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Thursday 12 November 2009

Losing my grip? No, just my clutch! A vote of thanks to an unknown Good Samaritan

Last night whilst driving back from work during the rush hour there was an unusual clunk as I changed gear ... and my car gradually came to a halt at the side of the road. The clutch had gone!

Luckily I had a colleague from work with me in the car, and we both attempted to push it off the main road (Shooters Hill Road in South-East London, one of the main roads leading from London out towards Kent) and into a side street. Now trying to push a heavy four-wheel drive car is not easy, and the only help we initially got was blaring horns from the drivers of cars that were being 'inconvenienced' by the slow progress we were making.

I was just on the verge of losing my temper with the next person to honk me when a very large American car drew up very close behind me ... and gave me a quick blast of its horn! I turned round to share my opinion of the driver of the car with him, and saw him waving to me to move out of the way! I stepped on to the pavement so that I could have word with him through the driver's window ... and he very gently moved his car forward so that he could use it to push my car with his bumper!

With this additional power we were able to push the car out of the way of the passing traffic very quickly, and to park it in the side street. I went to thank the driver for both his quick thinking and help ... and then discovered that he was deaf and dumb! He gave me the thumbs up, drove a little way up the road, parked his own car, and then came back to make sure we were all right.

I don't know who he is or what his name is, and I doubt if he will read this blog, but I would like to put on public record my thanks for his help when I needed it.

It goes to prove that there are still good people out there who are willing to do what they can to help others, and it goes a long way to restore one's faith in one's fellow human beings.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for that

    It's good to know there still exists people who will help, not motivated for financial gain or the like

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bob,

    There ARE lotse of good people around . . . and quite a fair number must be wargamers because I've met very few gamers who weren't good chaps.


    -- Jeff

    ReplyDelete
  3. Geordie and Jeff,

    It was a very pleasant surprise to get help in those circumstances, especially as it was dark and raining at the time, and most people were only concerned with getting home after a long day at work.

    If he is a wargamer ... and I would hope that he is ... he might just read this and realise how much what he did was and is appreciated. As Jeff says, he was a 'good chap'.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  4. Think about it - wargamers have to be nice to someone else just to get into a fight.

    ReplyDelete

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