True Kindness (apologies for legnth in advance, this story defines my life)
In my gap year me and my best mate decided we'd spend two months hiking and camping and the Chilean Andes. We both slaved for 9 months to afford all the top notch equipment and spending money we would need, and were both sure it would be the trip of a lifetime.

Unfortunately however, some fucking cock of a bag hander at our stop-over in Madrid helped himself to my £360 heavy duty mountaineering tent along with various other goodies. Iberia airlines were total cunts about it, first giving us fake numbers to call, hanging up repeatedly when we found the right number and then refusing to honour our travel insurance.

We were stranded in a foreign land and culture with barely a word of Spanish between us and our plans absolutely shattered. However, what happened next completely restored my faith in humanity for ever.

1- Al the hostel staff did all they could to help us with Iberia airlines including the travel agent woman who spent at least 3 hours phoning various officials.

2- An Australian coupe who gave us a free tent (a summer beach tent but it did mean we got some camping done in good weather).

3- The Rivernos family. At a loss of what to do instead of mountaineering and hiking we were wandering the streets of Santiago at night and drinking heavily. At some point a Chilean woman stopped and asked us for a light. We got taking (me using the dictionary and what rudimentary spanish i'd learned in 3 days, she spoke no English).
2 days later we were living with them in a ghetto style area an hour out of Santiago. We walked the kids to school, went to the market with Lorena (the mum), drank into the night playing poker with Eduardo (the father) and had a beautiful friendship with the eldest daughter.
I have never met a family so welcoming, kind, trusting and wonderful. They had so little, and gave so much, and never asked for anything in return. It was like finding a soul-mate family. Of course we gave a lot back in friendship and love also, and I insisted on paying for all the food and groceries and lending money to Eduardo to catch the bus into work.
It's truly the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me.

I can still see Eduardo pounding his heart with his fist, telling us how he loved us as sons and we'd have a home there if ever we wanted it. I still remember crying my eyes out to Lorena about my parents separation. But what I remember most is how they offered us a home to live in within 20 minutes of meeting us, and how Eduardo welcomed us with open arms when we arrived out of the blue with his wife and daughter to live with them.
A toast to the Rivernos family of Puente Alto, Chile:
Paz, amor y amistad, para todos, para siempre.
(Roopy all is not what it seams, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 14:26, 8 replies)

People are nice all the time!
Like any other drug addled, baggy trousered, SNES playing, divorced of parent, child of the 90's, I have on occassion been a veritable train wreck of depression. On reflection, my life's not been a hard one, Churchill would be turning in his grave etc, but of course that's not what it's about. All I know is I think about things differently when I'm 'bad', to when I'm 'good'.

So these times come and go. The story is set during a definite down time. A real long one in fact, that was exacerbated by splitting up from a long term girlfriend, and being in a relationship with another girl for all the wrong reasons. The locale was uni, my first year.

Come the second year, and I learn that current ladyfriend has fermented a fruity hatred of me over the summer (during which we DIDN'T EVEN SPEAK - a stunning result even by my standards). The fun bit is we decided on housing the year prior, so a month in and I'm kinda deciding that the tension is rather more than I can bear. I decide on a MANLY and NON-COWARDLY course of action - buy a one way ticket to America and scarper with my student loan.

The nice is about to happen!

I return home to take stock (if by 'take' I mean get, and by 'stock' I mean pissed). A flight is booked, I go out the night before to say farewells to pals. Incredibly (even by my standards blah blah), I think taking my passport out would be a profitable idea. It may well of been! Had I not done cartwheels. WEEEEE I went, WEEEEE! BOOOOO I went next morning, discovering my passport had taken to gravity with aplomb, and fucked off out of my pocket. Morning of flight. Worried. Mum suggests the police! 'Bollocks' says I. You'd have to be some kind of LOSER to do something as well intentioned as...oh.
Nice thing #1 - lady hands in my passport to police.

I'm at the airport, I am SO CLOSE to escaping, but I am silly. Feck it, I don't even have standards. I let slip I am a dual citizen. I only have my Brit passport. I am denied travel. If my emotional state was in a box, it would've had 'fragile' and 'handle with care' stamped all over it...so I am ever grateful for my dad, who came straight away to pick me up (a 3 hour journey for him) - and rather than berate me for my evident stupidity (I hadn't really told anyone my full plans...), he helped me get an emergency passport and back to the airport.
Nice thing #2 - my dad goes above and beyond.

So we're off! And I am not entirely without plan - back in my aol messenger/spending aeons online phase, I befriended two improbably nice twins, who I chatted with on and off for a few years. The day I thought of my plan, I messaged them (fairly out the blue at the time) asking if I could stay with them - they message back the very next day saying that's fine. So that's what I did! I went to their house in New Jersey, where the twins (P and K) lived with P's boyfriend, R.

I've been re-writing this next paragraph for a while. I dont know how best to put what they did for me, my appreciation of it. It won't sound like much, but it meant the world. The girls drove me everywhere, cooked for me, lent me money, food, gave me a home, not just somewhere to sleep...R got me a job, woke me up when I was late for work, got stoned and watched Monty Python with me, and taught me a lot about faith. Mainly, they showed me a group of people who loved each other, who were kind and compassionate. They were (are I'm sure!) really really really beautiful people, and I don't know how to put it any other way. For me? I felt calm, in my head, which is a big deal. I woke up happy. I didn't smoke as much, drink as much, I slept normally. I got my faith back.
Nice thing #3 - New Jersey kids take in a stray.

I could cry now thinking back to it. I am not 'cured', I still feel down sometimes, but I have something. A gift. See I wanted to put lots of things, cos I'm not sure you can quantify 'nicest'. All the above are nice acts, and while some are 'bigger' acts than others, each of them is simply a case of someone putting others ahead of themselves - the intention is always the same. Which is kinda lovely. And that is my gift, their acts of kindness see. When I think my dad's being a bit of a cretin, I remind myself what he would do for me. When I despair over a lack of community and helpfulness in our society, I think of the lady going out of her way for me. And when I can't sleep, and I'm hot and twitchy, and my mind just races races, I think of the house in New Jersey by the beach. And it works. And cos it works, we need to go out and give some nice back. This is what I try to do.
(bacontrout got ska, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 14:06, 2 replies)

Last night
I was feeling pretty low due to having a pretty bad day with my depressed housemate - I hadn't been able to get her out of bed, dressed or even get her to eat anything. She was barely communicating with me and I just needed a break and a rant at someone. So I texted my best friend asking if i could just suddenly appear for a chat, and of course he said yes, even though he was waiting for his girlfriend to come round in about an hour. He listened to my rant, gave me a good talking to, ran me a bath (amazing as I don't have a bath in my house!) and then when I'd got out fed me chocolate, kettle chips, popcorn and rum and coke. I went home feeling much better and relaxed. I honestly don't know what I'd do without him sometimes!
(Petite chien is going to do science to it, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 13:45, Reply)

It's small
But it involves getting into a Levellers gig at Newcastle's Mayfair (RIP) in the mid 90's.

She'd dragged me along - I thought they were OK, but they didn't excite me. We'd been unable to get tickets so thought we'd hang around outside to see if anyone had any spares. Realising that we were going to have to pay upwards of £40 each, we decided to head home.

"You not coming in then"? a voice behind us shouted. We turned, and there was one of the bouncers at the door.

"Not got tickets", I explained. "Thought we might be able to pick a couple up, but it seems not".

Bouncer nodded understandingly, and proceeded to engage us in conversation. Small stuff, where are you from, what do you do, etc. It's odd, engaging with a bouncer beyond catching their eye as you walk into a gig and nodding ever so slightly.

Anyway, after about 10 minutes, when we were the only people about, he pushed the door open and indicated the stairs. "In you go then, and have a good night".

Grateful we dashed down the stairs and caught the second half of what turned out to be the first in a three act line up - Credit to the Nation. Not my cup of tea, but a bit different to the usual rap stuff about. Three or four songs later he strolled off stage, and a short time later on came Chumbawamba, who were utterly brilliant. Then the Levellers - and I was converted. Instantly better live than on CD, I've seen them a good few times since.

So thank you, that bouncer, for your clandestine act of kindness. I'm sure that the Levs wouldn't have minded a couple of freeloaders getting in. My ex did buy a t-shirt, so she put something back...

Although the kid falling off the balcony during their set and dying in hospital was a bit of a bummer, it has to be said.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Sat 4 Oct 2008, 13:30, Reply)

And...
She bought me a kebab machine last year.
(Chickenwire social lubricator extraordinaire, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 12:19, 5 replies)

My missus
Once bought me a lovely pair of Russell and Bromley slippers.
(Chickenwire social lubricator extraordinaire, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 12:14, Reply)

Was skiing one day ~
I love skiing. It's the activity that I love more than any other. I feel like a different person on the slopes - Athletic, stylish.. Wonderful!

So when I crashed last year and severely messed up my shoulder I was really depressed about it. We were having fantastic weather at the time, and it was the only week I could have off that season. I'd only been able to ski for 2 days out of the 7 I had planned.

Two mates of mine drove 400 kilometres to the town I was staying in, picked me up and packed my gear (I'd fucked my AC joint, couldn't use my right arm at all and was in a shitton of pain), then drove me home. The entire time they were cracking jokes, helping me with everything, even the slightly embarassing chore of getting my pants on in the morning. They never hesitated to come out and help me get back for even a second. Completely unasked, they did all that for me.

Couple of really nice guys, I'd do anything for either of them.

(There's a couple stories about nice things people have done for me, but this one really stands out. Shame neither of them read b3ta, I've never been able to get out how much that meant to me to either of them).
(Scritty Bakerman., Sat 4 Oct 2008, 12:11, 3 replies)

Simple...
The nicest thing anyone ever did for me was just listen, really.

During my last year or two of school I was thoroughly miserable a lot of the time, and I never really felt like I could talk to any of my friends about it. I probably could have, but at the time I didn't think so.

Anyway, I hit year 12 (first year of college/sixth form) and met a couple of new people (our school was the only one in the area that had a 6th form so we had kids from other schools come in). One such person sticks in mind - we'll call him 'Xander. Started off a bit awkard abut eventually I got to know him a little through being paired with him in my German class a lot.

One particualr night I was chatting to him on msn and doing of those 'tell me what you think of me' email quiz things (I was 16 and bored), sent it to him and he replied truthfully. One of his answers really stood out, I think the question was something like 'Describe me in one word' - he wrote 'Lost'.

Now at the time I was considering leaving school and fighting back the urge to relapse (during my GCSE years I self-harmed a lot), and his answer really struck a chord.

What followed was a discussion of why I felt the way I did and whatnot and over a period of time I just unloaded on him everything I'd never told anybody else. We ended up together for a while and it was wonderful.

I'd never trusted anybody that completely before and to be honest I haven't since, and I'd like to say we're still friends but I was an idiot, I hurt him and I lost him.

But 'Xander', if you read this, just... thank you for being the best friend I've ever had.
(TuftyBee should have been working on, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 12:01, Reply)

Recently, we went to the country.
Being London-based, that's a bit of an event. We went for a nice walk to make the most of the countryside, and promptly got very, very lost. In my defence, I wasn't in charge of directions. We walked for about an hour, with no real clue as to where we were. I knew we weren't far from the place we needed to be, cos it was in a big valley, and we were still in it.

Looking back, that's not entirely sound logic, but there you go. We emerged onto a road, and decided to ask at the nearest house. The incredibly nice lady inside not only knew where it was we were going, but said she'd drive us there!

She dropped whatever it was she was doing, and drove us 4 miles down the road to our destination. We tried to thank her, and she wouldn't hear of it, insisting it was her pleasure, etc.

Note thee well -- we weren't trying to pay her, offer her a drink or something, but just say thank you!

Nice lady from the house in the middle of nowhere, Wadhurst, Kent, I salute you.
(Exiled Youth [witty comment], Sat 4 Oct 2008, 11:35, Reply)

I was living in Paris
Miles from home, feeling miserable. I was really rather depressed (not medically speaking, fortunately). I spent some time online chatting to various people, but as I was living on my own, life was very lonely indeed.

I was chatting a girl and she asked how I was. I replied with some rubbish, and she realised I was telling porky-pies.

She listened on msn (those were the days, eh?) for about two hours, and encouraged me greatly. Two days later a bar of Green and Blacks Mayan Gold chocolate arrived. It was only a token gesture, a couple of quid on chocolate, a little bit more to send it to Paris, but it literally changed my life.

I was so cheered up by the fact that this relatively random person I had met online had done something thoughtful that I left my apartment (tiny tiny box, for which I paid extortionate money) for the first time in days.

In that year in Paris I went on to meet my wife, got a fantastic mark that helped me get my career going, and generally had one of the best years of my life.

And I still nom nom nom the oh-so-tasty Mayan Gold chocolate on a regular basis. It may only have been a bar of chocolate, but it was the most important bar of chocolate I think I've ever eaten. Amanda, if you're reading -- thank you.
(Exiled Youth [witty comment], Sat 4 Oct 2008, 11:26, 2 replies)

Friends
I would like to think i have done a few kind things over the years. Like travelling to the States for a wedding, stag do, just turning up and being me. I know that i like it when my firned do that for me. Look at me digress.

I think i should mention my parents for all the years they have put up with me. For example my missus' mum showed me just how much they would do for me. My mum would drop everything in a heartbeat to help me out. So to them, thank you. Plus they have spent a fuck load of cash on my over the years.

Now to my friends. When my sister died one of dearest friends, Euan, didn't ask me if he wanted me at the funeral, nope, he came to the memorial service and then just asked where and when and drove the hundreds of miles to be there, along with my very good friend zoe. Phil, on hearing the news cried with me on the phone and booked his flights to be at the funeral, he was with me for the netire weekend, got drunk with me and helped me deal with it all. All three were there for me physically, other in spirit.

Another time and place, i was in a dark place. I was all mixed up over a girl, lost and feeling very alone. The night before i flew home for a week, my housemate and dear friend got drunk with me and we just chatted and she was there for me. The next day i felt hung over but the world was in order. To go home and have a support there worrying about me and caring about me was all i needed, it was the best medicine in the world. Oh to give you an idea of how fucked up, i have dealt with death and lose, parents breaking up, cancer (others), failing examples, moving schools and home frequently, bullying and all these things i have managed to handle. One girl and i need to see a counsellor.

So i would like to say i am very lucky to have such great and wonderful friends who put up with me. Wonderful parents. And a girlfriend who gets me and more importantly puts up with me.
(StyX is staring at you, yes YOU!!!, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 10:42, Reply)

I don't really have much to put in here.
I've had the odd little thing, hankies at funerals, lifts home when I had hurt my leg and was crying in the street, that sort of thing.
Honestly, I know it sounds clichéd, but I'd like to thank my ex for giving birth to my Daughter.
I've always been scared at the idea of being a parent and wanted to wait till I was in my 30's "Till I was ready" (You'll never ever do it if you wait till you're "ready").
When she fell pregnant I was terrified (worrying over every little thing that could go wrong, would I be a good dad, etc) but it's been 6 months since she was born and I can't imagine life without her now.
So thank you L. She's the most important thing in my world.

God forbid she ever reads this. I'll never live it down...
( Maffers I flow kinda strange like Spina Bifida footprints, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 10:35, 1 reply)

drunken homless guy
Not me but.

A friend of mine was on holiday over in sydney for a few days with his parents. It was a nice day so they decided to have lunch in one of the parks. After getting a few goodies from a bakery they lloked for a place to sit down.

As luck would have it they spied an empty bench and went towards it.
Just as they reached the bench an old homeless guy ran towards them shouting "DONT SIT THERE"
They paused for a second thinking this is probably his regular place and he wants it. They carried on turned ready to put their bums down "DONT SIT THERE!!!"

Luckily his next words caused them to stand still for a second "THE SNAKE WILL GET YA". By now the thoughts are "What brand of window cleaner has he been drinking? Hes immagining things"

By now the homeless guy had reached them and grabbed my mates dads arm. "ITS THERE" . Pointing an old knarled finger he pointed to the back of the bench.

Lying sunning its self was a brown snake, the same colour as the bench. Right next to where their shoulders would have been.

This homeless guy possibly saved someones life that day. The strange thing is he wouldnt take any money just an apple.
(welgar, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 10:02, 8 replies)

Getting together
I got together with my current girlfriend almost 7 years ago, when we were innocent young things. We met at a party/sleepover thing, and had clearly decided we liked each other a lot. We'd sneaked off to have a cheeky swig of Bacardi (from the bottle) and a snog away from the others. However neither of us knew what to do next, neither of us having much experience asking people out.

The next morning, we were walking along, arm in arm, among the others from the party, when my Glaswegian friend behind shouts:

"OI! Are you two going out yet?"

We turned around, looked sheepish, looked at each other, stared at our shoes and mumbled a bit. He set us straight:

"Right! You are then!"

We're still together. Thanks, man.
( rhebus ac201fd270c3b96beab24f2829780ab2, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 9:58, 4 replies)

it hurt at the time, but the kindest thing anyone did for me
was say "mate...your toupee isn't fooling anyone, you'd look much better bald."



(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 9:48, 3 replies)

the best thing anyone ever did for my friend
was sell him heroin.

He'd been depressive for years, and eventually decided to kill himself with a suicidal heroin overdose.

But he thought he'd have a normal one first 'for practice'.

He found it made him not depressed any more. So he became a heroin addict.

He got to the point where he was going to sell his photography equipment to buy heroin (he's a photographer). So he decided to get help.

It turns out that he had something wrong with his brain which made him depressed, which heroin temporarily 'cured'. So he's now on medication and not depressed any more.

So, unknown heroin dealer, I thank you for saving my friend's life.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 9:45, 1 reply)

Banto.
A drinking companion from years ago, not seen him for years. my dad's funeral, and I bumped into him in dad's local the night before. Not seen my parents for 6 years but I digress' he'd been a boozing companion of dad for a while. Came to dad's funeral, wore a Celtic hat, and got absolutely pissed senseless with me. What a bloody star.
(Bear Pookie The Frankly Challenged. Halloween is coming to town., Sat 4 Oct 2008, 7:49, Reply)

Arcade Fire's set at Latitude 2007
Long story short - by the time the Arcade Fire came on as the Sunday night headliners of Latitude in 2007 my friend had drunk a fair bit, not eaten much and toked some not legal herbs. Half way through their set he decided all was not well and desperately wanted to get out of the crowd. I let him lead the way (bearing in mind we were right in the middle of a very squished crowd) but eventually he passed out. I caught him. But whilst I'm a statuesque 6ft 1 and around 13 stone I couldnt carry him on my own...

so mega thanks to the random bloke who helped me carry him to the outer reaches of the crowd where he came to and I could take him to the medical personnel. Sorry if it ruined your Arcade Fire experience!
(Immy The Great gave himself to Jesus, but now Jesus never calls, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 7:33, Reply)

Well, this quenstion has arisen at an opportune time..
Well, yesterday I got mugged and had my ribs stove in as well as all the worldly goods taken from my person. Thankfully a chap scraped me off the pavement, took me to hospital and made sure I was seen quick sharp.

Random passerby I salute you. Still, I wish someone had stepped in prior to getting a kicking :(
(wuckfit Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori., Sat 4 Oct 2008, 6:42, 4 replies)

There's nothing hotter than a girl that can eat
I was travelling with my girlfriend around eastern europe, and we were on a coach from Lithuania to Latvia. I was pretty hungry... so we ate some sandwiches.

Then later that evening, in Latvia's capital city, we were heading for some beers, but I was hungry again (I'm a hungry fella), so we stopped by a pub and got some stew each.

...

It wasn't 'til the next day that she told me that she wasn't at all hungry on either occasion. See, I have this strange notion, which I adhere to with some strange noble pride, that I shouldn't be eating by myself, and she knew this. So, given the choice between not eating because she's not hungry, and eating because she knew I wanted to eat, she chose to eat.

She ate for my sake! It's the most adorable thing ever, and the strangest act of kindness I'll probably ever receive.

I like her a lot.
(mmmkay, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 3:36, 1 reply)

A selfless thought...
Over my lifetime, the single most thoughtless thing a person has done for me, is being there for me.

At the age of 21, i've had a 5 year relationship break down due to my wanting to go to university, and the girl resenting me for it, a brother kill himself, the dissolution of my parents relationship, and the total and utter collapse of my family altogether around factors of which i've brought on myself.

I won't go into detail, but mostly all these things are my fault, in regards to my use of mr. brownstone from the age of 15, and my total and utter disregard of anyone else in the world but myself for the last few years...

Then someone stepped into my life. She, being a few years younger than me, brought out the brotherly sense in me (I am the youngest, most spoilt child, called the "blue eyed baby" by my siblings..), nothing sexual... Just the feeling I need to look after them in their times of need... And need me they did.

So for making me realise there's much more to this world, I thank you little miss Shaggerous. For taking my stupid selfishness, and my idiotic self dependant ideals away from myself, I thank you. From the bottom of my heart.
(AbsoluteC*nt, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 3:16, 2 replies)

Peter's hat
Many years ago I was out on a boat fishing with my mate Peter. I had about a dozen or so good mates back then, although Peter was probably the one I was closest to. We were doing fairly well on the fishing front that day but the wind was picking up. One sudden gust lifted Peter's hat off his head and dumped it in the waves. This was Peter's favourite hat - from memory it had his collection of lures and flies hooked into it oldschool, not that we needed them because most of our fishing was done with 'square hooks' back in those days.

Anyway, Peter was displeased about his hat blowing away. I had a bit of a reputation as a do-gooder at that stage of my life and I figured that I'd be a hero and help him out. So I stood up and jumped over the side of the boat and took a couple of really quick steps towards Peter's hat. Except it didn’t go as planned and I started sinking as soon as I touched the water. I spluttered and floundered my way to the surface and there was Peter the prick laughing his head off. 'Hahaha. Jesus, I thought you could walk on water' he scoffed. Pissed off by this I said 'Get stuffed you noddy. I forgot about the holes in my feet'.
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 3:10, 1 reply)

Weird one this...
Had been out on exercise for a few days... soaking wet, knackered, deprived of sleep, expected to work on high voltage equipment...

My mate cooked my rations for me.

Best meal I've ever had. Even though it was a mix of "Burger and beans" and "Lancashire hotpot"

That plus the "hot chocolate" I'd just made sorted me out in no time...

Cheers Baz!
(Darkpie 3.243F6A8885A308D31319, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 2:31, Reply)

I've got a terrible cold...
...and I'm miserable. This question, though, reminds me of a time when I was a LOT more sick.

I had some sadistic virus that was going around, so I got excused from work early, on the condition that I would go to see the doctor right away and that I would walk there, because my supervisors judged that I was too delirious to drive safely. The trek to the doctor's was surreal and painful -- at one point I came to a small parking lot scattered with spray-painted mannequin parts -- and my experience in the doctor's waiting room was one of my worst. There were terribly sick people everywhere, all sick with the same thing I had, and I was convinced that I would die if I did not get seen soon. At last, they called my name. The doctor would see me! But first they would have to have my co-pay. I don't know what your insurance situation is like in England, but in the U.S. you have to buy insurance and then pay even more money when you actually go to use it. They wanted fifty dollars. I had 45. I told the cashier of my predicament and how I was really, really sick, could she please help me out? No, she said. If you don't have the money, go home. I didn't think I could make it home and I sat down and started to cry. I can't remember another time as an adult when I so desperately wanted my mommy.

An old man approached the cashier's desk and gave her the money so I could see the doctor. I tried to explain that I had money, but that it was in the form of an uncashed check, and I tried to give him the $45 that I had in my wallet. He wouldn't take it, saying I needed it to pay for my medicine. Not only did he pay my entire fee instead of the $5 that I owed, he also refused to tell me his name or where he lived. For some reason, the cashier looked mad as she let me in. I think she really just wanted to spoil my day.

I'll always remember it, because at that moment I hated everybody. The gesture was so incredible that it actually restored my faith in humanity for a whole three days! That's a record, by the way. That is the nicest and most selfless thing that anyone has ever done for me. And the drugs that they prescribed where the best prescription meds it has ever been my pleasure to ingest.
(BrainSurgerysFun, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 1:35, 8 replies)

They don't do anything, they just are...
They were there when i needed them most.

And that was enough.

I'll repay them someday by being there for them.

But to me, it won't ever feel enough.
(Foz, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 1:12, 2 replies)

Random guy in my first year of uni
After going out and getting very very drunk and then dislocating my knee doing the time warp in a night club (hence the name, and I've never lived it down), I was walking back to my halls screaming in pain, my drunk housemate just laughing at me, when a random guy from one of the other flats offered me some sympathy weed and a bag of frozen peas.... that's generosity!
(timewarper, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 1:08, 1 reply)

First off, a bit of a rant
The QOTW is The nicest thing someone's ever done for me.

It is not The nicest thing I've ever done for somebody else because I'm so amazingly generous and awesome.

Now fair enough, most of the replies here are true to the spirit of the actual QOTW, and they make bloody good reads, and are brightening up my day in the process.

But if you're going to respond, wrack your brains and at least try to remember something nice someone else did for you, as opposed to the things you did for someone else, because otherwise, you're not going to look like a good samaritan, you're going to look like a self-centered twit, obsessed with your own generosity while blatantly ignoring the good things others have done for you.

Aaaand deep breath.

So now, my story. A few months ago, I had recently moved into a new house. One morning after a night on the booze in town, I woke up with a straining bladder, so I hurriedly threw on a pair of shorts and ran for the toilet. After I'd done what needed to be done, I reached for the key to the bathroom door which I'd locked behind me.

*Snap*

Bloody thing went and broke off in the lock, leaving me stuck in a bathroom no bigger than a closet wearing only a pair of shorts. Bugger.

Luckily there was a window; unluckily it wouldn't open wide enough to let me through, and it was a two-story drop anyway. Just when I was beginning to despair, who should I see passing by but our next-door neighbour, a middle-aged Indian guy I hadn't had time to meet yet. I should mention that the window I was leaning out of wasn't the biggest, so from his vantage point it must have looked as if the ginger Irish guy leaning out the window and shouting "Hey you! Hey! C'mere! I need ya!" was indeed stark bollock naked. All the same, he did stop to help, and after I explained my predicament, went over to his house and came back with a ladder and a screwdriver so I could unbolt the window and climb out. After a very quick thank you - it was winter and i was only wearing a pair of shorts after all - i legged it round the back and was relieved to find the back door unlocked. However, when I popped around to my neighbour the next day with a case of beer as a proper thank you, he very graciously declined and was very nice about the whole thing.

So thank you mister neighbour guy! You really helped me out there becuase it was hours before anyone else came home.
( Spunk Murphy Tchaikovsky is a synonym for fanny, apparently, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 0:54, 8 replies)

made me think
This QOTW is making me feel kind of sad in a way. I have a great girlfriend who wants to marry me, loving family, nice car and good friends who I know are there for me but... Even with all this (and yes i know its alot more than many others have) I really cant think of that "one true moment" which I can think back to where someone has really gone out their way and put alot of thought into something. Yes I have been taken places and done some great things and know how lucky i am in that way but just dont have a moment where someone has really thought about something and done it for me. I will keep thinking and hope the day comes...
(snarf81, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 0:48, 1 reply)

Not as heartwarming and intense as other people's...
but oh well.
a while ago i was having a general rough time and was having a 'crying on public transport' day, which is always nice, getting ignored by other cityrail commuters whilst you're sobbing.
anyway.
a bunch of schoolgirls came on, the usual annoying, loud princess types. they headed straight for me and i got a group hug from a bunch of 15 year olds, who sat down with me and made sure i was alright. it was really sweet of them so i never forgot it.
(charlottebronte stalking through the moors, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 0:38, 7 replies)

The nice lady in the sewing room...
...at work today who sat with me and mopped up my tears while I sobbed for ages when months of stress, depression and loneliness got to me all at once when she was measuring me for a new uniform. She must have thought I was insane but she never showed it.
(Mary Mandolin still had it on, Fri 3 Oct 2008, 23:37, Reply)