Interesting Day... Or, maybe, just modern life...

Since moving out into the countryside I visit big towns less and less...

But today I needed to go into Ipswich to sort some financials... So I park the Buell near the town centre...

I had only just gotten of the bike when a young, teenage, girl with black and purple hair just shouted out... I'm going to get my bike license...

Now, for whatever reason, people seem to find me... I was "Uncle Paul" as a teenager and, in reality, that has not changed... I am not saying that the weirdos make a bee line for me but... sometimes it feels like it..

Anyhoo.... Teenager talking ten to the dozen with an ever increasing pitch... and at first I wondered why me... But I continued to listen as it felt the right thing to do...

Got the whole "bike - ex boyfriend - life sucks" thing, alone with some intelligent thoughts on being a passenger... And I explained about chicken strips being a simple way of seeing who's bike you want to be on the back off if there's a choice...

But it was time for my usual "ask a question out of context to the theme" tactics to see what was really going on..

"What colour is your front door" I asked... and she just stopped... for about 5 seconds... "What, Green, Why" she said in a now normal level voice...

The answer is immaterial to the question... Its the time it takes to answer and the facial expression that holds the truth... not whether they know the answer or not...

And to be honest I just got a nervous/lonely sort of vibe... nothing drug related or about to cost me money...

So... We end up talking for quite a while and I hope it helped how she felt about herself.. I know full well that if someone calls you worthless they're the idiot buy if you call yourself worthless then you're the idiot...

It was also funny watching the faces of people walking by with that "nothing to do with me" look as the young girls voice did get very shrill at times...

It was notable though how her voice levelled out and her face lit up when talking about the ballroom dancing lesson she had recently had... and how it deepened and her face darken when talking about her problems and social workers...

But the real interesting thing was when three other young girls walked toward us and one shouted out her name... Walking up to us from a corner about 50 meters away they could obviously see we were talking..

All three totally ignored me... they started talking to each other like I did not exist.... RUDE... one even moved so that her back was towards me... If that's what kids do these days then I am sorry for the world...

It decades since I was that young but you acknowledged people... If you see someone you don't know talking to someone you do...you say Hi or OK... something... not just put your back to people...

To old to care so I just walked forward and said "Hi my name is Paul, love the arrogance of your indifference"

To my amazement... utter silence... don't suppose they even understood what I had said... So I turned to the young girl and said "Thank you for the conversation and if you do get the chance to ride a bike off road before going on road, do it... you will, just, learn so much more"

The shortest of the three girls was still standing there with her mouth open as I walked off...

And yes I am aware of how wrong that might have gone in our stupid PC world...

Anyhoo... I walk up town... do me bits and head into Holland and Barrett...

Walk to the till, where there are three ladies sampling various "non alcoholic" wines...

Quite a conversation going on between these three... they're buying multiples of "three for a tenner" and the poor assistant is running about for extra stock...

Two were mid thirties and one elder lady who walked over to me as apologised for making me wait for the only till and then grabbed my arm launching straight into "my new partner, my husband died, was masturbating in bed and wanted the phone..." and she found it funny because by the time it took to find and hand it to him he no longer needed it...

what....WHAT... now that's weird... even for me...

So modern life... glad I'm out of it... Teenagers who are so self involved no one else exists.. and pensioners with boundary issues...

Maybe it's just normal for Ipswich these days...

Least the sun was shining and the roads were dry... Back roads for the way home 😎 ...