Dog Walker From The Future?

[Gloucestrian]

A few days ago I was walking my dog, along a footpath that we often take. I have never seen anyone along this footpath, it is quite out of the way and people seem not to use it. This has always been the case; for 20 years or more, I have used this footpath and never seen anyone else using it. Until now.

As my dog and I reached a stile in a hedgerow up a steep section about halfway along the route, I realized that there was someone on the other side waiting for me to cross (a bit inconvenient really, I like to catch my breath at this stile). After a breathless "Good morning" and quick clamber over the stile, I moved out of his way and saw he too had a dog.

He didn't immediately make to cross the stile, and after a moment asked if my dog is OK with other dogs which I affirmed. His dog was just a puppy, he explained, and I noticed it was young although already quite large. He then asked me where the footpath came out, and I told him the exit point for what I assumed was his direction, down from where I had come. He said that was where he'd come from, too. This path is a bit difficult to follow from the point at which we were stood, so I explained it again from this direction and then said that although I had used the path for more than 20 years myself I had never seen anyone else using it.

He then told me that he'd just moved in to the new estate, and this was the first time he'd used the path. I was a bit puzzled about this as there's only one new estate in the area and as far as I knew no houses have been built yet, and I had just walked along the boundary of where this new estate is being built, so I said the name of the road on which it is being built and he affirmed that was where he meant.

I assumed I was wrong and that a section must have been completed, and we talked for a few minutes more and I suggested some other new footpaths for walking his new dog, and then continued with my dog as he crossed the stile and went out of sight.

When I came down I went around the site of the new estate and no houses have been built. They're still clearing the site, removing hedgerows and trees, putting in the initial access roads.

There's no new estates other than this one for miles, it is all immediately post-war, interwar or earlier housing in the area, nothing new except one or two infill houses since the 80s at the latest. The nearest new build estate is about 4 miles away from that point, if he'd come from there he would have had to have accessed it from the direction he said he hadn't come and didn't know where it came out.

So I am left with a bit of a puzzle. This footpath is so little used at present but will eventually be right next to the new estate, so I expect it will become popular. It is as though I met a dog walker from 18+ months or so into the future.

 

[Tunn11]

Could he be a worker or security guard living in a caravan or temporary building on the estate? Although if that were the case you'd have thought he would have expressed it better.

 

[Trevp666]

It could just be that he was referring to a different place as 'The new estate', like it was a name for an area that was built some years ago which just sort of stuck, as some places do.
There is a 'new estate' just a few roads away from where I am, but that was built when they knocked down the old school which was there previously, in around 2004.

 

[Krepostnoi]

Has he bought off-plan, or whatever the term is for reserving a property before it is built,and so he was scouting out the area? (Mind you, now that I write that, it seems a bit arse-about-face: you'd surely do your scouting before you bought, not after...)

 

[Fluttermoth]

It's probably irrelevant, but out of curiosity, what kind of dog was it?

 

[ramonmercado]

It's probably irrelevant, but out of curiosity, what kind of dog was it?

 

[Gloucestrian]

Thanks all for the replies, I will try to reply thoroughly tomorrow.

It's probably irrelevant, but out of curiosity, what kind of dog was it?

Actually, I didn't recognize the breed. It was light-haired, quite young looking but already almost as large as my adult Beagle who is actually on the large side for an English Beagle, think a small Harrier. Looked stocky-ish but might have been mostly hair giving that impression. Overall I can't recall much more about it, it was a bit generic not really very obviously any particular breed. This bothered me a bit when I was writing my initial post earlier today, I know many breeds and can usually identify the crosses but this one was unfamiliar. But I am mainly familiar with traditional breeds, not the new designer dogs etc.

 

[Analogue Boy]

If he’s a dog walker, you should see him again soon.

 

[Tunn11]

Not to be paranoid but walking a dog might be a good way to size up a remote area for nefarious purposes . (Drug deal, body disposal, quiet spot in which to undertake some other activity) Walking a dog may mean you are more likely go unnoticed in a lonely spot than by just walking along.

I was told that if you wanted to wander round obscure parts of buildings, rooftops etc. you were less likely to be challenged if you were wearing a suit and a hard hat and carrying a clipboard.

But I’m sure it’s nothing more sinister that a misplaced time traveller. Did he have a hat and long scarf? Did the dog look vaguely, well, robotic?

 

[Who me]

B#####ds removing hedges and trees.
Sorry went a bit political there

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

How interesting, wonder if you will meet up with him again??

 

[CharmerKamelion]

Thanks all for the replies, I will try to reply thoroughly tomorrow.

Actually, I didn't recognize the breed. It was light-haired, quite young looking but already almost as large as my adult Beagle who is actually on the large side for an English Beagle, think a small Harrier. Looked stocky-ish but might have been mostly hair giving that impression. Overall I can't recall much more about it, it was a bit generic not really very obviously any particular breed. This bothered me a bit when I was writing my initial post earlier today, I know many breeds and can usually identify the crosses but this one was unfamiliar. But I am mainly familiar with traditional breeds, not the new designer dogs etc.

Maybe it was a breed that hasn't been.... err..... bred yet? A dog from the future.
But seriously, maybe you should start walking your dog around a few different parts of the area, to see if you can bump into him and his mutt again. But try to not look like you're stalking him. Unless you really think he might be from the future, in which case, stalk him like crazy! He will know loads of stuff!

 

[Roland Deschain]

Is it possible that in about 18 months time, someone will write about meeting a dog walker from the past

 

[CharmerKamelion]

Is it possible that in about 18 months time, someone will write about meeting a dog walker from the past

Hmm. That might depend on whether Gloucestrian walks their dog wearing doublet and hose. Gloucestrian, I mean, not the dog. Mind you, the dog might look good wearing a rrruffff!!

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

Unless you really think he might be from the future, in which case, stalk him like crazy! He will know loads of stuff!

PLEASE ask him for the winning Mega Millions lottery numbers!!

 

[IbisNibs]

Yes, please do !

 

[SimonBurchell]

Hmmm... if I accidentally walked through a timeslip and ended up 6 months in the past, and a temporal local asked me the lottery results, or the football results, or who won Britain's Got Talent, or Love Island, or whatever, I wouldn't have a clue. I'd be absolutely useless. If they're lucky, they might get a plotline or two for The Mandalorian, but I'm not sure that they could make much money off that.

 

[CharmerKamelion]

Hmmm... if I accidentally walked through a timeslip and ended up 6 months in the past, and a temporal local asked me the lottery results, or the football results, or who won Britain's Got Talent, or Love Island, or whatever, I wouldn't have a clue. I'd be absolutely useless. If they're lucky, they might get a plotline or two for The Mandalorian, but I'm not sure that they could make much money off that.

I was thinking more about asking him about the next Covid variant(s), who the Prime Minister is, whether Prince Andrew is in jail, who is in control of Ukraine.... just the small stuff. Of course, it might not be that he had come back from the future. Maybe he had slipped sideways from a parallel reality where that estate had already been built, the work having been completed faster possibly because Covid had never happened. Maybe Brexit never 'got done'. The PM might be Cameron, or May, or Corbyn. And the Doctor might not be Jodie Whittaker but Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

 

[catseye]

Hmm. That might depend on whether Gloucestrian walks their dog wearing doublet and hose. Gloucestrian, I mean, not the dog. Mind you, the dog might look good wearing a rrruffff!!

View attachment 51319

I'm not sure ANY dog is improved by the addition of clothes. I can, in fact, get a bit militant about it. Dog coat, if they must, on a a close coated breed in very cold weather, or on an elderly or very young dog who would otherwise suffer in the cold. Other than that, nope. It's a dog, it's already wearing a fur coat.

Mind you, I may be prejudiced by my dog who refuses even to wear a dog coat and would rather shiver and look pathetic than wear the rather nice tartan waterproof effort I bought her.

 

[Floyd]

I'm not sure ANY dog is improved by the addition of clothes. I can, in fact, get a bit militant about it. Dog coat, if they must, on a a close coated breed in very cold weather, or on an elderly or very young dog who would otherwise suffer in the cold. Other than that, nope. It's a dog, it's already wearing a fur coat.

Yes, it's ridiculous.

 

[Gloucestrian]

Could he be a worker or security guard living in a caravan or temporary building on the estate? Although if that were the case you'd have thought he would have expressed it better.

Good idea, but no temporary buildings yet other than a set of a portaloos.

It could just be that he was referring to a different place as 'The new estate', like it was a name for an area that was built some years ago which just sort of stuck, as some places do.

I did pre-empt this one in my original post, there's nothing newer than the 80s in the immediate area and the nearest estate that could be remotely described as "new" is about 4 miles away. The 80s estate has a specific name which people living there always use as they like to distinguish themselves from the post-war council estate. Bit daft really, the council estate is largely nicer with bigger gardens, tree-lined avenues, etc and not especially different "socially" any more.

Has he bought off-plan, or whatever the term is for reserving a property before it is built,and so he was scouting out the area? (Mind you, now that I write that, it seems a bit arse-about-face: you'd surely do your scouting before you bought, not after...)

Do you know, I think you might have cracked it. After buying off-plan he might have wondered where they would be able to walk their dog and came to scout it out. The possibility he'd bought a house before it was built hadn't occurred to me.

If he’s a dog walker, you should see him again soon.

Yep, no sign so far. I will post an update if I do see him again.

Not to be paranoid but walking a dog might be a good way to size up a remote area for nefarious purposes . (Drug deal, body disposal, quiet spot in which to undertake some other activity) Walking a dog may mean you are more likely go unnoticed in a lonely spot than by just walking along.

That possibility did occur to me, as well as the possibility my dog was being targeted for theft. Although I made light of dog thefts in another thread on here, recently the local rag has carried a couple of worrying stories recently. A lady a few miles away was physically assaulted by a man with "a strong Gloucester accent" trying to steal her adult dog (she managed to hold on to it). The description of the man is similar (early to mid 30s, 6ft, dark jacket) [though that could almost describe me too] but the dog was not a Staffie nor brown.

Possibly if this person was scouting me out for a similar attempt on my Beagle he didn't fancy his chances, I am pretty solidly built and apparently look a bit intimidating according to some people I've spoken to. I'm quite soft spoken so once I speak the impression is dispelled a bit. So maybe this guy took a look and thought better of trying anything!

In the meantime I am staying at a state of heightened awareness on that footpath, just in case.

But I’m sure it’s nothing more sinister that a misplaced time traveller. Did he have a hat and long scarf? Did the dog look vaguely, well, robotic?

Well, it was light coloured but no I don't think it was K9, that's a "breed" I would definitely have recognised.

B#####ds removing hedges and trees.
Sorry went a bit political there

I quite agree, though. It is one of my bugbears. This area is prone to gale force winds straight up the Severn estuary so it is particularly important to retain stands of trees that act as windbreaks. The site of the new housing estate is also prone to flash floods in wet weather, planning permission was previously denied there decades ago due to this among other factors. In 2007 the site was under 4ft of standing water, and we're 150ft above sea level but on poorly draining clay. The common next to it is literally a marsh, or was until relatively recently (within living memory, actually within my memory). I foresee significant flooding issues for these new houses.

Hmm. That might depend on whether Gloucestrian walks their dog wearing doublet and hose. Gloucestrian, I mean, not the dog.

Of course, it's my standard attire.

PLEASE ask him for the winning Mega Millions lottery numbers!!

I'll be sure to ask him!

Hmmm... if I accidentally walked through a timeslip and ended up 6 months in the past, and a temporal local asked me the lottery results, or the football results, or who won Britain's Got Talent, or Love Island, or whatever, I wouldn't have a clue.

Yeah, same here. Actually stopped playing the lottery a long time ago, so I have no idea what the contemporaneous lottery results were let alone those of x months or years ago.

I was thinking more about asking him about the next Covid variant(s), who the Prime Minister is, whether Prince Andrew is in jail, who is in control of Ukraine.... just the small stuff. Of course, it might not be that he had come back from the future. Maybe he had slipped sideways from a parallel reality where that estate had already been built, the work having been completed faster possibly because Covid had never happened. Maybe Brexit never 'got done'. The PM might be Cameron, or May, or Corbyn. And the Doctor might not be Jodie Whittaker but Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

The idea of a parallel reality where COVID hadn't slowed down the housing estate occurred to me just after posting. I'll make sure to ask this chap the name of the Prime Minister, if I see him again (I'll probably phrase it along the lines of "Oh I see there's another scandal with wossisname, you know, the prime minister..." rather than "I say old chap, who's the Prime Minister in your day/reality" though.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Mind you, I may be prejudiced by my dog who refuses even to wear a dog coat and would rather shiver and look pathetic than wear the rather nice tartan waterproof effort I bought her.

Allergic to tartan, perhaps?

 

[Trevp666]

PLEASE ask him for the winning Mega Millions lottery numbers!!

Don't be ridiculous - how is a dog going to know the lottery numbers?

 

[Giant R]

I'm not sure ANY dog is improved by the addition of clothes. I can, in fact, get a bit militant about it. Dog coat, if they must, on a a close coated breed in very cold weather, or on an elderly or very young dog who would otherwise suffer in the cold. Other than that, nope. It's a dog, it's already wearing a fur coat.

Mind you, I may be prejudiced by my dog who refuses even to wear a dog coat and would rather shiver and look pathetic than wear the rather nice tartan waterproof effort I bought her.

Totally agree. My last dog had to have an operation and had quite a bit of fur shaved of her side, so, being November and on the Vet's suggestion, we bought her a coat to keep out the wet and cold while it grew back. Unfortunately she seemed to think it was some form of punishment when we put it on her and hated walking in it

 

[CharmerKamelion]

I'll make sure to ask this chap the name of the Prime Minister, if I see him again (I'll probably phrase it along the lines of "Oh I see there's another scandal with wossisname, you know, the prime minister..." rather than "I say old chap, who's the Prime Minister in your day/reality" though.

You could do it like Tom Baker's Doctor at his most impatient.

DR TOM : Fascinating. What year is this?
LAURENCE : What year??
DR TOM : Mm. It's a simple enough question surely.
LAURENCE : Are you telling me you don't know what y......
DR TOM : If I knew I wouldn't ask! Don't be obtuse, man!!

Of course, if he is from another reality, the year might be the same there as it is here, in which case you'll need to work out a different approach.

 

[Tunn11]

You could do it like Tom Baker's Doctor at his most impatient.

DR TOM : Fascinating. What year is this?
LAURENCE : What year??
DR TOM : Mm. It's a simple enough question surely.
LAURENCE : Are you telling me you don't know what y......
DR TOM : If I knew I wouldn't ask! Don't be obtuse, man!!

Of course, if he is from another reality, the year might be the same there as it is here, in which case you'll need to work out a different approach.

Well that would prove either time traveller or nutter or incredibly badly informed.

 

[Krepostnoi]

Don't be ridiculous - how is a dog going to know the lottery numbers?

Like the poker playing dog. He's clever, but not that clever: every time he gets a good hand, his tail wags.

 

[Spring Heeled Spud]

Like the poker playing dog. He's clever, but not that clever: every time he gets a good hand, his tail wags.

Reminds me of the one where the guy goes to the cinema and sat in front of him is a woman with her dog. The dog is completely engrossed in the film, watching it intently and wagging it's tail at exciting parts. At the end the man says to the woman "I can't believe it, your dog seemed to be completely enthralled by that film the whole way through". To which the woman replies, "I'm amazed too. He hated the book"

 

[catseye]

A few days ago I was walking my dog, along a footpath that we often take. I have never seen anyone along this footpath, it is quite out of the way and people seem not to use it. This has always been the case; for 20 years or more, I have used this footpath and never seen anyone else using it. Until now.

As my dog and I reached a stile in a hedgerow up a steep section about halfway along the route, I realized that there was someone on the other side waiting for me to cross (a bit inconvenient really, I like to catch my breath at this stile). After a breathless "Good morning" and quick clamber over the stile, I moved out of his way and saw he too had a dog.

He didn't immediately make to cross the stile, and after a moment asked if my dog is OK with other dogs which I affirmed. His dog was just a puppy, he explained, and I noticed it was young although already quite large. He then asked me where the footpath came out, and I told him the exit point for what I assumed was his direction, down from where I had come. He said that was where he'd come from, too. This path is a bit difficult to follow from the point at which we were stood, so I explained it again from this direction and then said that although I had used the path for more than 20 years myself I had never seen anyone else using it.

He then told me that he'd just moved in to the new estate, and this was the first time he'd used the path. I was a bit puzzled about this as there's only one new estate in the area and as far as I knew no houses have been built yet, and I had just walked along the boundary of where this new estate is being built, so I said the name of the road on which it is being built and he affirmed that was where he meant.

I assumed I was wrong and that a section must have been completed, and we talked for a few minutes more and I suggested some other new footpaths for walking his new dog, and then continued with my dog as he crossed the stile and went out of sight.

When I came down I went around the site of the new estate and no houses have been built. They're still clearing the site, removing hedgerows and trees, putting in the initial access roads.

There's no new estates other than this one for miles, it is all immediately post-war, interwar or earlier housing in the area, nothing new except one or two infill houses since the 80s at the latest. The nearest new build estate is about 4 miles away from that point, if he'd come from there he would have had to have accessed it from the direction he said he hadn't come and didn't know where it came out.

So I am left with a bit of a puzzle. This footpath is so little used at present but will eventually be right next to the new estate, so I expect it will become popular. It is as though I met a dog walker from 18+ months or so into the future.

Maybe he didn't mean the new estate in your place? He could have walked some considerable distance and come from another town which does have a new estate? He could even have driven over simply to take his dog for a good long walk.

 

[Gloucestrian]

Maybe he didn't mean the new estate in your place? He could have walked some considerable distance and come from another town which does have a new estate? He could even have driven over simply to take his dog for a good long walk.

I think I buried the lede, as they say, in my original post as a few people seem to have overlooked it so I'll quote from it and emphasise the relevant section:

He then told me that he'd just moved in to the new estate, and this was the first time he'd used the path. I was a bit puzzled about this as there's only one new estate in the area and as far as I knew no houses have been built yet, and I had just walked along the boundary of where this new estate is being built, so I said the name of the road on which it is being built and he affirmed that was where he meant.

Additionally, he had a young dog - unlikely he walked very far. It's open country to the south and east - 6 miles to Painswick, the nearest "town" (a large village - no new housing developments) (also this in the direction he said he hadn't come, that's where the footpath in question goes), about the same to Stroud but crossing the Cotswold scarp up and down all the way, 9 miles to Stonehouse across a very large hill; a Cotswold outlier as well as up-and-down several more times across the Cotswold scarp. To the north and west - Gloucester itself, though immediately west another Cotswold outlier, the largest after Bredon Hill.

Entirely possible he drove to the area to exercise his dog but he did nod when I said the name of the road on which the new estate is being built. I can't remember the conversation verbatim but essentially the exchange was something like this: "I've just moved in to the new estate", he said. "The one on Vineyard Lane?", said I. He nodded.

The logical conclusion is really that he was not being truthful and was "up to something" as suggested by Tunn11 earlier. Else he was truthful but confused, but he'd have to be pretty confused to agree to what I'd said. Possible he just wasn't really listening to what I said, of course, but that wasn't my impression.

The thing that sort of stood out to me was he seemed to be a bit lost as he asked me where the path came out and was on the side as though coming from Painswick, he stated he'd come from where I came from, but it was as though he was uncertain on the path back. This isn't necessarily unusual; the path is a bit confusing and it weaves and wends its way across a hillside for some way and it is at its most confusing around the spot on which we met as it is relatively straightforward to that point. If he was coming from the other direction, it should have been pretty obvious where to go: over the stile and down. If he was coming from the same direction as me, as he claimed, then confusion is understandable as it is not clear where to go from that point (you have to know the path or have an OS Explorer map). In other words, what he said lines up with what I would expect, except obviously that bit about moving into the housing estate that's just gone under construction.

It's a very minor piece of minor strangeness in the grand scheme of things, of course. I sometimes experience strange moments, like a very oddly dressed person who surprised me by coming out of the depths of an abandoned orchard late at night the year before last, but if they can be easily dismissed I don't bother posting them. I almost didn't post this as of course it can be explained away by misunderstanding, or miscommunication, but assuming he was being truthful given what was said I found it hard to explain. Krepostnoi's explanation seems plausible, though of course he can hardly have "moved in" to a house bought but not yet completed, but given people's tendency to lax communication plausible enough.