You've read about them, but you probably don't believe it. Believe me, it is as bad as you've heard. Most days, I kept a lock on my travelling bag (a shoulder sack the size of a large purse) but one day I skipped it. I wanted to carry my Fodor's, but it didn't fit with the lock, so I left it off. This meant that our bag was slightly open, just a smidge. Stupid me. I may as well have worn a sign that said "ATTACK ME" in gypsy-speak.
Twice that day, my boyfriend and I were assaulted by gypsies. The first time, we were coming out of a church, and a little boy came up to my boyfriend trying to sell him, literally, a piece of cardboard. While my bf looked at the kid in confusion, his mother snuck around behind him and started picking his pocket. Luckily I saw her; she snuck a map out of his pocket before I shoved bf out the door. It was a free map, so we just ran. There's no reasoning with that kind of brazen theft.
Later, while walking slowly up a steep hill, a flock of gypsy children surrounded bf, who was carrying the offensive bag. They pinned close to him, so that he would have to push one of them over to get away. These were little kids, okay, you don't want to have to push them over. But they started reaching into bf's bag, RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM, so he had to shove them pretty hard to get away. It was mortifying.
Moral of this story is, no open bags. Not even a little bit.
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on Jan 30, 2006
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