So some of you may remember that last year (August 31st, to be exact) I did a thing that I have called Ask A Stranger: London where I went up to strangers, asked them three questions and then took their picture. Well - and I really hope that you've worked it out by now - I've gone and done it again, but changed location and we're now in Brighton. This time I decided to make the questions based around a 'feel good' theme and hopefully reading these responses will make your day that little bit better. I came out of each chat feeling really happy and I'm very grateful to all these people for saying yes to getting involved. I've tagged them in my Instagram post, so please go check them out (once you've finished reading this of course)!
Lada
Lada was the first person that I chatted to. I was going to ask some old buskers outside Churchill Square Shopping Centre, but they were a bit crap and so I didn't want to listen to their whole set. Next to them was Lada, selling glitter and black (fake) tattoos.
"So now I'm coming back, not to my boyfriend, but to fiancée."
Could you tell me about something positive that’s happened in your life recently?
"Oh uh, an engagement ring!" "Congratulations! When did that happen?" "Uh, three weeks ago. My boyfriend visited me here because I came for summer work and he gave me the ring. So now I’m coming back, not to my boyfriend, but to fiancée."
What's the nicest thing that someone has done for you?
"My boyfriend, before becoming my boyfriend, took care of me when I was super sick and he kind of helped me to recover and, like, took care of me when I was at my very lowest."
Could you tell me about a time you helped someone?
"Oh yeah, well it depends, like mentally or like… ah. Let me think. Well well well, I mean I like to do nice things once… like, here and there. Nice things are nice to do and oh well, well. That’s more complicated. I have a lot of nice, average stuff, which is normal for me, but… oh. Well okay, I think it was very nice of me yesterday, I was parking my trolley and uh… the shop that rents out the storage for me, they had a window opened and they closed already, so I called the owner to make that he knows about it. I think that was pretty thoughtful, I think so."
Josh and Dan
Josh and Dan are a pair of fantastic drumming buskers under the name iDrums who were playing down the road from Lada.
"I got offered my dream job in Mallorca on Thursday and I'm moving next week."
Could you tell me about something positive that’s happened in your life recently?
"Uuuuummm, I guess just doing this, drumming."
"Uh, I got offered my dream job in Mallorca on Thursday and I’m moving next week." "That’s sick! What you doing there?" "Uh, underwater cinematography… filming marine life."
What's the nicest thing that someone has done for you?
(Long pause of contemplation) "I would say probably believing in me. A number of people – I think I probably wouldn’t be doing this if they hadn’t."
"I dunno, I guess just people around me, being around for me and things like that. I know that’s the same thing, but yeah…"
Could you tell me about a time you helped someone?
"Doing this, like bringing positivity, like… to, yeah, just making people happy."
"I helped him by giving him money to play buckets."
Jack and Kieran
These two were a couple of Brighton's finest (lifeguards), protecting people on a windy Southern summer day. Good lads, but it was a pain in the arse trying to hear them on the voice recording because of the wind. You'd better enjoy this.
"...we've done probably ten things today for other people, so we're lucky."
Could you tell me about something positive that’s happened in your life recently?
"Uh, getting this job a year ago was a nice thing."
"Umm, I’d say Jack getting the job."
What's a nice thing that someone has done for you?
"I was woken up in a very kind way this morning. I don’t know if that’s appropriate… Umm… It wasn’t Jack, it wasn’t Jack!"
"I do nice stuff for myself all the time, but I don’t know what someone else has done for me. We’ll come back to that one." (After coming back) "My gran made me lunch the other day, so that was really nice. She went through loads of effort in making it vegan for me instead of vegetarian."
Could you tell me about a time you helped someone?
"Oh, that’s easy."
"Uhhh, this morning some guy about 65 years old had a bad fall and had some quite horrible injuries, so we patched him up, cleaned him up and then kind of, yeah, got him an iced coffee and set him up for the day. All his friends from Romford, they were just so grateful and super happy and… so yeah, that one’s easy, we’ve done probably ten things today for other people, so we’re lucky."
"Yeah, I’ve umm, went over to my gran’s house the other day to change all of her plant pots at the front of the house cos, uhhh, they were knackered, they’d been done. But also, so I’d noticed all of her plants pot were broken so I bought her a load of new ones as a surprise, so yeah, we’ll go for that."
Christel and Nando
At first I'd planned on talking to this guy who was fishing next to Brighton Pier, but then he said “Me nao speak En-glish”. On the way back from asking him, Christel asked me to take a picture of her and Nando (as established, like the restaurant) and then afterwards I asked them to do this! Win win.
"...you always think about grand gestures, but it can be something small as well."
Could you tell me about something positive that’s happened in your life recently?
"I guess this, right?" "Yeah, we met like after so many years." "We haven’t seen each other for two years, we worked in London together like four years ago and actually we met up, so that’s something very positive… and we’re still incredibly good friends!" "And we have an income. It’s the best thing for both of us."
What's one of the nicest things that someone has done for you?
"Haha, I don’t know."
"Oh gosh… cos you always think about grand gestures, but it can be something small as well."
"Something they’ve done for me…"
"I was able to stay… I worked at [a restaurant in Paris], and I had just came back from travelling in Australia and Asia, and I just needed a place to stay and a friend offered me her whole apartment - and she was kind of relaxed - for like a week, sooo that was incredible because she could have rented it out for a lot of money, but she was like “you need it” so yeah, that was very, very sweet."
"For me, I can say that probably, like, I was living in Brazil before and I really wanted a friend of mine to come, but it was a hard situation for her and she finally bought the ticket and came visit me." "Oh that’s lovely, how long did she stay there for?" "For four days though, she didn’t have the time, but she came all the way over from Spain to Brazil."
Could you tell me about a time you helped someone?
"I bought a holidays for my parents, if that counts." "Yeah!" "Oh wow, that’s really cool." "So, where did you buy the holiday to?" "So, they went to Algarve in Portugal."
"Talking about grand gestures, 'ey?" "How can I top that off? I should have gone first! Taking friends out to dinner because I hadn’t seen them for so long. It’s nothing compared to what he’s done."
Lucy
I was walking up the beach looking for a fifth and final person to talk to, but I couldn't find anyone. Then I overheard some live music and decided to take some pictures. Then I really enjoyed the live music at the Brighton Music Hall and found myself sitting on the table closest with a pint in my hand. Lucy wasn't officially part of the band, but they had needed a singer and she said "I know how to do that" and so did. She kindly sat down with me during the break of the set.
"I smile at people a lot"
Could you tell me about something positive that’s happened in your life recently?
(Pauses) "That’s depressing hahaha. I don’t know! Uh, I drink a lot of coffee and I’m really thankful for that every morning. Is that positive?" "I mean, yeah, ya know, everyday positivity… we’ll go with it!"
What's the nicest thing that someone has done for you?
"Oh! Like, my friends being, like, the best." "Yeah? Why are the best people?" "Ever." "Ever." "And just being so nice and always being there."
Could you tell me about a time you helped someone?
(Pauses again) "What have I been doing? What have I done for someone? I got a homeless man a banana and… oh I’ve got to have something better… I don’t know, I smile at people a lot though – does that count?" "Yeah, I genuinely think that’s a thing. My grandparents are from up North – yeah! – where you smile at someone and say “hello”, “good afternoon”, here people look at you like you’re bloody crazy. Yeah, that works!"
I hope that you enjoyed reading all of those responses as much as I did meeting these people and listening to their various tales. Sometimes it helps to be reminded that there are some positive things going on in the world at the moment (if you would like a more consistent reminder, then go check out The Happy News!). Let me know if you think there's another topic that you think I should focus my questions around and hopefully my next attempt at this won't be a year apart!
Also because this was a shorter edition relative to my last Ask A Stranger, enjoy some of my pics from the day!
Happy voluntravelling,
The Voluntraveller
P.S. Thanks to my cousin for meeting up with me for a lovely evening after I'd done all this!
