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Every holiday must have its local criminal encounter. After extracting money from a bank in Nottinghill I was walking down Portobello Road intent on the markets and an attempt to buy daughter number 2 a present. I heard (but didnt pay any attention as my money was all tucked up in my back pack) some coins falling on the path behind me. As I walked on I felt a tap on my shoulder-'You dropped some coins madam.' They're not mine said I. Another man,picking them up, stated -'they are yours madam' Oh well mabe they are I thought ,taking them and putting them in the zippered pocket of my backpack (not my purse). I then noticed the first man loitering up ahead of me and, feeling suspicious I started to cross the road, whereupon he hurried up to me brandishing a 1 pound coin and saying 'I need to find a public phone to ring the hospital and I need some change-pennies for this.' I realised that he was trying to get me to get my purse out which he knew contained a 'wad' of cash. I said 'Look I'm a tourist and I dont know where there is a public phone also you could use that pound when you find one-you dont need pennies' and then I took off into the crowd. It's interesting how at times you can pick up on something fishy-I'm usually no good at doing that but thankfully this time I was ONTO it!! My nephew, however thought that they were very amateur crooks when I related the story to him later, which shattered my ego a bit!
Apart from this it was a successful shopping trip and as well I found a great authentic Italian cafe to sit in for an hour AND I stumbled across the Nottinghill Bookstore as in the film of the same name. As I hadnt gone looking for it I felt quite smart (AND I had thwarted some wouldbe robbers)!
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