Warning

[Richard Lockwood]

I've sent this message to a load of people - you who were in the pub this
eveing already know this, you who weren't, please read and be careful.

Cheers,

Rich.


> Now, before anyone sends a note back saying that this is an urban myth,
I'd
> like to point out that this happened to me earlier on this evening, me
being
> Richard Lockwood, and my email address being
> rich at beerpowerednoisefrenzy.co.uk .
>
> If anyone wants confirmation of this, please feel free to email me, and
I'll
> fill you in on any details that may be missing from this email.
>
> This is a "Watch out" email.  And it's a true one.
>
> I've been off work for a couple of days with a bad cold.  Early this
evening
> (well, about 5pm) I went to the King Edward VII in Stratford, London E15
> (most of you who are getting this email will know the Eddie).  Feeling
like
> shite, I said "hi" to my mate Dave with the broken leg, and then went and
> sat in the back bar with a copy of the Evening Standard.
>
> I was only intending to have a couple of quick beers.  However, about five
> minutes after I'd sat down *aftre losing a couple of quid on the "Weakest
> Link" quiz machine), a blond haired bloke came up to my table and asked if
> he could sit there.  I thought this was a wee bit odd, as there were
plenty
> of free tables around the back bar.
>
> I tried to ignore him, but he started talking to me (with a thick (barely
> comprehensible) Eastern European accent), and started banging on about how
> his wife was leaving England and going back to Lithuania with the kids.
> Now, me being a nice guy, I started chatting to him (the sort of stupid
> thing I do).  He went and bought a round of drinks - a pint of Fullers
> London Pride for me, and a pint of Coke and an extremely large vodka for
> him.
>
> A cab turns up for him.  He goes outside, comes back and tells me he's
given
> the taxi driver twenty quid to come back in an hour.
>
> He kept telling me what a top bloke I was for listening to his sob story,
> and then tried to give me a fiver for listening to him.  When I told him
not
> to be so stupid, he put the fiver back in his pocket, pulled out a twenty
> pound note and insisted I take it.  When I insisted I take the money (and
> this was a long argument) I said that I'd take the £20, buy a round of
> drinks, but he'd take the change.  He said OK, and ordered a quadruple
> Smirnoff and a pint of Coke...
>
> So I go to the bar with this twenty and get the drinks.  So far, so good.
> He's just a sad, lonely man in the pub.
>
> He keeps telling me what a top bloke I am, and how I deserve to be earning
> more money than I am...
>
> So, I get the drinks in, and it quickly becomes quite apparent that he's
not
> drinking.  He drinks the coke, but not the vodka.
>
> Then he starts telling me about a method he's got of earning a load of
> money - it starts off at "hundreds", then becomes "thousands", and "it's
> nothing illegal".
>
> At this point, a load of friends of mine come up to the next table along
and
> sit down.  Now, nobody's listening to our conversation, but he suddenly
> clams up.  Saying nowt.
>
> Then the taxi driver turns up.  He asks him to go outside and he'll be
with
> him in a minute (and he's mysteriously sobered up by now) and says he
can't
> tell me what this deal is while other people are around, but it's "nothing
> illegal".
>
> I go down to a quiet area of the bar with him, and he asks me if I'm
> interested in this money making scheme.  I tell him "yes, provided it's
> nothing illegal", and he shakes my hand, tells me he won't be back in the
> King Edward VII again, and says "never mind then" and leaves.
>
> On his way out he gives the barman another twenty quid to "keep quiet".
>
> I lost nothing, I didn't get mugged, and I never found out what the scam /
> illegal activity was.  But all I can say is "If anyone comes up to you in
a
> pub, telling you that their wife is Lithuanian and is going back there,
> particularly if they're a blond geezer in thir mid / late twenties, avoid
> them like the plague."
>
> If anyone knows exactly what the scam is, then please feel free to email
me.
>
> I just feel that I've narrowly avoided being taken for a ****, and want to
> warn everyone in my email address book.
>
> Please (especially if you live in East London) pass this on.  If you want
> confirmation of this story, feel free to email me on
> rich at beerpowerednoisefrenzy.co.uk.  I hate chain letters as much as the
rest
> of you, but I wouldn't want anyone to be taken for a gullable fool.
>
> There are more details to this story, and if you want them, please email
me.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Rich.
>