Afternoon all. Thought i'd add a new topic of discussion into the mix.
I was walking along Seven sisters the other day (near FP tube) around 1pm on a Saturday afternoon, and suddenly realised that 2 blokes (might have been homeless) were getting a beating off two random thugs. My first reaction was...."do something quick, shout, break it up" blah blah blah......and then i did nothing as i started to think "what if they stab me, give me a slapping". Rather ashamed to say, that i walked on.
I was on the other side of the road and about 80 yards away, and many others were closer, but they all adopted the same attitude.
Question is what would you do? and what scenarios have you had to deal with in your time around FP and Stroud Green.
Comments
It is true - for reasons I don't quite understand I am often mistaken for a policeman. A guy in Clissold Park once put out his joint and apologised to me and hoped that I wouldn't do anything since I was probably off-duty. I was only walking past.
I have intervened in fights on a couple of occasions and thankfully never regretted it, but always thought afterwards that it was pretty stupid and could have turned out badly. I would say unless there are several people there who intervene together you are best to just call the police and hope they turn up quickly
Years ago some kids kicked in the door of my flat on Hanley Road and nicked my bike, one Sunday night. I chased them down and after being rammed by the guy on the bike got it back. Looking back, it was a totally stupid thing to do - but I've got an overgrown sense of injustice.
Or something.
If it looks like a relatively fair or really drunken fight b/w two guys I'd probably walk by - but if it seems unprovoked, opportunistic or a woman's being attacked I'm way too tempted to try and restore order.
No-ones ever mistaken me for a policeman though.
@ marky. I think it was that very story that made me question whether to get involved in confrontations. The chip story is definitely a scenario where i would have said something, and the outcome was just tragic. I guess my view now is that people's behaviour is completely unpredictable and as such can't be anticipated. I don't even shout and gesture at people road rage style (which everyone seems to do in the secure environment of their vehicle) because i politely (genuinely) told a motorist behind me that i hadn't turned left at the lights at the speed he wanted me to because i would have run over a cyclist. He then proceeded to chase me through highgate gesturing that he was going to slit my throat. What a loon.
The one time I have seen wrongdoing underway and called the cops, the 999 operative was utterly useless. I was walking up Blackstock Road at about 2am and saw what looked very much like a burglary - one chap climbing through a window, and a look-out in the garden, right on the corner with a side street. There being a look-out, I wasn't going to call while I could be seen, so I rang and explained the situation, said that I was now at the junction of Gillespie Road and Blackstock Road, and one road south of where I was, a burglary seemed to be taking place. She asked what that road was called. I said I didn't stop to look on account of the look-out I'd already mentioned, just look in the A-Z, it's one south of Gillespie. "Well, if you can't give me an exact location there's nothing we can do." Disgraceful.