What odd things do you see on your commute?

[LadyOfTheCanyon]

A road near me has at least three houses where people appear to lock themselves in the front porch to smoke. The door to the house is shut behind them, but so is the porch door. Even when the weather is positively balmy they stand there looking like they are in the Mr and Mrs soundproof booth as it slowly fills up with smoke. One bloke even has a little stool he sits on in there.

It completely mystifies me. All these houses have back gardens, as far as I can work out, yet these people stand in full view of the road in their dressing gowns, smoking furiously in their self imposed little cell and probably stinking out their downstairs hallway.

What possible explanation can there be? What odd stuff do you see on your way to and from work?

I regularly see a rowing team and their cox rowing up the canal which runs parallel to the road I drive along. They are usually going faster than I am!

Bloke in a Man City shirt, all weathers, no coat, walking his dog.

I used to regularly pass a man driving in the opposite direction with a parrot on his shoulder.

*Sloping shoulder man who never wears a coat/jacket, whatever the weather.

*Jogging lady. Always looks like she’s about to collapse, but never misses a day.

*Ugly David Essex. Man I’m his late 50s who wears a hoop earring, neckachief, shirt rolled up at elbows and open at the neck.

House where a murder happened -- well, there was a house. They tore house down now. Some building materials R there now. I wonder what will be built in place of the previous house. Very DesRes area, they won't leave an empty lot for long.

There is a barn-shaped house that has been unfinished breeze blocks & tarpaulins for at least 8 years, too. Always a nice car in drive. Why doesn't someone finish that house off??

I used to see a guy dressed up as a Roman gladiator, walking along the same stretch of road every single day.

Used to have a rural commute via train to city. Same as several others have posted, many saw wildlife ... Deer mainly, foxes with their young, rabbits and once one 7am commute a very large black cat/dog/panther in a isolated field a whatwasTHAT moment!!

I see a lady at a bus stop who is the spitting image of cruella deville black and white hair fur coat cigarette in hand always dressed the same regardless of what time of year it is

I tube as part of my commute. Every other time (when it’s not peak hour) a beggar will get on somewhere around Farringdon and go down the carriage stopping at each section to repeat a memorised speech. They then wait for like two seconds to see if anyone is going to give them change. If no one wants to they fibd a young woman who has vagulely Shen interest in what’s going on and stand over her asking her directly for cash. Sometimes they repeat their speil. No one ever stands up for the young woman. They then live on to the next section and so on until the next stop when they get off to get on the next train.

On school run we drive through countryside/a few villages. Pretty much every time I come across an unexpectedly aggressive driver. Today I was tailgated by a pensioner in a hatchback on a 60mph stretch of windy road. She was literally less than a meter from my bumper the whole time. Another time there was a minivan (people carrier type thing) intent on speeding but traffic was fairly thick. So they were over taking cars one at a time on a windy national speed limit road by pushing their way into the safe breaking distance the driver ahead of the gas left each time they saw a gap in on coming traffic. I was really expecting to be caught in a tailback after an accident that day.

I recently passed a man pushing a baby in a pushchair with a dog on a lead, whilst bending down to pick up dog poo, with a cigarette in his hand whilst screaming into his mobile in Russian.

How’s that for multitasking?

@abythibgfircatslife a section of the A1 by any chance?

StereophonicallyChallenged is it the same outfit or different outfits.

I think you see more WTF things on the train commutes nowadays rather than outside of it.

I don't get the whole get on the train get a seat, take out your massive bag of cosmestics and do your make up for 30 mins...

There is a smartly dressed man that stands in the same place on the pavement of a very busy road day in day out, rain or shine, holding up a sign to the traffic which reads “God is Love”. Not sure what time he gets there but he’s always there at about 4.30pm looking very somber.

Racecardriver not quite the A1 but not far from it, in Co. Durham.

A commute I used to do in college would always lead me past a bloke in a gimp mask at precisely 7:55am each morning, three times a week. He never took it off for his stroll home.

As an adult when we drove 20 miles to work and back (I work for same company as DH) we would see a little old couple walking along the main road (it's not duelled, but still an A road) on the embankment every Thursday. I guess they got the bus from their tiny village once a week and made the trek up to the stop on the main road but they were so old and frail it used to really worry me.

Same commute but on the way home was a man who biked the same 20 miles we drove with shorts on, irrespective of weather (including snow)

I used to catch the same train everyday, I saw:

An elderly man who did yoga on the opposite platform, never saw him get on a train, occasionally 2 or 3 women would join him. They also never got on a train.

I asked a train conductor about them one and he said they had been doing it for years.

Also, a woman who used to march up and down the carriage very quickly talking to herself. Sometimes reciting Shakespeare, could be sounding angry or at other times calm.

I was concerned about her but she turned out to be an accountant who was into amateur dramatics and used the time to practice. A fellow traveller showed me a flyer she gave him, and one day she gave me one.

I miss commuting

I used to pass a pig who'd come over for a stroke. One morning she didn't appear so I yelled out 'Good morning, Miss Piggy' and she came running out of her house and over to the gate. Was lovely!

There are hens in that field now. I did stop to catch on and put her back over the fence not that long ago.

More recently I've bumped into deer, and had an owl and bats join me on my runs home.

Years ago I used to go to the riding school on my bike every Sunday morning. Every week for about three years I would pass a man walking the other way and carrying a saucepan.

One week, my bike had a puncture so I walked... and as I passed him I was was able to look in and see what he had in the saucepan. It was a peeled potato, a ball of string and a pair of scissors

I very often see a woman near the magic roundabout in cardiff walking over the bridge in sonekindnof princess /bridesmaids dress. I'm desperate to know why she wears it...where is she going? Has she no other clothes?

A lovely Mum who talks to her secondary school age son (who I guess has SEN and anxiety) via mobile phone while he walks the last two streets to school and he looks back the whole time and she waves. Every school day since September.

Barn owls. I know, in the grand scheme of things, they aren't odd but my commute to work is at 4.30 in the morning. I usually see little more than a fleeting pair of wings in the headlights.

Op, I can imagine the house you are talking about may be a community house for people with learning disabilities or mental illness, I used to work in one and smoking was not allowed in the main house, the smokers used to stand in the front garden to smoke but if no staff were free to supervise them they stood in the porch with the outer door locked! This was mainly first thing in morning and late at night.

On very cold days on the uphill walk to the station occasionally used to be offered a lift from a retired postman in his nineties in his old fiesta, he did a paper round in it.

Also often used to chat to another elderly man who would pass me on his way home from his morning walk to the newsagents near the station.

Our neighbour has a full size gorilla in the front garden (??!!).
Ds's gf asked ds if it was real.
She was 15!!