Last Night I finished a shift at 1am in the morning.( duh I mean this morning!)
The office is located in the back streets of Rhyl, which is one of the most deprived areas in the whole of Wales....it's not a place to walk with money in your pocket.
Anyhow as I was driving through the deserted streets in the town centre, I noticed a car behind me in the rear view mirror..
I turned left from the centre
The car followed
And left again past the police station
And the car followed.
I turned right into High Street
The car followed
I drove over the railway bridge
The car followed..it was a white estate car with a single man in the driving street
I went straight on at Sainsbury's roundabout
And straight on at the Rhuddlan roundabout
And the car followed.
There was not another soul on the road.
I entered the blackness of the countryside
The lights of the car followed me.
And I started to get nervous
2 miles later...I drove through Dyserth village.
The white car was still there
I drove back into the countryside.
And in the mirror, the white car could still be seen.
A few miles later, Trelawnyd was in sight, and so I did something rather rash for me,
Without indicating I suddenly turned off the Trelawnyd road towards Gwaenysgor and shot down the narrow rural road to see if the car would follow........I suddenly didn't want to drive home when Chris was not there...with a strange car on my tail.
I was bloody well unnerved by the whole thing because......
The headlights suddenly ,followed me.
I shot through the " s" bends of the country road like a whippet
Turned right at the crossroads and doubled back up the tiny mouse lane towards
Trelawnyd........
I must have hit 40 mph up the pitch black one track lane
But all was quiet and in darkness behind me when I finally got home
I turned off the cottage lights as soon as I galloped down the path
And immediately went to hide under the duvet with the dogs after double locking the back door
Who was it, Kissinger? That said "Sometimes even paranoids have real enemies." I guess Henry The K should know.
ReplyDeleteI think the original saying being along the lines of "Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean no one is following you".
DeleteU
Perhaps I have a stalker?
DeleteThat would unnerve me too! Seems the only ones that follow me, though, are the law... Had one follow me 11 miles the other day. I would have loved to have 'lost' him too, but then, I am afraid he would really think me a felon!
ReplyDeleteBeing a white estate car...I thought at first it was a police car
DeleteHoly crap - did you get the license plate number? (not sure if you have a front plate or not - our state requires one)
ReplyDeleteI couldn't see it.... Not with my eyesight
DeleteMy eyesight is bad, too, esp. at night. Probably nothing but scary coincidence, but still glad you have the description of the car.
DeleteOf course it was fine
DeleteBut I am a drama queen
And it bothered me x
Now we'll never know.....
ReplyDeleteThat's what scares me most
ReplyDeleteYou know what they say, just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't out to get you. I would have done the same thing.
ReplyDeleteOdd business. Most likely someone lusting after your body.
ReplyDeleteI think not
DeleteThat is a bit scarey; good to know that hiding under the duvet kept you safe. Plus locking the door of course. Where is Darryl of Walking Dead fame when we need him.
ReplyDeleteSoddin 2000 miles away..that's where
DeleteIt would have bothered me too.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your boys were there to protect you. And Albert, of course.
ReplyDeletethe recommended procedure here for an event such as this is to drive to a police station or fire station, stay inside your car, and lay against the horn. police/fire personnel will come outside upon hearing the noise.
ReplyDeletethanks the dogs and cats you are ok. but I would not go to THAT town again.
The majority of police stations in this country ( UK) would be empty at that time of night, and a lot of them empty/closed in the day too!!
DeleteWow! I guess here in the US we really are a police state. I believe the majority of ours are open 24/7.
DeleteI was followed after leaving the movies alone one night. The truck followed me over ten miles. I made three right turns and it followed me so I drove to the local police station. It was closed (small town) so I drove one more block to the local bar/pub. In two minutes my husband and several of his friends were chasing the pickup down the street. I'm a lot more careful going out alone at night and carry my cellphone always.
DeleteIt would have bother me too. Glad you were quick thinking and glad Winifred was there.
ReplyDeletecheers, parsnip
I've had it happen to me once. I went to the detachment car park. Whoever it was drove on. I figured it was easier to sit the Mounties parking lot for a couple of minutes was the best bet rather than drive through a MacDonalds!
ReplyDeleteProbably some poor chap wanting to ask the way to Trelawnyd!
ReplyDeleteI agree, Cro. There is little worse than one's intentions being misinterpreted. For all John knows that person behind him was dying at the wheel.
DeleteU
At 1.20 am......I still would have left him
DeleteThat would have freaked me out too. Glad you're ok.
ReplyDeleteIt would have freaked me out too. Next time (and I hope there isn't one) pull into the nearest police station and see if they follow.
ReplyDeleteNow I have the creeps.............0.0
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing more creepy than a deserted dark road and an imagination fill of urban legends
DeleteI am glad I am reading this in the middle of the day & not going out.
ReplyDeleteScary, but your 4 legged lodgers would have looked after you!
Take care.
Scary! I guess I'd have rung the police while in the car and hoped for them to come up with some clever idea as how to deal with this.
ReplyDeleteMy mobile , as usual was sitting on the floor in the living room, uncharged
DeleteThere are odd people out there John, and it's why I disagreed with the continuous night shift being stopped. Much safer to come home in daylight. Glad you lost him.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he had some birds he wanted to give you.
ReplyDeleteThat's one mighty disturbing experience. Thank heavens you weren't followed under the duvet.
ReplyDeleteho dear so scary bet when you got home you felt like a little scared child so thand goodness
ReplyDeletewho ever lives in the sky made dogs and cats to protect us fron the big bad world
You can never be too scared or too careful. If you think there's a nutter following you, you could be right.
ReplyDeleteThere was a murder at Cromford a few years ago. A nutter who just wanted to know how it feels to kill someone lured a taxi driver to the deserted railway station in the middle of the day and shot him, leaving his body in the boot of the taxi.
It pays to assume the worst sometimes and run away.
That's horrible. I'd have been freaked out & made for a place with some sign of life & park there.
ReplyDeleteThis happened to a friend's teenage daughter.
Maybe he was following you to come and buy some eggs?!!!
ReplyDeleteany sane person would have been concerned / worried at that time of the night, I know the area you live in & outside of the villages it is quite lonely. glad you're safe.x
ReplyDeleteI think it was a case of too much imagination
DeleteIsn't it strange how we think a duvet will protect us !!
ReplyDeleteI think your doggies would have sprung to your defence, especially Winifred .... she wouldn't want anything to happen to that lovely left foot of yours ;-)
Keep on like this John and you;ll need another dog to add to your collection - a rottweiler perhaps, to travel in the car.
ReplyDeleteliving in the heart of a scary city tends to numb one to these things.
ReplyDeleteWhat secrets do you have that they are following you for?
ReplyDeleteWe are advised to pull into police/fire station parking lots, here...as anne mare said.
ReplyDeleteJane x
Ours are virtually all un-manned these days Jane, we are lucky if there is a policeman there during the day. Even a phone call to the police goes through to a large central call centre and is then relayed more locally.
DeleteThat would have scared the crap out of me!!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the driver was lost and he was following you because you seemed to know where you were going...
Growing up in NYC and then living in Boston, I was advised that when you know you're going to have to walk through a seedy neighborhood, you should always be sure to have "mug money" in your pocket. SUPPOSEDLY, if you have something to give the mugger, he might not get violent.
Get a burly blow up doll to sit in the seat beside you!
ReplyDeleteThis made me chuckle a little too much :)
DeleteWell the name of your blog does start with 'disaster' after all!
ReplyDeleteOne too many Zombie episode in your head John .
ReplyDeleteAin't THAT the truth
DeleteA little too creepy John. These things always seem to happen when our significant others are away!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading about you cleaning out the contents of your Berlingo The driver behind was definitely not planning a robbery or mugging (unless they like dried up dog turds!)
ReplyDeletePerhaps the driver had OCD and an extra bottle of bleach handy
DeleteNot much hope of finding a manned police station in the country in the middle of the night. And even less of reading a car number plate by streetlight (when there was one) in a mirror. Unnerving.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what it was all about.......all I can think was devilment
DeleteMaybe it was me! I had a dream about you last night - no, not that kind of dream. I dreamt I came to Trelawnyd to visit you and Chris and you flew me in on a helicopter and sent me home in a rowboat. I can't remember anything in between but since my mode of transport changed for the worse so dramatically, I'm thinking I farted at the dinner table.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got home safe. That would scare the shite out of me, too.
It WAS YOU!!!!!
DeleteI was chuckling when I read this one!
DeleteThis happened to me a few years ago. It is soooooo scary. I suddenly found a transit van was following me home; I did things like you going off like a maniac up a side road and still he was there with headlights full on. I kept thinking maybe I had upset him earlier by coming out of a junction in front of him or something but could think of nowhere where I had seen another vehicle except until he was following me. I shook him off at a roundabout by going around it twice but then he waited for me further up the road and got behind me again. I couldn't think what to do because I was going home to an empty house like you and the only other place I could go was my mother and I couldn't take this horror up a farm track to my mother's remote house. And then at the moment I was in total despair he turned off and left me. I too ran indoors and hid without any lights on. P said it was just someone having some fun. It isn't very funny though is it?
ReplyDeleteI can joke about it Rachel.... But it WAS unnerving ....Very !
DeletePs my favourite tv film is DUEL
DeleteYou cannot be too careful these days. Well done, John.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should all be getting those cameras front and back in our cars like they have in Russia and the Ukraine. so many people are in accidents it is the only way to make sure someones insurance pays out
ReplyDeleteI would have pooped myself.
I was going to say that you should go an extra turn around the roundabout but it seems that didn't work for Rachel. But, it would be nice to turn the table and get behind him and put your high beams on...
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should get those cameras fitted to your car.........you might film a meteorite or something lol!
ReplyDeleteI think it was a neighbour who had a new (to them) car and wanted to show it to you? Oh yer!
And THIS is why I don't watch Walking Dead or any other horror or thriller movies, otherwise I would live in terror! My brain is unable to tell fact from fiction at the best of times! :)
ReplyDeleteJohn, please do take care of yourself. I was a Samaritan for twelve years and found that some people almost felt as though they 'owned' me; it made me feel very vulnerable, especially after night shifts. I know that your other training has made you more able to cope with it more than most, but it can be very unnerving and I totally understand how you must have felt. Go safe...your own well-being is paramount.
ReplyDeleteSAMs work is fine....it's the short drive home in the dark I have trouble with
DeleteThank you sincerely for the advice though x
I remember 'Duel'.
ReplyDeleteTake Elizabeth's advice John.
I would be frightened, too. I don't like to go out at night unless Willy Dunne Wooters comes with me.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
I'm an older woman living in the middle of the U.S. I could feel my heart rate increasing as I read your post and the comments. At least there are places open all night here! And I'll feel much safer as soon as I calm down.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in Colorado I worked for Mountain Bell the telephone company, a late evening shift, that didn't end until 1PM.
ReplyDeleteOne night, when travelling home by myself, I noticed a car following, every turn I made he was right behind.
No cell phones in those days, instead I turned off my headlights and continued driving in the dark, until I was home.
Just as I was to exit the car, THAT same car pulled up along side, and blocked my driver's door, I sat frozen in time.
He wound the window down, and was shouting someone's name....not mine, but I think it was a ploy.
My husband thankfully came out of the house at that time, and the fella shot off, but it left me un-nerved terribly.
Now THAT is bloody scary
ReplyDeleteIt's creepy when someone follows you. When i worked at the bank, i had it happen twice. One time i drove into the police barracks, and many of the cops were bank customers. Two recognized my car, and came out to ask me what was wrong. I was able to give a description of the car and a few of the licence plate numbers (only had back plates in that state).
ReplyDeleteThe second time was a cold evening, and we'd had snow. Some of the roads were in dreadful shape. I had a pit in my stomach when i saw the car behind and just 'knew' it was following me. Can't say why, just knew. I turned down a road where i knew several bank customers lived, and the car started to follow me down this road. I panicked, realizing that the road was a cul-de-sac, and i turned my small car sharply. It skidded a bit, and spun around quite fast, doing a 180. I wasn't going fast at all, but the sudden movement and now forward motion towards my pursuer scared him off. He turned into the closest driveway, backed out, and took off like a shot, squealing tires. I saw three outside lights switch on after that, two of them being bank customers' houses.
I couldn't get a good description of the car that time or plate number, but i decided from then on that i'd switch up my going home routine after work. I didn't always take the same way home and stopped to run errands various places.
In your case, not much open at that hour, and as you say, it may have been just a joke but it wasn't a funny one.