12.10.07
Random act of kindness returned by another
9th December 2007
Getting Sophie to Maidstone for her performance at the Hazlitt Theatre looked like it could quickly become a nightmare. It was a mad rush to get to Bromley South as usual, having just missed the proper bus by seconds. On getting to the station we find there is no train to Maidstone East. We’d been lucky so far, we’ll be thinking about engineering works in future.
On the station platform a confused Chinese lady asks me how to get to Ashford International. English is obviously a problem for her so I draw pictures with a train, bus, arrows and station names. I get a lovely smile and “Thanks!”
She’s got two very large heavy bags with her so I help get them onto the train. At Maidstone I help her gets both bags up and down the stairs to the car park for the bus. One is so heavy she could only have dragged it.
I ask when the bus will depart and arrive in Maidstone. Depart 12:10 and arrive around 13:10, they only do the run once an hour. That would give Sophie less than 20 mins to get to the theatre and change ready for curtain up. I ask about local cabs and their charges. “Don’t worry papa” Sophie says, “I’ll just have to get ready quickly”. The Metro Bus supervisor makes comments about what he’d do if he had a single decker to hand.
He thinks the Chinese lady, Sophie and I are together. It’s an easy mistake to make as Sophie has some Chinese in her from her mothers side. He asks where the three of us are going, I point out that we’re not together, the lady needs to get to Ashford International.
He goes to the car park then returns moments later to say “If you could get on that bus” pointing to a double decker with “Not in service” showing. Other passengers ask if they can get on to which he replies “No, that’s your bus” pointing to the one that will depart in 25 minutes.
Sophie and I have a private double decker non-stop all the way from Sevenoaks to Maidstone East! Rest assured I will find some way to repay their kindness. The staff from Metro Bus saved the day!