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Auburn Annie · 05-21-2010, 01:04 PM

Jeez Louise, MM, sounds like you've got some sort of neon sign over your head that reads "TARGET." Alas, formerly nice places to live no longer are. We ain't in Mayberry any more. I'm not sure that there actually is more bad stuff happening these days, it's just more casual and out in the open rather than furtive and limited to the "wrong" side of the tracks.

The quality of life in even the better neighborhoods seems to be in genteel decline as people care less about themselves, their neighbors (if they even know them) and what anybody else thinks. On the other hand when I walked home from work at night back in the 1970s I always had a 6" pair of scissors in hand (or keys between the knuckles), even though I was within 10 minutes of home. Guess that comes from being a policeman's daughter. I never have had a run-in personally but I am always aware of where I am, who is around me, and walk at a good clip like I mean business and know where I'm going. I listen to my gut.

When Rachel was a baby and couldn't sleep at night I'd load her into her stroller and take her for a walk at 4 in the morning. Never saw anyone but a few trucks going by on the main drag. The last few times I've been out after, say, 11 I bring our dog Samson, who weighs almost 100 pounds and looks like a white wolf (he's a shepherd/Samoyed mix.) We've got a 24-hour gas station and convenience store about two blocks from our house now which adds to the mix of odd folks at odd hours, plus a couple of bars in the same area. At least now that we have central air conditioning I don't have to choose between sweltering with closed windows or listening to drunks fighting at 2 a.m. in the summer.

05-21-2010, 01:04 PM	#55
Auburn Annie Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Upstate New York Posts: 3,101	Re: Was Robbed At Gunpoint Tonight Jeez Louise, MM, sounds like you've got some sort of neon sign over your head that reads "TARGET." Alas, formerly nice places to live no longer are. We ain't in Mayberry any more. I'm not sure that there actually is more bad stuff happening these days, it's just more casual and out in the open rather than furtive and limited to the "wrong" side of the tracks. The quality of life in even the better neighborhoods seems to be in genteel decline as people care less about themselves, their neighbors (if they even know them) and what anybody else thinks. On the other hand when I walked home from work at night back in the 1970s I always had a 6" pair of scissors in hand (or keys between the knuckles), even though I was within 10 minutes of home. Guess that comes from being a policeman's daughter. I never have had a run-in personally but I am always aware of where I am, who is around me, and walk at a good clip like I mean business and know where I'm going. I listen to my gut. When Rachel was a baby and couldn't sleep at night I'd load her into her stroller and take her for a walk at 4 in the morning. Never saw anyone but a few trucks going by on the main drag. The last few times I've been out after, say, 11 I bring our dog Samson, who weighs almost 100 pounds and looks like a white wolf (he's a shepherd/Samoyed mix.) We've got a 24-hour gas station and convenience store about two blocks from our house now which adds to the mix of odd folks at odd hours, plus a couple of bars in the same area. At least now that we have central air conditioning I don't have to choose between sweltering with closed windows or listening to drunks fighting at 2 a.m. in the summer.