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Original poster

Who is your "on the way to work" buddy

162 replies

cjt110 · 11/12/2018 09:57

There's a lollipop man on my route to work. I pass him daily, in my distinctly coloured car, and have begun to wave to say hello daily and he waves back. I know I'm running late as he leaves his "post" at 9am.

OP posts:

bellinibobble · 11/12/2018 15:29

Me and DF have a whole host of these.. not going to list here as you'll think we're both bonkers

This list of other examples is hilarious though

AlpacaPicnic · 11/12/2018 15:35

'Poor mum' who is usually attempting to kettle her children into the car in the morning, while the children are attempting to wrestle each other, or fighting over who gets which seat.
I try to give her a sympathetic smile and always think 'poor mum, it's too early for yelling kids!'

Also smiley paper man, who walks to the local shop for his morning paper and who I pass on his way back home. He's started calling me 'young lady' which is sweet, since I'm neither young nor ladylike!

MiggledyHiggins · 11/12/2018 15:37

I have:
Not-A-Jogger. A lady around middle age, head to toe in coordinated 80's style leotard and accessories á la Dynasty. Walks very slowly but thinks she's jogging.

Joey's older brother. A bloke who looks remarkably like Joey from friends except older. Always wears an overcoat no matter the weather.

Hi-Viz guy. He walks very slowly with a limp. I always wonder if he's just enjoying a leisurely stroll to work or if he's walking slowly due to pain.

Traffic Reporter for local radio. He's on a motorbike and I usually see him in the evenings.

Hi Vis Builders. Two very broad and tall chaps who wear Hi-Vis jackets absolutely wedged into a mini. They fill the entire inside. It's like they were poured in like a radioactive custard and it set.

pollyhampton · 11/12/2018 15:38

I have 'man I can't work out where he works'. I see him every morning but the direction that he is walking in, there is nothing really there so I can't for the life of me work out where he is going. He is always in casual clothes and always smiling to himself. I have actually thought about taking the day off and following him just because I am very very nosey!

thatmustbenigelwiththebrie · 11/12/2018 15:39

I judge how late I am by where I am in my walk when a particular cyclist passes me. He joins my street from the woods and then cycles pretty much the same way I walk towards the city centre.

I always say hi to the cleaners at the bookshop who are having a morning fag on the step when I pass them as well. I don't know why.

JingsMahBucket · 11/12/2018 15:42

@Alienspaceship I thought exactly the same thing. This is really cute and sweet; I've been smiling and chuckling reading all of them. :) It makes me wonder if I pass anybody in particular but I don't have a regular "outside/commuting" schedule anymore. I work from home most of the time and go out for meetings and errands irregularly throughout the week.

mygrandchildrenrock · 11/12/2018 15:42

I used to see a chap walking his great big dog every morning, then one evening coming home from work I saw him again and slowed the car down, wound my window down and said hello to him. I explained he was one of my morning markers and we had a pleasant little chat. However, after the next school holidays, he was nowhere to be seen. He'd either moved house or changed his dog walking time to escape the 'mad lady'!

PowerhouseOfTheCell · 11/12/2018 15:48

Cream lady. Used to judge how late I was to sixth form if I was/wasn't on the bus to cream lady. She always used to rub copious amounts of hand cream on and do such an intricate rubbing technique. Once she got on with her friend and I learnt she was a primary school reading helper and on the menopause

willywillywillywilly · 11/12/2018 15:50

Red shoelaces man on my bus. He has been my shoe-spiration and I've bought some blue shoelaces for my own shoes to cheer them up

Handbag101 · 11/12/2018 16:02

A couple of hot guys on my train. One even winks at me now!!!!

SaveKevin · 11/12/2018 16:12

I had one for years, we both had distinctive cars and then after about 2 years we randomly met. It was odd, i lived next to where she worked and she lived next to where i worked hence the cross over every day!
Nice girl.

More recently xc90 lady who lets me cross on my busy road, she seems to use me as a marker as she gets all smiley when she sees me.. which is weird as no ones normally smiley at me! She is more choosey about letting me cross after nearly causing a pile up!

Does anyone else think truman show sometimes?

dontforgetbilly · 11/12/2018 16:19

Fellow motorcyclist "wears his backpack really far to the left", I mentioned him to my husband and he remembers him from the days he used to commute the way I now go

DryHeave · 11/12/2018 16:27

I walked to work and there was always a bloke walking in the opposite direction, and we started to acknowledge one another after a few months.

Roll on two years and I went for a job interview... and he was the interviewer! He was my boss for 9 years after that.

WWlOOlWW · 11/12/2018 16:28

I get the sane time train to work everyday. Everyday a man gets on at the next station (train now packed) and stands next to where I am sitting, usually with his crotch very near to my face.

Crotch man and I both know that each other knows that he does this because I get off at the same stop every day three stops later, meaning he gets my seat.

I can hardly look him in the eye. This has been going on for over 2 years.

TopBitchoftheWitches · 11/12/2018 16:30

If I am going in a particular direction, my dil (to be) and my neighbour, both travelling the other way to me.
Lots of waving and lights flashing.

If going the other way, I have no one

BoswellandForshort · 11/12/2018 16:31

When I used to get the train to work, I’d pass a bin man every Tuesday morning. I first met him on my very first day of my Proper Job and he was a nice friendly face when I was incredibly nervous. The next week he asked for my number I explained I was taken and he was very apologetic. After that I’d stop every week for years to chat to him. He’d tell me all about his divorce and custody battle, all these intimate details of his life... but I never knew his name. He never told me and by the time it became an issue, it felt too late to ask!

adaline · 11/12/2018 16:31

The other lady with the beagle!

We both have them and walk them at the same time everyday but we never exchange more than pleasantries!

WhoGivesADamnForAFlakeyBandit · 11/12/2018 16:38

We live on a road into town so get loads of commuters walking past and during he breastfeeding years watching telly while feeding I had names for most of them.

Ipad man - always singing at the top of his voice
WHSmiths lady - this went both ways, once she stopped me on the driveway to congratulate me on the birth of DC3 because she'd seen cards through the front window
Gothboy - lovely long leather coat
Robert - he looked like a Robert. Once I saw him in town during the day and waved at him. He had no idea who I was.
Twin lady - with a massive buggy with a toddler seat on top.
Wobblehead lady with no hands - woman who did the school run in the opposite direction at the same time. Every day, twice a day, we'd pass on the same road of parked cars and every single time I let her pass she refused to acknowledge me in anyway (hence the no hands) I went from ignoring it, to waving frantically at her to see if she noticed, to just pulling out in front of her. Then I realised it was stressing me out every time I saw her car so had to back off because it came to the point that I was yelling "It's my right of way Wobblehead" twice a day while driving towards her

Original poster

cjt110 · 11/12/2018 16:41

I love these stories and how we all have our "buddies" I wonder if we ourselves are buddies to anyone?

OP posts:

FurryTurnipHead · 11/12/2018 16:50

Big Ginger Beard Man, who used to commute on the same train as me. I concocted a whole fantasy life about him being from the Outer Hebrides, but having been forced to move to the city, and that when he gets home he takes off his suit, puts on a chunky jumper, and keeps a herd of sheep in his back garden.

SleepySofa · 11/12/2018 16:53

Builder man who waits (presumably for a lift) on the corner where our estate joins the main road. If he's not there, I'm running late, if he's walking up the road, I'm early or he's late!

OneStepMoreFun · 11/12/2018 17:04

@halfwitpicker are you in London? I once knew a school teacher who was the spitting image of Margaret Atwood.

Strokethefurrywall · 11/12/2018 17:55

I only have one now but that's because I live on a Caribbean island and everyone knows EVERYONE!

It used to be Damien, the newspaper guy. He'd stand on the side of the main road by our street selling the local paper to folk in their cars.
Every day I'd pull out, hoot and give a wave. Even the kids would shout "hi Damien!" out the window! We've moved house now so don't see him unless we bump into him in the grocery store.

Now I have "new to exercising" man. I see him speed walking, sometimes in jeans, sometimes in workout gear, down my coast road when I'm coming back from my F45 class at 6.30am.
He's been doing it a couple of months, one day I didn't go to class but went for a 10k run and saw him on my way back, and shouted a very familiar "hi" at him. He looked at me like I was a lunatic.
Sometimes I want to stop the car and tell him I'll wave at him every morning to give him a boost!

halfwitpicker · 11/12/2018 17:58

OneStepMoreFun

Nope. Live in Canada 🍁

(maybe it's the real Margaret Atwood )

Pinkprincess1978 · 11/12/2018 18:05

My husband and kids have 'celebrities' they look for on their journey. There is tattooed leg lady, pink hair lady (who is now blue haired lady) and cowboy. It's a special day if they ever see all 3 in one journey 😂 their descriptions were so good I was able to spot pink hair lady and cowboy when I took them to school one day.

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