u/Fit-Lavishness8056

In a few weeks I'll be visiting Devon from New Zealand, and hopefully that includes a visit to my city of birth, Plymouth. I've rented a campervan from Quirky and now I'm little confused as there doesn't appear to be anywhere specific a tourist can park a van near the city. More than happy to pay for the privilege but even on the Plymouth City Council website they don't mention parking for vans at all.

There's a couple of spaces for larger vehicles in Elphinstone but I'd really prefer to park at the Milehouse Park and Ride as that will mean I can walk through Central Park and relive some childhood memories.

So my question is - are there any Plymouth/Devon locals here who know or use the Milehouse park and ride who can tell me if they have seen campervans parked there? And not getting ticketed?

Let me set the scene. It's mid-winter 2003, Christchurch, New Zealand. I'm not a native Cantabrian however for a couple of years I worked in the city. It's a dreary Sunday afternoon and I'm standing in what was the big bus stop on Colombo Street, opposite Ballantynes. I'm staring off into space, wondering when my bus will arrive when I spot a lady who appears to be staring at me. Now, I'm not the kind of guy that usual happens to so I looked around, and nope, there's no one behind me or near me.

This lady was a dead ringer for Charlize Theron. My memory of the details are hazy but what is for certain is she was wearing a head scarf, her clothes suggested a tendancy towards Bohemian and she carried a carpet bag.

At the time I was useless with women I didn't know, shy to the point of inaction. For the next few minutes she would smile at me, look away, then look back, smile, rinse and repeat. I, like a womble, stood there smiling and trying to desperately force my body to move towards her so I could say hello.

Just as my will power was getting control of the situation, a bus heading towards the Port Hills/Lyttleton appeared, she jumped on and then was gone. I was so annoyed at myself.

For the next couple of months I returned to the same bus stop, on the same time and day but I never saw her again.

I think about her occasionally, wondering what her side of the story might be.

It was the year 1995, and I was 16. Like many 16 year old nerds of that era I was very into PC gaming on the family (checks notes) DX4-100 machine. I can't recall the time of year but it would have had to have been well after April for reasons that might become apparent soon.

So, young 16 year old me is sitting in the study playing Full Throttle (side note an excellent graphic adventure game with outstanding music). I was home alone and the end sequence of the game had just begun, and having played the game to its conclusion before I knew that there was several minutes of credits. Rather than waiting, I got up and walked to the kitchen for a drink. When I got back to the study after barely a minute and the PC's screensaver was displaying. I wiggled the mouse and then I was presented with Full Throttle's main menu.

I was puzzled as this meant up to 10 minutes should have passed, yet I was gone from the room for less than 1 minute.

As I stood staring at the computer, I recalled a brief 'moment' I had as I had passed through the study door on the way out, like skipping frames.

I don't know what happened. The game/DOS could have crashed/glitched. A micro sleep moment. I would disregard it as nothing if it weren't for other weird things happening in that house and around that time in my life.