When I was an irresponsible 16 year old...
...I'd been out with a guy I'd met recently for a few Sunday daytime drinkies. At this stage in my life I was jaded by underage drinking alone and was 'experimenting' with drugs; we'd decided to get a bag of cocaine (or Vim, brick dust or whatever the fuck we'd bought) to prolongue our drinking staying power (and further damage our livers). The day was enjoyable: we got a bit pished, had a few drinks in various bars until the time came to say adieu.

Being a smart arse 16 year old, who lived for the moment, with a sense of false invicibility awarded by the massive drugs, I'd spent every last penny of my money without saving anything for a taxi. I had my return train ticket which took me back to my local town centre with no means to get a bus or taxi and no phone credit. I made the really sensible decision that I should walk home at 10.30pm on a Sunday night through a deserted town centre, past a town square favoured by the local smackheads and alcoholics on my own. I set off on my journey and it wasn't until I heard footsteps behind me that I realised that I was completely and utterly fucking stupid. I turned my head and saw two incredibly dogdy looking guys (tracksuits, caps, pale gaunt faces, jerky consumption fuelled walks) and felt my chest constrict. I sped up my pace a little as my mind floundered desperately, and belatedly, to work out which route was the safest.

I didn't dare glance around a second time, I didn't want to draw anymore attention to myself, I hoped I wasn't the source of their attention to begin with. My hopes were soon dashed as I heard "'Scuse me babe, 'avya gorrany spare change," worryingly close. My heart was now racing, I could hear the 'thudthud thudthud thudthud' in my ears. I didn't respond and kept walking, even faster now, forcing myself not to break into a run. "Hey girl! Talking to ya!" the voice came again "Don't blank us now girl".

I was terrified by this point and pretty much in a blind panic. My fingers were numb and I could feel a definite twitch of my bum hole. I was so scared that my mind was frozen with fear at my rapidly approaching fate - my pursuers were going to attempt to extract money from me, money that I didn't have - they would think I was lying and probably threaten me with physical violence which they'd then carry out. I was fighting against the adrenaline fulled urge to fill my pants, scream, run and cry so much so that I wasn't thinking clearly at all. In a blind panic I could barely see, so much so that I literally tripped over a couple who'd just walked out of the side door of a pub. As I tumbled to the ground the husband called out "flipping heck love, watch yourself there," and helped me to my feet.

As I stood up the two guys following me drew level with me and the couple and carried on past, my legs nearly buckled with relief. "Where are you going at this time of night on your own?" the woman asked. "I was walking home," I replied "Those guys were shouting me, I think they were following me" I said pointing down the street. "You look scared shitless," the guy said and got out his mobile phone. "It's not right, a young girl walking home at this hour, are you stupid?" the woman asked. I smiled lamely in reply.

The guy called me a taxi as I tried to explain to his wife that I had no money. She held up her hand to silence me as she rummaged in her purse. They waited with me for the taxi and as it pulled up I started crying. I was so unspeakably grateful for the couple and their undeserved kindness that I couldn't even talk. The woman hugged me "It's ok hun, it's ok now" and I managed to squeak out a thank you through spit-strung lips as they helped me into the taxi.

I shudder to think about what could have happened that night, I can't adequately explain just how scared I was and it always feels miraculous that the couple appeared in that doorway just at that moment. I wish I could have told them how much their act of kindness meant, I was a stupid kid who thought she was cleverer than she was and that couple will always stay in my mind.
(Fireyfox is prepared to change, Sun 12 Feb 2012, 22:21, Reply)

Random Wallet
I once returned a wallet I found outside a chippy with £40 inside it. I even phoned the police to report I'd found it. And the guy checked the money was still in it when I handed it back - it had his driving licence/address inside.

Why?

Because I had a date the next day with totally-hot-man and was terrified of karma robbing the £40 I had saved for our day out. Turned out he was shagging a girl I worked with so I may aswell saved myself the trouble and nicked the fecking money anyway.
(imanaturalblonde, Sun 12 Feb 2012, 20:33, 1 reply)

I'm on guard duty, inspecting cargoes going in and out of the city.
There's apparently some contraband technology that we need to prevent from entering the city and getting into the wrong hands, so I've been assigned several men to assist in the inspections. It's rather dull duty, and frankly I can think of a lot of things we could be doing that would be a lot more productive.

Anyway, just now a kid in a flashy little convertible was coming through. I stopped them for the routine inspection, but the old guy in the brown outfit in the passenger's seat was very helpful and assured me that all was in order, that they weren't carrying any contraband, and that their papers were not needed. He saved me a couple of hours' unnecessary paperwork and inspection, which is no small thing when you're standing in the direct sun in uniform.

What a nice old fellow. He's earned my gratitude today, for sure.

Now I have to go back to searching for those droids...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Sun 12 Feb 2012, 19:00, 8 replies)

Fucked if I'm gonna type it out again.
www.b3ta.com/talk/7439171
Also I'm a doctor so I do nice stuff for people all the time like telling people they've got cancer and I don't even get pain nearly enough for it.
( 2 Can Chunder Word to your mums, I came to prod bums, Sun 12 Feb 2012, 16:48, 2 replies)

Last week
I work in a High school as the tech for the Performing Arts Faculty and last Thursday was a particularly stressful day.

It actually started Wednesday afternoon rigging and plotting lighting for a 10 minute performance on the Thursday morning. This took 3 hours.

Thursday morning started 45 mins earlier than my usual start time so the group of students could have a rehearsal before performing to their peers. After the performance I spent 2 hours resetting stuff for the 6th form open evening that was due to start at 6pm.

Due to my abilities with audio and all things sound, I often help out Modern Foreign languages and today was the day they had asked me to drive the minibus for an afternoon at Everton FC's training ground (long story - French 1st teamer answering questions from GCSE french students).

During a brief tour of the facility after the interviews, the head of music rang me with a story of an ex student who needed some music editing for a college audition.

She was flying out to Juiliard the very next morning.

SO...

Arriving back at school at 4.30, running the 6th form open evening until 8.30, I spent a further hour at school sorting out the student's music before dropping round her house on my way home.

This was my good deed for the day.
(MadBouncyDog Barking at the moon since, Sun 12 Feb 2012, 16:38, 5 replies)

Out of the goodness of my heart
I travel the length and breadth of Britain leaving torn-up magazines of naked ladies under hedges for grubby little schoolboys to find.
(Eukanuba, Sun 12 Feb 2012, 15:58, 8 replies)

A little old lady in Hammersmith
Late last year, I was supposed to see Seasick Steve at the Hammersmith Apollo...but then some fuckwit with a pneumatic drill punched his way right into a water main, causing the whole affair to be postponed literally half an hour before doors. Having spent a good £20 getting there, I was annoyed. Very annoyed.

In fact I was still in a bad mood a couple of weeks later for the rescheduled date, positively fuming at having to cough up another £20 to get there again. Living in Oxford, I used the Oxford Tube bus service (which is really quite brilliant) to get to Victoria, and from thereon the plan was to get the proper tube to Hammersmith.

It was on the platform that I saw a little old lady (I never did find out her name) struggling with a bag that was clearly too big for her to manage. She had cataracts too, and it was obvious that she could hardly see where she was going. Now, my general impression of London, and especially the tube, is that people tend to exist in their own bubbles, not really communicating with any one outside them; headphones in, kindles out, newspapers up. But the most heartwarming thing happened, and every single individual on that platform bent over backwards to help this little old lady on her way - one spotty ginger metalhead carried her bag onto the train, an Indian man gave up his seat, everybody gave her some extra space and patience to sort herself out. People asked where she was getting out (which also happened to be Hammersmith) and helped her to the door in plenty of time so she wouldn't miss her stop.

And then she started crying. Not great wailing floods, of course, but just quiet drops of gratitude, dabbed at with a tissue, and almost hidden from the helpful passengers. I don't think I've every seen anyone be so thankful for such tiny gestures.

Just before we arrived, she confessed that a week or so ago she had been mugged by some youths, and this was the first time she'd left her house since. She must have been half expecting the same again - instead she got the exact opposite.

Myself and a fellow passenger (who I didn't know until then) decided we'd surreptitiously follow her home to check that she made it to her door safely. She did, but had been so moved by everyone's kindness that she was shaking with tears and could barely get her key in the lock.

People of Hammersmith, I salute you.
(grumblestiltskin didn't do anything useful on, Sun 12 Feb 2012, 14:57, 8 replies)

My Forest Gate
I'm not sure if this is exactly the sort of "kindness" that Crackhouseceilidhband had in mind when suggesting the challenge, but here goes:
It was the early nineties and I was an undergraduate in East London, living in Forest Gate. As with all students, I was just about broke for three to four days a week, until I got my weekly pay packet from the Student Union bar.
So one day I was down to my last tenner and feeling glum about it, when I got a call from my younger brother who declared that, as he'd just got an insurance pay-out for being involved in a car crash, he was coming up to see me so we could go out and party. Yippee! Now, my brother, who was (sensibly) travelling by train, didn't know how to find my digs so I decided to meet him at Waterloo. I headed off to the my local British Rail station, precious cash in pocket ready to buy my travel card. As I went in to the lobby, I passed a group of about half a dozen "youths", but thought nothing of it. There was no manned ticket booth at Forest Gate that day so I stepped up to the automated ticket machine, tenner in hand, ready to buy my billet.
"Give me all your money."
WTF? I spun round to see one of the lads that I'd seen outside the station seconds ago.
"Give me all your money, or we'll beat you up."
By this point I was shitting bricks, particularly as I'd witnessed someone getting robbed at knife point just a few days earlier at another station. By this time, however, my brother was well on his way to Waterloo to meet me so I had to try something.
"I've only got a tenner and I have to get to a travel card to meet my brother", I blurted out in desperation. This was followed by a couple of seconds of thoughtful concentration on the face of my mugger, who then replied: "Buy your ticket and give me all your change."
I had no concept of game theory at that poit in my life, but my brain was screaming to me to accept his offer as a vast improvement over the predicament that I'd been in only seconds before.
"OK".

So I got to meet my brother at Waterloo and the gang of muggers got their £6.80.

I suppose it was kindness of a sort.
( P-MONKE We're all fucked, Sun 12 Feb 2012, 13:21, 1 reply)

Alligators
Leaving a bush conference a day early from the Top End of Northern Territory, our trusty Land Cruiser shit itself. I've been to some isolated places, but Mary River is so far away from anything, that it even gave me the heebies.

No cars passing, not even pissing in public brought someone by, and just when all hope was lost and the four of us were drawing the short straws as to who gets eaten first, Ralph appeared.

Ralph was a truckie, it was his mother's country and he was heading our way. Ralph towed us 120km along our dirt track into the nearest human inhabited place. The greatest kindness, however, kicked in when towing us across the Alligator River. The snatch strap got caught in our axle mid way across and terror descended upon us because Alligator River isn't a whimsical Ozzie name to impress tourists.

Ralph got outta his car, at night, in the middle of a crocodile infested river, cut and reattached the strap and continued to tow us. Unfortunately crocs truly frighten me, so the most I could do was open my car door and tell him I would toot the horn if he got taken.

His humour and graciousness still affects me and Ralph is the bravest man I have met. Anything kind I do today is with him in mind and trying to match that level of awesome.
(boozehound is drinking your bar dry, Sun 12 Feb 2012, 10:19, 4 replies)

Karma sucks
Dropped my children back off to mother and new-partner at Gatwick airport. Her new partner was incredibly rude, and threatening, and I was left very shaky from the encounter.

My next step was picking up a car to drive back to Cornwall - but before that I decided to have a quick cig.

Whilst outside I watched a guy struggling with a luggage trolley. He was utterly unable to detach one from the "train" and eventually threw his bags on the floor - far too many for one man to carry, but he was beginning to hook them up to drag them to where-ever he needed to go.

Having just had a very, very bad experience with my ex-wifes new partner, I had the karmic thought of just helping this chap out. So I spoke to him, ascertained that he had no UK pound coins (having just arrived in the country) and gave him one of mine.

His heart-warming response was a genuine "May God Bless you, my friend" and he gave me an Egyptian pound coin in return for the English one I had given him.

All of which is lovely, and you'd think my karma had been paid forward.

No.

Wrong.

My credit card got declined at 10:30pm whilst trying to hire a car. My mammy and daddy had to race around Edinburgh airport trying to sort this out for me ( God love them for it ) and I got lost through the diversions on the M5 after that horrible crash.

It was a bloody nightmare, and I now don't believe in Karma any more
(weedom, Sun 12 Feb 2012, 2:24, 10 replies)

Hardly a major Mother Teresa act
However, I sincerely hope the lovely young Irish girl on the train last night enjoyed the paper fortune teller I made for her from a loose sheet in my notepad. The sound of her and her mum giggling away as they filled the blank 'fortunes' in together really made my evening.
( Bats, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 19:30, 2 replies)

I once unexpectedly saw a group of ravens doing the bit where Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona is shagging Cassio.
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 18:42, 1 reply)

I helped an old street off a lady once.
That is all.
(mr-lizard Hell's teeth man!, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 17:04, 3 replies)

kindness isn't always the right thing
about 2 years ago, i found a pensioner's bus pass in the street. as the address on it was only about a mile away, i decided to take it back to its owner there and then.
i knocked at the door, which was opened by a very small, very old lady. "i just found your bus pass in the street. here you go" i said, handing it to her.
"YOU!" she yelled at me, "YOU STOLE MY BUS PASS!" and with that, she snatched it off me.
"um, no," i said, trying to explain, "i found it in the street and thought i'd return it to you. you must have dropped it"
"WHAT!?" she screeched in her best harridan tone, "I NEVER DROPPED IT! YOU STOLE IT" and she slammed the door in my face.
now, whenever she sees me, she glares at me and, if she's in a particularly bad mood, she'll mutter "thief!" at me.
wouldn't stop me from returning another one, though.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 16:56, 6 replies)

My girlfriend got crushed during an earthquake, so I flew 'round the world faster than the speed of light, thus reversing time
and then went and saved her.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 14:55, 6 replies)

Because I'm not a paedo...
Picture the scene, there I am in Sainsbury's merrily trying to remember what the fuck it was I went there for when I spot a small Asian girl, aged about 3-4 stood in the middle of one of the aisles on her own. Initially I thought nothing of it, assuming her mum had left her there and nipped off to another part of the shop quickly, then I noticed she was damn near in tears and everyone else was pointedly ignoring her. So, realising that the shop assistants were too engrossed in stacking packets of Quavers and the general public was too scared to talk to a strange child lest they be branded a sex offender by the Paedo finder General I decided to see what was up.
"Hello there" said I "Have you lost your mum?"
She looked up at me, and with relief in her eyes, which were now full of tears, nodded silently to me.
"Okay then, shall I help you find her?"
Another nod, this time with a small smile, then the offer of a small hand.
"I'm Keios, what's your name?" I asked
"Kasumi" came the quiet response
"Oh, that's a Japanese name isn't it? I have a cousin called Kasumi!"
Suddenly she became animated "Are you Japanese?"
"Only half, my mum was Japanese"
"So am I! My mummy's Japanese as well! Hajimemashite! Sorry. I don't speak a lot of Japanese."
"Don't worry" I confessed "Neither do I"
So, I took my newfound friend to the customer service desk where her frantic-looking mother was waiting. On seeing her A cry of "Hello mummy! This is my new friend Kei! He's half Japanese as well! He helped me find you!" was let out and much aw-shucksing slightly self concious "It was nothing really"ing was done on my part and many thanks were heaped on me on her part. So, for fucks sake, if you see an obviously distressed child, don't just walk past them for fear that you'll be making yourself a pariah, remember how fucking terrifying the world was when you were that little and see what's wrong! Unless you're the cause of their distress, in which case move along sharpish.
(Keios, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 14:25, 5 replies)

Cash karma.
me and the other half were out in town, and I happened to look down whilst on a traffic island to see two crisp £20 notes by my foot. Not being entirely daft, I picked them up, nudged herself and said " look what I just found ". We shortly decided to do the right thing and handed it in at the cop shop, although it would have covered the week's food shopping nicely. I thought nothing further of it, until the time limit for reclaiming it had just passed and we were short of cash for Christmas booze. So off back to the station I pedalled and, receipt in hand, expecting nothing, asked if it had been claimed. " Oh no, it's still here, nobody came in for it. " The payoff for honesty? Absolut, wine and Baileys- wahey!
( uncle bastard is twanging a dan moi, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 13:48, 7 replies)

A guitar given away
to my mate Nick. Nick had been banging on about playing guitar for years, but as he has conditions which make it impossible to go into a shop to even try one out ( yes, there is the internet, but it's always better to try guitars for real ) I thought about getting one for him. The opportunity came my way to buy a white Les Paul copy for £25, as it had been gutted of electric parts, the headstock broken and repaired. I bought new P90 pickups, pots, output jack and graphite nut, and made a working guitar. I also painted 'West Country' in Old English text on the body, a pun on Mike Ness's (Social Distortion ) 71 LP Deluxe. With help from a vastly more experienced friend from up the hill, it sounded and played very well indeed. I invited Nick and his wife round for dinner on his birthday, and after we'd eaten brought it down in a vinyl cover and said " here you go. " After picking his lower jaw off the floor, Nick proceeded to learn 'Louie Louie', and is now playing regularly.
( uncle bastard is twanging a dan moi, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 13:33, 1 reply)

Last night
aggressively suggesting to a crowded rush hour tube train someone giving up their seat for the ninety+ year old elderly woman on crutches standing next to me. Selfish cunts
( Jahled Three shades of black, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 12:27, 8 replies)

I know this QOTW is more greared towards people being kind to us rather than vice versa,
but a few of these tales seem to be just an excuse for people to tell the rest of us how nice they are...well now it's my turn....

I once posted something on links that wasn't DeAgostini's 'I Love Horses' webpage.

I'm fucking amazing, me.
(FartThroughAWalkieTalkie wished you were dead in ditch on, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 12:24, 1 reply)

Just this morning
I was at work pumping petrol and charged the wrong pump to lady in front of me. Had to spend 5 mins on computer faddelry to fix it and apologised profusely to the extremely tall and muscled guy next in line for waiting. He said, "Don't worry, luv, we all make mistakes. I killed the wrong bloke once".

I am assuming that as he had Army tattooed on his arm, that it was just one of those 'wartime moments', but thanks Army man for your kindness in putting it all into perspective.
(boozehound is drinking your bar dry, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 10:23, Reply)

Failed at the kindness
So I was in Hanoi for a week and I used to sit on the front step of the hotel and share my durries with everyone - the hotel manager was a gem and my smoking buddy. On the next step was one of those older than old ladies, bent to the shape of a number 7, and who also people watched, as I did. Bought brekkie off a lady every morning who would come round with her baskets and on the last day didn't really want to eat it.

So there I was, smoking with the manager, the two door opening dudes and several sundry characters from the hotel when I decided to offer my delicious brekkie to the number 7. Big smiles, holding out brekkie to her (in my naivety I thought being neighbours for the past week would have slightly endeared her to me) whence I was treated to an ear-pinning, eyebrow wilting, decibel shattering "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO", with palms up and a look of disgust that Dame Edna Everage would be hard-pressed to imitate.

Hotel manager and I looked at each other through the shockwave of sound, break out laughing (I could see him, not hear it) upon which I backed away to my step, lit up and had a post traumatic stress moment.

Thank you, number 7, for letting me know that kindness is all bullshit.
(boozehound is drinking your bar dry, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 9:59, Reply)

Not all Landlords are evil money grabbing fucksticks
My landlord, Big G, could have a book written on him about the acts of kindness he's bestowed on the world.
Now I'm sure most of us would agree that the majority of landlords aren't exactly known for being concerned more for their tenants than their wallets but G is certainly one of the exceptions and here are a few reasons why.

1 - My previous house share was nothing but trouble due to the fact that in a house of five I was the only one paying bills and for a year didn't see any money given back to me for the other four people so for the last few months I refused to pay anymore bills until I saw proof the others had paid me back, sadly this didn't happen so I decided to move out but was struggling to get the funds together for a deposit etc and I mentioned this to a friend of mine who was tenant of G's.
The following day I get a phone call from an unknown number and the voice on the other end turns out to be my future landlord telling me that my mate had mentioned in passing the trouble I was having and that if I was interested there was a spare room going at the house my mate was staying at and if I was interested it was all mine. I tried to explain to him that I was unable to do it as I was struggling to get money together to which he replied I wasnt to worry about that, if I moved in the following week he'd only charge me for the last two weeks of the month and wouldnt take a deposit from me as he trusts my friends opinion of me and that's good enough for him.
After a few months of living there I had a ton of work offered to me which brought to me a rather princley sum so because of the kindness and trust G showed me when he'd never even met me I gave him two months rent as a deposit and booked and paid for a meal and drinks for him and his wife at their favourite restaraunt as a thank you.

2. If any of us are ever ill he'll keep phoning up every other day to make sure we're okay and if we need anything from the shops bringing in.

3. The house I'm in at the moment is an old one and suffers from things old houses tend to suffer from like leaks, drafts etc and G does do his best to get any problem fixed as fast as possible before the resident drama queen starts moaning but sometimes he can't get the plumbers/joiners round in time. Now I'm quite handy when it comes to DIY so I don't mind fixing things when they occur, infact I quite enjoy it, to stop the resident Drama Queen bitching (side note, he never attempts to fix things himself, seriously the guy phoned up the other week due a lightbulb burning out.) and because of me doing these jobs that have ranged from rewiring a room to put extra powerpoints in to putting up shelves there was a parcel next to the front door on christmas day with my name on it and when I opened it it contained a set of brand new hand tools (I'm old school and rarely use electrical ones) and a note saying to read in private. I did and it contained the following

"Dear Sarc

Thank you so much for dealing with the jobs round the house this past year without being asked, I noticed your tools where falling to bits so I hope these will suit you, Also because you've helped me out by saving me money I'd like you to accept the offer of me halving your rent for six months as an incredibly big thank you!

Cheers G.

ps - You don't know anything about cars do you?"

Now I dont know if these count as random acts of kindness but I bet you'd be hard pushed to find a more down to earth and reasonable Landlord, strangely he reminds me of my late grandfather somewhat so I wonder if that explains why I get on with him so well
(Official Sarc, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 0:50, 7 replies)

As a cash-strapped 17 year old...
I found a purse on a bench in town on the way home from college. Despite being totally skint, I handed the purse in to the police station later that day, complete with all the credit and debit cards.

Obviously, I took all the cash, I'm not a fucking idiot.

I got right pissed up that weekend if I remember correctly.
( Sculpture of Man Putting a banging donk on it since, Sat 11 Feb 2012, 0:46, Reply)

I'll just pop
this here.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Fri 10 Feb 2012, 23:48, Reply)

A dark winter evening
and I'm driving home from work. At one junction, there's an old fella, dithering and faltering at the side of the road, obviously trying to cross but having trouble judging a safe interval between cars. "Poor old fool" I thought, then in a pang of guilt, I pulled over, got out of the car and went over to him.

He was an elderly West Indian gent - pork-pie hat, grey overcoat, short silvery beard. As I came up to him, he was muttering "Oh god... oh me god... damn ting, damn ting..." And as he turned to me, I saw he was very, very drunk.

"Come on mate, let's get you across here" I said, stepping out with one hand raised. The cars stopped, and I led him over. "Oh god..." he muttered "Where am I?"
I smothered a laugh. He hadn't wanted to cross the road. In fact he didn't know what he wanted. With a sigh, I led him back across, and over to my car. He got into the passenger seat well enough, and I asked him where he lived. "Oh god..." he muttered, "I never drink again... never again".

I couldn't get an address from him, only that it "wasn't far." So we ended up driving around the streets nearby, him saying "No, not dis one... there, over there.... oh god, no, not that... oh god I never drink again..." - and me giggling as quietly as I could.

Eventually we rocked up at a house he recognised. I helped him out, and to the the front door. He rang the bell, and a short, stout, very fierce-looking old lady opened up. I started to explain "Is this his house? He's got a bit lost..."
"GET IN HERE YOU BAD MAN!!" she screeched at him; and he sheepishly entered. She glared at me, gave a curt nod, and shut the door. I walked back to the car in fits of laughter, imagining the bollocking that was now in progress. A dreary winter night considerably enlivened.
(North Utsira South Utsira, Fri 10 Feb 2012, 23:26, 1 reply)

Random Acts of Kindness
Many years ago my mum and I went to see an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery [I think] about Dada and Surrealism.
Art show were'nt quite the blockbusters they are now, and we felt a litte out of place, on our day return tickets from Stevenage new town.
The guy on the door was a bit snooty and failed to tear our tickets in half as he greeted some far more 'arty' looking types.
Always the anarchist my mum gleefully picked out a likely-looking couple in the queue to pay for tickets as we came out and handed our 'unused' ones to them.
I remember her telling me she and my dad once gave Proms tickets they couldn't use to random stangers in the queue.
Thanks for reminding me of my mum, who has been dead since 1997.
I recently gave a ticket to a show at the RA to a random stranger and thought of that Surrealism show all those years ago.
(Jenthelibrarian, Fri 10 Feb 2012, 20:20, 1 reply)

I try to keep my posts short out of consideration for the busy people.
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Fri 10 Feb 2012, 18:57, 6 replies)

Another helping an old lady cross the road story
Walking back home one evening, I saw an old lady hesitantly standing by the side of a fairly busy road. Every so often she seemed to lean forward as though to cross, then another car would come past. As I came closer I saw she was blind, making crossing a road without a set of lights even more difficult.

I debated with myself for a bit whether to offer to help her cross the road or not, having been firmly told that a lot of old people and a lot of blind people for that matter do not appreciate help of that nature, then decided that if she was still there by the time I'd got to my house I'd pop back and help her. Sure enough, after I'd dropped the shopping off, she was still standing there so I jogged back up the road to help.

Asked politely (probably apologetically actually) if she needed a hand crossing the road since it was rather busy. She looked at me with confusion evident. 'Oh no dear," she said. 'I'm just waiting for the bus.' I hope it's the thought that counts
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Fri 10 Feb 2012, 18:11, Reply)