RIOTS to Random Acts of Kindness

This week has been all about the London riots... self-acclaimed disadvantaged kids, blackberry smart phones in hand (on which they organised which cities and towns to loot and trash next) smashing, looting and burning down both big chain and small family run independent shops alike. Reasons for their animalistic and selfish behaviour spouted were regurgitations of lines they'd read in the newspaper or heard someone else band around in conversation... "we're taking back what the government owes us", "it's all the Tory's fault". No thought of the innocent people who they're robbing from, or flats and homes above shops which they burnt to the ground then.... in reality I bet the large majority of the little skidmarks that decided to burn down the 200 year old family run furniture shop in Croydon have no interest or knowledge of government or politics, and probably have never visited a polling station in their lives. What may have started as a protest against a man shot (rightly or wrongly) by police, ended up as an excuse for thugs to run rampage across London (and the rest of the UK) and get a new flat screen TV or a new pair of trainers. Rant over. *deep breath*...


So with so much hate and violence in London right now, I thought we all needed a little reminder of how not ALL Londoners are savage heartless criminals... I introduce the Transport for London Acts of Kindness website! A collection of stories of random acts of kindness on the London Underground! A few of my favourites which brightened my morning so far...

A Japanese man was sitting opposite me on the Central Line making something in paper - I was totally transfixed - forget all manners and was just staring at what he was creating in front of me. It was a unicorn, we had a brief chat and then he gave me it. I still have it and keep it in a cabinet 

While on my second maternity leave, I was travelling from Dollis Hill to Crouch End to visit a friend for lunch. After 2 changes and 3 tubes I got to Finsbury Park only to find me, the toddler and the baby in the pram at the bottom of 3 flights of stairs. My heart sank. As it was lunchtime, the station was quiet and I wasn't too happy to see 2 hooded young men loping down the stairs but as they got to bottom they asked if they could help by taking the pram leaving me to carry the toddler. They carried it up the 3 flights safely and even missed their train to do so! I always think of them when people use the term 'hoodie' as a generic term for violent youth because their kindness made my day and challenged my lazy assumptions. 

My daughter Rebecca was on the underground, it was her 21st Birthday. Her friend Jessica was travelling with her. The train stopped. Suddenly Jess said in a big loud voice, 'It's my friends birthday can we sing for her.' The people started singing and smiling. 

It had been a long day and the commute home was crowded, but a big smile spread across everyone's faces when the Tube driver pretended we were on a plane. Each time we reached a new station he would tell the people getting off to have a great day, and welcome those getting on. He would also inform us of our altitude and temperature at our destination. It relaxed everybody! 

My partner and I were wandering late on a Saturday night through Liverpool St Station when we saw a little old lady, with luggage, looking slightly lost. We hesitated. I thought she looked vulnerable amidst the drunken crowds. And she'd missed the last Overground train. So we accompanied her to an outlying Tube stop and waved her off from there on a small-hours bus home.Going out of our way turned out to be joyously rewarding because she was wonderful: not vulnerable at all; spry; bright, fascinating; a dealer in antique botanical books just back from a fair, aged about 80! Wish I had her email and could be friends forever.

(I was so engrossed in reading these stories that I just very nearly missed my train stop! Oops!!)

One morning on the Jubilee Line a woman lent over and removed a small amount of shaving foam I'd somehow left on my ear. On an over-crowded train to Canary Wharf, it made me and the person next to me smile. Literally, a touching act of kindness (or mercy?)

(this one literally made me laugh out loud... brave woman.. that could have been the scene from the film There's Something About Mary.... ick!! Haha!!)

I cried on the Victoria line, last Friday. Boy trouble. When I got off at Stockwell a girl of about 22 came running up to me to see if I was OK. She gave me a hug and looked right into my tear soaked eyes and said 'sometimes you just need a hug from a random stranger on the tube.' As she walked off in the opposite direction I realised she was right. She'll never know how much her kindness meant to me.

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