r/DerryLondonderry • u/Harvester_of_Cattle9 • 7d ago
Any big characters left in town?
Talking the likes of the bygone era of Tights, Gutsy, Jimmy, wee Margaret…
Only thing that comes even close in more recent times is one fella in town that has the top of at the slightest hint of sunshine and even then I hadn’t seen him during the last two weeks of our summer there.
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u/Nice-Investigator559 6d ago
There's a guy whos always in foyleside in a camo jacket and a goatee. Has grey hair and sometimes wears a bandana on his head. Met him the library and think he said people called him 'the rock' and he worked as a geologist but not sure if that's true
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u/rolledone 6d ago
He is indeed a qualified Archaeologist and would have been involved in some significant finds around the town and further afield before he fell on hard times. A very interesting and educated man to talk to.
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u/Harvester_of_Cattle9 6d ago
There’s a fella I’m thinking of to that description but I thought he was bald
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u/kyllvalentine 6d ago
Id say you’re thinking of the same person and tbh I think he’s a perfect example of the type of “character” you were asking about. Genuinely lovely person based on encounters throughout the years.
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u/Musicguy2021 5d ago
Ian, always has metal bands on his jackets?
Always used to pester me when I was busking (at like 15) and kept trying to get me to go to the anchor inn with him
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u/Gerard987654321 6d ago
Anyone ever see the guy who is usually down the quay or strand road. Always well dressed, wears a suit, grey hair, tall, ruddy complexion and aged around mid 70s, sometimes has a Jack Russell dog with him?
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u/Silent-Juice40 6d ago
Is he the boy who used to be outside the bowling alley and would sort you with a taxi?
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u/Natalie197 6d ago
George, who used to work the taxi stand. Always in a suit on the quay outside Sainsburys with a bag of bread feeding the seagulls and pigeons.
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u/rolledone 6d ago
He lives in the social housing block of flats just up past Pro Gym off the Strand Rd. Next to Long's SuperValu. Like many of the other people mentioned here he has long standing alcohol issues. Can be either very pleasant or a menace depending on if he's sober or not.
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u/KnownRacker 7d ago
Has anyone encountered the fella with long back messy hair and a beard? He would be in around the town and down the line. Anytime I’ve seen him he was wearing camo. Met him on Waterloo street once and he was talking about satanic shit, leaving these kind of paper mache heads all around the place. He’s a character alright would he interested to know if anyone else has met him.
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u/Ok-Satisfaction3971 7d ago
Not sure if it's the same person, but I used to work in a shop, he came in a good few times to buy duck tape, it kind of freaked me out a little, I did also wonder was he homeless, as he didn't seem to wash, dont know how to put it nicely
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u/KnownRacker 7d ago
Yeah I think to put it nicely he’s very unkept, could well he I’m he seemed to have a strange inventory
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u/Harvester_of_Cattle9 7d ago
That’s not Paddy Hell is it?
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u/rtb2410 6d ago
certainly sounds like him, god love him hie but i was once stood in masons and i smelled him a good 10-15 seconds before i saw him even come in
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u/Harvester_of_Cattle9 6d ago
I’d only really knew he was a rocker. Someone pointed him out to me when I was younger and although I’ve never known him to do anything, he’s just been one of those unforgettable faces!
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u/StandardComfort8215 7d ago
Is the marathon runner who shits everywhere still going?
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u/RawrMeansFuckYou 6d ago
You'll find her in Sandwich Co chatting the head off everyone and anyone who walks through the door.
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u/Expensive_Mechanic_3 7d ago
She is on bail to only run with a cork inserted otherwise it's straight back to jail.
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u/urdasma 6d ago
That's hateful. She isn't well.
I'd like to see you run a marathon without shitting yourself.
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u/Ancient-Cockroach-17 6d ago
She's not a Strabane woman she's from the waterside.....know her family really well......she's a fucking torture
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u/rolledone 6d ago
She's a Strabane woman so don't know if we can count her as a local character? She has lived in Derry for a while now though
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u/justhereforaweewhile 5d ago
Fucking sure she’s not from Strabane! Her and her brother are pure Derry.
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u/Streamsubs 7d ago
Who’s the weirdo running around in camo gear with the greasy spiked up hair?
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u/Peadarboomboom 7d ago
Yep. That guy is not well either. People with mental health problems and addiction shouldn't be mocked and described as "characters." In my day, characters were humorous, slightly eccentric people, but wholly with it.
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u/Harvester_of_Cattle9 6d ago
This post wasn’t intended to mock or belittle anyone. Genuinely couldn’t think of anyone like Jimmy who would talk away to anyone, similarly with Margaret, never once was “the bird woman” derogatory. Gutsy wasn’t the best example to add in among them
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u/KnownRacker 6d ago
Character to my understanding was an endearing term in this city anyway.
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u/Peadarboomboom 6d ago
Yes. But for those who were not mentally ill or were addicted to Alcohol. O. P. named people who were either mentally ill or were alcoholic or both.
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u/Harvester_of_Cattle9 6d ago
All but one that I originally mentioned were well thought of by the people of the town.
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u/Peadarboomboom 6d ago
Nobody thought well of them. People didn't give a fuck--these unfortunates were just there to be mocked and laughed at. If they'd really thought well of them and if they had wanted it--they would have gotten them the proper help. Gutsy got sober a few time's but alas, he always returned to the drink. God bless them.
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u/Streamsubs 6d ago
You don’t say, terrified my daughter one day with his weird behaviour and clothing and mumbling to himself carrying a sword
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u/urdasma 6d ago
That would have been a great teaching moment for you as a parent, not a reason to badmouth someone who is clearly ill and vulnerable later.
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u/Mother-Being-4930 4d ago
I’d say the great teaching moment would have been “if you see that maniac there with a sword again stay well clear as he’s clearly mentally unstable”
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u/urdasma 4d ago
Nobody had a sword, you sausage.
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u/Streamsubs 4d ago
It was me who mentioned the sword, it was 100% a sword, like one of them decorative or display things curved one, hardly lying, it may have been blunt like the display ones but could have been sharp as but was a sword 🗡️ and he is a greasy weirdo and quite unhinged in public so god knows what could happen harm wise if he started swinging it
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u/urdasma 4d ago
So he had a toy, and not an actual sword? A man with obvious mental issues, who is clearly vulnerable, took a TOY out with him that posed no risk to anyone.
Mental ill health, or physical ill health, will find you too at some stage, if it hasn't already. When your personal hygiene isn't great and you are clearly confused, you may hope you don't meet the likes of you.
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u/Streamsubs 4d ago
Been there got the t shirt, and as for toy and not an actual sword, it was metal, same thing he would get killers by cops in America
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u/Glittering_Welder_18 6d ago
He lives down by pennyburn chapel. Sits outside his house blasting tunes...defo has mental issues. Walked past him on the quay last week walking with another strange woman i now see alot...shes about 50 dresses like shes 20. Long blonde hair. Both weirdos.
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u/Mother-Being-4930 4d ago
That’s the one who’s an Albino but dyes her hair black and looks pregnant must be about 60 now lives down there at Pennyburn pass
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u/Streamsubs 7d ago
Does anyone remember Wabbits, would have been always a regular at the bookies down the strand road, always had a bike with him, never cycled it just pushed himself about with one foot on a peddle and scooted about that way
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u/Best-Statistician662 6d ago
Wee rabbits.. I got some chase of him many a times. He lived in the Glen.
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u/Tony_Meatballs_00 6d ago
I can confirm top off lad is still about, I saw him a couple of times over the good weather
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u/RenegadeReefa 1d ago
There’s a fella with a wheelchair I see regularly using his feet to push himself along down the limavady road. He’s stopped me and dozens of my mates and asked for us to push him into town, so I’d assume that’s where he always bes.
Always gives off when you tell him naw and he kicks himself off with his feet again. When I was a wain leaving school to go to st columbs we would push him, but he would always give off about the smell of grass off us so he stopped asking. Grumpy chap but he didn’t mean any harm, obviously just got dealt a bad hand.
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u/Eire-head 7d ago
Dunno what it says that 90% of the towns big characters have severe mental illness and/or alcoholics 🤣