Face To Face With The Dark Side Of London

It was New Years eve and I was enjoying myself down at the Victoria Embankment, watching the stunning firework display and listening to the good sounds provided by Radio 1 DJ Nihal. The place was packed with people from all over the world enjoying themselves. Just the way it should be.

There were of course scores of happy drunks, as well as a few not so happy ones that could barely walk. I must admit when I was younger, which is not that long ago, on seconds thoughts it maybe is. I had many an all day drinking session at the weekend, lasting anything up to 12 hours and more. And I have never been in the state where I couldn’t walk and lay slumped on the ground in a stupor.

It was about 1am and the African Princess was feeling the cold, so we decided to brave the throng of people and make our way to tube station. I thought I would take one last picture before we headed on our merry way home.

I raised up my camera and just as I pressed the button to take the picture, out of nowhere a big ugly black hand grabbed my camera and tried to pull it from my grasp. I however had firm grip on it, that’s life in London and I’m fully aware that something like this could happen at any second.

Mr Rasta Jamaican tried to snatch and steal my camera. I don’t know if he just expected me to let it go or what. But I shouted at him, “what the fuck are you doing” and pushed him away. I weighed up the situation and decided not to land a punch on his chin. I then watched him walk away and carried on my merry way.

I suppose it is a sign of the times and this could have happened in any city or town in any country in the world. There is always someone out there ready to take something that doesn’t belong to them.

It has been about 3 years since I last trained on a regular basis. But my reflexes aren’t what they once were. I had a similar thing happen to me in Glasgow about 5 years ago, when someone tried to grab a £20 note from my hand. But on that occasion, I let fly with a left hook and kick, both of which connected beautifully. The crook ended up on the ground.

On that occasion in the Merchant City area of Glasgow I never even thought about things. My reflexes kicked in and I couldn’t stop myself form making those first two defensive blows, even if I wanted too. If you want to dance with the devil be prepared for the consequences of your actions. As is normally the case when is there ever a cop or one of those community police clowns going around when you need one.

Face to face with the dark side of London wasn’t exactly what I would have wanted to experience in the first hour of a new decade. It however reminds me that the scum of society are always lurking somewhere and I personally feel every single politician from every single party in the UK hasn’t got a clue how to deal with crime in this country. And the good old Mayor Boris thinks it is a good idea to reduce the amount of cops in London. What a fucking joker, you barley see any cops on the streets anyway. You might as well just let the thugs and crooks take over the city more than they already have!

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