Acts of kindness

pmlindyloo

When my son was little we had to attend Great Ormond Street hospital on a regular basis.

We lost count of the number of times the black cab drivers refused to take any fare from us.

Vince_Venison

I totally agree about Karma. When I had no money a lot of friends would give me food on the pretext "I bought too much milk so will you have it otherwise it will go off" or "it was on offer so I bought 6 of them" - luckily I can now do the same for other people. Sometimes I take cake into work for a lad I know lives on his own and doesn't have much money, and I tell him he's doing me a favour by taking it off my hands as I don't want to eat too much bad stuff! The other day he gave me some blackberries he had picked as he heard me saying how much I love them.

I also remember being in the supermarket as a student, with the people I shared with. We were at the checkout and trying to add up the pathetic few items we were buying (mostly the cheapest bread and baked beans I think). Clearly none of us were studying maths as we couldn't work out if we could afford everything we were buying. A lovely lady behind us in the queue tapped me on the shoulder and gave me a £1 coin. "My son's a student too" she said "so I think this will be useful" Fortunately I have been able to do something similar in recent years. I think that if you look for ways to help people you will usually find them.

elaine12022

The fruit & veg man at the market generous again today.

I spotted a bag left behind at the bus stop today as 2 ladies got on, the lady said thank you & good job I'd told her or she'd have been doing her washing with no powder!

I have had previously purses handed in for me, also we found a wallet near my mam's house once - the police certainly took notice as it belonged to a high up counterpart of theirs from across the water, he was quite pleasantly surprised I think,as he worked in quite a tough area,and did give us £10 as a thank you.

moneysavingmonkey85

wasn't particularly debt related, but the nicest thing anyone has done for me and my family was last christmas. My mother passed away mid-dec, and we were not in a fit state for a regular xmas. A friend (but not an especially close one) rounded up her family and they all bought and cooked us the biggest xmas dinner I have ever seen, and brought it around to us on xmas morning!
It was so touching to have someone give up their time (and food) to help at a time when everyone is already so busy. Needless to say, the generous lady got flowers and cards and wine in January! Restored my faith in people after a difficult time!

flossieflipflop

What a lovely thread this is - like a big hug!

I've got a couple which are about lovely things teenagers do:

One day I was trying to get into our local post office with my 2 week old baby in his pram. The entrance to the PO had about 5 big steps and I was trying to manouvre myself and the pram to get up the steps, so many people walked straight past and even people coming into and out of the PO just ignored me and then a group of teenage lads (in their hoodies lol) stopped and carried my pram up the steps for me. I thought that was so nice of them.

I'm a secondary school teacher and a while ago a pupil's house burnt down - it was so sad, they all got out but they lost everything and lost their 4 dogs - this was about a month or so before xmas. A load of the boy's friends (14/15 years old) did lots of fundraising in school (unbeknownst to the boy and his family) and raised something like £500 which they gave to his mum when she came into school. She was in tears and so grateful.

And one more; I got married at xmas time a few years ago and at the time taught a little A level class of 7 who were all boys. On the last day of term they came to my room and had all chipped in and bought me a wedding present. I was so shocked that 7 17 year old boys had done something so sweet I almost cried.

moneysavingmonkey85

Its good to hear nice things about teenagers - they get an unfair rep most of the time - how lovely of your pupils to get you a wedding gift

flossieflipflop

moneysavingmonkey85 wrote: »

Its good to hear nice things about teenagers - they get an unfair rep most of the time -

I know - that's why I thought I'd focus on kind things they do, I come across so many lovely teenagers (and a few not so nice) but they do get such a bad rep

foxymum1977_2

notatvstar wrote: »

... Ahhh the random acts of kindness. I see so many as I commute by bike. I'm usually to be found (when it's raining) stuck at a junction waiting to turn right, watching the traffic zoom past . No one stops. No one cares.

Then, all of a sudden some random car (never a bus!) will stop and wave me through . I mouth "Thankyou," to them, but I really want to give them a hug.

There's been so many 'random-acts-of-kindness' in my life - too many to mention really. I'm so grateful that I do silly little things, like let strangers use my mobile and carry around spare lighters, hair bobbles, tissues etc that I give out randomly. My OH has a policy of giving his parking ticket to the next person (he always over pays) and he deliberately lets people out of junctions (when he's driving).





He's in the army and there was one time when we were in a supermarket carpark that he saw an elderly couple having some difficulty. The lady needed a wheelchair and the husband (who was frail himself) was struggling to lift her from the car into her chair. People were just ignoring them. My OH, (in uniform!) just strode over, introduced himself and then asked the elderly gentleman if he wanted a hand. I was a bit worried that he might precipitate a cardiac arrest in either or both of them! Anyways - my OH just scooped her up, put her in her chair and pushed her into the shop Her husband didn't mind as he was an old soldier and he chatted to my OH as he pushed his missus around the shop.

Loads of people in the shop came and patted him on the back and I have to confess - I don't think I could have been prouder. - Brought a bit of lump to my throat to be honest.

... This thread is like a big cosy snuggle blanket for the heart

this brought tears to my eyes!!! (big softie!)
what a lovely thread x

rocketman80

I'd had an operation on my knee the other year and due to a combination of sheer stubbornness and stupidity decided to do my Christmas shopping in all that snow we'd had in the November.

So I was on crutches and shouldn't have gone out, but like an idiot, backpack on off I'd gone to town. Got most of my pressies and was knackered trying to stay upright. I slipped on some ice and landed on my back smashing most of the presents and ended up just lying there in the snow unable to get up.

A wonderful woman came along, helped me up, took me to a local Costa Coffee and bought me a hot chocolate to warm up before taking me round all the shops and persuading them to give me replacements for the broken items. She was an angel that day.

I've always tried to give back ever since, as someone else up there says ^^ even if it's popping on here and telling someone it isn't all that bad and to keep their chin up or making up a food parcel for the local food bank.

Rocket.

DizzyDizzy

A few years ago (pre LBM!) we drove to Norway to celebrate Xmas and New Year. Loads of snow & ice on the ground as you can imagine. It was me, OH, DD and sister and her 2 kids as well. Oh and I was 6 months pregant at the time!

Wretched satnav took us up the wrong track - went straight up a very steep hill covered in ice. Got 1/2 way up and car skidded and then started slipping backwards. This was at 11.30pm.

OH managed to ram the car into the safety barrier at the side of the road (about 70 foot drop on other side!) Then me & kids trudged through the freezing (minus 12:eek:) night to get help whilst OH & sister stayed with car, trying to stop is sliding all the way to the bottom.

So at about middnight now we walked about 1/2 mile through snow to the nearest house with lights still on. The look on the poor Norwegian womans face as she opened the door! But they were absolute saviours, they took me & kids in and gave us warm drinks & kids something to eat.

Then the Norwegian husband & his son walked out to the road to see what was going on. They called the local rescue man for us, got the car safely to the botton of the hill. Then ferried us back down to the car.

Then the rescue guy took us to the local church hall as he said the weather was too bad for us to carry on thay night. So we stayed for free in a lovely warm church hall, and were able to used their facilities to make hot drinks and b'fast etc.

We kept offering to pay our way but they all refused! I think they considered it their duty to help out the mad english people who decided to drive up mountains late and night!

I think they will all be dining out on this tale for a long while lol!