Who is your "on the way to work" buddy

[cjt110]

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.

I have man who cleans the floor in Tesco. Every morning he kindly warns me to be careful. We always say good morning now 😊

Office down the road guy
He must live somewhere close by. Takes the same bus as myself every morning from the same stop, gets off at the same stop as me, too. He seems to work two office buildings down from where I'm based. We're on head-nodding terms.

There was a similar thread quite a while ago and I remember a pp saying that her and her DC waved at a man every day and at Christmas they held up a sign in their car saying "merry Christmas BMW MAN" and he wore a Santa hat the next day. Was brilliant!

@goforkyourself yes!!!!!

@goforkyourself wow. This will teach me to Rtft!

When I worked at the local school, I used to meet (in order) the swimming instructor with his staffie; friendly old couple with Jack Russell; man in overcoat who always looked like he was walking faster than was comfortable for him, then lady with big fleece and walking stick when I got to the canal bridge. I’d set off early because I used to chat the the couple with the JRT. A quick hello, how are you? To the SI, a hello in passing to walking quickly man, but the lady on the bridge was a hard one to crack. I’d almost sing good morning, but didn’t get an answer for about a year. Then one day I mentioned that the path was icy further down, so to be careful. We always spoke after that, in fact I had to set off even earlier to factor in our chat .

Now I drive and my commute is boring.

I have 10 to 2 man. Very short, very cheery man with a huge smile, in building gear and a hi-viz jacket who wears a woolly beanie hat in ALL weather. He also whistles as he walks along. Always says morning in such a sing song voice it makes me smile every day. My youngest is 16 and now at secondary, but we used to walk past him on the way to Primary School every day and I still walk that way every day.
My so.ln names his 10 to 2 man because he walks with his feet out at 10 to 2 angle!

I walk 2 miles to work every morning and always see chain smoking man, cold feet man ( never wears socks), vet lady, angry teenage girl (always shouting on her mobile), grumpy woman, and happy teen boy. I worry about them if I don't see them one day and I'm always relieved when they're back the next! Happy teen boy has recently started smiling and nodding when we pass each other.

Man waking his two fluffy Lassie dogs. One of them has a tendency to go rogue and head into the trees while he waits with the other dog looking . He often says hello.
Man in Sainsburys who has been there for years and even says hello if he sees me outside of work.

I see the exact same people at the exact same time everyday. Feels like I'm living in the Truman Show.

It's odd to think that you're also part of many strangers' morning tapestry.

I don’t work (I’m one of those lazy ass SAHMs to school age DC) and go out for a walk or run along a path near my house most days. I don’t always go out at the same time and the distance I go varies (sometimes only walking for about an hour, other days walking for 2-3 hours, other days just going for a 30min run), yet I see “Ronnie” every single day.

Ronnie is a man in his late 60s (I think) who reminds me of my friend’s dad - hence the name Ronnie. He always wears the same blue coat no matter the weather, and walks a big dog who is so calm and controlled. (This stands out as many/most of the dogs along that path are neither of those things.) I always have headphones in but he always smiles and says hello. I have wondered for years how I always pass him despite going out at different times each day. I usually see him within an hour’s walk of my house, but have never seen him anywhere but the path. (Again - unusual - most people you also bump into in the shops/town at some point.)

Last year DH was ill and I had about 6m when I wasn’t out walking/running as I was at home caring for DH. When I started again at the beginning of this year Ronnie was still there just like nothing had changed and it made me tear up for the normality of it all. After about a week of me being back into my routine he signalled for me to stop and when I took my headphones out he told me he was glad to see me back as he’d thought I’d moved away as he hadn’t seen me for so long. (The ridiculous thing is that one day DH and I were out walking together and I pointed out Ronnie to him and he said that he looks nothing like my friend’s dad and was totally not the doppelgänger he was expecting.)

I also discovered that DH and I were someone’s “commute” buddies last year. As part of his treatment DH had daily radiotherapy for 7 weeks and we made the commitment to walk to the hospital every day except for chemo days. So Tue-Fri for 7 weeks we walked from our house to the hospital which is about a 30min walk. (Although that became a 45min walk by the end of treatment due to DH’s failing energy levels) Anyway - we always saw the same patients in the hospital as most people’s appointments were at the same time every day and there was 1 gentleman who was on a 5 week treatment plan which started two weeks after DH’s.

On the last day of treatment for both of them, after 5 weeks of saying hello every morning, he told us that he set his watch by us each morning. It turns out that he lives a couple of streets up from us and he saw us walking past his window every morning at the same time and wondered where we were going. When he started his treatment he realised we were heading to the hospital and started to watch out for us - he said that once we walked past his house he knew it was time to get ready to leave as by the time he got his car out, drove to the hospital and found an elusive parking space, he’d arrive at the same time as us and be on time for his appointment. Never found out his name and have never seen him since as I would rarely walk that street anymore and don’t actually know which house is his, but it makes me smile to think of him.

Lollipop lady
And grey fiat 500 lady who does pretty much the same commute as me but the opposite direction 😂 pass her morning and evening!

A salvation army man with a walking stick. He looks just like my late grandad. I always want to ask him if he's related.

Forrest Gump lookalike. He walks purposefully towards the direction I am leaving and seems to walk miles. Sometimes he has a beard, sometimes clean shaved.

Several high school kids in blazers going to a particular bus stop - who definitely need a coat!

Lollipop man who waved at me for years even when I changed cars. I went off sick, came back, then he was gone :-(

Chloe Evans. Whose personalised number suggests this is her name We are behind her quite frequently and my daughter and I are so invested in spotting her now!

Also, my DP’s daughter on a Friday, walking to school as we drive past. I was worried I’d embarrass her if I beeped and waved (just started comp) but her and all her mates wave enthusiastically.

There used to be lollipop man, who smokes roll ups, has very few teeth and is so enthusiastic about his job. The smiliest waviest man ever! Although since I’ve changed my distinctive car we don’t get so many waves

There’s cleaning lady, who has a cute lilac compact VW camper - if you don’t see her we’re late! I recently discovered that she’s my DP’s ‘on the way to work buddy too’!

There’s also two ginger sisters who stand at the bus stop. They must be around 14-15, but look a lot older, and are two of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen. They both could easily have just stepped off a film set.

And there’s Golden Labrador man with his paper. We don’t interact, only pass him, but I haven’t seen him for a few weeks and I’m worried about him!

And also Goth Parents. He’s really tall and she’s really short. Always dressed in black and leather.

And blonde big hair woman at another bus stop where I turn right. It always takes ages as the road is really busy. I must be her on the watch to work buddy, because after a year or so of just clocking each other, we’ve now started to wave

I have loads!! I love this thread!

I have a few

Bus stop man, a very polite man who insists I get on the bus first, every day, even if he was there first. I have tried a few times to refuse and insist he boards before me but he isn’t having it. I see him in the local pub sometimes and we do that awkward hello, mini wave thing but have never actually had a conversation.

Bag lady, whenever I see her she has at least 3 bags. A rucksack, large shoulder bag and smaller cross body bag. Usually another carrier or tote as well.

Tense couple, they travel in to work together but always look like they are on the verge of an argument. She is very terse, but it’s all done in whispers. He looks quite scared of her.

Mobile phone lady, in 10 years of commuting I have never seen her without her phone in her hand. She has very loud conversations with someone at 0630. I avoid her carriage.

Biker man, typical Harley Davidson rider complete with long grey beard. See him most mornings,he now waves at me.

Fast walking dog man, walks his dog in the morning but at super quick speed. Wears shorts and wellies in all weathers.

Fast man. On a bike, all wiry and going full pelt not wearing enough for the weather, we were fond of him and had a theory he never stops, till we crossed the road way in front of him and he proper snarled at us. Plus we were close enough to see he can't blow his nose.

Loving these.
I wonder if anyone will recognise themselves as being someone else's commute buddy

Old Coffee Shop Man
He's there every morning I am (I think he goes every day)
He's 84 and we have now moved on to having a chat.
Dapper Man
He's a retired guy too who is always waiting outside the same caff every morning for them to open. He is dressed in the finest vintage clothes, often with a pocket watch and sometimes spats and he has brylcreemed hair

This is the sweetest thread

There's a park where I live and a school at either end, so I walk past a mum with blue coat whose son goes to the other a school as I walk to pick my DC up, we smile.

And a mum who pushes a buggy and always has sunglasses on and everything is the latest trend, e.g golden goose trainer, gymshark leggings etc.., she looks like a WAG, on the way back we pass each other again and her daughter's always on a different scooter/bike/wheelies and is yelling at her mum about what she wants her to buy her next. We never say hello as she puts her head in the air as she goes by.

Also an irish traveller family who live in the house near the school, the dad is always stood outside and cheerily says hello.

Lovely taxi man who stops and gives me a free lift when he sees me, as he picks up the next door neighbour to my workplace every morning, he's lovely.

Two guys who are probably in their 70s, they meet every morning to walk to the local petrol station to buy their newspapers. I worry if I don’t see one of them! They always look like they’re having a lovely chat.

There’s also 4 Dogs, a guy with 4 dogs of various breeds. Sometimes he stops to chat to Paper Guys.

I also pass a bus stop with the surly teens. There are 5 or 6 teens, all in the same uniform, waiting for their bus, but they refuse to stand near each other and all leave a minimum 2 metre gap between the next teen and refuse to interact in any way.

I was late this morning... lollipop man was stood at the bus stop... Oh the shame

I had a number of commuting companions over a period of 27 years travelling by train into London. People came and went, or their routines changed, and I always found it easy to make new friends, reserved though we Brits are. One particular companion, however, became more than that and the relationship came to an end when she moved to London, a move her father had been urging her to make for some time mainly so that he had a convenient base for his frequent visits to London.