Walking along Norlington Road I catch a snippet of conversation from the two boys walking in front. They're aged about 12-14 years old, and the vibe I get is that one of the boys is new to the area, the other has an authoritative tone like he really knows what he's talking about.
"If you go Hackney don't tell them where you're from. If they ask where you're from say E5 or something."
The one wearing glasses doesn't seem to take this in, so the other one has to spell it out for him.
"If you go Hackney right, and they ask you 'what end you from?', and you say Leyton, they'll stab you."
He delivered this chilling bit of local info as casually as telling him which bus to take to get to Mare Street.
It might be that he was putting the wind up a newly arrived country bumpkin in the way that Aussies used to scare me with tales of Brown snakes in the lavvie when I lived in Sydney. But then one day I did come across a Brown snake outside my front door.
It's difficult to comprehend how merely giving the wrong postcode could get you killed and how it is an accepted part of the world that kids inhabit.
4 comments:
Wow that was scarey...I drive too much these days to catch conversations like I use to years ago...the thought that children even have to have that kind of information is so sad. How do we fix that? How do we reach all the places and people where this kind of information is just...normal?
If it wasn't so damn cold here in Toronto I'd go walk and have a conversation with myself and talk about lovely fabulous things when people were close to me...but then I'd be thought of as a loonie
good thing I'm use to it for being unique
have a good day
I sincerely hope he's just pulling the new kid's chain... that sort of insight doesn't do a lot to promote tourism, John, but I must admit I'm fascinated. There's certainly areas of Melbourne I wouldn't wander by myself but, despite what the media may report, I don't think stabbing has become so commonplace that it's a genuine concern. OK, unless you're a public transport provider.
I'm very interested to read the culture of different areas of your city, having not strayed too far from the aqua/navy lines when last I visited. We have to go interstate here for a (slightly) different accent.
And, for fear of dispelling another cultural "fact", we don't have drop bears in (many of) our national parks. But don't underestimate those nasty snakes, all legless and untrustworthy.
Cheers!
He was 100% right! If you go to Hackney and anyone asks you what endz your from, if you say anything but the local area it's a given, not highly probable, but a given, that you'll get stabbed or at best seriously harmed. It happens all the time... Any youth that isn't aware of this has a reduced life expectancy, unless they continuously remain in their own area.
there was a stabbing this evening in Norlington Road right near where I overheard that conversation
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