What's the strangest thing you've seen...
-
At an air show they had an act where a guy pretends to be a drunken farmer who ends up in a stolen bi-plane weaving down the runway.
He takes off and flies like he was drunk, swerving all over the place. It was a good act.
One time I had to fly tests for a new tower that was being installed at the airport. The flights took several weeks to complete. For one test a guy dressed up as a cow and wandered onto the runway while I was taxiing for takeoff. The guys in the tower didn't know it was a fake cow. I was in on the deception because they didn't want me to smash into him. The guys in the tower spotted the cow and told me to abort my takeoff. The cow was saved.
-
Not that unusual for me, but maybe unusual for civilians: When I was growing up, if we were in the car on base and my father was in uniform, if Retreat sounded, he'd pull over, get out, face the flag and stand at attention and salute through the playing of the music.
-
I once beat the shit out of a Hare Krishna dude at Ohare airport when he tried to grab me. I don't mean I hit him a time or two... I mean I stomped his ass through his shoes..
@larry said in What's the strangest thing you've seen...:
I once beat the shit out of a Hare Krishna dude at Ohare airport when he tried to grab me. I don't mean I hit him a time or two... I mean I stomped his ass through his shoes..
How does one do that without security being called?
-
About 5 years ago Karla, Luke. and I were flying to Florida. This was Luke’s first flight and he was nervous. Our seat reservations were screwed up and they had all three of us separated. The three of us went up to the agent at the gate and I asked about getting my son’s seat assignment moved to be next to me. The agent said “ Sure! Would your daughter like a different seat, too?”
The two of them still laugh about that.
-
I once got stuck overnight at Charlotte, NC, and while wandering around at 2am, came across somebody practicing the trombone inside a closed store. And not just quietly practicing, he was giving it everything.
-
No cool airport stories, one train story.
I was going with some friends from London to meet up with a buddy of ours up in St. Andrews. We took the GNR up there. Long train ride.
About an hour in, this extremely sketch motherfucker comes into our railcar. White guy who looked like he was maybe five days in to being homeless. He kept sitting in different seats and was very amused with himself.
Then the shit started happening.
Whenever someone from the rail car would get up to go to the bathroom, he'd sneak into their seat and steal a few sips of whatever it was they were drinking: tea, water, whatever. But he'd also sit there and act like that passenger, in a weird pantomimey way, until the passenger got back and kicked him out of the seat. This happened a couple of times.
At one point, when it was my turn, he stopped me in the hallway and asked for a cigarette.
"I don't have any, sorry."
He points to my pocket. "Then what's that in your pocket then, eh?"
"...Nothing. It's empty."He points to me, then to my pocket, then back to me, back and forth about eight times. Narrows his eyes. "...Lies." Walks away to sit beside some woman in the back of the car. They seemed to have a nice conversation, watching him talk, but she looked horrified.
A few minutes after I got back to my seat from the bathroom—we were buddy-systeming our stuff, so no, he didn't pantomime me—a cop came in to the car from the front. In the very rear, the guy turns, sees the cop, points to the sky and shouts, "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" and BOOKS IT to the rear of the car.
The first cop was followed up by probably every other one that was on the train. I had no idea there were that many.
When we got off at the station, there was a phalanx of cops who were corralling us exactly where they wanted us to go and were just waiting for their turn to board the train.
So, yeah.
Please love yourself.
-
@horace said in What's the strangest thing you've seen...:
@larry said in What's the strangest thing you've seen...:
I once beat the shit out of a Hare Krishna dude at Ohare airport when he tried to grab me. I don't mean I hit him a time or two... I mean I stomped his ass through his shoes..
How does one do that without security being called?
The cop on duty was an Irish guy. It was the middle of night, not many people in the terminal. I had had coffee with him an hour or so earlier, and he was complaining about the hare Krishna guys and how they would pester the crap out of people, but the minute anyone so much as touched them they'd started yelling for security. He said he was so sick of dealing with them that he would love to see one of them getting the shit beat out of him, and if he ever saw it happen, when they yelled for security he would just turn and go the other way.
So........
-
No cool airport stories, one train story.
I was going with some friends from London to meet up with a buddy of ours up in St. Andrews. We took the GNR up there. Long train ride.
About an hour in, this extremely sketch motherfucker comes into our railcar. White guy who looked like he was maybe five days in to being homeless. He kept sitting in different seats and was very amused with himself.
Then the shit started happening.
Whenever someone from the rail car would get up to go to the bathroom, he'd sneak into their seat and steal a few sips of whatever it was they were drinking: tea, water, whatever. But he'd also sit there and act like that passenger, in a weird pantomimey way, until the passenger got back and kicked him out of the seat. This happened a couple of times.
At one point, when it was my turn, he stopped me in the hallway and asked for a cigarette.
"I don't have any, sorry."
He points to my pocket. "Then what's that in your pocket then, eh?"
"...Nothing. It's empty."He points to me, then to my pocket, then back to me, back and forth about eight times. Narrows his eyes. "...Lies." Walks away to sit beside some woman in the back of the car. They seemed to have a nice conversation, watching him talk, but she looked horrified.
A few minutes after I got back to my seat from the bathroom—we were buddy-systeming our stuff, so no, he didn't pantomime me—a cop came in to the car from the front. In the very rear, the guy turns, sees the cop, points to the sky and shouts, "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" and BOOKS IT to the rear of the car.
The first cop was followed up by probably every other one that was on the train. I had no idea there were that many.
When we got off at the station, there was a phalanx of cops who were corralling us exactly where they wanted us to go and were just waiting for their turn to board the train.
So, yeah.
-
@horace said in What's the strangest thing you've seen...:
@larry said in What's the strangest thing you've seen...:
I once beat the shit out of a Hare Krishna dude at Ohare airport when he tried to grab me. I don't mean I hit him a time or two... I mean I stomped his ass through his shoes..
How does one do that without security being called?
The cop on duty was an Irish guy. It was the middle of night, not many people in the terminal. I had had coffee with him an hour or so earlier, and he was complaining about the hare Krishna guys and how they would pester the crap out of people, but the minute anyone so much as touched them they'd started yelling for security. He said he was so sick of dealing with them that he would love to see one of them getting the shit beat out of him, and if he ever saw it happen, when they yelled for security he would just turn and go the other way.
So........
-
@89th said in What's the strangest thing you've seen...:
@larry What was the guy doing to you that deserved such a brutal beating?
Rude behavior.
Link to video -
@89th said in What's the strangest thing you've seen...:
@larry What was the guy doing to you that deserved such a brutal beating?
I was at a phase in my life where I'd as soon kill you as look at you. There were several of them, surrounding me. According to the cop their MO was to surround and intimidate, ask for money, and if you didn't give them any they'd grab you and then yell for security if you fought back.
One of them made the mistake of grabbing me.
