Wet old men.
Last year my brother had organised a trip to the races; meet in a pub for breakfast, train to Thirsk, few pre-race pints and then the gambling can begin. The race meet is on the same day as the Thirsk market but as no-one had driven then the stalls set up in the parking bays were of no bother to us.

Typically, after a week of blazing sunshine, as soon as we disembark the train it starts raining. It's not too bad - just a bit of drizzle at first, but when we're in a pub it proper honks down as if God's own racehorse was treating us to some golden-shower action usually reserved for the German dungeon scene.

It stops raining about 30 minutes before the first race so we venture outside, avoiding the nasty big puddles along the way and keeping close to the buildings to avoid any rogue raindrops.

As we're heading out, on the other side of the pavement and heading in the opposite direction is an old man, about 80 summers old and casually perusing the wares on offer at a market stall.

A market stall with a tarpaulin roof.

A tarpaulin filled with over an hours worth of torrential, cold, rainwater....

Cue a freak, totally unprecedented gust of wind, dumping a medium-sized paddling-pool's worth of water all over the old fella. He looks down at himself in shock, then stares up at the sky, raises his fists and shouts "OH HOWAY!!!!!" as if God himself had been playing pranks on him all day and had taken it too far this time.

We made sure he was ok, and managed to get a good 4 feet away before I was doubled over gasping for breath and struggling to breathe from the waves of Schadenfruede running through me.

It was the funniest thing I've seen in a couple of years and I also came away from the racetrack £30 quid up, result!

*insert length joke*
(SpongeGavShitPants, Fri 23 Jul 2010, 3:02, 3 replies)

I have "longed" to hear a tale as good as this for many a time
(El_diablo_blanco, Fri 23 Jul 2010, 3:09, closed)

This does not
have the recognition it deserves. I am doing that attractive snorty laugh everytime I think of 'OH HOWAY'.
Belter.
(Bababoon, Tue 27 Jul 2010, 9:55, closed)

He looked truely mystified and angry at the same time, I sometimes wonder what else happened to him that day...

... and then I realise I don't care that much about anything else; can't have been as funny!

I think I might, deep down, be a bad person.
(SpongeGavShitPants, Wed 28 Jul 2010, 2:54, closed)