I was dragging my tyre in a park last week, I go to that park regularly. It got dark quickly around 1900 and it appeared that there were no street lights.
It would take me about 40 mins to get back to the car, in the dark. I held my poles out in front of me ready to defend myself if needed. I was frustrated by the usual noise that my tyres were creating against the tarmac.
I was scared. I thought about how I should’ve checked if there were street lights. I thought about how people would tell me that I shouldn’t have been out on my own at that time which made me more frustrated.
I got back to the car park at 1940, there were no lights anywhere so I had to use my phone torch. I put the tyres back in the car, left my harness on and drove away as quickly as possible.
I felt uncomfortable about going back to that park, even though I’ve been regularly in the day. A week later I went back in the day with my partner and noticed there were lamp posts for the entire route and in the car park, they just weren’t on. This leads to me to write a letter to the local council, I’m not sure if they weren’t working or switch off after a certain time.
There have some horrific recent events, it’s so frustrating to see people victim blaming. We shouldn’t have to feel afraid, I don’t have answers but I do want to feel safer and help others feel the same way. I know I’m not alone in feeling this way.
