Monday 21 December 2009

Random act of kindness in the snow leads to a fund milestone!


I got snowed in yesterday, so it was a case of having to get the bus to the Newcastle v smoggies match. Now I reckon the last time I got the bus to any match was when Ossie Ardiles was the manager! That's nearly 20 years ago! Those were the days! Me and the lads would sometimes treat ourselves to a seat in "The Benches" for £6 in the East Stand when we were flush! Anyway, I digress!

There I was standing at the bus stop, ankle deep in snow waiting for the number 45 bus. There was a good 2 hours before kick off, but with a distinct lack of a sighting of any bus I was not too confident of getting there on time. Missing the kick off, by the way, is my ultimate nightmare! It's only happened once in 24 years of going to the match and I don't intend to ever let it happen again.

I hadn't been standing there for very long when another chap joined me at the bus stop. He too, as it turned out, was off to the match. We got talking and it turned out that he was a runner with an impressive running CV as I later found out. We got onto the subject of my run across the USA and he said "Ah, so you're him!". I was taken aback at first but it turned out that this chap had just been reading about the run via nufc.com the previous day. What a small world! I always find talking to new people about the run across the USA a very enjoyable experience and this occasion was no exception.

After about 40 minutes the bus eventually turned up! What a relief! The chap kindly insisted on paying my fare into town saying "Put it into the charity fund". So when I got home after the match I went straight onto www.justgiving.com/rungeordierun1 paying £4 to St Benedict's Hospice. Out of interest I did a quick calculation to see what the latest total figure was. To my sheer delight, I found that it was a nice round £4,500.00. Brilliant!

Thanks to Don Kent (of Blackhill Bounders Running Club) for paying my bus fare and getting the charity fund up to another milestone. And thanks to the team for getting 3 points against a very poor smoggies side. A good day all round!