Sir Jester's Hello man post
reminded me a guy I remember from about 30yrs ago. When I was about 6, I had a pedal-car that I used to go everywhere in. I also used to go call for a friend every evening after tea. If my parents had ever found out that I pedalled for almost a full statutory mile alongside a busy dual-carriageway, they would've throttled me.

Anyway, one evening, as I'm tootling along, maybe doing 2mph tops, I hear from behind me, a childishly high pitched but definitely grown up voice, calling the word:

"HIYAA".

As in the greeting, not the Miss Piggy punchline.

I look over my shoulder, and there was this thin weedy bloke in a brown suit, who looked about 20 feet tall from my viewpoint closing in on me at great speed. Not running. Just striding, very quickly.

I tried pedalling faster to outrun him, but to no avail, he caught me up, constantly chanting "HIYAA! HIYAA!". As he passed me, he looked down, waved, said "HIYAA" a few times, and strode off into the distance, still calling "HIYAA!"

I used to see him striding about going somewhere only he knew. It became clear that he wasn't right. On a Victorian census, he would have had a tick in the box marked "Imbecile, idiot or lunatic". I'm no doctor, but he was clearly not of a full compliment of synapses.

By the late 80s, I never saw him anymore. Maybe he died, maybe he just got too old and would just be sitting in some home somewhere, pissing off the carers with his constant "HIYAA!"

I've mentioned this guy to several people and I've concluded that the guy must've walked for miles everyday around East Hull as he was seen all over the place.

Completely harmless. Kids used to just watch him race past, or maybe shout hiyaa back, which must've made his day. Nowadays, he'd have probably been happy-slapped or had stones pegged at him. It seems that's how harmless people seem to be treated in some of Britain's more vibrant neighbourhoods.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Mon 3 Nov 2008, 9:54, 2 replies)

Hiyaaa!`
You called?
(misspiggy In danger of having to get a job, Mon 3 Nov 2008, 12:36, closed)

...
I was born and raised on Longhill, a Frome roader. Never saw that bloke but seem to remember someone saying something about a bloke along those lines. Wasn't you was it?

If you're 30 and went to Marvell then it could have been...
(Mr.Dog was in love again on, Tue 4 Nov 2008, 14:59, closed)