Thought Picnic: Some mean streets in Europe

Hardly a chase

A snatch and a chase by three of one who could really dodge and run and so he did between vehicles round the corner and down a stretch of road long before those in pursuit came into view.

By the time they found their bearings as to where he had absconded to, he was a good 150m away standing as if to dare them to make that distance and catch him in an instant.

They stood forlorn, they had been had, the one most affected lingered but did not cuss or curse, nor did he swear under his breath, it all looked like the survival of the fittest and this one got away.

It is possible they will meet soon again, a melee will break out, probably some fists fly, an altercation as it ever was strange amongst them and evening of scores and the one-upmanship is reset for another occasion.

They were brothers, one of the ethnic minorities that brought to might that most poignant saying in Yoruba about the regret and sadness of broken relationships – be not betrayal for the betrayal of friends for brothers get away with a lot more.

Not a lady by half

The altercations are many, ladies who have lost the grace of be addressed as such by their public show of jealous rage, the man helpless and embarrassed as each attempt at pacifying her only seems to escalate the matter.

By the time he manhandles her as if the shake the devil off the screeching and shrill charade, the men in blue have arrived to book them for breaching the peace.

The neighbours know no peace neither do the shopkeepers whose late hours only leave them open to the waifs and strays whose apparently friendly but wary exchanges quickly turn into situations well out of hand needing the law.

The speed at which they arrive and almost cuff the culprits for a chat at the precinct will rival science fiction transportation systems.

It is a typical Saturday night dawning into Sunday many of those involved have not slept from the night before and the menace they are to themselves defines the mean streets of this city.