The kindness of strangers: I thought I’d lost my flute for ever, then a chance to play Greensleeves returned it to me

I had no ID to show the station guards. Desperate and scrambling, I said: ‘What if I play you a tune?’

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

I was 21, living in Sydney, working as a glassie at a local pub and feeling a bit lost. I didn’t know what to do in life – the one thing I had going for me was playing the flute.

I’d saved for two years to buy my flute when I was 16 and earning $2.35 an hour at the supermarket. Every day I would come home and play it. It would help me process my emotions.