Oddballs

Strangely enough he was good with dogs too - he could make them do anything, even our unruly alsatian.

He sounds lovely, anno We had an uncle who never had a relationship and lived with his widowed sister when we were chidren. He would go wild when we saw him, wanting to give us ice-creams, sweets and toys, build sandcastles with enormous moats and flags on them, and treat us to shows when we met up with them at Blackpool. He would be given instructions to tone it down before we arrived, as we would get over-excited by his enthusiasm. He would have loved to have his own children, but just never got the opportunity.

I was driving to my local rail station once at about 7am and there was a little girl out in her nightdress.
I went to speak to her but all I got out of her was her mother's name was Mummy and her father's name was Daddy.
It was just at the time mobile phones came in and I had only got one the week before and I had input the number of my local police station in it.
I phoned the police and they did say keep her safe even if I had to use slight force as we were next to a busy road.
About 5 minutes later a police car turned up with 2 police men in it.
They did say would have liked a police woman to attend to this as it was a girl but there was not one available. They also said it would have been ok to make a 999 call. Obviously the child was safe with me but a lot of police officers could have been out looking for her so it was an emergency from that point of view.
Obviously as I had phoned the police I would have not been arrested for anything like child abduction.
What they had thought may have happened was the girl probably opened the door and let herself out and the parents were probably still in bed.
I heard no more about the incident so I assume all ended well.

Frank

Going back to oddballs I do know of a man who people did not trust as he had been widowed 3 times by the age of 40. Oddly all of his wives died of cancer.
I am sure these deaths would have been carefully checked. Cancer is not something you can fake.

Frank

Well done helping that little girl Frank. There was a case locally a couple of years ago when a 2-year old girl managed to open the gate of her Day Nursery and wandered off unnoticed. A man saw her wandering down the road and did nothing because he was frightened of approaching her for the reasons mentioned above. She then wandered into a back garden and drowned in their pond

Odd behaviour can be a problem. When I was about 11 a local man used to follow me about. He never approached me, spoke to me or touched me but just followed me whenever I went out on my own - to school, to play with friends, to the local shops, to post a letter. He would also sit on a wall opposite our house and write down car numbers, then when the page was full, tear it up. I found him a bit frightening. He stopped after my father spoke to him - perfectly politely I think. Later, when I saw the film Midnight Cowboy, Dustin Hoffman reminded me of the way this man looked.