Close encounters

I had a slow night. The rain is keeping people away from their beloved alcohol.

I witnessed a punch up in which a young Spanish-speaking man attempted to protect the honour of his young female friend when a loud, arrogant and very drunk French-speaking man (does anyone speak English anymore?) allegedly touched her inappropriately. He pushed the attacker away and was rewarded with a beating in which Frenchy and his two mates set about punching and kicking him to the ground. All in full view of anyone who was passing by.

The noise of it all had upset my friend who sleeps in the cinema doorway and it was the unusual sight of seeing him standing up and looking about that made me aware that something was going on. I drove nearer to the scene, parked up and watched. The local doormen were also watching and one of them was attempting to intervene (not wise). Eventually the three youths walked off, hurling insults and threats at the Spanish protector of women. The police arrived on their bikes (literally) and detained the little gang as they attempted to leave the scene of their crime. Another police patrol arrived and approached the victim.

Of course it only took seconds before the victim was brought to my attention and I saw that he had a bad cut to his finger and a small nick in his ear. His finger had been stitched up at hospital the previous week and the stitches had burst as a result of the punching he had received. The police advised him that, although he was making a complaint of assault against the men, he too would be arrested for assault because the assailants had made a counter-allegation. That's how it works these days. You might as well forget about trying to get justice for yourself in this country. For a more interesting perspective (and a more professional one), read Copper's Blog.

This poor guy kept saying "I can't believe what he did. why would he do that to her?"

I kept telling him the same thing in response. "He's drunk and stupid and its a very common occurence."

We have to do something soon about alcohol abuse in this country, don't we?

I also watched a beggar go from person to person with a paper cup in his hand. He had a sense of urgency in his mission and I knew his face. He wasn't sitting in one spot plying his trade, he was harrassing everyone walking by. He was approaching groups of people and interrupting their conversations to get some money out of them. Was he desperate to get enough for his midnight meal before Burger King closed shop? Was he trying to raise enough cash in a hurry to help some poor kid on the street? Nope. He was trying to get enough for his next fix because he was going cold turkey. He was so close to mugging his next potential donor.

As for my own close encounter. I was driving to an emergency call behind an ambulance, which was going to the same call (I discovered later), when we crossed a red light. It was around 3am so there wasn't much traffic around but I am always careful not to go too fast through a junction. The ambulance went through, lights flashing, sirens blaring and I followed. I had probably slowed down to about 20 mph and was beginning to pick up speed again when I suddenly saw a taxi coming straight at me from the right. I turned to look at him and I had one of those incredible slow-motion moments. He kept coming and didn't seem to brake at all for a second. I continued to look at him as I travelled across the junction and he continued to drive straight towards me like I was invisible. I too had my lights on and my siren blaring but he was obviously a deaf-blind taxi driver. They are rare.

Then my slow-mo interlude ended and he veered off, with a skid (road surfaces were slick with rain) and did a sweeping arch behind and around me as I past. He had customers in his cab and he was travelling much too fast through the lights, even though they were in his favour (the lights not the customers). I saw him recovering control of his vehicle in my rear-view mirror. Then I got cancelled on the call! The vehicle I was following was 'nearer to the incident'. Yeah, right.

In the past when I had a near-miss like that I would have had my heart in my mouth for a while but I felt nothing at all. I felt no fear or apprehension, I just looked at the driver and carried on. I would have taken evasive action but I didn't feel I needed to. I was right in this instance but I hope I'm not becoming a driving robot because I will get it wrong one day (or night) and I'll be damned if I am going to end up in hospital. I've seen what goes on in there!

Be safe.