I was on my way to the gym at 6am one winter morning (allow me this small flex) when a van pulled up alongside me. The driver rolled down his window and started talking at me — I looked nice, he said (false! I’d only been awake 11 minutes, I looked barely animate), where was I going, he wondered, “hey sweetheart! Stop and talk!”
It was dark and I was on my own walking through a Hackney council estate. My general technique in these situations is to just keep walking, face forward, don’t engage, don’t show emotion. Like most women, it’s a technique I’ve honed over years of “smile love”s and “show us your X”.
