I assembled some data about murder rates in different cities to help me come to terms with whether I was being paranoid. Maybe I am, but according to the numbers, I am at least somewhat justified.
Check this out:
Source: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hosb1203.pdf pp 10-11.
The first thing that jumps out at me is that I have no idea where Lefkosia is, but it looks like a good place to live.
You will also note that Glasgow is not on this list. A different source ( http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5021432.html ) states the homicide rate for Glasgow for the same period is 5.87 per 100,000 people. So on the above list, Glasgow is sandwiched between Belfast and San Francisco. Well that's reassuring. Worse than Belfast. At least I didn't decide to move to Washington DC.
BTW, Lefkosia is in Cyprus. Did anyone know that?
Back to paranoia. So I was discussing my worries with a police officer one evening and he told me what I knew, that knife crime is the big thing here. So at least my risk of getting shot is probably lower than back in Ottawa. That's a relief. He also told me about something I didn't know, in fact had never even imagined. Apparently people put fishing line across bike paths. At head height! Now that sounds dangerous. So, great, now I'm paranoid to go bike riding as well. And forget road rides. No way I'm riding my bike on these streets. Besides, I think I would have to do special exercises to enable myself to do shoulder checks to the right. I wonder if the cogs and things on bikes are on the other side here?
One thing people around here aren't paranoid of is trans fats. Well, fat in general actually. If you want something deep fried in hydrogenated fat this is the place to come to. Pizza, mars bars and sausages (I haven't seen deep fried bacon yet, but I'm sure it's battered and deep fried somewhere in this city). No surprise then that Glasgow has the largest incidence of cardiovascular disease in the world for women and the second highest for men (source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/337109.stm ). Note, the place with the highest incidence for men is North Karelia in Finland, according to the same article. In case you were wondering, North Karelia is a region in the east of Finland.
But if you think I'm paranoid, compare me to the deer that used to live in the abandoned lot across from my flat. I used to see him (could have been a girl) daily when I was out on my balcony. That all ended one evening when some kids were hanging out there. He took off like a shot. I'm not sure where he went, but I hope he's OK. This deer is going to find city livin' a little rough if he can't get used to a few kids hangin' out in his 'hood.
Apart from the fact that these kids scared away my deer, I was somewhat relieved that the younger generation aren't too cool to hang out in an empty lot. I was getting a little worried that something was wrong with the kids here. I mean, this is a pretty large lot, and anyone hanging out there would go mostly unnoticed. Except by me and anyone else in my building whose balcony faces the same way, of course. Well, order in the universe is restored. Except I miss my deer.
1 comment:
Wow, glad your going back to Ottawa soon! The source I used for the homicide rates was certainly not complete in a global sense. My guess is that they found it difficult to get data that was directly comparable for all countries and cities. Comparing international data is always difficult, even for something that you would think is as easily defined as homicide.
I had never heard of the fishing wire thing before including in Halifax. It's horrifying and could be really dangerous!
Post a Comment