365 Days. Day 1. Bruised but ok.

365 Days. Day 1. Bruised but ok., originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

With a big (and very weird, day I figured now was the ideal time to restarted my aborted 365 day project. I've been wondering if I'd use this but what the hell.

So what happened?

Ok, this is not a love bite, its a bruise coming from a punch I took at our local Westfield shopping centre. Now getting punched at a Westfield is just wrong, how can that happen? Well here's the story.

I was minding my own business, having a spot of Sushi with my daughter when a girl and a guy went racing past screaming. Now the Westfield foodcourt is a bit of a hang out for the young folk so I just thought they were playing. But I noticed that the girl in front of me had this look of horror on her face and so turned to see what the problem was.

Well it appears it wasnt just a bit of fun. Actually the guy was assaulting the girl, he had her on the ground, was pulling her head back by the hair and was trying to punch her. This is in the middle of a busy foodcourt with perhaps a 500 people sitting or standing around. But no one was moving. I am not a reflexive hero, so I didnt jump from my seat immediately and wade in but it was pretty clear that no one else was going to do anything so I got up, stood over him and told him to stop. He immediately got up and rounded on me, ready to fight.

I had given this so little thought I hadnt even put down my sushi, so I'm standing there confronted by a psycho hose beast ready for anything with a slightly fuzzy head from a cold, wielding a california roll and suddenly realising this could get really messy.

But, in for a penny, in for a pound so I could hardly say "sorry, didnt mean to disturb you" so I just stood there and told him to stop again. Thankfully the girl got up and ran and I figured security must be coming soon. I had another quick look to make sure the girl was out of there when my psycho finally lost it with me an threw a punch. He was obviously aiming for my face but while I moved slow it was just fast enough to make him miss and hit my neck.

Frankly I was so surprised, I hadnt been in a fight for 30 years, I just turned back to face him and said "is that it?" I wasnt being smart, it wasnt an action movie one liner, I was really just taken aback at how little the punch rocked me.

I dont know if psycho was worried he hadnt put me down or just deciding that the rest of the crowd was gaining a little courage and others were moving in but he then ran. I followed but a couple of others were quicker and security turned up a in a few seconds and it was all over.

So, the guy could've been on drugs, he could have had a knife (this being Australia a gun was pretty unlikely) and all in all in could have been much worse. And I clearly showed that I am no Chuck Norris, the process of actually fighting doesnt come naturally to me. But whats the alternative?

I feel pretty stupid, picturing myself standing there clutching my seaweed, rice and fish dinner, essentially just taking a punch but I would have felt worse if I didnt do anything. If I had just sat there, ignoring the assault going on just behind me. I know it can go terribly, terribly wrong but surely living a life we can be proud of means risking that occasionally.