Too exciting big city life

One aspect of big city living is something I didn't really expect I had to get used to. Maybe I don't, but I will no doubt come across it again.

Saturday (or actually already Sunday) when we were on our way home from a housewarming party there were a bunch of youngsters on the bus. At least one of them had a swastika on the sleeve of his jacket, so we'll label them nazis for the sake of clarity. They were hollering along to some white supremacy-like music and drinking beer. We were sitting just two seats behind them and so were a couple of middleaged couples, who sighed and muttered about the behaviour of the nazis, and I could tell something was going to happen sooner or later.

As one of the nazis had finished his beer he threw the can toward the back of the bus, where a girl of foreign heritage happened to be sitting, causing a cascade of beer drops to hit a number of people on the way. That proved to be the last straw for one of the middleaged men in the bus and enraged he went up to the nazi guy. I'm not entirely sure what he hoped to achieve by that, other than express his disgust over that sort of behaviour, but of course the nazi only took it as an excuse to start a fight. He got out of his seat ready to take a swing at the older guy, but he didn't get far before a number of people got between them, myself included.

I'll pause here to explain how I came to the decision to go between. I realise that I'm putting myself at risk by doing so, you never know if a knife suddenly presents itself. However, the main point for me here is that I believe I as female have an advantage in situations like these. If a guy should go between he would only add more of what's already there when it comes to body mass, gender, and tone of voice. A girl is smaller, can come from below, and can talk with a significantly different tone of voice and that creates a distraction that helps with calming the situation. Also there is a boundary that even brutes like this guy won't cross and that is hitting a girl in public.

I went up to the nazi to fully concentrate on him, to calm him down and to make him realise that nothing good would come from him fighting the older guy. I could tell that he got rather puzzled as to why there was this girl standing next to him, touching him and talking to him, and most of all standing in the way of him getting to the man, all he wanted to do was to take a punch at the old geezer. As I was seeking eyecontact with the nazi I didn't pay any attention to what was happening behind me, but I suppose someone dragged the older guy away from the heat as well. It took a while, but finally the nazi started to actually hear what I was saying to him and calmed down. In the mean time the bus driver had called security, but since there was no fighting going on they just followed the bus in case something more would happen. Some of the other nazis got a bit jumpy and worried that they would get in trouble and got off the bus, but a couple of them were still riding when D and I got off at our stop.

I was never really worried for myself during all this, but I sure got my adrenaline kick afterwards. I'm fairly sure I would make the same decision again if I had to, but I also know that it might not be as smooth as this time.


keah