Luke Howard, a 34-year-old British musician, desperate to win back the affections of his lost love decided to play his piano over and over, day and night, on College Green in Bristol. The movement certainly gathered attention and little did Howard know he was in for quite a surprise from someone who had been listening.
“I stopped playing yesterday because I realised that what I had wanted to do had spectacularly failed,” he said.
“The social media reaction turned it very quickly into something that would cause the one person I didn’t want to hurt embarrassment and pain. That was the last thing in the world I had wanted to happen, so I left.”
This is kinda nuts when you think about it. I don’t know if I feel sorry for the guy or what but did he deserve to get punched for it?
The Bristol Post’s initial story on Luke went viral within a matter of hours after it was highlighted by Sian Norris, the founder of Bristol Women’s Literary Festival.
Pulling no punches, Sian tweeted at the time: “Men, women are allowed to leave you. You are not entitled to a girlfriend.
“Media, stop romanticising controlling, stalker behaviour.”
This was echoed by other Twitter users, with some referring to Luke’s four-month relationship as nothing more than a “long fling” while others called him a “brat”.
The story was even referenced by Bristol comic Mark Watson during his show at the Wardrobe Theatre on Saturday evening.
“He saw the story on the Post ‘s website, described it and 99.9 per cent of the audience went ‘ahhhh!’ and only I said ‘eurgh!’,” one audience member told the Post .
“He said it was one of those things that divides public opinion, but it really is a bit ‘eurgh!’ isn’t it?
“I said it was like a toddler holding its breath ’til it gets what it wants.”