Ladies be careful! (Lounged)

[halicon]

Just a warning, a friend of mine was walking along Grove Vale towards Lordship Lane on Thursday about 6pm and felt she was being followed by a black man pulling a wheely suitcase.

She stopped at the roundabout and the man went past with his suitcase and crossed heading up LL.

She decided to get away and went up the one way st beside the EDT, she was half way when she heard running and turned to see this man, carrying his suitcase running straight for her!

He dropped the case and shouted "Dont be scared!" and she backed away. He stood in the road near her and she told him she could see her sister waiting at the corner. He said she was wearing sexy boot and he needed to tell her that! Every time she side stepped so did he! She slowly backed away and then ran and managed get to her sisters house. She alerted the police.

It was all very frightening as I am sure every woman reading this can imagine! Be aware and stay on busy streets!

[dulwichmum]

OHMYGOD!

This is really dreadful.

*Whispers* "where did she buy those boots?"

[candj]

Bloody hell! A self defense class or two probably wouldn't hurt these days.

Sorry Admin for language.

[*Bob*]

It's a sign of the times.

In the 70s it was perfectly acceptable to 'suddenly give flowers to a woman you've never met'.

These days you just get a karate chop to the throat - possibly followed by a night in the cells.

[Louisa]

The guy may well just have been trying to be friendly but it's always worth being cautious in such situations. I'm going to start wearing boots now, it may mean I start getting compliments from men also! (I wonder if she got them at Davina Boutique or whatever it's called).

Louisa.

[halicon]

Hee Hee

She hates the boots and obviously realised he must be a nut job just from that comment!!!

[dulwichmum]

*Bob* Wrote:

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> It's a sign of the times.

>

> In the 70s it was perfectly acceptable to

> 'suddenly give flowers to a woman you've never

> met'.

>

> These days you just get a karate chop to the

> throat - possibly followed by a night in the

> cells.

Oh *Bob* dear heart,

I wonder if this just happens to you sweetie?

And thank you dear Halicon,

I hate to think I miss a trick in the fashion stakes.

The poor girl!

[AllforNun]

Was he wearing a a brown velour tracksuit ?

[PeckhamRose]

I am a motorcyclist so sometimes can be seen in leather. When walking to or from the bike I do occasionally get the scary attention stuff, till they see my face then they beg me to put my helmet back on. My foot in my sexy boot twitches to kick upwards in a ball-crunching direction.

The worst I got, when I was on the bike at the lights, was from a load of "bruddas" as they referred to themselves (is that sexist or racist?). They shouted out their car at me that I had no right to be on a motorcycle and to get home back to the kitchen to cook for my husband.

How I laughed.

[AllforNun]

Last night around 9.20pm i came across a guy pulling a suitcase crying to himself on a car bonnet in a back street near Tesco in ED, very odd indeed, he kept staring up at the sky and wiping his face with a white cloth or something...very odd indeed.

[*Bob*]

Perhaps the suitcase was very heavy?

If only he was a real purdy laydee - someone would have stopped and given him a hand.

[HonaloochieB]

Not sure about the flippant responses (and I dwell on planet Flippant).

From what Halicon said her friend had a very frightening experience and correcttly was alerting others to this man.

There is the possibility that he's harmless and 'just' a nuisance, there is also the possibility that he may be a danger to women.

If it's the same man who was weeping over a car then he may have mental health problems and requires help. Hope he gets it, but I hope it's before he ends up harming someone.

His behaviour is peculiar, telling a woman 'Don't be scared'? That's always going to scare someone.

The suitcase? Is he homeless, or calculating that a person with luggage is not someone who's going to excite suspicion as quickly as someone without it?

I hope he's brought to the attention of the appropriate authorities, and if he's unwell gets treatment and if he's criminal gets locked up.

Anyway hope your friend is OK now, Halicon.

[Mick Mac]

"Don't be scared" I won't hurt you....Of Mice and Men springs to mind, Lennie Small, a large and kind but mentally retarded man pursues local beauty, she struggles to get away and he holds her tighter, the end (for her)

Woman should always run from a nut job.

"The best-laid plans of mice and men/often go awry" (Robert Burns, 2009 less 250 = quickly grabs calculator = b.25 Jan 1759)

[Sue]

halicon Wrote:

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Be aware and stay

> on busy streets!

xxxxxxxx

Unfortunately that's not always feasible, is it.

Sounds like a very scary experience, but luckily rare I should say.

I'm also somewhat surprised by the flippancy of some of the posts in response to the OP. I'm all for humour, but I wouldn't have thought it was warranted in this particular case? :-$

[*Bob*]

Can the police arrest someone on the grounds of carrying a suitcase and telling women he likes their boots?

I mean - I know the guy's black but surely not even The Met can make that one stick?

[dulwichmum]

I agree. I wear fabulous boots and people regularly (I am not conscious of their faith or colour) openly compliment me on them - but then, I am completely fabulous you know. Men just can't help themselves...

[SteveT]

Rather than learning the martial arts, perhaps footwear that you can run in would be most prudent in the immediate future.

[HonaloochieB]

*Bob* Wrote:

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> Can the police arrest someone on the grounds of

> carrying a suitcase and telling women he likes

> their boots?

>

> I mean - I know the guy's black but surely not

> even The Met can make that one stick?

Your specious point about the man's race and the police seems a cheap and easy shot *Bob*.

In the context of this thread it looks a bit 'Ben Elton in he 80s' scattergun to me.

The OP gave an account of a woman who I think had every right to feel in fear of being harmed.

At the very least of being accosted against her will.

Hugely unpleasant for the individual involved.

[HonaloochieB]

dulwichmum Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I agree. I wear fabulous boots and people

> regularly (I am not conscious of their faith or

> colour) openly compliment me on them - but then, I

> am completely fabulous you know. Men just can't

> help themselves...

And of course DM, when approached by an insistent man in a quiet street, it will be the work of but a moment to direct him to your website in order that you can best deal with him by a large and useful helping of camp.

[HonaloochieB]

SteveT Wrote:

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> Rather than learning the martial arts, perhaps

> footwear that you can run in would be most prudent

> in the immediate future.

Oh stop it Steve, Bernard Manning's dead and doesn't need the material.

[dc]

Learning marital arts is a lifelong commitment and has very little to do with boots... except when you fail to notice the new ones etc etc blah blah blah hic

[*Bob*]

HonaloochieB Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Your specious point about the man's race and the

> police seems a cheap and easy shot *Bob*.

I disagree on both counts:

It's my opinion that the police ought to have better things to do than go out and apprehend people who are guilty of no more than 'slightly odd behaviour' at 6pm outside the EDT. Like crimefighting and so forth.

But fortunately he's seven more times likely to get stopped anyway, so maybe it'll work itself out.

[alice]

Question for the OP - how can someone follow you when they are ahead of you?

[HonaloochieB]

*Bob* Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> HonaloochieB Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

>

> > Your specious point about the man's race and

> the

> > police seems a cheap and easy shot *Bob*.

>

> I disagree on both counts:

>

>

> It's my opinion that the police ought to have

> better things to do than go out and apprehend

> people who are guilty of no more than 'slightly

> odd behaviour' at 6pm outside the EDT. Like

> crimefighting and so forth.

>

> But fortunately he's seven more times likely to

> get stopped anyway, so maybe it'll work itself

> out.

What about preventing a possible crime?

What about ensuring that this individual doesn't do anything to cause, at the very least distress, or at worst harm to a woman.

I'd be thinking about the police identifying a man doing the above and putting him in the right place, whether that involves mental health professionals or the criminal justice system.

My guess would be the mental health route. But of course I don't know. No more than anyone else does.

I also don't know what your definition of 'slightly odd behaviour' is.

A couple of weeks ago some of the passengers on the late night 176 bus may have been witness to an overweight White chap, who had dined recently and well. This same fellow felt obliged to, once in a while, share with the rest of the bus his interpretation of 'Like A Rolling Stone'.

I reckon some might have called it 'slightly odd behaviour', but he didn't follow any female passengers and intimidate them.

Go back and read the OP and see if you find it within the boundaries of acceptable behaviour.

Edited to remove the original last sentence.

It contained the word 'arse' and I thought that on mature consideration it was uncalled for.

[*Bob*]

Preventing a possible crime?

Well I suppose so, if you put it like that.

Let's get him locked away for good. Before he possibly kills us all.