Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

The devil is in the detail

6 replies

thebartenderatethethief · 12/02/2023 14:53

I've heard/read about people noticing things that others wouldn't, some of which I don't know if are true or not but once you notice things once, you can't unsee them.

Ones I can think of are-
businesses that are fronts for criminal activities, look for the same people going in and returning, rare delivery vans, not many customers, plain but opaque delivery bags (also notable for shops that sell illegal cigarettes!).

Random fireworks-not sure on this one but I have been told signify drug dealers receiving their 'loot' or gangs achieving something against another (I am skeptical about these ones)!

In city centres, sleeping bags in holes between bricks or narrow gaps between buildings-homeless people leaving them there to return to later. I never noticed this until I went to help someone look for her daughter who was sleeping on the streets :( she showed me lots of other little signs of homeless communities too.

I am ashamed to say that it was relatively recently I was told about the cobbled bits at the edges of paths and the textured pavements near roads being there so people who can't see well know when they're near an edge/road.

Do you have any?

OP posts:
queenofthebongo · 12/02/2023 21:21

Ice cream vans in certain areas of cities sell drugs, not ice cream...

thebartenderatethethief · 12/02/2023 23:46

How did you find that out? I've heard that too. I mean, a brilliant idea if you're a drug dealer but I wonder how it actually works? They'd have to keep some ice cream available if a genuine person wanting one comes across them...

OP posts:
EmmaEmerald · 13/02/2023 00:11

thebartenderatethethief · 12/02/2023 23:46

How did you find that out? I've heard that too. I mean, a brilliant idea if you're a drug dealer but I wonder how it actually works? They'd have to keep some ice cream available if a genuine person wanting one comes across them...

It's an easy business to set up I hear, but yes, you have to have ice cream!

Round my part of London, about 20 years ago, it was said that if you heard a few notes playing from the van at night, it was a dealer signal. Man, that makes me feel old.

thebartenderatethethief · 13/02/2023 12:47

Someone said on a thread about restaurants that a takeaway near them had a similar set up-if you asked for a sandwich with extra ketchup it meant crack, or something like that!
Watching Happy Valley confirms it regarding ice cream vans!

OP posts:
RonniePickering · 13/02/2023 13:13

Someone said on a thread about restaurants that a takeaway near them had a similar set up-if you asked for a sandwich with extra ketchup it meant crack, or something like that!

Imagine inadvertently ordering the drug menu 🥴

thebartenderatethethief · 14/02/2023 10:00

@RonniePickering that was my first thought too!

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page