The walking man.

H

HAL

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Couldn't think where to put this. But here goes.

A couple of year back, when I was driving into town from my home (a two mile trip) I noticed an old guy walking down the same rout. He looked to be, maybe, 65. Walking quite quickly.
Anyway, I started to see this same man virtually every time I went into or came back from town, He usually has a carrier bag with what appears to be just two or three items in it.
I've since found out that he lives in more or less the same area I do.

But the odd thing is, it doesn't matter what time of day, or even which day, I do the trip, he will be somewhere along the route. Also, if I don't see him walking this route, I will usually see him passing through the town centre.

It's weird. It must be nine times out of ten I will see 'the walking man' .

I suspect he is just a health freak. certainly looks good for his age.

Anyone else have a similar odd but probably natural encounter ?
 
Why don't you stop and say G'day?
I usually find people like that have amazing stories to tell.
I went to a garage sale this moring and ended up in a grand tour of the best vegi garden iv seen, tales about the blokes engineering career. I was there for ages,.
 
I could do that. But there is really no point.
I was just pointing out the unlikely fact that I would see this guy on nearly every trip I make into town.

Plus with our renowned English reserve, it would be considered bad form to approach a complete stranger and question him about his habits.

Here is a short tale that shows the situation.

I visit a model steam engine track once a month for six months of the year (when it is open). I have done for five years.
There are generally half a dozen blokes there, some with their wives. The wives tend to run the canteen.

One day, one of the wives asked me if I'd like a cup of tea. The thing is, she added, I'm sorry I don't know your name, I asked around but no one seems to know'.

Now, I do know the names of all the bloke there. I picked them up from the general conversation. But no one knew mine although we had spent most of the afternoons chatting about steam locos etc; for five years.

HAL.
 
English reserve...love it.
Not too much of that here in the colonies. :) Aussies would pull up beside him, wind the window down and say, "Hey knackers, ya wana lift, jump in" Then he would get asked "What the F^%$K you doing walking up and down this road every day, too bloody hot.", By this time he would have been offered a beer from the Esky on the back seat. Hahaha

Out of interest my Heriatage is Pommy, Scott, and apparently Nordic when you look furthur back. (which is where all our Male red beards come from, except mine that is now faded from Red to bloody white :( )

We even come from aristocracy apparentlym the "Whaleys" One of mums ancestors was a portly chap with a handlebar moustache names "Algernon Button Whaley" I used to have the tree here somewhere showing how it all worked. One of the ancestors was pretty much thrown out of the family for marrying below her station, they shifted to OZ and the rest is hstory,

But I beleive there is whaley Manor and all sorts of stuff in the UK.

Also oneof my acestors was a coach builder for Queen Victoria.

haha, if they could only see us heathens now :)
 
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Quite a lot of Scots made it to Oz. Some of them in chains. There was a ten Pound option to emigrate there when I was a kid.
Too many snakes though.
Would have moved to Spain a few year back, but it's too late now. I prefer Greece, but Spanish is a much easier language than Greek to learn.
 
Couldn't think where to put this. But here goes.

A couple of year back, when I was driving into town from my home (a two mile trip) I noticed an old guy walking down the same rout. He looked to be, maybe, 65. Walking quite quickly.
Anyway, I started to see this same man virtually every time I went into or came back from town, He usually has a carrier bag with what appears to be just two or three items in it.
I've since found out that he lives in more or less the same area I do.

But the odd thing is, it doesn't matter what time of day, or even which day, I do the trip, he will be somewhere along the route. Also, if I don't see him walking this route, I will usually see him passing through the town centre.

It's weird. It must be nine times out of ten I will see 'the walking man' .

I suspect he is just a health freak. certainly looks good for his age.

Anyone else have a similar odd but probably natural encounter ?
Well...a year or two ago I used to see this dwarf walking around our town quite a bit...mostly in fall and winter so he was with hat and coat , etc but I never could tell where he was going or coming from...I mentioned this to my wife who at the time was still working at our local hospital and she said 'oh he is known by some in the area'...she knew this from people at work I guess at the hospital. Since then I have seen him in summer also at the local grocery and nodded to him and he nodded back,.still don't know his name. :unsure:
 
We did have a couple of local entities like that too now I think of it. One guy, poor bugger has passed away decades ago now. Everyone called him radio Dave. A real harmless feller, pretty young. He did a lot of Acid when he was really young and was one of the unlucky ones that got effected really bad. Got Schizophrenia, used to talk to people that were not there, you know the story. He used to walk the streets with a boom box at his ear all the time. Lived on the street. He used to often beg for change to buy batteries, never food, never booze. I bought him a few sets over the years. Our chats were brief, but I always enjoyed talking to him. He was always happy. I always liked radio Dave and his simple needs. Then one day he just disappeared and the paper said he was found dead of natural causes. SO very sad to die alone. I hope he had his radio on.

Similar situation, there are two blokes in my town. I am 59, and when I was 14 or so we used to have a great pinball parlor in my town called "Keith's", I guess i started going there mid/late 70s. The bloke who owned it was called Dave ( lol another Dave ). I used to hitch into town from the bush and in those days you could knock on the back door of most pubs and buy a couple of bottles of beer even at 14, or after hours. So we used to go to the pub across the road from Keith's. Buy a couple of bottles and get drunk. Then go play pinball for the rest of the night. Dave used to turn a blind eye and let a selected few sneak out the back door of the pinnys for a top up. He used to run competitions on certain machines and have a leader board with monthly winners with best scores fastest times etc. Given it was pretty much my second home from 14 to maybe 18 when I got my drivers license I ended up on that leader board a lot. Its weird, I spent so much time there but don't really remember stopping going there, I just remember always being there,

The funny thing is now since the place closed in maybe the early 80s. I see Dave walking the other way down the street maybe once every year or two. We always nod, and almost but not quite a smile. We haven't spoken in 40 odd years, but there is a mutual respect of good times from years ago.

I am always happy to see Dave, even though we don't stop to chat. The nod that says we were there back then is always enough.

The other is an odd bloke, nothing to say really other than like Dave I see him, he sees me, we nod, and have been nodding for decades. But for the life of me I cant remember who he is. :)

Haha
Here he is Radio Dave, yeah I don't care if you know the location. I don't live there any more anyway.
Such I nice bloke Dave

 
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