Random strangers you remember fondly

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

Do you have people who you never really spoke to or knew, but they kinda made you smile and you still think about them years later?

Mine was a middle-aged guy I used to see at the gym, dad bod type but took his training VERY seriously. He used to coach himself, out loud, throughout his sessions: "just one more... that's it... YES" or "smashing it today, 2 more reps.....ONE MORE...UH!"

It sounds like it should be annoying but it was actually endearing, his total lack of self consciousness. I called him Encouragement Guy.

Do you have anyone you look back on?

A decade or so ago, I used to drive DH to work then continue onto my workplace. On a bit of single-track road, we used to pass a gangly young chap struggling along on a bike, always bright red in the face, and wearing a baggy orange jumper. He was known to us as Skinny Boy, and, like a previous poster, we judged how late we were by when we passed him. Then one day - no more Skinny Boy. We decided he had either saved enough money to buy a car or changed jobs. I will brook no sad explanations before someone offers them!

I went on a coach from the midlands to London to the V and A for a Frida Kahlo exhibition without booking beforehand because I thought there would be spaces. There weren't.
I was calling my friend telling her what an idiot I was when a stranger who heard the the conversation approached me.
He was a member and was able to take me in.

We chatted until we got to the entrance and then parted ways. He was from Wimbledon and I think his name was Richard.
I loved the exhibition. And I often think about the kindness of strangers.

Ah that is sad. How did you find out?

Tame fox is amazing! I don't see why not.

I was in hospital seeing dad who was dying. Late in the evening I cried in a hospital corridor. A lady appeared out of nowhere, she was a patient too, she listened to me and spoke about angels and how they stay with you. Half an hour later my dear Dad died.

When I took dd, aged 5 months, to visit my Gps on the train, the train was packed and the other 3 people in the 4 table seats looked aghast that I had a small baby. I was very nervous having not done such a trip before. She was impeccably behaved however and won them all over. One went and got me a coffee and another lady kept offering to hold her if I needed the loo. Contrast to a later time on Eurostar where she cried all the time and the poor woman behind me had an awful trip. Nothing worked - snacks, walking up and down the carriage etc - I felt awful.

DS1 was a bit of a nightmare as a baby and toddler and I was really working on praising positive behaviour. I was in Sainsbury's one day with him just carrying on as normal praising him for walking nicely, holding my hand, getting something for me etc. A lady came up to me and said how lovely it was to hear a parent being so positive towards their child. I'd not long left my abusive ex and really didn't think much of myself at the time, her words gave me a real boost.

Also the man in a suit who held the same DS hand going down the huge escalators on the underground. He was freaking out and I was struggling with suitcases and older DC.

I always try to help and be kind because you never know how your behaviour will impact someone else

I had just left a therapy session, and I sat on bench nearby. I was crying, and a lady came up to me and offered me tissues.
No wanting to talk or anything (and I would have hated that)... just the tissues.

This has rung a bell for me!

I think you might be right about the fox!

@mumsnettowersplease can this thread go in classics?

Hot ‘Seb’ as he was known to my friend group at college. He sat on the table next to us all year & we never spoke but he was beautiful.
Years later I bumped into him on a boozy might out & he came over, we had a hazy animated discussion - ‘oh my god I know you!’ And I told him he was incredibly hot. I’ve never seen him since 🤣

Oh that reminds me!

I used to live in a suburb of Plymouth with a large Royal Mail sorting depot. It is very hilly there. I would often cycle to work early on a morning and would fly past an older gent dressed in a neon tabard, with a great big beard and his lunch in an Asda carrier bag swinging from the handlebars. No bike helmet.

In my head I called him The Post Elf, but I did wonder if he chose to work or if he might have had a tough time and not have enough money in his pension.

Very random but for some reason I still sort of remember a family/group at a hotel I was staying at as a teen. We were in the same welcome meeting with the rep and they had an animated discussion about which trips they were going to do.

There was a mid/late teen girl with a red bandanna who had a "cool", detached sort of vibe when we were waiting for the meeting to start, but she seemed to enjoy the meeting and we sort of shared a smile when we were facing each other across the room during discussions with our respective families.

Yes I was about 19..I was on a train back to Portsmouth- in the days when women would still talk to random chaps - and I met a guy, maybe mid -thirties and he told me he was a Buddhist..I fell under his spell and invited him to my grubby flat where we drank tea ..He bogged off after a bit . One of the things he said which I always remember is that if he ate a meal that was homemade and made by someone who knew him and liked him, then to him it would taste better than a meal made by someone who had no feelings for him. I haven't told anyone because firstly it seems stupidly risky of me by today's standards and secondly I think the bit about being able to taste food prepared lovingly is a bit of a wild idea..

I fondly remember the random stranger who saved my life by giving me the Heimlich manouevre when I was a small child.

In Kingston we had Moses. He was a black guy who used appear in random outfits. One time in diving gear, another time as a country gentleman in full tweed plus fours, spats and jacket. A popular outfit he often wore was an evening suit and a top hat. He always looked gentle and happy.

I got dumped out of the blue by my fiancé early one morning. He said he’d booked me a ‘good flight’ back to my home country that afternoon. He drove me to an airport within an hour, and left me on the kerbside. I was hyperventilating and bawling my eyes out sat at a table in a random airport cafe. A man and wife came over and took me in their arms and held my hand until my flight arrived. They treated me like I was their own child. I will never forget their kindness. Everyone else turned the other cheek.

DS1 was born extremely prematurely and had numerous health problems in his early days. I had to take him to the Royal Brompton cardiac hospital when he was a few months old. DH couldn’t come so I had to travel on multiple buses and trains with still-very-tiny DS in a sling on my front and a rucksack on my back with all of his paraphernalia in it. It was pouring with rain and very windy and I finally arrived at the hospital in a complete flap.

We have met many different medical people in many different settings and often the senior ones were quite aloof. However this time we saw the most senior cardiologist in the hospital and he was the loveliest man and kindest medic I’ve ever met. He came to the waiting room, took my rucksack and carried it to his office, and helped me get DS out of the sling. I will always remember him scanning DS’s heart and the simplicity in which he told me “the hole has closed”. His down to earth kindness made a very difficult appointment a pleasure.

He had a name that sounded like he should be the leading character in a Thomas Hardy novel. I’ve just googled him because of this thread and seen that he died 6 years ago, in his 80s. I’ve also only just discovered that he had exactly the same three initials as my lovely DS.

When my son was a baby I was driving home one afternoon with him in the baby seat. Coming down a hill I heard one of the tyres pop; luckily there was a carpark by a pub on the other side of the road and I managed to limp the car into it. I parked, thinking 'shit, what do I do now,' (24 years ago, no mobile phone). Just then, a car whizzed in behind me and two lads jumped out 'don't worry love, where's your spare tyre?' They'd seen what happened on the road and followed me in to help! They had the tyre changed in about five minutes flat and refused to take any money from me, just dusted themselves down and drove off again. Never forgotten them, bless 'em

Yes, a man who literally saved my life. He held me back as I was crossing the road, and literally stopped me from being run over.
Before I could even thank him, he’d gone.

A teenage boy who played with my 3 year old in a splash pad with such kindness and generosity. He was such a good sport, made my DD so happy and just made me so proud on behalf of his mum. Think about him all the time.

Another one - about 25 years ago, I was on a long train journey sitting at a table opposite a young woman who was making her way from a young offenders' institution to a hostel. All her possessions were in large, institutional white plastic bags. These attracted the attention of a sleazy man who evidently recognised them as sign of vulnerability and then spent an hour trying to persuade her to get off the train and go back to his flat. I silently cheered her on as she rebuffed him.

He eventually got off the train, but the young woman then threw in her lot with an older woman who had a bag full of mini-vodkas bought from the buffet and was drinking them and smoking (this was in the days when you could smoke on the train) in the vestibule. By the time I got off they were very merry!

I wondered at the time whether she would make it safely to the hostel and whether she'd get in trouble for being under the influence, and I sometimes wonder what became of her and where she is now.

I was in my late teens, so mid 1990s. I had split up with my boyfriend, and so my best mate had taken me camping on the Suffolk coast to cheer me up.
I couldn’t sleep, so in the early hours I crept down to the beach in my pyjamas. While sitting on the beach, throwing pebbles into the sea, a young guy with long hair wearing a Dennis the Menace red and black striped jumper, came and sat down next to me and threw pebbles into the water too. We sat there until the sun came up, talking about my heartbreak, and he really helped me, just by listening and calling my ex a loser.
I think about him often, he was like a grungy guardian angel.

Thhecyear I worked Crisis at Christmas pregnant, quite early, was due til July. I fell over, random guy came over to me, helped me up etc. I mentioned I was pregnant. He took my bag off me and escorted me upstairs, made me walk slowly and offered to take me to hospital, handed me over to my team leader and explained what happened . He told me his wife lost a baby previously. Some people might have been annoyed by his behavior but I just saw a man who'd felt his loss deeply and just wanted to protect us. Eldest is now 11. I do hope they got a baby.

Different Xmas working Crisis, a young man offering to take my suitcase, carried it up the stairs for me, just so casual about doing it like it was nothing but I appreciated it.

First season of that same volunteer work, going down to a festival, running through the train station late for a train, had to stop as I had a full on panic attack brought on by panic and a lack of oxygen!! Whilst someone went to get someone official, an army medic travelling through looked after me. Picked up my bag and told me no wonder I was struggling, his soldiers trained with lighter packs 😂. Train station guy took me to first class and nice army man came with me til I was settled. Probably missed his train, I certainly did, but I appreciated his care and humour.

I had a baby who had visible disabilities. We were always on the bus going to some group or appointment. There were so many women who I called our bus ladies who would just say hi, how's the baby, oh isn't he getting big. Just NORMAL but when your kid has a visible disability, normal doesn't always happen. And this wasn't just a few weeks. They still see us some times, always comment on how far he's coem, noticed when we stopped using o2 and we're so genuinely happy for us. Used to drive sh potty when he went out and these random women talked to him like they knew him - cos they recognised DS. I'd be like oh yeah, sounds like oen of our bus ladies!

Was up town once and a TOTAL stranger came over, a middle aged man I'd never seen, and he said along the lines of "oh my gosh, he's off his oxygen, that's so great!" and I smiled and concurred and thanked him and wondered who he was but how sweet? He'd obv seen us repeatedly, clocked the kid on o2 and felt such pleasure in seeing him off it he came to talk to us like we were old friends.

Around 1997, we were at a pub, our DS2 was playing in the river that ran alongside. He dragged a plank of wood back to our table exclaiming it was a 'part of the Mary Rose' a couple at the next table started talking to him. He had an entire history lesson from them, discussing the construction and history of The Mary Rose. We and he have never forgotten them. A lovely couple who struck up a conversation with an imaginative 8 year old. He is still a history buff!

This is a lovely thread OP, I have had so many lovely little interactions over the years. It's hard to pick just one example!