LONDON -- Britain's capital is a big city, and sometimes slightly odd things happen.
Luckily, in this modern age of the the Internet and Twitter, gone are the days when unusual daily encounters would be forgotten about or simply shared with a small group of friends at the local pub: now, thanks to good old social media, we can all hear about them.
Twitter user @MissPotkin took to Twitter on Thursday morning to share the story of a bizarre encounter she'd apparently experienced on her way to work.
Brace yourselves for cement babies and angry old men...
So this is how it goes...— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
You know when you're dragging yourself to work, you find ANY excuse to not go? Like emergency hoovering or last minute cake baking? Well...— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
This morning on my way to work, in the rain, I saw a man struggling to lift a pushchair onto the pavement. "SHIT" I thought....— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
NO ONE was helping him and I could see that traffic was on it's way. I went over to help.— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
"Hi, can I help you? The lights have changed and cars are coming"
"Yea cool, I need to get up the road"
Odd.— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
Mate, I can help you get onto the pavement but I'm not escorting you to your destination.— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
As I grab the side of the pram, I notice that inside, is not a wrinkly, old man looking baby...but an ACTUAL SACK of...cement? Gravel?— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
"Oh I thought you had a baby in here"
"Can you move a bit faster?"
Mate. Not today.— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
We get his fake cement baby onto to the pavement and I start walking away
"I need to get up the road"
"I need to get to work"
"Bitch"— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
"Excuse me?"
"You heard"
"What is your problem?"
"You"— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
Then, he lost it. At great volume.— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
Pedestrians slow their pace and sort of start hovering.— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
"As soon as there is fucking work involved you fuck off! WELL FUCK OFF THEN! I can walk it up myself! Lazy cunt."— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
I find myself having a domestic with a complete stranger about our fake cement baby and people are JUDGING ME.— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
Because you see people can't SEE the fake cement baby, they just see the pram and a man shouting at me for not helping and me looking bored.— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
I make matters worse...— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
"It's not a fucking BABY! It's a sack of shit!"
Audible gasps from the now horrified crowd. Fair.— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
I seldom feel the need to explain myself to AN ANGRY MOB but I find myself calmly saying "This is not a baby, I don't know this man".— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
Woman in crowd: "IF YOU CAN'T LOOK AFTER THEM, DON'T HAVE THEM!"— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
Me: "Look in the pram, it's not a child"
Woman: "You're heartless"
I CANNOT WAIT until she discovers the sack.— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
I step back, compose myself, look at the man and say...— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
"You, Sir, are an utter bell, I BID YOU GOOD DAY!"
His response...— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
"Cheers"— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGH.— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
And that was what happened this morning.
Fin.— Miss Potkin (@MissPotkin) March 10, 2016
So there you have it.
This is definitely one of those stories where you finish with more questions than you started with: Why is an old man pushing a sack of cement around London in a pram? Why was he so angry? What, exactly, was he trying so hard to get to "up the road"? Did this whole thing actually, really happen?
Sadly, we may never have the answers.
UPDATED 10 March 12:10pm GMT: Mashable spoke to Miss Potkin, 35, who confirmed that the surreal encounter took place in the Bank region.
When we asked what she thought the old man was doing, though, she wasn't able to shed much light on the situation. "It's wholly confusing, no idea," she said. "I work in the City."