Walking on the wild side

I have recently been writing (in my work capacity) about crime rates in the area of Oxford in which I live. Which have dropped. And as part of that I was talking to various people about their experiences of and fear of crime living here.

And while most of them didn't seem that worried, every single one of them said they wouldn't walk down the Cowley Road, the social and economic hub of this part of town which is home to some quite frankly rather weird characters, on their own at night.

I do. All the time. For one, when I go out of an evening, quite often HF stays in or leaves before me, so I end up walking home on my own. It's only ten minutes, if that, and it's well lit and there's always people about. I'm not about to fork out for a taxi for such a short distance. And in fact that would probably be counter-productive as I would be standing around waiting for a while.

Make no mistake, it's an, err, interesting area. A large number of houses have been raided round here recently for growing vast quantities of cannabis. My friend, who lives round the corner, was asked one evening on her way home if she was "looking for business" - she was wearing jeans, a big coat and a bobble hat at the time. And, my personal favourite one, when I was staying with E for a few weeks, a large number of cars had 'Pimp my ride' written on the side with orange spray paint. Not, sadly, mine - would probably have been an improvement.

But I never feel threatened walking along the road, even when it's 2am and I'm half-cut after a night out. I've been approached by homeless people who've broken off from having blazing arguments with each other to politely ask me for change, but you know, it's not that daunting.

Perhaps I have a skewed idea of my own personal safety. But every cop I've ever spoken to (and in my job, it's more than two) always bangs on about how the fear of crime is much higher than the risk of being a victim. I used to walk home, a much further distance, on my own in Bournemouth when I was a student there. And lord knows I've frequented a few pubs which other people sort of went quiet about when you ask about them. I always used to say that I didn't think I would make a particularly easy target, and for the most part I think that's true - although I now realise how much my defences are diminished after a couple of JD and cokes.

Should I stop walking about in dodgy areas at night on my own? I think not. I'm not about to go to the really interesting areas of Oxford (ever heard of Blackbird Leys?) and wander around on my own, but honestly, I'm far more likely to be hit by a car.

Or, in Oxford, a bus.

Which reminds me, I really need to get a cycle helmet.