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I have mentioned before that I live in a "transitional" neighbourhood or one which might be described as "iffy". Lots of crime and colourful characters.
Last Sunday I happened to notice a couple of guys running down the street, past our house, followed by a heavy set girl – they didn't look like charity fun-run participants. A fit-looking policewoman was catching up and a policeman brought up the rear at a (much) slower pace. Police cars swarmed into the street blocking off the alley and the street – effectively trapping the teenagers. There was a lot of gesticulating and shouting and separating and questioning. I gave up watching because I have things to do so now I will never know what happened.
Yesterday as I, and a whole lot of other people, were getting off the train at my station the doors suddenly closed trapping inside some who had been trying to get off along with passengers trying to travel further. There was then a PA announcement that the train sitting at the platform would not be moving due to a "Police Situation". I don't know, but I always expected a "police situation" might involve storm trooper type action or rubber bullets so I didn't wait around to see what would happen next…. neither did those fellow passengers lucky enough to get off before the doors closed.
The trip home got weirder though as I was walking along the street I saw a man crawling, literally crawling on hands & knees, onto the road way – a 6-lane roadway! He crawled across one entire lane before staggering to his feet and continuing on with a drunken weave through the rush hour traffic. People just stopped to watch this basically suicidal act – I don't suppose anyone was too keen to jump infront of traffic to stop him but it would have been a most unpleasant end to my day if he had been hit by a car or the proverbial bus.
Oh! And on my way to work the other morning at 6.30am I was stopped by a guy who said "Hi, I'm from Kenya can you give me some money?" I'm sorry, but that early in the morning, you have to come up with a better reason for me to give you money!
This statue was somewhere in Rome - it is called "Boca de la Verdad" or "The Mouth of Truth". You are supposed to stick your hand inside the mouth. If you leave Rome with one less hand, it means you are a liar!
