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Random Acts of Kindness

Friday's are our day: Good Fridays, if you like. Random Acts of Kindness, like a kind of good deed hit-and-run. We're like the SAS of benevolence. No, we're not, are we!

Here are some of my random acts. Hopefully these may inspire you to get involved.

Some of the things I've done...

MP, Rugby and Smarties™

On the evening of Friday 30 April I drove Jane, and my friend Dave down to Galashiels, to Netherdale, to watch The Borders take on (and lose to) Ulster. It was a close match 14-19 however and certainly didn't reflect on the fact that Ulster sit at the top of the Celtic league and The Borders at the bottom.

At half time we were standing, chatting and looking around the ground. I spotted a tall chap leaning against the clubhouse wall, and recognised him as local MP Michael Moore. Hmmm... I thought, it's Friday. And very quickly a plan was formed in my head. I politely excused myself from the company of my wife and friend and approached the Right Honourable Gentleman
for Tweeddale.

Michael Moore MP

"Excuse me...," I interrupted his conversation with his fiancee (lovely girl, nice finish), "I was wondering if you would like a tube of Smarties?" At that 'if you would like a...' bit I reached into my coat pocket and produced a tube of Smarties. The timing was fantastic, you really had to be there to appreciate its brilliance. Although, daresay, you could practice this move on your own at home should you be attracted by this cheerfully simple RAOK.

"What have I done to deserve this?" Mr Moore replied, taking the tube of milk chocolates in a crisp sugar shell. Well, what could I do? I told him a little about Join Me.

The attention returned briefly to the tube of sweeties. "Look!" I said pointing to the tube, "the seal's not been broken, or anything." His fiancee helpfully pointed out that this would suggest that I hadn't poisoned them. I then told the couple what I did for a living and that, hopefully, that would also reassure them that I don't make it a habit of poisoning MPs with children's candies. It turns out that Mr Moore's father is a Church of Scotland minister (I'm a Scottish Episcopal Church (Anglican) priest, for those who were wondering).

Wedding gift list, pt.2

Following on from my favourite Random Act of Kindness (see 'John Lewis Gift List' below) today, Valentine's Day, I bought another wedding gift for someone.

Actress Victoria 'Tori' Spelling, daughter of the TV mogul Aaron Spelling and star of Beverley Hills, 90210, is getting married in August 2004 and I discovered on the internet that part of her wedding list is held at US store

Williams-Sonoma.

So I bought her a little something, and with postage and packing it came to a bargain £22.55.

Non-stick Muffin Pan,
12-Cup Muffin $26.00

I was permitted to write a message: 6 lines of 30 characters. I had to think carefully; I had to choose the right words; I had Silver Joinee James Frost on MSN Chat to help me. This is the message we sent:

...does anyone have a torch?
On behalf of JOINMEdinburgh
www.joinme.info, we'd like you
to bake the best darn muffins
in the US of A. This has been
a Random Act of Kindness.Taxi!

A good job, well done, methinks! A credit to Join Me.

 

Securicor man

I took a box of Roses to the Securicor depot in Inverness, the security guard seemed geniunely touched.

This was one of my first Random Acts. It went well, so I decided to try it again...

PC World Inverness

Friday afternoon, and another random box of choolates to the staff at PC World in Inverness.

I was nervous, I approached the assistant, explained about Join Me, handed over the chocolates and legged it.

Police Station, Edinburgh

I was regarded in a very suspicious way by WPC Miserable when I presented a box of Celebrations to the kind men and women in blue at my local Police Station.

I suspect that they were enjoyed by the boys in Bomb Disposal!

John Lewis Gift List

This is one of my favourites so far. John Lewis have a Gift List website. So I looked up the wedding closest to my birthday (11 November, in case you were wondering) and found that Sophy Moore and Mark Stephens were getting married on the 9th. So I bought them a gift from their list.

I bought them two chrome door numbers, a '0' and a '1'. I really wanted to write on their message card:

"You don't know who I am,
but I know where you live!"

Instead I said, "Courtesy of Join Me."

Update

I recently got this reply on 08 October 2003, nearly a year after sending the gifts:

gareth

Thanks for the gifts. Sorry it took so long to reply. I have now put the 1
and the 0 on our front door, they look great.

Thanks again.

Mark and Sophy Stephens
(married nearly 1 year ago)

PS happy birthday for 11th Nov

Cadbury's Creme Eggs

I drove from Inverness to Edinburgh and delivered four Cadbury's Creme Eggs to the employees at Boots the Chemist, in Corstorphine. Then I drove to an Anthrax gig in Glasgow.

Psion SDKs

I have given away a number of Symbian SDK CD-ROMs to people who ordered on a Friday.

 WH Smith vouchers

One lucky person who bought Join Me by Danny Wallace at the Edinburgh Gyle branch of WH Smith's will have found a £10 gift voucher hidden between pages 118 and 119 (that's my chapter!).

I also handed another voucher, for £5 to a passing girl. She looked delighted when she realised what it was.

Mah Jong Font

I bought the Mah Jong Canton font (TrueType and PostScript 1) for Martin Rep, the editor of the International Mah Jong Newspaper; it cost US$50.

Church-related

Okay, I know I should be kind to everyone at Church, with me being a minister and all, but here are some of my specific Join Me-related ones...

  1. Took an old lady home in my car... to her home.

  2. Gave a homeless man who had passed out in the Church grounds my fleece jacket. It was from Matalan, and quite cozy. The jacket.

  3. Invited a visiting Californian, Mason Lancaster, to my house for lunch. He'd been visiting the Cathedral, where I used to work and I invited him up for a meal. He was rather suspicious to begin with but who can resist pasta and smoked sausage?!

  4. Decorated the Cathedral Christmas tree in time for the Nine Lessons and Carols Service. (Okay not that random given that I worked there, but given that no-one else volunteered to do it and it was getting rather close to Christmas it'll count!)

  5. Loaned a white stole to a passing Anglican priest from Mirfield College who'd come up to Edinburgh to preside at a wedding.

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