my dear grandfather, may he rest in peace,
was known as what you might call "a character" in his local town. He wasn't senile or stupid or dangerous, more a kind of joker in the pack.

He went through a phase of writing letters. This included a letter to his own bosses while recuperating from his first heart attack that went along the lines of "Thank you for the card. I was wondering, when I am at work, I do what you tell me for X hours a day and am paid $Y per hour. I am currently working 24 hours a day on getting better, exactly as you have told me to - when will I get my overtime pay?" Anyone else might have got disciplined - but seeing as he was good old [Grandad], he got a personal apology, in the same tone and humour as his letter, from the top boss.

He taught my sister and I to walk to the shops with one foot on the kerb and the other in the gutter. He taught us songs full of foreign slang and swearwords (we were too young to get it) which drove my grandmother bananas. He spent the best part of a year scouting for local playgrounds so that the following year, when we went to stay for the summer holidays, we could visit a different playground Every. Single. Day.

Crazy as hell but in the best possible way :)
( Batsgirl, Thu 5 Jul 2007, 16:48, Reply)