It's not what you think

When I walk Charlie in the morning, he always gets to pick the route at the end of our road. If he turns left, that means we are off to the park; if he turns right, it's "Hello, Mr factory worker" as we wind our way through the industrial estate at the other end of town. The first part of the walk to the Ind Est takes us past houses on a bit of the main road. A couple of years ago, I noticed a woman with a child in a pushchair frantically banging on a front door and then trying the door handle. My first thoughts were: "Oh dear, whoever lives there is either not in or is pretending not to be in?" a few days later, the same scene played out to Charlie and me; there she was, banging and trying the door. "That's terrible! I wonder if that's an ex-partner or something? Maybe the poor woman needs money for the kid, and that's why they're not answering?" The following week, there she was again. Yanking at the door handle and then rapping her knuckles on the panel. "I'm not having this! If I see that poor woman again, I'm going over there and clouting that door so hard the arsehole the other side will crap themselves!" This continued for a couple of weeks while I built up enough annoyance to not care if the homeowner called the rozzers.

Then, one day, I saw her leaving the property! She turned as she closed the front door and promptly started banging on it and trying the handle. "Oh, hang on a minute. Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" The penny dropped; clearly, the poor woman was locked in an obsessive behaviour routine. "Well, that could have been embarrassing?" What a sad situation to be locked in, unable to leave the house without spending five or ten minutes going over and over the same routine. Doubly distressing is the fact her child will soon be of an age whereby it will start to wonder what on earth is going on. Children have very little understanding of the world as it is. I just hope that Charlie and I don't pass one day to see the poor woman's offspring screaming at her, "COME ON! LET'S GO!"

My actual name is Pete. Here is why I have the username dickturpin.

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