The Good Giraffe
Armstrong The Good Giraffe speaks about his acts of kindness
A man who dresses up as a giraffe and carries out random
acts of kindness towards people across Scotland has said he does it to feel
good.
Twice a week Armstrong Baillie, 32, dons a furry suit his mother made him, before travelling to different places to do good deeds.
He calls himself The Good Giraffe and lives in Dundee with his girlfriend and her daughter.
Originally from Glasgow, he has often been spotted in Edinburgh.
He has also been to Stonehaven, Aberdeen, Forfar, Dundee, the Black Isle and Glasgow to carry out his acts of kindness.
He told the BBC Scotland news website he got the idea after seeing a man dressed up as a gorilla playing the drums in the capital.
During the past six months Armstrong has handed out free bananas and water to runners at the Edinburgh Half Marathon, cleaned up litter on Portobello Beach and given away £10 vouchers to mothers in hospitals.
He has also been seen handing out free coffee to cold passers-by and cleaning cages at cat and dog homes.
'Head in the clouds'
Unemployed, Mr Baillie, said he busks using his kazoo and djembe drum then uses the donations to pay for the kind deeds.
He hitch-hikes to reach his destinations - but is only being able to be picked up by convertibles due to his long-necked suit.
He said: "It makes me happy when I see the difference in people when they see me in the suit. It makes them happy and it makes me feel cheery.
"The reason I picked a giraffe is that I have always been interested in animals and giraffes are my favourite animal.
"Giraffes are like me, as my head is in the clouds but my heart is in the right place."
He added: "Most of the time I get a good welcome in the suit but I remember once a Kevin Bridges lookalike tried to pull the head off in a pub, it might even have been the real Kevin Bridges as I didn't have my glasses on."
Armstrong said he planned to carry on doing good deeds.
Vocabulary:
to dress up as sb/sth -
to carry out -
random (adj) -
to don (a suit) -
furry (adj) / fur (n) -
(to do) a good deed -
to spot -
the drums -
to hand out -
litter (n) -
to give away -
a passer-by -
a cage -
unemployed (adj) -
to busk -
to hitch-hike -
to pick up -
a convertible -
due to -
cheery (adj) -
a lookalike -
to have (your glasses) on -
to carry on -
When did you last do a good deed?
to dress up as sb/sth -
to carry out -
random (adj) -
to don (a suit) -
furry (adj) / fur (n) -
(to do) a good deed -
to spot -
the drums -
to hand out -
litter (n) -
to give away -
a passer-by -
a cage -
unemployed (adj) -
to busk -
to hitch-hike -
to pick up -
a convertible -
due to -
cheery (adj) -
a lookalike -
to have (your glasses) on -
to carry on -
When did you last do a good deed?
Comments
It´s good for us that there are people like these. It is said that there are more people like these of whom we can imagine. This kind of people gives dignity to our species.
He´s Scottish and he said that he liked giraffes because they have its head in the clouds and its heard in the right place. He´s happy when he does good deeds.
If somebody feels happy when he does something is normal that he wants to do it. However, why does somebody feel happy when he does good deeds and other feels happy when he does bad deeds? What is it normal? Is it normal person who does good deeds or who does bad needs? I think the difference is in the mind and so in the brain, but the brain works according to components of the body, therefore, the balance of components of people does that people do good or bad deeds.
Before, it´s said that homo sapiens sapiens, our species, came from one species only, but now scientifics say that homo sapiens sapiens comes for four species, then it´s possible that there were people so different for this reason. So the world society has established rules of play and we have to obey with respect to everyone.
Sorry Graham, I am philosophising.
See you.
Philosophising? Gobbledygook more like. haha
I don't philosophise. I just rant and rave.
There are people who do good - raise money for charity, but in my opinion are not good people. They see themselves as morally superior but lack basic courtesies and kindness.
And there are people who have done wrong but are not bad people.
Of course, everyone has their pluses and minuses. I try to see the good in people but there is some behaviour I won't put up with.
I agree that we need more good giraffes as they might encourage others to be kind too.
It´s good for us that there are people like these. It is said that there are more people like these than we could ever imagine. This kind of people gives dignity to our species.
He´s Scottish and he said that he liked giraffes because they have their heads in the clouds and their hearts in the right place. He´s happy when he does good deeds.
If somebody feels happy when he does something, it is normal that he wants to do it. However, why does somebody feel happy when he does good deeds while another feels happy when he does bad deeds? What is normal? Is it normal for a person to do good deeds or bad deeds? I think the difference is in the mind and so in the brain, but the brain works according to components of the body, therefore, the balance of components of people means people do good or bad deeds.
Before, it was said that homo sapiens sapiens, our species, came from one species only, but now scientists say that homo sapiens sapiens come from four species, then it´s possible that people are differ so much for this reason. So the world society has established rules of play and we have to obey them so as to respect everyone.