Some people go to extreme lengths to avoid difficult conversations…
A 62-year-old man from Birmingham in the UK got so fed up with his wife’s constant complaining that he hid from her in the woods — for 10 years.
Now, before you go casting your ballot for the World’s Worst Husband award, let’s try to hear him out.
Malcolm Applegate — who has since returned from his decade-long hideout — says he had been married for three years when his wife began to argue with him frequently over the increased amount of time he was spending at work. (He’s a gardener.)
When she demanded that he reduce his hours, Applegate decided to leave her instead… except he didn’t tell her.
“For three years it was alright; we got on with one another. And then the gardening got too much for her,” he told the Daily Mail.
“I just upped and left. I got fed up with her.”
His exit took an unlikely turn of events when shortly after making his escape (by bicycle) the said bicycle was stolen, so he entered the woods and camped out with two people he happened upon in thick woodland near southwest London.
Bizarrely, he stayed for the next 10 years.
He continued working, helping out on the gardens at a community centre for the elderly, and continued camping with the same two people he stumbled upon.
“There were three of us,” Applegate said. “They were just camping around with me because at the time I was working in the centre and we used to go there for a wash and a shower. No one knew we were there. It’s not well known — nobody would go in there.”
Not only did Applegate fail to tell his wife he was leaving her, he also didn’t clue in any of his other family members or friends.
His sister spent years searching for him in various hostels and shelters and was afraid he was dead. (They have since been reunited, according to Fox News, after he sent her a letter.)
“I think she assumed I was dead,” he said of his sister. “I wrote her a letter once I was settled in Greenwich and she phoned me up, in floods of tears. We now have a great relationship again.”
Applegate, who has now moved into a homeless shelter in south London, seems unfazed by his 10-year marriage hiatus.
“I was married to her for three years, but unfortunately it got too much,” he said.
No word on whether he’s had a conversation with his wife — although we have a feeling that ship may have sailed.
Via First for Women
