Here's a tip. Sometimes the difference between being a mugging or happy slapping victim is whether you
appear alert and assertive- or not. One of the worst ways to appear alert is to either look distracted as you walk or run while listening to an iPod or texting with your phone ... or simply looking downwards as if sullen or depressed. I had heard this advice before but it never really clicked until it almost happened to me. During the late afternoon, I stopped to answer my cell phone as it rang after exiting a rail station in a small town in England. It was a weekday and I saw out of the corner of my eye, four teens who looked like they had been drinking all day exit a pub. In just a few seconds, I saw them confer, seemingly point in my direction and then they set in a beeline straight for me. Something clicked, so I rang off, straightened up and looked them straight in the eye as they approached. I can't say for certain they were set on mugging or happy slapping me but as soon as I straightened up, they immediately slowed and changed tack. One made a half-joking feint in my direction, they all laughed and that was that. I was obviously a bit relieved. I did have a cosh I had taken from my briefcase hidden in my right hand but wasn't sure how I would have fared with 4 against 1 (the cosh was totally illegal BTW according to draconian UK laws that overwhelmingly favor the poor ASBO criminal ... see
http://www.donrearic.com/defendingyo...inbritain.html )
