When I returned to the States on Thursday after a two-week trip to England, Customs was Crazy. I never check bags and usually just walk right through. I had never seen it that crowded before. There were two lines to get through; one for those who were using the Mobile Passport Control app and one for those who were not. There was not much of a difference in length or civility. The lines were not clear and snaked their way between baggage claim belts and people pushing carts with suitcases piled high. Travelers were exhausted. Many arriving from over 12-hour flights. Some their second or third leg of the journey. The customs officer told me it was this congested because 10 flights had arrived at the same time. 4 of those delayed until this cacophony of contentious travelers hit its crescendo.
When I took my place at the end of the “shorter” Mobile Passport Control line I gave out a little cheer. Mostly I was trying to keep up my own spirits and trick myself into thinking I had made progress. The man in front of me hear my cheer and laughed. When two others queued behind us, I said “See we aren’t at the end anymore! We are making progress!” He laughed again.
The air was muggy, thick and after a ten-hour flight I felt dehydrated. I began to deflate. My travel pack dug into my shoulders and felt like a bolder on my back. I was unsure I could trick myself into any cheerful state of mind.
That’s when the man in front of me turned around and said, “I almost didn’t make my flight today. My rental car got a flat tire.”
With passengers from 10 flights around us, I wondered where in the world his car had broke down and asked him. “Oxford,” he answered.
“Oh, we were on the same flight then.” I said and told him I had just been in Oxford last week. “What happened with the car?”
The man told me that morning, when it was clear his rental had a flat tire, he pulled off the main highway to a side street and stopped the car in a neighborhood. He attempted to call the rental company but all week, his mobile plan didn’t seem to work right out of the country. He saw lights on in a house on the street and a car in the driveway, so he knocked on the door to see if he could use their phone.
A couple in their 60’s answered. They led him to their land line and made him a cup of tea. For the next 40 minutes he tried to explain his situation to the car rental company. The car company put him on hold once again. He knew there was only one flight to Seattle out of Heathrow that day and he began to worry he would not make it. This is when the woman of the house approached him. “Obviously, we can hear what’s going on and this is what we’ve decided,” she told him. “You are going to leave the car here with the keys inside and the rental car is going to come and deal with it themselves. I was already working from home today. I will drive you into Heathrow.”
And she did. This woman drove him, a stranger, an hour, one way to Heathrow Airport and then turned around to drive another hour home and back to her workday.
His eyes misted over when he finished the story. He still couldn’t believe it himself. “It restored my faith in humanity,” he said as we walked forward in line. I had been so engrossed in his story, I hadn’t realized we were almost to the front.
The customs officer directed him to the next available counter and then asked me, “are you two together?"
“No, we aren’t.” That’s all the words I had and they weren’t enough.
Decades ago we too benefitted from British kindness. With our 8 yr old child who had a cold and we had not yet found a B and B fir night, a man seeing us eating lunch by a pond, introduced himself and after a visit he gave us the keys to his nearby home because he would be away for the weekend.
Shemiah! You have some of the most wonderful encounters and conversations! I believe you make yourself VERY present to the moments and I’m also sure that man was as blessed as you as he shared and you listened!❤️ oh how I love this! I’ve had some moments like this, they are rare, but they hold so much meaning. Thanks for sharing! Glad you are back home and rested and ready for the new adventures ahead!