i've been meaning to post this for a little while now, but my brain failed me once again, and i forgot about it until yesterday, until i saw the "bag lady"....
around here we have the "bag lady". she's a woman probably in her 40's or 50's who does nothing other than ride her bike all over Gfield and neighboring TF. she carries on said bike grocery bags full of plastic grocery bags, her bike is wrapped up in grocery bags, and it even looks like she's wrapped up in them too... altho it coul dbe one of those tyvek (house wrap) style warm-up suits held together with duck tape. i've never had a conversation with this woman, and i've never actually seen her not riding her bike. but she makes me curious none the less. she's a smart biker and stays on the side of the road...
which reminds me of growing up in the 'Ham. there he was good ol' "crazy walter". i wonder if he's still around. he too would always be on his bike looking up into the sky. he wasn't all there, and from what i understand was a resident at the home for people with mental issues. i remember one particular incedent with walter. every saturday mom and i would go to the laundrymat over by the A&P (now cvs) and the mr.donut (now DD)and while the clothes were in the wash we woul dhead over and treat ourselves to donuts... christine never got any b/c she never came... she was mean back then.. but i digress... crazy walter had come in, and i ran to the bathroom quick and upon my return and sitting back down someone noticed, it could've been me for all i know, that the trashcan (behind mom and i) was smoking... i dont' remember much after that, but i do recall that walter was at blame for disposing his cigarette in the trash. i can't remember if he was nice or mean, but he was always hanging out outside the laundrymat staring inside... looking at the people. it was kinda freaky but we were used to it... it's all he did for years.
we also has "eddie mumbles". he walked... and in the winter had a purple coat... quite amusing. anyhow. he got his name b/c it was very hard to understand this man when he spoke... he mumbled.. it was bad. there were rumors that if you gave him some money he would talk normal for you, but i never gave him money. this guy was mean. he would often roam around uptown, and myself also powered by my feet and no car would often see him on the street. i was outside the post office once, and he said something mean to me.. that's is no more nice erica. i don't remember much of that altercation. but i do remember once on my way to school when i was about 12 or so, he spit on the bus. we were making the left onto minot ave, and he was standing on one of the island in the middle of the road, and he spit on us... and that was the excitment for the rest of the day, if not longer. it was one of those things that went into the memory hall of fame... like when our bus driver sally hit that car turning onto onset ave... it may have been her fault but in her defense, people are always wizzing by and it's hard to see if anyone's coming. (east blvd & onset ave). but then again she was known by everyone that she was very fond of her friend, the bottle.
what kind of characters do you have roaming the streets where you live? or if your familiar with any of mine you can talk about them. whatever. i'm not picky
Around my current apartment we have High Steppin' Joe. So named because when he walks he always lifts his right foot higher than the left. Almost as if he was stepping over a rock or something in his way, except nothing is ever there. It's kinda sad to watch because it looks like he's always going to fall over because he "missed" what he was avoiding.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite guy around here doesn't have a name, he just roots through the recycleables on trash day. But he has a grocery cart. One day Kim and I were drove past him with his cart full of bottles. He was coming down a hill and started kicking off like the cart was a scooter or a skateboard. Then he picked up his feet and as he was flying down the steet, his face split into this HUGE grin. It was really cute.
It's so sad to see these characters about town, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteIt makes one wonder just what detour they took to bring them to that particular spot in life.
I've been spooked by a bag person rummaging through a dumpster looking for discards while I was trying to throw away a bag of garbage. Otherwise, I rarely see any because of the hours I keep.
Yeah, the bag lady. My mother knows her. She fell off the hill going into turners on her bike one time and was really badly hurt but she recovered and was back at it in no time.
ReplyDeleteit's funny how every town has atleast one person that's a little off their rocker. and the poor person gets picked on by all the teenagers.
ReplyDeletekel- i totally go for the cart ride in the parking lot of the store with evan. he thinks it's the funniest thing!
ellen-i think you'd be more likely to see a vampire with your hours... lol.. glad i don't have them!
t- oh god.. glad that wasn't me falling donw that hill.. if there was a car coming she would've been done for with the speeds people get going down the mountain there..
I remember Walter n the Dunc's can fire. I was the one who informed the counter staff they needed to pour some water in that can-
ReplyDeleteEddie was always saying:"Gotta Quarter?" over n over. Both of them are long gone now.
We still have the Cape Verdian challenged guy with the fidgetty-tics, forget his name-
Flossy n her Bro Dan still ride bikes for pickin up returnable bottles all over town everyday. They're just poor, not challenged though...
oh yeah.. it totally forgot about the bike couple... i used to laugh when they'd be riding along having an arguement...
ReplyDeleteAh Crazy Walter, he wasn't mean per say but he was well a bit slow not Crazy as his name denotes. He was hit by a car a few years ago. He lived with his dad but I heard his dad died. Some guy took him under his wing and I heard he works at Titlest. In the late 80's early 90's there were rumours that Crazy Walter had set some cottages on Fire in Hamilton Beach near where he lived. Walter was also a major Perv. I can understand him staring at you (you were pretty you know?). He was old enough to buy nudey magazines but he aparently never did because he used to go to the Library and stare at Vogue and Cosmo for an hour or so.....
ReplyDeleteIn the summer I used to go Pinehurst Beach to swim
(it was close to my house so I could walk or ride my bike there). Well Hamilton Beach was across the water from there and Chrissy Amaral was the Lifeguard there and I'd be at the beach for like 5 hours and Walter would be there across the water looking at Chrissy (and other female lifeguards) with binoculars for almost the whole time I was there.
Another thing Walter was famous for was going to Saturday Mass at St. Patricks (I don't even know if he was Catholic) and since Saturday Mass was never crowded there were always empty seats but he would always home in on crowded pews especially ones where he could sit close to a girl or young women. Lots of characters in Wareham..........
Hmm... Now hear is one you may or may not remember......... Her name was "Frita" rom what I understand and she lived in one of the motels on Cranberry Highway. She didn't drive she just walked, everyday rain or shine.... No matter what the weather, winter or summer she wore a shabby old "Woolhat" and that is what my mom named her Woolhat! She would walk everyday to the Buzzards Bay Post-Office and take junk mail out o the trash to feel important. She smelled funny too.
Well i don't have any other characters in mind.
-Willie
I know who Willy is talking about. My mum and I would see her sometimes. WE called her the smiling, walking lady...because well..that's what she did.
ReplyDeleteEddie Mumbles used to talk to my dad. He scared the crap outta me one day when I was a kid though. I guess we were barked at Christy's on Cranberry Highway, and he was tapping on the window and calling me a pretty baby.
<3 - Melissa