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The Colourful Characters of Waterford

thewhale

Hello everyone, this is my first post to Boards :-) Ive just been reading over previous posts and was pondering on the characters that have graced these streets in the past, and such an abundance of characters there 'have been', but what i'm trying to think of the characters 'that are'... I'm sure this town has an abunance of them, and i am not talking about the obvious men (and occaisional women) that are down on there luck and taken to the drink, im talking about those colourful characters that maybe have been working in the same place for 40 years or have the same routine everyday or just have tall tales to tell, there is no stereotype on these people, they are who they are. They are the characters that are the backbone of this beautiful city. Forgive me if this has been done before, but if not give them a mention and maybe tell a story, their story, or your story... or anything at all, use it as a celebration of the people of Waterford.

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Wanderer2010

Is this Indian or Fiji guy people keep mentioning the same guy who drinks cans around the corner from Spar in barracks street??

jimbojazz

PTH2009 wrote: »

He actually has an English accent, Seems to be here for years

Another local legend is the guy with the glasses and long hair. He worked for the corporation. Reminded me of Garth from Wayne's World ha

Wolfie

Wanderer78

jimbojazz wrote:

Wolfie

Lovely chap apparently

jimbojazz

Flow Motion wrote: »

Joey is as about as distantly removed from Joey le Blanc as you could get !! :pac:
Joey leBlanc still lives in Waterford. Someone told me he now lives in a supervised house somewhere out by Earlscourt. I actually saw him not so long ago by the Ardkeen Shopping Centre.
Originally he lived down in the Doyle Street area. A lot of the kids used to give him a hard time slagging him off and he'd chase them away. Archetypal scarey man chasing kids. Dont know his background but he more than likely had some kind of mental/social issues. Back in the 1980's the GP would not have been so sympathetic when it came to caring for such individuals. Perhaps thats why there was a large number of these characters in the town. In the general Ballybricken/Barrack St area alone you could encounter Martin Hunt with his hurley, Eddie Batt (bad luck charm), Joey leBlanc and Mad Tex and his dogs. A veritable gang of Marvel Superheros down on their luck:pac:

There was a post from his family on this or another thread a while back, asking people not to post about him, so might be advised not to out of respect for him and his family

jimbojazz

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Lovely chap apparently

Other than being a Chelsea fan

:D:D

jimbojazz

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

I have seen him! And he could be anywhere, but you are most likely to find him smiling away walking around that loop of Grange Manor, Tesco Ardkeen, and back down past the Uluru and down St Alophonsus Road...

I thought he was a solicitor when I first saw him. Seems a harmless character and the walking keeps him very fit and active I imagine.

Nope, don't know his name, but he worked in a local paint shop beside Darrers when I was younger

jimbojazz

Deleted User wrote: »

Monica that used to loiter around Sallypark.

You'd think Waterford had won an All-Ireland with all the horns tooting.

Saw Monica sitting on the low road barriers in Kilmeaden one day, put it this way, I got a view that has stuck me since that day, not in a good way

Motivator

PTH2009 wrote: »

Another local legend is the guy with the glasses and long hair. He worked for the corporation. Reminded me of Garth from Wayne's World ha

Shapo! Shapes O’Mahony. He used to work for the corporation and travelled all over the place following Chelsea and Ireland away games. He’s a wicked nice fella, always see him cycling the ring road nowadays.

PTH2009

Motivator wrote: »

Shapo! Shapes O’Mahony. He used to work for the corporation and travelled all over the place following Chelsea and Ireland away games. He’s a wicked nice fella, always see him cycling the ring road nowadays.

freaky passed him earlier in Barrack Street

Waterford is such a small place

mooseknunkle

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Is this Indian or Fiji guy people keep mentioning the same guy who drinks cans around the corner from Spar in barracks street??

Yeah thats Davy

mooseknunkle

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Poor woman, passed her cycling to work one very icy winters morning, thought she was a myth, but oh no.....

Go way outa it wanderer id say you had her up on the handlebars

Wanderer2010

mooseknunkle wrote: »

Yeah thats Davy

I see him each Christmas too when they are handing out the dinners for the people in need in St Josephs school.

On the subject of characters, I distinctly remember a guy in the past few years or so with a shaved head and always wore his jeans waaay too short, he was a thin guy and was often seen drinking cans in the Ballybricken Green. Unlike the heart of the others mentioned on this thread, i sense very strongly this was one of the bad guys, he had a very unnerving and menacing vibe to him. Apparently he was a thorn in the side of the local Guards.
I havent seen him in a long while now, maybe he was moved on...

tombliboo83

What ever happened to the old chap "elvis"? Haven't seen him in about 20 years. Also, what ever happened to Monica?

Mysterypunter

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

I see him each Christmas too when they are handing out the dinners for the people in need in St Josephs school.

On the subject of characters, I distinctly remember a guy in the past few years or so with a shaved head and always wore his jeans waaay too short, he was a thin guy and was often seen drinking cans in the Ballybricken Green. Unlike the heart of the others mentioned on this thread, i sense very strongly this was one of the bad guys, he had a very unnerving and menacing vibe to him. Apparently he was a thorn in the side of the local Guards.
I havent seen him in a long while now, maybe he was moved on...

3 dog, the Keatings are a family of local characters, James always has 2 months to live, but it's a long 2 months. 3 dog went to a treatment centre and has found religion. It was either that or the nick for a few years. Thinks he's a hard man, but he is only the little boy who never grew up, all his problems are someone else's fault. He's a lunatic, but he's our lunatic.

Wanderer78

jimbojazz wrote:

Other than being a Chelsea fan

Now that's just unforgivable, he's off my santie list

mooseknunkle wrote:

Go way outa it wanderer id say you had her up on the handlebars

......and she loved it.....

Wanderer78

Mysterypunter wrote:

3 dog, the Keatings are a family of local characters, James always has 2 months to live, but it's a long 2 months. 3 dog went to a treatment centre and has found religion. It was either that or the nick for a few years. Thinks he's a hard man, but he is only the little boy who never grew up, all his problems are someone else's fault. He's a lunatic, but he's our lunatic.

Ah you d find a lot of those lads would have complex disorders underneath it all, that were probably never diagnosed or treated, over time, it just leads to more and more dysfunction, it gets messy

friendlyfun

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

I see him each Christmas too when they are handing out the dinners for the people in need in St Josephs school.

On the subject of characters, I distinctly remember a guy in the past few years or so with a shaved head and always wore his jeans waaay too short, he was a thin guy and was often seen drinking cans in the Ballybricken Green. Unlike the heart of the others mentioned on this thread, i sense very strongly this was one of the bad guys, he had a very unnerving and menacing vibe to him. Apparently he was a thorn in the side of the local Guards.
I havent seen him in a long while now, maybe he was moved on...

Ah yeah the skinhead. He was we one of the bad skinheads. Really menacing fella, you'd often see him drinking cans on the quay. Fella was about 6'5 I'd say. Haven't seen him around in a while

Mysterypunter

friendlyfun wrote: »

Ah yeah the skinhead. He was we one of the bad skinheads. Really menacing fella, you'd often see him drinking cans on the quay. Fella was about 6'5 I'd say. Haven't seen him around in a while

The skinhead is Dougie, he is grand, a private man, I know his story and its surprising but nothing bad, I'm not going to talk about him here because like I said he's a private man. He's still around, and absolutely grand, no legal issues or anything. 3 dog as I said is the man for legal troubles, but anyone who thinks Dougie is menacing are probably judging him on appearance.

Wanderer78

Mysterypunter wrote: »

The skinhead is Dougie, he is grand, a private man, I know his story and its surprising but nothing bad, I'm not going to talk about him here because like I said he's a private man. He's still around, and absolutely grand, no legal issues or anything. 3 dog as I said is the man for legal troubles, but anyone who thinks Dougie is menacing are probably judging him on appearance.

fairly sure ive met dougie before, its all appearances as far as i can see, id say hes more menacing looking than anything, but not much bite

Motivator

Mysterypunter wrote: »

The skinhead is Dougie, he is grand, a private man, I know his story and its surprising but nothing bad, I'm not going to talk about him here because like I said he's a private man. He's still around, and absolutely grand, no legal issues or anything. 3 dog as I said is the man for legal troubles, but anyone who thinks Dougie is menacing are probably judging him on appearance.

Wouldn’t entirely agree with you there. He’s a bit of a headbanger and wouldn’t feel too comfortable around him. My wife came across him and his pals when it was dark one evening and they frightened the life out of her. Very aggressive and calculating guy.

Wanderer2010

Motivator wrote: »

Wouldn’t entirely agree with you there. He’s a bit of a headbanger and wouldn’t feel too comfortable around him. My wife came across him and his pals when it was dark one evening and they frightened the life out of her. Very aggressive and calculating guy.

Yeah id have to add my agreement there. I met him down in the park one day and you just know the people who have a bad vibe around them. He has it in spades. Even the way he looks at you its like he wants to cut you open. Plus im suprised he seems to be Irish. He looks German to me!

vriesmays

smellyoldboot wrote: »

Lovely chap Davy but a nuisance with drink in him. I don't blame him for the way he is, he had an awful early life, let's just say the Ireland of a generation ago did serious damage to a lot of young people. I'd say there's plenty of the other poor divils like him with similar tales.

What happened to Davy Singh in Waterford? He used to hang around the arcade where Supermacs is.

friendlyfun

vriesmays wrote: »

What happened to Davy Singh in Waterford? He used to hang around the arcade where Supermacs is.

I saw him on Ballybricken yesterday with a cowboy hat. Looked in good spirits.

friendlyfun

Who is the fella who used to swim across the river every morning? I saw a lad running down the park road in is underpants one day looked like he was back from a swim hah

Motivator

friendlyfun wrote: »

I saw him on Ballybricken yesterday with a cowboy hat. Looked in good spirits.

Davy is harmless but he is a bit of a nuisance. There wouldn’t be any bad in him but I can understand people having a few run ins with him etc.

I recall he was stabbed or had his throat cut even by a horrible little bastard about a decade ago but thankfully recovered well.

Rustyman101

friendlyfun wrote: »

Who is the fella who used to swim across the river every morning? I saw a lad running down the park road in is underpants one day looked like he was back from a swim hah

if i remember he was a German lad, some swimmer, clothes left by the brewery over the river and land back upstream by the foundry, used to be a spate of calls until people figured out he was only in for a swim.

vriesmays

Motivator wrote: »

Davy is harmless but he is a bit of a nuisance. There wouldn’t be any bad in him but I can understand people having a few run ins with him etc.

I recall he was stabbed or had his throat cut even by a horrible little bastard about a decade ago but thankfully recovered well.

Was it a racist attack.

smellyoldboot

vriesmays wrote: »

Was it a racist attack.

No just a nasty little bollix being a nasty little bollix. Some of these lads haven't enough brains to actively be a racist.

Dan133269

Flow Motion wrote: »

Joey is as about as distantly removed from Joey le Blanc as you could get !! :pac:
Joey leBlanc still lives in Waterford. Someone told me he now lives in a supervised house somewhere out by Earlscourt. I actually saw him not so long ago by the Ardkeen Shopping Centre.
Originally he lived down in the Doyle Street area. A lot of the kids used to give him a hard time slagging him off and he'd chase them away. Archetypal scarey man chasing kids. Dont know his background but he more than likely had some kind of mental/social issues. Back in the 1980's the GP would not have been so sympathetic when it came to caring for such individuals. Perhaps thats why there was a large number of these characters in the town. In the general Ballybricken/Barrack St area alone you could encounter Martin Hunt with his hurley, Eddie Batt (bad luck charm), Joey leBlanc and Mad Tex and his dogs. A veritable gang of Marvel Superheros down on their luck:pac:

Eddie Batt, there's a name I was wondering if someone was going to mention. I think a lot of the younger crowd may never have even heard of him, but the whole town knew his name years ago.

I'm very curious to find out what his story is and why he was considered so unlucky. Regardless of whether he was unlucky, the poor fella must have had a pretty bad time of it trying to go about his daily business. I remember when we were kids, young fellas would shout "there's Eddie Batt" and everyone would run away from him as fast as they could like he was a leper, as if you could catch his misfortune from simply being close to him.

Someone told me that when he used to walk into the bookies some people would throw their dockets on the ground as they would think that the mere sight of him would mean their horse wouldn't win. Crazy when you think about it.

91wx763

Dan133269 wrote: »

Eddie Batt, there's a name I was wondering if someone was going to mention. I think a lot of the younger crowd may never have even heard of him, but the whole town knew his name years ago.

I'm very curious to find out what his story is and why he was considered so unlucky. Regardless of whether he was unlucky, the poor fella must have had a pretty bad time of it trying to go about his daily business. I remember when we were kids, young fellas would shout "there's Eddie Batt" and everyone would run away from him as fast as they could like he was a leper, as if you could catch his misfortune from simply being close to him.

Someone told me that when he used to walk into the bookies some people would throw their dockets on the ground as they would think that the mere sight of him would mean their horse wouldn't win. Crazy when you think about it.

The proper Eddie Batt bad luck horse docket story went along the lines of one day a bloke went to the bookies in Barrack Street and put on his bet. As bad luck would have it he met Eddie in the street and went to screw up the docket but he said hang on it can't always be true. Back in the pub he watched all the horses win !!!

He went back to the bookies and drew the winnings.

And then got knocked down by a car at the corner of the Mayors Walk !!!!!