Good deeds and stuff...

The thread about Craig Davies helping the old couple and he thread about going to the cinema alone and being seen as a paedo etc made me think of this that happened to me today.

I was walking into a supermarket and on the way out of the door was coming a young girl, probably about 11 or 12. I had noticed her about a minute or two earlier as I drove past the doors because she dropped a bag of shopping everywhere. I couldn't believe it when I got to the door and found her still struggling to get the bags under control and nobody was with her. She had about 4 or 5 heavy bags and a couple of other bags full of backed goods. Too many to carry on her own. Loads of people walked past her.

I asked if she had anyone with her to help as I assumed she didn't drive! She said her mum was in the car chatting on the phone. So I politely took some of her bags to the car so she could manage. The girl was dead polite and said thanks while mum didn't move a muscle or offer to help.

I felt like that was my good deed for the day but I almost didn't offer to help for fear of being seen as some sort of wierdo.

Have you done any good deeds lately? And is there anything you avoid doing for fear of being labelled?

i would have had to say something to the lazy Mother, i wouldn't have  been able to hold it in

The mother was probably on the phone to the police, expect a knock on the door anytime soon Biggie.

In todays climate I suspect men are pretty edgy to help or talk to any young children for any reason.

likely to be accused of something or have the kid mug you.

There's a really nice older chap who lives about three down from us whose wife died about ten years ago.

The backs of our gardens are flush to Worsley woods.

Last summer he was sitting in his back garden enjoying the sunshine when some children (aged 11 or 12) appeared at his fence and asked if they could cut through his gate to get back to the main road.

He, of course, said yes and because it was a hot day, offered them a drink of lemonade.

They said yes please and ended up spending half an hour chatting with him in his garden, enjoying a refreshing drink, before moving on.

And all was well.

Until one of the mothers got wind of what had happened and went storming round to harangue him.

The poor old guy was heart broken and almost immediately became a semi recluse. 

I really feel for him because he's just a nice old chap and he's lonely. I try and pop round to have a brew with him when I can and you can tell he just wants some company.

What a rotten world we live in when a genuine act of kindness like this one results in a nice bloke receiving abuse.

thats a sad story breaders but parents are so touchy about letting their kids out to play these days because of all the horror stories about children being abused or abducted.

I have a 7 and 3 year old and genuinely don't know what to do when they get older and want to go off on their own. The wife will insist they can't leave the street if she gets her way but kids need a bit of independence i think (within reason obviously). Times have changed from when we were kids and could wander all over the place.

Times probably haven't changed that much as I would guess there have always been paedophiles and weirdos and various other nutters knocking about but the media and social networking have highlighted it a lot more and in turn has put the fear into parents more so than in the past. 
I also have a 7 year old and if he wants to play outside I daren't take my eyes off him. I'm probably a little overprotective but better safe than sorry imo.

Stranger danger didn't even cross our minds as kids. Our gang (we all had gangs) used to roam far and wide with no thought that we might be in any sort of danger.
In fact,finding a 'tramp' was always a great thrill. Being an avid 'Just William' devotee,I made it my duty to exhibit the same level of interest in tramps as my hero.
Needless to say,my Dad was less than pleased to find one of these knights of the road sat at our kitchen table necking a bottle of Tizer.
Wouldn't happen now. Don't seem to see proper tramps these days. Standards are slipping.

We went camping up Barrow Bridge when we were ten during the six week holidays.

We all had knives and we built a fire.

That'd never happen nowadays.

For so many reasons.......

I think that thanks to the press whipping up a storm over paedo's and such like, we're getting soft as a society and will produce a generation of feckless individuals who won't be able to cope and do the basics when they grow up soon.

We used to march up Rivington Pike armed with bows and arrows made from garden cane that we used to buy from the local hardware shop. The arrows had 3 inch nails at the point. We also carried 'gat guns' which were a sort of glorified catapult,but were capable of taking your eye out at 30 feet.
Add to the mix knives,water pistols,and believe it or not a cheese grater,the latter carried only as an instrument of torture, and we were a formidable unit. 
No paedo would have survived.
The Taliban wouldn't have survived!

boltonbonce wrote:Stranger danger didn't even cross our minds as kids. Our gang (we all had gangs) used to roam far and wide with no thought that we might be in any sort of danger.
In fact,finding a 'tramp' was always a great thrill. Being an avid 'Just William' devotee,I made it my duty to exhibit the same level of interest in tramps as my hero.
Needless to say,my Dad was less than pleased to find one of these knights of the road sat at our kitchen table necking a bottle of Tizer.
Wouldn't happen now. Don't seem to see proper tramps these days. Standards are slipping.

We were exactly the same - never a day went by that you didn't invite a tramp or two back to the house for a nosh up and they'd always repay you with a tune on the old banjo and spoons. They used to wear medals from the war which was kind of a guarantee that you wouldn't get molested.

I hate people.
There was and old chap walking down our street at a snails pace. He was delivering flyers as he went and it was taking him forever.
I assumed he was retired and doing it for charity. I went out to him and said he should come in for a brew but he declined and said he had to do another 300 before he stopped.
When I asked him what he was delivering he told me its not a charity, its for his granddaughters business. He was doing it unpaid...
When i looked i recognised the business and realised who the granddaughter was, aged about 29. Not some kid starting out.
I can be a busy body so I phoned up to speak to the manager to say I wasn't impressed. She wasn't there though, on a spa getaway apparently. I kid you not.

Numpty is spot on. Dig those spoons.

You're right Biggie, todays society is afraid of al sorts, for no real reason. There are real dangers out there, but to get everyone scared of everything is just absurd. Kids are scared of thousands of paedophiles walking every street every day everywhere (allegedly), trusting nobody, and making few friends. The old are afraid to get older because their life will be no good because they will be abused, and all their money, if they have any, will be taken off them. The younger generation are going to be cyber bullied, and then live a life of hardship because of the old, and will pay exorbitant pension and saving funds, only to lose them to greedy bankers. Although these things have happened, they are now accepted as the norm (mostly), and we have changed our behaviours to cater for them.
I think the media and social networks have a lot to answer for

I once helped an old lady across the road with her shopping.


She didn't want to go across the road but I said don't fook me about.

A few months ago I was walking the dog down Church Road when some bollock naked kid (probably about 3 years old) came running out of his front door. Anybody that knows Church Road knows it's a relatively busy road and you wouldn't want your toddler, naked or otherwise, running into the middle of it.

Luckily the lad's dad came out just in time to stop him from running into the road, but it got me thinking about a dilemma that could have been. Grab hold of a naked child you've never met, potentially saving his life, or stand back and let him run into the middle of the road?

One I did recently, was in the pub with my mate and a few others and he mentioned he was going to do a sponsered walk, for Wigan Hospital told us the reason why, so I said I'd do it with him to keep him company.

The walk was approx  4.5 miles from his place of work to Wigan Hospital, anyway a few day's before the walk, I said and how are getting back home thinking he'd say his wife would pick us up and drive us home.

He said we're Walking back 

I hope you were sponsored for 9 miles instead of 4.5.

I did a sponsored walk once... 7K up a mountain. They forgot to mention we'd be walking back down. There is a popular Annual 5k run here - attracts upwards of 20,000 people. It is almost a social event although there are serious participants who run as fast as possible. Some people meander in groups, intent on having a good time and uploading pics to Facebook on the way while tweeting and blogging. The run was yesterday and one young miss collapsed and died. Tragic.

Well done to these people - if every pub in the country followed their example there'd be a lot less homeless and tramps having to wander the streets.