(no subject)
I grew up in Chatham, which isn't the ghetto, as many of the idiots who live there would proudly tell you, but still it's not exactly pleasant. I spent 18 years ignoring pikey thugs who threatened to beat me up with a crowbar. And I spent the last year living in Mission, San Francisco, which again, is no ghetto but is one of the rougher parts of the city. So I'm not some kind of sheltered little country girl who gets scared of loud noises. That said, I am completely incapable of defending myself, and in Norwich I've always felt so safe compared to being in Medway, where I just ignore EVERYONE, that any confrontation round here is likely to scare the crap out of me.
Last night Adam and I were walking back from town at about 12.30. We didn't even have a late night. We're walking back along St. Giles when a bunch of 15 year old twats come out of the graveyard waving bottles of White Lightning or whatever cheap shit they were drinking, and start shouting stuff at us. Not wanting to provoke them, we started to walk a bit faster. Big mistake. Apparently pikeys are like wild beasts - any sign of fear and they know they've got you. Long story short - they followed us home, and for about 20 minutes we had to endure constant taunting and threats, some little gobshite pulling at our clothes and shouting in our faces, and making amusing quips like "ooh, we're so scared the chavs are behind us! BOO!" "happy slap, take one!" and "you see this, greeeny? This is your head when I kick it in. BAM. Dead!" (at this point our young hero was kicking a bin about a metre away). And then when we ignored them they got really mad, and decided to walk the entire journey about ten centimetres behind us, which is really fucking scary when you have no idea what they're doing. We couldn't turn round to look because that would be acknowledging them, which is precisely what they wanted. We managed to lose them by walking down Alexandra Road and then cutting up our street, but I was still shitting myself because although I know they were only about 15, and that Adam, although tiny, is pretty hard when it comes down to it (takes after his dad - possibly the scariest 5'7 man of all time), there were still three of them, and if the girl had decided to start on me I'd have no way of defending myself. I can't even throw a punch! And I was wearing flip flops - not even any heels to stab her in the face with (which is what I would really have liked to do)!
The thing that makes me really mad is that I actually was scared of them, which is precisely what they wanted. I hate the fact that a bunch of 15 year old shitheads with no future can make me feel that scared, because I have no idea what they might do. How do I know one of them isn't stupid enough to be carrying a knife or something? I know they're only kids but if one of them decided to whip out a stanley knife he nicked from D&T class because he thought it made him look hard, he could end up doing serious harm. Also knives are my most feared object. Even kitchen knives scare the shit out of me!
I suppose it all worked out in the end, but it's the second time this week we've had trouble with gangs of kids round here - on the way to the party on Saturday, Adam's friend Tori got punched in the face by some pikey shit because she told him to fuck off. Honestly, I felt so much safer in Mission because I knew that unless I was a member of some fabled Mexican gang, no one was going to do anything more than shout "Oi mama! Que bonita!" at me. In England you never know who's going to take a disliking to your face or the way you dress.
What the fuck is wrong with people?
Anyway. Onto a more pleasant subject, I have a brand new shiny phone because my old one broke last week and I've been waiting for 02 to send me my replacement. Apologies to anyone who has tried to text me recently, I haven't been able to reply to any messages! (Suzanne, sorry I didn't text earlier, and also yesterday - I wanted to ask how your first day at Past Times went but my new phone didn't arrive in time! I will text you later!) Hopefully this evening I will send everyone a message with my new number.