a (fake) ghost

Has anyone else ever seen the bearded hatted old man walking around the greenlane/epsom/remuera area? The one who's always carrying a messenger bag and seems to always be powerwalking, wearing shorts even in winter. His wispy beard and beret-ed head which I can only imagine as somewhat bald reminds me of santa claus sometimes. well, a very skinny version of him anyway.

I ALWAYS see him. every day, without fail, almost every day for the last 3 or 4 years... Sometimes walking past him, sometimes I see him from the car window... I became convinced that I was the only one who could see him, since noone else ever said anything. But maybe everyone was thinking the same thing? For a period of time I thought he might be some kind of ghost or guardian angel who was following me around. It was a nice thought, for a while, until my dad commented this morning about how he always saw him as we passed him in the car ): my paranormal conjectures were completely shattered by 1 sentence sigh.

But it's okay little old man. I'll still think of you as my haunting ghost as long as I see you every now and again. And when you suddenly stop following me around, I'm sure I'll feel some kind of loss in my heart...