‘What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen happen in public?’ – 21 people who absolutely could not believe their eyes

Acting relatively normally in public is a cornerstone of every society, but especially for the traditionally buttoned up British. But sometimes people completely disregard what others might think of them and do something utterly wacky.

They’ve been chatting about this on the AskUK subreddit after user theblairwaldorfxoxo asked this …

‘What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen happen in public?’

… and kicked things off with their own example.

‘I once saw a whole family sit down in the middle of a busy shopping centre, right outside Next, and fully unpack a proper dinner.

They pulled out a stainless steel pot lid, then plates, cutlery, two bottles of Coca-Cola and six glasses, started handing plates around while one person scooped rice out of a pot and opened other containers with salad and different dishes, and just sat there casually eating like they were at home… in the middle of a walkway.

‘I genuinely couldn’t look away, and neither could anyone else walking past.’

Yep, pretty eccentric, and there were plenty of other stories of public oddness too…

1.

‘Was in a hospital waiting room that was full to overflowing. An elderly gentleman sat down next to me. I was reading a book. He had a large shopping bag with him that he unzipped and took out a flask. Then a foil wrapped pack of sandwiches. Everyone was watching him since we were sat facing each other. Next he took out a tea towel and unwrapped a China cup and saucer!

Folks were smiling by this point. The tea towel went across his knee. He made his tea. Then ate his sandwiches. Another foil wrapped package came out with homemade sandwich cake. We were all trying not to laugh at this point. It was a very sweet moment and lovely to see, just so funny at the same time!’
–Pure_Air2815

2.

‘Work in an emergency department, not that uncommon, always a delight.

My favourite was a couple pulling out a full roast dinner from a cooler, an American type big square one. They’d cooked at home, put it in and then had a microwave grill attachment to stack the plates. The best bit was one thermos with gravy and the other with red wine.’
–doc900

3.

‘I live about 50 yards from the river Quaggy in South East London. One day away from the river I saw mother duck and about eight ducklings walking in a line down the pavement. They stopped on a corner and motioned as if to cross the road. Me and a stranger stopped the traffic and they did just that. And then… this is the crazy bit, they walked down the path of a guys house and mother started squawking at his door.

He opened it, went “Darling, the ducks are here again, open the back door”. He stood aside and they all filed in to his house. He lives on a corner so we can see his back garden. We watched in awe as they all marched through then up and down a series of wooden planks over his fence he’d positioned to drop them safely back in to the river. Weeks later I spoke to him and he said it had a happened a few times, they must have just got lost.’
–Ok-Camel-8279

4.

‘Sunbathing round the pool in Gran Canaria. A family set up next to us and promptly got the head lice treatment out to do all their hair, nit combs, the lot. They all sat there for ages with disposable shower caps on. We didn’t stick around long enough to see where they washed it off… grim.’
–katmlc

5.

‘I saw the Queen driving past Asda once when I was walking to work one morning. I say driving, she was in the back obviously. That was a surreal sight for a Tuesday morning.’
–ExecutiveChimp

6.

‘Guy on the tube in evening rush hour with a full garden bench. He’d blocked the escalator all the way down so people were already pissed off at him for causing them to miss a train. Then he proceeded to shoe horn himself and his bench into a standing room only train, stopping more people from getting on. Arsehole behaviour.’
–ChelseaMourning

7.

‘I used to be a driving instructor and saw a man hoovering his driveway…’
–picnicspotlover

8.

‘Pulled up outside the little corner shop in the village and from the flat above it a woman was throwing a man’s clothes out the window while he stood below pleading and gathering his things. I’ve never seen it in real life before, just on TV, and was a bit stunned.’
–Born_Current6133

9.

‘Out walking the peaks. Some lads had hauled a full sized snooker table up a massive hill on a freezing cold and windy day and were having a tournament while getting pissed up.’
-Derbadian

10.

‘In some English seaside town can’t quite remember the actual location. I witnessed a seagull swoop down and steal a man’s battered sausage right after he collected it, horrific scenes.’
–Louieknight56

11.

‘A seagull once stole a large pork pie from our picnic and swallowed it whole. He looked like he was wearing a ruff.’
–messymedia

12.

‘I was walking my dog in Manchester and a guy emerged from the bushes and insisted on giving me a burger “for your dog”. I tried to refuse but he would not let me leave without taking it. I just took it to get him to leave me alone in the end. I threw it in the next bin I walked past. Even I, with my foolish ways, would not consume bush man food.’
–aarontbarratt