“Old Man! Old Man!”

~ beetleypete

As I was finishing the walk with Ollie yesterday, I was heading past the small playground on Beetley Meadows in the direction of one of the exits.

Two young mums were sitting on a bench inside, watching their children playing on the swings, roundabout, and climbing frame. The children were aged around four and five, and very noisy. Ollie was trailing behind me, sniffing and marking the rows of shrubs along the wooden fences of the houses that back onto the playing field.

Just as I got past the playground’s wire fence, a little boy shouted out to me at the top of his lungs.

“Old man! Old man!”

I turned to see him up at the fence, obviously wanting to say something to me. So I smiled at him, and walked back.

“What is it?”, I asked him. He pointed at Ollie. “I like your dog”. I grinned, and asked him a question.

“How did you know my name?”

He didn’t get it, but his mum smiled.

64 thoughts on ““Old Man! Old Man!””

  4. Nice, in north India, anyone married is Aunty, anyone above 20 is Aunty, and anyone with a single white hair is Amma (old woman) 😀 I fall in all these categories…it is just who can see the whites hidden beneath the layer of Mehendi color.

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  5. Aww nice story! You’re sweet Pete 😘

    Reminds me of the time (going back quite a while I’m sorry to say) a bunch of teenagers on bikes and skateboards went past me and one of them said “careful there’s a lady standing there” – very nice of them to be so polite of course, but it struck me that they saw me as a ‘lady’ when I still saw myself as a ‘girl’ if that makes sense! I’ve never forgotten it!!! And like I say, this was quite a while ago !!!

    Take care xxx

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    1. When I was 17, two young boys came up to me and asked, “Excuse me, mister, have you got the time please?” That was the first time I remember being addressed as an ‘adult’ by children. A while back on Beetley Meadows, a little girl asked me why I dye my hair white! 🙂
      As ever, Pete. XXX

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  10. Children just love to embarrass their mothers by making these sorts of remarks. Gregory once, at the age of three, pointed at a strange woman’s face and asked what the rather large mole on her face was. I nearly died and gave him a big lesson on not making comments about people.

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  16. This made me chuckle, Pete. It is so easy for some people to get offended so I am glad you took it for what it was. I have learned that children Speak so matter of factly with no ill intentions. I’m sure they loved Ollie.

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