Streetlife

We had a dripping tap in the bathroom and as the upstairs flat had turned the water off for the whole building due to some sort of plumbing emergency, we decided to change the washer.

So there I was, standing in the street, with the water key in hand, talking to my partner through my mobile's handsfree earpiece when I heard "Is there a bookmakers* around here?" and I turn to find a short dark-haired man staring at me with very pale blue eyes. I told him that there was one in the street round the corner but then he said "I don't want that one!"(Of course I ought to know that, how silly of me!). I had a think and remembered that there was one further down the street we were in so I said "I think there's one down that way." This seemed to take a while to penetrate and all the time he kept staring and then he said "Are you sure?" in a way which implied he would hold me personally responsible if there wasn't. I said "I think so" expecting him to go off to have a look but he stared for a few minutes more before walking off down the road. I guess he found it as he didn't reappear. Meanwhile my partner is asking me who I'm talking to.

A few minutes later a small boy came up to me and asked what I was doing and who was I talking to as I was talking to my partner about the water.

Can't you just stand in the middle of the pavement, holding a long metal pole and apparently talking to yourself, without people harrassing you these days?


*Note "bookmakers" for anyone unaware of this is British for a place to place bets on horse races etc.

Streetlife

We had a dripping tap in the bathroom and as the upstairs flat had turned the water off for the whole building due to some sort of plumbing emergency, we decided to change the washer.

So there I was, standing in the street, with the water key in hand, talking to my partner through my mobile's handsfree earpiece when I heard "Is there a bookmakers* around here?" and I turn to find a short dark-haired man staring at me with very pale blue eyes. I told him that there was one in the street round the corner but then he said "I don't want that one!"(Of course I ought to know that, how silly of me!). I had a think and remembered that there was one further down the street we were in so I said "I think there's one down that way." This seemed to take a while to penetrate and all the time he kept staring and then he said "Are you sure?" in a way which implied he would hold me personally responsible if there wasn't. I said "I think so" expecting him to go off to have a look but he stared for a few minutes more before walking off down the road. I guess he found it as he didn't reappear. Meanwhile my partner is asking me who I'm talking to.

A few minutes later a small boy came up to me and asked what I was doing and who was I talking to as I was talking to my partner about the water.

Can't you just stand in the middle of the pavement, holding a long metal pole and apparently talking to yourself, without people harrassing you these days?


*Note "bookmakers" for anyone unaware of this is British for a place to place bets on horse races etc.