It isn’t often that one gets the chance to a really good deed for the day, and dig someone else out of the midden. And what’s more someone you don’t know, and will likely never meet again.
On Saturday morning I was in central London and stopped for a coffee in the Brunswick Centre. On leaving the Centre I was stopping to get some cash from the machine outside the small Sainsbury’s store. As I approached it a large, foreign-looking, middle-aged man walked away and into the Sainsbury’s store … leaving the cash machine beeping at nobody.
As I approached I could see that he’d left his money in the mouth of the machine! Duh!

Luckily there was no-one else much in the immediate vicinity. Arriving within seconds at the machine I removed the money, folded it and held onto it. I considered running after the man, but figured this would be pointless given my crocked knees, especially as he was unlikely to disappear from the store in the minute it would take me to get money for myself. So I did just that.
I then wandered into the Sainsbury’s store, easily located the man, who was quite distinctive, and handed him his notes. Needless to say he was profusely grateful.
I’ve no idea how much money was involved as I didn’t count it; it looked like about £50. I could have had a nice little bonus at someone else’s expense. But I didn’t.
However I did get something back. The satisfaction of saving some guy’s embarrassment. Oh and a £25 win on Saturday evening’s National Lottery.
It isn’t that often one gets to do a significantly good deed for a random stranger. But it feels good when you do.