Little Old Man

~ beetleypete

It was relatively warm, and quite sunny here today.

I took Ollie out for his usual walk, just before 2 pm. I could have got away with wearing shorts, but the mud is still heavy, so I had on trousers, and wellington boots. I felt quite lifted in spirit, during this first day of what could not only pass as Spring, but also perhaps an early Summer.

After the usual couple of circuits of Beetley Meadows, I considered heading into the small woodland area, just for a change. Ollie enjoys it in there, if the mud is not too deep. As I approached the gate, I noticed a family group approaching, with a Labrador dog. Ollie noticed them too, and rushed up to inspect the unfamiliar beige dog. I couldn’t keep up with him, so left him to it. There were no issues, as Ollie jumped around the small dog.

As I got closer, one of the children asked his Mum where the dog had come from. She smiled at the small boy, and answered, “It’s OK, he’s with that little old man”. My first reaction was to turn around, to see who she was talking about.

Then I realised she meant me.

91 thoughts on “Little Old Man”

  2. This actually made me chuckle. I can just imagine you looking around or your face when it dawned on you that it was you she was describing.
    I was seriously disgruntled when my osteopath’s receptionist asked if I wanted to buy some things for my grandchild… Then my wife said think about it… Bloody hell!! I’m old enough to have grandkids. lol.

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    1. In 1999, when I was 47, I went with my then girlfriend and her young son, to buy his first school uniform. (It was for reception class) The lady in the shop sorted him out, then looked at me and asked, “is grandad paying?” 🙂
      Cheers, Pete.

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  3. 🙂 I understand your surprise, but I’m surprised others have seen the mother’s response as rude. After all, why should ‘little’ or ‘old’ or ‘man’ be seen as insults? To me, it’s just a description – like ‘the man in the red hat.’ It did have me pondering what I would have said to my own children in such a situation, though, and I think it probably would have been ‘that gentleman’. I guess that is the ‘polite’ form, but I can’t say I have ever thought of it as such.

    I usually get ‘Why is that lady on one of those?’ (referring to the mobility scooter). To which I have sometimes replied myself, rather than watch the poor parent squirm in embarrassment…

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    1. As I said in some replies, it was just a description, and I am sure it was not intended to be rude, although also not intended for me to hear, I suspect. It didn’t bother me at all, as i regard most people in their 30s to still be very juvenile these days. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. Thank you Pete, for all the best entertaining and information. Yes , i am sure we will see silver and white hair on next Style Exhibition. Here honorgreenwood.wordpress.com, a Tweener shows whats going on this ways in the UK. Best wishes too. Michael

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      2. Thank you Pete, for all the best entertaining and information. Yes , i am sure we will see silver and white hair on next Style Exhibition. Here honorgreenwood.wordpress.com, a Tween shows whats going on this ways in the UK. The rest of Europe is always a little bit in the past. 😉 Best wishes too. Michael

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      1. Lmao! 😂😂😂 In the South it wouldn’t be okay to punch her unless you were a woman. We have those old school beliefs still and I have to be honest In still even yell at my boys to never hit a girl/lady no matter what she does. I am very open minded so now that I think about it that is pretty closed minded of me!😰 We still have those old school chivalry things where a man should stick up for a lady, not talk certain ways in front of a lady and men here stand if they are sitting down when a woman approaches the table and wait until she sits down to sit down or pulls her chair out for her and then is allowed to sit down. Is that a southern thing?

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        1. It’s a ‘good manners’ thing that should be the norm, but has fallen out of use. Good to hear that it is still one of those Southern things. 🙂 x
          Best wishes, Pete. x

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  8. Well, I suppose that is a bit of a shocker. I get comments the other way “Why did you send that little blonde girl – we expect grey hairs”. They soon change their minds but it is always a struggle in the beginning.

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  9. Glad you took it on the chin, made me laugh, although I fear I have it to come soon enough 🙂 Over here the term is dziadek translated to granddad, even if you don’t have grand children! Mind if I get that far then I truly will be old.

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  12. Well, imagine my surprise when a young guy in the Barcelona underground stood up to let me sit! (Double surprise: that somebody would do that, although, to be fair, some people do, and the other that he thought I was old enough to need to rest my weary bones). I usually don’t sit when I travel by underground unless it is completely empty and it’s a long trip (or I really need to rest my weary bones). It is a matter of perspective indeed. One of the nurses where I used to work (a male nurse, quite short) used to call me “little doctor”. I’ve never considered myself short or petite (and both even less). Lovely man, so I decided he could have called me much worse…

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    1. ‘Little Doctor’ sounds affectionate indeed. ‘Little Old Man’ is just a description, and there was nothing nasty intended, I suspect. I remember the first time someone offered me a seat on a bus. It was in 2000, and I was 48. I was so surprised, I took the seat, not wanting to appear churlish. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. It’s all relative I suppose. When I was 30-something, I would have just said “that man”. But people in their 30s seem to me to act a lot younger these days, so are not so mature.
      Cheers, Pete.

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  17. A delightful story! It reminded me of an event at a campground where my wife and I go often, even in winter, if the snow is not high. I had to clear the road that had been blocked by a fallen tree. So I used a chainsaw and was proud of having done my good deed for the day, until I read on a FaceBook post that ‘there was an ELDERLY couple who left quite a mess at our campground’. Needless to say we did not reply to avoid identification.

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    1. I was first described as ‘elderly’ when I was 48. There were a couple of us called Pete where I worked, and someone on the phone asked to speak to the ‘elderly one’. I was actually two years younger than the other one! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  20. well, now . . .I always tell my students, that it is not shameful or lesser to be old. In fact it should be considered an honored season. I believe that-however, now I am in my very late fifties and it feels odd for me to be considered old. I am sure you felt odd too- maybe? We must own who we are with pride, I think. It really is ok to be older. We have skill now and know more than we used too. Let us both make the most of this season without all the restrictions and confinements of our youth. . .mainly ignorance-haha! and this old lady is fond of you just the way you are.

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    1. Thanks for your kind words, Michele. I recall when I was around 18, and some very small boys asked me the time. They said “Do you know the time please, Mister?” That made me feel very grown up back then. It’s all relative, I suppose.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. Yup, it is all relative, my 63-yr-old friend felt like a spring chicken this past weekend when he went to a rugby match with his 90-yr-old friend — to everyone else they’re both ‘senior’ 😉 😉

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  27. Maybe the young mum forgot her glasses?! Regardless, it was not a good example for the children. 😐 But I’m glad to hear the weather has finally turned for you. Enjoy it while you can. 😎 We’ve got cold and rain here this week..

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          1. Well, as it happens, Pete, we have two. There’s Black labs which some have been bred to be brownish and are then called Chocolate labs. And Yellow ones which can be very pale, almost white, but only if they’re dark enough to be basically orange are they known as Fox-Reds. 🙂

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          1. In the sticks, yes. One of the few breeds still used as working dogs, if you have a lot of game bird shooting about it’ll be spaniels and labs retrieving. A second branch of the breed is strictly for show – Crufts and stuff. These tend to run to fat, greedy perishers. More than once ours has disappeared through a stranger’s open kitchen door on our walks. We have to follow in, red faced. Our other is a working breed, lots of energy, like a box of coiled springs, can chase a ball all day long. We can’t take him anywhere near a football match.

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    1. She said it very softly, and with no apparent malice or disrespect. Maybe she thought it was a nice thing to say, I’m not sure. I suspect she was over 30, so around half my age. If I live long enough, I will seek her out one day, and refer to her as a little old woman. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. I suspect she didn’t think I could hear her, John. And over here, describing someone that way is not considered to be unacceptable. But it was a shock that a woman perhaps half my age should see me in that way.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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