Wonderful gesture by a stranger on a train

There’s something magical in the random kindness of strangers.

I loved the story last week of the 50-year-old man travelling on a train who was so delighted to watch the way a young mum helped her three-year-old son pass a long journey, that he tapped her on the shoulder as he left and gave her a note with a fiver wrapped inside.

On the note he’d written: “Have a drink on me. You’re a credit to your generation teaching the little boy good manners”.

For Sammie Welch a 23-year-old single mum from Plymouth, it was a moment she’ll never forget.

She was determined to find the man and, through social media, she did.

Ken Saunders seems to be the sort of guy who notices what’s happening around him.

That’s rare nowadays. Often when people are travelling they’re so caught up in making phone calls, checking their iPad or reading their Kindle that they’re shut off from everyone around them.

Going to and from work, people are in a bubble thinking of the next thing they have to do.

So how refreshing to know Ken noticed the young mum playing games and reciting nursery rhymes to her son, Rylan while he ate his picnic of sandwiches and grapes.

She told her little boy to cover his mouth when he coughed. They counted sheep out the window when he became tired and grumpy.

“I just thought she was such a good mum,” said Ken.

Sammie’s life as a single mother has had its difficult moments but she wants the best for her son and a stranger recognised that.

I think it’s something all of us should try a little harder to do be aware of people around us, be sensitive to their needs, pick up on the fact they might be feeling under pressure.

Notice the elderly neighbour who maybe hasn’t spoken to anyone all week. What would it take to stop for a chat? Carry her bag of shopping? Scrape the snow from the path to her front door?

Maybe there’s a young mum at the school gate who’s tired after a sleepless night with a new baby. Wouldn’t it be a kind to offer to pick up her child from school next day?

Or you’re waiting in the doctor’s surgery and the man next to you is anxious and tense, smile and talk to him while he waits. Who knows, he may be dreading the test results when he enters that room.

Your friend has been dumped by a man? Take her flowers, a bottle of wine, listen.

It could be a colleague who’s struggling. Look out for them. I’ll never forget the Information Technology guy in our office who knew my fears of “new systems” and cheerfully got me out of many a mess. Thank you, Tam.

Sprinkling a little thoughtfulness around doesn’t require a lot of time, money or extravagant gestures. It just takes awareness of the needs of others.

If you haven’t made a new year’s resolution yet February is a great month to start spreading little random acts of kindness.

Be a Valentine, not the romantic kind, the everyday sort who just wants to make someone’s day brighter.