Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Harringay Passage - is it safe for women?

I walked through H Passage this morning from Fairfax to the next road, towards the Salsibury direction(what is it again?) and was about to enter the passage when a tall man ahead of me stopped in the passage and was looking down and fiddling with something(?) and looked at me as if waiting for me... I therefore turned round and walked out of the passage and waited for a bit, then I peeked round the corner and he had walked a bit further and stopped and was looking in my direction again.... what was he up to and why? Was he lurking? Was he a flasher? Was he up to no good or was it all totally innocent?......... Women have to weigh all this up... I was not about to put myself in the position of being alone in the passage with no one else about, but him lurking there....anyone else see him? I waited for a bit and then looked again and he seemed to have gone.......... so carried on walking through.

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Permalink Reply by Stuart on March 31, 2009 at 14:13

I'm with you John. My wife, however, not only won't go down it herself at night, but even if we're walking together, refuses to go down it at night (I have on occasion rather uncourteously actually just gone down it without her anyway!). The more people use it, the safer it will become. And I should add that I've never had an incident in it after 11 years in Harringay (well, apart from stepping in bloody dog sh*t).

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Permalink Reply by Dee on March 31, 2009 at 16:17

is it fear or common sense?

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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on March 31, 2009 at 17:26

Maybe with you it's common sense as being a big Glaswegian lad you're more of a scalp for some violent young idiots, at least that's how it worked in NZ sometimes. I doubt that there are any local 'muggers' who are going to be a match for you though, they're all after women carrying more than one bag it would seem.

As far as risk versus perception goes, I think that March 2009 has shown that crossing Green Lanes is a very dangerous thing to do and there is no data on danger from the passage.

I think and think about how the passage can be made safer and other than by people using it more, I've got no idea.

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Permalink Reply by Birdy_Too on March 31, 2009 at 18:21

My kids have just been given a hugh Toblerone by a bloke walking down the passage because I let him past.

I too use the passage at night but if there is one or a few dodgy looking blokes around I don't go down, it's not worth it just to prove a point.

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Permalink Reply by Sapphireblue on April 4, 2009 at 23:15

sweets from strangers springs to mind? Clearly from all the discussion the passage can be dodgy for men too and common sense is needed by all, but generally speaking women are more vulnerable to sexual assault... and are physically less able to defend themselves, although a few women I know can throw a mean left hook!

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Permalink Reply by Elin on April 2, 2009 at 17:48

The only thing that really frightens me in the passage is the enormous angry dog (Rotweiler?) that lives on the west side of the stretch between Burgoyne and Cavendish.

It used to bark and throw itself against the fence, sometimes it jumps up and peers over the top and once or twice it's heaved itself right up and stood on the wall, at head height, looking down on people using the passage. Or rather it would look down on them, except that anyone seeing it tends to decide to walk round.

I am perhaps more intolerant to dogs than some, but I don't think anyone should have to feel afraid or inimidated by a large agressive animal that is not restrained. I reported it to the Cabinet Member for Community Safety, who passed on my comments to the local SNT seargent and apparently they are aware of that dog, so maybe something will happen.

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Permalink Reply by chesneywold on April 2, 2009 at 10:07

Why are you people always wittering on about Marx and the deadening effects of the consumer society. Theory is just part of the phrase Conspiracy Theory. These fatuous comments and idealistic notions bear no resemblance to the reality, society and situations which everyone faces. People are the problem and people are the only answer. Many of them are horrible because parts of all of us are horrible. Communism wasn't an aberration it was the obvious result of Marxism; horrible middle-class left-wing holier-than-thou preaching is just another manifestation of the all-too-human trait of feeling you have a Coleridgean privileged position, and are seeing beyond the veil of what the poor bedraggled normal folks can see cos they've been socialised. You're no better than the people who populate the BBC's Have Your Say website by twisting everything-absolutely everything-into a rant about immigrants and political correctness gone mad. Marxism is the opium of the intellectuals as Raymond Aron bravely said, it should be long dead and forgotten and thankfully it is about as relevant to non-academicians as Latin. Someone is lurking in an alley where there's very little to ostensibly hold his attention. He's potentially selfish, desperate, smacked-up, drunk or just bad, it's doubtful he's speculating about his habitus or Benjamin's arcades. It's easy to imagine his own motivations and the potential dangers they may present cos they are the same ones that haunt us all, microsoft and matalan are not to blame, and marx won't help your understanding a smidge.