Monday 6 December 2010

Welcome to the Jeremy Kyle show (Romsey edition)

At about 15.00 on Saturday I went to the local Co-Op store to get a few things for dinner. Everything was going swimmingly until I emerged to hear a dog whimpering. Two dogs were tied up near the door, and five youths were throwing snowballs at them from just a few feet away.

I asked them 'Do you have to do that?' or words to that effect. I did not swear or overly raise my voice. The next thing I knew one of the youths - a good six inches shorter than me - stepped over, put two hands on my chest and shoved me backwards before turning away

That is all; nothing else happened, but it is remarkable how shaken and annoyed I was afterwards. It was very minor violence, but I had a bottle of wine in my rucksack, and I very nearly went backwards into the wall of the shop. The ground was still icy, and so it would have been easy for me to slip.

Instead of confronting them I went back into the shop and asked a member of staff to come out with me. By the time we emerged the youths were on the other side of the road, walking away.

Absolute scum.

2 comments:

Alan Sloman said...

I think you did well not to react David. Every bone in my body would be aching to lump the little yob.

Society has let bad behaviour remain unpunished for too long - and the yobs are aware of this. If society had refused to let behaviour like this becoming the norm by stepping in at an earlier stage we would not be in the mess we are in now. The trouble is, if you were to lump the little yob you would probably end up being charged yourself.

Something is desperately wrong with this situation.

At least you have the satisfaction of knowing that you stopped them tormenting the dogs. Well done Sir.

David Cotton said...

Cheers Alan

I am a runner, not a fighter (i.e. a scaredy cat). Some people get a thrill from adrenalin rushes; I just decorate my boxers...

It's not so much the fact I got pushed, it was the fact that they were throwing snowballs at dogs that could not escape. What was the point of that? What on earth was going through their minds (assuming, of course, that we can credit them with rational thought).

There is so little trouble in this area. It's a shame that just a handful of yobs can spoil things.

As an aside, this summer I saw two skateboard-yielding hoodies outside the chip shop in the centre of Romsey. Their accents were RP, and they were discussing a gymkhana. Upper class hoodies ;-)