arrived. She’d actually come round by then but they checked her out. We looked around for him and his girlfriend to thank them and offer them a drink but they’d quietly vanished.

It’s a regular segment just called ‘Thank You’ in Saturday Live nowadays.

I was out with DC. We weren't far from the house, it had been a stressful weekend of solo parenting, I had PMT and one of the DC was having a meltdown. I was raising my voice and about to meltdown myself.

A woman walked past - older, wiser, been there herself. She said 'Now, I don't think you mean to be talking to the children like that do you'.

I was ashamed and sorry and she diffused a horribly stressful situation. I still feel guilty about it but also so grateful that she stepped in.

Years ago when I was mid-20s my Mum unexpectedly needed brain surgery. I remember going to the hospital brain ward the next day to see her (fortunately she fully recovered but I didn't know that at the time). I was so upset when I got there and this big bearded man came over and gave me a big hug which helped calm me down before I went to her hospital bed.

Like you and the another poster, a similarly lovely experience at Copenhagen airport security. A lovely pair of security guards let DD2 look at the baggage security x ray machines after she bolted off and into the area where they check the bags. Such a refreshing change. We'd probably have been ejected from the airport had that been in the UK.

So many stories that involve travelling and/ or vehicles!!
Same as me!
I went on a holiday, and as I was in a chilled state of mind just started talking to the person in the seat next to me. I was on a multi city trip so did this a few times.
Did you know so many of us have a story in us? I took away with me how many brave people there are out there. People who moved countries, changed from safe stable careers to creative arty ones, people who contribute to their community. It left me feeling that anything was possible

In a cafe with my very young children, one a newborn. Flustered and stressed trying to wrangle hungry toddlers and a hungry baby. A elderly gent came over on his way out, said ‘you’re doing a wonderful job’ and just walked off. Such a kind thing to do and really made me feel better.

I don’t know if this has been said

but so many of these are about men

we so often see the worst of and in men and here is a thread showing kindness from men who are strangers who are so often a threat

It's given me such joy reading these stories. Thank you op and everyone

I don't have a story to add and I usually have a heart of stone, but these stories are so moving that I've just had a little cry x

I was in a really toxic relationship for over 10 years until around 5 years ago, during which our arguments often devolved into him getting physical meaning I would often have to leave our house promptly. Most of the time I had a friend who could put me up for the night but one particular day I had nowhere to stay.

I sat hopelessly on a bench in town next to a homeless guy who asked what was wrong, I told him my story, he told me his about his Dad getting him addicted to drugs in his teens eventually resulting in his homelessness. I stayed with him all day, walking the town, listening to his stories and meeting his homeless friends.

By the time it started to get late I realised that unless I went home with my tail between my legs I was going to be spending my first night out on the street. This lovely group of homeless people reassured me I would be fine and they'd keep an eye on me and the original guy offered me his sleeping bag for the night saying he'd watch over me and make sure I was safe.

The thought of sleeping rough made me thank him but go home as I just couldn't do it but I'll never forget his kindness, and the fact that all he owned was a sleeping bag and he was willing to give me it for the night.

The details are sketchy but I distinctly remember a man in his 40s/50s giving me his big works hi vis jacket when I was out alone at night as a teen after falling out with my parents. I am pretty sure I had been drinking so was really vulnerable in that moment but he was very kind.

My dad had a nervous breakdown in 2017 and didn't know who we were.
He vaguely recognised my mum as the girl he'd dated at university, but had zero clue who I, his daughter, was.
We ended up taking him to A&E, and while he tried to explain, through floods of tears that, "this nice lady says she's my daughter, but I don't have a daughter", I started silently crying out of his sightline.
This young student nurse was in the room with us, and she came round to me, put her hand on my back and just rubbed it gently. She can't have been more than about 20, but I've never forgotten her silent kindness.
I think of her from time to time, and am sure she went on to become a wonderful nurse, and I hope she's having a wonderfully happy life.

Many, many years ago when the now teenager was a baby I was trying to juggle her, buggy and stuff on a bus that was full and standing. Didn't really get a choice about waiting because it was 2 hours till the next bus.

A group of teenage lads (3-4) had a fairly silent but furious argument about who was going to be holding the baby while I folded the buggy, who was going to be giving up their seat, who was going to be holding the bags e.t.c. I found the line 'don't say idiot infront of the babby you idiot' most amusing. The lads chatted to dd and played peekaboo for most of the journey. Most teenage lads get a bad rep but this lot were lovely.

Some of the simple things stay with you. Going for a day out somewhere when dd was about 5 months old, trying to eat lunch one handed (DH likewise keeping the dog in order), a lovely lady offered to hold dd while I ate. Made what was becoming rather a fraught situation into the nice relaxing time it was meant to be.

7 months pregnant and in a really bad car accident. Came around in the showroom of a garage with a really nice young man holding my hand and comforting me. I had concussion and I wasn't convinced that he was my husband but he was being very caring so perhaps he was. Turned out my husband was the driver and this guy worked in the car showroom. Never forgot his kindness, over 50 years ago.