The wonder of weird towns

I was out walking the other evening, on my own, with my walking stick that I occasionally use. I had an urgent chore to carry out, involving a pharmacy stop. And then I spontaneously, decided afterwards, to extend that walk to have a little girlie browse and also grab a coffee and just people watch.

I noticed a very strange phenomena, that, actually, I have noticed before, but had kind of forgotten, due to rarely being out on foot on my own in the early evening.

Basically, it is this: if you are out and about PAST 6PM in said mid-sized weird town, you will ALWAYS, and I MEAN ALWAYS, come across the weirdest dregs of society, the druggies, the alkies, the - as I like to sometimes refer to them - the 'ne'er do wells.'

I'm not snobbish. Hell no. At least I don't think I am. I was raised working class, never had much money, was always scrabbling about to try and save money and find cheap options for everything I wanted and needed. I think I'm compassionate, I'll help anyone. But I am in my forties now, I have boundaries, and I think I know how to act in polite society (well, okay, maybe not always. I regularly am silly and get the giggles, but I do know how I'm SUPPOSED to behave!)

But I ain't kidding when I say that if you wander from A to B (and especially if you add a C and D into the mix) and are minding your own business, enjoying the evening, maybe just enjoying a bit of time to yourself, you can GUARANTEE that a loud mid-thirties, rough, alcoholic couple will whoosh into view from an unseen corner, either walking behind you, or parallel to you on the opposite side of the road. You will know they are there, as you will hear them either arguing loudly about where to buy alcohol from (literally the case the other night), and there will generally be shouting, screeching and uncomfortable feelings coming your way.

They will have no filter, no boundaries, no awareness that people are crossing the street to avoid them, or in my case, trying to avoid eye contact. They will carry on shouting and arguing all the way to the off-license or wherever will serve them.

They will notice you, and they will both start looking across. Sometimes they will cross over to you, or speed up, and you will mutter under your breath, 'Oh for f*cksake.'

"SCUSE ME? YOU GOT A LIGHT?!"

The worst case scenario, is that one or both will start following you and asking for money. Or a light. (Why is it always a light? Buy a f**king lighter if you smoke!)

I always just say, 'Nope, sorry,' shrug apologetically and then carry on walking, looking firmly ahead. Sometimes they get aggressive, and you have to go a different way or try and walk faster. All the time muttering 'For f**ksake, I only wanted my prescription and a coffee.'

The crackheads always have a uniquely rasping voice. And the woman may only be 28, but they look haggard and old. There's usually a distinctive fast, hunched shoulder walk that goes with the whole shebang too.

Tonight I tried to be sneaky. Said couple appeared, as I exited the pharmacy and walked into town, just around the corner. I thought I had lost them. I stopped at the bridge over the river to watch the bats swooping, as it was dusk. Just as I set my phone camera to record said bats, I heard a familiar yelling and arguing. The couple came back into my sightline from another direction. Even the bats disappeared.

"For f**ksake," I heard myself say for the second time that evening.

It's ALWAYS after 6pm. Do you have a similar thing in your small to mid-sized town? Or even a city? You seem to get mostly normals in the day. Working hours I guess. Then it gets to 6pm, and the hunched, cloaked minions of the night appear en masse, heading to their shady encounters and street-corner drug deals.

It's kind of funny. Do weird people KNOW they are weird?

I mean, I'm weird but I KNOW I am weird. It's the people who unsettle others and DON'T realise that frighten me.

Food for thought!