Good Deeds Thread

[John F]

Back in the early 1990s I pulled in to help a bloke with a broken chain on a Honda VF500 on the outskirts of Canterbury. This was back in the days before mobile phones, and he wasn't from the area, so he looked a bit lost for what to do.

 

I gave him a lift to a local bike shop (Robinsons Suzuki) on my 650 Katana. They sent out a trailer to pick up his bike, discovered they had a suitable chain in stock and had him back on the road in no time. I refused the £20 he offered me for helping him, just said he should pass on the good deed

 

The wheel of karma turned full circle for me about 4 years later - I was riding my newly-rebuilt Honda CJ250 twin along the M2 when it lost power and started to smoke badly. I thought it might have dropped a main jet out of one of the carbs (which it had done on an earlier outing) but I had no tools with me. A chap in a Mondeo with a bootful of tools pulled onto the hard shoulder & between us we stripped down the carbs - no dropped jet. Turned out I'd holed a piston. The bloke in the Mondeo then sat behind me until the next exit of the motorway, protecting me from getting rear-ended by a sleeping lorry driver. Hats off to you, mate.

[Asimo]

Near home, find an upside down Escort Mk5 (doom blue) jammed across the narrow lane on a blind bend and well smashed with a puzzled looking bloke stood by it surrounded by glass crumbs. He seemed to be confused and I started to worry about concussion but then I recognised his thick accent and the smell of booze. Offered to try and get the thing onto it's wheels with a tow from the Subaru but it was jammed between the hedges so I towed it on it's roof for about 200m, which was fun, with smoke from the headlining as the roof got friction burns. Managed to sort of pendulum swing it into a field entrance and left the guy (now on his 'phone) to it. No sign of him or the car an hour later.

[Pillock]

 

 

Pillock, wasn't it you who went out late one night to rescue Phil_busmo in that horrible red Princess?

 

Oh yeah! I'd blocked that out of my memory Went out about 9pm, stopped for water in every layby of the A42, in the garage by midnight philibuspass got a lift to the station in the morning.

[fordperv]

I've just had a lady from an adjacent road knocking at my door asking if I can help, her husband had been working on their astra putting brakes on it and the widow maker jack had collapsed and it fell off just as he had moved, so I grabbed my trolley jack and went up, jacked it up for them so the wheel could get put on, her husband said "I'm sorry for asking but you were the only person I could think of that would be able to help as I always see you working on something" I told him it's not a problem, said my goodbyes and told him to stay safe as it could've ended with injury

[the judge]

Hope you said "stay safe" casually over your shoulder like a superhero as you walked away from them.

[Cavcraft]

I did my bit by selling an Escort to a truly hateful wanker many years ago, what a nasty piece of work he was. Anyhow, my call of duty was to phone the police and report him for dangerous driving ten minutes after he left and suggested they checked his insurance, as he mentioned to me he didn't have any.

[Jikovron]

Ive received many great acts of kindness that were literally born out of zero desire for their personal gain I would believe the main one was:

I once had a propshaft slip off my Volvo 340 on the A68 just past Chollerford in Northumberland and as it was in my pre phone days and there was literally no houses anywhere my and my then very young sister were picked up by a gang of concerned elderly women who drove us around the north tyne in a sort of pretzel shaped route seeking my uncles place so that was kind act part one, second act straight of the back of that was that my uncle wasn't in,,so I asked at a random house down the road for an allen key with a view to walking the 7 miles to the car ,but instead he lent me an allen key and also took us to the car to which he then decided it was best towed to a safe place to fit it back up

In those instances they were literally randomly selected strangers of which were excellent people in that circumstance .

 

I did tow a car that had run out of petrol and was subsequently stranded in a traffic bottleneck across the A1 roundabout from the west road to a layby just onto the A69 to clear the road but as the chap hadn't ever been towed before I said to lightly apply the brakes to keep the rope tensioned nothing, however in practice I had to keep in first gear with the throttle nailed as he must have got that communication slightly inverted or panicked considerably

 

my suspicion these days is that a lot of people feel the same potential hassle/embarrassment factor if either told to F off with their help offer or suspected of having sour intentions thus its is easier to just leave it to other people ,,,obvs an actual emergency situation is hopefully a different consideration and the possible explaination gap boris Johnson gaffe effect is negated in the place of instinct

[Sealtainn]

I was on my post round a couple of years ago when I saw 2 old dears in a Micra with a flat back tyre drive round the corner, I flagged them down and changed it for them and sent them on their way and then proceeded to get messy fingerprints on all the remaining mail I had to deliver.

Many years ago, I remember pulling up behind a Mk2 Mondeo at a set of traffic lights and a big bunch of keys were hanging out of the boot lock, I jumped out and grabbed them and tapped on the drivers window. Mr Mondeo looked at me, looked at his wife and then locked the doors !! I motion for him to put his window down and he shook his head, I shrugged, held up his keys long enough for him to recognise them and started walking back to my car. He opened the door and sheepishly said "Oh thanks, where were they?"

[martc]

I lent a 14mm spanner to someone who had broken down outside the house. As I was going out soon I told him to leave if behind the front garden wall.

 

When I came back home - guess what? He had left it there.

[Matt]

I point out blown bulbs and half-open bonnets whenever I can but not really had the chance to do anything more in my relatively short five years of motoring.

[Asimo]

Years ago, in Notingham, an AC Invacar signals and pulls out in front of me. Plenty of room, no drama EXCEPT for the pair of crutches that slid off it's roof and into the road. Flash my lights, horn etc but the little blue thing keeps going. I pick up the crutches, chuck them in the back of my Cavalier and give chase. It took quite a long way to catch up, traffic was heavy and sometimes the trail of two-stroke exhaust was all I was following. Eventually I am behind the Invacar and after a lot of flashing and honking I get the drivers attention. She reacts badly, clearly thinking the worst of me and tries to get away giving it maximum smoke. She was trying to lose me! I kept up easily enough but what to do next? Felt a bit farcical but I couldn't give up on her could I?

Eventually I managed to corner her in a Cul-de- sac. Poor woman was in a right state when I gave her the crutches.

[omegod]

Gave a guy a 3 litre bottle of water as he was overheating in the queue for Silverstone at the f1 BGP a few years ago, he was very grateful

 

Yesterday I was behind an old dear in the bakers who looked a bit skint and was struggling to find some coins in her bag to pay for a butty and a small cake, I discreetly got the attention of the girl serving and paid for mine and the old girls stuff then left, I hope she wasn't offended.

[Partridge]

I saw a couple which had broken down with a baby, in a tatty looking Clio on the slip road where the M62 joins the M1 Southbound in the OMG HEAT heat last week. I pulled over and gave them my bottle water, thinking they'd need it more than me.

 

Which was stupid because I was really thirsty.

[martc]

Years ago, in Notingham, an AC Invacar signals and pulls out in front of me... resulting chase...cornered and stopped.

 

In the early 1990's me and a mate were travelling over the Tatra mountains in a Lada Samara, in front was a Skoda Estelle being drivern by a young lad with all the family in with him. The Tatra's are very much like the alps, and we were going downhill, I was using the engine to brake, the young lad was using his brakes all the time. Eventually whisps of smoke started to come from his front wheels which became thicker and thicker.

 

I started to flash my lights and my mate gesticulated wildly. This only spooked the Estelle that accelerated away only to have to brake harder for the hairpins. Eventually we reached the valley bottom and managed to pass him pointing at the front wheels which were now emitting black smoke (grease on fire?). At that moment the penny dropped, the occupants of the Skoda abandondend ship and my last view of them was of them running away from the hapless machine.

[Richard]

When my wife was 8 months pregnant her car conked out on a busy roundabout in the pissing rain. She tried to push it out of the way with cars whizzing past and not one of the bastards stopped to help. In the end I had to get out and give her a hand myself.

 

© Fred MacAulay, 1991

[mouseflakes]

This post is totally useless without a pic of said damsel cake.

[yellowperil]

I am posting this to bump this thread up a bit, because it seems a bit poorly and i was enjoying it...  

 

 Not my story but my brothers.  About seven years ago he was out on his bike and came across a 2CV broken on the side of the A47, he stopped to see if the elderly lady was ok. She was and was waiting for recovery.

So, because underneath his very grumpy persona he is actually a kindly fellow he stayed and waited with her just to keep her company. While they were chatting somehow the subject got around to aeroplanes, she then said her late Husband was part of a bomber crew in WW2 and had written a book about his experience.

 The recovery people turned up a fair while later and before he left the lady took his address and a few weeks later he received a copy of the book through the post.

 It was called The Eighth Passenger by Miles Tripp.

 

  The Grumpy Bugger still hasn't given me a lend of it.

 

 

 Slight edit... I talked to my Brother today, it wasn't the widow of the Author, it was the widow of one of the crew members in the book.

 

 I still think it's a nice story though.

[the judge]

I got stuck on grass a few years ago in shitty weather outside the kids school. Only when i stopped did i get that sinking feeling.

 

Anyway,2 off the dads helped push me off and got covered in mud spray. I have picked up many a poor sod walking along with a petrol can in the past,so a bit of karma maybe.

 

The next day i got them a crate of beer each. I was fucked otherwise with 4 kids whinging on board.

[mercrocker]

I generally stop if I see something old/interesting broken down (anything newer/boring I wont be able to do much with). Picked an older geezer up once whose BSA Starfire had died on the side of a busy local bypass. We were in a CF ambulance with those double fold-flat back doors (made into a camper). He had taken the BSA out against SWMBO indoors orders (he was recovering from some leg operation or other) and true to form the bastard had let him down. I flipped the back step down on the CF and my own SWMBO and I person-handled it into the back. I tried to rub the oil drips into the carpet before she noticed, but failed...

 

Anyhow we got it back to his house and diffused the initial bollocking he was expecting from his wife. It was a worthwhile good deed though - while he was sat in the back holding his ineffective steed he diagnosed a noisy centre prop bearing that I had failed to hear over the general Bedford din.

[Taff]

I routinely tell peps that they have a brake light not working.

Sometimes it's actually true

[fordperv]

A mate of mine has done me a fantastic good deed, my thread taps only go up to an m12 and I need an inlet manifold tapping out with m14, he drove to mine on his way back from work, took it away and sorted it and dropped it off for me, the bugger wouldn't even accept beer to say thanks.

[Clanger]

I did my bit by selling an Escort to a truly hateful wanker many years ago, what a nasty piece of work he was. Anyhow, my call of duty was to phone the police and report him for dangerous driving ten minutes after he left and suggested they checked his insurance, as he mentioned to me he didn't have any.

I once brought a Escort off a total nob, moments later the rozzers felt my collar - somfink to do wiv insuranz innit

[I_am_Diesel]

You don't live in East Kilbride do you?

No, do they leave them on there too, or is a stalker bothering you?