The Crime Rate

BEDFORD ROAD: Some days I love this city. When you explode out of the Tube at Old St. into St. Lukes like pus from an overipe pimple into the crisp air and blue skies, there's nowhere else I'd rather be. Othertimes I have to pinch myself to remind me I don't live in Jo'Burg.

One of the first things Declan said to me after I got back from Spain was "Oh, by the way, there was a guy that got shot at outside of work the other day." He duely forwarded me the corresponding email. Then yesterday I was walking back from the market and I heard a commotion as two guys collided on their bikes. It turns out one of them, a chav, had pulled out in front of the second guy. They both swore at each other for a couple of seconds before the chav bopped off down the street.

Leaving behind his bicycle, its front wheel a perfect arc.