Implying I get out enough to meet interesting characters very often... or that anyone around my area is particularly interesting to begin with :P

I think the biggest known "character" of the town is this guy in his ~60s who looks like a hobo {but isn't} and all he does is go around all the shops chatting up the register girls, all day, every day. Enter any shop in town, and I'd say there's about a 5% encounter rate. And he'll be there, when you're trying to pay for your stuff, all "and how are you today my dear?"

Oh and another guy who is almost always in the local supermarket. He has a pram (no baby, no kids) and a couple of greyhounds. He puts a little carpet down (awww, bless) and lets his dogs rest on that outside while he goes inside, does his shopping and puts it in the pram. (erm, large baby buggy, if that's a British only term). It's not a terrible idea so I don't know if he's insane or a genius, all I know is it's a bit... unusual