The kindness of strangers...

Wonderful thread. Too sleepy now, but I wanted to bookmark in order to get back to it easily.

Shewolf, you are great!!

lovely thread and well done shewolf

Boomerang and Soz - have you tried SeaBands for the children? they are stretchy elastic wrist bands with a button that presses on the acupressure point on the wrist that prevents nausea.

I found them brilliant.

My youngest was travel sick within a couple of miles ... and my parents asked if the girls and I would like to go to France on holiday with them (leaving himself working ) as there was room in the car and the cottage they'd booked. I wanted desperately to go and so tried the SeaBands - MAGIC.

She was only sick once and we travelled hundreds of miles on that holiday and that was when we forgot to put the bands on and she hadn't noticed that she'd forgotten - I noticed but kept quiet to see what happened ... she was sick.

Also, before finding the SeaBands, I used to take a polythene lined empty ice cream tub that they could grab quickly and be sick into - it saved the car (also used if they had a sickness/diarrhoea bug at home. We could then dispose of the delightful sick-filled bag at the first opportunity and re-line the ice cream tub - in case.

I used them myself when I went to Paris by coach with the university - a long trip and I can get travel sick (I was as bad as youngest as a child and the 'I'm tired' and yawning was my parents first warning too). They worked for me.

Fresh air and looking out of the front window helps - if I'm not the driver and start looking at the person I'm talking to when travelling, instead of out of the front window, I still feel nauseous - the scenery flashing past causes it. Also I was never travel sick at night - which reinforces the scenery flashing by as the cause.

Last week, while shopping, I lost my purse. I'd just been to the bank & there was $250 in it, plus credit card, driver's licence & heaps of other ID cards that it would have been really inconvenient to replace. After checking the only 3 shops I'd been to since the bank, I'd all but given up hope. Then, on a hunch, I stopped into few shops between the ones I'd visited - maybe I'd dropped it in the street outside one of them? At this stage I was willing to try anything! Well, lo & behold, "someone" must have found it & left it on the counter of a chemist shop I was checking, just in case! The woman behind the counter had already rung my home & left a message for me. I was SO relieved, I can't tell you! What a fluke!
So I had 2 strangers to thank: The person who found the purse & didn't keep it & the woman at the chemist shop who'd gone to the trouble of trying to contact me. Now was that lucky, or what?

Great stories guys.

I was probably 18 or so, and our family was in downtwn Chicago for a night of dinner and theater. We had just finished our dinner at the Italian Village and were walking down the street toward the theater when a begger ask me for some change. I said, "No... but you can have this," as I handed him the families leftovers from the dinner we just finished. He grabbed the bag, not knowing what was in it, and started walking in the opposite direction. With about a half a city block between us I hear this yelling... "Sir. Sir Thank you so much sir! God Bless You! God Bless you sir!" It was the man I had given the leftover to who had just peeked inside to see what I had handed him. I remember seeing the joy on his face and the thankfulness in his voice. I remember thinking that to use it was just leftovers but to him it may have been the first real meal he had in a long time... It was a simple little gesture but it made me feel good.


Another time my sister, her boyfriend, and I were driving down to Southern Illinois University to visit some friends. It must have been January because it was SuperBowl weekend. We made it about 4 hours of the six hour drive before the alternator in the car exploded in a shower of sparks. I pulled over to the side of the road, we bundled up in as many clothes as possible and started walking.

We counted 162 cars that passed us before somebody finally stopped. It was a couple who had just gotten off of their 3rd shift job and was driving home. We asked if they would mind giving us a ride to the nearest gas station where we could call our friends.

They decided to drive us the remaining two hours to our final destination. They just said, "We have three kids of our own and we'd like to think that somebody would do the same thing for them."

Words to live by if you ask me.

JP-Hope you went straight to Stix or Gatsby's II on the strip when you got there.

sublime... I got into more trouble at the Hanger than I care to remember... When were you there?

I think fortune smiled on you that day, colorbook. You have car trouble and a uniformed mechanic shows up! And refuses payment! Lovely.

Noddy, I'm speechless.

Having been initiated into the traveling with a toddler I can only imagine what a relief it was to have those boys come to your rescue. I'm willing to bet those boys had good moms out there somewhere and that they grew up to be good men.

When we traveled all we got were grumbles and glares. I would sooner set myself afire than travel through Los Angles ever again.

Hi Diane!

Thanks vivian

<adding Seabands to grocery list.....>

Losing ones purse is one of the more gut wretching experiences there is, msolga. Just knowing that someone took the time to do the right thing.

In America these days, a lost purse is more apt to result in a bomb squad visit than a simple lost and found visit.

jpin..., your story really reminds me of how easy it is to get cynical. I'm always hearing "they don't want food, they want money for drugs", "they won't work for food, they just want money", "they work assigned shifts at on-ramps", etc., etc., etc.

Maybe I should ditch my grudge and try giving the benefit of the doubt to people.

My neice used to carry around books of fast-food gift certificates and hand out meal coupons to pan-handlers. People always seemed to appreciate it.

my freshman year of college i was coming home and had only 2 dollars in my wallet... i was starving and stopped at micky d's to get a double cheese burger from the dollar menu... i pulled up to pay for my food when the lady told me that the older lady infront of me had paid for my meal. i was floored

I got sick in a CVS and had to barf in the parking lot. And a few people actually came out and asked me if I was ok. I thought this was surprising since most people just stand there staring.

Also, one day I was STARVING and went to get a piece of pizza. I ordered a slice and a coke and when I went to pay I was short by like $2. I thought I had more. The guy behind the counter told me not to worry about it and out of his own pocket, he paid what I was short so I could eat.

A nice deed I did....

I was driving back to college one night in November and going though a wooded area. There are lots of deer up by me and it didn't surprise me to see one running into the road and along side my car. I was sure I was going to hit it but it slowed and ran back to be hit by the people in the car behind me. I could have kept going...it was freaking cold and it was night and I was a 19 year old girl in the middle of no where. But I turned around and went back. After all it could have been me. I called 911 on the way back to the scene to get the police out there. When asked if anyone was hurt I had no idea so I had to pull over and get out of my car to see. No one was hurt but everyone was shook up. It was a young couple with a baby and the deer had smashed out the rear window of their car. I stood there in the freezing cold until the police got there. No one else stopped.