Strangers you remember fondly

[Conkernudge]

Thought it would be nice to have a thread talking about strangers who have touched your life, or who you remember for a good reason.

Mine:
My DH and I were heading up a long flight of stairs at a train station when suddenly we saw a frail old man overbalance near the top and start falling. My husband dived sideways and managed to catch him before he went head over heels. As the man was falling the lady he was with shouted “Stanley!” crossly. I’m sure she was terrified, rather than cross, but she gave him a bit of a telling off when she caught up with him, despite holding his hand tightly. They were obviously married or partners and he’d given her the shock of her life.

Now whenever I criticise my husband for something minor he goes “Stanley!” as though i’m telling him off for something unreasonable and we laugh.

The fall happened probably about 12 years ago now and it’s just stuck with us. We hope we’ll grow old together like they did.

So, which stranger do you remember and why?

This story is literally coming up for a hundred years old and I've no idea if the stranger in question ever told his family about it but it's handed down through the generations in mine and I like to think it will last for many generations more.

1918 - my grandfather was being invalided home from Egypt. My grandmother had been notified and went to meet him at the train station. So many men streamed past her and she was surrounded by heartfelt reunions.

The platform was practically clear and she couldn't see my grandfather. She'd been out to the concourse and back, searching everywhere but no sign of him. She was panicking, wondering if he'd missed the train, if something had intervened.

His bright red hair was so distinctive and his build so strong and strapping it just wasn't feasible she'd not seen him no matter how many troops there were.

She noticed what a balding, stooped, yellow, shuffling, skeleton, pulling himself along the side of the train, hand over hand. She was worried about him and just going to find a guard to assist him when the platform started hurtling towards her and was only prevented by a passing business man who caught her in her near-faint.

He said, "You're unwell. Can I assist you?"
GM: "I think that man is my husband."

Sizing the situation up, the business man helped her behind one of the pillars, supported her and blocked her from view.
"He mustn't see you like this. You rest here. And when you're ready, go to him with as joyful and open a heart as you can muster."

More conversation that she couldn't recall. Then she went to my grandfather. The businessman had somehow organised the Station Master and others to help them into a transport that he pre-paid to take them home.

A hundred years on - and that act of kindness is still remembered.

Arran. I’m lost for words.

Oh Arran.
What a lovely but poignant story.

Arran the kindness of strangers crossing generations is really quite special. All these years later and he’s still remembered.

Arran that is special.

Early morning In Miami.
I had just arrived first time driving abroad and an automatic.
Hit the kerb and took my tyre out, saw the police on the other side of the rd but they drive of before I could get their attention.
I was nearly crying as I was so frustrated, and had no clue what to do.
Lovely guy walking down the street said he was there on business and couldn't sleep.
Fixed my tyre and talked me through the basics of driving an automatic!
Wonderful man!

I remember being in Crete on holiday when I was 12 and because I shouted no when he hit my mother he locked me in the hotel room for two weeks as punishment while the rest of the family enjoyed the holiday I was only given bread and water, the English bar women who worked there must have realised and left me food. I will never forget such kindness and it made me feel like I wasn’t alone.

I was 18 on one of my first nights out, someone put something in my drink and about 10 mins after I finished it I knew something was up. The man who bought the drink for me was watching me closely.
I staggered out of the bar and onto the street, and the man came up behind me and tried to pull me into a car, I think his mate was in the drivers seat. I was crying and trying to pull away.
Another car pulled up and a young Glaswegian woman (a rare sight in Wales!) got out and shouted at him "what the fuck do you think you're doing? Fuck off, now before I ring the police!" The man jumped into his car and they sped off. I all but collapsed in her arms but I managed to tell her where I lived and she took me home. I'll never forget that and I wish I had her details, she was so awesome.

On an early evening flight back from visiting friends in Germany and DS was sound asleep when we landed and refused to wake up. So I was carrying him, a bag of duty free, a rucksack and a trunki off the plane. It was a ridiculous walk to the main airport and I remember thinking this is going to be a long task. Just climbing my first set of steps and a lady in a business suit appeared beside me and took the trunki off me. We found an airport buggy but she stayed with me all the way to the luggage belts and then pushed my trolley for me to the car (fortunately we'd parked near the airport access doors) so I could keep carrying ds. She had a long train journey ahead of her too. She saved me that day because I discovered once I opened the car that the battery was dead! I'd left my sidelights on by mistake. If not for her the RAC man would have had an hysterical puddle on his hands.

I want to know where BMW man went!

I have 2

The woman at Manchester airport who gave me a quid. The trolleys need a pound coin (or a €2) to release at baggage claim. Usually the machine accepts notes or cards too. None of them were accepting anything other than coins. It was the one time I had 5 cases and was traveling alone. The staff were useless and said ‘just use a €2 euro instead’ - I’d come from outside the EU so none of them either. A woman came over and gave me a quid for the machine. I always make sure I have spare quids when I fly home, and have twice now paid that quid forward to stranded families when the machines are fucked yet again.

And the Emirati couple who picked us up during our first Ramadan in the UAE. We were in a really quiet area waiting for a taxi. We’d waited 30 mins already and a car pulled up. A local couple were in the front. He spoke no English. His wife told us to get in and they’d run is where we wanted - it was coming up to ifftar time and there wouldn’t be any taxis around. Her husband then said something to her in Arabic, and she said he was inviting us to iftar with his family. Was an awesome display of hospitality that we’ve never forgotten.

On holiday in Iceland with 18mo DC who developed a fever, went limp and started projectile vomiting just as we arrived. Managed to find a walk in centre, staff were fab and explained in English that we had to go through to an adjoining room with a group of other patients and we'd then be called to see a Dr. Very worried about DC who was pretty unresponsive and our panic must have been obvious. Dr comes out and shouts something in Icelandic which we don't understand. Lovely lady next to me turns to us and says in perfect English - "you go first, it's your turn".

I had no idea how she knew it was our turn and it took a good while to realise that it wasn't our turn at all, she'd just realised we were panicked and in a foreign country with a poorly DC. Very grateful she (and everyone else in the waiting room who didn't challenge her) let us go first.

Another story that's not really about a helping hand but touched me nonetheless: took aforementioned DC to London with DH from THE NORTH. We're taught in THE NORTH that people in London are very unfriendly and you should never look them in the eye or try and start a conversation. On a bus one day and we're keeping ourselves to ourselves. It's a long journey and now 3yo DC is whingy. A bloke next to us strikes up a conversation with us - he was a bus driver on his way home from his shift, a Londoner through and through who chatted to us and entertained DC for a good half hour, regaling us of stories of his grandkids. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy and totally changed my view of Londoners being unfriendly.

My bus driver a couple of weeks ago.
He was just so genuinely nice when I got on and greeted me with a big smile.
When a man, who obviously had some learning difficulties, got on a few stops later he was so patient and kind, had a bit of a joke with him and as he took his seat the man had a huge beaming smile on his face.
Again with his elderly passengers he was respectful and patient and made sure that they were seated before setting off.

As we left the main city, he stopped and a Mum and her daughter (6ish) got on. Even standing at the bus stop I noticed that they both just looked a little sad and down on their luck.
Mum asked how much the fare to the next town (about 3 miles away) was. When the driver told her the cost she said
“Thanks, don’t worry” and they both went to get off the bus.
Before I could react at all, with a little flick of his head the driver told them both that it was fine and to get on.
As they got off, he gave the little girl a wink and held out a chocolate bar to her.
Her happy little face was a picture and I was nearly crying by the time I got off a few stops later.
Lovely, lovely man.

@WinkyisbackontheButterBeer that story is lovely!!!

I don't know if @MardAsSnails is referring to my bmw man as I've not read the whole thread, but if it's mine, I don't know. He was a what seemed to be a stereotypical bmw driver that wasn't white middle class, yelling at me in the east end of London. 13 years on and I still pay what he did forward and direct people as best I can if they stop for help- I will always remember him!

I now live in east London and know exactly how far he drove out of his way to take me where he did!

The midwife who sat with me after I had a miscarriage and was feeling very alone and emotional.

She said, "Don't worry my darling, it's sad now but a little bit of ice cream and a lot of love and you'll be feeling as strong as you actually are again"

Such a lovely comment and it made me smile in a dark place.

This happened yesterday. As a family, we’ve had a really really dire year (think: losing jobs, huge debt, cancer diagnosis (me), losing a parent to cancer, best friend made redundant and having to move back to Newcastle).
Understandably I’m feeling quite low, and have realised how much weight I’ve put on, generally feel gross. Desperately want to hang out with my best Mate and dick about, but can’t.
Anyway I went into a shop yesterday to buy something and the lady behind the counter (we are in deepest poshest Surrey so this is relevant) says to me in the strongest Geordie accent “I love your hair pet, do you do it yourself? You look amazing, angel”. I needed to hear something nice about myself and her accent reminded me of bff and cheered me right up.

Another: when I was pregnant, I was getting the bus into central London where I worked. I must have been about 36 weeks, and came over very sick and faint on the bus. Everyone ignored me apart from this very very stylish and suave gent who basically propped me up, turned to someone in the priority seat and said “get up, this woman is with child. Don’t pretend you didn’t see her”. Then he propelled me into my seat and got off at my stop with me, crossed the road and got the bus back to my home stop (I was in no condition to go into work and DS arrived four days later). He went a good two hours out of his was for some random pregnant lady. I call him my Bus Angel.

And finally; DD was 11 days old, i had had a c section and had DS who was 16 months old. Heavy lochia, and I ran out of pads so had to go and stock up. In the shop (local big shop), DD starts crying and so does DS, and I realise I’ve leaked through. Lady behind me unloads my shopping (pads and biscuits...) onto the checkout, pays, looks after the babies - who promptly stopped crying and stared, she informed them they had to have some decorum as Mother needed to sort herself out (she was an older posh lady) so I can attempt to sort myself out in the supermarket loo and then walks us all home. Magic. She wouldn’t let me pay her back for the shopping either, just said “put the money in their piggy banks, dear, and try to get some rest”. (Lol, two under 18 months, didn’t rest for another 8 years)

I fell in the street in London and hit my head on the pavement quite heavily, really stunned me. A homeless man saw it and came straight over to help me up and told me to sit down on a step. He went into a shop and asked them to call an ambulance and asked them for a packet of frozen veg. He then came and sat next to me holding the veg against the massive bump on my head. He sat with me until the ambulance arrived.

I will never forget his kindness. Someone who has literally nothing but gave me so much in a time of need.

What a lovely thread. If reading this has taught me one thing, it is how doing one nice thing a day can bring so much happiness. People obviously remember acts of kindness.
Mine was years ago when my DD was about two & my exH & I took her to London Zoo. As we got to the entrance we realised how expensive it was ( we didn't have a lot back then). A lovely man walking past must have seen the look on our faces & asked us to follow him. When we got to the entrance he handed over some sort of membership card which got us in for free. We thanked him profusely & he just smiled and walked on. I've never forgotten it - that was twenty years ago

I've remembered another one. When I was travelling in Australia I was getting a taxi back to the hostel I was staying in and I got stuck in the Sydney rush hour traffic and the meter was going up.

I told the cab driver I only had $20 and he told me not to worry and turned the meter off at $20 despite us being in traffic for a good while after that.

In work the other day (I'm a cook in a canteen) serving a man who has some type learning disability. He had introduced himself to me a few days before but did so again that day. I said to him we had met the other day and repeated his name. He was thrilled I remembered. He complemented me on my name and my memory and said 'it's always so nice to make new friends'
It honestly meant the world to me

Bumpiest plane landing ever during an electrical storm into San Jose, Costa Rica. Said storm had delayed my flight and the new colleague who was meant to be meeting me there had long gone. Must have been the last flight of the day as they started closing the airport! This shouldn't have been a problem for the average well-prepared traveller but despite the fact I had pretty much been travelling nonstop for about 6 years I had gone through a tough time recently and was wandering around in a mental fug - this was pre-smartphone, no printout of emails, phone numbers, not even any cash in the local currency! I was 30 years old FFS!! I could just remember the name of my colleague and that we were booked to stay at the Best Western.
There was a dwindling rank of taxi drivers all calling at me to get in their cabs and I was just freaking out. One driver came over to talk to me, he could see I was very wary and not keen to get in his van (the daily San Jose papers have about 6 photos of dead bodies lying in gutters every day due to criminal violence) so he made me promise to wait there and roared off in the van, coming back a few minutes later with his girlfriend, I guess so I'd feel more comfortable. They then drove me to the Best Western.... and when it turned out there are two BWs in San Jose, on to the second, correct Best Western!! The feeling of relief when I was safely delivered to my bemused, sleepy co-worker was immense!! I often think about -what an idiot I was- how lucky I was to have such a nice bloke realise what trouble I was in and go out of his way to make sure I was safe!

A few days before my scheduled c-section for twins, dd decided to turn (had been breach). I was at the appointment on my own and the consultant said, "Well you can have a natural birth now if you want." I was totally, totally thrown into confusion and didn't know what to do. I asked for advice and brusquely said, "You can choose whatever you want," and then he just left the room. I wanted to cry but a lovely, older midwife put her hand on my arm and said, "This is off the record, but if you were my daughter I'd advise you to go for the c section." I was so so grateful that she effectively made the decision for me and treated me like a daughter. When the twins were born, ds was very ill with an infection and in intensive care. I often wonder if I'd waited for a natural birth if he would have made it.

When I was in my early 20s, I had to go to a conference in London on my own, a 3 hour train journey from my university town. This was around about the time they changed train tickets so that there was a peak time evening too.
The conference involved a poster session and so I had been standing and talking to people all day. I had steadily been feeling more and more unwell throughout the day and so I decided to take an earlier train back home.
When the ticket inspector came, he sternly informed me that I was on a peak train and that he would have to charge me £120 for a new ticket. This was absolutely too much for me, on top of feeling really unwell and utterly exhausted, I burst into hysterical tears. The whole train carriage rallied round me, one lady gave me a packet of tissues, the man next to me gave me his bottle of water and someone else had a word with the ticket inspector who never came back for the ticket.
I then spent the next week in bed with flu which I hope I didn't give to any of those kind lovely people.

Loving this thread!

I learnt to drive in my late 20s. Not long after passing my test I was going up a really steep hill with my DS in the back and my car died. The foot brake didn't work because I had no power. I had to quickly switch off the engine and pull on the handbrake whilst panicking as I was rolling backwards down the hill. A woman stopped her car behind me and came to see if she could help. Lots of impatient drivers started tooting their horns behind me. She started yelling at them telling them I had broken down and why the hell did they think I'd stopped and directing them around me.
I was so scared but she made me feel safer and also helped me get going again.

I go out on a relatively quiet trail on my mobility scooter. Sometimes I stop to admire a flower or look at a bird. A few times passing cyclists have asked if I'm ok and did I need any help. I find it really reassuring that people want to help.

Someone I don't know IRL but am in the same fb group with found out that I couldn't maintain my garden anymore. He's been working on it regularly this year and has got some friends to help him with it too.

I thought of another...

About 7 years ago now I had a car accident when a car pulled across 2 lanes of traffic. I couldn't stop in time and went into the side of the car. I went into shock and the next thing I remember is a female police officer leaning over me to put my handbrake on.
She got me out of the car and sat me at a bus stop with the most lovely people one of whom put her arm around me and offered to call my boyfriend to let him know what had happened. Apparently the woman in the other car had got out and started screaming at me through the window.
The police officers moved my car and then put me in the front of theirs and drove me to a&e. The female officer waited with me until my boyfriend arrived and asked me to call into the office the next morning to let her know I was alright.
I'll never forget their kindness when I was scared and vulnerable. There are some lovely people out there.

Driving home from dropping my daughter off at her dad's house one Christmas and it started to suddenly snow really thick and heavy. As I pulled on to a big roundabout my car started to wheel spin and wouldn't move. I started to panic in case someone came around the roundabout and hit me. Out of nowhere a lovely bloke turned up in his 4x4 hooked me up to his car and towed me down the road til I could get more grip and carry on.

We had a quick chat and I thanked him for his kindness. He said he was on his way to pick up his newborn son and girlfriend from the hospital to take them home.

About two weeks later I was running my weekly breastfeeding group and in walked the lovely man and his GF and their DS for breastfeeding support!

His GF and I got on well, she became a regular and even volunteered as a peer supporter. We are still friends 8 years later