Skip to main content
Skip to main navigation
Skip to talk navigation

Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Saved Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Flip

1 2 3

AIBU?

WIBU to have confronted this man?

70 replies

Wannabe2015 · 07/08/2015 19:59

Ok. 7pm. I'm playing with DCs in the sitting room. Out of the window I see a man in running gear stop on the driveway of the house opposite.

He begins 'writing' with his finger on the back of the car on the driveway Every few seconds he stops, looks around, checks to see if anyone is looking.

He finishes writing, turns and sees me looking at him. He stares at me for what seems like ages. I stare back. He then walks down the road.

I come out of my house to see what he has written. He has written 'RIP' and 'on it's last leg'.

I then see him down the road, looking at me. We stare at each other again.

At that moment my DH comes home from work. I tell him about the man and the car. The man is still standing on the road staring so we both go to talk to him.

Man says he is a priest and he knows the old lady who lives in the house very well. He says the writing on the car is a joke.

He won't say where he works or which church he belongs to. He then apologises to us and goes back to the car to wipe off the writing. He also says he's going to apologise to the old lady whose house it is.

Was I being unreasonable and a busy body questioning this guys behaviour?

The lady in the house is v elderly, 90+ and he looked so odd and shifty. Something about the whole thing seemed odd.

So tell me. WIBU?

OP posts:

Report

SmokingGun · 07/08/2015 21:08

Do you know any of your neighbours family? I'm not sure I would want yo tell her directly as it will more than likely terrify her but maybe a family member could make sure her house is secure?

CrapBag · 07/08/2015 21:10

That's awful nota. Your poor brother.

OP that does sound dodgy. His 'reason' is bullshit. Phone 101 and get it logged and if you know the woman, knock on her door with a heads up. At least she could confirm if what he said is right!

TheHouseOnBellSt · 07/08/2015 21:14

Saying he was a priest is weird too! Like he tried to think of someone who had power etc. It sounds well dodgy and I agree about the police.

Jux · 07/08/2015 21:40

OK. I am gathering myself together before I start.....

Nothing particularly wrong with starting with OK, especially in informal gatherings such as this. I wouldn't start a letter to David Cameron like that, but I shouldn't think the op would either. It's a bit gauche to make a fuss about it, isn't it?

Notasinglefuckwasgiven · 07/08/2015 21:54

Thanks. Dtb was fine more worried about his limited edition Nike being gone than his stitches apparently police dealt with loads every weekend. Nobody can give a description or time or place even due to being slipped something. Sadly marking the vulnerable targets is almost the perfect crime. Evil though. The elderly are so vulnerable. Makes me sick.

Wannabe2015 · 07/08/2015 21:57

Update. I spoke to the elderly lady who lives in the house.

The man is indeed a vicar, her vicar in fact. The writing on the car is an in joke and she reassured me that he is 'totally harmless'

He does live where he said he did, just down the road, so I knocked on his door to apologise.

He did seem rather odd, asked alot of questions, invited me in. Something told me to keep my distance so I didn't go in.

But all in all, he is who he said he was and the lady opposite knows him so an apology from me seemed appropriate.

Thanks for the replies. I really felt weirded out by that situation!

OP posts:

milliemanzi · 07/08/2015 22:00

Wow, what an oddball! Glad it turned out to be nothing sinister!

LeftMyRidingCropInTheMortuary · 07/08/2015 22:00

You should report him to the Apostrophe Police if he genuinely wrote "on it's last legs".

Wannabe2015 · 07/08/2015 22:01

The 'Ok' thing. I was writing as I was thinking. Like a pp said, this is an internet chat forum.

It doesn't need to be formal, surely??

OP posts:

Wannabe2015 · 07/08/2015 22:04

'on it's last legs' is a direct quote btw! You pedant you...;-)

OP posts:

Notasinglefuckwasgiven · 07/08/2015 22:05

Glad it was harmless. Still, you did the right thing. Who's to say someone more sinister couldn't have seen it? Or he could have been up to no good. People like yourself who don't turn a blind eye can make a huge difference to the outcome of many horrid situations. I hope word spreads and would be robbers are put off by the reputation of your street being full of watchful types

Stratter5 · 07/08/2015 22:06

Blimey, he really is a priest/vicar? That's almost more bizarre than him being a potential burglar

Wannabe2015 · 07/08/2015 22:07

Thanks Notasinglefuck. Being bored at 7pm on a Friday obviously has its benefits!

OP posts:

LeftMyRidingCropInTheMortuary · 07/08/2015 22:08

High five, Wannabe!

"...its benefits"...gold star to you! :-)

PuppyMonkey · 07/08/2015 22:13

Was he not just a drunk bloke commenting on the crapness of a car?

Maybe

Wannabe2015 · 07/08/2015 22:17

Thanking you RidingCrop. I shall take my gold star and my newly awakened community spirit and place them on my mantlepiece.

MN is so reassuring...I thought I might have become a curtain twitcher.

OP posts:

CrapBag · 07/08/2015 22:17

Wow didn't expect that as an update!

Glad it was nothing more sinister though.

FirstWeTakeManhattan · 07/08/2015 22:20

This is the weirdest thread for a long time. I totally didn't have him down the actual vicar. My money was on marking the house out for a robbery.

That's weirded me out so Lord knows how you feel, OP!

LeftMyRidingCropInTheMortuary · 07/08/2015 22:20

No probs, Wannabe.

No harm in being a curtain-twitcher. Mine practically vibrate these days.

Wannabe2015 · 07/08/2015 22:22

Yes. It all sounds very odd. And indeed it is. Rural village life. Full of weirdos.

OP posts:

Icimoi · 07/08/2015 22:24

I must admit I was going through this thread thinking I don't know, it doesn't look that suspicious to me, he's probably just one of those people who writes things like "clean me" on dirty cars, he probably looked shifty out of embarrassment at being seen. The thread up to the point when OP discovered that the man was genuine is a classic example of MN auto-suggestion.

Wannabe2015 · 07/08/2015 22:26

Like I said, he seemed an odd character. Lives alone, only been vicar for a year, writes on elderly ladies cars. I don't know. Could be a lovely, if eccentric guy. Or, he's an oddball.

OP posts:

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Email address

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

Wannabe2015 · 07/08/2015 22:30

But Icimoi. If you saw someone out for a run stop on the driveway of a woman in her 90's and write RIP on her car, would you not be a bit suspicious?

OP posts:

Griphook · 07/08/2015 22:32

Well done op, glad it turned out ok, he does sound strange, trust your instincts

Wannabe2015 · 07/08/2015 22:33

RidingCrop, if yours vibrate it means you got some proper shit to look at.

How's that grammar? :-D

OP posts:

Flip

1 2 3

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.