Somewhat Unusual
I've been blessed in the past with some of the most wonderful and amazing friends in the world.

We've had adventures of various kinds and spent a lot of time enjoying each others company (whatever that means) but my single best friend is Jim.

Let me tell you a story, about me and about Jim and about how Jim's act of kindness helped me beyond measure.

In 1994 I was a student and not getting on particularly well mentally (again, feel free to interpret that whichever way you wish).

During one of my less-sane events, I climbed to the top of the university tower and was preparing to see if I could fly. Naturally, I was sectioned.

Jim - a nurse - took me in to his home when I was released and treated me intensively for six weeks. Put simply, without Jims' input I wouldn't be here writing this.
(Eds Meds Mathskillz=1,Socialskillz=0, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 19:00, 5 replies)

Mothers Day
In the US, Mothers Day is celebrated at some point in May.
I was dreading it this year - it was my first mothers day without mum, another friends mum had died the previous week, and my boyfriends wife died last year and he has a 20 year old daughter.
The above meant that I really didn't feel like I had anyone/anywhere to go - Dan needed his space, and the boyf and his daughter needed their day together to remember their loss.

The Wednesday before Mothers Day, I was talking to the bartender in my local, who's also a casual friend about the upcoming "celebration", and mentioned that I'd probably just spend the day holed up in my apartment.

The following morning, she called me. Her dad had asked her what she was doing with her mom, and he said he'd booked appointments for them at a spa for facials and massages. He then dropped a clanger "by the way, I also made an appointment for your friend, Workboresme. I hope she won't be offended, but I thought she might like it and it would take her mind off her mum"

I'd never even met her parents!

So, that Sunday, we headed off to the spa with her dads credit card, and her mom telling everyone about her "2" wonderful daughters :) We had a wonderful day, and when we got back to the pub there were 2 bunches of flowers from my friends dad. One for her, and one for me. "To Workboresme, thank you for being our honorary daughter for the day"
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:55, 6 replies)

she let me
touch her
(outofkey "iaaaaan! your mum's on the phone!", Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:51, 4 replies)

A couple of years ago after a stack of saving
we had enough money to go to Tokyo.

It was a dream of ours for many years and we had both researched it down to the finest detail.

We loved it. We had a fantastic time. Despite what everyone said it wasn't all that expensive. We just had to make sure we had plenty of cash with us as very few places take cards.
No problem, the ryokan we were staying in was just up the road from a Post Office, one of the few places which would except our UK cards.

Now we are both vegis so eating was a challenge and we often went hungry. We spent a lot of time in Akihabra eating cakes in Maid Cafes. we also found a place called Good Honest Grub, run by an American they sold some vegi dishes.

On our last night in Tokyo we still had some cash left so we decided to go to Good Honest Grub to spend the rest of our money.
We ate like kings, main courses, side dishes of fried Shiitake mushrooms, beer and puddings. Afterwards we felt so fat we could hardly move.

We go the train back to our ryokan and got out everything packed to go home. Our plane was first thing in the morning so we needed everything ready to head out in the morning.

It was then it hit us. We had spent all our cash. The trains stations only took cash. We only had enough money to the main station where we then change trains to get to the airport. The only place we could get cash out was the post office, but that wouldn't open until our plane left.
We went to the two other cash points but they wouldn't take our card.

The only option was to go to central Tokyo and find one of the 24 hour cash points that would take our card. We only had the money for one of us to go. If we couldn't find the cash point, or it didn't work we were screwed.

The money was were short was ¥1000 (£5 - $10) hardly anything, but it's a lot of money when you don't have it.

In desperation I went to ask the reception desk, to see if they could give me cash back on my card, but no.

It looked like heading into central Tokyo was the only option. So we went to the communal lounge to use the internet to get an exact location for the cash machine.

As you can imagine we were extremely stressed, sitting at the computer we were both on the verge of tears.
Then another guest came in. Seeing our distress she asked what was wrong. We explained.
"Oh is that all, here have the money, just do the same for someone else one day".

To that Canadian lady, thank you from the very soul of my being, I don't know what we would have done.


Later that night we found out that Mr Bin is violently allergic to Shiitake mushrooms, but thats another story.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:49, 8 replies)

Accidental niceness
This happened just a few weeks ago. I was out for a beer fuelled weekend of fun and frolics down in Newquay for a friend's stag night.

Now I'm a bit of a geek at times, and as such I don't really have a camera that fits handily into the pocket. As a result I had a bag with me that night. All good. The next morning I woke up to find... Gasp!... My bag was right next to me - Yes! I had managed to remember to pick up my bag at al the the bars, clubs and wherever the hell else I ended up that night.

Magic!

So I was rooting through it looking for something or other, when I found something a bit odd in the front pocket. A wallet.

A wallet I didn't recognise.

Someone else's wallet.

Fantastico. So I'd remembered by bag, w00t; but in the process I'd also become a tea-leaf. What the hell was I doing with someone else's wallet? I hunted through to see if there was some ID in there, but no. Cashcard (with a name I didn't recognise) but that was about it.

I asked around a couple of the guys rather sheepishly, wondering how the hell I was going to gexplain this one, and nobody recognised the name either.

It should be noted at this point that in typical boy fashion, we didn't really know each other's real names, it was always nosher, monkey and stuff like that.

AFter a few minutes getting more and more het-up about this whole thievery business, one of the guys I hadn't met before that weekend, came out of ihs tent bemoaning not only his hangover, but also his lack of wallet.

As soon as I saw him, it all came flooding back (well, trickling, anyway). I'd been at the bar next to him, him being rather more pissed than me, and I'd noticed him leave his wallet on the bar and walk off. So I picked it up and went to hand it back to him, but he was gone. So I did what every self-respecting good samaritan would do in the situation: put it in my bag and instantly forgot about it.

So I went, in one fell swoop, from being thieving bastard to saviour of the guy's wallet. I didn't really think anything of it, but he seemed to be way happy to be reunited with it.

Meh. Turned out alright, but scared the crap out of me at the time.
(Benjimawoo, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:47, Reply)

Unintentional, but lovely
A few weeks ago, I spent the night at my nanna's house, as she lives a few hours away from the family, and has lived on her own since my grampy died.
It was a slightly boring but pleasant evening, with my nan crying after a few whiskeys and telling me about a few photo albums of her "favourite people" that no one else knew about.
Well, when she went to bed, I decided to hunt for them, and I found them.

Now, before I carry on, I have to tell you that my grampy had MS. I knew him for 12 years, and I never saw him out of bed, never saw him wear anything other than his pyjamas, never saw him feed himself. Nurses had to come to the house everyday and turn him in his bed so he didn't get sores, had to help him go to the toilet and wash. If he needed something when you were out of the room, he had to whistle, because he couldn't talk above a whisper.
He was a wonderful man, never said a cruel word against anyone, and the thing I remember most is how he laughed when I tickled his feet.

One of the photo albums was full of pictures of old black and white photos of my grampy before he got ill, when he was in the navy. They were like film stills. He was absolutely gorgeous. He looked like a hero, a movie star, and I cried silently because I was so proud and happy that I was loved by such a wonderful person.

I never told my nanna about finding it, because I knew it would upset her too much, but I'm so happy that she told me about that photo album, because I have so many more lovely memories of a lovely man.
(reducedfatLOLcat, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:41, 3 replies)

It was a simple gesture
but it meant so much (and still does).

When I was a teenager, my dad died. Suddenly. Completely out of the blue, in fact. The whole family were in a state of utter shock and disbelief.

I was spending my time answering the phone, helping with the inevitable arrangements, trying to console my mum, along with general household type duties like cooking and cleaning. I don't mean to sound like a martyr, I certainly wasn't, I'm just one of those people who prefers to be doing something.

The day of the funeral rolled around, and I was up early, cleaning and making sure the house was presentable. One of the first people to arrive was a friend and workmate of my dad's. A big bear of a chap, a real gentle giant. When I let him in, he looked closely at me, and shook his head.

"You haven't taken time to cry properly yet, have you?" he asked.

When I shook my head, that big bear wrapped his arms around me in the biggest hug ever, and pulled my head against his chest. I finally gave into the tears I'd been fighting for days. After I'd cried what seemed like a flood of biblical proportions, he let me go and moved on to speak to my mum.

I got through the day a bit easier for having that cry, and it was an act of simple kindness with no agenda.

Sadly, a few months later, the big bear himself died in a car accident. He left behind a widow and two small children. I wasn't sure I could face another funeral that soon, so I went round to his house and offered to mind the children that day. They were really far too young for a funeral. I took the kids for a picnic in the park, and I like to think their dad was watching me with a smile.
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:38, 21 replies)

The unknown saint
I once lost my wallet in a 'dodgy' part of Berlin, shortly before Christmas.

I had just withdrawn €300 from the Bank to buy Christmas presents and it was in the wallet, along with my credit cards, driving license, ID card and many other membership cards - stuff that costs so much time and money to replace.

After immediately cancelling my cards, I searched for 2 weeks at home, retraced my steps several times but finally admitted defeat.

A few days later I received a letter from the Central Lost Property office in Berlin - they had my wallet. I rushed over to collect it expecting at least my cards and licenses to be in there, but to my utter astonishment, everything was in there including the money. They weren't allowed to give me the name and address of the finder but they told me the finder had found it on the street.

I was gobsmacked and it rebuilt my faith in human nature and made me rethink what I would do if I found a wallet with a largish amount of money in it.
( Dixipoos Bye Bye Blackbird, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:26, 1 reply)

That's showbusiness....!
A long time ago, I was in a maths class at secondary school. We were all scribbling away in our books (I was doodling, I hated maths) and reading our text books. Then, rather abstractly, our maths teacher shouted out:

"Here's a question for you horrible lot! I have 2 watches, one is 10 minutes fast, the other has stopped completely. Which one is more useful to me and why? You've got until the end of the lesson!"

A cloud of confusion settled over our class.

"Watches? 10 minutes fast?! What is he blithering on about?" _{we might have used a few more swear words than that}

Half an hour passed and everyone was as close to the answer as Michelle McManus was to a "Lean Cuisine" lasagne.

"One of the watches has stopped? Is it a digital watch? Because you wouldn't see anything on the display! That's pretty useless!"

"No! He's talking about a sundial, that's a type of clock"

"What about a cuckoo clock? Because a fast one will still cuckoo, but a stopped one won't! At least the fast one will have a working cuckoo!" _{true answer}

The end of the class came.

"Anybody got the answer?"

We had more chance of getting a shag off a sixth former.

"The answer is, the stopped watch is more useful to me. Because at least the hands will be right twice a day, whereas, the fast watch will always be wrong!"

There were murmurs of "Oh yes! Of course!" and other murmurs of "What the bloody hell has this got to do with Maths?!"

We all walked out of the class confused and still crud at maths.

Now, rewind 3 months prior to this maths class. A group of friends and I were hanging around when we were bored.

"What shall we do?"

"I dunno. Football?"

"Can't be bothered."

"Why don't we apply for a TV show?"

"What TV show?"

He told us the TV show in question

"Brilliant idea! What have we got to lose?"

We filled out an application form, sent it away and, to be honest, forgot about it. No more was said about it.

Now fast forward 3 months and one week from that day and we received a letter.

"Dear Stiggy and friends,

Thank you for applying to our TV show. We would like you come and see us for an interview...."

I was as happy as Thora Birch's underwear!

So, we went to Norfolk for the interview. We met the producers of the show. They were very nice, gave us all a drink and some chocolate and the interview began.

It's started off all casual, name, where we come from, what do we want to be when we grow up (we were only 11 at the time) etc. Then, the interview took a more pyschometric turn. We were asked three questions. The first 2 were general knowledge questions, then came the final question:



(if you've figured it out, keep quiet!)

"If I had two watches......."

My chubby, brown face lit up like a gas leak! As soon as he finished his question, I waited 3 seconds (to give the illusion, that I figured it out) then blurted out the answer without even consulting my colleagues.

"The stopped watch, because it'll be right, at least, twice a day!"

The producers look surprised (dare I say, shocked) at my answer. Then looked at their clipboards, made a couple of notes and said, rather brusquely "Thank you for your time."

I was scared. "'Thank you for your time?!' 'Thank you for your frigging time?!' I've come all the way from London to here, answered your sodding questions correctly and all I get is a 'Thank you for your time?!'" I was livid, but such is life.

We left the studios and returned home.

4 weeks later, we received another letter:

"Dear Stiggy and friends,

Thank you attending our interview, we hope you found it enjoyable. We'd like you invite you to participate on our new series of our TV show..."

I was now happier than Caprice Bourret's underwear!

We went to the show, had a brilliant time and, on the show, we got to the 3rd (and final) level and lost out. We didn't care by this point, we were just glad to have been a part of it.

The point of story is this, logic and reason tells me that it was all a major coincidence and that we were extremely fortunate. But, in my romanticised way of looking at things, I'd like to think that (one of) the nicest things someone had ever done for me was that maths teacher getting the heads up on our interview (and the questions involved) and telling us the answer to the "watches question".

And in case anyone is interested, the TV show in question was this .......

Length? It was 10 minutes fast, so it wasn't any use.....
(The Stig, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:24, 17 replies)

Last weekend!
This QOTW is perfect to tell you all about one of the best weekends I've had in a very long time and all about the new and very gorgeous sexy man in my life :D Be warned, vomiting may occur upon reading this!

The new sexy man in my life happens to be a fellow B3tan and I met him with the aid of b3ta - how exciting! He has done a lot of very nice things for me actually, the first being the very first message he sent me on here after I'd bared my soul about some things I find it hard to talk about and was in quite a lonely vunerable place. However, this answer is not about that - it is about the second time we met in person, namely this weekend.

Immediately upon arrival he kissed me on the doorstep (we'd already got to the kissing stage from the first time we met!) and presented me with an enormous bunch of red roses and a bottle of champagne. He then helped me cook dinner, and didn't even get annoyed when I realised I'd run out of vegetable stock and nipped down to Sainsbury's to get some more. We snuggled up to watch a film together and let's just say I don't know how we made it to the end of the film!

Over the course of the weekend he spoiled me rotten. We went for a walk on Ditchling beacon and he treated me to an ice cream and we sat in a pub garden in Ditchling as the sun was going down on a lovely late summer's afternoon. The next afternoon we had a picnic on the beach and just sat cuddling and enjoying the sun for a good few hours, it was utter bliss. He took me to this tiny cocktail bar that I never knew existed before and got me decidedly tipsy on some very tasy concoctions (please, watch your imaginations!) and worried that he hadn't brought his jacket because he couldn't put it around me if I got cold on the way home - not in case he got cold! He met my friends and was lovely, bought them a few drinks and definitely didn't scare them off!

So what are the other nice things he's done for me? He's made me realise I am attractive and not a failure to females everywhere. He took the time to reach out to a lonely, scared vunerable young woman who he didn't know and comfort her and make sure she was ok when he really didn't have to. He can read me almost better than anyone I know and not make me feel guilty about talking to him about whatever is worrying me. He makes me laugh, makes me feel great for being a geek and makes me happier than I have been in a very very long time. The only thing I want out of this is that I can do the same for him :)

Gooiness all over now, no apologies for length whatsoever - he's great with it! :p
(Petite chien is going to do science to it, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:16, 5 replies)

In return for picking some stuff up from a friend's house on the way back up to uni a few weeks ago,
her folks gave me a bottle of wine and a bottle of whisky. The greatest gift a student can receive: booze! Cheers Mr. and Mrs. K.
(notjustahatrack peeling a sausage..., Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:15, Reply)

Ok. Sounds kind of trivial
A few months back I had a nasty breakup after a long relationship (boring I know) but I got talking to a girl on the internets. She was about my age and we could hold a conversation online. A week later she suggested we meet up and go to Thorpe Park. I was kinda worried that she would either not meet me after all or be an absolute psychopath. Neither happened! She was wonderful, funny and cool and we spent the day at Thorpe park, and spent the eve in a fairly decent hotel drinking and smoking! And well, trivial as it sounds that's probably the best thing to happen to me in a long damn time and the kindest thing that a (relative) stranger has done for me. Until it happened I didn't know how much I needed it, it cheered me up did me the world of good and restored my faith in people somewhat. Silly, I know but good.
(Fredz A graveyard of hopes, a dump of ambition, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:10, Reply)

one from me
as its almost time for home.

A good friend of mine was (and still is) rather strapped for cash after a few personal disasters, shit ex boyfriends and career moves.

Her car had been making a few rattly noises recently and had an MOT coming up in the next month but her being penniless couldn't afford it.

I pointed out that we still hadn't gone to a pagan bookshop in covent garden to get her birthday present from last year, and if we rolled the next birthday and christmas inoto the equation I would pay for the car to be serviced instead. She agreed, car was dropped off at the garage and we toddled off to find me a couple of nice shirt / tie combos for some upcoming weddings.

4 or 5 hours later we wandered back to the garage for the results, things started to go wrong when the man at the desk said "Ah yes, the Fiesta" and went to get a mechanic.

oh dear.

He had a sheet of paper with all the bits wrong with it.
At some point after listing brake discs, brake pads, brake cables, wheel bearings, suspension, steering column, hand brake offside lights he paused.

Phew its gonna hurt but not tooo bad I thought.

He had paused to turn over the sheet of paper and proceeded to list more things that were wrong / broken / well and truly fucked to a state it was a deathtrap.

To the tune of over £1000.

Which was by a factor of quite a few times more expensive than the cost of the original full service.

My friend went white, then puce, then white again. she needs car for job as she does shift work, which she she starts in 4 days, no car, no job, no money and round and round in a vicious debt circle until the men from the company come along and take everything she owns.

We haggled the repairs down to £984.67 and I paid for the lot.

Then I went straight home as I had 2 weddings in two days to attand.
(Halfy By light alone, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:10, 2 replies)

'I've got a friend I want you to meet'...
It's February 2004 and I've just returned from the holiday of a lifetime in Australia. I'm a little down in the dumps when I receive a text message. My ex-girlfriend, by then a good friend, inviting me out with that old favourite 'I've got a friend I want you to meet'.

At the time I didn't expect much but decided I had nothing to lose and tagged along. Her introduction was basically 'This is Boden, he likes video games and PVC, this is Gemma, she likes video games and football... You two should go out together'. We laughed, had a few drinks and went our seperate ways... I wasn't sure it had gone particularly well so I went about my business.

A few days later Gemma contacted me online and we arranged to meet at the cinema.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, Gemma and I ended up getting on fantastically. Gemma changed my life for the better and in May of this year we flew over to Jamaica and tied the not!

Introduce me to my wife, that's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me! Thanks, Sam!
( beefandcheese, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:09, Reply)

I love Mr Oliver
One evening in my lovely little boozer I caught two fellows in the cubicle together and proceeded to try and through them out.

To cut a long story short, I ended up with my wrist shattered and a face like in my profile pic.

Now, when I get out of hospital I'm greeted by all manner of well wishers and cards from these people but there was one that caught my eye.

Oliver, for that is his name, is the most polite octogenarian you'll ever meet, and is always a beautiful person whenever he totters in the pub. When I get to his letter it leaves me in tears. He wrote that he was appalled to hear that I had been put in hospital and how he hoped I got better and, bearing in mind this man is not a well off pensioner, he had slipped a tenner in with a note that I was to buy myself something to cheer myself up.

I don't care that there is no humous here, I just thought that the rest of the world should know that Oliver is so amazingly kind it made me cry like a girl.
( monkeyboyalpha jumping on the bandwagon since, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:08, Reply)

i never realised what good friends i have
as some of you may know, i had a gastric bypass operation 2 months ago. my friends had decided that, just before the op, they would take me to town for my last big meal and a huge piss-up.
unfortunately, i had to start a liver reduction diet 2 weeks before the op. on this diet, you can't eat solid foods except for sugar-free jelly, which i shall never touch again. no fizzy drinks, no alcohol, not even milk in my tea. it's a truly horrendous diet.
after planning my night out, my friends were understandably miffed by this news. however, i decided that i would not let this stop me, so i vowed to go to town anyway and "enjoy" a night of drinking overpriced water.

the night soon came for our excursion to town and my friend arrived to collect me and my huge overnight bag. we had arranged to stop at his house, drop off my bag, pick up our other friend and call a cab into town. as we were walking into the house, though, my friend realised he'd left his phone in the car.
"you go in," he said, "i'll follow you in a minute."
i walked up the hall, opened the living room door and was greeted by a massive shout of "SURPRISE!"
they'd thrown me a surprise party and invited all our other friends. it was truly unexpected.
i had a wonderful night. it was so good to see everyone there, even more so because they were all there to show their support and wish me good luck.

thanks, guys, that's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. you are true friends and i love you.

length? 2 months and i've lost more than 5 stones! :)
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:05, 8 replies)

Falling on the employment sword.
Kind of a funny story which makes you think that what may not be a big deal for you looks like (or is) a big deal for others.

w a v y l i n e s

Twas a long time ago now but when I was in University I worked part time at a semiconductor factory doing things like backing up systems, fixing terminals, cleaning tapes, booting systems, running through the FAB floors checking on stuff etc. The work was fairly easy for the most part and it paid well.

As I was in the last few months of university and getting ready to get my degree and either get a full-time job there or get the hell out, it came to us that due to budgetary conditions there was going to be a layoff and of our group someone had to go.

There were people there with families and mortgages and such who got really worried, folks that had been there for years - good folk, nice folk, folks that I still keep in touch with.

We had a big meeting of just our department, about 15 of us where all this was laid out before us. There was a palpable feeling of sadness and worry in the room when it was over.

The more I thought about it the more I realized if there was going to be a layoff I damn sure wasn't going to get hired on full time whereupon I had a bit of an idea.

I went to my manager and said "I need a chat, I have an idea" and she had me sit down. "Well" I said "it's obvious that I'm not going to be getting a job here full time after I graduate, so what I was thinking is this. Once I have my degree I'm not going to be an hourly computer operator technician am I? so I was thinking, do you suppose if I offer up myself for the layoff that it would be enough to protect the rest?"

She looked at me for a bit and said "Do you mind doing that?" so I said "No, why would I mind? I'm not going to mount tapes for the rest of my life am I?" so she said she would see if I would do as the sacrificial lamb.

Well it turns out that I was acceptable as the head to roll and they took me out for drinks on my last day, I had some very touching thank-you's as we said our goodbyes and at that point I realized that what had been just a decision to leave on my part was looked upon by those that remained as a big gesture.

Funny how things work out eh?
(Lurkaloid awarded wanking black belt on, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 18:03, 3 replies)

A few years ago my son died
in horrible circumstances. We were all, understandably, devastated and distraught. Lots of kind people took care of us in many different ways and I feel that without their help I'd simply have gone mad with grief.

I can't list everything here that was done for us, but one thing in particular stands out.

A lady I chat to online but have never met, a mature student with children and not much money, sent me her most prized possessions - two signed photos of Sean Bean.

Somehow that gift reminded me that there was still a world out there. I still look at the photos most days and remember how much love I was shown at that awful time, even by relative strangers.



And anyway, that Sean Bean, he's hot, he is.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 17:46, 7 replies)

I'll never forget this.
Two years ago, in the run up to christmas, I was going through a pretty bad time of my life. My wife had left me two years earlier for another man and had just had a child with him, and although I pretended to myself everything was OK, I was completely broken up inside. I occupied my time going out and enjoying myself with my friends, but when I was alone I sometimes just wished I could go to sleep and never wake up. I'd been to the doctors and was going through a little stage of trying anti-depressants but they weren't helping, at the time I didn't think I was too bad but looking back now I realise just how low I was. For the most part, I kept it all to myself and didn't tell another soul how I felt, put a happy face on and tried to be normal. I'm quite a private person and don't share things easily.

I had moved back in with my parents after the split, and had pretty much wallowed there ever since. One evening, as I sat in my room watching telly, my mum stuck her head round the door and asked if I was ok, and for some reason, the usual "aye, fine" just didn't come out. She came in and sat down on the bed and asked what was wrong and I started making up the usual excuses that I just wasn't feeling too well, but then I just blurted out the words "I miss her, mum."

My mum had hated my ex and wished I had never married her. "I know I shouldn't after everything she's done, but I just miss her." She didn't say anything, she just gave me a hug and I completely broke down. I sat there crying like a baby and just let everything I had held in for two long years flow out.

It was around that time that my mum fell ill, and a couple of months later she was taken into hospital and diagnosed with cancer of the stomach. It had already spread and within a month she was gone. I never got to tell her how much that hug meant to me and how it helped me through one of the darkest times of my life. I'll never forget it.
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 17:45, 12 replies)

Fellatio...

followed by swallowing.


I'm a man of simple pleasures.
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 17:42, 2 replies)

Well...
I don't want to appear shallow, but it was what Dawn said to after greasing my weasel for the first time.

Up to that point I'd imagined every girl in the world would find me repulsive so while not shy as such I would avoid intimacy at all costs.

She told me lost of her friends thought I was cool. It was like the best drug hit, therapy session, moment of enlightenment all rolled into one.

It was the day things started going well for me, and they still are 25 years later.


BTW saw that new De Niro / Pacino filum last night. Christ on a bike waht a pile of shite. Avoid at all costs.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Thu 2 Oct 2008, 17:35, Reply)

Saved my job
In my last job I was subject of upper-management's scapegoat regime when a customer's systems failed (long story, but basically something broke and it wasn't labelled correctly, so I wasn't willing to take down their entire network for one server).

I had a disciplinary hearing coming up, no warnings, just a letter on my doormat.

My boss, the helpdesk boss and a friend of a friend (disciplinary and H&S expert) all stepped in and helped me.

It turned out the company was doing some serious wrongdoings in terms of lone workers and the disciplinary procedure (I hadn't had a written or verbal warning before the hearing) so my friend's friend called them, and within the space of a 10 minute phone call, upper management were running around like headless chickens and my disciplinary turned into an informal chat about my performance.


I took in a massive wad of good work evidence (on advice from my boss and the tech support boss) and all was explained and sorted there and then.
(Ethelred is watching cheese grow, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 17:27, Reply)

Mothers-in-Law - they're great.
Well, mine was at any rate. My ex mother-in-law was one of the nicest people I ever met. She was pretty upset when me and the ex split up, and was also riddled with breast cancer. We remained close, even though it was a bloody horrible time for everyone concerned. The emotional fallout was draining. After 6 months of still sharing a house (I won’t say living together, because we weren’t) I moved out of the marital home and into my own place. I still visited, went into the hospice every other night (it was about 20 minutes walk away from my place of work at the time, so not really a chore; besides, I would have done it anyway), but was a bit reliant on unreliable public transport to get me home. I refused to get a lift with my father-in-law after one trip made me realise just how drunk he actually was.

Not long after that, the mother-in-law died. Coincidentally my father-in-law was busted for drink-driving on the very same day. The fucking trauma THAT caused…

Anyway, a short while after the funeral, her will was read. I had already been given her car – not having one of my own, she let me use hers to keep the engine ticking over and had specifically said she wanted me to have it when she popped off. It was much welcomed. However; her will gave me something of a surprise. The house was left to my father-in-law. Not a penny of her works pension, life insurance or savings was his, knowing as she did that he would piss and gamble it up the wall. Two thirds of her cash was left to my ex, and the rest – well, that was left to me - about £17,000.

To say I was pretty gobsmacked by this doesn’t do it justice. However, I was incredibly grateful, and it came at a time when my ex had agreed to buy me out of the marital home – meaning I could actually put down a sizeable deposit on a house and buy some half decent furniture. Oh, and the full sized Dalek…

So to my mother-in-law, I raise a glass and toast you. Cheers. Thank you for not taking sides when me and Pauline split, thank you for everything you did for me, and – well, I’ve already said it. Thanks.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Thu 2 Oct 2008, 17:22, 3 replies)

loads of stories
and mostly abroad away from the anglo saxon countries, and from the poorest people in most cases, they just have a better value system imho and it comes as second nature
(The Goat www.cuttingthroughthematrix.com, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 17:21, 1 reply)

I actually have something this week. Shock horror!
For a little background, I'm British and my Girlfriend is Canadian who was living in spain. This poses many problems, the first and foremost being logistics.
I've been seeing her since July 2007 (So just a little over a year, woo for us) and for 1 whole year i flew every fortnight on Saturday at 5:45am to Madrid (where she was living at the time) and flew back home Monday morn' at 6:45am just intime to arrive at work at 9:30.

Yeaup, i commuted from spain.

Anyway, one of my work colleagues (who shall remain nameless) arranged for me to go to India for 6 months, under the condition that the company would pay my girlfriend's flights, visa costs and other things. This was great for me as it means we can live together for a whole six months whilst I work out a plan to allow us to live together for longer.

The problem with this is that after the 6 months (we're 1 month in) we have to return to our respective countries, which is quite saddening. That was, until yesterday... the aforementioned colleague has arranged for me to transfer to Canada. This means that my flights, her flights, visa applications et al will be paid and arranged for by the company. The most important part being sponsored for a visa.

He's single handedly allowed me and my girlfriend to continue our relationship with relative ease for the next few years by which time i'll be able to apply for my residency :)

Plus, he takes me shopping as i don't have a car here.
( Axai is in Montréal, Canada O.o, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 17:21, 10 replies)

Ex number one, the control freak one
Many people have questioned why I stayed with him for 12 years if he was such a bastard.

The answers to this are long and complex, but one of them is that he was the sweetest person I'd ever met (in between the unpleasantness of course).

After we'd been together a little while he handed me a sharp pointed object. The handle was well worn, and it had an antique look about it. He explained that his grandad, who was much loved and sadly missed since he had died ten years before, had passed it down to him. He said,

"It's yours now" and I looked at him, slightly mystified.

He said "When we first met, I promised you I would give you my all"...

I've still got it actually.
( warmfuzzies Isn't here, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 17:20, 2 replies)

'Meatatarian'
When I was a poor student, I was extremely hard up. I wasn’t able to get a full loan because my mum and dad earned just over the means tested threshold. It didn’t really bother me that much but as a consequence I had to count my pennies, drink at home before I went out, make sandwiches if I went on a trip somewhere (like the city centre) etc.

Anyway, not rich, but no real money for luxuries.

I was using the library computers late at night talking to some people I had met on a chat room. It was what I did sometimes to pass the time when I had finished studying in the library.

So I was chatting with this one girl and we were swapping life stories as you do. She was from somewhere in America, and she was a journalism major but her parents were quite well off so she was cruising through college. She was in her room with her laptop (1996!) surfing around.

She asked me where I was and stuff and I told her I was in this grotty library on campus, starving away. She asked me to hold on for a few minutes, and then she was back and chatting and asking me how long I was gonna be on for, and I said I don’t know, an hour or so.

A little while later, a security guard comes up to me and asks if I am Mr. Powervator (not my nick then but you know). I say yeah, and he asks me to go to the foyer of the library. BRB, I write on the chat room.

Two family size pizzas, one ‘meatatarian’, and one vegetarian are waiting for me.

“I didn’t order these” I say to the pizza dude.

“S’alright mate, they are already paid for, enjoy”.

I walked back to my computer with the steaming bundles of joy, sat down, and saw that she has left me a message asking me if I was enjoying my pizza?

It was obvious what had happened now but back then I still couldn’t make the connection between the computer and real life.

“How do you know I have pizza?” I foolishly asked.

“Cos I ordered it for you dummy!” She wrote back.

We have now lived together for five years.
(powervator and NONE SHALL PASS, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 17:18, 19 replies)

Some nice Canadian doctor
In August I booked some flights to Canada to see my sister this Christmas. I paid an extortionate amount of money for them.

Three weeks later the airline company went bust and, as I'd paid on debit card, it looked like I'd not get the money back.

My sister's boss then offered to buy me some more flights so I could still spend Christmas with her. I've never met him and she had only been working at the hospital about 5 weeks.

Without sounding smug, I have too many amazing things that people have done for me; I am fortunate enough to have wonderful friends. One is a b3tan and he has done more for me than he probably ever realised... if you still hang around on here, thank you so much.
( kitsune-tsuki tankeløst hode får lettest sove, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 17:13, 2 replies)

Hmm...
I can't think of many, but can think of one off the top of my head.

Started chatting to a bloke through a website, arranged to meet up for a drink, and had a laugh, no problem.

A couple of weeks later, he drops me a text again, asking if I want to come out that saturday, unfortunately I was skint, and told him so. "No problem, I'll lend you a tenner" were his words.

It then transpires that on the day, he gives me a call, and asks if I want picking up?

No problem thinks I, and agree. A while later, after he finally works out where to head, he picks me up, and we drive straight to Bargain Booze, where he picks up a crate, gets cashback, and gives me a tenner.

We then head back to his, and meet his wife and little fella. Both are very friendly, and I find myself admiring his music collection with a beer in my hand a few minutes later.

After a while, we head out for the night, first thing he does is buy me a beer. Naturally, I return the favour later on, but then don't get a chance to again, as his missus and him keep buying me drinks, even after I admit I'm knackered and need to get home.

All this off a bloke I'd only met once before, and am seeing again tomorrow!

Cheers Spike!
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Thu 2 Oct 2008, 17:05, 5 replies)