There are some kindnesses I will remember all my life
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All alone on the London sleeper this week, I remembered another journey from long ago.
Just a few days after our twins were born in Aberdeen, my American oil sector employers decided to transfer me to their London office.
This wasn’t terribly helpful – my wife being left alone in a rented cottage in winter with three children under three – so I made sure I came home every weekend. Except that not being particularly well paid, I couldn’t really afford all this travelling. So here’s what I did.
On Friday night I’d get to Heathrow airport as soon as possible and put in for a standby ticket. Every time there were no-shows, and every time I’d get on the Aberdeen flight for 39 quid. Free supper and drink on the plane. Wahay!
Then on Sunday I’d catch the new overnight Stagecoach bus service to London Victoria for (I think) £12. Free blanket and a dry cheese sandwich in a bag. Wahay? Hmm. Anyway it all amounted to affordable travel.
One Sunday in early December the bus was only half full, and somewhere in Fife the bus driver pulled up and not-so-surreptitiously took on board about two dozen striking miners who he seemed to know rather well. This was during the 1984/85 Miners Strike and these lads were on their way to a demo in London.
They were a cheerful crew (after all they were travelling for free) and they kindly shared their lager with me. Then, at about two in the morning, we pulled up at a service station somewhere in Northern England for tea and a pee. Unfortunately I took rather more time than I should imbibing the former. When I came back out into the dark and the drizzle, my miners and bus had gone!
This was a real disaster. My overcoat, my case, and my wallet, were on the bus. The driver should have counted us off and back on again before he continued the journey, but of course all the miners would have muddled his calculation. So I was all alone with but pennies in my pocket.
That was a black moment. And now it was raining properly.
“Ullo mate, you lost then?” Another bus driver wound down his window. I explained my predicament.
“Yer in luck - this one’s going back to London empty. Heating’s knackered. Hop on.”
I was in Victoria half an hour before my proper bus arrived. I waited as it drew up.
“Remember me?” I asked the driver as he climbed down. “You left me on the M6 five hours ago...”
“Oh my God!”
My coat, bag and wallet were all there. And you know what, I should have been angry, but I wasn’t.
After all I had a spot of luck with the second bus. The driver of the first bus had been a bit naughty doing his pals a favour. But on the other hand the bus was only half full. And after all the miners were only trying to save their livelihoods...
If this short tale has a theme, then surely it’s kindness. On Tuesday I started a cross party group of MPs to raise the issue of all the people who had been excluded from Government financial support during the pandemic. It is estimated there are three million of them. I was stunned to discover we made history – 150 MPs from nine different parties attended, all with the intention of addressing this injustice. At the time of writing, 7000 people have now watched our meeting on my Facebook page.
MPs have buried their political differences and come to the aid of this new group. That is kindness that I will never forget.
