So there I was, standing at the bus stop waiting for a bus and then this guy standing outside the pub starts shouting abuse at me for absolutely no reason at all whatsoever. So I said to him “bad night, mate?” and he said to me “I’m a pure psycho, ya dafty.”

Anyway, long story short, his friend punched me in the arm and I utilised by exemplary charm and sales skills and then got a taxi before they could focus enough unmitigated hate at me to pursue the matter any further. Overall the whole incident was completely and utterly unnecessary – check out the bruise on my arm:

However, it did remind me that I had taken a photo of this excellent ad for Break the Circle of Violence – an initiative started by Strathclyde Police. The ad features a wall covered in ‘menshies’, small pieces of graffiti written by ‘neds’ (reputedly violent criminal youths from the underclasses of Glasgow society – known as ‘chavs’ in other parts of the UK.) Menshies are used to denote the presence of members of a gang in an area, to announce relationships, deaths, crushes, or to write abuse or slander about people known to the writer. In the case of this ad, it’s deaths, and it shows the risks involved in taking part in gang violence.

So there, bus stop guys – carry on like that and you’ll be getting yourselves into big trouble.