Weird World News: Refusing to age gracefully with the pensioner graffiti gang, the great-granny denied booze for no ID and the rock dad “too old to dance’
PHUKET: With age comes wisdom, right? Well not for these wrinkled and wizened hell-raisers who found themselves in the world media headlines this week for all the wrong reasons.
Elderly graffiti gang Old Skool Massive on the loose
A BRITISH gang of pensioners known as the Old Skool Massive have been terrorizing their neighbors with graffiti, attacking homes and cars with walking sticks and hurling eggs.
The aged yobos are also drunk and loiter in car parks looking for trouble. One granny even operates her power wheelchair while swigging booze.
The shocking antics of the group are featured in a film by Lancashire Police, and is actually part of a clever new media campaign warning “anti-social behavior is unacceptable at any age”.
The Old Skool Massive are just convincing actors.
The two-minute video is meant to show the stupidity of anti-social behavior by putting pensioners in outlandish and all-too-funny situations.
In the first part of the video, the gang is getting sloshed and filming each other with mobile phones while granddads daub a wall with graffiti. After more booze, they smash bottles, knock down signs, throw eggs at homes, damage parked cars and generally cause mayhem.
Campaigners hope that by posting the video to YouTube they can get their message across to young people.
Granny, 92, barred from buying alcohol
A 92-YEAR-old English great-grandmother was refused alcohol from an off license last week because she couldn’t prove she was over 18.
Diane Taylor walked into the One Stop Shop off license in Essex to buy a bottle of whiskey for her son, but was asked for photo ID by the cashier.
At first she thought it was a joke, but after being asked again, Diane presented her bus pass and donor card but was told these were unacceptable.
Great-grandma Taylor said, “No one can convince me I look under 25 – I’d only take 78 at a push,” the Mirror reported.
A spokesman for the off license apologized but said it was company policy not to sell alcohol to anyone without proof of age.
Mrs Taylor went elsewhere to get booze, adding the policy was “ridiculous”.
Rock-loving dad ‘too old to dance’
AN AUSSIE rock ‘n’ roll fan was told this week he’s “too old to dance” and ordered to pay a AUS$450 fine after being ejected from a concert for his fist-pumping dance moves.
Richard Fuller, 43, along with his teenage daughter was among a 4,000-strong crowd attending a Cold Chisel concert in Townsville, Queensland, on October 18.
With the concert in full swing, the larger-than-life dad got out of his chair and began dancing in the aisles. He was greeted with cheers of approval from other fans.
“I didn’t think I was annoying anyone and everyone was cheering for me,” he told the Australian Telegraph.
“I was standing up on my chair double fist-pumping, but I didn’t want to block people’s view … that’s why I went into the aisle. I’d been dancing the whole time but they took me out as the band was finishing. I missed the last song.”
And his daughter said her dad’s dance moves were “legendary”.
But as he was led away, Fuller protested and slapped one of the security guards.
Magistrate Ross Mack imposed the AUS$450 fine and also had a few words of wisdom for the dancing dad.
“You are too old to dance Mr Fuller,” he said.
“Patrons have come to see the band, not some guy next to them.”
Remember to tune in next week for more of the Phuket Gazette’s new Weird World News round-up.
