strange behaviour ...

two nights ago i was making my way down Westborough heading wearily home from the station ... as I passed a shop doorway just past Aberdeen Walk I noticed a man stood clutching a white plastic bag ... he was wearing a wool hat, he was perhaps in his late 50s ... i walked on not really giving him much thought ...

within a few paces or so I was aware of someone walking a few feet behind me ... well people often do ... however as I walked on, I could see from the reflections in the shop windows that the person behind me was the man who had been standing in the shop doorway ... no matter I thought, he too is on his way home, he will walk past me soon ... but he didnt ...

he stayed the same distance behind me ... so i wandered into the middle of the street .... the man followed me, keeping the same distance ... i wandered back to the side of the street ... he followed me ...

so i crossed over to the far side of the street, again the man followed ... I walked on a bit further then stopped to look in a shop window ... he did exactly the same ...

we continued on our way playing this game of cat and mouse , me crossing back and forth, stopping to look in a shop window, doubling back round a planter, he following me at the same distance ...

until as we passed Subway he darted into a doorway and stopped ...

I stood at the traffic lights waiting for the green man, but then I decided to walk back up the hill past him towards Marks and Spencers ... as I passed him I could sense that he was undecided as to whether to follow me or not ... he stayed in the doorway ...

I turned around and walked past him to the traffic lights, trying to look into his face for some clue, a smile, a scowl, an acknowledgement ... but he stared at the floor ...

I crossed the road at the traffic lights and stopped and looked back ... an elderly man passed him in the doorway, and after a few seconds, my shadowy follower stepped out, and took up his position a fw paces behind the man, and together they wandered back up Westborough ...