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Old 8 April 2019, 07:40 AM   #31
crazymcmichael
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I could have shouted something back in German but not sure that would have had the desired effect.

In this instance overstepping didn’t feel like the right route to go down.
Yes something like RAUS RAUS! No it havent, you need to look ''creepy'' not brutal only
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Old 8 April 2019, 12:14 PM   #32
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Decades ago I inquired about the time when traveling all the time. Either I didn’t know what time it is or I wanted to engage the locals. Never anything bad I mind... But these stories out of the U.K. re watches, phones whatever, do not look nice. Sorry to see this. And I think your reaction was right on.
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Old 8 April 2019, 05:45 PM   #33
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Nowadays in the bigger EU cities if a stranger approaches you best be ready. High probability something is wrong.

Muggings and thefts all over the place, yet the official crime rates are lower than ever

Just be a little street smart
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Old 8 April 2019, 06:59 PM   #34
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its like no good could ever come of opening your front door unless you are expecting someone or you recognise the person,

some years ago my dad got a knock on the door at midnight and a man was laying on his path saying he had been attacked and could he help, he said no and simply closed the door and called an ambulance, his instincts were right, the ambulance arrived and nobody was there anymore, it was a distraction attempt and other members of the gang were hiding waiting for my dad to come outside, they tried it on several addresses that night.

listen to your instincts at all times, dont get bamboozled.
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Old 8 April 2019, 07:41 PM   #35
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Couple years ago i stopped at a gasstation and a gipsy came to my car asking for help, his car has been broke down and he asked me to drive with him to a cash-automatic to get some cash to fix it. Obviously i refused and i saw a full van of gipsy's driving away from the parking lot including him.. It was in the time that a lot of truck drivers got stolen of their goods they where carrying. But also a time that i was less emotional unstabel and happier, i think that made the difference.. I am sure something would been happening when i took that guy with me...
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Old 8 April 2019, 07:45 PM   #36
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Hey – I don’t know the intentions of these guys – but it probably was not good.

However, I don’t believe that the UK is more unsafe than any other country.
There are bad people everywhere.

I regularly visit London and other major cities in the UK (and live in one) and don’t feel any less safe than other cities of the world I have visited.
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Old 8 April 2019, 08:26 PM   #37
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Why did you walk away from me Burlington?
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Old 8 April 2019, 08:28 PM   #38
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Maybe off-topic but it brought back a memory from one of my faovorite all time TV shows, the (original) Odd-Couple. Felix is trying to strike up a conversation with the football player Joe Green in a bar, Joe is ignoring him and has a reputation for not being friendly. Felix asks: “Excuse me, do you know what time it is?” After a few seconds of being ignored Felix looks at his own wrist and says: “Oh, here’s a watch”
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Old 9 April 2019, 12:20 AM   #39
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However, I don’t believe that the UK is more unsafe than any other country.
There are bad people everywhere.
I agree.
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Old 9 April 2019, 12:43 AM   #40
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You got lucky, watch theft is becoming common.
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Old 9 April 2019, 06:45 AM   #41
crazymcmichael
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I agree.
I also think thats nonsense.. Maybe Londen and the city's nowadays are not very safe but it is the same here and everywhere i suppose probably you are safer in Moscow, i am pretty sure about that tbh!!
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Old 9 April 2019, 08:40 AM   #42
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Hey – I don’t know the intentions of these guys – but it probably was not good.

However, I don’t believe that the UK is more unsafe than any other country.
There are bad people everywhere.

I regularly visit London and other major cities in the UK (and live in one) and don’t feel any less safe than other cities of the world I have visited.


Yes - impossible to know for sure what their intentions were but I do think there would have been a twist to the tale if they had of known what I was wearing.

Will still be wearing it as usual though come the warmer weather. Definitely one of the things I like about the rubber strap as it really makes it less enticing to most.

Agree fully about the UK and actually Europe in general feeling like safe places to be. Bad timing can happen anywhere but is thankfully very rare.
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Old 9 April 2019, 08:41 AM   #43
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Why did you walk away from me Burlington?


Next time you just have to announce your presence more clearly :)
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Old 10 April 2019, 09:30 PM   #44
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Lucky you.
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Old 19 April 2019, 06:26 AM   #45
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Was in a less than salubrious part of town earlier today in the midlands of England when a white Vauxhall with three gents pulls up alongside and the front passenger ask for the time whilst indicating to his wrist.

Immediately something felt off - which car doesn’t display the time and who doesn’t have a phone on them.

I had my jacket on covering my wrists so reached instead for the phone in my jeans pocket to check, rather than read my watch.

That was that, off they went down the street only to repeat what looked like the same thing with someone else a bit further down.

Obviously very strange behaviour and I’m convinced they were up to no good whatever the end game they have planned may be.

With hindsight - keeping on walking and offering zero response may have been the best option but I thought this way it may at least throw them off the scent a bit as I was wondering if they had seen something on my wrist and wanted to confirm what it was, so went for my phone instead rather than confirm and reveal that yes, indeed, I was wearing a watch.

Seeing them stop someone else makes me think it was a random thing - or perhaps how I was dressed as I wasn’t blending in as well as i could have, but in any case feels like a potentially lucky near miss.

Goes to show - keep your wits about you when out and about.
Not sure if you saw this today:
A British pensioner has had his €35,000 Rolex stolen after being followed for over an hour from Calpe to Moraira.

Ronald Johnson, 72, was leaving a clinic in Calpe when a woman knocked on his car window asking for the time.

Johnson noticed the ‘eastern European’ woman eyeing his watch, a Rolex GMT-Master, which she grappled from his wrist an hour and a half later, and 15km away, in a Moraira garden.

“She got in a car behind me after asking for the time, which I thought was very strange,” Johnson told the Olive Press.

He then drove to Moraira to spend an hour in a bar, before travelling to a house he was looking after for a friend.
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Old 19 April 2019, 07:08 AM   #46
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Hey – I don’t know the intentions of these guys – but it probably was not good.

However, I don’t believe that the UK is more unsafe than any other country.
There are bad people everywhere.

I regularly visit London and other major cities in the UK (and live in one) and don’t feel any less safe than other cities of the world I have visited.
Compare it to Australia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE. There may be some bad people everywhere but the frequency of bad people varies greatly.

I would never wear an expensive watch in a major UK city and certainly not have it visible or even check the time on it in public.
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Old 19 April 2019, 07:21 AM   #47
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Compare it to Australia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE. There may be some bad people everywhere but the frequency of bad people varies greatly.

I would never wear an expensive watch in a major UK city and certainly not have it visible or even check the time on it in public.
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Old 19 April 2019, 07:24 AM   #48
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No need to rudely laugh at people, you may disagree but have some class.
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Old 19 April 2019, 07:33 AM   #49
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No need to rudely laugh at people, you may disagree but have some class.
I’m not sure that I can get too worked up about being judged as classless by a stranger on the basis of a single, throwaway emoji.

I’d say that if you’re going to essentially denigrate vast swathes of a country in which you don’t live by suggesting that it’s so dangerous you wouldn’t wear an expensive watch there despite the fact that literally multiple tens to hundreds of thousands of natives do so daily, then the onus is on you to provide some objective evidence as to why.

Do all “major U.K. cities” have a similar crime rate to one another, since you don’t name any actual places?

Which cities are you lumping together as being too dangerous?

What sources are you using to inform your fear of ”major U.K. cities”

Incidentally does “Atl” stand for Atlanta? The place that has a similar number of annual homicides to London, despite having a population 20 times smaller?
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Old 19 April 2019, 07:40 AM   #50
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I’m not sure that I can get too worked up about being judged as classless by a stranger on the basis of a single, throwaway emoji.

I’d say that if you’re going to essentially denigrate vast swathes of a country in which you don’t live by suggesting that it’s so dangerous you wouldn’t wear an expensive watch there despite the fact that literally multiple tens to hundreds of thousands of natives do so daily, then the onus is on you to provide some objective evidence as to why.

Do all “major U.K. cities” have a similar crime rate to one another, since you don’t name any actual places?

Which cities are you lumping together as being too dangerous?

What sources are you using to inform your fear of ”major U.K. cities”

Incidentally does “Atl” stand for Atlanta? The place that has a similar number of annual homicides to London, despite having a population 20 times smaller?
To be fair, the Atlanta metro area is around 5 million people, compared to London at around 15 million. Once you get over about 3 million people shoehorned into a small area, cities tend to be much the same wherever you go. Unless you're in Japan, Korea, Singapore, or the GCC.
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Old 19 April 2019, 07:42 AM   #51
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To be fair, the Atlanta metro area is around 5 million people, compared to London at around 15 million. Once you get over about 3 million people shoehorned into a small area, cities tend to be much the same wherever you go. Unless you're in Japan, Korea, Singapore, or the GCC.
I stand corrected on the point of order.
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Old 19 April 2019, 07:51 AM   #52
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I’m not sure that I can get too worked up about being judged as classless by a stranger on the basis of a single, throwaway emoji.

I’d say that if you’re going to essentially denigrate vast swathes of a country in which you don’t live by suggesting that it’s so dangerous you wouldn’t wear an expensive watch there despite the fact that literally multiple tens to hundreds of thousands of natives do so daily, then the onus is on you to provide some objective evidence as to why.

Do all “major U.K. cities” have a similar crime rate to one another, since you don’t name any actual places?

Which cities are you lumping together as being too dangerous?

What sources are you using to inform your fear of ”major U.K. cities”

Incidentally does “Atl” stand for Atlanta? The place that has a similar number of annual homicides to London, despite having a population 20 times smaller?
London, Birmingham and Manchester are the given major cities, and do seem quite similar. My sources are not some online hysteria or media sensationalism or but rather my own personal experience and risk perceptions.

Smaller cities vary a lot more, Bath, Oxford and Chester seem reasonably safe while others like Portsmouth and Nottingham are quite rundown.

Atl has no meaning, I have lived in the UK my entire life. I am aware that I am a rather risk averse person.
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Old 19 April 2019, 07:52 AM   #53
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I stand corrected on the point of order.
I think there are so many fakes and knockoffs in the US that you really wouldn't need to worry about someone (other than a bar room hooker) stealing your watch. But a lot of knotheads will kill you for your Yeezy's.
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Old 19 April 2019, 08:05 AM   #54
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London, Birmingham and Manchester are the given major cities, and do seem quite similar. My sources are not some online hysteria or media sensationalism or but rather my own personal experience and risk perceptions.

Smaller cities vary a lot more, Bath, Oxford and Chester seem reasonably safe while others like Portsmouth and Nottingham are quite rundown.

Atl has no meaning, I have lived in the UK my entire life. I am aware that I am a rather risk averse person.
I would’ve stayed in my box if the bit in bold was included in your original statement.

Whenever these threads come up there’s always a dearth of actual data, which tends to leave emotion, intuition and guesswork. I prefer evidence.
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Old 19 April 2019, 08:15 AM   #55
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I would’ve stayed in my box if the bit in bold was included in your original statement.

Whenever these threads come up there’s always a dearth of actual data, which tends to leave emotion, intuition and guesswork. I prefer evidence.
Do people ever make real-world decisions from data? Usually they make decisions based on intuition and then afterwards find or subconsciously selectively pick data that confirms their belief; confirmation bias.

Besides, comparing statistics across different countries is incredibly difficult due to different reporting standards, differing definitions of crimes, percentages that are reported and a lot of other variables that change by country.
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Old 19 April 2019, 08:25 AM   #56
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Do people ever make real-world decisions from data? Usually they make decisions based on intuition and then afterwards find or subconsciously selectively pick data that confirms their belief; confirmation bias.

Besides, comparing statistics across different countries is incredibly difficult due to different reporting standards, differing definitions of crimes, percentages that are reported and a lot of other variables that change by country.
No they don’t, which is partly why people in general are exceptionally bad at assessing risk.

It explains, for example, why parts of the world are experiencing a measles epidemic, because otherwise rational people can’t fathom the minuscule risks associated with vaccines.

Falling down the stairs kills 700 people a year here, which is something like double the number of people killed by nutters wielding knives. Yet nobody is petrified of wandering down to the kitchen for breakfast every morning because of the former, but a lot of people say they will avoid London because of the latter.
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Old 19 April 2019, 08:29 AM   #57
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Compare it to Australia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE. There may be some bad people everywhere but the frequency of bad people varies greatly.
Some places are not now, nor will they ever be honestly forthcoming about their crime statistics.
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Old 19 April 2019, 08:38 AM   #58
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Was in a less than salubrious part of town earlier today in the midlands of England when a white Vauxhall with three gents pulls up alongside and the front passenger ask for the time whilst indicating to his wrist.

Immediately something felt off - which car doesn’t display the time and who doesn’t have a phone on them.

I had my jacket on covering my wrists so reached instead for the phone in my jeans pocket to check, rather than read my watch.

That was that, off they went down the street only to repeat what looked like the same thing with someone else a bit further down.

Obviously very strange behaviour and I’m convinced they were up to no good whatever the end game they have planned may be.

With hindsight - keeping on walking and offering zero response may have been the best option but I thought this way it may at least throw them off the scent a bit as I was wondering if they had seen something on my wrist and wanted to confirm what it was, so went for my phone instead rather than confirm and reveal that yes, indeed, I was wearing a watch.

Seeing them stop someone else makes me think it was a random thing - or perhaps how I was dressed as I wasn’t blending in as well as i could have, but in any case feels like a potentially lucky near miss.

Goes to show - keep your wits about you when out and about.
My response is always " No thank you" and then I move on... then again I live in Phoenix AZ, so second ammendment alive and well...

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