May 19, 2006 11:23:38 AM
- easy_rider911
- Rennteam VIP
-
- Loc: London , United Kingdom
- Posts: 22190, Gallery
- Registered on: Nov 8, 2004
OT: I was attacked in the street in broad daylight
This happened some months ago but until today I have not wanted to talk about it, I didn't feel like re-living it but today I actually feel like talking about it and getting it off my chest.
My wife and I were walking back home from the cinema one evening. We didn't go the usual way through Canary Wharf which is a longer route but more pedestrianised and safer. We instead walked along a major A road (A13 Aspen Way) where hundreds of cars hurtle past but very few people on foot. It was broad daylight but I should have known better.
As we walked along the pavement, 3 youths on bicycles rode past us on the pavement. As they went past, one of them threw some food wrappers back at my wife and I. I was shocked and angry that complete strangers would do this to us. We hadn't done anything to provoke anyone.
Nonetheless I said and did nothing thinking it simply wasn't worth it but then they stopped and turned around. One black kid (around 14 years old) with 2 white kids (around 12-13 years old) each. They gave me a nasty look and they could see I wasn't happy that they had thrown their rubbish in the direction of my wife and I. Without me saying or doing anything, the black ringleader said to me "What?". By this time, my wife and I had reached where they had stopped in the pavement in front of us. Against my better judgment I stated "You shouldn't throw your rubbish at people". With hindsight, I realise that that was all they needed to start. The ringleader said "Why? What are you gonna do about it?....Nothing, that's what you're gonna do. Nothing. 'Cos you're scared."
I said nothing and did nothing. The pavement however was narrow so my wife and I couldn't walk past them. Anyway, I thought it was less safe to have them behind us. So we waited for them to move on so we could at least keep them in sight. But they didn't move.
The ringleader repeated what he had said. They stood side by side and moved towards us. They each took the seats off their bicycles and immediately they were brandishing them like hammers. Sensing a physical threat, I told him to leave us alone or I would defend ourselves by beating the crap out of them. I told him they had picked the wrong person if they thought I was not going to do anything about it. They moved forward so I punched one kid on the chin. He fell to the ground against a fence. The black kid took a swing at me with his bike seat. I avoided it and punched him in the face. They got up, looked at each other and cycled off ahead.
My wife and I were shaken. She had been freaking out and screaming.
We waited a while before walking on. The kids were lying in wait up ahead behind a wall near the drive-through McDonalds. One of them saw us and tried to surprise us by hurling a brick at us. He missed from only 5 metres away but the brick went into the road and hit the front spoiler of a car which drove over it.
The youths saw what happened and cycled off scared at getting caught.
The driver of the car stopped and got out angry at them. Fortunately, there was no damage to his car.
My wife and I walked into the McDonalds and told the manager what had happened. He kindly got us some water and sat us down asking if we wanted to call the police. I thought that there was no point so I let it pass.
In the days and weeks that followed, I found myself feeling rage at what had happened. I noticed I would sometimes go through the conversation again in my mind trying to make sense of it and whether I would or should have done anything differently.
It was a small event but I still felt shaken by it. Things like this make me feel there's no hope for the future if it's in the hands of thugs like that.
Sorry - I just haven't been able to talk about this before but now I just needed to talk about it.
My wife and I were walking back home from the cinema one evening. We didn't go the usual way through Canary Wharf which is a longer route but more pedestrianised and safer. We instead walked along a major A road (A13 Aspen Way) where hundreds of cars hurtle past but very few people on foot. It was broad daylight but I should have known better.
As we walked along the pavement, 3 youths on bicycles rode past us on the pavement. As they went past, one of them threw some food wrappers back at my wife and I. I was shocked and angry that complete strangers would do this to us. We hadn't done anything to provoke anyone.
Nonetheless I said and did nothing thinking it simply wasn't worth it but then they stopped and turned around. One black kid (around 14 years old) with 2 white kids (around 12-13 years old) each. They gave me a nasty look and they could see I wasn't happy that they had thrown their rubbish in the direction of my wife and I. Without me saying or doing anything, the black ringleader said to me "What?". By this time, my wife and I had reached where they had stopped in the pavement in front of us. Against my better judgment I stated "You shouldn't throw your rubbish at people". With hindsight, I realise that that was all they needed to start. The ringleader said "Why? What are you gonna do about it?....Nothing, that's what you're gonna do. Nothing. 'Cos you're scared."
I said nothing and did nothing. The pavement however was narrow so my wife and I couldn't walk past them. Anyway, I thought it was less safe to have them behind us. So we waited for them to move on so we could at least keep them in sight. But they didn't move.
The ringleader repeated what he had said. They stood side by side and moved towards us. They each took the seats off their bicycles and immediately they were brandishing them like hammers. Sensing a physical threat, I told him to leave us alone or I would defend ourselves by beating the crap out of them. I told him they had picked the wrong person if they thought I was not going to do anything about it. They moved forward so I punched one kid on the chin. He fell to the ground against a fence. The black kid took a swing at me with his bike seat. I avoided it and punched him in the face. They got up, looked at each other and cycled off ahead.
My wife and I were shaken. She had been freaking out and screaming.
We waited a while before walking on. The kids were lying in wait up ahead behind a wall near the drive-through McDonalds. One of them saw us and tried to surprise us by hurling a brick at us. He missed from only 5 metres away but the brick went into the road and hit the front spoiler of a car which drove over it.
The youths saw what happened and cycled off scared at getting caught.
The driver of the car stopped and got out angry at them. Fortunately, there was no damage to his car.
My wife and I walked into the McDonalds and told the manager what had happened. He kindly got us some water and sat us down asking if we wanted to call the police. I thought that there was no point so I let it pass.
In the days and weeks that followed, I found myself feeling rage at what had happened. I noticed I would sometimes go through the conversation again in my mind trying to make sense of it and whether I would or should have done anything differently.
It was a small event but I still felt shaken by it. Things like this make me feel there's no hope for the future if it's in the hands of thugs like that.
Sorry - I just haven't been able to talk about this before but now I just needed to talk about it.
Watch out for the more funny threads! 
!
)....CanaryWharf is similar to NYC's WallSt/WorldFinCtr....60% of NYC's hedge funds and pvt equity shops sit in Midtown and have zero interest in being "way down" in Manhattan's nasty underbelly...and rather are starting to creep further up ParkAve into the 60s...to be within 10-20 blks of where most of the seriously affluent live/enjoy dining...and the other 39% of NYC's hedge funds are 40 mis north of Manhattan, in leafy Greenwich, near the homes of the hedge fund titans who choose to live in affluent 'burbs rather than Manhattan's Fifth/Park Aves.... 
), and expect the worst- sad but true! 
