Do you too have a local nutter?

[secretspirit]

There is this mad old man who lives down the road I have to walk to and from work down and he drives me mad. A few weeks back he was absolutely miles ahead of me and shouted at me 'It's polite to say good morning you know', and I was pretty shocked so I just mumbled it at him. Today I was on my mobile talking to to my husband and the weirdo started saying to me 'I'm not going to say goodbye to you and I'll tell you why'. I had to tell him twice that I wasn't going to talk to him and rushed off but he still wasn't shutting up. I find him really creepy because he stands in the same places for ages waiting for victims (today it was by a zebra crossing which must have made a lot of drivers happy). It really stresses me out seeing him, which is especially annoying at the moment because I'm pregnant and trying to stay calm. I'm dying to say something really evil in reply to this man but I'm trying not to.

 

Do you have any 'fun' local headcases? Do you think it's worth reporting them to the Police if they get abusive or is it just a waste of time?

[mollymoo43]

Sounds like Care in the Community to me. If he scares you -you should report him. I hope that he does not approach children in the same manner?! Where there is harrassment or abusive & threatening behaviour the police should respond.

[secretspirit]

Thanks for the reply mollymoo43, that was really quick! He does scare me actually even though I feel silly saying I'm frightened of someone who must be about 70. I've seen him shout at people across a road and it makes me very uncomfortable. It is a road with two schools on so I should think if he is around at the same time as the kids he probably does have a go at them too but I haven't seen it myself. I think next time it happens I will report it to the Police.

[FP]

He is obviously suffering from some sort of mental illness to be acting in this manner.  It can be very frightening.  The best thing is to ignore him.  I would think the police are aware of him and he is probably harmless .  There are lots like him about.  Unfortunately,  they have very little opportunity of receiving suitable sheltered care these days.  Care in the Community does not work. 

 

I

They are not usually the people that commit crimes.

 

 

[Peter Pedant]

SS

You should report it at your local Police station. There will be a community officer there. If you ask, they may be able to rustle up a WPC to talk to you.

Tell the police you're expecting and what it is that#s upsetting you. Talking to a woman PC is obviously better. -and erm then do as they say.

The relevant act is the protection from harassment act 1996 - i think. You dont have to put up with this, and anyway he may not know he's really teeing you off.

[cheyenne]

where my cousin lives in dorset,hes had trouble with this old guy who has a flat next door.he bangs on the water pipes alnight and the other day he saw him cutting the grass with a pair of scissors??.hes reported him loads of times but the council and police need more evidence,now hes taping the noise and he hopes they will take him seriosly.hard to prove,put i guess theres no law against cutting the grass with a pair of scissors!!

[FP]

What on earth could the Police do about him Vinny?  It is so sad that people like this receive no help these days.  So many of them are completely alone in the world.  There but for the grace of  God........

[Kay]

Why dont you contact social services Secret? This man may be,just maybe in the early stages of senile dementia. My beloved Dad was like this when his SD began,he would creep out of the house when my mum was'nt looking and shout at people.For others safety and his please call Social Services especially if he lives alone.

[FP]

Unfortunately, FINA, when this happened to my Mother in Law we got very little help from Social Services.  That is why I sound so bitter on this thread.   

 

More and more people with mental health problems are not getting any help at all and there are very few residential places for them nowadays.

 

 

[Robinia]

I seem to be following you round tonight Fakeplastic & agreeing with you. I thought Social services were someone you could lean on when you need help - but after 11months of sorting a family problem ourselves the words chocolate & teapot spring to mind.

[FP]

I've got a problem now, Noddy, with my own mother, which is ongoing.  She doesn't suffer from dementia but she certainly needs help.  Social Services have proved totally useless and I have given up with them.  It's a long story and I won't bore anybody.

[Yinzer]

We don't have anybody that seriously ill, but we do have our beloved Sombrero Man, a local 60-70 ish bum who sits on his milk crate wearing a sombrero and shaking his maracas. There's also the blind guy who sits on the sidewalk with his stereo blasting and weaving his head side to side, and the Mutters - the ones who just wander around muttering to themselves. All harmless. Kinda sad really. I do think these people should have a place to be taken care of because they're too incapable of maintaining their own homes and what not.

[zgma]

Well, I live in an urban area, and there are lots of mentally ill homeless people around.  I find the whole thing very sad, but in the US as in the UK, the social services agencies are pretty ineffective in helping mentally ill people off the streets. One particularly sad case that I can think of is a man who is obviously brilliant, who used to be a physics professor at the local university but who now is unable to care for himself.  I see him at least once a month, dishevelled and muttering to himself.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your mother's troubles, Fakeplastic.  xx

[tartanwiz]

Did you ever watch 'Red Dwarf'? Did you see the episode where they meet a mad old female German doctor called Dr Hildegaard Landstrom? Well, there is an old german lady, with the title of doctor, a retired psychologist, in our area who is just like that. She is so eccentric she regularly features in our local newspaper. She often writes in to the paper ranting about this and that in a hilarious way, calling Tony Blair a prostitute and suchlike. She is very well known in the area and both loved and pitied. I have spoken to her myself and she is absolutely barking!

[BigDogsWang]

She's spot on about Tony Blair though. He's screwed everyone in this country.

[newtron]

Secretspirit, rather than assuming that he is mentally ill, have you ever tried having a conversation with him rather than ignoring him or telling him that you were not going to talk to him?  It sounds like he may just be lonely.  We had a neighbor who was an old lady who yelled at our friends and she would even spray their vehicles with the hose.  At first we didn't know what to think, but later, it was apparent that she was just playing around and didn't mean any harm.  She actually turned out to be an nice person with interesting stories to tell. 

[natalie_1982]

My nan has Alzheimers and does lots of 'funny' things I love her to bits. There's alos lots of crazy people round here and sometimes I have to stand back and remember that they are someone's mother/ father/ son/ daughter. We have Howard and Mickey who stand at the roundabout and wave at the buses and lorries, Grace who is barred from the local pubs for stealing food from people's plates, Mrs Pink who always wears a pink dress, has a ghetto blaster, a bottle of cider and doesn't wear knickers (I know from experience), Cat Thief who is a witch on a bike and used to chase the local cats and try to get them in her house then chase us and Colonel Mustard who takes a tape player in the precinct and dances tap really really slowly (he's about 90) and he wears a massive Jay Kay hat which I always put money in when it's on the floor. I think that's most of them.

[natalie_1982]

Oh, and Doris/ Dave who went a bit loopy when his mum died about 8 years ago and now wears her clothes and pretends to be her, except she shaved and didn't drink pints of lager top. Well I'm assuming she didn't anyway, I never met her.

[slimfandango]

Maybe it's John Kerry?

[ICEMANSAV]

We have " The Shaker". He wanders around town shaking everyones hands regardless of age or gender and keeps asking if they are ok! Harmless really but to try and discourage him i put my arms in my sleeves to fool him into thinking I had no arms and he started patting my head!!

[secretspirit]

Thanks for all the answers, I'll give you all 3 stars for replying. I definitely won't be getting into conversation with him - lonely or not - though that's for sure.

 

I used to work for the local council housing dept and I know for a fact that our local social services will not visit or contact anyone who hasn't personally asked them for help, plus I don't know where he lives or his name.

 

I think I might go to the Police if it happens again and perhaps they might have more influence in getting him some treatment. I can see it's not something he does just to be malicious but you don't know if someone like that might wander into the road and get hurt or something.