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He probably recognised you as a sailor, did he wink?rynner2 said:
Odd People: Cranks, Eccentrics & Nutters
- Thread starter Anonymous
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- eccentrics odd people
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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hunck said:
Sailors, bit like lumberjacks really.
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And saltier.
ramonmercado
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Ronson8 said:
Into ropes and knots.
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British man rescued off French Atlantic coast after being overcome with Olympic mania and trying to swim to America
Lifeguards call out helicopter to save Londoner in the Atlantic
..
A Londoner apparently in the grip of Olympic mania had to be rescued by lifeguards in the south of France after he set off from a beach - to swim to the U.S.
The unnamed 34 year old holidaymaker told his friends on the beach at Biarritz that he was off to New York to carry the Olympic spirit across the Atlantic.
They thought he was joking but knowing that he was a strong swimmer decided to let him go telling him that a boat would come to rescue him if he got into difficulty.
More at link
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z22Bihquxg
Lifeguards call out helicopter to save Londoner in the Atlantic
..
A Londoner apparently in the grip of Olympic mania had to be rescued by lifeguards in the south of France after he set off from a beach - to swim to the U.S.
The unnamed 34 year old holidaymaker told his friends on the beach at Biarritz that he was off to New York to carry the Olympic spirit across the Atlantic.
They thought he was joking but knowing that he was a strong swimmer decided to let him go telling him that a boat would come to rescue him if he got into difficulty.
More at link
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z22Bihquxg
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Man who pretended to be blind died in ditch
A man who pretended to be blind to get people to pity him was found dead in a flooded ditch after he apparently failed to see the hazard, an inquest heard today.
By Telegraph reporters
10:57AM BST 27 Jul 2012
Geoffrey Haywood, 65, walked with a white stick, used a talking watch and had carers to look after him.
But the inquest was told he could see perfectly well and if someone dropped money on a pavement he would be the first to pick it up.
Mr Haywood was been pretending to be blind when he went for a walk and fell into the ditch near his home.
A coroner described it as the most "extraordinary" case he has dealt with in more than 30 years.
Mr Haywood's brother Howard said: "Geoffrey had psychological blindness which started after the death of our mother.
"I would put a Christmas dinner in front of him and he would say: "Where's mine?".
"But if someone dropped money in front of him he would pick it up straight away.
"I believe he used it as a way of convincing people to take pity on him and help him.
"It became worse the more pressure that was on him, when he was lonely or if things weren't going his way."
The inquest in Newport, South Wales, heard doctors could find nothing wrong with Mr Haywood's sight even though he lived the life of a blind man.
A massive search was launched in March after Mr Haywood went missing from his home in Newport.
The hearing was told his body was found in a ditch just 150 yards from his front door.
Coroner David Bowen said: "Either he didn't see or didn't want to see the ditch, slipped and drowned.
"It's an extraordinary situation I've not come across before.
"I've been doing this more than 30 years and have never had a case as unique as this - someone convincing themselves they couldn't see."
Verdict: Accident.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... ditch.html
A man who pretended to be blind to get people to pity him was found dead in a flooded ditch after he apparently failed to see the hazard, an inquest heard today.
By Telegraph reporters
10:57AM BST 27 Jul 2012
Geoffrey Haywood, 65, walked with a white stick, used a talking watch and had carers to look after him.
But the inquest was told he could see perfectly well and if someone dropped money on a pavement he would be the first to pick it up.
Mr Haywood was been pretending to be blind when he went for a walk and fell into the ditch near his home.
A coroner described it as the most "extraordinary" case he has dealt with in more than 30 years.
Mr Haywood's brother Howard said: "Geoffrey had psychological blindness which started after the death of our mother.
"I would put a Christmas dinner in front of him and he would say: "Where's mine?".
"But if someone dropped money in front of him he would pick it up straight away.
"I believe he used it as a way of convincing people to take pity on him and help him.
"It became worse the more pressure that was on him, when he was lonely or if things weren't going his way."
The inquest in Newport, South Wales, heard doctors could find nothing wrong with Mr Haywood's sight even though he lived the life of a blind man.
A massive search was launched in March after Mr Haywood went missing from his home in Newport.
The hearing was told his body was found in a ditch just 150 yards from his front door.
Coroner David Bowen said: "Either he didn't see or didn't want to see the ditch, slipped and drowned.
"It's an extraordinary situation I've not come across before.
"I've been doing this more than 30 years and have never had a case as unique as this - someone convincing themselves they couldn't see."
Verdict: Accident.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... ditch.html
OneWingedBird
Beloved of Ra
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Was he still pretending if he really believed it himself? :?
The language makes that sound a bit sinister but the story is just sad.
The language makes that sound a bit sinister but the story is just sad.
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Yes, if he was psychologically blind it's the same to him as being physically blind.
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- 54,631
A very sad tale:
Former concert pianist battles to keep home in Tube station car park
Anne Naysmith was the protégé of some of the most revered figures in classical music, including Sir Adrian Boult and Harold Craxton.
By Donna Bowater and Ben Bryant
9:07AM BST 02 Sep 2012
But after falling on hard times, the former concert pianist has even lost the trees she nurtured to provide shelter in her makeshift home beside a London Underground station.
Miss Naysmith, 75, has been living in a car park for the last 10 years, having previously spent 30 years sleeping in her Ford Consul after being evicted from her home in Chiswick, west London.
This week, Transport for London contractors pulled down her trees and plants to repair a security fence, leaving her “heartbroken”.
Miss Naysmith had been a promising performer under the tutelage of Craxton and Liza Fuchsova at the Royal Academy of Music.
Born simply Anne Smith, she gave concerts in London and the Home Counties in recital and with orchestra, including one at the famous Wigmore Hall in February 1967. A review of her performance described the “rich warmth” of her rendition of Rachmaninov.
She also performed at St Martin’s in the Fields as well as teaching music to girls at the Marist Convent School in Sunninghill, Berkshire.
But after a series of family disputes and financial problems, she was thrown out onto the streets and has lived an unconventional life ever since.
...
Describing the “urban garden” she now calls home, she said she had no intention of leaving the plot, which belongs to London Underground.
“I’m really heartbroken about this tree,” she said. “I nourished it for 10 years and the last couple of years it’s been thick with plums and thick with flowers.
“People have really enjoyed looking at it.
“They say they had to replace the fence but they could have got to it from the other direction.
“I think it was a malicious act, willing to make a nuisance of themselves and hurt me and damage my land.”
Miss Naysmith, who has never married, said she intended to complain to the council and ask the authority to remove the bushes so she could plant new ones.
TfL said it had no plans to seek an eviction notice.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... -park.html
Former concert pianist battles to keep home in Tube station car park
Anne Naysmith was the protégé of some of the most revered figures in classical music, including Sir Adrian Boult and Harold Craxton.
By Donna Bowater and Ben Bryant
9:07AM BST 02 Sep 2012
But after falling on hard times, the former concert pianist has even lost the trees she nurtured to provide shelter in her makeshift home beside a London Underground station.
Miss Naysmith, 75, has been living in a car park for the last 10 years, having previously spent 30 years sleeping in her Ford Consul after being evicted from her home in Chiswick, west London.
This week, Transport for London contractors pulled down her trees and plants to repair a security fence, leaving her “heartbroken”.
Miss Naysmith had been a promising performer under the tutelage of Craxton and Liza Fuchsova at the Royal Academy of Music.
Born simply Anne Smith, she gave concerts in London and the Home Counties in recital and with orchestra, including one at the famous Wigmore Hall in February 1967. A review of her performance described the “rich warmth” of her rendition of Rachmaninov.
She also performed at St Martin’s in the Fields as well as teaching music to girls at the Marist Convent School in Sunninghill, Berkshire.
But after a series of family disputes and financial problems, she was thrown out onto the streets and has lived an unconventional life ever since.
...
Describing the “urban garden” she now calls home, she said she had no intention of leaving the plot, which belongs to London Underground.
“I’m really heartbroken about this tree,” she said. “I nourished it for 10 years and the last couple of years it’s been thick with plums and thick with flowers.
“People have really enjoyed looking at it.
“They say they had to replace the fence but they could have got to it from the other direction.
“I think it was a malicious act, willing to make a nuisance of themselves and hurt me and damage my land.”
Miss Naysmith, who has never married, said she intended to complain to the council and ask the authority to remove the bushes so she could plant new ones.
TfL said it had no plans to seek an eviction notice.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... -park.html
Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
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She's been living like that for 30 years - i.e. since she was 45, so it seems that it was her choice.
Most people at the age of 45 would do everything they could to get secure accommodation again, but not this lady. I guess depression caused that.
Most people at the age of 45 would do everything they could to get secure accommodation again, but not this lady. I guess depression caused that.
JamesWhitehead
Piffle Prospector
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There are a lot of stories about this lady online. A long one in the Mail has some background in the Comments:
Mail Story Here
I had never heard of her so some of the lines about her promised glittering career seem the sort of out-of-focus stuff that haunts popular articles about classical music.
Only a few artists at the top of the tree make much money from concerts. For the rest, it is teaching that pays the bills. Some make the point that she is rumoured to have money but will not use it.
Susan Tomes, a pianist herself describes the vulnerability of the soloist.
I studied under a woman who had won the Queen's Prize for Music in the fifties. The daughter of a piano teacher, she returned from London after a disastrous affair, living the rest of her life with her mother and daughter, as a provincial music teacher herself. She took over, once you had reached a certain grade but my lessons with her were somewhat strange. She would sweep out to the room when I was in the middle of my Debussy, returning in a cloud of eau-de-cologne. Suddenly animated, she would gurgle, "No. no, no, no, no, no!" and reach over me to produce whole fistfuls of smeared wrong notes. "There! You see!"
On other occasions she would start some rather grand theatrical speech, lose track and wave me back to the keyboard. On more than one occasion, I crept from the house at the end of the lesson, afraid to disturb her loud snoring. What a vote of confidence in my playing that was!
I learned that the name of the cologne was gin.
Mail Story Here
I had never heard of her so some of the lines about her promised glittering career seem the sort of out-of-focus stuff that haunts popular articles about classical music.
Only a few artists at the top of the tree make much money from concerts. For the rest, it is teaching that pays the bills. Some make the point that she is rumoured to have money but will not use it.
Susan Tomes, a pianist herself describes the vulnerability of the soloist.
I studied under a woman who had won the Queen's Prize for Music in the fifties. The daughter of a piano teacher, she returned from London after a disastrous affair, living the rest of her life with her mother and daughter, as a provincial music teacher herself. She took over, once you had reached a certain grade but my lessons with her were somewhat strange. She would sweep out to the room when I was in the middle of my Debussy, returning in a cloud of eau-de-cologne. Suddenly animated, she would gurgle, "No. no, no, no, no, no!" and reach over me to produce whole fistfuls of smeared wrong notes. "There! You see!"
On other occasions she would start some rather grand theatrical speech, lose track and wave me back to the keyboard. On more than one occasion, I crept from the house at the end of the lesson, afraid to disturb her loud snoring. What a vote of confidence in my playing that was!
I learned that the name of the cologne was gin.
OneWingedBird
Beloved of Ra
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- Aug 3, 2003
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Or an admin job and doing weddings at weekends.
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- Aug 7, 2001
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- 54,631
Paul Smith given Asbo over bomb-making hobby
A man who had a "bomb workshop" at his Hull home has been given a 10-year anti-social behaviour order banning him from owning certain fireworks.
Paul Smith, of Holm Garth Drive, was also given a 12-month community order after pleading guilty at Hull Crown Court to owning explosive substances.
Smith told police it was a "hobby" when they found two pipe bombs in a workshop at his home earlier this year.
The 40-year-old was even given a bomb-shaped birthday cake, police said. :shock:
Smith, who also pleaded guilty to one charge of possession of a Class B drug, has been banned from owning flares or fireworks that are not commercially available under the order.
During the search, officers had found bomb-making equipment and a number of "sophisticated" explosives. An Army bomb disposal team had to make his house safe, police said.
Det Ch Insp Steve Hibbit, from Humberside Police, said: "We never found any evidence that Mr Smith had any intent to harm anybody, either as a group or an individual.
"But anybody making devices like that inevitably brings danger to themselves, to others in the immediate vicinity and who's to know how this would've ended up."
Smith told police he had an interest in explosives "in the same way that other people have an interest in collecting stamps".
Det Ch Insp Hibbit said: "What is extraordinary is the fact that he was living at home [with his parents] and he was even given a birthday cake in the shape of a bomb.
"If it wasn't so dangerous it could be comical. He was clearly self-taught using recipes that are readily available to anybody, but it's not a joke. It is a very serious matter."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-19469701
A man who had a "bomb workshop" at his Hull home has been given a 10-year anti-social behaviour order banning him from owning certain fireworks.
Paul Smith, of Holm Garth Drive, was also given a 12-month community order after pleading guilty at Hull Crown Court to owning explosive substances.
Smith told police it was a "hobby" when they found two pipe bombs in a workshop at his home earlier this year.
The 40-year-old was even given a bomb-shaped birthday cake, police said. :shock:
Smith, who also pleaded guilty to one charge of possession of a Class B drug, has been banned from owning flares or fireworks that are not commercially available under the order.
During the search, officers had found bomb-making equipment and a number of "sophisticated" explosives. An Army bomb disposal team had to make his house safe, police said.
Det Ch Insp Steve Hibbit, from Humberside Police, said: "We never found any evidence that Mr Smith had any intent to harm anybody, either as a group or an individual.
"But anybody making devices like that inevitably brings danger to themselves, to others in the immediate vicinity and who's to know how this would've ended up."
Smith told police he had an interest in explosives "in the same way that other people have an interest in collecting stamps".
Det Ch Insp Hibbit said: "What is extraordinary is the fact that he was living at home [with his parents] and he was even given a birthday cake in the shape of a bomb.
"If it wasn't so dangerous it could be comical. He was clearly self-taught using recipes that are readily available to anybody, but it's not a joke. It is a very serious matter."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-19469701
Iris
Justified & Ancient
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- May 22, 2004
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- 2,929
Was driving my daughter home from the station last night at nearly 8pm so it was quite dark. Coming up a side street the headlights picked up a woman walking along the road towards me in her pyjamas.
There was a perfectly good footpath so there was no reason for her to be on the road. Our mouths dropped open as I swerved around her.
I'm kind of used to the idiots that jog down the road instead of the footpath but I wish they would do it in the light as they often wear dark clothes.
There was a perfectly good footpath so there was no reason for her to be on the road. Our mouths dropped open as I swerved around her.
I'm kind of used to the idiots that jog down the road instead of the footpath but I wish they would do it in the light as they often wear dark clothes.
Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
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- Sep 18, 2001
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- Location
- Inside a starship, watching puny humans from afar
Isis177 said:
Years ago, my Mum was walking back from a friend's house, and she encountered an old lady staggering about in the road in her nightie.
My Mum recognised the lady and tried to speak to her, then realised she was sleep-walking. My Mum decided to lead the old lady back home, and along the way she woke up. Mum ended up trying to explain what had happened...
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Rynner - Me and my family once went to a panto in Gateshead and this guy turned up who looked just like a younger version of me, too - he wore the same kind of clothes, too, and an enamel badge on his corduroy jacket lapel in just the same place I used to wear little enamel badges. We could hardly bear to look at each other and we both seemed sort of miserable for the rest of the night. To quote this humorous chap I used to work with, 'There are only 200 hundred souls in the world and we tend to bump into each other.'
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
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- 54,631
Eccentrics are strange folk, and Fred Dibnah was a great English eccentric, so he deserves a mention on here.
For sale: Steeplejack Fred Dibnah’s Bolton home
The steeplejack’s former home in Bolton is for sale. It would be the perfect project for a history buff, says Ed Cumming.
By Ed Cumming
12:59PM BST 24 Oct 2012
[For some reason, I can't post the text without getting that accursed "Cannot insert new words.." error.]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/963 ... -home.html
If you can't afford to buy the house, it would be a fun place to visit.
(I thought we had a thread on Fred, but I can't find one.)
For sale: Steeplejack Fred Dibnah’s Bolton home
The steeplejack’s former home in Bolton is for sale. It would be the perfect project for a history buff, says Ed Cumming.
By Ed Cumming
12:59PM BST 24 Oct 2012
[For some reason, I can't post the text without getting that accursed "Cannot insert new words.." error.]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/963 ... -home.html
If you can't afford to buy the house, it would be a fun place to visit.
(I thought we had a thread on Fred, but I can't find one.)
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- Aug 7, 2001
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- 54,631
Armstrong The Good Giraffe speaks about his acts of kindness
By Angie Brown, BBC Scotland, Edinburgh and East reporter
A man who dresses up as a giraffe and carries out random acts of kindness towards people across Scotland has said he does it to feel good.
Twice a week Armstrong Baillie, 32, dons a furry suit his mother made him, before travelling to different places to do good deeds.
He calls himself The Good Giraffe and lives in Dundee with his girlfriend and her daughter.
Originally from Glasgow, he has often been spotted in Edinburgh.
He has also been to Stonehaven, Aberdeen, Forfar, Dundee, the Black Isle and Glasgow to carry out his acts of kindness.
He told the BBC Scotland news website he got the idea after seeing a man dressed up as a gorilla playing the drums in the capital.
During the past six months Armstrong has handed out free bananas and water to runners at the Edinburgh Half Marathon, cleaned up litter on Portobello Beach and given away £10 vouchers to mothers in hospitals.
He has also been seen handing out free coffee to cold passers-by and cleaning cages at cat and dog homes.
Unemployed, Mr Baillie, said he busks using his kazoo and djembe drum then uses the donations to pay for the kind deeds.
He hitch-hikes to reach his destinations - but is only being able to be picked up by convertibles due to his long-necked suit.
He said: "It makes me happy when I see the difference in people when they see me in the suit. It makes them happy and it makes me feel cheery.
"The reason I picked a giraffe is that I have always been interested in animals and giraffes are my favourite animal.
"Giraffes are like me, as my head is in the clouds but my heart is in the right place."
He added: "Most of the time I get a good welcome in the suit but I remember once a Kevin Bridges lookalike tried to pull the head off in a pub, it might even have been the real Kevin Bridges as I didn't have my glasses on."
Armstrong said he planned to carry on doing good deeds.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-e ... e-20316851
By Angie Brown, BBC Scotland, Edinburgh and East reporter
A man who dresses up as a giraffe and carries out random acts of kindness towards people across Scotland has said he does it to feel good.
Twice a week Armstrong Baillie, 32, dons a furry suit his mother made him, before travelling to different places to do good deeds.
He calls himself The Good Giraffe and lives in Dundee with his girlfriend and her daughter.
Originally from Glasgow, he has often been spotted in Edinburgh.
He has also been to Stonehaven, Aberdeen, Forfar, Dundee, the Black Isle and Glasgow to carry out his acts of kindness.
He told the BBC Scotland news website he got the idea after seeing a man dressed up as a gorilla playing the drums in the capital.
During the past six months Armstrong has handed out free bananas and water to runners at the Edinburgh Half Marathon, cleaned up litter on Portobello Beach and given away £10 vouchers to mothers in hospitals.
He has also been seen handing out free coffee to cold passers-by and cleaning cages at cat and dog homes.
Unemployed, Mr Baillie, said he busks using his kazoo and djembe drum then uses the donations to pay for the kind deeds.
He hitch-hikes to reach his destinations - but is only being able to be picked up by convertibles due to his long-necked suit.
He said: "It makes me happy when I see the difference in people when they see me in the suit. It makes them happy and it makes me feel cheery.
"The reason I picked a giraffe is that I have always been interested in animals and giraffes are my favourite animal.
"Giraffes are like me, as my head is in the clouds but my heart is in the right place."
He added: "Most of the time I get a good welcome in the suit but I remember once a Kevin Bridges lookalike tried to pull the head off in a pub, it might even have been the real Kevin Bridges as I didn't have my glasses on."
Armstrong said he planned to carry on doing good deeds.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-e ... e-20316851
Cherrybomb
Justified & Ancient
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- Sitting on the roof, at dusk.
That's lovely
JamesWhitehead
Piffle Prospector
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"He hitch-hikes to reach his destinations - but is only being able to be picked up by convertibles due to his long-necked suit."
I'd be afraid to stop for a giraffe myself: they usually have a pride of lions waiting in the hedge to pile in! :shock:
I'd be afraid to stop for a giraffe myself: they usually have a pride of lions waiting in the hedge to pile in! :shock:
Bigphoot2
Not sprouts! I hate sprouts.
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Some sightings of The Good Giraffe http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-20341009
OneWingedBird
Beloved of Ra
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There's a very odd (and really quite scary) man i've seen in my locality lately who has an undue resemblance to a rooster... he must be in his late 40s, has a huge mohecan with a little plait hanging down the back, he's very powerfully built and jogs everywhere wearing this lycra body suit thing that is sort of cut away at the front so it goes over his shoulders but dips down to reveal his belly button!
According to my hairdresser he's started coming around her for the gym 'cos he's banned from at least 2 where he lives, and also hangs around the body building shop over the road ("We sell fat burners at internet prices")... apparently if they see him coming they put a 'Back in 10 minutes' sign on the door and hide.
According to my hairdresser he's started coming around her for the gym 'cos he's banned from at least 2 where he lives, and also hangs around the body building shop over the road ("We sell fat burners at internet prices")... apparently if they see him coming they put a 'Back in 10 minutes' sign on the door and hide.
OneWingedBird
Beloved of Ra
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- Aug 3, 2003
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When I said he looks like a rooster it isn't just the mohican... the way he walks and is muscled kind of makes him look like Foghorn Leghorn.
When I said 'that rooster guy' to my hairdresser she knew exactly who I meant. :shock:
When I said 'that rooster guy' to my hairdresser she knew exactly who I meant. :shock:
uair01
Antediluvian
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- Apr 12, 2005
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- 5,525
- Location
- The Netherlands
White man at Rotterdam central station.
Anyone has an idea?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uair01/825 ... hotostream
Anyone has an idea?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uair01/825 ... hotostream