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10:37 pm: Any three guys
I went out for a walk. It was still broad daylight - well, dim enough (as I discovered the first time I tried to take a photo) that I needed to switch my camera from regular to night settings. Night settings on my camera are great, if limited: the exposure slows down, you get lovely light shots. I was standing on the Bernard Street bridge taking photos of the boat-restaurant and the reflections and the lights on the water, and three drunk men came up behind me and one of them bent down and grabbed my leg and made a joke about "into the water!" It was a joke, if a pretty fucking stupid one - you know the difference between a grip that's just a grip and a grip that's actually trying to lift? - I do, I mean there's a physical difference, and, this one was the former. He didn't attempt to raise my weight, and I don't think he ever intended to: he and his pals were just having an enormously funny drunk joke at the expense of the photographer on the bridge. I turned around and pressed my finger down on the button of my camera, intending to get their faces, maybe put them up on my blog, pretty fucking stupid joke on them, yes? And of course I'd just taken a photo on Night settings, the camera was still hanging... and the photo didn't take. When they realised what I was doing - or rather, not doing: to them, I must have seemed to have been pointing a camera and not taking a photo - they laughed even more and rolled off down the road, the one who had gripped my leg bending over to keep his face out of camera range. And my camera still didn't work - when I looked at it again, I realised that somehow I'd locked it into display mode of the last photo, so that was all it was showing and it wouldn't take another until I'd unlocked it from display mode. And I walked on, thinking "I should call the police and report them". I wasn't scared - not even the aftermath of danger rush when you realised what could have happened - I was pissed off (I still am: can you tell?) that these stupid bastards had decided to have drunken fun with me: and I would cheerfully report them to the police if I'd got a photo. But I didn't. And without that, all I have is just a "Well, it was three men, yes, all in their twenties, yes, all Caucasian/English speakers, yes, all pretty drunk". I have a hopeless memory for faces - I wouldn't guarantee to recognise them if I saw any of them again tomorrow. Which I hope I won't. And reporting it to the police will take up so much time.Current Mood:  annoyed , i want a hug, just my life really
Comments
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/192820/41091) | | From: | ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) jekesta |
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| Date: | dayordJune 2008 03:36 am (UTC) |
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::hugs you a lot::
God, people suck. I'm sorry your camera let you down as well, it was a great reaction to have, to take their photo.
::loves you::
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/185814/44799) | | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJune 2008 03:44 am (UTC) |
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*hugs you back*
Yes, I'm slightly upset with my camera. Bad show.
Bastards. I'm in the kind of mood where I wanted to read that you'd decked the guy. But I know that's not necessarily the best response... Sorry your camera didn't work, though!
| | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJune 2008 11:57 am (UTC) |
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It was one of those times when hitting out would definitely not have been the best response.
(My camera-protectiveness is so ingrained it never even occurred to me to try swinging my camera at them, either. Which amuses me slightly.)
I would feel differently about it if the man had tried to lift me - even slightly (and probably differently again if the bridge wasn't constructed so that there's actually no way in the world someone of ordinary strength could have tipped me over).
What they did was assault disguised in their minds as a joke because there was no intent to physically harm me. It would have been great to have been able to rip the disguise away (especially if it could have been done by the police, in a nice world where they'd have been promptly spotted and taken in and spent 5 hours 59 minutes in a cell in the police station sobering up) - but I don't think there's anything I could have said that would have had any impact on them at that time (they were very drunk) and if I'd hit them, that would have - in their minds - ratched it up a notch from "just a joke" to "woo! fight!" with me as the aggressor. As it was... well, they went away.
Think of it this way--your reflex to take their pictures was right on, even though your equipment wasn't cooperating. Luckily, these ones weren't dangerous, so that made it a good trial run. Next time you run into jerks, you'll be ready for them.
| | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJune 2008 11:46 am (UTC) |
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That's a nice thought. This isn't the first time I've run into jerks - it's just the first time my camera's been out of its case, poised and ready to go.
(Though I have noticed that the mere act of getting my camera out makes most jerks run for it. Heh.)
"OH NOES THERE IS SOMETHING IN MY TEETH."
^_^
::growls at them::
Pity your camera didn't work; they really ought to be reported.
| | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJune 2008 11:45 am (UTC) |
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Sadly, even if my camera had worked, there's damn-all to say the police would have been able to do anything with the pic - unless they already knew one/or more of the people in it.
(I mean, I'd have reported it anyway, but...)
I seem to recall this kind of interaction is a fairly frequent occurence where you regularly walk... I know going to the police after one specific incident isn't much help, but would you get any better milage out of contacting your local council person on a regular basis, particularly if you've kept a log of incidents over, say, a month or 3 month period?
I did have some luck with a similar thing back when I was living in Dublin - it helped, I think, that my own council person was something of a new-comer to the political scene, with a fire in his belly (phone calls to a constituent at 10 PM, when most of us were thinking about bed); after awhile, rather than contacting him for every incident, I could talk political-speak about "neighborhood patterns", and ask about meta-factors like licensing laws and public order problems (such as the school you probably remember us being close to...)
The problem is systemic, as I realize you don't need to be told by me. It doesn't help what happened to you last night, of course. But now I'll fret and start in "there has to be something..."
(The fretting which is entirely my responsibility, by the way - sorry to dump it here. *wan grin* What are friends for, eh?)
| | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJune 2008 12:43 pm (UTC) |
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Well, past reports in this journal have all been of incidents around a slightly different area, but even so, well, yes, and that's why I should have reported it. I just... :-( felt like I didn't have the time or the energy to deal.
*hugs* You deal with what you can, it's all you can do.
Here's hoping for a minimum of incidents in the future. And if they have to be there, then someone to whom you can report who is sympathetic and in a position to actually do something to improve the situation.
Mrrr, I hate stupid drunken people. -hugs-
| | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJune 2008 02:05 pm (UTC) |
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I think people should have to pass a licencing test before they're allowed to get drunk. Some people just don't know how to do it right.
If that were the case then about half the population of my college would be written up for Doing It Wrong.
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/185774/44799) | | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJune 2008 02:47 pm (UTC) |
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...and the problem with this would be?
Oh it wouldn't be a problem at all; I was just remarking that there are quite a lot of people at my college who overestimate their alcohol tolerance.
| | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJune 2008 03:05 pm (UTC) |
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which would be the advantage of licencing! You'd be weighed/body fat measured, and told what your alcohol tolerance was. Then if you overstep it you get your licence taken away and are not able to get drunk!
this would probably only work in an alternate universe where we're all humanoid robots and have got to get special programming upgrades to be able to get drunk, but, hey.
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/486600/49203) | | From: | whatho |
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| Date: | dayordJune 2008 03:00 pm (UTC) |
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What a bunch of ... well, there are various words. That's a brilliant reaction though, even if it didn't come off - I think I'd just have flailed, which wouldn't have helped at all.
| | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJune 2008 03:06 pm (UTC) |
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Thank you. It did not feel particularly brilliant when it didn't work, but it did make the toerags GO AWAY, which was the big thing then.
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/135882/32720) | | From: | solo |
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| Date: | dayordJune 2008 09:43 pm (UTC) |
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Shame about the camera, that would have been way cool. I can understand why you're annoyed. I'd want to get them somehow, but weighing all the hassle and the chances that it wouldn't work, I probably wouldn't do anything either, but that would annoy me even more... arrrgh. :-(
| | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJuly 2008 12:17 am (UTC) |
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I probably wouldn't do anything either, but that would annoy me even more... arrrgh. :-(
Yeah. And yeah. Double bind.
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/177442/37966) | | From: | evie |
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| Date: | dayordJune 2008 11:11 pm (UTC) |
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Oh man. This is why we don't like bands of adolescent male primates roving the streets. They are compelled to show off for each other, and innocent bystanders make great props. In their tiny pea-brains. And achohol consumption seems to go along with poor impulse control.
I would have been terrified. I can't swim, and the thought of some moron dumping me into the water just for a giggle really freaks me out. Especially when said moron is too drunk to help when they realize their fun has turned into a serious situation.
*hugs*
Shooting them with the camera was an excellent thought. I'm sorry it malfunctioned, but the idea was good.
| | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJuly 2008 12:20 am (UTC) |
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They weren't adolescents: they were adults, in their 20s. Other than that, yes yes yes.
It was clear they couldn't dump me in the water, and clear to me that the man didn't intend to dump me.
It was a complete sod that the camera didn't work. :-(
Poor you. That really is an upsetting thing to happen.
As for photo-ing the perpetrators, whilst a useful idea, it can have its risks. It can be (and has been reported) an excuse for further intimindating behaviour/assaults.
| | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJuly 2008 12:21 am (UTC) |
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As for photo-ing the perpetrators, whilst a useful idea, it can have its risks. It can be (and has been reported) an excuse for further intimindating behaviour/assaults.
Yeah, if I had managed to take a photo, I would have turned and run. (There were two or three crowded cafe bar places within two minutes run, and it was broad daylight.)
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/123398/32879) | | From: | gem225 |
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| Date: | dayordJuly 2008 03:55 am (UTC) |
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What entitled jerks and asshats! I love that your response was to attempt to take their picture, and I'm sorry that it didn't end up working out for you to do so.
*hugs* Here's my heroine icon, just for you.
| | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJuly 2008 12:25 am (UTC) |
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What entitled jerks and asshats! I love that your response was to attempt to take their picture, and I'm sorry that it didn't end up working out for you to do so.
*beams* *hugs*
Here's my heroine icon, just for you.
Aw, thank you! (Who is she?)
| | From: | gem225 |
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| Date: | dayordJuly 2008 08:30 am (UTC) |
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*beams* *hugs**big hugs* Aw, thank you! (Who is she?)You're very welcome. The character in the icon is Irina Derevko aka Laura Bristow from the US TV show Alias, played by Lena Olin. Irina was one of my favorite characters on the show, especially since one never quite knew which side she was on. She kept everyone guessing, and she kicked serious ass. You can tell that I loved her. *g*
If your inthe market and won't take it the wrong way I'm havinbg a sale
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/185768/44799) | | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJuly 2008 12:13 am (UTC) |
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| | Re: Hugs | (Link) |
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Thanks.
| | espirit du escallatair | (Link) |
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or whatg I should have said 1st time
Did you know that an athoritative body of mullahs has declaimed that women have no personal pride. so you DIDN'T feel pissed at being messed around with ;your incapable.
Doesn't that make you feel better ;-)
| | From: | yonmei |
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| Date: | dayordJuly 2008 12:11 am (UTC) |
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| | Re: espirit du escallatair | (Link) |
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*drops staircase on your head*
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