Things in people that make your heart glad.

I haven’t noticed a random act of kindness at close quarters but our local community Facebook page often has posts thanking complete strangers who step forward to help in somebody’s moment of need. There are some lovely people about.

I had eye surgery recently. I had to go to a place I'd never been before - so already out of my comfort zone. Luckily, my DS drove me there and back, and waited around while it was done.
I got chatting to some of the staff, as is oft the case, while notes were taken, checked and rechecked.
The doctors had to keep changing rooms as the humidity was affecting the machines and they couldn't get accurate readings.
One doctor even sought out a spare chair so my friend could sit in on one of the checks rather than standing, which I thought was lovely of him.
The atmosphere was calm and inviting, everyone was very friendly with each other and towards the patients.
They put me completely at ease!
THEN, I found out they were ALL VOLUNTEERS from my local hospital, even the doctors and surgeons!!
They do this regularly, and this was on a Saturday when they could have been at home with their families and friends!

So, I say thank you sooooooo much to the staff of the QEQM Hospital in Margate, Kent for them giving up their precious time to help people like me!!!
(My eye is absolutely fine now).

Two weeks after having moved to the US my father in the UK passed away. DH was out of the country on business but arranged an air ticket for me to fly home. The ticket was coming to me via FedEx and didn't arrive ready for the flight the next day. At this point in time I really had no idea where I was and had hardly even driven in the US on the 'wrong side' of the road. I found the tel no. and phoned the local FedEx who said it was the end of day and no way would it be delivered until the next day at the earliest. They told me if I drove there straight away they would stay open and wait for me to collect. I explained the circs and said I had no idea where they were or how to get there. They asked me to hang on and then told me one of their workers would drop ticket off for me on their way home. I could not explain how very grateful I was. So incredibly good of them.

Fifty five years ago my parents-in-law were travelling in Norway when their car broke down near a fairly remote village. It was late evening and they had their two tired young sons with them. The garage mechanic couldn’t fix it that night so they were kindly invited to spend the night at the home of the mechanic’s brother and his Danish wife (she spoke English). Thus began a friendship that has spanned four generations and the relationships remain as close knit as any family. Weddings, funerals, significant anniversaries and birthdays are all marked in both countries, with alternate countries hosting regular holidays.

My example happened yesterday. We had bought a recliner and hubby was struggling to get it into the house as we have steps. The bin lorry stopped and the men came out to help. They carried it right into the house.

I will never forget the kindness of a stranger when I was flying from a winter vacation in Florida back to Toronto to help look after my baby granddaughter while her parents were at the bedside of their very sick three old boy. He was in a hospital three hours away from Toronto. While on the plane the pilot announced that my connecting flight was cancelled due to a big snow storm. I was chatting about this with the passenger beside me when the man in front of me turned round and said he was going part of the way but would take me to the hospital, he had a large SUV and four wheel drive vehicle which he assured me got through all kinds of bad weather. I accepted his kind offer and he left me off right at the front door of the hospital, many miles out his way.Happy to say my little grandson made a full recovery thanks to the wonderful staff at London University Hospital, London Ontario.

Ali08 you have made my day. QEQM is my local hospital and I have nothing but praise for them.

This thread must prove that there is so much kindness, trust, help - and therefore hope - for us all, with the goodness that has been demonstrated by strangers to others in need. Most people are good and kind; sadly, we have the other sort flung at us 24/7 and it is easy to forget that this world turns on love, not hate.

Several years ago now I flew to Cork Airport and hired a car. I know the country well and had done this trip before. However, this time I took a wrong turning out of the airport and found myself travelling in the wrong direction. I stopped at a garage and asked a nice man for directions explaining that I was lost. He very kindly gave me directions but after driving for a while I realised that I had taken another wrong turning and was lost again. I pulled in to have a think about it and to try and figure out which direction to take when I turned to look out the car window and saw to my (horror) amazement non other that the man who had given me directions. He had followed me😀.
He gave me a bit of a ticking off for not following his directions. Anyway, after driving for a while I found myself heading in the right direction and arrived in Fermoy in the pitch black which is what I had been trying to avoid doing. I had forgotten that the shops are open late as now members of the EU so I went into a supermarket and bought myself a bottle of wine as I was wound up like a top. I haven’t been back there since. What a lovely kind man he was.

Back on New Year's day 1985 after spending the night at a New Year's eve party in a youth hostel in Shropshire my then boyfriend and I were driving down a country lane when I hit black ice on the road, and skidded into a Volvo coming in the opposite direction. My car was almost written off while the Volvo suffered only minor damage, Being before the days of mobile phones, I rolled the very damaged car down the hill to the village at the bottom of the hill and we knocked on the door of the nearest house to ask to use the phone to ring the AA! The family took us in and allowed us to stay with them all day while we waited for the AA to finally rescue us. They gave us a meal, and their sons took my boyfriend to do the walk he'd been wanting to do before the accident happened, while I stayed there in comfort in case the AA arrived. They were so kind, especially as it was a holiday family day. They ran a pottery in the village and I still have a pair of pottery mugs bought from them later when my boyfriend visited the area again.
On another occasion on holiday in Belgium, our car was broken into in Brussels while we were having a meal nearby. We needed to get the broken window repaired before continuing our journey and were told by our insurers to go to a particular garage for a temporary fix. It was near the end of the day and the garage was close to closing and we had no idea how to get there. A young Belgian man who had helped us contact our insurers offered to drive there ahead of us to show us the way so we could get there in time - it was a few miles away! He said he'd had a similar experience in London and had been helped by someone then, so he was happy to be paying it forward!

Chicklette

A few years ago my DH and I went to see Ball & Boe in their first concert together. As usual my husband started talking to the couple sitting next to us. They had been given tickets as a gift from their children. We overheard them talking about whether they would be able to afford to get a programme. So DH bought them one when he went to get ours.

Many years ago I was a struggling single Mum. At Christmas my daughters each received an unsigned Christmas card with £10 inside and a note asking them to treat their Mummy. It still brings a tear to my eye when I remember.

Just beautiful. I love the card with money in and will try to seek out someone who could benefit the same way 😊

Like my Grandma , I've tried to perform random acts of kindness all my life .
Now I'm struggling .
I had an unpleasant day on Wednesday which made me nauseated and physically sick yesterday .
So imagine , my joy when my neighbour did my entire weekly shop after work .
We had a nice chat and today a nice text .There are very few pleasant people in my road .
I find them jealous, competitive and hostile - so she is an angel 😇 .

Some lovely stories, what an uplifting thread!

My tale goes back to when I was a very naive seventeen year old suffering from cystitis for the first time(sadly not the last!).

I was travelling home to Chester from London after visiting my sister and the pain and urge to ‘go’ got so bad that after going up and down to the loo I just stayed in there.

A knock on the door and a concerned voice asking ‘are you alright’ had me in tears explaining my plight to this total stranger.

This kind lady was getting off at Rugby, she took me with her in a taxi to A&E where I was given some medicine and a prescription for antibiotics (no long wait in those days).

The chemist was closed but by lucky coincidence the taxi driver knew the pharmacist lived above the shop so got him to come down and dispense the pills.

The kind lady then took me back to the station in time for the next train, she even took the phone number and called my family to let them know I’d be delayed and why.

We corresponded for many years afterwards and I have always tried to do similar acts of kindness when I can, inspired by this wonderful lady.

We have had a similar experience of hospitality Silverlining when once stuck in Southern Ireland.

We were a family with five children!!

Lovely kind people inviting strangers into their home. Never forgotten.

Many years ago, in Edinburgh, with two teenage sons, I got on a bus on which we found we were expected to 'tender exact fare'. For one thing, I had no idea what the 'exact fare' was and for another thing, we had no small change. A kind gentleman noticed my consternation and paid our fares for us. By coincidence, I recognised this person as a professor at my University although I wasn't one of his students and he wouldn't have recognised me. When I got home, I found out that he was now a prof at Edinburgh University, so was able to write a letter of thanks.

Celebrating small gifts - smiles from or to strangers, chats/encounters over something trivial, all happen daily.

Fael,
do tell, who was his lordship ??

I was the recipient of an act of kindness recently.

I stopped to chat to a man in the village who was gardening. We just chatted briefly about how lovely his shasta daisies were. On my way back he presented me with a huge bouquet of shasta daisies

never heard of them, but they sound good !

A relative of dh pranged a young woman’s car near his house in France. It was only a minor collision - his fault - but the car was a real old banger so the repair would have cost more than the car was worth - she’d only have got scrap value.

The woman was in tears at the thought of losing her means of transport in a rural area - no public transport to speak of.

His insurance paid the scrap value, but he gave her €5000 on top. He could afford it, but I still think it was very nice of him.

that's more like a moral obligation though, esp as he could afford it, as it was by his act or default that she was dispossessed of her means of transport and poss livelihood.

welbeck

that's more like a moral obligation though, esp as he could afford it, as it was by his act or default that she was dispossessed of her means of transport and poss livelihood.

Yes, but I bet plenty of other people would have shrugged and said ‘Tough, c’est la vie..’.
Maybe you’ve never known as many tight-arses as I have! And the worst have been those with plenty of money.

Silverlining48 A lovely story. Humanity at it's best. It's uplifting to read of positive experiences as there's so much turmoil in the news