Remembered an incident earlier and thought I'd share.
I was 17, out riding my bike at the time on a Friday evening, near the town centre of Romford.
I rode through the outdoor car park of the brewery (a big sort of entertainment and shopping complex) and pulled up to stop along the far pavement, next to the dual carriageways. On my right was the dual carriageways and beyond them was several high rise flats which, I wouldnt have bothered going near without an armoured division.
On my left was the car park and lots of big stylish cyclindrical support beams for utterly useless weird 'roof' things which must pass as art.
I'm looking down and straightening my wheel because the bikes a bit loose, when 'tap' I feel a stone ping off my arm.
Not exactly painful, at all. Figured a car flicked it up is all.
Then 'whizz', something shot past my head, literally fucking centimetres away, no kidding my emo fringe was flicked by the draught of whatever flew past.
So I shot off and circled around because I didnt like that! My guess now was that some dickhead had a bb gun..
Then 'ping' something ricocheted off one of the big metal supports that I was weaving through, this time further from my head, but close enough to let me know someones actively targeting me.
definitely a pellet gun, and a pissing powerhouse of one!
I got 5 metres further before another whizz straight past my head again. By this point im gunning it and ducked out around back into the car park to the cover of the shops buildings.
Woo adrenaline pumping and I flew home by a safer route. Once I knew I was well clear, out of sight, out of range I sat down on the saddle n just happened to glance down, where I saw blood streaming down my arm from the elbow, all the way to my gloves!
I remember getting home and having my mum freak out and call an ambulance, then the police (lol). Luckily nothing had embedded itself in my arm, but i still have the scar 12 years later! Took a lil chunk of flesh out of me it did.
Kind of always pissed me off that some arsehole could have blinded me. I mean, I was pissed for a long time, and confused at why someone would do it.
Never did see the shooter, but my guess is the high rise flats. I don't know a great deal about pellet guns, but I was surprised at the range and accuracy and also the speed at which I was being shot at! I thought they were a one shot then reload deal! Course there could have been multiple chavs with em though...
The only easy day, was yesterday...
Comments
A couple of months ago my son was driving really near there* and a couple of guys shot out half the windows of his bus! Fuck knows what they used to shoot with but there was still glass everywhere along the road when I went past.
There are some strange people around.
* Top end of Dagenham Rd by the cemetery as it joins Crow Lane and Oldchurch Rd.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
First time I went to Doncaster (to visit a guitar shop). Parked in a multi storey car park. Some guys drove past with their windows down and shot at me and my mate with air rifles. Completely random and unprovoked
It was all very odd and put me off Doncaster for life
Sounds very scary - it's a good story later on in life for the grandkids! You can embellish it as you please!
(I'm Godfather to some of his kids these days, we were very close before he died of a brain tumour last year - but he always had a warped sense of fun )
Feedback
Vintage v400mh mahogany topped dreadnought acoustic FS - £100
Did anyone else cringe at the juxtaposition of metric and imperial there?
I've also been hit by shotgun pellets as they descend. This was whilst going to work. A bunch of shooters were in one of the local farm fields and were blasting away, and I rode into what felt like heavy hail. I seem to remember that it stung a bit, even through jeans and a thick jacket. When I turned to look at what was going on, I noticed that the beaters were frantically trying to wave them off, with little success, it would seem.
I said maybe.....
We used to skate there, as its exceptionally smooth with a nice lil stair set. But after that incident, even driving past with my windows down gets me anxious lol!
This sort of thing - or more accurately the killing of a toddler, who was shot in the head with one - is why air weapons are now illegal without a licence in Scotland. As usual, fuckwits who can't use them responsibly making things a hassle for the others who can...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein