This morning, post referenced a song, "There's a guy Works down At The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis.
I thought about that. Chuckled on it and then I figured, I'll go ask him.
So I drove to the taco wagon.... It's cold here in Montana or I would'a walked but instead, I drove. It was 11:45 and he was packing up for the day so I was lucky to still get to him before he went home for the day to his cabin.
So I asked him, "El. Did you ever live in England?" He's still kind'a private so he didn't answer right away. But he trusts me and told me about the 14 years between 1978 -92. He hopped a freighter in Newport News and arrived in Plymouth in August '78. He's getting a little sketchy on dates and stuff so he doesn't remember exact days.
--- sorry. I got a bit out of sequence here. I'm getting old myself so I need to remember that not everybody on D.U. knows that Elvis is running a taco truck in a small town, here in Montana. Two or three of us have recognized him and the rest of the town sees the taco truck open up for a couple of hours, see the owner heat up the fixin's, eat most of it himself, sells a couple and then goes back to the cabin.
"Crazy old coot." but for the most part, they leave him alone.
Anyway, he arrived in Plymouth, broke. He couldn't get hold of his money 'cause people would know he was not dead. After a couple of days, he got himself a job as a porter in a primary school. He tried to get back to being a truck driver but couldn't pass the British license requirements. The job at the school lasted a couple of years but then they let him go.... complaints were about him always humming loudly to himself in the halls and disturbing the lessons. Also something about the girls saying he looked a bit - dodgy was the word I think he used.
So he took a bus to Leeds and yes, he did work at the chip shop about a 15 months. Life was depressing and he does recall using his work breaks to go to the pub, two doors down, and pounding down John Courage or Caffrey's ale and then coming back to work, a bit loose with his words.
He got fired from that job, around '82. He doesn't remember too much about the jobs, here and there.. working at a farm, housing construction and stuff and being depressed about it all.
So he had saved enough for a plane ticket back to Bangor, Maine.
So. I guess the last laugh is on whoever wrote the song.
I hope this helps.