Finsbury Park, represent!
Have lived here since 2021 and according to Google Maps I am about 200ft from the entrance to the park itself, living just a stone's throw from the main road. I'm under a quarter of a mile to the mosque. I've walked Seven Sisters Road from the station at all times of day and night, and other times have sat on the outside benches of the local pubs on the street front, oftentimes with an expensive watch on, and not once have I ever been threatened, let alone robbed/assaulted/made to convert to Islam. The one incident we have had at our apartments since moving in was when a man hopped the fence to sit in our courtyard and do a line of coke off his phone at 2am. He was white, for what it's worth. Another time, some guy (also white) was off his tits and rang my intercom at 3am and was staring into the camera, spaced out. I picked up the call in the hallway and told him to **** off and he did. So I don't count that as noteworthy
Yeah, there are groups of lads hanging around/cruising around in cars, sometimes at all hours, presumably dealing drugs or whatever else, but they are focused on themselves. I am not of interest. Yes, sometimes the late night walk from the station can be daunting when there are large groups hanging about. But I feel the same walking through the suburbs of my very white childhood neighbourhood in Southend in the early hours when I see a group of lads lingering about on a street corner
Since moving to London in 2016, I've also lived in Manor House and Kilburn. And as LTL said, I will at some point this summer move towards the Finchley area, where an Italian friend of mine has lived for many years in peace since moving over here from Como and can't see herself moving home
I was on the train home from my parents at about 8pm last night, having visited my mum for Mother's Day (which we apparently don't mark anymore) and while passing through Chalkwell (a very white - 96% apparently - fairly well off part of Essex, close to the coast) I had a pair of English lads (I reckon they were about 14) in football tracksuits kicking and ripping the headrest and seat back off the chairs in the carriage I was in, just for some fun
This is a roundabout way of saying, yes there are bad eggs in London. And there are bad eggs everywhere else too. They are spread through many different walks of life. London hasn't fallen FFS, there's just a lot more people here and so the volume of bad eggs is higher. But the good eggs are in proportion too
PS: Just walked back from my (Turkish-owned) barber shop in Green Lanes - where the Bulgarian barber cut my hair - and walked through Finsbury Park, via a stop at the (Greek-owned) bakery. There is currently a funfair on the go in Finsbury Park and you could hear the arcade-style music and kids (of all ages and colours) laughing while going round on the rides, with a BBQ ongoing nearby and several people having a post-work drink/bite to eat in the park. I was wandering along flicking between two phones, listening to music, with my watch on. No problem whatsoever. Yes, there were also some homeless people in the park, but guess what? They were also minding their own business and being no nuisance to anybody else
I'm still here!
Glad to know you're safe mate. Your day sounds horrendous.
#fallenLondon
(although my beard is way more tacti-cool)
