Friend giving safety tips for London?

[breezeofqinter]

Maybe I sound horrible but me and a friend are visiting our mutual friend in London tomorrow, she’s lived there for maybe a year.

Shes just text us to give us safety tips. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve been to London, I even work from the London office occasionally.

I know she means well but aibu to find it a bit patronising?

Jeez, it’s London, not Mogadishu. I’m from London and I behave in exactly the same way there as I do everywhere else. As does everyone who lives there, unless they used to live somewhere else and haven’t yet realised that it’s a perfectly normal city.

Yep, this!!! “I’m SO London!”

Presumably similar to a Plastic Paddy?
You know the cod Irish person with Irish parents who has never actually lived in Ireland themselves. 😂

I don’t think it’s bad to give a warning - it sounds worse than ever at the minute in big cities for mobile phone thefts and pickpocketing.

A friend warned me about Paris after she had her phone stolen. I was happy to get a warning to be on my guard.

Really patronising. You’re not some halfwit from East Bumblefuck who’s never left the village.

@VotesForWomen Re 📱 phones, it’s SO tempting to read them in public
I’m doing that right now.
The only safety advice I can think of is to not look at phone when wandering through streets or waiting at Stations or on Tube-
I need a new phone, and when I get one I won’t be reading it walking along.

Can’t think of any ways of keeping a nice phone safe, apart from keeping it hidden.

Even if “chained ‘
to you you could get injured by having it yanked away.

This perfectly describes several of my nephews who have Irish grandparents, have never set foot in Ireland and go all diddly-diddly at anything Irish.

Surely beyond “STAND ON THE RIGHT, WALK ON THE LEFT” it’s the same as being in literally any other densely populated place?

This doesn’t only happen in London, though.

I can see why it feels a bit patronising. But it’s probably just an indicator of her own naivety when she moved there.

Unless she’s tedious and controlling in many other ways (in which case - why visit?) just let it inform your understanding of her and enjoy your time there.

There’s London and there’s London. It depends on the advice. For example in my very naive part of SW London there is one park which is absolutely fine, one which is a known drug dealer haunt. There’s also an alley by the tube which is a cut through and looks fine but gets much narrower and darker where someone was mugged last year and which people outside the area may well use, but locals absolutely wouldn’t. People who come into London to the city/ soho would have no idea.

I also lived in France and ended up having to send something similar as 3/4 of my friends were pickpocketed almost instantly at the Gare Du Nord.

So if it’s useful local info, great, if it’s “the northern line is black” a bit misguided but probably coming from the right place.

Shxt happens every where its just that London is a large area, and a lot of tourists go there.

Depends on the tips but I'd be more inclined to think she just cares about you, like when my mum tells me to drive careful every time I leave her house, even though I make hundreds of journeys successfully without her advice.

@KreedKafer I've got no idea how often it happens anywhere else, so I'd rather give people a warning if they are visiting me. If they already know, then fine.

It's relatively new to me, so I don't assume everyone knows or it's the same everywhere else.

I assume she either has a bit of an anxiety herself or she has found she wasnt careful enough in some situations. Or perhaps she feels a bit superior in a way now she lives in London.

I wouldnt like it unless if was something super useful and not obvious but dont think it could be any of that for someone who is familiar with big cities and London in particular.
Depends what it it, how much of it is and what is the general tone.

How patronising, it's London not Kabul - what "safety tip" does a grown-up need? It's the same common sense that applies in pretty much all cities in the world. It's even safer, tubes and city in general, than many other places.

A specific warning about some dodgy place round the corner, fine.
About "London"? Either your friend has very high level of anxiety, or she has never been anywhere and feels like an explorer because she made it to "the big city" 😂

Yeah I'd find it odd. But I worked there for 10 years 🤣. I wonder if she would do the same for any big city?

We need to know what the tips were ? I think your friend was just being nice. Why not just see the good in it and have a nice time instead

It does make me chuckle sometimes what people say/ask about London. Safety is often totally a question of perception and rarely relates to how 'scruffy' an area is.

As we know, pickpocketing is an issue in a lot of cities. So is phone theft. London isn't a hotbed of it and it doesn't need any special precautions other than common sense and being aware in the moment.

Like upthread where someone said use a moneybelt or someone else says they use a bum bag . Ummm no, I use a handbag like virtually every other female who lives here. Moneybelts are hot, itchy and uncomfortable and a pain to get into if you need anything. And a bumbag can easily be unclipped from behind unless it's some hugely expensive travel type. Plus they are pig ugly and make you look like you are from the Midwest USA and only got a passport when you retired.

Would love to know what the safety tips were. To be fair I did tell my country bumpkin Kiwi family members to "stand on the bloody right" as they couldn't seem to remember but that was so they didn't get bowled down the escalators in rush hour.

Maybe she read some thing in the news. and decided to remind you to take care.

Please tell us the safety tips!!! (I live in London. Had no idea I was at such risk.)

People do know there are pickpockets all over the country right? They might not set up camp there, but even my parents sleepy village has been targeted a couple of times -causing great drama on the local facebook group.

My friend recently had her phone snatched in Central London. I warned another friend who was due to visit from another big city. I don’t think that’s patronising. Maybe be less offended over nothing.

Could not at all for one second get arsed about this, it isn’t patronising at all. Genuinely can’t understand why you’re this put out by it!
And yes I’ve also been a frequent visitor to London over the past 20+ years now it still wouldn’t annoy me one bit. It’s just a friend being kind.

Yeah that's patronising.
It's just a place (with more reliable transport that most of the rest of the country).