some of your stories are scary!

I feel quite safe in the day walking around any town or city but I wouldn't walk round Swindon at night!

Whenever I am out, I always stay alert and I know basic self defense and often have a bottle of something to spray in an attackers eye or something. I do like to 'sheild' to.

life is far too short to stay @ home and worry!

How safe do I feel? It depends on the situation & location.

I am usually left alone but last year on a tram in Sheffield coming back from watching a film with Stooby there were two girls on the tram as well who thought it was a good idea to talk about me in a non-quiet voice. Stoobs was ignoring them but it got me rather annoyed so I challenged them on it. (I know I am big but it is hurtful when people are calling you names so I am afraid I reacted rather badly when they carried on). I put on my 'crazy - psycho' face & said if I heard anything else then I would certainly throw them through the window & I wouldn't care about doing time for killing them, (the language used was a tad harsher than I can use on here). Poor Stooby looked quite shocked & I just then ignored the suddenly quiet girls & carried on chatting to him. When we got off the tram the girls needed the same stop & used a different exit as I think they were a little scared of me They crossed the road & while we were still on the other side started to yell stuff across the road, well I took about 5 running steps towards them & they scarpered so fast I could see the dust flying We were both in fits of laughter at these cowards who could really run very fast

On a more serious note though, I learned at work this week that one of my colleagues was walking back to the car park after work in Sheffield (just after the clocks changed in October so it was dark at 5pm) & she was mugged by two guys that were hanging around. Now this car park is beside a very busy road, she hung onto her handbag & they basically dragged her across the car park until she had to let go. She had sprained her ankle & hobbled back to work where other staff were still there to help her out. I was so shocked at this as I quite often walk over to that car park on my own & think nothing of it. The car park can be seen from our office & I never thought it was dangerous. Some other colleagues had left just before her & had to virtually push through the two guys to get to their cars. She is still so shaken by this attack that she will not walk to the car park on her own & is very reticent about going to other places now.

If someone tried to get violent with me I don't think that I wouldn't run or cower, I would try to give as good as I was getting from them. I am not sure how much of my Jiu-Jitsu I would remember from school but a swift kick/punch to a guys privates tends to make them gasp a bit. I don't carry anything in my bag like hairspray as I seriously don't think they would wait there patiently while I tried to rummage around & find it!

I do always lock my car door regardless of whether I am on my own or have others in the car as I have heard of nasty cases where doors are opened & people (yes plural!) are dragged out of their cars. I do also have my car keys in my hand already when I am in any car park so I am not concentrating on finding them when I need to be keeping an eye & an ear on what is going on around me. I would say I am very aware of my surroundings & I don't deliberately put myself in situations/locations where I will be at risk. Saying that though, I do still enjoy myself