Manchester is rammed full of 'wayward' 'outlaws' 'scallies' weirdoes' 'nutters' w/e the fuck you want to call them. Ive encountered them on busses several times, one time some complete Schizo got on the bus and sat next to me, he started asking everyone if they were Jesus. I said i wasnt, I must have been the Devil then he said.
More recently, just a few weeks ago, an old guy got on the bus, just walked straight past the driver and just sat down completely ignoring the driver and neglecting to pay. It seems he had done that trick to the driver sevral times as the driver said he wasnt moving until the guy paid or got off the bus, and that he was gonna call the police. I was thinking about paying the guys fare just to get fucking moving as he was making everyone late. Someone who had the build and threatening aura of Tony Soprano himself came thundering down the stairs and shouted at the guy to get the fuck off the bus. The old guy soon forgot his limp and injuries that he was feigning as an excuse for sympathy not to pay and shuffled of meekly. I applauded the 'have a go hero' for his efforts and he got a huge round of applause from the upstairs of the bus. On my last bus journey home some young guy stood in the middle of the road to get the bus to stop for him, and once he got on he started talking to ayoung mother about how her kid lookd just like him when he was that age except that he was better looking. Fucking charming. Some cunt on a bmx cycled past me at a bus stop, pulled a bandana over his face, and returned damanding "give me some money". He was about 14 years old and 7 stone wet through, no threat at all unless he had a knife which he didnt produce, fortunately a bus turned up immediatley and i just ignored that deranged twat and got on the bus.
Bus drivers in Manchester face a lot of shit, i shared a house with some students here once, and one of them was a proper macho knob head, he tried something dodgy with a bus driver and got a kosh pulled on him. If you want trouble you can find it in Manchester. Most people wont back down it seems. Generally, just minding my own business keeps me out of trouble, though sometimes even that isnt enough to escape the viscous verbals some gangs like to come out with. Its usually when its about 6 of them against me on my own. I wouldnt stand for any shit when im etizzed up, but im not voilent by nature, and dont know how to fight. Its probably instinctive, but id come off worse, someone once threw a punch at me when i didnt invite him in for a drink when i was having an evening in with my g/f at the time, he aimed to just stop short of actually making contact, but i didnt even see the punch coming, it was so fast and unexepected. Weird guy that bloke, he gave me £20 (which was a lot of money for the time, he had wads of cash that guy)for driving him to the takeway half a mile away, and expected me to be his friend after that. He got sent back to prison soon after. (Nothing to do with me). God there was a rum set of people in that Whalley Range bedsit. I was one of the most 'normal' people there. A crackhead lived in the room next to me for while, his visitors included people who always smashed open the 50p for a bath meter and stole my girlfriends bike. There was also a prostitute sitting waiting for him on the stairs outside his door one day. My g/f was with me. She wasnt happy. I asked my g/f to leave the crackhead alone and mind her own business. I wasnt into drugs at that time, i think the guy was a dealer, probably just as well i never got involved, a lucky escape really. He moved in very dodgy circles.
Miles Platting is a fucking scary place, one of the most notoriously rough and deprived areas of Manchester, i couldnt have got lost in a worse place one time after taking a wrong turn on the ring road. I checked to see who was around, saw no one, but out of nowhere i was immediately surrounded by drunks and what appeared to be battered hard core drug users all being way over friendly, offering to help, probably more interested in what they could snatch and run from my car. I just wanted to be left alone to figure out my directions from my A to Z, so i just drove off followed by a torrent of verbal abuse.
There is a well know dreadlocked charcter in Sale. he doesnt use the pavements, he walks right up the middle of the roads. He has clearly lost the plot. No one ever beeps at him as he looks hard as fuck. He is an ex boxer.
Parts of Sunderland, Newcastle, (fucking wild place) Middlesborough, Cardiff, Birmingham and Liverpool also have a very bad rep.
