Safe and sound, but quite stupid.

When things go wrong it’s so easy to think in hindsight how you should have acted. This was the case after a night out in the main expatriate night club in town. Having parked the car round the corner as spaces were limited, my boyfriend went to pay the man watching over the car, as is custom here. A few guys then huddled around, arguing they deserved the money instead. Instead of paying some money to one guy and letting them fight it out themselves, my boyfriend endeavoured to play the diplomatic game, working out to whom the money should be paid. The argument got heated and sitting in our locked car, I saw my boyfriend now kneeling on the ground outside, shouting, with five guys crowding round. Now this is when I was stupid. Believing my boyfriend was in danger, I instinctively got out to help him, handbag of goodies under my arm. I then realized that my partner was not being assaulted as such, but was searching on the ground for a beloved keepsake which was lost in the general scuffle. One guy noticed I had got out and pushed me back, demanding money. I of course gave him everything. He had not dropped lucky though- my Nokia really belonged in a museum and I had absolutely no dollars on me. Whilst my instinct was to help my loved one first and foremost, I do remember feeling grateful that he was only interested in cash. He actually gave me back the credit card and left me my prized hand bag. I remember thinking is this guy stupid or does he just not have good taste in handbags?

It is true that I should have never got out of the car. No one was hurt, and in a very dark way, it was rather amusing that I, rather petite in stature should even think of facing those guys. ‘What are you thinking you were going to do?!’ shouted my boyfriend afterwards. ‘Tell them off? Wag your finger and ask them kindly to stop?’ Now I can appreciate the irony or rather stupidity, and I now have an emergency phone a friend contact and strict instructions to remain inside the locked car if things ever should go wrong. At the end of the day, as guilty as I might feel, I would only serve as extra bait in any attack. Equally my boyfriend has promised to get out of any awkward situations before any attacks might happen. Petty arguments soon escalate into violent attacks in any country. It is better to be safe and sound than sorry and stupid.