Local NuttersEverywhere in the world has its fair share of deranged people. I grew up in Wolverhampton and remember the Polish tramp who lived in a tent on the roundabout. Legend had it that his coat was stuffed with cash. More recently I notice the guy who spends his day pushing a trolley round Camden Sainsburys shouting, "Best of luck!". Constantly. Tell us about your local nutters. Points for details. Extra points for photos.
(
rob, Thu 16 Sep 2004, 11:54)
« Go Back
Hastings - another town full of schitzo'sDuring those halcyon days of the thatcher era, very many state run mental institutions were closed down, because, you know, they were probably all empty or something anyway.
Anyhow, the local councils now had to find somewhere else for the residents of the institutions to live. In central london you can imagine that this was a problem, what with it being crowded and all.
Thus most of the homes in london simply told their residents that they were going on a trip to the seaside in a coach, and to pack all of their stuff. They were mosty taken to hastings (due to the VERY large numbers of empty B&Bs in the town as the english holiday industry had been dying on its arse for the past decade) and once they got off the coach, it would simply drive back to london, leaving them to find somewhere to live. Care in the community i believe it was called. Can you feel the caring? Aaaaah. Can you? MMmmmm...
So as a result, hastings is still, to this day, full of nutters. Many of them are, i'm sure, the amusing and harmless type, but you do get the more traumatic incidents as well, such as when a guy decided to slash his wrists in the middle of Argos, leaving the horrified staff to try to stop the bleeding with carrier bags and duct tape while they waited for an ambulance to arrive. After which they had to be scheduled for blood tests in case they had caught HiV off the guy. Yay.
There is one local legend though - Pram Lady. She is a little old tramp woman (thats tramp in the 'sleeping rough' sense rather than the 'sleeping around' sense, you understand) who VEEEEERY slowly, pushes an old pram around town. The pram is full of dolls (creepy). If you attempt to interact with her in any way you get incoherent screaming and possible physical assault as a reward (scary). Apparently the reason for this behaviour is that all of her children were killed in a house fire, and the dolls are her substitutes (downright terrifying!).
I love hastings. I feel right at home.
(, Thu 16 Sep 2004, 15:22, Reply)
« Go Back