Crazy stories from your past that nobody believes!

I found a letter in a bottle from America. Wrote back and over to the man who sent it and his wife for almost 15 years until they both died. Do have some regrets about how things sort of fizzled out towards the end, but it was amazing all the same.

Quantum Baloney wrote: »

That is very interesting. Can you say any more about the relationship?

Of course, what do you want to know?

I was about 7 years old, with my mum and a friend on the beach. My mum was walking along kicking the bottle for a while before she realised what was in it. I think we told the local press, but they weren't interested because we didn't keep the bottle. Had smashed it up there and then in the frenzied efforts to get the letter out, bad move in hindsight.

The guy had been an engineer on various ships and was volunteering on a retired WW2 ship at the time he threw the bottle over. We found it exactly 1 year and 1 day later. I took the letter into school and wrote a reply and it went from there (wouldn't take any help from the teacher, I remember!). We wrote letters a few times a year. They used to send me dollars, prayer books and cards and things for birthdays and Christmas. I sent photographs and life updates, and for want of a better present, an Ireland calendar every Christmas. I don't think I appreciated the relationship enough, especially during my teenage years.

We actually got to meet friends of theirs who had lived in Northern Ireland and arranged to visit where the bottle was found on one of their (rare) trips home. They stopped at a B&B one night on the journey from Shannon airport, the owner was reluctant to take any guests that particular night, but took them in. He asked them where they were going and they told him about the letter and how they were hoping to meet me. The B&B owner was gobsmacked - he's my uncle!

The letters became less frequent and I was very aware that they were both getting older. The couple had no kids, and I heard that they kept a framed photo of me in their sitting room with all of the family photos. One night, in college, I was procrastinating on assignments and googled myself. His obituary came up. I was mentioned in it and hadn't even realised he had died. I was so upset. I remember the guilt, still feel it to this day.

After he died, his wife, who always did the letter writing, moved to a nursing home. I could see that her handwriting had deteriorated. After that, I think we only sent one more letter. When she didn't reply, I wondered if she was unwell, or even still alive. It's bizarre - what stopped me picking up the phone and calling the nursing home to speak to her? I had the address. It's an issue of mine, though. When I feel awkward about contacting someone, especially when it's over-due, I just... don't. I'm working on that. I still think of them often. They were almost like the grandparents I never had, and just the amazing-ness of it all, which I had completely normalised! Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself about how it ended. I was young, after all.

uch wrote: »

I fell out of a Mini once while driving round a bend, scraped me head off the tarmac, my friend in the the back managed to get a hold of my belt and pulled me back in, I just ended up with a scabby head

An aunt and uncle had the floor fall out of theirs. Ended up like the flintstones.

I once patted Matt Le Tissier on the back



My past has been quite uneventful

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

Years ago there was a famous Dublin Kerry gaa match in thurles and half the Dublin supporters ended up watching it in pubs in portlaoise and monasterevin they literally had no idea what lay behind Kildare and would never had made it on time

I'd well believe it , some of them think that once you past lucan it's all farms and fellas marrying their sisters I was driving into town with a fella I worked with from the north inner city in the car . We drove past liffey valley and he though it was the kildare outlet . I worked in liffey valley about ten years ago. One of the girls asked where I was from , I told her leixlip , she replied is that in kildare , I said ye it is , she replied " does it not take you ages to drive up here. She was gobsmacked when I told her it was only 10 mins away .

Purple Mountain wrote: »

WTF is DDLG?

Daddy/Little Girl fetish stuff apparently. I wish I hadn't just googled that, the Guards are probably about to beat down my door now.

kildare lad wrote: »

some of them think that once you past lucan it's all farms and fellas marrying their sisters

Is that not true?! :eek: