I have a new neighbour, I think I may have mentioned him. I helped him get some of his boxes up the stairs to his flat when he was moving in. His name is Albert.
Before I go any further, maybe I should briefly outline the flats I'm living in.
It's a three-story block, fairly newly built. Two flats on each floor, so two on the ground floor, up the stairs to the next two, then up a further flight to the last two, so six flats in all. One flat on each floor has two bedrooms, the other flat on each floor having just the one.
On the ground floor are Dave and Sandra, 40 something's, they seem quite nice although I've not seen them much, the other flat on the ground floor is Miss Torbolt. Mid to late sixties I would think, a nice friendly lady, sort of matronly, quite big, I'll have to make more of an effort to get to know her, she seems very nice though.
Up to the next floor where we have Ken and his mum. Ken is, I would guess, in his late 50's or early 60's, he's very sweet, but looks as though he's never been allowed to do anything in his life without his mother allowing it first. I've not seen his mum yet, I think she might be housebound, but I imagine she might dominate her son. He wears clothes that I would guess she's probably picked out for him, and he looks as though he's probably never had a girlfriend. I often see him with his shopping bags of food, either at the bus stop or at Sainsbury's; he seems very quiet but friendly nonetheless. The other flat on that floor is currently empty.
Then it's up to the second floor. I'm in the one-bedroom flat and then our new tenant in the two-bedroomed flat, and that's Albert. I don't like to just come out and ask peoples age, but at a guess, I would say he's 80 or so. As I say, he's the one I helped move in before I went to stay with my Grand's. To be honest, he looks as though he should be in a ground floor flat, I'm sure the stairs might prove to be problematic for him at some point. Although having said that, he looks pretty fit. He always seems to have a tan.
Now since he moved in, I've bumped into Albert a few times, when he was either going into his flat, or coming out. He seemed nice though, we'd chatted briefly a few times. I had to knock on his door once, as I had taken in a parcel for him. When he opened the door he was in a robe, which I thought a bit odd, being mid-afternoon.
This happened again more recently, I was making a vegetarian vindaloo, I'd never made one before, but I wanted to try, see what it was like. Anyway, I was sure I had garlic in my fridge, but I looked high and low, and no garlic. I knocked at Albert's door in the vague hope that he might have some. I don't like bothering people to be honest, but after all the prep and so looking forward to making and eating this vindaloo, I thought it was worth a try.
Albert came to the door, and once again he was in a robe. Fortunately, he did have garlic, my vindaloo was saved!
None of my business I know, but it intrigued me, why was he always in a robe no matter what time of day?
A few days passed, I had been shopping and was coming back into the building and coming in from the opposite direction was Albert, he kindly held the communal door open for me. As we navigated the stairs together, we chatted, and I just had to ask about that robe, it was bugging me not knowing.
"Tell me to mind my own business, but I'm intrigued. Every time I knock on your door, you appear to be wearing a robe."
My query seemed to amuse him; he chuckled to himself but was then quite open about the reason why.
"Well I don't mind you knowing, I'm actually a naturist. That's also called a nudist."
"Oh, really? Of all the possible explanations, I wasn't expecting that." I said, laughing! In fact, we were both laughing at this revelation and my surprise, which he could see on my face.
"I have my robe on a hook by the front door and if anyone knocks, I just put my robe on."
It all became clear and I must admit I was even further intrigued, I'd never met a naturist before.
"I don't make a song and dance about it or make it generally known, as I'm a regular churchgoer and those at my church are by and large prudish, I tend to keep it quiet."
"I can understand that," I said, "but it sounds fascinating, I'd love to know more."
"Well, why don't you pop in for a coffee later and I'll tell you all about it."
So an hour later, as agreed, I was knocking on his door.
"Do come in," he said as I entered.
His hallway had a few boxes of things which, since he'd moved in, still hadn't been given a home.
"It takes a while to get settled into a new place doesn't it," I said with some knowledge, having moved into my flat earlier in the year.
"Now do you mind if I take this robe off, I don't wear anything at home and after all, you did want to hear all about the naturist lifestyle."
"That's fine," I said.
"Well, it's just that you're very young and I didn't want to shock you by just taking it off. But then I expect you might have seen a naked man before."