PAOLO IS SWEET AS CANDY...
MUSIC STAR PAYS FOR MICHAEL’S SHOPPING AFTER HE FORGOT HIS WALLET
A Paisley shopper who forgot his wallet was left speechless when music star Paolo Nutini picked up the tab.
Michael McCallum, 67, was stunned when fellow Buddie Paolo, 33, came to his rescue and paid for his groceries at the town’s Aldi store in Neilston Road.
Michael, a retired technical author, had nipped in to the shop to pick up a few odds and ends when he suddenly realised he had left his wallet in the house.
Paolo, waiting in the same queue, stepped in to spare his blushes by paying the checkout operator his £12.45 bill.
Michael said: “I was stunned, completely flabbergasted, when this young guy in the queue, said he was paying for my shopping. “I didn’t recognise him.
“He was just an ordinary guy wearing a Beanie hat.
“He said, ‘It is OK bud. I will get this for you.’
“I had forgotten my wallet. I was embarrassed. I didn’t know where to look. He said he was paying for it.
“I said it’s OK. I was even trying to put things back. To see what I could afford as I had a couple of quid on me.
“But he insisted he was paying for it.
“I asked him his details so I could pay him back.
“He told me his name was Harlow. “I asked him a few times. He said Harlow, and then I realised he was saying Paolo.”
Michael added he was amazed at himself for not recognising the globally-famous crooner, who has topped the charts with best-selling albums such as These Streets, Sunny Side Up and Caustic Love.
He said: “He is such an unassuming guy.
“So quiet and modest. Just like an ordinary young guy.
“I went to shake his hands and he told me, ‘ You can’t do that just now.’
“I was literally flabbergasted.” Dad-of-three Michael added he feels awkward for not realising who it was that gave him his brush with fame.
He said: “Even though I didn’t recognise him, he has proved himself to be the perfect gentleman.
“It has given me something to tell my children about.
“They have that saying ‘ Pay it Forward.’ Well, Paolo Nutini knows a thing or two about that.
“I just want to say thank you Paolo. I will pay you back.”
Paolo, whose Italian family run the Castlevecchi fish and chip shop in the town’s New Street, lives in the town’s Castlehead district.
The singer, who went to St Andrew’s Academy in Paisley shot to international fame with his debut album These Streets.