Have you ever met a stranger, who you never saw again, that you still think about?

[Backinthe1960s]

It was at my local stamp club. We didn't get many new members turning up so when one did we all to used to make a big effort to make them feel welcome. It was the night of our annual quiz and he and I were in the same team. He seemed a really nice bloke with a vast knowledge of stamps and postal history and I thought he would be a good recruit for the club. Afterwards we went for a quick drink at the local pub, he paid for a drink for the two of us, then he went off towards the gents toilet.

I never saw him again and he never came back to the stamp club. For ages I wondered what happened to him.

Two people:

A very charismatic man in his mid-late twenties who chatted me up in the queue at the baggage transfer desk in Dubai airport and then took me for a drink. I was 18, shattered from a long flight and wearing grubby clothes after a month of travelling through the desert, and he made me feel like something special.

A young man with sparkly eyes who smiled at me across the train as we got into Newcastle station and then chased me along the platform to tell me I was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen and he hoped my boyfriend knew how lucky he was. Sounds cheesy, but it sounded like he really meant it, and there was nothing sleazy about the way he came across. Wish I'd told him I hadn't got a boyfriend - I was with a complete bastard at the time and I'm SURE this guy would've been a better bet!

Walking back from a night out. Balmy summer evening in Glasgow. Revellers and post pub wanderers were buying chips, waiting for taxis etc. I walked past the doorway of The Spagetti Factory where this busker was sat on the step playing a very unusual Led Zep song which stopped me dead in my tracks. I just stood and stared at him (he was totally gorgeous with long curly hair and intense eyes). He stopped playing and stared back. We shared a fleeting stare then I moved on but to this day I wished I'd stopped and spoken to him but I was too shy. I still think of him

Something very simple almost 40 years ago. A couple were in a book store letting their young son choose a carrier bag (something similar to the bags for life that we have now, but quite expensive at the time). The unity of the couple, the joy on their son's face and their reaction to their son was utterly delightful. I was a young teen at the time and I have never forgotten such a simple joy.

In 2001, I was on a train heading back to uni. My grandfather (who I was very close to) had just died. I got talking to thevguy sitting opposite me on the train. He was in his late 20s. He hadn't seen his Dad for years but had got hold of his contact details so was getting a train to see him, just turning up on the doorstep and seeing what happened. He was so kind to me in my grief. I always wondered what kind of reception he received. I hope it was a warm one.

Yes, there are many stories for me, but I shall relate this one.

When I was in my early 20s and living in London (around 2003). I was on the Tube, I think it was the Victoria Line. Anyway, I glanced at this absolutely gorgeous guy sitting near to where I was strap hanging. He got up and offered his seat to me, what a gent and we chatted. He said to me 'would you like to get off the Tube and have a drink with me?' which I did.

We ended up changing to the Piccadilly Line at Kings Cross St. Pancras, and we went to a place near Covent Garden. He said that as soon as he saw me he knew that he had to get to know me better. We ended up having a night out together, he was 29 and Italian-Irish, and the electricity between us crackled.

We ended up at his apartment near Earls Court. In the morning he gave me his mobile. and landline numbers and asked me to phone him the following day as he wanted us to meet up again.

When I got back to my own place in Islington, I thought long and hard about it and decided that one special time together was enough. I phoned him and told him that, he told me that as soon as he saw me he knew that I was 'the one' for him. We met on a fucking packed Tube train, it wasn't the most romantic place!

Anyway, I declined because I was playing (safely) the field. I do wonder what happened to him though. He was one lovely man. My DP thought I was terrible when I told him this story when we first got together. That was until I pointed out to him the fact that we would not be together had I started a relationship with this man.

Got a wee tear in my eye. How can I nominate this to go on MN Classics?

On a family holiday to Cornwall in 2004.DS was 6,DD was 14 months old. Sitting on the beach with DD while DS was bodyboarding with DH, I noticed a family arrive a short distance away;Mum, Dad and 2 kids. After a while, a guy joined them.He was in his late 20's and my heart and stomach just flipped when I saw him. I couldn't stop looking over at him.He noticed me looking and every time I did look, he was looking right back at me,and gave me a little, sexy smile. Obviously never saw him again after that day, but I can vividly remember what he looks like, even now.

Yeah a couple actually.

When I was on the maternity ward after having DC1 in 2012, there were two pregnant ladies in the beds opposite who were having complications. One with low blood platelets, the other with severe SPD if I remember correctly. I was in for a few days afterwards and we got talking, they were both lovely and were really supportive towards me when I was having difficulties breastfeeding and when DC would wake in the night and scream for hours. They really did save my sanity whilst I was in there as all I wanted more than anything was to just go home. I can't even remember their names now to try and find them on Facebook or anything, but I really hope everything went well for them and their babies.

When I Was younger I was friends with a boy who was a year or two older than me. He didn't live locally, my mum was friends with his auntie and he used to come and visit his aunt during the school holidays which is how we met. We got along really well and would spend hours playing video games, football in the garden, my mum and his aunt would take us all on day trips etc. When I was a teen I developed a huge crush on him, it was embarrassing how much I crushed on him, and I'm pretty sure he didn't reciprocate but I got over it in the end. We lost touch a long time ago but I do sometimes wonder how he's doing and where he ended up in life. I never had masses of friends growing up so I do tend to remember the ones who made the most impact on me.

Okay the second one isn't really a stranger, more like a long lost friend. I doubt he even remembers who I am though to be fair.

Yes I met an elderly gentleman in the local m&s cafe. He was alone and sat at the adjacent table to me and my then 1 year old dd. I apologised for my dd being so noisy and messy. He explained that he was recently widowed and loved seeing little ones as his only son lived in Hong kong with his wife and baby and he had only seen his grandson a couple of times. He was tearing up describing how he missed them so much. He sees so lonely and he was lovely with my dd. I didn't want to leave him and I can still picture him a year and a bit on. Lovely man.

It was my first Glastonbury Festival in 1994. I had just finished my A Levels and I truly felt like I was at the start of my life and everything and anything could happen. I lost all of my friends on the Saturday night and was wandering around about 3am and got chatting to a sister and brother who had just turned up from London with nothing but a single postman pat duvet. We spent hours snuggled under said duvet in front of the main stage sharing rollies and beer and laughing and they felt like my best mates. We woke up when the first band started surrounded by legs and parted ways and I never saw them again. All I remember was that he worked on his Dad's fruit and veg stall in Covent Garden and his parents were going to kill him when they found out he had taken his 15 year old sister to Glastonbury without telling them . I still think about them both.

Another more recent one; I am terminally single and have no headspace for meeting anyone at the moment, but about a year ago I had a really vivid dream one night that I met "the one". He totally got me and was absolutely gorgeous. The next day I was queueing up for a coffee at a local soft play and I turned around, and yes, the man behind me in the queue was him I swear. He had a very distinctive face both in my dream and in real life. It was like we both instantly recognised eachother and we both smiled and held eachother's gaze for a second that felt like weeks. He had a new baby strapped to him in a sling, hopefully next time I bump into him the timing will be better .

I was 13 and had gone into Manchester withy friend who was meeting a boy. We went to the cafe in Woolworths ( classy!) she sat at a table with her boyfriend and I sat alone trying to look inconspicuous. An older man (40/50/60?) joined me and chatted to me. He said I was beautiful and had I ever been photographed? He would love to take my picture. Had I a bikini? Had anyone ever seen me without any clothes? I felt a little uncomfortable but didn't really know why. I was such a child and trying desperately to act like a grown up. I was so relieved when my friend called me over to meet her boyfriend who turned out to be 20. She was 13 too. He seemed very aloof and way beyond my ken. He asked me if he could write to my friend at my address. I said of course and my friend was delighted.
A week or so later I got a letter from him telling me it was me he loved and wanted to have sex with !!!!
I remember thinking how creepy and sleazy and shitty boys and men were. I still shudder to think of those two fuckers and the way they thought of 13 year old girls.

wishful I know I did, he texted me whilst sat there to give me his. Combination of being young and shy stopped me calling him. He was beautiful interesting and sporty, im quite plain and boring but still now I'd have called him first! I just don't get how you can have such an intense instant connection and then not follow it up.

This is such a lovely thread, some beautiful moments.

One dark, windy autumn evening many years ago my DH and I were watching one of the first Children in Need programmes when, quite late, there was a knock on our front door . I should explain that we lived in fairly isolated village with no street lights so had no qualms about answering a late night knock as it was probably a driver who had lost their way etc. On this occasion it was two lads in army fatigues looking for some help!

One of the lads I don't really remember, apart from the fact that he was very polite. The other one was a big strong looking black lad who seemed very frightened. The polite lad explained that they had knocked because they were lost and he was worried about his mate who was so frightened that he was almost frozen to the spot. We invited them in and once they were in the house the black lad began to relax a bit. They explained that they were army cadets (and insisted on showing us their army id so we would know that they were telling us the truth!) and they were on a night exercise. A group of them had been dropped off somewhere and had to find their way, in pairs, to a specific pick up point.

The black lad explained that he came from London and had never been in the country before and he was terrified of the quietness, the lack of lights & people & traffic - and of coming across cows! He truly was almost frozen with fear. They sat and watched Children in Need with us and we fed them tea and biscuits. The polite lad was very concerned that they would not complete the exercise within the specified time frame so we all discussed the best course of action. DH loaded them into his car and drove them to a point that was an easy road walk to their rendezvous. Before they left they thanked us profusely and begged us not to tell anyone they had been lost as the officers would make them do the task again.

Many, many times I have thought about that terrified lad - did he make it in the army, how did he cope with conflict if he had to serve in those areas? He seemed a good, strong lad who just could not cope with rural Kent at night!

A piano player in a crowded hall full of people shouting requests. He looked through the crowd and straight into my eyes and said 'what do YOU want me to play'? He kept eye contact with me all through the piece he played. I wonder where he is now.

About 10 or 11 years ago we were on the Eurostar going to Disneyland Paris with our two kids. Seated in front of us was a young woman with her very young son. She had lots of parcels in bags and was busy wrapping more. From a brief chat and from things she said to her son it seemed that she was french and visiting home for the first time in ages and was bringing Christmas presents for everyone. She was so happy and was singing nursery rhymes and Christmas carols in french to her little lad. They were a joy to watch.

Towards the end of the journey she opened a bottle of coke and it sprayed all over my youngest. As the train stopped we were mopping him up and she was apologising like mad but it was really not a big deal and told her so but as we were getting off she came running back, carrying her little boy and these big bags of presents, shoved a parcel into my sons hands, said sorry again and disappeared into the crowd before we could say anything.

It turned out to be a book of paper aeroplanes in the most fantastic designs and was utterly brilliant. It was such a sweet thing for her to have done and we felt so bad that we didn't get a chance to thank her. I hope she had an awesome Christmas with her family.

I was in the middle of a toxic relationship in my very early 20's, one of those where you know deep down it shouldn't be like this but neither of you can seem to end it.
This particular time, he had stood me up for a date and then went NC for days while I drove myself nuts wondering what he was doing and with whom, chain smoking, drinking vodka and listening to too much Leonard Cohen.
When he eventually reappeared, we had the obligatory blazing row and then ended up going to the cinema. Lord knows why, but I remember still being on the verge of tears when we got there, and I must have looked horrendous - sleep deprived, bright red eyes, puffy face.
My boyfriend paid for himself and went in, and I was faffing about with my purse when the girl in the kiosk saw my face and asked if I was ok. I tried to say that I was, but I started to choke up again and she just put up her hand and said 'this one's on me. Don't say anything, you'll cry again. Be happy' gave me a really sympathetic smile, and waved me through.
I didn't deserve it - I should have had the good sense not to stay in a relationship that made me feel so bad - but I've never forgotten how kind she was to a silly girl. I wish I could tell her that she has inspired many random acts of kindness in the 20 years since.

I spent a happy couple of hours with a lovely man from Staffordshire as we travelled on the train from Brussels Midi to Amsterdam Centraal. It must have been about 1998. He was a bit older than me, I was 19, and on my way to visit a boyfriend who lived in Amsterdam . I wasn't very worldly and was very impressed by him, as he had travelled quite a bit and seemed so likeable. At Amsterdam I saw my boyfriend waiting on the platform and rushed off the train without saying goodbye to my temporary travelling companion. As it turned out the boyfriend was a lying scheming cheating bastard and I went on to marry someone else. Sometimes in difficult periods I often wondered what happened to that lovely, likeable, chatty exotic fella on the train.

I met a woman of about 50 on the train when I was 19 going to Plymouth on the train. We had such an interesting conversation...I remember thinking "Gosh, I could be friends with her and she's OLD!" She was a woman with a lot of charm.

Also, working in a museum in London, two USA veterans came in...they were in their 70s and so amazing.

When I was about seven I was on a train with my mum and she took my younger siblings to the toilet and left me at our seats. I had a magazine with one of those magazine free gifts which was a tiny stationary set with a little stapler. I somehow managed to staple the magazine to my finger the elderly lady sitting opposite me must have noticed me looking around a bit confused about that to do next so she came over and helped me get it off and told me a story about getting her finger trapped in a deckchair. She was nice and I always think about her when I use a stapler

When I was around the same age I met a girl my age in a park when I was away visiting relatives. She gave me her name and address and we were going to be pen pals. All I remember about her is her first and surname and middle initial, and that she had the nickname spider

And last was a man I met in the street when I was about seventeen. He was about eighty and he stopped me and told me all about the building we were next to which had been converted into student housing and how it was originally a school and that he went there with a now famous author. He told me all about it. His name was Clive and he had no teeth

I bet some of us will know each other's strangers! Six degrees of separation or whatever it is.

Oh! And the nun I met in the museum where I worked..she asked me if I was Catholic and I said "No...I'm not even Christened...I'm nothing." and she said "Oh ...but then you're everything!"

Such a lovely thing to say.

I haven't recognised anyone *mmbop" but this thread has got me thinking back to mine. Had a cheeky post drink Google but can't find him. I'd love to know if he's happy now.

Yes, I did, before I got married. Got chatting to a really interesting guy on a train, he bought me a G&T and gave me his business card. DH (then boyfriend) & I were 'on a break' at the time & got back together shortly after, but I don't think I would have pursued it as he seemed so out of my league (in terms of life experience).

A while ago he popped up on DH's FB friends list- turns out they've been playing cricket together for years !

as a dog walker Im often chatting to strangers also out for a stroll. I remember walking with this lady and we just hit it off and chatted and laughed for ages...I have often been on the same walk and never met her again...I wish Id swapped numbers with her, I know we would be mates

I met an Irish man at a taster day at a multinational company. He was an undergrad at Cambridge, I then bumped into him again on a bus, he had no change so I paid his fare.

He was lovely, good looking and brilliant accent! I wonder what happened to him ...

Mine isn't a human We were picking up our cats from a rescue centre. We were waiting our finalization paperwork, when I felt a gentle poke from behind. I turned to find an enourmous three legged cat perched on the back of my chair. He clearly wanted some petting. I gave him lots of cuddles. He was very sweet and purred the entire time. I noticed some oddities in his about him and later asked the director. She told me his name was Chance. He had been subject to almost unimaginable torture by his former owner. At one point he was set on fire, thus the scarring. His leg was amputated due to an infection from the bleach poured on him. The shelter was his second Chance at life.We are far away from the shelter but I think about Chance every time I snuggle one of my kittyboys.