Iv'e been here a while now and have never been the victum of a crime but almost was yesterday, albeit a fairly small crime.
I was in SD and had just finished having breakfast in Minolo restaurant across from the Jaragua with Scandall and a friend of his visiting from Boston. After breakfast, I decided to take a walk down to the Colonial Zone and took a left on Independencia. I walked maybe 100 ft and took my cell phone out to make a call (it is a motorola V635 camera phone and cost me $200 dollars). As I had it up to my ear, all of a sudden, I heard a pasola coming up behind me and....WHACK!"...a hand smacked my hand as the bandit on the pasola tried to grab the cell phone out of my hand as he sped past. Well, the cell phone bandit was not very good as he was only successful in knocking my phone to the ground.
Well, I was very surprised to put is mildly and my initial reaction was to pick up my phone (which was not damaged). I then started running towards the bandit and screamed the worst word I could think of at the top of my lungs. I wont say what the word was but it started with "M" and ended with "UCKER". But the bandit was speeding off and I had no chance. Then, when he was only about 100 feet away, an older mad who owns a small stand there on the street where he sells, cigarettes, gum etc. had obviously seen what the cell phone bandit had done and picked up a broom as the bandit drove diirectly towards him on the sidewalk. The old man cocked the broom back like Babe Ruth would a baseball bat and as I was running and saw this, everything seemed to slow down for a split second as I could envision the old man knocking the bandit off the pasola and then me arriving on the scene and proceeding to "SMACK" said bandits head off the concrete several times. Well, the old man cocked the broom and just as the bandit reached him, he teed off with a Ruthain swing and "CRACK", he wholloped the bandit real good but after a whobbly moment, the bandit was able to regain his balance and sped away. Lucky him.
So, no real harm was done. My phone is fine and so am I. I was extremely thankful to the old man who came to my assistance and in me, he now has a friend for life. Every time I walk past him, I will stop to buy something and chat. I will also be more aware when speaking on my cellphone.
Larry
I was in SD and had just finished having breakfast in Minolo restaurant across from the Jaragua with Scandall and a friend of his visiting from Boston. After breakfast, I decided to take a walk down to the Colonial Zone and took a left on Independencia. I walked maybe 100 ft and took my cell phone out to make a call (it is a motorola V635 camera phone and cost me $200 dollars). As I had it up to my ear, all of a sudden, I heard a pasola coming up behind me and....WHACK!"...a hand smacked my hand as the bandit on the pasola tried to grab the cell phone out of my hand as he sped past. Well, the cell phone bandit was not very good as he was only successful in knocking my phone to the ground.
Well, I was very surprised to put is mildly and my initial reaction was to pick up my phone (which was not damaged). I then started running towards the bandit and screamed the worst word I could think of at the top of my lungs. I wont say what the word was but it started with "M" and ended with "UCKER". But the bandit was speeding off and I had no chance. Then, when he was only about 100 feet away, an older mad who owns a small stand there on the street where he sells, cigarettes, gum etc. had obviously seen what the cell phone bandit had done and picked up a broom as the bandit drove diirectly towards him on the sidewalk. The old man cocked the broom back like Babe Ruth would a baseball bat and as I was running and saw this, everything seemed to slow down for a split second as I could envision the old man knocking the bandit off the pasola and then me arriving on the scene and proceeding to "SMACK" said bandits head off the concrete several times. Well, the old man cocked the broom and just as the bandit reached him, he teed off with a Ruthain swing and "CRACK", he wholloped the bandit real good but after a whobbly moment, the bandit was able to regain his balance and sped away. Lucky him.
So, no real harm was done. My phone is fine and so am I. I was extremely thankful to the old man who came to my assistance and in me, he now has a friend for life. Every time I walk past him, I will stop to buy something and chat. I will also be more aware when speaking on my cellphone.
Larry