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?

The man at Lime street station 20 years ago who helped me get dd1 and all our stuff on the train .
The receptionist at the hospital who was very kind to me when my father died.

Have mentioned this one before but BMW man!

Our school run is down the same country road everyday, each morning we would pass BMW man coming the opposite way. After a few months we could work out if we were early or late depending on what point we passed him on the road.

One day DD in the front seat waved to him. He looked a bit confused and carried on driving. Next day she waved again and he gave a tentative wave back. This went on for ages until we got to full on waving every morning and a big grin from all DCs.

It got to Christmas time and DD made a big sign saying HAPPY XMAS BMW MAN. She held it up as he drove past and they all waved. Next day he drove past in a full on Santa hat and beard grinning and waving.

He disappeared about six months later and we never saw him again! Often wonder if he got a new job or moved or something

@sharpandshineyteeth she was so lovely, it does make me think more about people and what they’re going through..if people walk In front of my car, or push past me in the town etc instead of getting cross I do wonder consider that something’s going on in their life that’s made them distracted from the real World x

@BillywigSting I then promptly burst into tears anyway once on the other side of my front door but for an entirely different reason

Talk about a cliffhanger! What was the reason you burst into tears on the other side of your front door?

30 years ago I was 18 and working in a shop for my Saturday job.

My mom had died 2 weeks before and my world has come crashing down.

I served a blond American man with 3 lovely young blond kids. He chatted away and strangely asked a question about my mom. I told him «I don’t have one anymore she died recently». He paid for his shoes and left.

But returned a few minutes later came up and put a hand on my arm and said «it is going to be ok. You will Survive this and you will go on and have a happy life. Don’t be afraid. Your mum is with you.»

He gave me hope in my darkest hour and I still think of him and how he took the time to come back and offer comforting words.

In hard times i hung onto his words and they have proven to be true.

I have two.

One when I was heavily pregnant and huge. I had a tough pregnancy and was waiting in the doctors for my midwife appt. I wasn't feeling great about myself. After I had left and was walking through the village, a lady came up to me and said she'd seen me waiting in the doctor's and wanted to tell me how beautiful I looked. This was almost 10 years ago and I've never forgotten it.

The second was when I was with DD, who was under 1, and my DM on a ferry for a short break. I got severely sea sick so mum was trying to juggle cleaning me up and holding DD whilst I tried to gain some composure! A lovely lady sat opposite came and sat with us and popped DD on her knee and played with her until I was sorted.

Bawling my bloody eyes out !!

When I was at university, both the departments I studied in were THE strictest in the university. Essays were due by 1pm on hand-in days and on these days, someone would actually hold the door shut at 1pm on the dot so you couldn't get in.

At the end of my first year, I'd finished my essay the night before. I had an old Amstrad notebook and a little bubble printer. The printer ran out of ink and woudn't print but I wasn't worried - I'd just get it printed at the LRC the next morning and get to campus in plenty of time.

No. I got to the LRC at 9am but it turned out that my floppy wasn't compatible with the university computers. After an hour of trying to get it open, one of the LRC assistants, Simon (who we'd thought was a bit smarmy, how wrong) took it, sent me to get a coffee and said he'd work on it. It took him until midday to get the file to open. And then it had aces, hearts and spade symbols all the way through it and the whole 5000 words was 1 single paragraph. I tried to start removing them but in the end, printed it as it was because I needed to get across from one campus to the other (in London) before 1.

I got a taxi and was running down the drive, almost crying at 1:03pm. A girl stopped me and asked if i was "Education". I said yes and she told me I was too late, they were holding the door shut. Then she told me to say that I was in a certain lecturer's group because her 'course compact' said 1:30 not 1pm. I said "cheers" and kept on running.

I arrived at the door, the woman didn't want to let me in but I stammered this lecturer's name and with a big sigh, she admitted me and sent me to this lecturer who took my essay. I appologised for the symbols all over it and explained I'd had a printing problem. She just smiled and said a new printed version would be helpful!

If it hadn't have been for that girl, I'd have been kicked out. It was a compulsory module and if you didn't hand anything in, you lost the right to a resit. No compulsory module = no year 2! Thanks to her, I made it into Year 2 and got a good degree. :)

Woke up in a youth hostel in Australia and could hear people outside talking about me. Three girls, relative strangers to each other, we had met the night before.

They were saying I was nice and one said kind. I lay there listening thinking I was being complimented for being ME, not judged or sniped at by my controlling mother, family who joined in with her or my recent ex bf.

I was travelling alone and I also remember thinking that it was the first time I was being known for being me, not someone’s daughter or girlfriend...

I gained a lot of confidence that day.

BillywigSting what has happened?

MiddlingMum
The old lady who had lost her twins 60 years previously

What a lovely thread! It's made me wibble/weepy a bit as I'm feeling quite lost and teary today. These have cheered me up and the "angel" ones have properly floored me (I'm not usually woo). Feeling like I need a bit of that today

BMW man story is ace.

When ds1 was a few months old, I used to walk every day by the beach to try alleviate the sleep deprivation / PND. One day I saw an elderly couple looking at the benches along the prom, looking a bit lost. I asked if they were ok and they said they were looking for a bench with a plaque in memory of their friends, who had recently died. I told them there were more further on in the direction I was walking and they walked with me and I managed to find it for them.

They were so pleased as they were from away and had promised their friends’ daughter they would take a photo for her as she had terminal cancer and too weak to make the trip. (Her parents had loved the area and holiday-ed here often).

The lady was tiny with a large crucifix necklace on, which she touched often. She admired ds and told me they’d been blessed with a son who had gone to be with the angels aged 5.

She was such a gentle kind woman, I never forgot them. She was offering me some of their picnic and they insisted on taking my photo by the plaque. I always sit on their bench when I go by now.

Lovely thread, I could read these all night. So many lovely people out there

When I was almost 9 months pregnant my dd, who had only just turned 2, fell over and hit her forehead on the coffee table. There was blood everywhere, I was terrified! I quickly drove her to hospital, which was awful as she was so upset and I just wanted to give her a cuddle, and hurriedly carried her to urgent care.

The receptionist was so kind, made sure dd wasn’t seriously hurt and showed us to the children’s waiting room. Dd ran off to the toys, clearly fine in herself. The receptionist touched my arm and said kindly, “Well daughter looks fine, nothing a bit of glue won’t fix. But how’s Mum doing?”

I just burst into tears! I was so worried about dd and just felt so emotional with relief and I think the shock kicked in. She brought me some water and reassured me that dd would be ok. Small things but it meant the world to me.

I was worried the shock would bring on labour but alas my ds didn’t budge for another 3 weeks... in a heatwave!

What a lovely interesting thread!

On holiday in Japan and sightseeing in freezing snow, we went into a restaurant and I took my (soaking wet) shoes and socks off discretely under my chair. Another customer came and took my socks and hung them up by the fire - so kind!

Same holiday and I was on my own for a bit and met a Canadian poet and shared a train journey with him, he was a lot older than me but we chatted easily the whole way.

A man at an airport who told me I was a lovely mum.

Lots of nice thoughts. Xx

Ugh this thread is killing me! When I was 19 I was sat on a bench smoking and an old lady came upto me, stood right infront of me and said ‘it’ll do you no good my love’. Just the sincerity and boldness in her voice made me think she was right. I never lit another one. I wish I could thank her.

Also, I had a horrible abusive ex partner. I was really isolated and the phone rang one night, it was a wrong number but he asked me what number he had dialled etc. He later rang back and left a voicemail saying he was the wrong number guy but felt he needed to call back, didn’t know why but because of something in my voice and if I wanted to chat to call him. Horrible exP picked up the message and went mental ripping the phone out. It made me believe people still cared and made me think what an arsehole exP was which helped me have the strength to leave shortly after.

oh, Middling that is so sad/sweet!

A man called Adil who was the only person to stop and see if we were ok when our car overturned on the motorway once, how we survived virtually unhurt was a miracle!

Our egg donor - she'll never know what joy she's given us.

I have another one, we were traveling on the train back home after a long few hours, about 3 or 4, with ds, we were quite tired after a very late night due to being away for work. Ds was really nagging us for something but I can't remember what, dp and I were trying to deflect and being sturn but ds wouldn't relent, the train was just pulling into the station and she offered ds to open the door to help her out, and stood talking to him for a while as the train began to stop.

She defused ds and I was so thankful because ds was just so calm after and we had a peaceful ride home on the last underground train.

I love your story op. OH and I have many like that. It mashes new laugh that so much of our dialogue is made up crap and I imagine us in a home in our end days and the staff will think we're bonkers, like your oh, who they will think is calling you Stanley!

The man who helped me get a book down from a high shelf in a shop - for reasons I've never really understood I didn't speak to him at all just used body language to get him to come to my part of the shop and get my book down for me (no language issues, neither of us was on the phone etc).
He must have been a nice guy and the memory of his confused expression when I answered my mobil straight after him helping me and spoke fluent English still amuses me 15 yrs later.

Going through passport control with DC2 11 months and DC1 2yrs 4months - both with ear and stomach infections so throwing up, crying and very sleepy. I was carrying a rucksack and carrying both kids when DC1 decided to throw himself backwards out of my arms. All of the strangers (5 or so) who dived to catch him and nearly brained each other in their rush to get to him were all great, and were lovely in staying to help me with the kids afterwards.

Oh another... Ds was about 18 months when we boarded the train to see my parents. It was just me and him. When we got on the platform I had to get him out of his pram, lift him, the pram and the suitcase onto the train. This one time he just ran straight down the middle of the train as I put him down to put the stuff in the luggage rack. This lovely old man was so quick though, he grabbed ds and told me to carry on as he had him and it was no problem. He really saved my sanity that day and ds from getting hurt.

On my way home from Australia, alone, tired, skint and not very well. The flight stopped over in Seoul, South Korea. A married older couple took me under their wing and bought me a hot chocolate at the airport.

They were so kind and really helped me. They told me to repay the favour when I'm older and buy something for a young traveller.

I wish I had taken their names and contact details.

What an uplifting thread!

Mine is the guy who towed my car out of the snow on the A303 near popham a few years ago, it was about three am and I was totally stuck, facing the wrong way on the dual carriage way after sliding about in my in my MX5 (before kids, obviously)
I was so stressed and knackered after a long shift at work (and being alone, stuck in a car in the middle of the night) that although I said thank you I was probably also a bit scared of being murdered or something.

He was lovely, on his way to Warminster, was very handsome and drove a Land Rover. If you are his wife and have read this then tell him thanks again from me!
I have a snow-worthy car now and always stop for people who are stuck.

I have remembered another one so hope this is ok? When my DD was a week old she stopped breathing, we were rushed to hospital and my arse of an ex was more concerned about how he would get home..they kept us in and he left.
I sat in the room with her shell shocked about what had gone on and this absolutely lovely nurse came in and sat on the bed, he told me to get some sleep and that he would get up with DD if she woke in the night.
He then told me his wife was 10 weeks pregnant and he needed the practise and could I please not tell anyone else as it wasn’t public knowledge yet..he was just so lovely and he made me realise what an absolute shit of a partner I had

The lady who gave me a pound coin for a trolley at Tesco when DS1 was a newborn and I was going a bit mad about a)the trolley being wet (it was raining ) and b) not having a pound coin. Even though I have been doing weekly grocery shops for approximately fifteen years and therefore know that you need a pound coin.

She came over and said "here you go my love, it's hard when you have a baby". Could have kissed her.

I had just been diagnosed with the hereditary cancer that has killed my grandmother, two uncles, aunt and cousin. I’d been in for more surgery under a local anaesthetic. The doctor hadn’t put enough anaesthetic in, and I screamed when she cut me and then started crying. She got quite cross and told me to stop making such a fuss, and that she couldn’t carry on with the operation if I was crying. I finally got out, with huge hospital dressing on, and started crying again - because of the doctor, and worrying about the cancer. I bumped into a lovely nurse in the foyer who gave me a big hug and took me for a cup of tea.