Go on then. You've heard this one before but I feel duty bound to redress the balance back towards "nice people doing unexpected nice things", after all these tales of shootings, stabbings, being blown up and generally having an unpleasant time
.
Quite a few years ago I took my lad back to Aberystwyth university on the train after a break. Despite me being guilty for sending him to Aber solely because I wanted to visit him there
, I didn't know the area in great detail at that time so I took my bike and gear intending to wander around afterwards.
I decided to train it the short distance back to Mach late afternoon and ride north as far as I could the next day, then catch another train home further up the coast from whichever the nearest station happened to be. Obviously I had no fixed route or kipping location for that night. There was snow on the ground and freezing temperatures.
I found a random pub in a tiny darkened hamlet, which was basically someone's front room and subsequently became one of my favourite watering holes, and sat there on a bar stool quietly nursing a pint. It was 5.30pm. Gradually eased my way into the various local conversations and had a grand old time, including quite an intense chat with a lady lecturer from Aber for an hour or so. Turned out it was her hubby sat on the other side of her. Ahem.
Anyway, I had such fun that I unintentionally rendered myself over-refreshed and suddenly realised it was 11.30pm. The barman offered what in later years became my favourite question: "so where are you staying then?". Upon learning that I had no idea he said nobody would mind if I kipped on the nearby "village green".
My meagre shelter was a 9' x 7' DCF tarp, and I set that up on the snow and eased myself into my sleeping bag.
At midnight I had dosed off, but woke up to suddenly see, blearily, a shimmering diaphanous female apparition floating towards me across the snow, like some sort of land-bound Lady of the Lake. The Aber lecturer seeking me out to continue our budding relationship perhaps?
The apparition gently enquired after my well-being. Was I OK and did I realise what the temperature was? This was uttered in a voice appealingly similar to the bunny in the Cadbury's Caramel TV advert. (For younger readers, youtube will explain its effect upon me) ((apparently the bunny was voiced by Miriam Margolyes, which surprised me)).
I affirmed that I was in a satisfactory condition and that the landlord had told me it was -3degC.
The apparition considered this for a moment. "Don't go away" she purred (afterwards this statement struck me as hilarious - where would I be going?), "we need to warm you up". As you can imagine all sorts of eventualities were jumbled in my inebriated head. She floated away.
She reappeared bearing a quilt and a pillow, saying that I was welcome to have them for the night. I was somewhat stunned but gratefully accepted them with thanks and began to snuggle down again, as the apparition turned to return whence she came wherever that might be.
A thought suddenly struck me. "Um, but where shall I leave them in the morning?". She glanced back, thought for a second, and said "Oh. Well that's my car over there. I'll leave it unlocked and you can put them in there when you leave". With that she bade me good night and faded away into the snowy darkness.
I slept well, and the apparition did not return. Upon waking, I couldn't believe the encounter had happened but the quilt and pillow were proof that indeed it had.
I packed ready to leave, and carried the bedclothes over to the car and deposited them on the front seat, closing the door afterwards. Luckily I had a scrap of paper and a stub of pencil, so I left a little note saying "You Are Officially A Very Nice Person".
I've been back many times since that first occasion, but her ladyship has never made another appearance.
