dg comments

please empty your brain below

Lucky you came along, DG. And lucky the kids ran off in time. Suppose they'll never be reprimanded...

EskimoPie | 14.06.11 - 8:35 a.m. | #

I hope he was OK and lucky for him someone prepared to take action rather than look the other way came along.

ganching | Homepage | 14.06.11 - 8:47 a.m. | #

Beautiful word pictures DG, really evocative, and I'm glad you were there for a timely intervention. I do hope that the lad is alright and that his assailants were caught, and will be punished.

Christine | 14.06.11 - 8:47 a.m. | #

Well done DG.
These are the kind of things that you read about, but never think will happen to you. The boys had the luck that you where a concerned citizen, and got involved.

Michael | 14.06.11 - 10:41 a.m. | #

I have been away a long time, is London that bad now ?

Colininthailand | 14.06.11 - 11:29 a.m. | #

Bautifully written. Bonsoir, tristesse.

And isn't London a wonderful place where a stranger steps in and helps other peoples' children?

Chandelia | 14.06.11 - 11:52 a.m. | #

the real facts will never be known, this is highly selective, Sorry...times like this DG shows he still observes London like an outsider. The melifluous prose, does not sit comfortably with the inner city violence. But well done anyway...

k | 14.06.11 - 12:25 p.m. | #

I love the mood you have captured here.It made me stop and think about things for ten minutes or so.It is also something I will mention to others during the day

Richard | Homepage | 14.06.11 - 1:31 p.m. | #

@k: "but well done anyway".... sounds like you are a English teacher about to award 7/10 - good effort ! How does "an outsider" view London, I wonder. Am I "an outsider", knowing the city well, no longer living in the capital, but coming every day to work here ?

Paul | 14.06.11 - 1:36 p.m. | #

Colininthailand,

The Greenway is a fairly deserted pathway (over a disused sewage line) than runs through and near some fairly rough areas.

It's not typical of London as a whole. Or even, because of its desolation, of the areas through which it runs.

Dominic | 14.06.11 - 2:14 p.m. | #

Dominic: it certainly isn't disused.

AC | 14.06.11 - 3:03 p.m. | #

bestmate is much more polite than i. my usual hint consists of 'make sure you lock the door on your way & don't let the cats out.' as i make my way to chambers.

jonquil | 14.06.11 - 3:20 p.m. | #

I suppose whether London is 'that bad' depends on several factors, including location, age and gender.
Either way, encountering groups of youths (of either sex) always make me uncomfortable.
Glad your approach scared them off before anything worse happened.

CornishCockney | 14.06.11 - 7:36 p.m. | #

Well that was a twist...

Dane | 15.06.11 - 12:47 a.m. | #

'Outsider?' How would an 'insider' describe this, I wonder?

No-one should be hurt in this way, however or wherever such violence happens. Poor kid - he was lucky, that that someone kind was there to help. Well done DG.

Rose | Homepage | 15.06.11 - 12:49 p.m. | #

Dominic,

It's certainly not disused, the Greenway is a 'landscaped' path along the top of the Northern Outfall Sewer Embankment, which carries effluent from north of the Thames to the mammoth sewage disposal works at Beckton.

DG, good work.

Rob

Rob C | 15.06.11 - 1:34 p.m. | #

gee, is it THAT old ? How much sewage did mammoths produce ?

Paul | 16.06.11 - 12:10 p.m. | #

Rob C, I didn't say it was disused - I have used it myself on numerous occasions! Maybe I should have been clearer - I meant "deserted" in the sense that it is surrounded (in many parts) by open space that (as DG says) lacks alternative "escape routes". Although it is also true that the most desolate stretch (actually, in both senses) is that bit now closed up towards Hackney Wick because of the Olympics.

Dominic | 16.06.11 - 5:04 p.m. | #

Oh, sorry, "disused sewage line", I did say. How foolish of me. My bad

Dominic | 16.06.11 - 5:04 p.m. | #

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