Pierre, Even if you don't want any more sympathy, I'm at least sorry that I hadn't read your blog posting before I posted my last message. I'd have been a bit more sensitive and I can't blame you for avoiding the park and advising others to do likewise. All the same, I'm with Doodles on the way ahead: as soon as ordinary people abandon an area as being unsafe, it falls to the control of the sociopaths and psychopaths. The reality is (and I've had someone try to mug me on my doorstep) streetcrime is a feature of the London landscape and will happen anywhere: in Peckham, East Dulwich or, for that matter, Chelsea. For myself, I'd rather learn how to take sensible precautions -- not that this would have helped in your case or course. For example when I'm walking at night I try to look like I know where I'm going and I never carry crime magnets like a flashy mobile or laptop bag. As for critical mass doing canal path, I was once on a LCC Bike Week ride that went down that route, heading south. About 30 of us came accross a gang of (I kid you not) about 20 or thirty very serious looking youths in dark glasses, marching north in a cohort. I don't know if they had more serious business to attend to but they let us pass them in the opposite direction - we in polite single file - without saying a word. It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. East (of Dulwich)