It had been a remarkably uneventful Sunday,your typical lazing on a Sunday afternoon scenario,and I was slowly drifting into my usual fitful sleep patterns,when at about 12.30a.m.I was jolted abruptly out of this situation by a very loud noise.
Immediately the dog next door started barking,and an annoying car alarm was triggered into action.I switched off BBC World Service which I had fallen asleep to,and as I was about to leap out of bed heard the same noise again.I then stood up,and almost straight away there was a repeat.I stumbled towards the doors that lead out onto the balcony,unlocked them and gingerly creapt towards the street side.Already,I could hear a great deal of commotion,which on my street is unusual,as after about 10p.m.it becomes very quiet.As I looked over it dawned on me that I had heard shots,and I could see a pair of legs motionless,protruding onto the street.As if by magic,people appeared from all directions,and both police and ambulance arrived promptly.
Now,without wishing to sound cold,I was already surveying the scene from an investigative point of view,rather than one of horror.I think that reading an awful lot of Ian Rankin,and being something of a CSI anorak caused this.At the time this happened the bin men were collecting the trash in a large articulated veichle,and must have seen something,but were allowed to drive off.The world and his wife were trampling all over the scene,the victim was virtually tossed into the ambulance,and all the police did was pick up a few shell casings.No fencing off the scene,or interviewing seemed to take place.
I went back to bed,and suddenly it occurred to me that I had just heard someone shot,and this person was quite possibly dead,and this had all happened outside my apartment.I don't want you to think that this is a regular event,and from what I have been told,this sort of incident is extremely rare now compared to a few years ago.When I got up this morning,surveying the scene once more,it was as if nothing had happened.
If anything,this reminded me that I wasn't living in some comfortable western suburb,as recently I had become quite desensitized,and was begining to saunter around as though I was out shopping in Ealing.Needless to say,I am more aware today than I was this time yesterday.