I feel as if I need an antidote to the Manners (Public Transport) thread which made very depressing reading! Has anyone got any tales to tell of where a stranger has been courteous or helpful?

One really small incident which happened to me is so small that I don't know why I remember it, but I went into the supermarket one day and there was man in front of me picking up a basket. When he saw me come in, he gave the basket to me and picked himself another one. He then went off to do his shopping so it wasn't an opening gambit It was the smallest of courtesies but it made a big impression on me, possibly because it was so unexpected and no-one before or since has ever done it again.

I can think of a few other incidents but for some reason that one has made the biggest impression on me!

There must be some other stories out there of small courtesies that help make the world go round a bit more pleasantly

I was just this morning recalling a stupendous example...

When Airman was a small toddler and Viohazard a curly-headed baby, I went to look at a house. Not only was the house horrible, but as we started on the long walk back to the station, and the longer train ride home, Airman started to cry, and I realized that he was running quite a fever.

As I struggled along with Viohazard strapped to my front, with Airman in a limp piggyback hold, and a giant nappybag over my shoulder as the finishing touch, a woman stopped her car and asked if I wanted a lift to the station. I gratefully accepted, but as we got near to the station, she asked where I was going, and claimed that she was headed there anyway to visit her parents. Airman was so miserable that I accepted her offer of a lift, and she drove me to our door, saying she knew just what it was like with small kids.

...Just before we got home, Airman was violently sick in the poor woman's car. I rushed inside and grabbed buckets etc. and did what I could to clean up, got her address, and sent a thank-you gift...but she never turned a hair, said it could happen to anybody, not to worry...

She went so far out of her way to help us, and got nothing but trouble for her pains, but what a lady!

I don't have a ready example to comes to mind - but just wanted to say..

IN the supermarket, I got to the checkout, and had had an awful day so far. The young man on the till asked me if I was having a good day. The difference was he asked at the start of the transaction, looked me in the eye, and his smile reached his eyes. He meant it. I replied that the day had been awful but it had just got a bit better.
He wasn't doing the chat up line as he was at least 20 years plus younger. Just a nice young man
Bev.

Are you sure??? Personally I wouldn't worry about the age gap

Quite sure, I'm not pretty, and he was the equivalent of John Boy from the Waltons

On my first day at work, a man asked if I was new there. He was quite a regular customer, and so knew that he hadn't seen me before. We got to talking about how his daughter had just graduated, and he asked when I was leaving to go to university, so I told him that my last day at work would be the 13th of September.

Yesterday, he came back to wish me well. I really didn't expect him to remember that, especially considering that he'd asked me about it in May.

So... the way to your heart, Skylark...

mmm.... he'd probably have to put a few things *in* the basket as well to get that far

Shucks.

A couple of terms ago I was taken ill in a lesson and when the parent came to collect her child she packed me in her car and took me straight to the nearest doctor. She then drove me home and stopped the car for me to be sick on the way. She almost carried me to the house. Then, because my partner was also ill she took my prescription and returned to the chemist to fetch it.

OK, it was a parent known to me but she didn't have to do all that so cheerfully and kindly!

I have also recently noticed an increase in the number of motorists who stop to let one cross on a pedestrian crossing. This may not seem notable to English readers but here in France you usually take your life in your hands when crossing the road, zebra or no!

I have a lovely pupil who is not only very musical (sings, plays piano, recorder, alto sax and guitar and possibly several more instruments that he hasn't thought to tell me about), but is also very kind and thoughtful. In my group theory class yesterday I had photocopied one less copy of two sheets than I needed. While I copied another set he gave one of his to the person who was without one so that they could get on straight away. On a previous class he went and got a seat for an older lady student without being asked and without making any sort of fuss. After hearing that I could do with an amplifier for my cello if I go to another jazz weekend he has offered to lend me his ....... and is coming early to his next lesson to show me how to set it up! What a star!

Oh, are the striped things crossings? I mistook them for target practice areas.



Seriously, we spent part of the summer in France, and we enjoyed stopping at crossings to let pedestrians go across - and getting slightly surprised and pleased smiles.

This thread makes me smile .


The other day I was in the supermarket and I was only buying a chrunchie and all the queues were ridiculously long, so i stood behind 2 women. the first woman was just packing her shopping into her bag and the second one was just emptying out her trolley. The second woman spotted me and insisted i go ahead of her in the queue, i said it was fine because i wasn't in a hurry but she said that it was silly for me to wait for just one thing when she would be ages.
It made me smile for the rest of the day

There is a heart-warming item in our local paper about a lady who left her purse containing all the usual valuables on top of her car outside her house. It was returned to her son by two bin men while she was out frantically searching for it in the town. She is now asking for them to get in touch so that she can thank them. Our bin men come in for quite a lot of abuse because of the careless way they leave the bins randomly on the pavements, so it's good to hear this story.

Talking of purses, son Airman and a friend were in Akihabara on Saturday (recent scene of crazed stabbings and attacks on bystanders with a light truck, and frequently in the news for "nerd-hunting" attacks on anybody who looks young, middle-class, naive, and unaggressive) to buy supplies for a school project...when the friend realised his wallet was missing. Hours later, having retraced his steps fruitlessly, he made one last enquiry at the station before heading home...and there it was, money, cards etc intact, handed in by some kind passer-by.

I love living in Italy. Most local people round here seem to have a generosity of spirit and a trusting nature that I rarely encountered in the UK. People tend to smile and say Buongiorno when you pass them on the street (one nice old gent whom I passed every day on my bike on the way to work even leapt out in front of the bike, shook hands and formally introduced himself "because it's a pity that we say hello and don't know each other") .

Our local restaurants and cafes undercharge us on a regular basis, or give us free coffee, just because we're regulars. It's unheard of for anybody to take money before you've actually finished your meal/drink, and quite frequently they'll ask you to remind them what you had, rather than checking it on the bill.

Today's insolicited piece of niceness was when my husband went into a bookshop to buy a book for me. He had the title and ISBN, but the ISBN didn't match (probably because it's a new edition). So she let him take the the book home for me to look at when I got back from work, and told him he could either bring the money in later if it's the right one, or return the book. It's quite an expensive hardback, and he'd never been in the shop before. She didn't even take a deposit!