Sorry, I’m just feeling so overwhelmed! Perhaps, looking for a handhold and reassurance that this was a crazy one off.
I was on a bus with baby asleep in a sling. The bus was quite busy. I was standing in the wheelchair/buggy space. A man came down from upstairs carrying a can of alcohol. He stank of alcohol and clearly had not washed for several days. He was unsteady on his feet.
I averted my eyes but he zeroed in on me and came to stand right next to me. He started with muttering and then got progressively louder as I ignored him. He was expressing xenophobic ideas towards me (I’m white British, though was wearing trainers and nappy bag as a backpack, so could have passed for a tourist?). He was unsteady on his feet so kept getting too close. I couldn’t move away without asking him to make room.
Another man came over and tried to jovially engage the man in conversation, obviously as a distraction and to help me. The drunk man then got angry and started shouting at both of us, waving his hands (and can of alcohol). I still didn’t look. The shouting then progressed to him demanding the driver stop the bus to get away from us (the intervening man was also white British I’d guess). Thank god, the driver did stop (not at a bus stop) and let him off.
I was not bothered by the things he was saying at all, but I was so scared he was going to touch my baby or something. I’m quite sleep deprived and I’m still feeling things more intensely post partum. I know he was too drunk to actually do any harm but I just felt so vulnerable alone with my baby and unable to move away. My husband had just gone back to work and I’m alone for the rest of the day, but I’m sure I’ll feel better once baby wakes up.