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windthrown · 19th January 2008, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quintrex

Windthrown,
I was in Portland Oregon in 1990. It was pretty scary there Downtown at night, although we were told they were mostly homeless people and generally harmless.
Loved the World Forestry Centre (Center).

Scary in Portland? I have never been scared there. Even in the old days (1960's) with lots of bums passed out sleeping on strorefront steps and stuff. Only time I was frightened was in NYC. I was with my brother and walking around Time Square. We walked a block or two south and suddenly the climate became tense and our skin tones were suddenly a lot lighter than the rest of the people around us. A few goons came up and got into our space... we just kept walking. Odd thing too about NYC. Next night we were on the Staten Island Ferry about 10pm, and there was a knife fight on the back deck. The Acro Bitches were taking on some other gang. No one paid any attention, and the gangs paid no attention to anyone else. I was on edge there most of the time. All the noise and honking and screaming and weird stuff that you see, like along the Avenue of the Americas. Walk along and a guy pulls up in a Caddy and pops the trunk, and there on the sidewalk is an instant suit sale going on. 10 seconds later he is gone again...

Funny thing about that trip was that a week before I was given a citation for J-walking in San Diego. I was in Mission Beach, and walking along the sidewalk bar hopping, and a cop car comes rolling up and stops in front of me, and the 'nice' officer asked me if I saw the red light at the intersection I walked through. I put my foot up and said I was not driving... he said 'gimme your license' and wrote me a ticket that cost me $10. Anal retentive police force down there. Anyway, I got my $10 back about 5 times in NYC when I told people I got a ticket for J-walking in San Diego, and they refused to believe me. Wanna bet? Flash the pink ticket copy at them, and they say, "DAMN!" In NYC, at EVERY intersection, people crowd in until cars cannot pass, and that's how you get across the street. Stop lights mean nothing. I went from one end of Manhattan to the other (north-south) on a bus and counted the red lights that bus ran. The count was in the 20s by the time I got off.

Sigh. Different world here. Trees, chainsaws and sheep.